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!

Since we decided NOT to take in the 3rd day of Comic Con that freed us up for a leisurely Sunday morning. Once everyone was fed and dressed and ready to go it was time to head back to pick up the boys! Trinity AND Ken were less than enthused about the notion. 

Impromptu nap before going to get her brothers... but she wasn't tired!

I wish we had gotten this artist's name... I still need to see if I can figure it out. BUT this is another of our Comic-con gems from Saturday.

We managed to get there in good time after stopping to get chocolate for Aunty Holly to go with her Little Vampire swag. And then it was time for an abbreviated visit. 

Aunty Holly and Jimmie... they had way belated birthday presents for the boys to open before we left

Trinity was completely burned out so had snuggle and quiet time. It was nice to have a relatively stress free visit with Holly while the boys cleaned up all their messes. 

Emanuel and one of the kitties

After hugs good bye it was time to head back to Kathy’s house for ANOTHER special Trinity birthday celebration! We had original My Little Pony to enjoy (the boys were exposed to the new version at my brother’s… I never did SEE my brother by the way! schedules just did not match up), and the kitties to admire. 

Kathy had ran out to IKEA and picked up meatballs to cook at her house so we had meatballs for supper again. The boys were in heaven! Sadly Trinity was just off all day. It really came down to her brothers returning. Both she and Ken walked into the situation cranky… had to have a couple chats with them about being GLAD we are all together again. She did sit up and perk up a bit for ice cream cake (Dairy Queen ice cream cake… SPOILED!). 

Ice cream cake

The belated birthday girl

Echo had to have some too!

There were MORE presents… Kathy had a pinkie pie bitty pony and an adorable kitty necklace. We finally gave Trinity her Hello Kitty txting machines. We still need to read through the instructions but she was very pleased. According to our resident 4 year old it has been an amazing birthday!

Opening presents

After tucking Trinity in in our room (aka the library) and the boys in the livingroom with even MORE classic pony it was time for boardgames. We played Fullhouse and this time only Ken was the one who had never played before… and guess who won? You got it, KEN! Kathy said it was one of the best games of that she had played in AGES. 

Boardgame

The next day it was time to face reality and head back to Chris and Chris’… but not until AFTER breakfast with Kathy and the collecting of all of our stuff. Of course I still managed to forget something… though that could be blamed on Echo who seemed to have hidden my iTouch in the couch! Of course I did not notice until well after we had left and gotten back to our home base! 

It was our first time driving the shorter drive to and from the city. It felt like a skip hop and a jump! We did stop at Superstore first and get bread, meat and cheese for an on the go lunch that was super affordable. And once again heading back with much MORE than we left with! Not that I am complaining, though Ken is… just a little! It was not easy to settle back in, the kids are just as impatient as I am to get on with the next step of our move! 

Such a pretty 4 year old!

Now we get into the belated birthday present for ME! This trip is actually my 32nd birthday present from Ken. (yup 33 in June this year!!) So it was something I was REALLY looking forward to.

With the kids fed breakfast and the van full up again we were on our way early in the morning to my brother’s house. Holly has healed up well enough to watch our boys as planned. As we had not seen her or Jimmie (or James for that matter) since last year it was rather exciting to be able to go and visit. It was such a relief that she came through her hospital experience so well. We had missed her mother (Gammmie) by a day or so as she had to head back to Texas. 

The drive was nice and uneventful though we had to stop at one of the smaller towns along the way to potty, oh and a McDonald’s to get water and use their free wi-fi to check for the directions into the city to my brother’s place. The kids did rather well considering how rarely we have traveled lately AND the van held enough that we didn’t have to worry about leaving things behind! 

A bit of a stretch at McDonalds

This of course is VERY important as like any trip we take as a family we ended up coming back with even MORE things than when we had left. (Thank you so much Holly for sending some of Jimmie’s outgrown clothes home with us! They are always appreciated)

One of the critters

So it was to drop off the boys that we went first. Holly was home alone as James was at work and Jimmie in school. But we got the boys there in time to walk with her to pick him up after lunch. And we still had time to meet the cats and visit with Holly. She was in great spirits. We did our usual talk with the boys about doing what Aunty Holly says and being helpful and then it was time for Ken, myself and the girls to head on to OUR home base for the weekend – Kathy’s. 

Seriously a cat filled weekend. Aunty Kathy has TWO cats just like Aunty Holly… two black and white cats. Holly’s are white and black (there is a difference!). Kathy’s cats were a little shy but by the end of the weekend we had won them over. This is VERY important as the girls and I are pet sitting in June for her! So this was a bit of a warm up for the girls and the kitties.

Unknown kitty

So we got everything into her house, cleaned everyone up and it was time to get into the van to go to the park and ride and then head on the bus (and a train) to get to comic con. It opened Friday at 3 and we made it soon after that point. With our pre-bought tickets there really was no wait. We were the first of our friends to get there! 

Busing it for the first time

I would swear the bus and train were her favourite part!

In line to get in!

It was not overly busy so we were able to get around easily and even let Echo stretch her legs. I was complimented constantly on how cute our girls are! They got bored here and there but we managed. There was tons to see and we tried to see as much as we could! That meant getting over to the webcomics I specifically wanted to meet.

Running free

Let’s start with the one I made a feltie for – Girls With Slingshots. I could not resist making a feltie based on one of her characters – McPedro. She loved it!!! And of course I had to buy the 3rd book she has out to go with the first two that Chris and Chris got for me last year! She is such a sweet woman!

McPedro

This picture is from Saturday when Kathy purchased some of her books. I will have to get the feltie picture off my other computer and post it at a later date!

And then there was another of my favourites – Devil’s Panties. Trinity and I picked out a pin from her booth. Another amazing woman. I love her comic and hope to next year (if she chooses to come up again) to get her books. 

Trinity helped me pick the pin

The big exciting stop was my gift for Ken. The creator of one of his favourite webcomics was doing sketches for donation and was completely open to stop by at… so I asked him to draw Ken’s favourite character from his comic Questionable Content… Hannelore! He had plenty of time to say hi and the drawing is a definite keepsake! I was so glad I could get Ken something right off that was VERY special! 

Questionable Content!!

Hanners.... though the paper is WHITE bad lighting

There were people in costume, all sorts of art and so much to see. And of course food to be had. We had pizza which was DIVINE and of course the fresh squeezed lemonade and Ken grabbed a fruit smoothy. I think we fed all 4 of us and Kathy for a rather decent amount and enjoyed every bit of it! 

Pre-pizza nap

NOMS

We meandered as much as we could with two girls who were quickly wearing out. There was some more spending done and some plans to come back to a few places. It was an adventure and then some and I loved every minute of it!

Enjoying the lunch break, the dress Trinity is wearing is the one Sharon gave her for her birthday

As we were leaving Karyn and Lauralee were in line to get in. So we had a moment of chatting and visiting with them in line. Karyn had a special present for the birthday girl and we made plans to meet up Saturday morning. I am told that not too long after that time Lauralee bought a rather amazing Steampunk inspired dragon lamp. I am waiting to see pictures!

Meeting up in line with Karyn and Lauralee... what you can't see is that Echo is out like a light at this point

We rode the train and bus back to the park and ride and then drove back to Kathy’s to regroup and plan our Saturday trip. The girls were worn out, we were surprised at how many hours we actually walked. It was AMAZING. 

Planning time

Saturday we were up early to have breakfast, pack up AGAIN and then motivate Ken out the door in time for the bus. On the weekend the buses only come once every 30 min instead of something like 12 min. Our timing was nearly perfect with meeting the bus and then catching the train. Then it was time to return to the con. 

Even getting there soon after the opening time (10 am) it was more crowded than the day before. Echo was rather unimpressed that she could not run around like she did the day before. But we had a plan for Saturday and went aisle by aisle down the vender’s area. There was so much to see… even MORE costumes and some shopping to be done! Oh and people to meet up with. We found Bianca (a friend from University) and eventually met up with Karyn and Lauralee. Sadly Ted and Sean drove up but could not make it in. They ended up over capacity and even Ken who went out (hours after we got there) to meet with the guys and wait in line with them could not make it back in. 

The time BEFORE Ken went out was fun though, we did some more shopping, talked to some more artists and even found a couple new webcomics to follow. Well, one I found yesterday. It is called Little Vampires. Holly mentioned the comic offhandedly before we left for Kathy’s Friday night and talked about a stuffed vampire she would LOVE to have. So… we actually ended up being the artist’s first sale as we bought a stuffy for Holly and she even signed one of her promotional postcards to Holly for us to give her! We figured that was a good gift for our lovely babysitter!

Our Little Vampires swag, the stuffy on the left is the same as Holly's

The other comic we found (and purchased her two books for) is by a Canadian artist who is also an engineer. It is called Wasted Talent. She was a great lady and we chatted with her for a while while she signed our books. 

Signed copies

I stopped by an artist’s stand who is from the same town my Aunty Becky lives in. She does henna tattoos and had something called Honey Hats. I had to pick one up, it is going to work marvellously when we travel and still look totally cute!

Then there was the adorable keychains I picked up at ANOTHER artist’s stand. 

My keychains

And the button I got for a certain Dr. Who fan (addict???).

BUTTON

My handmade glass bead necklace…

I love this piece

The hand painted chocolates we chowed down on…

Yup, that is Hello Kitty

Oh the list goes on and on and on! Of course soon after we found out Ken could NOT get back in we decided to finish the shopping and head out to meet the guys. The girls were exhausted and we really had bought everything we wanted. (or thought we did… Ken actually had to contact Karyn and link her something he was interested in to pick up when she went back on Sunday) 

It was a little complicated getting out. After all they had locked down the door to stop people coming in and once you left you could not come back in. So we wandered a bit to find the right door and get out to meet the boys. It was interesting to see the people in line waiting to maybe get in – some of them were in some rather interesting costumes. Anyway we got to the agreed on entrance (and trust me it was hard to figure that out… we lucked out, Lauralee’s cell was the only one that got enough bars to call out of the building!!) and Trinity was overjoyed to see Uncle Sean and Uncle Ted! 

Meeting up with the guys

We had to catch the train and then the bus again so we made plans to meet at the park and ride. We totally lucked out, got to the train stop and it showed up! And then only a 15-20 min wait for the bus in a nice sunny spot. Of course I had to do the tourist thing and take a picture of the largest building in the city (I think it is ongoing on the inside).

We met up at the park and ride with the guys and then headed to the nearest area with some restaurants for what we thought was going to be a lunch until we looked at the time and saw it was past 3 and would have to be a LATE lunch (that DID explain why we were all so drained and why I was practically starving!). We decided on Applebees!!!! Total yum, great waitress and Trinity was very happy with her desert – prettied up jell-o! 

Desert, note the pin!

After our VERY late lunch it was back to Kathy’s and then more visiting while we waited to be hungry for dinner. Karyn, Lauralee and Esther joined us as did Will (Kathy’s brother who lives with her). We all had a lot of fun, Trinity was spoiled for attention and Echo did the rounds. Back with her Uncle Sean she was one happy camper! 

Visiting with friends

We had homemade tacos for supper (LATE) supper and a late night of visiting before seeing everyone off. Ted and Sean were heading for home, Karyn and Lauralee to Esther’s and Esther out for a cultural event. That left us time to plan our Sunday out. We decided against going out for more con time… but that is another story!

Is everyone else aware of Nyan cat???

 If you are not familiar you can read about Nyan cat here.