The mother of all sundaes!

Ice cream? What ice cream?

Super feet!

Popped over the border today with the dog & kids in tow – so they could play on the beach & have ice cream of course…

I picked up these rather awesome & ‘super’ cool Converse while we were there. I’ve never owed a pair of Converse before & I have to say I’m impressed, my pigs glided into them & were very comfy in there when I tried them on – they even have laces with little Superman signs on!

I might have to watch Batman Vs Superman now…

Just what I needed…

We spent the afternoon at the beach (on the grassy area of course), barbequing with good friends & saying goodbye to the outgoing aneaesthetic fellow. She is flying back to the UK tonight with her two boys who are the same age as our two & have become quite friendly. They ended up in the sea & absolutely filthy afterwards, so good luck to her spending all night on a plane with them! Even the dog came along & stressed about the number in her pack. It has been good distraction for me otherwise I think I would have been dwelling on tomorrow. I also made sure I ate as much as possible & still came home & scoffed a large ice cream – I could potentially not eat at all tomorrow so I needed to stock up. Ideally I now need to chill out with a glass of wine & a movie but I’m supposed to be dry, which is the sensible thing to do. Instead we might still do the movie but first we must book the flights & car hire for next years family vacation – crazy I know but everything is getting booked up already.

I maybe a bit quiet for the next day or too, but watch this space to find out what the surgeon finally does to hopefully make my knee better…

Kayaking with Cedric Diggory & A grizzly bear

We are all home safely after a great week of family time & believe it or not, relaxation. Although the mountain weather was fairly typical we still managed to…

• Kayak, both boys going solo for the first time & doing amazingly well.
• The boys swam in the lake.
• The dog was in heaven at all the new aroma’s that the forest had to offer, we walked her in there most days.
• I was really good about stretching most days, even took my yoga mat down to the dock & did pilates in the sunshine.
• Played ‘Whiffle ball’, a crazy golf kind of set up that one of the locals has made in the forest. 19 holes of fun that anyone can have a go at, there were golf clubs of all sizes with whiffle balls, & gnomes watching over you as you lose your balls. A neighbor in a cabin 2 doors down told us about it last September just as we were about to leave so it was high on the list of things to find this time. What was really great about it was the boys could take them selves off to play without us, it’s completely free & nobody else was seen using it.
• We barbequed most nights while drinking Mason jar G&T’s.
• After dinner we all played a board game, the kids thrashing us at Harry Potter trivial pursuit!
• Hubby & I then read, did grown up colouring or I scrapbooked while enjoying peace & quite with a glass of something.
• We had lazy sleep-ins, even the dog wouldn’t move some mornings until I got up.
• The cats came too. I don’t think Salt moved off the top bunk all week, she just slept & watched the birds. Pepper, who is much more sociable hung out with us in front of the fire.
• We saw some wildlife, a young grizzly bear on the driving range in the local village. A few dear, & discovered a Marmot lives under the front deck. He used to tease the cats & the dog by sitting on the deck outside the glass front door.
• We even made ice cream with younger child’s ice cream ball that older child bought him for his birthday – & it was delicious. Basically you put the ingredients in one side, ice & salt in the other & roll it around the floor for twenty minutes, au voila… ice cream!

It didn’t matter that it wasn’t blazing sunshine every day like it was a couple of years ago when we were there. It was quality family time & a lot of fun for everyone, I think even the cats were happy to be cozied up with us in a quarter of the space they are normally used to. It was the kind of family vacation that you can’t put a price on, & will be one to remember in many years time – the one where I got the name of the contestant in the tri-wizard contest from the Goblet of Fire mixed up & called him Seamus Diggory instead of Cedric. They all thought this was hilarious, you will too if you have read Harry Potter & know who Seamus is.

… And we are STILL on vacation for the rest of the week with more adventures to come.

This is what it’s about…

It was just what I needed, a day of sunshine & pool fun.

In the New Year we welcomed new students to both my boys classes. The eldest (boy) joined my elder son in his Grade 4 class, & the younger (girl) joined my younger son in his Grade 1 class. Their mum & I hit off from day one & we’ve now become good friends, in fact, she is going to be a class parent with me in Grade 5. I learned recently, before school broke up for the summer, that they have a large backyard with a tennis court & swimming pool. As you can imagine my kids were all over this bugging me about when we were going. Pool mum promised them that when the weather really got hot they could spend all the time the wanted over there – I quickly advised her that they would now be packing their bags & moving in with her. We had a playdate arranged for last week but unfortunately the weather was cool & had been rainy in the morning. This week that all changed & we’re back to mid-hi twenties again. So this morning we all piled into the car – dog too because I can’t really leave her all day – & off we went. That was at 9.30…

At 5.30pm I returned with 2 extremely tired boys & a hungry dog! The boys went for showers while I unpacked wet gear & fed all the animals, hubby is on call so I knew he wouldn’t be home anytime soon & I really couldn’t be bothered to cook. We had munched on veggies, tortilla chips, dips, watermelon, popsicles, ice cream etc. all day & even the boys weren’t interested in a simple bowl of pasta. Instead, I resuscitated myself with a large cup of tea (because I was exhausted from all that sitting by the pool sunbathing) & I had a request for scrambled eggs from one & grilled cheese from the other. I kid you not they were both falling asleep in their food & it was only 6pm!

It had been the kind of summer day that kids dream of, splashing in the pool with their friends, water balloon fights, snacking & sun screening whenever they pasted the table, & later in the day two other of our school friends turned up to join in the fun too. Pool mum & I might have looked like it was a relaxing vacation, but we were constantly on guard, watching for Nerf guns being secretly taken up the side, telling them to walk on the poolside, reminding them that you only go down the slide when its clear at the bottom, you know the kind of perfect summer day that mum’s dream of.

When schools out for summer this is what it’s all about, happy tired kids = happy parents!

Today I chose to…

• be sensible & rest my poor knee
• do some stretching to help my aching SI joint
• do all the laundry so that tomorrow is free
• practice my bar chords over & over again because I’m going to bloody well nail then if it’s the last thing I do!
• make some cards
• Eat salad for dinner so I can then eat a Hagen Daz ice cream bar & not feel guilty (I am a size 0-2, this is not something I have any business feeling guilty about)
• relax in a hot bath & finish by book!
• Build my Lego

Today was a good day!!

The mother of all Friday’s!

Yes I have had the most insane day that started with a quick coffee with ‘mouth on legs’ mum, the school play at 9-10am, home (via the grocery store) to give the dog a quick walk, back to school for half day pick up, on to the dentist with the boys followed by a treats at Menchie’s frozen yoghurt bar & the kids book store (for Captain Underpants FOR the love of god!), then home quickly to get ready for track & field meet which we were almost late for because of traffic, then spent nearly 2 hours drowning in the rain screaming at my not very well behaved kids & looking not so very glamorous around hot teacher!

I now need a VERY large glass of wine so I can revive myself for round two of the meet tomorrow – cheers!

It finally got me too!

06.15 – Someone has force fed me razor blades during the night & they are all stuck in my throat.

06.35 – A very worried hubby brings me Tylenol & leaves for work as I crawl out of bed. Choir starts in less then an hour.

07.30 – We make it to school, I don’t know how, but we do. Younger child & I sit in the parking lot while he does the reading he didn’t have time to do last night because of hockey.

07.50 – I drag my sorry self into school. We enter the lobby where the principal is promoting his retirement golf tournament by setting up a putting green outside the library. He is giving away house points for any child who can nail a hole in one (I learned later that elder child did in fact nail it). We fight our way through the crowd of budding Tiger Woods (not a great example for kids but I have no interest in golf because I’m still sexually active!) & make our way up to his floor. I deposit him in teacher mum’s classroom. She kindly offers to help out with dropping the kids off if I can’t get back to school. This would normally be great but elder child has a Dr’s appointment at 3.30.

08.00 – I quickly exit the building hopefully taking my virus with me.

08.15 – I make it home, call physio to cancel my afternoon appointment, remove the hat that was hiding very bad hair, take a glass of water to the sofa & crash.

09.15 – Knock on the door, I guess correctly that it is the lawn guys & make the decision not to answer as the dog is already in the house going bananas (this is why they knock for fear of my giant teddy bear of a dog licking them to death).

10.30 – I wake up & notice a text from hubby checking in on me about an hour earlier. After answering I take more Tylenol & decide to watch some tv & promptly fall asleep again half way through the episode.

12.00 – I risk eating a banana & a yoghurt because they are soft (I did consider blending them but actually couldn’t be bothered). I watch the end of the episode I slept through & the beginning of the next… falling asleep halfway that one.

14.00 – I check in with hubby hoping he can finish early to do the pick up otherwise I need to sort myself & that could take some time. Thankfully the outside world has been spared of my germs & my unkempt look.

15.00 – A quick concerned kiss from hubby as he drops his cycling bag & grabs the car keys.

16.00 – I am still festering on the sofa but manage to drag my sorry backside off it when everyone arrives home. I actually felt better for moving around but everything is achy.

17.30 – Hubby walks the dog with elder child to his field hockey practice, while younger child goes through the crate of next doors junk. He is excited to find a really cool 3D book on dinosaurs & 2 old soccer books. These were on the top, she very sneakily put a whole load of finance & stock exchange books underneath – surprisingly he was less impressed with these.

18.00 – I have been festering long enough so I go for a bath. Younger child is now making a paper computer for a school project.

19.00 – Elder child returns with his tapeworm having already had dinner before practice & his coach gave them all ice cream lollipops during practice. He has toast while reciting his debate speech for tomorrow & discussing how he should project his voice for the play on Friday morning – which I will go & see germs or no germs, just try & stop me!

20.00 – I think I might eat ice cream because I need something cold & comforting for my poor throat.

A Sunday of scanning & crafts…

08.30 – YAY! A sleep in!

10.00 – Hubby & elder child have disappeared off on their shiny bikes wearing smart new lycra. Younger child & I are going to build BB8, R2D2 & C3PO – a book he bought with his pocket money at the school book fair. He had done quite a lot himself but they are just made of strong cardstock with flaps & slots to hold them in place – quite tricky for a 7 year old to do. We set up in my craft room & begin.

11.00 – We have built BB8 & put a joint of beef in the oven to roast.

12.00 – We have almost completed R2, attended to the beef & prepared the potatoes.

12.40 – R2 is finished, the potatoes are roasting & the beef is almost done.

13.00 – Hungry smelly bikers return after 33kms & elder child didn’t fall off once. They also saw some friends from school & caught the tail end of the emergency services clearing up after a hit & run. Slightly more eventful than our morning in the craft room!

13.30 – We are sitting down to a proper Sunday lunch for the first time ever – I think (we normally have this at about 5pm). Elder child declares war on the chef because she forgot to buy Yorkshire puddings!

14.30 – I abandon hubby with all the dishes to head to the hospital to have a CT scan of both my knees this time.

15.00 – I arrive bang on time. No need to get changed because my cropped pants will roll up – even better. However, in the process of doing this in front of the radiographer (a guy, of course it was a guy) I discover that I must have dropped chocolate into my lap when eating my dessert. I large blob of melted chocolate was sitting between my legs in an embarrassing spot! I scoop a bit off & lick my finger announcing that it’s definitely chocolate. He did not find this amusing. The scan takes all of 2 minutes & I’m on my way home.

16.15 – We all sit down to play Cluedo, a game the boys only just learnt yesterday at our friend’s house. Considering they are not quite tuned into listening what is being said beyond their own turn, they didn’t do too badly. There was also gin involved.

17.30 – I make 2 Spiderman cards for a birthday party younger child is attending next weekend, while the boys get bathed & pj’s on early so daddy can finish reading the Narnia book to them.

19.00 – I organise everyone’s life for school, work & the morning boot camp routine.

19.30 – I thought getting ready for bed early meant that they should be in bed by now, but hubby is still reading.

19.45 – I gently remind him of the time, & he promises he’s nearly finished. They are going to be disgusting tomorrow mark my words.

20.00 – Finally! So much for their early night before school, after having two late nights over the weekend.

20.15 – All is calm & right in the world again. It must be time for wine?