Trip recap OR Just post something and get it over with already.

I know - I didn't post last night, but I believe I said "maybe even tonight". Instead of posting, I sent myself to bed around 9 PM because I felt that cold coming on. You know, the one that chased us around Ontario? The one that everyone was either just getting over when we arrived at their doorsteps or getting just as we pulled out of their driveways? Yeah. That one. Keith got it as we were driving across southern Ontario on our way to the passport office to pick up Kai's passport so that we could get back into the U.S. (we like living on the edge). Anyhow, Keith managed to kick it by the time we were pulling into our own driveway two and a half days later, but last night it looked like it was going to be my turn to get it.

I swear, I am the queen of digression.

I have been thinking a lot about posting for the last two weeks. I've been chewing over all the many things that I could tell you about our trip. But all in all, it seems it will likely end up becoming a very long, boring post about things that you hardly care about, so I've been putting it off because I don't know where to start or where to end or how much detail to include.

[Suddenly a Monty Python dude appears in my kitchen and screams "GET ON WITH IT!"]

Sheesh... Alright already.

I'll try to keep things brief and in point form.

Highlights from our trip

aka Doing all the Canadian things that I could:

• Consuming as much Tim Horton's coffee as possible
• Eating ketchup chips
• Buying Toronto Maple Leafs stuff
  
• Enjoying a Swiss Chalet Front Quarter Festive Special (Mmmm... Lindt)
• Watching Hockey Night in Canada (and seeing the Leafs cream Ottawa.)
  
• Purchasing a big box with a variety Cadbury chocolate bars from Costco.
  
• Going to the LCBO (aka Lick-Bo)
• Shopping at Dollarama and the William-Ashley Warehouse Sale
  
• Snowmobiling
• Eating poutine (thanks Dwayne!)
  
• Discussing the weather
  
• Tobogganing
  
• Wearing a toque
• Sitting on a chesterfield

OK, so the last bunch are possible here in Boulder, and I don't actually call it a chesterfield, ever, but I still did all of those things in Canada, so I am allowed to mention them here. Feel free to add to the list if you witnessed me doing any other particularly Canadian things.

More highlights

Playing with new toys (aka Christmas presents):

Meeting this little cutey:


Playing in the snow:


Kai and I each going on our very first snowmobile rides:


Kai's expression as we wandered around Winter Wheat:


Taking Kai to his very first Santa Claus parade:

And finally, spending time with cousins and brothers and sisters-in-law and parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and friends... it was absolutely wonderful spending time with all of you, and I only wish that we could have seen more of you. Sadly, that just isn't possible on such a short trip.

There are certainly more highlights, but I'm sure that I have already bored you all to tears, so I'll leave you with something recent from here at home that made me chuckle. (A reward, if you will, for getting all the way through this post.) It was from one of those moments in which you think to yourself, I definitely have to write this down.

Things you don't hear everyday: Two days ago while I was standing at the bathroom sink, Kai pushed past me explaining "Batman has to go potty."

Apparently even superheros need to pee.

G'night all.

Cast off

Good news - the cast is off, and no surgery will be needed! Kai's peter-pointer is well on its way to being healed, and apart from a little rotting finger skin (yummy) and a newly-developed tendency to become ambidextrous, his hand is almost back to normal. Or so I hear - I haven't actually seen him yet, because I'm back at work.

We don't have to talk about that.

Anyhow, we're back home after a very long and yet very enjoyable trip to and from Ontario. I know I've been neglecting our blog, but I promise I will post again soon. I might even tell you all about our vacation. I would have blogged more while we were on the road, but... well... I was too busy being on vacation.

Hee hee.

OK, more later. I promise. Maybe even tonight.

One down, two to go

We are just past one week into our grand adventure to Ontariariario. I would tell you all about the many adventures we've had, but three days of driving across the continent didn't amount to much blog fodder, and we've simply been catching up with family and friends here in Ontario. It has been wonderful to see people we haven't seen in almost a year and a half, not to mention the pleasure of meeting this brand new little addition who wasn't even here a few weeks ago.

Hard cast

Keith took Kai to the specialist this morning. Within 30 minutes Kai had a brand new green fiberglass cast on his arm. Bye bye fingers - see y'all in a few weeks!

A couple people have asked for the story: one minute Kai and his two friends are heading outside to play on the trampoline, the next minute (maybe 5?) we hear yelling and screaming that doesn't sound at all like our kid. Keith and the girls' dad rush outside, the screaming increases, and then I follow with the girls' mom. It seems that Kai had been trying to dismount the trampoline and had accidentally flipped over backwards and landed on his index finger. Pretty innocent. Completely an accident. It was swollen for the rest of the day. I called our HMO's nurse advice line and was advised that if he seems OK, to just bring him in the next day, possibly tape his fingers together, and give him some ibuprofen.

He's actually in amazingly good spirits... and the attention he's getting from having the cast is helping to make this into something that isn't so bad. I'm pretty relieved that he's got a hard cast now, because yesterday while I was on the phone I had to excuse myself to tell him to stop jumping on our bed. I guess falling off a trampoline wasn't enough! (He's such a boy.) At least now it isn't as easy to further injure his finger.

Broken

One Index Finger
Two fractures
Three hours at the doctor's office
Four years old with a broken bone

Tomorrow he goes to an orthopedic doctor to determine whether or not he needs to have a hard cast. (This one is just soft.)

He is pretty proud of his stickers, too.

Puttering around

A very wise man once recommended that puttering is good for the soul. I know today isn't actually our "Sabbath" (although it is for some people), Keith and I are both quite fond of twiddling away a day with this and that task around the home. Today has been a decent day for puttering, both inside and out:

Jake got a new "shedding rake", and has since been relieved of a good deal of his lovely grey undercoat. Why, you ask, would a dog shed just before the winter? You know... I really don't know. I think it has something to do with shedding the summer coat to make way for the winter coat, but quite honestly, his coats all look the same to me. He's a furry furry dog, and right now it is a battleground between his fur (hair?) living all over the carpet and the couch and our clothes, and it staying on him.

Keith grabbed a piece of cardboard and some insulation and donned these:

in order to do this:

and when he was done he looked like this:

We have never (gasp!) actually used our fireplace in all the many (okay two) winters that we have lived in this house, and so to combat the annoying draft that inevitably sucks away all our heat, replacing it with chilly sub-zero (Fahrenheit) air, we decided to (ahem) stuff our fireplace. Is that normal? Is that safe? As you may recall, the only thing ever to come out of our fireplace, once upon a time (ah... the memories), was a fluttering, squawking, possibly rabid, very likely upset, rather misplaced squirrel (shudder).

enough talk about that.

Moving on:

For the last um.... eon? no... not quite. Maybe 2 months or so, one of our neighbours has been remaking the wooden box that covers our sprinkler system gizmo.

Gizmo is the technical word, you see.

So the entire time that Mr. Rogers is out there working on the gizmo, clearing dirt away from the gizmo, digging around the gizmo, and just plain staring blankly at the gizmo, Kai wants to be there right beside him "helping". It's a rather noble inclination, I guess. It fits right along with the intense pleasure that Kai seems to glean from helping us vacuum the carpet, or empty the dishwasher, or set the table, or water the plants, or bring in the trash bins, or clean up his toys... (Ha! I threw that last one in there because it's so completely false that I thought it might get past you. But I guess I couldn't keep a straight face.) Anyhow, yeah - if we do it, he wants to help. And so he helps our neighbour with the gizmo thingy:

Although, naturally when I went outside a few minutes ago to take some photos of him "helping", he was completely preoccupied with these guys:

But nevertheless, he has been helping.

Oh oh! My favourite statement of the day:

"Dad, dad! I need my sunglasses so I can be Batman!"

What four year old doesn't want to turn into Batman while he's watching the WB in his alien pajamas by simply donning a pair of sunglasses?

Of course, after I took this picture, he wanted to take some photos himself - and check it out - can you see who's on TV?