July 18

Ok ok I taunt and taunt and… you have to wait ONE MORE ENTRY to read our biggest adventure… I be evil! Anyway Wednesday… well it is a very SPECIAL Wednesday… this is the day we celebrate my nephew Jimmie’s 7th birthday!

Waiting for Daddy so we could all leave for the museum

But first Karyn, Veronika, Ken and myself with kids in tow had some before party plans. We started off at the Little Church. I think Veronika, Karyn and I all remember times we had visited this place in our childhoods. I was definite… we HAD TO take the kids there. It actually is meant to seat 6 adults but our little ones fit in quite nicely. Emanuel was quick to  take the pulpit and Echo LOVED the small scale seating. 

Gotta love the rebuild story AND the amateur attempt at making it read dirty

Little Church

Future minister?

Just her size

I absolutely love the landscape in Drumheller and valley. There is something very timeless about it. 

The Badlands

Me

Gavin and Emanuel

After the church it was time for lunch at A&W where we took up half the seating in the restaurant. 

We do fill a restaurant

After lunch we split the kids between all 3 cars for novelty sake and then headed down the road for the main attraction – Tyrell Museum and Jimmie’s birthday. I remember many trips to this particular museum, my brother was a total dinosaur encyclopedia growing up! We met right up with the birthday boy, my brother, sister in law and Gammie. With the hurried phone calls confirming that Grandma and Grandpa Mike were running late and the boys running wild we opted to head into the museum and let them catch up (thank you Ted for the free pass in by the way!!).

Outside the museum

We saw dinosaurs, dinosaurs and… well other stuff… all on fast forward and with the same chaotic feel as herding kittens. BUT everyone had a blast!

ROAR

Fishy

Echo spent the majority of her time with Aunty Holly as Trinity monopolized Aunty Karyn.

Aunty Holly and Echo

We measured kids against a giant dinosaur leg…

All 6 kids

And of course had a family photo taken…

Extended family

Just the Reinsch-Johnsons

And then it was onto the gift shop where each of the kids got free reign (within reason) to pick a present… There was quite the variety… a plush dinosaur (pink), a geology set… etc etc and yours truly got herself a monogrammed blanket with a carrying strap (with Canada on it) since there was no plushy critters with the museum’s info emblazoned on it.

Shopping

After that it was back into the cars (or in the birthday boy’s case the cab they rented for the day) and onto the giant dinosaur statue that overlooks the splash park (slippery) and the fountain (safer). So that we could… SPLASH… seriously any town we can we splash!

Dinosaur themed of course

Miss Echo (who also biffed it and bit her lip!)

Fountain

Splashy

Don’t forget present time! There were some special gifts to the boys and girls from their cousin as well…

Gift time

Echo with her special Strawberry Shortcake set

And then… ICE CREAM! Just across the street and everything!

In the parlor

The partakers

With ice cream and heat and a long day with an early start it was time to say good bye… tearful and huggy but it was done and off we started on our next big adventure… check back for our next entry where I will finally divulge it!!! 

Sleepy

Time keeps on trundling by. I actually feel like I blink and BAM days have passed. We did manage to run to the Dollarama and get some new workbooks on Monday and Tuesday started using them. I am doing my usual review of the previous year for the twins and Emanuel to see if those basics have stuck. Though really Emanuel is just doing the Kindergarten level, the twins are re-doing grade 1 in brief. It is actually going rather well and a lovely confidence building activity. 

Workbook time

Kids at work

Zander made the mistake of leaving his shoes outside and luckily the dogs did NOT eat them… so in order to earn them back I had him cleaning house. He was AMAZING at scrubbing the bathroom and swept, put things away… wiped everything down. Lesson really seemed to be learned as it was past lunch time when he could finally get outside again! 

Earning back his shoes

Emanuel snuck in some DS time

Ken and myself got to go out for dinner to celebrate my birthday too! Sharon came by to watch the kids so mom and Mike would have the freedom to leave if need be and he and I dressed up and ate out (Irish pub, sorry no pictures we were just so RELIEVED to get to go out! ALONE!). It was a lovely night out and gave us some much needed down time without forcing mom and Mike to be stationary. 

Grandpa time

Now Wednesday… Wednesday was a special day! It was the library’s High Tea… so of course all the girls in the house HAD TO dress up and go out! We each ended up with our own personalized fascinator.

With her fascinator bits

Picking flowers

We did good

Enjoyed a good story.

Storytime

And of course had tea (Blue Eyes)! 

Tea time

With scones

The boys had to come up from the children’s library area and enjoy THOSE snacks of course!

Though only the girls dressed up

Thursday was a visiting day with the Bleau family. Lots of kids, lots of fun and lots of laughter. The best remedy EVER to a stressful existence. 

On the deck

Playing video games

I love a good weekend and this weekend was a GOOD weekend. Although not the conventional way to celebrate a VERY special day… as of Satutrday June 16th Ken and I have been married for 11 years! Good and bad, thick and thin we have been together and I am so glad that we have decades more to look forward to! With my pet sitting vacation set up to start on the 16th we decided to celebrate more properly AFTER I get back. Instead, we simplified each of our lives by dividing up the child care. Trinity and Echo headed into the big city with Kathy and myself around lunch time and Ken and the boys remained at Grandma’s with plans of their own. 

We had a car full of stuff to bring with us including a playpen, stroller and the necessary carseats. I am always amazed at how much I need to take when visiting people who are not accustomed to babies and small children. Thank goodness for the 1.50 booster I picked up during JayWalkers at mom’s store. 

Boosted baby

Of course we had a few stops along the way… Mac’s on the way out of town (of course… company loyalty and all that for Kathy), and then a bathroom stop at the next city. THEN lunch! A late lunch but a YUMMY one! With all the Gasoline Alley had to offer we chose a family favourite – KFC! We had popcorn chicken and fries and gravy… and another potty break.

Lunch

After that it was on to Kathy’s and the kitties… settling in took little or no time, once we got everything out of the car and in the door. Mom’s playpen is smaller than ours so takes up less room in the spare room which is awesome. Thankfully Echo is tiny so really does not need much space to begin with. Once everything was safely stowed and kids refreshed it was grocery store time. Not the best trip as both girls were cranky but necessary. We picked up all sorts of fun foods all given the Trinity stamp of approval. This week is going to be a Trinity friendly meal week. She has not been eating much lately and I am thinking that is partially due to the creative meals mom has been making us. She is just in need of old familiars. So we are definitely obliging. 

Thus she was eating Kraft Dinner at like 9pm that night but she was EATING! 

Sunday morning Echo once again reminded me of how much she LOVES early mornings… 4:30, 5:30 AND finally 6:30 when we got up. Thank goodness we had no concrete plans… Ken and the boys on the other hand had FOUR viewings to go to back where we used to live and all this on… FATHER’S DAY! I did my part by having Trinity send her Daddy flowers online (yay app), messaging my dad through my stepmom on Facebook (I do not have US long distance available right now sadly), and making sure that the Father’s Day books the kids made at the library were given to Mike and Ken. 

After breakfast, kitty time, washing laundry, changing Echo MULTIPLE times and sorting through what we wanted to do for the day (not much thank you)… it was time to head to IKEA! Ohhh it has been an age since we have been! But first Trinity and Kathy decided to take advantage of the lovely morning weather (good plan as it did NOT last the whole day) and go out front and plant some flowers. 

Out in the sunshine

This coincided nicely with a bath for me and a nap for the early bird… then after we got motivated and into the car it was time to head to IKEA. Kathy needed plastic dishes and stools for Trinity. I love love love IKEA stools. They are the perfect bathroom height. And of course to check out the food section. 

Then it was time for Sobeys and picking up the groceries we missed on our tired walk through Superstore the night before. Trinity got her own tiny cart of which she was VERY proud! 

A Trinity sized cart

After cookie club and check out it was a mad dash out to the car as the weather decidedly turned against us. So of course, a drive through Starbucks was required and Trinity got her first fancy drink from there! Strawberries and cream milkshake thing… was she ever proud! And for supper we HAD TO introduce Kathy to the world of pita pizzas… she is another convert! We even had PINEAPPLE! What is there to do after supper but a bath for Trinity and some medication (she has a nasty bug bite under her chin I noticed on Saturday and it is taking FOREVER even with the Benedryl to go down) and then bed for her with Echo following around an hour later. 

The first I noticed it... it is smaller now and not as red

That left two adults up with free time… what better to do with it than play a Wii boardgame style game?? Seriously! Add in more cherry pie (we had that the night before), white chocolate Magnum bars and Pepsi and we had a blast. The kitties supervised of course. 

Neko

Ghostly Ozo

This is actually pie from Saturday with white chocolate ice cream but you get the idea

I have to admit, not having all the boys to chase and the house to tidy and the extra people in general to deal with was marvelous. I spent some time searching the elusive rental, enjoying time with a good friend, playing with my girls and generally being more… ME! A much needed respite even though I am missing Ken a lot… I am sure he is finding life a little more relaxing without his womenfolks! 

Girls together

Ozo looking gorgeous