July 14

Before one makes a life changing trip there are some memory lanes to drive down first… more about the trip later but first the trip down memory lane…

Cousin Veronika has moved back to a town that is dear to both of our hearts… her parents live there and it is also where the house my grandparents owned is. So of course we had to walk over there to see it. It was NOT fenced when Grandma and Grandpa lived there.  I remember rolling down the hill almost into traffic at times… hollyhocks in the front in front of the large window (now gone)… but the bushes by the stairs were there when we were! That garage was Grandpa’s shop for wood working and the back yard housed apple trees and a deck we used to sit on… I remember the pop and beer fridge in the garage, the basement with its GIANT freezer… 

I played in that backyard

Note the bushes

On the walk to the house we stopped where there USED to be a park I would play at with my cousins. Now all that is left is the climbing gym. 

I remember climbing that

At the outdoor pool there is a splash park and these gym equipment. So of course our monkeys had to try them out!

Hmm not exactly how they were intended to be used?

Past the house was the small park so of course we spent some time there playing before heading off on the final leg of our adventure…

Bouncing

Sliding

Ice cream at the dollar store! 

So yummy

Sharing

Oh and during all of this… exciting news… Veronika and Adam have chosen a wedding date and yours truly is the maid of honour! So we had to start thinking plans… In fact I am to spend a month in town with her before the June date helping out with girls in tow! Something that will be more of an adventure than you would think!! Check back in a few more entries to find out why!!!

We got back in time for lunch – Aunty Lorraine had a lovely spread with hot dogs and hamburgers. Adam did the bbqing and we all ate our fill with watermelon to top us off.  After lunch and saying hi to Veronika’s grandma it was time to enjoy the splash park. Seriously every town that has one that we have been to we have splashed!!!

A little overcast

Lots of water

With puppies too

And the guys… napped while the kids had play time with the horse toys Veronika saved from her childhood.

So funny

After our visit with family and hugs and good-byes it was time to head to the city for the final leg of our journey. Esther was sweet enough to not only put us up overnight to shorten our trip to the zoo first thing the next morning but also made us dinner! Butter chicken and everything!!! YUM!!! 

Esther in the kitchen

At the table

Of course there had to be some late night fun… accelerated Monopoly with Aunty Esther (it was plastic wrapped and everything so it was Esther’s first time to play as well!). Then bedtime for all late, well fed and played out. 

MONOPOLY

I got to spend time with my cousin turned sister and a friend who means so much to our whole family. The day was a definite success!!

Cousins! No, SISTERS… note the last chance to have my make up done by a pro too

Spoiled rotten I am right now! Kathy and her brother Will not only have a lovely and comfortable home, two cats and internet but SHAW VOD! With ANIME… so you can imagine what I was up late doing last night… yup watching anime! And waiting for the girls to finally fall asleep. I lucked out, this month they have Ray the Animation on the system. I loved this anime when I first saw it way back when on Crunchyroll before they really policed their content for legalities and then once it was removed POOF couldn’t find it ANYWHERE. SCORE!

BUT lets see… Monday first! Echo and I saw Kathy off to meet her plane before 8am. Trinity was still sleeping. Echo had ME up at 6:45. The kitties made a last ditch attempt to follow their mommy out the door. In fact, Neko and I are almost on complete petting terms now… Ozo is too much of a momma’s boy to really accept that I am in charge quite yet. 

Our early bird

We spent our morning leisurely… lucky charms for breakfast then cartoons and nail polish for my girly girls. I lucked out and had the sparkly Hello Kitty polish I bought months ago on me and Kathy had a nice selection of colours for Trinity to choose from… end result? 2 pink nails and 8 purple and a VERY happy little girl! 

Nails

The weather was overcast to rain so we decided to make it an inside day. We watched movies, snacked when we felt like it and did general girly lazy day sort of things. It was such a nice change from having to chase 5 and school and all our other everyday stuff.

Ozo

Of course we Skyped with Daddy before bed and chatted online. I set up MORE visiting with friends and family. The close proximity to quite a few people is rather nice here and a great incentive to get closer permanently. My first day as kitty nanny was a success… though we did not go out or about or anything… just girly together time! With kitties interspersed. 

Tuesday was FAR from terrible! We had our now routine morning of cartoons and quiet play… Ozo decided to add some spice by knocking a figurine down. Thankfully while the figurine is in need of some TLC the cat was only mildly embarrassed. The girls were quite amazed at how the kitty could knock something down… apparently it is a silly kitty.

Fast forward through breakfast, baths for the girls and myself and it was GIRLY FAMILY VISIT TIME. That’s right… Cousin Veronika drove in from an hour away to visit! She brought wit her a new stack of books and a bag of clothes for yours truly! Supplementing that tiny wardrobe that I have readily available! Don’t forget the simple fact that it has been MONTHS since we have gotten together that this has been a long wished after visit. 

Her timing was great and we were able to save our OTHER guest a good hour or more on the bus by driving over to pick up Holly. Not only did I get to see a favourite cousin BUT I also got to spend the day with my sister in law! As well as talk to James who was actually up and mobile, pet their kitties and see the guinea pig (they recently lost their hamster to old age but have gained some fish). I was FINALLY able to give Holly some long awaited cross stitch projects I had meant to give them well over a year ago. Included was their wedding sampler! Holly was able to frame it that night! Check it out!

YAY

Well on the way back to Kathy’s we made a stop off at McDonald’s for lunch thanks to Holly! The girls each had chicken nugget happy meals. Wow have they gotten nicer! Not only did they get the nuggets but also apple slices, yogurt, juice and a toy. Talk about happy girls!!!

People watching

NUGGIES

Our afternoon was spent with chatting, hair styling, movie watching and even better – the watching of the beginnings of Kathy and Will’s deck. With some decent eye candy and all! Of course we had to message Kathy and let her know. We did have to figure out how to turn on the outside water so they could make the cement but besides that it all seemed to move along at a decent pace.

We had pancakes for dinner with berries and syrup and giggled and chatted and search for rentals together. The chance to spend time with family is so precious. And the girls to get to know the other females they are related to… it was a definite reminder of how important this time together really is. I would love to do it again and again and again! 

With Aunty

Watching the new deck be built with Cousin Veronika

We all drove Holly back home and got to see Jimmie since he was out of school by then…

Jimmie

James

And then it was back to the kitties and putting the carseats back in Kathy’s car (which has been parked out front in Kathy’s absence). Even with the weather not working in our favour for a park run all the fun and family wore the girls out just wonderfully. Really no problem putting them to bed, unlike the night before when the two were just horrible about playing around and NOT sleeping. 

And thanks to Veronika, more books to review

Which left me time to enjoy the anime I found on Anime Network… Ray the Animation! BONUS! The beginning of an amazing vacation week!

KITTY!

People always say things happen for a reason, and with Thursday’s chain of events I can almost believe it to be true! We were supposed to leave late after noon to head south to see properties in TWO towns/cities… first a few in the one we used to live at and then onto the ones near my brother. Well Ken had an implementation day (and actually, first thing in the morning we had not gotten the address for the prize place yet either!) which is always an up in the air day. The joys of contract work, you have to be there to get it up and running and as long as ALL the code works from EVERYONE you are home free, if not you sit there and hash it out. The contract MUST be completed on time our you payment is decreased… so we try REALLY hard to NOT plan anything on implementation days. 

Well, as I am sure everyone is aware, right now we are at the whim of the world and are trying to see what we can… we had tentative plans to see at least 4 properties Thursday with one being a set group view in the city. We made a back up plan of James seeing that one if we couldn’t make it (he was a short bus ride away) and had all the others aware we may need to reschedule. We found out less than 2 hours before we would have had to leave that we simply could not… BUT we had an address and an amazing brother getting ready to go… until an hour later… one hour before the view… the people from the week before FINALLY decided they wanted the place and BANG no viewing no nothing. So that little bit of trouble at work… well it saved us a trip to a severe disappointment.

So we rescheduled the others, regrouped and keep going… prayer, hard work, calling (thank you mom for your cell at times!), emailing and lots and lots of searching. I have not lost faith but at the same time frustration has set in. Please keep prayers and positive thoughts going for us! They are much appreciated!

Anyway with us grounded suddenly and plans all messed up and yours truly a wee bit out of sorts… well we DID flounder a little. What is better when you have some sunshine and a decent dishsoap? BUBBLES!! But add Echo into that and you get… MUDDY BABY! A very happy but muddy baby. 

Bubble baby

One more cuz I love her face in this one

I had a special paper purse made for me by Zander! How very creative! AND he put his favourite blue marble in it since my favourite colour is blue. 

For ME!

And then as a pick me up the twins and I (when they other 3 were napping) took some change and had a nice long walk to see what there is to see… and share a slurpee and some nickle candies! When I say walk I mean more of a quick trot… boy when they get going they GO!!!

Treat break

Don’t they look all grown up with their shaved heads??? I am so glad that we are having these moments where there is a bit of joy and fun… I just wish we could push past into the settled life we are ALL craving. Have I mentioned lately how grateful I am that my mom and Mike are able to keep us here while we search our hardest? Cuz really… it is  that above most else hat has allowed us to stay in Canada and feel safe.

Friday with the crazy of the day before was a bit of a let down. I don’t think any of us were really completely motivated but we rallied… played and learned and had some moments of fuss and fun… but most of all ALL of them were TOGETHER. Two neat things on the street? Well, the people came and trimmed back our trees (the kids watched from inside and then drew special pictures and talked about it) AND the street was cleaned (more pictures in our books!). So we had some excitement. 

And then the kids convinced me that we HAD TO walk to the library… get some books and movies and say hi to their friend Charlotte who was at the library on the computers, oh and we ran into their friend Kristie who lives next to where mom USED to live on our walk and THEN we ran into the lovely lady who used to come once a week to do a special play program with the twins when they were just over a year old! She recognized me and was so excited to see the twins and Emanuel and meet Trinity and Echo! We really ARE memorable!!! Lots of fun run into’s AND a walk to get a slurpee and then home. 

Leaving the library

That got us home in time to help make dinner, bathe the masses and put on a couple library borrowed movies. Echo has still been rather out of sorts from growing pains and teething. I am hoping our mini girl holiday will help the attitude issues. In fact, Friday night = packing for trip, laundry and cleaning since I cannot depend on the males of the family to keep the house to the level I want mom coming home to. Hopefully while I am at Kathy’s I can also do some viewings… visit with a special cousin AND see my sister in law… maybe?

Baby with her baby

Sharing her popcorn