Our morning may have been rushed with Ken having to drop us off at mom’s and run but we made our afternoon count. As soon as Ken headed out to get Darryl I got to work weeding through what we had left at mom’s and packing for our newest adventure – spending time with the Bleau family! Sharon and Darryl were sweet enough to open their home to us and the use of their landline so we could get a firmer grasp on our plans for the future and sort out all the little bumps that could come along the way. We are so blessed with the family we have created out of our dear friends. 

Making Trinity a special Canada Day shirt

Too cute

I got done as much as I could before we headed off to enjoy our time celebrating Canada’s birth as a nation. Sharon had to take the kids to a birthday party so we got our bits and bobs into the house there and then took the kids off for a special treat – lunch IN McDonalds. Definitely NOT relaxing for Mommy and Daddy but so much fun for our kiddos. Usually we only get drive through.

FOOD

After lunch it was time to meet up and see what is going on at the local museum. The answer – quite a bit! We started with the train! Of course, we ALL had to ride on it. Ken was nominated to go in the caboose with the bulk of the kids while Sharon and I took the next car with my girls. It was bumpy but fun and a reasonable price per person with Echo free. 

Tickets

Most of our group

Me and my baby

Waiting

Very Canadian

With Aunty Sharon

Caboose

All the kids piled in

Our next stop was a walk through the local museum. Short but varied enough to keep the kids interested.

Museum

Train

Very cool

Sharon took 7 of the kids to the bouncy castles to allow Ken, Echo and myself the opportunity to check out some of the independent buildings. Specifically the church and the school. 

Church

School

Thought this was coo

A bouncy castle

After all that sun and fun it was time to head back to the house for supper… but first stopping for SLURPEES!! YAY!! Oh how I love slurpees…

Dinner was homemade hamburgers cooked on the grill by Ken. (Assembled by Sharon) 8 kids and 3 adults was so much fun! That evening when all the kids were in bed (early) we watched the fireworks from a window in Sharon’s bedroom… so much better than being out with mosquitoes! All in all a great way to celebrate Canada Day!

Daddy and baby

Cute AND Canadian

April 26th is a very special day… Trinity’s birthday! And this year, as she is proud to report, she is 4!!! She had a special friend to play with for the first half of the day – Logan… and lots of new toys to try out. After all, someone else’s toys are ALWAYS fun! 

Our very own birthday girl

We had enough time in the morning to have the twins do a chapter of Farmer Boy and work on reading a children’s book together alternating pages. It feels good to continue on with things. 

I got to experience first hand a busy mom’s afternoon with Sharon. Logan had a half day of pre-K, he goes a few days a week in the afternoon. Then we had to pick up a friend of hers who was staying for a bit while she healed from her wisdom teeth removal. After dropping her off we went for lunch… one of my all time favourite places!!! A noodle house that does the most amazing lemongrass beef on rice vermicelli. Delicious!

We did some shopping (birthday shopping!)… I was able to pick up 2 new binkies for Echo for under 6.00. A great price. We picked up some groceries and then were off to pick up the kids from school. After they had a little time at the house with our kids they were off to the pool. I came along for the ride so I could stop in at mom’s to pick up some stuff for us and a bag for Jimmie and family. 

Echo playing with fridge magnets

Snuggles with Aunty Sharon

That left the evening for celebrating the birthday girl! We had pizza for supper… 

Pizza

And then after dinner was homemade chocolate cake shaped like a FLOWER and all PINK! It was a hit with everyone. Isn’t Sharon hugely talented! 

CAKE

Blowing out the candles

…and then it was time for PRESENTS! The Bleau family spoiled her with a new dress, a bug that puts stars and a moon on the ceiling with lights and a dolly with her own suitcase to hold all her things! There was TWO cards (Ethan made her one too at school!) and we gave her the 4 little Hello Kitty sets of people for the Mega Blocks (on super sale no less!!). She was a VERY happy little girl!

Present time

With Logan and Trinity both not overly tired the birthday girl got the added spoiling of a bedtime movie! They watched most of a Barbie movie together before they fell asleep and had to be put to bed! That left Sharon and myself with the chance to watch most of It’s Complicatedbefore I had to give in and go to bed myself. Of course Darryl and Ken spent the night up late playing games online together. I think they have missed hanging out. Now that we have a WORKING van I know that we will be planning another weekend get together before too long! 

Fast asleep

So Thursday was an AWESOME day… we all got our own version of a playdate with good friends, we were spoiled with some delicious food AND then we were on our way once again early Friday morning… but that is a story for ANOTHER entry! 

Cuties eating pizza

We are back from our epic adventure and I am entries behind on my blog! It was all worth it… we traveled (in our OWN van SAFELY), visited (with kids, adults AND kitties), celebrated a special birthday (Trinity’s) and enjoyed MY belated birthday present (Comic Con!)… oh and so much more…

But first of course is the drive to Echo’s follow up appointment one month after her surgery (her SUCCESSFUL surgery). We got up rather early, packed our NEW van up and headed out SUCCESSFULLY… we even went over 80km an hour! We are no longer a bad reverse version of the movie Speed! YAY! We had to drive with our temporary travel sticker as we were heading right to register permanently and get our new licence plate AFTER her 9:45 appointment. 

We made rather good time and parked in the parkade this time to save on walking. Then it was right in to the cardiology clinic to sit and wait. Ken actually took the big kids to the toy area right outside the clinic and I did all the tests with Echo. They were mostly worried about doing her Echo-cardiograph and did that first. She was NOT impressed but they were able to show me the device with the heart beating around it. Nothing moving where it shouldn’t, it was rather amazing! 

They weighed and measured her as well and it turns out she has gained almost a POUND since surgery. So good for her! And we were able to get her EKG done too… though blood pressure never really came out right. Then there was just the wait to see the cardiologist who was VERY happy with her progress and glad to see all of the kids together. We had also brought in our thank you card which made its rounds and was VERY well received! 

Waiting for the cardiologist... note the obvious boredom!

Of course Echo wanted to walk out of the hospital and tripped and fell face first in front of some nurses and the kids were bored out of their minds but we were ok! I am so glad we do not have to go back for 5 months! 

Pre trip and fall but cute group!

After hospital it was time for a wee bit of shopping – and lunch… well both stores were in the same place so first we went to Education Station to redeem Trinity’s birthday 10.00 gift certificate. She also had birthday money to spend from Nana and Baba so there was some excitement to be had! She decided on a jewelry box you decorate yourself with jewels. A great choice as she keeps getting tiny pretties to save and has no good place to put them.

And then, of course… lunch at “the Meatball Store” AKA IKEA for those less in the know! We had to get our fill of meatballs while the kids watched some of Mulan on their tv in the kids’ area. VERY delicious AND affordable! One of the things we miss from moving out of the city. Then Trinity and I wandered the toy section to spend the last of her birthday money. She managed to get a dolly, dolly clothes and a cute soft bathtub set. 

NOMS

With the shopping and eating and hospital stuff done it was time to head out to our next destination – the registration office, then Grandma’s work and then to Sharon and Darryl’s for our two night stay to visit with them and their 3 kids Emma, Ethan and Logan. They are back home from California and the kids are all around our kids’ ages. So it works PERFECTLY… oh and Echo LOVES Sharon. 

We continued on the hour south east and went right to the registry. With minimum fuss (Ken had to come back out to get cash since he couldn’t use his card there) we had our licence plate and then it was just a matter of stopping in to see Grandma and borrowing her washroom… and a screwdriver! And then we were official… New Used Van is ours! What a success!

The rest of the evening it was time to catch up with the Bleau family. The kids were in toy and friend heaven… we had play time, some yummy dinner and then ADULT time! Ken and Darryl did some gaming and Sharon and I hung out while she made a cake just to celebrate Trinity’s birthday! It was a lovely and RELAXING evening. The kids had a bedroom to sleep in – two large bunkbeds and a pull out bed that we didn’t use. 

Snuggling with dolly on the comfy couch

It made me VERY tempted to start trying to convince Ken that we needed to move back to town… almost. The small town feel and the ability to still do most everything combined makes it so comforting. Ken just rolled his eyes at me. 

So that is the Wednesday… onto our second day in town and the relaxation that followed in the NEXT blog entry. After all, we stayed in ONE PLACE with toys, kids and friends for a whole day! Gotta share that right… and who’s birthday did we celebrate? Can you hear Trinity yell TRINITY???

100% healthy!