Visit to Southern Manitoba

We just returned from a wonderful time hanging out in Andrew's Mom's home town with Andrew's parents.

Highlights included:

- The hotel pool and waterslide. Eva did a few runs with Andrew and then declared that she would do it herself and that she DID NOT want to be caught. She clambered up the spiral staircase alone and zipped right down. Big dunkeroo at the end. She swam her chin above water and then it was our cue to step in. I felt so proud of her fearlessness and of the progress she made on her swimming skills! Micah also showed off his love of the water. He didn't go down by himself, but on the second day we would slide down on our backs with him lying on his back on top of us, and dunk at the end. He came up every time with a big smile and demanding "more".



- The tour of Andrew's second cousin's dairy farm. The farm will be officially organic as of next month. It was particularly fun and relevant to me because of my current interest in nutrition and raw milk. I peppered them with questions including do they drink their raw milk ("oh yes!"). The kids had a great time in the sand box, feeding the chickens (interestingly, their presence is part of the transition to organic), patting a cat and a week old calf. They didn't enjoy the hay ride or seeing the milking process nearly as much as I expected (but I did!).

- The singing of grace at a lunch meal with about a dozen relatives. The beauty of it gave us the shivers, and it even made me well up a little. I am reading a book about Christians in Muslim countries right now and recognized that this sort of public expression of thanks is not an option for many. It was very moving.

We had a really fun time meeting relatives, seeing where Alice grew up, playing cards in the evenings, enjoying Mennonite dishes and just having a little getaway with Grandma and Grandpa.

That said, I am also glad and relieved that the kids and I will now be staying put with my parents' place as home base for the remainder of our time in Canada. Even the lure of Target a few hours south probably won't tempt me enough to pack up again before I have to.

bbq and photogs

We had a great time at Trevor and Kathy's house today. Here are a few pics. By the way, for those of you that care. The lenses we bought are awesome. The 10-22 is fun and the 85 prime lens is silky smooth. Kind of like I was on our first date...hey Dana.

This is Trev and Kath's dog Sengi. He's really nice but in this photo he looks like a bear. I like this photo a lot..85mm


The Gang. Check out the size of their backyard...it's awesome.


Eva posing in their amazing backyard


A photo of both of us. I got the go go gadget arm.


Eva Swinging with Mom.


Eva and Dad...

Our Trip to Saskatchewan

We have arrived home safe and sound from a precious couple of days with our family in SK. We had a truly wonderful time.

We really enjoyed the scenery on the way there.

One of the many highlights for all of us was seeing all the cousins playing together. Tyler made a sign to welcome us.

The yard was gorgeous. Jean has amazing flower gardens.

We spent the day at Pierce Lake.

Eva enjoyed the brilliant green bug found on the beach.

Mel BBQ'd up some mean burgers.

Mom and me

Flippers and Nets, No and Mine

We promised Eva that we'd buy her some flippers once we got to Canada. Here they are! She has been wearing them proudly all morning.

The kids like to re-inact the scene from Finding Nemo where Nemo is scooped up in the net. Until now they have been using a strainer from my kitchen. I was glad to replace it with real fish nets.

In other news, Micah has added "no" and "mine" to his vocabulary. Terrific.

Saskatoon

We're in Saskatoon, in the perfect hotel situation. There is a crib for Micah and a pullout bed for Eva. We have an adjoining room with my parents. Our bed is king sized. The hotel has a pool. The breakfast is hot, delicious, and free. Couldn't ask for anything more.

The kids were awesome travellers once again. They handled the 8 hour drive like pros.

Hopefully sometime soon we'll have time to post some photos!

Quick Update

Things are going great! Andrew's camera stuff showed up on Wednesday and he has been loving them. I am enthralled with the 10-22mm lense. It's such a different perspective and exciting to be able to get so much into one frame.

We have been doing tons of visiting and I am so grateful to spend time with the amazing friends and family we have here in Winnipeg. (It has been exhausting though!)

Tomorrow we're hitting the road for Pierceland SK. We have extended family there. We visited two years ago and had a wonderful time so I am looking forward to it a lot. Andrew and cousin Courtney weren't there two years ago so it will be fun to introduce Andrew around and to meet Courtney for the first time!

Lovin' Life in Winnipeg

We are having a wonderful time in Winnipeg! The kids were exceptionally excellent on the flights and are loving living with Nana and Papa.

We arrived on time and missing only one car seat. The airline gave us a spare so it was no problem, and the seat showed up yesterday and intact. We must say that the service from beginning to end of our travel day was outstanding. As was the delicious dinner my parents made.

That night wasn't so great with wakeups, scared of the dark problems, thirst issues, and insomnia issues.

Sunday we went to church and saw a ton of our good friends. We had lunch together afterward and it was so great to see them and catch up and laugh together again.

The kids have been loving their time with my parents. They set up an awesome room for the kids, and Eva and Micah are having such fun discovering the toys and enjoying them with my parents. It is a real treat for all of us to get a chance to have mix-and-match one-on-one time. On Monday at the end of Eva's Quiet Time she asked if she could go upstairs and "play with my friend Nana". Micah talks about Papa, Papa all the time. The kids would often rather stay here than join me on outings like driving Daddy to work.

My Dad build an addition to their deck which is magnificent. We have enjoyed that quite a bit already and look forward to lots more hanging out on it.

There have been a couple of sour notes, however.

Yesterday afternoon Micah went downstairs by himself. He was on his way up the stairs when he burst into tears of fear. And he was subdued and weird for the whole rest of the night. He loves to have baths and he wouldn't go near the tub. He clung to me like a monkey. When we asked him what was wrong, he held up his hands and roared like a monster (so cute). The only thing we can think of is that the sump pump, located under the stairs, must have gone on while he was climbing up them. He refused to go to sleep and ended up nodding off in Andrew's arms several hours after his bedtime. Poor kid. I hope that pump will go off again one time when a bunch of us are there to reassure him and help him to understand that there isn't in fact a monster under the stairs.

The other one involves a lost shipment of much anticipated camera equipment. We will be steering clear of UPS and Purolator from now on. UPS contracted Purolator to deliver our package and there was no one here last Thursday to receive the very speedy shipment. After that it dropped off the radar and no one will or can give us any answers about where it is and when it will get here. Andrew is extremely frustrated and angry and sad because he wants to use the new equipment for our upcoming trip to Saskatchewan.

Looking forward to more fun tomorrow (and hopefully a delivered package!)

On Being a Clown

Eva told me yesterday that she doesn't think she'd like to be a clown, because her nose would get tired of having the red nose on it.

I was impressed with how she thought ahead to the practical implications of a given career decision.

Books and Nemo

We had an awesome morning today! Last night I got an email from a COF friend saying that her teenaged kids were cleaning out their bookshelves, and that there were many preschool/elementary books for the taking. I got all atwitter just considering the prospect! And we came home with stacks of wonderful reading material for now and in the future. We also came home with two 'Pound Puppies' toys which I think will be quite nice for the upcoming airplane ride.

Next we headed over to the store to buy Eva's Nemo stuffy. She was extremely patient waiting for the store to open (30 minutes late). Then she took care of the whole transaction herself. And WOW was she excited.

French Toasted Cockroach

I think my adrenalin surge has finally subsided. The kids and I came back famished from a wonderful morning, and I started fixing french toast. I had mixed up the eggs and milk, and pulled out the frying pan and got the burner going under it. I detected swift and very unexpected movement and squealed loudly as I realized that a cockroach had just run up the outside of the pan and into it! As the pan heated the roach did a few frantic laps then bailed out into the egg mixture, where its doggie paddle got it nowhere. It finally just sunk to the bottom. The whole disgusting episode ended with a flush. Good riddance! Blech! Shudder.

We have had an unusual amount of rain lately and I guess it's forcing the cockroaches to find new places to hang out. Despite our decision not to fumigate, we normally don't often see cockroaches in the house. Now I've seen three in the last 24 hours. Hate those things.

Excited About Nemo

A few months ago Eva saw a big Nemo stuffy in the window of a store. She hasn't forgotten about it, and every time we shop nearby she mentions the Nemo stuffy. Today was no exception. With our trip coming up and 'airplane distractions' in mind, it occurred to me that pursuing this purchase might not be a bad idea at all. It further occurred to me that Eva might have enough cash in her 'spending' piggy bank to cover the cost.

So we went into the store and asked to see the Nemo. Eva held it and hugged it and checked it out and did not want to let it go. I explained that if she really wanted it, she could spend her piggy bank money on it, tomorrow. Delaying gratification isn't the strong suit of any three year old, but she was eventually convinced to give Nemo back to the salesgirl, who agreed to hold it for us. Eva talked about Nemo all the way home. This evening she and her Dad counted out enough piggy bank money to cover the purchase. The money is currently in a baggie inside her purse, which is located on her bedside table. Tomorrow should be fun!

Another Good Park Day.

The weather was very nice this morning. Cloudy and kind of cool. I actually wore shoes and pants. Here are some shots from the day...



We thought it would be fun to peak from behind some skinny trees. Back in the day I was skinny like a bean pole....I guess I didn't get the memo that I'm fat now. I can't hide behind a tree like I once could. Micah was supposed to peak his face not his bum.


Duna joined us for the outing. I think she enjoyed it.





Good times today.

Interesting Raw Milk Report

An NPR video about Raw Milk.

Duna Hospitalized

The last couple of days Duna hasn't looked like she's feeling so great. Today she had a couple of accidents. So I thought I'd drop by the vet's office with her so he could take a look at her. He agreed she wasn't looking so well and wanted to do blood tests to understand what was going on. They showed that she is severely anemic, her kidneys aren't functioning so well, and her liver is barely working. He was frankly surprised she was even walking around. He recommended she stay overnight at the clinic for intravenous fluids. I was a little reluctant to leave her, but after discussing it I agreed with him. The vet told me he will be doing rounds every couple of hours during the night and that he would call me if there is any major change for the worse.

I just talked to him and she is doing well. Eyes a little brighter, and resting comfortably.

Duna is such a trooper. Just yesterday she brought me a toy for me to throw for her.

I was so grateful to our vet for taking a full hour to check her, discuss with me, work around increasingly restless small children, run blood tests on the spot, clip Duna's nails and brush her out while we waited for results. He has given us very good care and bedside manner and I so appreciate it.

I guess tomorrow we'll discuss further what comes next. But it sounds like this is it. I am very sad for Duna, that she is enduring this illness. But I am relieved that these obvious signs are coming today, and not the day before we leave or two weeks after we leave. I pray that we will have a chance to spend some quality time together, and then ideally that she would die peacefully in her sleep. But if it has to be through my decision I pray for her peace and mine with it.

STILL Raining, Wow

I can't believe it rained all night and it's still raining! What a novelty. I'm not even sure what to do here, I'm so used to always expecting it to be blazing hot and dry.

Rain, Sweet Rain

It is raining. A lovely constant pitter patter. Very unusual and very welcome. On the rare occasion that we do get rain here, it usually seems to be a deluge.

Government Responsible for American Obesity?

A ten minute ABC News Special Report called How To Get Fat Without Really Trying. Peter Jennings talks about the role of government in the obesity epidemic in the United States. I don't care for the way they blame government, because ultimately each individual is responsible for what he or she eats. However it is true that an alarming proportion of the items available on grocery store shelves have very little nutritional value, if any. Lots of "food for thought"* regarding subsidies, lobbying, and the ingredients of foods that have become staples in many homes.

*pun fully intended ;)

Electrical Resolution?

The electrical company came out today. They poked around and ended up hooking some of my underground wires to a chain and a winch. Very interesting. Anyway they changed out a wire between my metre and underground zone which was shorting out. So far so good in the outage and voltage variability department.

Our maintenance guy came by this morning and I called him when the electrical guys were here. He came by and heard and saw for himself about the problems and resolution.

So seems to be good news.

Still pending is the reimbursement for our stuff that was damaged by the big power surge. Sounds like I'll be chasing after this one for a while.

Proven Wrong

Well Micah immediately proved me wrong and added second syllables to some of his words. Here are 40 seconds of audio-visual proof of his prowess.

Micah's Words

Micah is starting to talk a lot more. Here are some; capital letter indicates emphatic pronounciation:

puP (puppy)
poP (popcorn)
poo (pool)
tooT
pooP (he is already making pooh jokes- points out anything vaguely ressembling pooh and says "pooP", then laughs hysterically)
oaP (oatmeal)
mil-K (this last syllable comes out sounding like a click of the tongue- it's very funny)
ba (bob)
da (dad)
dilla (quesadilla)
cheese
claudia (he practices this one a lot and actually does really well)
bertha
duna
eva
peepee
back
hoT
cat
eaT
mama