Mont Cascades

Well, it's Sunday again.  I'm exhausted.  I don't feel I've taken enough time to decompress in preparation for the Summer of George.  Pretty much I have filled this whole week with as many fun things as I can come up with.  It's setting some pretty high expectations for the following weeks.

At soccer on Thursday night, we found out our friends, who just got home from a trip to Alberta and who we missed terribly, were going to Mont Cascades Water Park on Saturday.  And so we invited ourselves to join them.  Pretty nice of us, hey?  We're awesome like that.

Mont Cascades is about 2 1/2 hours away just north of Ottawa.  It's a ski hill in the winter and water park in the summer.  I wasn't planning on being away all day Saturday, so Friday suddenly got really busy.  I had to have mine and the 2 kids talks ready on Friday because I knew it would be a later night on Saturday.  Plus I got some groceries to take with us for a picnic lunch.  Cleaned the house.  Had the kids clean their rooms.  Made sure all the bathing suits that we had been using all week were clean.  And went to the neighbours to play in the sprinkler.  I was exhausted all day from a very terrible night's sleep (seriously, I tossed and turned until about 3:30am unable to sleep - it sucked), so we opted for a night at home eating burgers and watching "Back To The Future II".  It was awesome.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early and in the car to head to the water park.  Tyler had the brilliant idea of playing the alphabet game in the van on the way, and then we tried to find all the numbers from 1-9 as well.  It took most of the trip and he commented, "Hey kids, when we were young we didn't have DVD players in the van so whenever we went on trips anywhere we would play games like these."  We also listened to the top 40 with Kasey Kasum for a few minutes and he explained that before iPods and MP3s and downloading music, if you were broke, you listened to the radio and tried to record your favourite songs onto cassette tape.  I'm sure our kids think we're so old.

It was a bit cloudy and windy at the water park to start, but it heated up and turned out to be a fantastic day.  In fact, it heated up enough that we all got a little toasty.  My shoulders are crazy sore today and the kids have red faces.  Grrr!

We made the mistake of starting with 2 of the big slides first which scared Lucy and Logan and I thought our day was going to be ruined before it even started.  There were lots of tears (Max loved it).  Once we found the kiddie pool with kids water slides Lucy and Logan were happy and proceeded to be content there for about 4 hours.  It was awesome.  Great day!

 At one point I had to take Logan out to the van for a nap.  I set up the playpen and sat with him while he slept, promising him that he could do more water slides when he woke up.  After about an hour I decided I should probably wake him so he would have a chance to do some more slides before we had to leave.  I gently rubbed his shoulder and whispered his name.  Normally he would fuss or at least yawn or stretch and lay in the bed for a few minutes before agreeing to get up.  Today, he sat straight up without a yawn or a stretch and immediately said, "Now we can do more slides?"

On the way home we decided to make a quick stop at IKEA because we don't get there very often.  What was supposed to be a cheap dinner (I love IKEA prices!) and a quick peak at curtains ended up being 2 1/2 hours!  We didn't get on the road home until 9pm.  (After MULTIPLE potty breaks - seriously, can't kids figure out their digestive systems and go to the bathroom all at once?  Graphic - pee and poo do not need 2 separate trips to the bathroom!)

We were home by about 10:45pm.  The kids fell asleep in the van and we carried them inside to their beds.  

But we did get some curtains and a picture.  I'm excited to put them up.  

Today we had to be at church extra early now that Tyler is Elder's Quorum president and has to attend Ward Council.  The kids and I hung out in the primary room and ate breakfast, practiced their talks and I reviewed my talk while they played in the nursery.  I ended up scraping almost everything I had written and gave a talk that I had not prepared.  I think it went well.  

Logan had to take a turn practicing a talk in the primary room too, of course.  It was so funny to only be able to see the top of his head at the pulpit.  

Logan has taken to calling Sister Piasetski in our ward "Grandma".  She's the grandma of one of his friends and his favourite person in nursery (thank goodness the nursery tears have ended!) and now he calls her Grandma.  It's sweet.  

We had a linger longer after church that was pretty lame.  With so many people moving and people on vacation there weren't very many people there.  Plus we are all SO tired that we just wanted to get home.  Thank goodness for a day of rest.  I Love that we don't have anywhere else to be today.  I need a break.  

I didn't sleep good again on Friday night before our trip to the water park and I was beginning to worry that I was hitting an insomnia phase, like what I experienced as a teenager.  Fortunately, lots of driving, a day in the sun at a water park and a really late night (plus a sunburn) were a recipe for a good night's sleep last night.  I'm not sure it's a recipe I can repeat very often!

Max's Talk

Being Kind is Doing and Saying Nice Things to Others

Being kind is something that can be very hard, but it can also be very fun.  

Some ways that we can be kind are:

• giving a compliment, like saying, “You’re awesome!”
• listening
• remembering to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’
• Saying sorry
• sharing
• drawing a picture
• being reverent

Sometimes it is hard to be kind when someone else is being mean.  It is important to still be kind.  There is a primary song that says, 

“I want to be kind to everyone

For that is right, you see

So I say to myself, remember this

Kindness begins with me”

I know Heavenly Father and Jesus are happy when we are kind

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.  

Lucy's Talk

Being Kind is Doing and Saying Nice Things to Others

I would like to read you a story from this month’s Friend magazine

(READ STORY)

I like that story because it shows how important helping and doing nice things for others can be.  I also like that the sister was still kind to the girls, even though she was trying to stop them from being mean to her brother.  She wasn’t mean in return, but instead decided to create a game that they could all play together.  Sometimes, being kind is forgiving.  Or showing kindness even when others are being mean.  

Helping someone who is being picked on is one example of being kind.  

Some other examples of being kind include:

• serving others
• complimenting a friend or family member
• visiting people who are sick
• sharing
• drawing a picture
• bringing a friend to church or other activity

Heavenly Father and Jesus want us to help each other.  Jesus was always kind and helps everyone.  I can follow His example.  

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.  

I Aim to Please

As if this week wasn't great already, we decided to add to the mix today a trip to the Splash Park.  We went to the library first, because, why not?  It's summertime.  I plan on spending a lot of time at the beach.  And I want to get my read on.

We decided to check out the splash park at the base.  Lucy went on a field trip there last week with her class and raved about it.  It's minutes away from our house and we haven't gone yet.  So today was the day.

I tried to find some shade and read the Ensign from this month.  Hoping it would give me some inspiration for my talk on Sunday.  As I was laying in the grass (while the kids ate lunch) I noticed a rainbow ring around the sun.  Pretty cool.  I didn't really get any inspiration about my talk, but I did have a brilliant idea of a gift that I want to get together for Lucy.  I wish I had prepared it for her birthday, but it'll have to just be a late gift.  I'm looking forward to working on it this week so I can give it to her as soon as possible.  More on that later.  

While we were there, the Ice cream Truck showed up.  I had some American money left in the van from our trip, so I decided to splurge.  The kids exclaimed, "This is the best day of my life!"  and proceeded to explain why, "Splash park, ice-cream truck, chips, AND a green apple!  Mom's awesome!"  I had no idea a green apple could induce so much excitement.

The ice-cream was a good break to dry off before we headed to the park half of the splash park.  It was fun there too, but it started to get hot, so we headed home.  Not much shade to be had at that splash park.

Logan loves these little windows and pretending to order food through them.  Here he is requesting 5 hot dogs.  

While Logan napped, I spent the afternoon working on mine and the kid's talks for sunday.  And getting us organized for soccer tonight.  Good times.  

S'more summer

This morning we got a call from one of our neighbours informing us that the library was doing a story time in the park right by our house.  And apparently they'll be doing it every wednesday morning.  So we went.

They sang songs, like the Wheels on the Bus and Head Shoulders Knees and Toes and read stories and broke out the parachute.  It was a lot of fun.

Then we played at the park for an hour before heading back for lunch.  We invited our friends to join us in our backyard later in the day for some slip n slide fun too.

Then, this evening we had all the YM/YW over for the activity.  The plan was to have a bonfire and roast marshmallow and make s'mores, but it was 30 degrees outside and we did not feel like sitting outside in the heat in front of a fire.  

So we played games inside instead.  Mafia, charades, reverse charades.  We had a great time, and finished the night with s'mores.  It was still stinkin' hot outside, so no one lingered around the fire.  But the treats were still good.  

Lazy Hazy

Went to a new beach today with old friends.  It was a nice combo.  Something different to change things up.  The kids loved it.

This beach even has a park at it, which makes it double-y fun.

The only thing I've been dreading about summer is having to do groceries with all 3 kids in tow.  It's hard enough going with just Logan and keeping him happy, but the thought of triple the work, plus triple the requests of "Mom, can we get this?" every 2 seconds was not something I was looking forward to.  Until!  I had the brilliant idea that I could go grocery shopping Tuesday evening after dinner.  The kids stayed home with Tyler and I went out.  BY MYSELF!  Whoa!  

It was beautifully glorious!  I joked when I was leaving that my purse was so light since I didn't have to bring diapers, wipes, toys for entertaining and snacks for distracting with me.  Although I did feel hungry at the end.  

And I bought these awesome curtains at Costco for our bedroom.  Love them!

Did I mention, I LOVE SUMMER!

Long Weekend Forever!

I wish long weekends could last forever.  Especially when they're as awesome as this one!  We all slept in this morning after our late night at the fireworks yesterday.  The branch was throwing a Canada Day BBQ from 11-2, so we ate breakfast and headed there.  Literally.  Breakfast was at about 10:30.  I love summer.  In fact, Max didn't even eat breakfast, so he declared his 2 hotdogs breakfast.

There was great food and music playing over a karaoke machine.  Logan spotted the microphone and decided to get his groove on to some Elvis.

We set up our bounce house and let the kids play on that for the afternoon.  It was difficult to insist they wait in line to take turns, but it all worked out.

In fact, Logan had a melt down every time he had to wait in line (I think he's a little tired) so we finally went to go play frisbee instead. 

Then there was a water fight with soaking sponges.  It started all nice and orderly, but chaos soon ensued.  So fun.  And when it's 30 degrees outside, it feels great to get slapped in the middle of the back with a cold wet sponge.  Trust me.  I had plenty.

We also set up a beach baseball game which quickly turned into kickball.  Let's say that our primary kids are lacking a bit in the baseball skills department.

Then round 2 of the water fight started again.

Our church building is on the side of a highway and and one point we say a horse and rider go by.  A few minutes later, the horse came tearing through the front lawn of the church with no rider.  All kids were safe and Tyler took off after the horse to try and stop it.  Why does he have to play the hero?  He was pretty pleased with himself and may have mentioned it a time or two to me.  A real Knight in sweaty armour.

We packed up and headed home to cool off and for Logan to have a nap.  We were invited to go to the beach for a picnic dinner but we were all too pooped from our crazy long weekend, so we decided to have a picnic in the basement and watch....Back to the Future!!

I was worried the kids would be bored of this all-time classic film...but they loved it!

When Doc was revving the engine of the Delorian, Lucy says, "This seems dangerous!"

When the movie was done, we told the kids there were two more.  One where Marty goes to the future to 2015 (just 3 years from now) and there are flying cars.  They thought that was hilarious.  And the other when he goes back to 1885 and there weren't even cars at all.  Just horses and wagons.  Max asked, "You mean, when there was just black and white tv?"

They keep asking when we can watch the next one.  I think we might have a Back to the Future marathon this week.  Awesome!

The Summer of George is really shaping up!

CaNaDa DaY!

I had the brilliant idea earlier in the week that we should really celebrate Canada Day.  Our trip to DC (am I talking about it too much) made me realize that my kids could handle staying up a little late on occasion (I refer mostly to Logan) and so we decided it would be pretty awesome to go and actually see the fireworks this year.  I LOVE fireworks.  Love em.  I haven't been in years because we've always had little kids.  But now they're getting bigger!  yay!

So we attempted to invite a bunch of people over, but most couldn't make it.  The day ended up working out perfectly though.  Our friends, The Hales, came for dinner and to hang out and the missionaries joined us for dinner too.

I decided to try and keep the meal Canada themed too.  So I served:

Canadian Bacon (ie. Ham)
Corn on the Cob
Salad
Potatoes
Lemonade

And the best part?  Beavertails for dessert!  They turned out awesome and we gorged!

One of the perks of inviting the Hales (besides the fact that they're great friends and great company to have around) is they have older daughters.  So at one point, when it was getting a bit loud in the house, we sent the kids downstairs to watch a movie under the supervision of Caleigh while the grown-ups when for a quick walk over to the quarry.

On the way back, we noticed our neighbours out waving Canada Flags and cheering to the traffic going by on HWY 15, so we went and got all the kids, our temporary tattoos and flags and joined them.  It was awesome!

The beavertails actually happened after the cheering.  Logan especially loved them.  He kept saying, "Me have one of those?"

The sky was even red to celebrate Canada Day.

By the time we were done our beavertails it was about 9:15pm.  we got dressed to go to the fireworks and all piled into our van to drive over to the base.  We had a perfect spot on the hill.

I think Lucy *may* have developed a bit of a crush on Bradley.  It was so sweet. I was told that while they were riding in the back of the van she said, "It seems like those cars behind us are getting kind of close." and Bradley held her hand!  (what's a mother to do?!)

And they sat together for the fireworks and she even rested her head on his shoulder a few times.  I sat behind them spying for so long, TRYING to get a picture of her with her head on his shoulder but it just didn't happen.  So sweet.

The fireworks were great.  Logan was getting obviously tired, but he made it.

Then it was back to the van (the kids holding hands with Bradley)

so everyone could go home.

This morning, we asked Lucy if maybe she had a bit of a crush on Bradley (to which her face went red, she got teary-eyed and all embarrassed) and it ended up in cuddles and hugs and reassurances that it was ok.  We told her he was a nice boy.  In fact, I couldn't have picked a better boy for a first crush.  He's 9.  He's super smart and nice.  Very polite.  He bears his testimony in church every month...and according to Lucy, "he's hilarious"  sigh!  We have to be really careful to not tease her about this, because I want to make sure she always feels comfortable talking to us about boys.  Even at age 7.  Unfortunately, Bradley and his family are moving to the states in a few weeks...so it's a short-lived crush.  But all us parents joked that they should come back when they're teen-agers or young adults so we could arrange something here.  It's a nice idea.

What a perfectly awesome Canada Day celebration.  I think I spy a tradition forming.  Love it!