We're back from Hawaii

Yeah, we just got back from Hawaii as you can see from the lovely pictures on the sandy beach. OK...so we didn't go to Hawaii but it felt like a little getaway a couple of weekends ago when we went to a 50th Wedding anniversary. Kaili's grandparents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Can you believe that? 50 years! It was an absolutely beautiful day/evening and you could just feel so much love in the air from family and friends. James and I were still smiling on Sunday from the good memories of the party the day before. One of my highlights was when the grandpa was thanking the grandma with a speech and ended it by saying something along the lines of....the thing I want to thank you the most is for my family.....as all of his kids, grandkids, and great grandkids sat at a table in front of him. Not a dry eye at the whole party....everyone was so touched.

I wanted to upload these pictures for a while now and blogger finally let me. Yahoo.

6 More Days.........

I can't believe that there is less than 1 week before we move into our home!!!! It still seems surreal but I am getting extremely excited. It was quite the adventure from the day that we listed our house for sale back in Sept 2005. First all the uncertainty about when we would sell our house and where we would live if we sold our house. Then those endless house showings and open houses that took over our evenings and our weekends! We just wanted to sell the house and stop staging the house every single weekend. Then moving out in the middle of February and moving into a freezing cold house on the Lake. But then spring came and the rental house warmed up and we LOVED living on the lake. Then having to leave the rental on the lake and jumping between friends' house and the Resort with the odd night sleeping at Silvano's house. We have slept in so many different beds in the last few weeks/months. Just the thought of sleeping in our own beds seems like too much joy to handle right now!!!!! But we are so close right now that we are giddy. It's more exciting than waiting for Christmas morning. 6 more days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Girls Night Out

Much needed wonderful adult time with my girlfriends. It was so great to see everyone from work, to eat absolutely delicious food and drink wine and ....relax....and not have to think about kids and house building stuff for a couple of hours. I don't miss work at all but I sure miss my girlfriends.

Sprinkler Fun

The girls enjoyed their first afternoon of sprinkler fun at our friend's house. We are staying with these friends while our house is being completed. And the first day that we arrived, I got the girls in their bathing suits and we ran outside to the sprinklers. They didn't know what to do. They just looked blankly at it and asked me where the lake was. Too funny. They got totally spoiled living out at Ed's Place.

It didn't take long though for them to start running and squealing through the sprinklers.


Changing the topic completely I had a complete meltdown yesterday afternoon. In the middle of my meltdown I called Kaili as my voice of reason and she assured me that my decision to pack a few things up and stay at a hotel (for $180 a night) was NOT unreasonable and that I should do it. So I packed up the kids and some things (but didn't remember important things like pjs and underwear) and were in the car in ten minutes flat. I had the biggest lump in my throat from trying to not cry and then I couldn't help it but burst into tears. Which I then did again when I hit the craziest traffic heading onto the bridge. So with one unstable mama and 2 1/2 hours later we arrived. Phew somewhere familiar! And Kaili, Robin and Jaia came over with food! It was great to see them and for having something to eat. I felt maybe 25% normal. I have this HUGE blemish on my face and it won't go away. Totally stress related since I haven't had a blemish (ZIT) in years and years. Anyhow I am on my way to go and talk to the contractor this morning!!!! With the kids in tow. I have this whole conversation made up in my mind. James who knows me so well is a little nervous. I can tell. He kept saying last night...please don't piss them off. But I was like..who cares if I piss them off? It's not like they are our friends?!!!! But I will 1) BE FIRM 2) NOT CRY and 3) SOUND SANE. So if this blog is jumping all over the place, it's because that's what my mind is like these days. I want a firm answer to when our house is going to be ready and if I come across as the crazy wife....so be it. Again I have to remind myself...be firm...don't cry and sound sane.

Home Made Cherry Pie

Shannon's niece, Sydney, who is 11 years old and is visiting from Australia, made us a home made cherry pie today. The cherries were hand picked today from a local cherry tree. How special is that? It literally brought tears to my eyes...the thoughtfullness of it all. And to top it off, after I was holding this enormous gift, Jeff & Shannon were trying to convince us to stay at their condo while they are away on holiday in Alberta. So much generosity. Shannon, Jeff and family are extremely thoughtful people and we really appreciate them.

The reason why the top left hand corner of the pie looks a little rough is because all four of us (James, me and the kids) took a sample taste of it while driving back home. Yup, that's right, we couldn't even wait until we got home to try a taste. I still have not dug into a piece yet. The kids are sleeping and James is begging me to get the pie out onto plates instead of writing on this blog. So you can guess what we will be doing in a few minutes. Yummy!

We've been packing, and bringing as much as we can over to the new house. We aren't finishing the basement so we have designated a corner of the basement with all our 'stuff' that we won't need for the next few weeks. We are really bringing just the minimum with us while we wait it out for our house to be complete. There is still quite a bit of uncertainty of where we will actually stay during this 3 week interim period. But what we do know for sure is that we have to move out this coming Saturday at noon. And this wonderful family is taking care of Tobi during this time period so that is one less stress to worry about. (And No this family is not Kaili - she doesn't like dogs!!! can you believe it?) So after this weekend I may not be blogging so much. Blog withdrawal....wonder how that feels like.

So we will continue to pack and enjoy our last few days living on the lake. Talk to you guys soon.

Happy Canada Day!

I love living in this small town. Everything is so close that you can go and enjoy all the activities that are offered in the town.

Today we spent a couple of hours at the Park enjoying the Canada Day festivities. We listened to some 'interesting' bands play, and watched adorable little kids doing a demonstration of Tae Kwon Do. But definitley the highlight was eating up Shaved Ice Cones. The first time that the girls have ever tried them. And then I ordered up some hot little donuts (plain - without sugar - but equally delicious). James and I kept eyeing up all the food stands. The Indian restaurant, Navartan, even had a food stand open. But we had just had lunch together as a family at the Bench (a cute little bistro/store type of joint that serves delicious sandwiches and food) before we headed down to the park so we were already full.


It's really hot outside. So after a couple of hours of just walking around we have headed back home .....to ....that's right....go play in the cool refreshing lake.

Happy Canada Day Everyone.

Privacy

Privacy? What is it? We don't really get any. Usually when one girl has to go to the bathroom, we all go together. This is the case at home, at restaurants, at shopping centres, etc....you can find us all in the same small stall.

But recently when Rachel goes to the bathroom, she will say that she needs her privacy. I guess this started because when other people come over I close the bathroom door and say it's for privacy and I kind of explained the whole privacy thingy. But their version of privacy is hilarious. Alex will wait right at the doorway (with door open of course) and will be constantly asking Rachel.....did you find your privacy?.....and Rachel who is going to the bathroom will say ...yes. So at this point in their life, privacy is about 3 feet away and still with constant conversation between the two.