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
