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.

Bathtime blogging

So my Thanksgiving resolution is to squeeze blogging time into otherwise potentially inactive times. Right now I'm camped out in the upstairs hallway, watching Kai pull all of his bath toys into the tub and feeling the damp heat of Jake's breath on my leg. (It's safe to assume that wherever I am when I'm home, he's within a 3-foot radius of me.) I don't have to sit here, mind you. I'm beyond the stage where I feel I have to be in the bathroom while Kai plays for 15 minutes in the bathtub.

Aside - when exactly, are we allowed to do that without feeling guilty? Someone once told me that they heard of a person telling their child to sing while they were in the bathtub, so they just had to listen for the singing to stop. I have come running back to the bathroom when I heard dead silence for a moment, but it wasn't an issue. After all, a kid who can swim in a pool where he can't touch *should* be okay in a bathtub with his mother in the next room putting away laundry, but I still feel like a terrible mom when I have to run downstairs to grab something because accidents can happen. Anyhow, I digress SO terribly...

But I am wondering if Children's Aid is going to be bursting in on me in the next few minutes.

All that to say that I could be folding and putting away laundry, or wiping down the counter in the bathroom, or filing away some necessary documents in the office/spare room.

But I'm not. I'm here with you, because, well, I've been neglecting you again. It's not that I'm doing it intentionally... there are just a lot of other things that need to get done when I've got free time.

Like making the Christmas presents. I know, it's only October, but I've got a weird deadline this year.

Oh oh - here's something cute to tell you that will make this rambling nonsensical post all worthwhile:

The backstory is that last year I purchased a pair of bike leggings and a long-sleeve bike shirt from Keith's work - they were very much on sale and then some with his discount. I hadn't actually worn them until today. It's not that I haven't wanted to - they're just a little on the "athletic" side for work. Well, this morning it ws 37°F as I was leaving for work, and the high was 70°F, so I had the opportunity to use my bike clothing. I ended up changing back into said clothing when I left to come home.

So, this afternoon I entered the house with Kai greeting me at the door and asking me to come cuddle with him on the couch. I said "okay, just let me get changed", to which he replied "no, your outfit is perfect. It's perfect." He sized up my bike clothes. "Yep. You look perfect."

I said "really? wow... thanks sweetie. That's very nice."

And he said, "Well, you look good enough. Yeah... good enough. C'mon to the couch."

Good enough?

Gee thanks.

Ah... the nuances of compliments.

Anyhow, that was almost two hours ago. I just got changed out of those clothes a few minutes ago. But apparently they were "good enough".

What else what else?

Oh yeah, our oven died yesterday while we were cooking a 12.5 pound turkey for 20 hungry people. That was great.

Thankfully Scott and Brian, our quick-thinking and even-quicker-acting friends dashed out to buy 5 rotisserie chickens. Aren't rotisserie chickens great? And so are Scott and Brian. Thanks friends. All in all, it was a rather chaotic evening, but we still had fun. After all, it beats having spaghetti for thanksgiving anyday. Not to mention that thanks to our neighbours and their functioning oven, we now have a good supply of turkey leftovers. Soup anyone?

Anyhow, I should really wash this kid before he turns pruny. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Yellowstone Revisited

I know. Another long silence... No excuses, just average busyness. My folks have been visiting, I've been traveling, and life has been trucking on. Blogging has taken a significant backseat - my Google Reader is jam-packed with over 300 blog entries, and I am seriously considering cutting out about two thirds of my feeds.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon being very domestic. In addition to vacuuming almost all the carpeting, mopping all the lineoleum and doing three loads of laundry, I made two batches of curried butternut squash soup (with Braeburn apples and shallots, about 2 gallons in total), two batches of lasagna, and a batch of chocolate chip cookies (because there should always be chocolate chip cookies.) Still on the agenda for this week are a couple pies, as well as a shopping trip to acquire the fixings for a turkey dinner. This will be the first time that our family has been together for (Canadian) Thanksgiving since we moved to the U.S. - two years ago Keith was at a wedding in Maine, and last year he and Kai went to Canada for a family reunion. So to mark the occasion, we've invited over a few other families for a turkey dinner. This will be my, uh... second time cooking a turkey. I find that amusing.

Oh - did I promise something from Yellowstone? We went... it was lovely. We saw a bunch of elk, a lot of bison, a coyote, and a few mule deer. We saw many many pronghorns on our way to the park while driving through Wyoming. We even saw a mommy black bear and two little black cubs, but the best black bear was this little guy, given to Kai by the nice lady at the Mammoth Springs gift shop. His name is somewhere between Hugger, Cuddles, Bear, Blueberry and Strawberry. We're all confused now.


Highlights, apart from the free stuffed black bear:

Seeing a rainbow at Old Faithful.


Watching a bison cross the road right in front of our van.


Seeing water squirt out of the ground.


Having toques to stay warm when the weather turned chilly.


Sharing it all with my parents.


Finally, my favourite ominous photo.

There and Back Again

Becky is home. Hooray.

And we're off!

It's official. We received our clearance yesterday, had the last of three test flights this morning, and we're flying out tomorrow on our way to the South Pacific. I have to admit, as much as spending two extra days with my three boys was wonderful, it was good to be set free from the limbo of not knowing. I don't function very well with uncertainty - it almost paralyzes me. I came home yesterday after Test Flight the Third was scrapped for the second time and was fully unable to do anything productive. I could pack a little more, but what if we don't leave for another few days? I could start a little craft project, but what if it gets interrupted? I could just... uh...

Yeah. Limbo.

So instead I sat outside under the tree on my favourite chair and caught up on some Martha Stewart magazines that have been piling up lately.

And then the word came through in the late afternoon yesterday that we are cleared to go and land and measure and do research. And all the other fun things involved in this study.

So today, after Test Flight the Third "take 3" actually worked, I came home with a purpose. I have packing to do, tidying and cleaning and dishes, things to mail, a blog entry to write... all sorts of things that I need to do before I leave the house tomorrow morning at 6:45 AM.

Including a little bit of sitting outside under the tree on my favourite chair with my favourite non-human.


When I was six, my father went on a short term mission trip to Japan for three weeks. I remember taking him to the airport with my mom, and being surprised at how upset my mother was that he was leaving. A little while later, she explained to me that she was just sad about not being with him. After 10 years of marriage, they hadn't been apart for even a couple nights in a row. Three weeks seemed like forever!

Unlike my parents, Keith and I have often been separated for a few nights, a week, or even a few weeks while I travel for work. Thankfully, Keith is quite content to play the role of the-spouse-at-home, and happily faces my impending absences without complaint or question. And for the most part, I remain emotionally unflappable when I think about being away from home for an extended time.

But sometimes it hits me, even for a moment, that I am really going to miss my sweet boys. Today it happened as we flew close to our subdivision in Boulder just after take-off: I'm going to be in this exact place tomorrow, and it will be the last time I see my house for over three weeks!

So while I'm doing this


Know that my heart will be pining after my silly mutt:


And my adorable bub


And especially my sweet Keith


Stay well, family. I'll see you soon.

Happy Birthday, Canada!

I'm exhausted, but before I head off to bed, I just wanted to wish everyone a happy Canada Day! I hope your day was as enjoyable as ours. We hosted a barbecue, had a wonderful time with some of our American friends, and we even had our Canadian buddy Tim here to celebrate with us. Tim, I'm so glad we were able to hang out with you for the weekend - you are a joy to have around!

Happy birthday to my favourite country.

I queue. Eye cue. Aye Q.

So apparently, not only is my brother likely smarter than I am because he was born first, but by virtue of being born, I likely made him smarter than he would have been in my absence.

It is nice that people spend their time studying things like this. One more reason to wonder whether or not we should have only one child.

Cheers, JP. I always knew you were smart.

Swan lake

(1 minute ago)

Me: When you're finished watching your movie, we should make a card for your dad.

Kai: Is today Father's Day?

Me: No. Tomorrow.

Kai: Is there a kids' day? One where you do nice things for your kid?

Me: Um... no.

(pause)

Me: Well, maybe your birthday or Christmas... Or maybe everyday.

We're back inside. The sky is rumbling and I'm expecting rain anytime now. Thankfully, it was beautiful this morning while Kai and I were in Lafayette for another preschool kid's birthday party. It was held at a park at a little lake in the middle of a subdivision. (Reservoir, perhaps, might be the appropriate term.) The lake has paddleboats which the birthday boy's family rented for us. Ours was in the shape of a swan.

Once we came home we had another little project. Here's a sneak peak:

"thank you God for the cookie recipe"

I'm feeling a little like I'm neglecting you. After almost a week with no posts, I felt I should grace you with my presence once again. Do you feel graced?

Don't answer that.

The assembly line continueth. At last count I have completed 23 blocks. At some point I'm going to need to determine exactly how many I'll need in toto, but for now I'm just going to keep sewing sewing sewing.

I think I've read that Nemo book too many times.

I timed myself, by the way. 16 minutes for one block, start to finish, not including the actual block cutting. Add a couple minutes here or there for refilling the bobbin or changing the CD in the CD player, and I'd guess that three blocks per hour is a good estimate. It is a good thing that I find it so therapeutic.

Anyhow, I'm itching to get back upstairs to my quilt-making right now, but I made a promise to make some cookies, so I'm going to have to do that first. If I wasn't so tired after supper, I would have made them with Kai, but I asked him if he would mind if I made them after he went to bed and he could have some tomorrow. He said that would be fine.

What a gracious little kid he is somedays.

Most days.

That would likely explain why he thanked God for "the cookie recipe" in his nighttime prayer tonight. This was along with his puddles, the neighbour kids, our house, Jake and, well, "everything".

Off to the cookie-making. And yes - it's the same recipe that I've been making since I was ... oh, I don't know... 7? 5? I don't know that I've ever thanked God specifically for the recipe though.

An ideal Sunday

This afternoon an ideal Sunday afternoon. The weather was perfect: sunny, but not too hot. We played our newly constructed bola golf game. New plants were purchased and planted. The van was steam-cleaned. Two loaves of The Great Pumpkin were baked. Both lunch and dinner were consumed outside.

What more could one ask for?

Attack of the Jesus Tomato

On Saturday morning we went to the opening of a new Christian bookstore in Boulder. Becky and I kept the fact the Bob and Larry from Veggie Tales were going to be there a secret. It certainly was a surprise to Kai when they walked into the store. For the first ten minutes Kai essentially hid behind some shelves as the giant vegetable characters walked around the store. He finally warmed up to them (after a great deal of encouragement) enough to have his picture taken first with Bob and then with Larry. Twice he indicated to me that these guys were different because "they have arms and leg". He seemed perplexed as to how they were able to walk like people because they just bounce around on their t.v. show. The little Sherlock Holmes even figured out that people were actually in the suits. In this last picture he is looking at a space in the suit where the glove of the suit is attached to the arm. "Dad, I see skin in there. There is a person in there."