Edmonton Day 4 - Shopping and Fairwell

Today was our last day in Edmonton. The kids weren't ready to come home yet, but most everyone else was ready to sleep in their own beds once again. Unfortunately, throughout the night, some sort of bug or motion sickness hit the men in the family, and Tyler, Jason and Barrett were down for the count a bit. Barrett got the worst of it, spending most of the night in the bathroom and most of the morning as well. Tyler felt pretty sick first thing in the morning, and has slowly felt better as the day has progressed, and Jason was dealt with some queasiness, but has been able to avoid too much bathroom time. Because of all the sickness floating around though, it left the rest of us in a quick pinch to try and get ready, eat breakfast and be packed up in time for check-out. We managed to scrape by. Jason and Ali were on the road first thing as Jacob travels best in the morning, and Scott, Janie, Barrett and Kari weren't too far behind. Barrett wasn't feeling up for much more than sleep and home. The girls and their boys headed to the mall and since Tyler didn't want to be too far away from a bathroom quite yet, we decided to head there as well. Our first stop was at the toy store, where the kids spent some time looking at trains, puppets, dolls, puzzles and pretty much anything they could hope for. I bought them each a magnetic book for sacrament meeting - Mr. Potato Head for Max, and My Little Pony for Lucy. Tyler had a few stops in the mall he wanted to make as well, so while he shopped, the kids and I busied ourselves looking at the aquariums, and playing games in the stores he was interested in. Max's new game right now is to say to me, "I don't like you!" to which I respond with an major tickle-torture session. It's gotten to the point where he can't even get the sentence out without laughing, because he knows what's coming. The kids also enjoyed a stop in the Disney Store, where we saw tons of Princess and the Frog merchandise, as well as their old-time favorites: Cars, Wall-e, Cinderella and Pooh Bear. Lucy saw a set of Cinderella dress-up clothes and said to me, "Mom, this is exactly what I wanted for Christmas! Why didn't you get it for me?" I looked at the price tag and replied, "Because it's 100 bucks!" She doesn't have a good concept of money, but she knows $100 is a lot, so she was pretty quiet after that. We also spotted a GIANT aristocats "Marie" stuffy, which I thought we were going to hear a lot of begging for, but she just gave it a hug, and then moved on. Max was pretty fascinated with the Buzz Lightyear boxing gloves and the character cell phones. We moved on to a few more dad stores and then headed to the foodcourt for some lunch. The kids had their typical A&W (can I just say I'm looking forward to being home, so my kids can eat something other than a burger and fries for every meal?). Tyler and I each got a Thai wrap from our favorite place, Westcoast Wraps and Smoothies. I had been looking forward to this all week, and it didn't disappoint. We met up with Sarah and Janeen and they suggested we check out a place called Urban Behavior which was just off the foodcourt. Being pregnant, shopping is not much of a thrill to me at this point. It's exhausting, for one, and not much fun to look at clothes that don't fit, and won't for a while. We did manage to find a totally cute ivory pea-coat for me though, for only $30. Totally excited. Lucy had moved on to shopping with her aunties, so while we waited for them to finish up in their last stores, Tyler, Max and I sat on a bench and relaxed. I could tell Max was getting tired, because he wasn't really saying much anymore. He sat and ate his SpongeBob fruit snacks and then pretended to paint pictures for us. By about 4:15 we were headed out to the vehicles to head home. Max fell asleep in about 90 seconds (no exaggeration) and we let him sleep just a few minutes before we turned on the kids DVD player with some 'kid-shows'. A 4:30pm nap is not my idea of a good plan. The kids watched their new Backyardigans pretty much all the way home, except for a quick potty stop in Red Deer, where they also got a few treats - cheezies, smarties and gummie bears...did I complain about burgers and fries earlier? This is a much better meal, I'm sure. We got home just before 8pm and the kids ran wild around the house with their dad for nearly an hour, playing with Max's guns. They paused for a brief fuel-up of fettuccine alfredo, that I insisted they eat. We were happy to be home safe, and that our house still existed. When I went to turn on the tub, however, we got another surprise...no water. Not really all that surprising actually. It's been pretty cold this week, and we haven't used the water, so it's not shocking to have some ice. The surprising part was that when we warmed it up, the unfrozen water didn't not flow nicely out of the tap, but rather through the crack in the pipe under the tub all over the floor. Tyler jumped up like a shot and ran out to the well to turn the water-supply off before we had an even bigger problem on our hands. At this point, there has been no solution, except that we know what needs to be done. Hopefully something will be open tomorrow (New Years Day) so we can get some pipe to fix it. We took a few deep breaths and consigned ourselves to a night without water (again...does that sound dejected and frustrated? I'm trying to look on the bright side), and hopes for a quick fix tomorrow. The good news is, this is pretty much the absolute last piece of pipe that hasn't been replaced yet, so hopefully after this...we'll be done. I really need some good news like that. Chant with me: "I love my house. I love my house. I love my house." It's easier to love in July than it is in January. So, with that, we're too exhausted to wait for midnight, so at 11:13pm, I will wish the world a Happy New Year. It's been a great year. 2010 should be awesome too...I mean, when you've got the best family that ever existed, it's not hard. That's speaking of my immediate and extended families. Love you all...and I'm sure glad I'm moving into a New Year with such wonderful people in my life. I have THE best husband in the world who is not only handy...he's handsome too - and my Best Friend - and check out our kids. Seriously, they're awesome. That scripture sure rings true in my mind often: 'becometh as a little child..." Tonight, when my kids found out there was no water, they didn't complain, or even get discouraged...in fact, all the did was say, "Hey dad, we can't have a tubbie cuz there's no water. Can I help you fix it?" As I helped Max say the prayer for Family Prayers tonight, I felt rushed and tired and wanted to get the kids to bed. But as I prompted him with the words to say, my mind thought about how this was the last time we'd say prayers for 2009. The year played through my mind quickly and I realized we have so much to be grateful for. We've had a few bumps, but our family is healthy, happy, and whole at the end of this year, and any other bumps really don't measure up compared to those things. In Max's simple language, I prompted him to say thank you for the blessings of 2009 and to pray that we will remember to be grateful in 2010. Goodnight.