The journey between here and there

Well finally I’ve gotten around to Part 3 of Vegas: Part One and Part Two were done some time ago. I’ve been meaning to write this down, but I’ve been so busy.

This was so much fun. We got a little lost trying to find the place. I let Ryan take directions from the Bishop, but of course Ryan is very vague and didn’t probe for details. I should have talked to the Bishop to get directions. Ah well… So we got lost for a good hour. Dave was getting frustrated and the poor guy was prolly hungry. He stopped and asked for directions on the side of the road from a guy selling something. I was impressed. Ryan never stops, he would have driven around for another hour and found a gas station to which I would have to go in and ask for directions.

We quickly gassed up cuz Dave was on E… and we all know that E stands for “Empty” not “Extra Miles” like Ryan thinks it does… We were off. After traveling for another 30 min. we finally found it. Hooray. The Bishop was just on his qualifying laps. He came in and we ran over to check out his car. The Bishop is so gracious and just such a humble man. I just adore him and respect him so much. He’s the nicest guy ever. He is very generous with his money and is very kind.

We had some lunch at the track. It was all for free! Whoo hoo! I was glad cuz I could tell the boys were very hungry and getting grouchy from the lack of food. A frozen banana dipped in chocolate, a churro and a tortilla with chicken and peppers. It was delicious. I was stuffed!

We watched the Bishop compete in his race. There was this nice black Corvette that spun around the track. I loved watching the race.

I got the first run around in the car. I was so pumped. I tossed on the helmet, buckled up, got instructions as to where to hold on and we were off. I was thrown around for the first little bit as the Bishop warmed up his tires. Warming up his tires consisted of him driving down the track quite quickly and aggressively moving the steering wheel from left to right very hard. I got thrown around quite a bit. Then we spun around the track going 120miles down the straights and 90-100 miles around the corners. It was fun. I think it would be fun to be the driver. I got bored after a couple of laps. It was good, but not like the adrenaline rush like sky diving. Being a passenger is also so passive. Orin did 5 laps around the track with me. It was fun, but I wanted to drive.

After, Ryan went around the track, then Dave, Leslie and finally Kim. Everyone had fun zipping around. Dave and I had a chance to chat a bit. Not as much as I would have liked. Too many people constantly interrupting. I don’t do well with a bunch of people in a crowd. It makes it hard for me to focus.

After everyone had their turn I was so happy everyone got a ride because at first the Bishop said he could only take 3 people. I was so stressed that not everyone could take a ride. Thankfully, Orin’s wife was there to make sure he would take everyone. I was relieved that everyone was able to experience the radical.

After the racing, I was just so relaxed and was so content. I just found a chair and sat in the sun happy as a clam. Some chick came and started babbling to me. I was slightly annoyed cuz I just wanted to sit and relax, maybe take a little snooze. I smiled and was polite, entertained her banter. She wanted to show us her green Lamborghini Gallardo so we went over to take a look. I thought the Bishops yellow Lamborghini Murcielago was way nicer than hers.

We mugged for some pics then said our goodbye’s. There was going to be this amazing appetizer dinner type thing happening and I wish we could have stayed for it, but we had to run back to Vegas to go to Excaliber and go to the tournament of Kings.

On our way back to Vegas this trip went downhill from here.

Ryan just called me and said that a client of his is taking us to India, letting us stay at his 40,000 sq. foot place and going to tour us all over India…. AND best part is that his client wants to pay for our flights too! AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!! OMG! I get to go see the Taj Mahal! How crazy killer is that! And Why did he offer this to Ryan? Cuz he likes him. GAH! I’m sooooo glad my hubs gets along with anyone and everyone. *Squeeeeeeee*

I’m so excited out of my mind! Now we are just arguing over how long to go for. His client wants us to be there for a month. Ryan doesn’t want to go for that long cuz of work and cuz of the kids…. If it’s in December or Jan, then hopefully we’ll have our nanny by then, so I say no prob. Bob, but Mr. Responsible is being all responsible on me. HOLY CHEESE AND RICE! I’m thrilled out of my mind! I’m all like, ‘let’s go for a month!’ 2 months would be too long, but I think a month would be good. Whateves. Even if it’s just for 2 weeks. I’m still pumped, cuz a local will be touring us around and that’s the BEST cuz they know where to go, what to avoid, etc. and 40,000 sq. foot mansion?!? Hell ya! I’m soooooooooooo there! I can’t wait to go and see the sights, the culture, the people!

The ringing phone shattered my dreams and brought me to a hazy reality. I grabbed the phone and just listened. It was Elvis!
“Good morning! Welcome to Vegas baby! It’s time to wake up and enjoy the day,” said the Elvis voice.
Nice.
Only in Vegas can I get a wake up call from Elvis. Love it…. I wonder if I go to California if I can get a wake up call from Tom Welling?… hmm….

I lay in bed for a few moments trying to wake up. Once my mind reviews the things I have planned my heart is pumping the adrenaline is going and I shoot out of bed. I’m so excited. The cell phone buzzes. Dave has sent a text that he is on his way. Excellent. I finally get to meet this elusive guy. The adrenaline kicks it up a notch. I hop in the shower. The water is not draining and pools at the bottom of the tub… *sigh* I wish we were at the Venetian at this point cuz I know it will be amazing, but hey, it’s free so I have no right to complain.

“Uhh… Joanne?” Ryan pops his head into the bathroom.
“Ya?”
“Dave wants to know if he can come over to our room to freshen up.”
“WHAT?!? Are you kidding me?”
“Umm… no.”
I peer out of the curtain to look at his face. Nope he’s serious.
I laugh. How funny. Nothing like getting to meet each other for the first time and getting ready at the same time. Craziness. Excellent, I love surprises. I’m shocked actually and pumped.
“Whatever. I don’t care. I think it’s hilarious. As long as you don’t mind, just tell him to wait until we can get dressed.”

I cut the shower short, which I really didn’t mind cuz a flood is gonna happen if I don’t get out. I scramble to get dressed and tidy up the room a bit. Ryan’s turn in the shower and I’m trying to focus on what I’m doing.

I’m annoyed that the shower is not draining and wondering if he wants to take a shower and what the heck happened to him? Questions race through my mind as I fly about. Of course I should have called up maintenance to fix the problem right away, but that didn’t cross my mind until later.

I’m glad that Dave is comfortable enough with us that he can show up, change, shave and get ready in our hotel room. I laugh at the silliness of it all. The adrenaline jacks up another notch. I feel the energy race throughout my body. This is going to be a fun day. I’m worried that everyone will get along and wonder if I’ve made mistakes in the planning and inviting.

Dave arrives and he looks just as cute as he he does in all his pics and tall! Holy! He’s a whole foot taller than me. I shake his hand which seems awkward to me, but I just push the feeling out of the way and begin chattering. He has a warm smile and puts me at ease. As I get going I sneak glances to see how he is reacting and handling the energy. His eye brows shoot up several times. Wonderful. Exactly what I was going for. He can handle it, for how long, we’ll have to see how good his patience is. This is gonna be fun. I race around still frantically trying to get ready.

We need to be down for breakfast by 6:30am. Of course we don’t get down there until 7:15am. Late as always. One day I’d like to be on time and early. We meet up with Leslie and Kim who have sat down to eat at the buffet. Dave gets a cool reception from her. Instantly I know it’s going to be a rough day and I sigh. I’m annoyed that we’ve missed breakfast. I don’t care if I eat, cuz I normally skip breakfast anyway, but Ryan gets really cranky if he doesn’t eat and I’m not sure how Dave reacts to no food. Time will tell.

We all pile into ‘Jenna’ Dave’s blue VW and head off to Jean NV. The girls are chattering and laughing. I call the Extreme skydiving place and we’re still good to go. When we were at the hotel I had a vile of ginseng, royal jelly and a couple of bee pollen pills. Since I don’t drink caffeine, the stuff hits me when we are in the car. We turn into the airport and my energy goes off the charts. I feel like I’m going to burst. The car ride is killing me. I need to release this energy and get up and go.

We get to the skydiving building. They usher Dave and I into a small little room. We are given forms to fill out. I don’t even read the form, the small print or the blah, blah, blah. I just sign my name… and not even get that right. I write it on the wrong line… Focus. I can’t focus.

We have to watch this video that is hosted by Moses. The guy has a crazy wild beard. I can’t even pay attention to that. I figure the instructor will maybe tell me what I have to do and give me a little refresher right before we head out. I’m attached to someone else, it’s not like I have to know what I’m doing. I’m just along for the ride. Dave is focusing intently on what is being said. I try to keep quiet so he can listen, but Leslie comes in and distracts me. I’m looking everywhere except the video.

I’ve always wanted to go sky diving and here I am. Right at this moment. I’m so excited and pumped. I try so hard to settle down, it’s not working. Even though I’m not talking my body feels like it’s going to explode. I just want to go for a run to get rid of this energy. I shouldn’t have taken that energy stuff this morning. It’s throwing me for a loop. I usually get a rush like this before a race. My leg shakes in order to release some energy. My mind is flying everywhere at a million miles a second.

Finally Moses stops talking. I think most of what was said just swooshes over my head. We get our jump suits. Dave has a blue polka dot suit. He rocked the suit. It looked hilarious, but it was all good. I take a picture and he channels Michael Jackson in his pose. They gave me a purple thing.

Mike, my tandum guy, helps me into the suit.
“Stop moving and settle down.” He says trying to buckle me up as I bounce around.
“ok, sorry.” But then 2 seconds later my leg is shaking and I’m swaying back and forth.
“If you don’t stop moving you’re not going to make it to the ground alive.” he says.
“Just so you know $200 is in it for you if she doesn’t make it back.” Ryan offers, “I just took out a $800,000 dollar insurance policy against her, so it’s ok”
LOL… it’s how he says he loves me.
“How many times have you jumped?” I inquire of Mike.
“3″
I keep chattering to Leslie as he is buttoning and cinching me up. I heard the number, but didn’t acknowledge it.
“You didn’t even miss a beat or catch that did you.” he asks me.
I laugh. “I did, I just knew you were kidding.”
He’s actually done 2000 jumps, he informs me… good enough.

We go through and review what Moses was talking about….see I knew someone would run through it again.

Mike takes out the video camera and we head out. I get on the plane and I’m pumped. I have to swallow my gum and sit on Mike’s lap. It’s all good, he’s got nice blue eyes like my dad’s. Up, up we go. There are 6 of us crammed in this tiny space on the plane. I stop talking because the plane is noisy. I love planes. I want to fly one. I need to start taking lessons. Ryan got me a beginners lesson, but I want to learn more. I love the lift up in a plane, the view and the bird’s eye view. I just relaxed and watched everything go by. Unfortunately, being out in the desert there wasn’t much to watch. A lot of sand, sage brush and more sand. A little disappointing considering that I get to see the Rocky Mountains and the lush Kananaskis when I go up in a plane. There’s so much more to see out in Alberta, but hey, I’m in Nevada and it’s the dessert.

Up, up, we go. I was so thrilled. I’ve always wanted to do this and I was so pumped. I grew quiet, just looking out the window and drinking in this moment trying to embed it into my memory so I could remember this forever. We reach 15, 000 feet and it’s the first guys turn to jump. The sound of the air rushing through the cabin freaked me out. They jumped out and I began to scream! I covered my eyes and my adrenaline was racing. Mike scoots over to the edge.

“Are you ready?” he asks.
“Nononononononononononono….” I scream and shake my head. He tilts my head back and pushes off. I close my eyes and I scream for the first 5 seconds. I force my eyes open cuz I don’t want to miss this. I hate this falling feeling. I feel like I left my stomach back in the plane. It was just surreal. The wind rushing by was so noisy and loud. My legs grew numb and I just wanted the parachute to open up. After what seems like forever the tug of the parachute whips us up. Then everything goes silent. The fluttering of the parachute is all you hear from up high. It was so peaceful. I loved it.

I looked for Dave and the other guy and they were already so close to the ground. Mike asks me if I like roller coasters… umm… heck ya! So he twirls and spins us around. It was dizzy fun. Yippee… I just want to float around in the sky for awhile longer. I want to do this again… but somewhere that has lots to look at from the sky.

We landed and after the dust settled I had Mike help me up. I was just so content and happy. That was so much fun. I wanted to do it again.

Ryan, Leslie and Kim met us at the drop zone. After posing for a couple of pics, Dave and I hopped into the van that took us back to the airport. I got a DVD of the jump, changed out of the purple outfit, then we headed off to Pahrump to go find the Spring Mountain Racetrack and ride in the Bishop’s radical SR3. Another adventure awaited us…

Unfortunately I forgot to take my journal so I’m writing all that I can remember here instead. I was racing around like a mad woman trying to get everything done and alas I did not. The laundry was done but not put away, I didn’t get around to making the cinnamon buns and I didn’t finish planning my trip. I didn’t pack until 30 min before the trip. I was so stressed about the trip. I didn’t calm down until I was in the airport and checked in. It is so much work to prep the kids, the house, the sitters, packing, the trip details, tying up details at work and activities committee.

The que to go through the airport was crazy long. US Customs was painfully slow and it was funny to watch people. People watching is one of my favorite activities. It amuses me greatly. I watched the customs guys as they checked people through, they were all so serious and I was placing bets as to who we would get. I was determined to make the guy smile. I bounced through customs, chatting it up with the customs guy. I made him smile and laugh. Goal achieved.

I didn’t eat anything all day and was starving. The area we were in only had this tiny sandwich stand and a little newspaper stand with junk food. I spied a Bernard Callebaut chocolate store and ran around like crazy trying to find a way out of where I was and an in to the other side. Alas I couldn’t, so I pawed and banged at the window creating a spectacle, but I didn’t care. Finally, I gave up and sauntered over to the sandwich stand and grabbed some sort of turkey thing. I ate the sandwich remorsefully, while cursing the design of the ridiculous airport. If you’re going to put the world’s best chocolatier in a freakn’ airport they need to make it accessible to all… even those who have cleared US customs.

I love WestJet. If you fly on a plane. Go with them. They are friendly, funny, warm and a great ride. I wish I had my journal so I could quickly jot more of their funny comments down. Some of the comments I remember that they said,

“In the back is some eye candy his name is Lance.”

Male stewardess to the female stewardess: “Would you stop just standing there and looking pretty. Do something already.” The stewardess then goes and chokes the guy with the mic cord.

When they came around to check if we’ve put on seatbelts etc. Just for the sake of being goofy I smiled at the male stewardess and said, “Thanks baby!” with a wink. The rest of the flight I said, “hey baby, I need a pillow or a can of juice please baby!” he ate it up and gave me whatever I asked for and more. If I didn’t say baby he’d demand I say it first before he gave me anything. It was hilarious. When I left I gave him a huge grin and said, “see ya later baby!” The guy was so funny. It was great.

When the plane took off I cheered, “whoo hoo!” as we rocked it towards the sky and Vegas. After a cranberry juice and pretzel snacks and curled up in my seat, lay my head on Ryan’s lap and slept all the way to Vegas.

Once we arrived, I began to get excited. The airport is so tiny. We grabbed our bags and tried to figure out how we would get to the hotel. I tried the shuttle. No luck. No one going to our crap hotel. So we went outside to catch a cab…

Hustle #1: A limo driver comes up and tell us that he can give us a ride to the airport for $80. He tells us that a cab driver would be $72 to get to the hotel. I totally knew it was a lie and told him that he was feeding me a line. He keeps up his sales pitch and I look at Ryan. He shrugs. So what the hell, why not? We load up our bags and take a ridiculous $80 limo ride to the hotel. It was ok. Nothing oohh, la la. I couldn’t figure out how to open the window and hang out the top. I played with all the buttons and made the divider window go up and down over and over again….

We arrived, check into the Stratosphere hotel. They upgraded us to: 31723. If this room was an upgrade I hate to see what the other rooms are like. Ick. We had 2 Queen beds. Normally I would have complained, but I love sleeping in my own bed. So I said nothing. Our room was small, the tub didn’t drain and the sink smelled like the sewer and the TV didn’t work. I was happy about the TV not working, but Ryan wasn’t.

I tried to call Dave but couldn’t get a hold of him so I thought that maybe he wasn’t coming down after all. I had no idea if he wanted to hang out just for the Saturday or the Sunday as well or what time he was going home or anything. It was all very vague to me. I figured it was smart of him, this way if either of us couldn’t stand each other we had a polite out. I mentally planned out a plan B in case he didn’t show.

Ryan and I lightly planned out the next couple of days. We tossed off our bags then went and explored the hotel. I immediately got annoyed. Everything is in a maze. The casino is lumped in the middle then there are hallways like tentacles connected to the hotel. It was frustrating and I felt like we were walking around in circles. We ran into Leslie and her friend Kim. We chatted, laughed and goofed around. Around midnight we retired to our hotel and crashed cuz we had a big day tomorrow.

When we arrived and I told people that this was our first time here a lady told me, “you’ll love it! Vegas is the adult disneyland.” Not so. Vegas isn’t MY adult Disneyland. I guess I’m a different traveler.

There was the fantastic, the good, the bad and the horrible during our short 4 night 5 day trip.

The quick highlights:

The fantastic:
Going Tandum skydiving!
Riding in a yellow radical SR3 at Spring Mountain Racetrack
Going to Table 10 at Emeril Legasi’s restaurant
Seeing David Copperfield 1 foot away from me do a magic act
Staying at the Venetian hotel
Meeting Dave
Going through art Galleries
Seeing Peter Lik’s work
Going to the premium outlet mall
Going to Mamma Mia
Having chocolate covered Godiva strawberries

The good:
Watching American Superstars
Going up the Stratosphere and doing the rides
Going through the hotels and looking at everything
Shopping
Going to Excaliber Tournament of Kings
Going to Madame Trousseau’s wax museum
The Gondola ride

The bad:
Dealing with personalities
Sunday
Not having a more detailed plan as to what we were doing each day

The horrible:
The casinos in the hotels.
The smoke in the hotels.
Constantly being hustled everywhere we went from the limo or taxi cab driver, to the punk kids trying to sell their CD’s, time share people in Vegas, going to a stupid time share production or sales people on the side of the road.

Here I am by the driveway of Hatley castle.

This is directly opposite the castle. Behind me is a Unniversity of Victoria. I would be looking at the front of the castle.

This castle is huge, so this is the first half of Hatley castle and main entrance

The main entrance and the 2nd half.

This is the back of the castle.

This is a pond that is in the Hatley gardens next to the castle. We wandered around the gardens because the castle was closed the 1st time we went on Saturday. The gardens are very beautiful. We were the only ones there. When we took the tour of the castle, the tour guide said the garden was haunted by Lord Dunsmuir’s son. I didn’t see the ghost. Bummer.

This is a pic of me looking at the stream that runs through the gardens at Hatley castle where Smallville and Xmen were/are filmed. I loved being here! The very thought that Tom may have wandered these paths and been at this very spot made me giddy like a little school girl… *SQUEEE!* I wish sooo bad I could have seen him. Unfortunately, no Tom Welling encounter. *sigh*

I’ll post more pics when I get around to it.

I never did finish the tales of the Great Canadian Barn Dance trip in Southern Alberta or the Sandy McNab trip. So this is the weekend wrap up.

GCBD:
Tip toe thru the goose poop, by the lake.
That is where I’ll be, come
Tip toe thru the goose poop with me.
Tip toe from your tent and take a break
To the shadow of the pine tree
And tip toe thru the goose poop with me.

This place made me want to hunt down these wild Canadian Geese and have roast goose, potato dumplings and red cabbage for supper. Mmmmm… I love German food.

My kids chased the geese around. They swam in the water or flew off to another pond in the area only to return in the evening to poop all over the place. It was so gross.

We never did make it out to the barn dance, so we’ll have to come back next summer and go. On Sunday Ryan took the kids out on the canoe’s. Laura, my Princess Tiger Lily, would sit up at the front of the canoe and tell Ryan where to paddle. They paddled around, played at the beach, caught snails in the water, played at the park and ran around trying to catch “Smokey” the farm cat. They chased the cat around and tormented the cat, by carrying it around by it’s front legs. After being caught once, the cat made sure not to be caught again. He ran away very fast once he saw my kids coming. It entertained them for hours.

Monday, we packed up and headed to Waterton National Park. We decided to hike “Bears Hump.” What a crazy name, bears hump. I wonder who came up with that name.

‘Oh look there’s bears humping on the mountain. From today and forever this trail shall always be known as: “Bears Hump” I’m ingenious.’
Brilliant name warden!
‘Yes, thank you my intelligence surpasses everyone.’

So this hike is straight up for 1.5 km or so. It was tiring. The kids went up 1/2 way until Brandon sat down and refused to go any further. Ryan carried Josh on his left shoulder and Brandon on his right shoulder the rest of the way up the mountain. Laura walked and complained the entire way. The view at the top was gorgeous and breath taking. We saw lakes, mountains, the town and a cute little chipmunk. We fed it raisins. It came right up to the kids hands and ate raisins out of their hands. It let the kids pet him and scooted all around them. It was adorable. The kids ran the entire way down.

After the hike we had a picnic by the lake then headed for home. Ryan just had to take a new way home. “Getting lost is part of the adventure.” Right. We eventually made it home after getting lost for a half an hour.

SM: Sunday, I headed out about 3pm after I had a nap. Rachel, Jon and their kids came out. Rachel and Jon are our Smallville friends. We watch Smallville at our house every Monday night. I helped Ryan pack up then we went down to the river for a picnic. We had so much fun. Ryan and Jon jumped into the river. It was so cold. Laura had her feet in the water.

me: Laura, the water is so cold! Are your feet cold?
Laura: no, after awhile your feet just go numb and it stops hurting.

Kids are amazing. As long as there is water they are ducks, happily splashing away. If the water is not warm, I won’t go in. I’m always cold all the time anyway, why make myself even colder?

Jon is hilarious! He’s self deprecating. We had such a great time hanging out, laughing and enjoying each others company. They are such a fun family to hang out with.

August 26-28, 2005

We went camping at Ol’ MacDonalds this weekend! More fun than a barrel of monkeys!

ETD: 3:00pm
ATD: 7:30pm
TOA: 9:30pm

So once again we were setting up the tent in the dark. It’s 10:00pm and we are fumbling around with the tent. We are seriously contemplating buying an RV because then I can pack it during the day, when Ryan gets home, he just hooks up and we go. When we get to our camping spot all we have to do is pull up, jump in bed and go to sleep. This way we don’t have to set up a tent in the dark, arguing with each other the entire time.

This time a drunk lady came over to offer assistance. I’m beginning to realize that drunk people are awfully nice and try to be helpful while intoxicated.
“Do you guys know what you are doing? Do you need any help?” asks the drunk lady.
Ryan and I just ignore her because we are too busy arguing with each other over why the poles were filled with dirt and how I set it up wrong when we camped at Sandy McNab.
“Have you set up a tent before?” drunk lady says again.
“Yes, thank you,” I snap.
“What’s the problem?” she asks again.

*The problem is you lady! Leave! We didn’t ask for help, we were happily arguing away and now we are just glaring at each other instead of being able to hurl insults. The sooner you leave, the sooner we can get back to fighting… Thank you and goodbye!* Of course I’m just thinking this.

“Well, she stuck the poles into the dirt instead of putting the pin in, so now I have to try to get the dirt out,” Ryan complains to the lady.
“Well, I was just trying to help. It was the first time I set up a tent and maybe if you would show me how to do it properly, instead of hogging the job trying to be Mr. Eagle Scout, you wouldn’t have this problem,” I shot back.
The lady just looks at the both of us and begins to slowly back away.
“Yeah, I made that mistake too when I first set up a tent… well, I’m sure you two have everything under control, so I’ll just leave now,” she says.
That’s right, leave before you get in the middle of a domestic dispute lady. *Ding, Ding* Round 2.

We eventually get everything set up and snuggle into our air beds, sleeping bags, blankets and feather beds. Ahhh… nothing like sleeping under billions of stars twinkling and winking at you, hearing the crickets chirp, the cow moo, the coyotes howl and the drunk people across the way having a crazy party yelling, screaming, and laughing until 2am. *sigh* What happened to quiet after 11pm? After wishing I was Darth Vader so I could silence them, I then wished that the kids would be really loud and wake them up in the morning with their shrieks and playful loud voices…

It’s great when wishes come true. No, I didn’t have Darth Vader powers when I woke up, but sure enough, 7am rolled around and a bunch of kids are playing the park next to us. They are loud, noisy and I’m sure have woken up the entire area with their commotion and racket. I smile as I imagine and hope they have woken up the late night partiers with pounding headaches, as their shrieks and squeals greet their ears way too early this morning….. Ah, it’s going to be a great day! Heh.

Josh was annoyed with the kids playing at the park. He wakes up and screams, “Hey! Be quiet! I’m trying to get some sleep in here!” Yes, I’m very proud that I’ve raised kids that like to sleep in.

We had a great breakfast with eggs, bacon, sausages, toast with jam and OJ. I don’t know why, but eating food outdoors just makes it taste better. After we eat, we head out and about to see what the place has to offer. We were given a bunch of coupons and free camping because the reservations lady screwed up our registrations to the Teddy Bear Picnic Train Ride, so we got about $100 worth of free stuff! Yippee! We went on a merry-go-round ride that was built in the 1950’s. It costed each of us a quarter, we had coupons for another free ride. The kids had a blast.

We went on go-carts that you pedalled. We went on a large 5 seater that fit the entire family. Ryan drove and pretended to crash into trees, dumpsters, fences and campsites. The kids freaked out. We had lots of fun driving around the farm. We went to another large park and then on to the petting zoo. The kids fed all the baby animals and enjoyed petting the goats, sheep, calf, piglet, rabbit, and baby chicks. Seeing and playing with the barn animals made me miss the farm, but not the smell. It smelled like manure. Yuck.

After seeing the animals, we then headed over to the beach. Our campsite #20 had a little path through the trees that lead out to the beach. We spent the afternoon playing in the water. The beach was really nice. They raked it every morning and it was very clean. The water was very shallow, clean and not slimy. Laura went out about 50 feet and the water was only up to her knees or waist the entire time before it finally dropped. There were a couple of slides set up in the middle of the lake and the kids played on the slides, had water fights and made sand castles. Mya crawled around on the beach and in the water. It was so relaxing. I loved it!

For supper I grilled Salmon, had rice and string beans. I set up the fire and cook on the campfire all by myself. I’m so proud, I deserve a medal. I love the maple syrup sauce that I made for the Salmon. Mmmm… so yummy. After supper we missed the horse drawn hay rides so we played mini golf. It was a really nice course located inside a barn. It had lots of old memorabilia from the 1920-50’s. They had old cars and tractors inside the barn that you played around. I kicked Ryan’s ass at pinball. The kids played mini golf, played in the arcade and won jelly beans as a prize for playing a catch the eggs game. Brandon and Mya went on little horse and cow mechanical rides. Everyone was tired by the time we headed back to our campsite in the dark.

As we ventured back we saw people lighting fireworks off at the beach, so we armed the kids with glow sticks and sat on the beach to watch the fireworks. About 5 different families came out and lit fireworks. It was so much fun. I loved watching the fireworks under the stars. They were beautiful.

We had a wonderful time! I would recommend coming here. Next year I’ll try again to get on the steam train and camp out here for the weekend, but I’ll get a bunch of friends to come play as well. Even though we didn’t make it on the train, I am happy over the free camping, free ice cream, free pancake breakfast, free merry-go-round rides and free mini-golf we received. I love free stuff. I love coupons. It’s always a happy day when I use coupons or get things for free.

The only problem I had with the place were the hornets. Brandon got bit on his ear and on his finger after he tried to pick one up off his plate. Josh got bit on the hand and Mya got bit on the ear. After my kids got bit for the third time we killed about 30 of them just for fun.

Each time I caught one, I would say in my best WWF voice. “You are about to be annihilated! I will rip you into shreds and make you beg for mercy! ARRRRR!”

Ya, I used to watch too much wrestling when I was younger. Sad, but true. I blame it on my 85 year old Grandma. She loves wrestling and always watches the WWF all the time. She believes it’s real and is enthralled by this show. WWF is her soap opera. She knows all the characters, all the history and is really into it. She flinches, winces and yells, “Get up! Get up! Look out!” at her TV screen. She gets mad if you talk during the wrestling matches. Probably cuz I make fun of her and make fun of the wrestlers. Big no no! Shhh… quiet Grandma is watching wrestling….

Anyway, we would trap the hornets in a clear cup then watch them freak out inside the cup. I would give my WWF speech then start shaking the cup along the table to disorientate the hornet. Once it was clearly pissed and dizzy, I would cut off parts of the the head or cut the body in half. If it was still alive but not able to fly or move around we’d put it in a pile. “Now you will suffer for stinging my kids! Die! Die! Die a slow and painful death you horrific insect!” Again said in my WWF voice.

One insect got away, but it was partially cut in half. As it flew away, I shook my fist and yelled, “Tell the others that there’s a new Queen in town and you’re all going down! Death to all hornets! You will be captured, tortured and eventually be killed a slow and painful death. Leave now while you can or be prepared to face my wrath!” Heh. You always got to let one live to tell the story to the others. I was having too much fun with this. People were giving our table strange looks, but this was great stress relief.

Every time I killed a hornet, I would shout in my best Arnold impersonation, “I am the great hornet killer! Bow Down! Bow down!”

After an hour of killing hornets and feeling lots of stress leave I was ready to move on. Ah Great Times.

We are camping at Sandy McNab, in Kananaskis this weekend! Yes, we actually made it for the weekend this time! It is just gorgeous out here! Great camping! There’s so many trees that you don’t see the person in the next camp site. It’s wonderful, scenic, serene, beautiful! Just us, the mosquitoes and several hundred flies. Ah, the joys of camping…

Since it is only 30 min. from our house I decided I would be a big help if I went out, picked a campsite and set up the tent. I went out at 3:00pm, perfect timing because I got the site that was right next to the park, a hop skip and a jump from the bathrooms and water tap. After I arrived and staked my claim, 5 other campers pull in behind me looking for the perfect spot to set up their RV’s or trailers. Bunch of wussies! That’s not camping, that’s called being lazy and showing off their fancy dancy 5th wheels, etc. Babies… OK, I’m actually jealous, but until we save up to buy one I’ll shake my fist at them and say, “Damn you!” as they pull by my sad little non-trailer camp site.

Setting up the tent is usually Ryan’s job, I like to make him feel needed. So this is the first time (and last time) I ever put up a tent. I fought with the tent for 2 hours, but finally managed to get it up putting a minor hole in the bottom of the tent… oops.. how the hell was I suppose to know that you don’t set up a tent touching two trees, on top of roots and with tree branches sticking up?

Sheesh. I tried! I thought it would look all cute n’ cozy. The tent bent around the tree just fine I thought, isn’t that why they make them all flexible? When Ryan saw it he laughed and said it was a sad, saggy, baggy, poor excuse for a tent. *sigh* From now on he can always set up the tent. I just didn’t want to be setting up at tent at 8:30 pm which is what time we got out there after Ryan came home, I did grocery shopping and packed the rest of everything. We headed off like a bunch of Beverly Hillbillies set to enjoy a weekend of +29C and quality family time.

I need to send those damn weather meteorologist a dead stinky fish on Monday. +29C in my ass! It was cold! I was in a sweater and jeans the entire time. Not to be put off by the cool weather, thankfully I packed for it, (after all you never know what the weather is like out here) I tried to round the offspring into singing some camp songs while making smores.

I made a camp song booklet and everything… I’m a keener, I know. I let the kids decorate the booklet with felts, stickers and pom, poms but they still just stared at me as I belted out: Found a peanut.

I tried to get participation by having them mimic me with The bear song. That was a fail attempt. They sang quietly, with shaky voices as if they were scared a bear was going to come out of the woods to eat them if they sang too loudly…

*sigh* Guess I shouldn’t have told them that bears were in the woods and would come out to eat them if they didn’t be quiet and go to sleep on Friday night…. It was midnight. I was tired and they would not settle! It was the only thing that would work, and it was better than beating them…

I also tried to get them to sing my favorite… well, actually I have lots of favorites, this is just one of them.

My Bonnie has tuberculosis
My Bonnie has only one lung
She spits up a bloody solution
And rolls it around in her tongue.

Dentyne, Dentyne, Oh Dentyne’s
My favorite gum, yum, yum.
Dentyne, Dentyne, Oh Dentyne’s
My favorite gum!

My Bonnie leaned over the gas tank,
The height of it’s contents to see
I lit up a match to assist her
Oh, bring back my Bonnie to me.

Bring back, bring back, Oh bring back
My Bonnie to me, to me.
Bring back, bring back, Oh bring back
My Bonnie to meeeeee!

There’s more to it, but those are my favorite parts. After this song though, they were done…

A horse and a flea and 3 blind mice
Sat on a curb-stone shooting dice,
The horse he slipped and fell on the flea.
“Oops,” said the flea, “there’s a horsey on me!”

Boom, boom, ain’t it great to be crazy
Boom, boom, ain’t it great to be crazy
Crazy and foolish all day long,
Boom, boom, ain’t it great to be crazy…

Laura (7) looks at me, *sigh* and says, “Can I go ride my bike now?”
Joshua (4) chimes in, “Yeah, I wanna to go swing in the hammock.”
Brandon (2) speaks in gibberish and all I make out is, “park.”
They all scatter before I can utter a protest.
Mya (11months) however, gives me hope. She’s sitting on my lap hopping up and down, smiling and gurgling away. At least someone appreciates my singing.

I look at Ryan, I can see the wheels turning in his head, “Oh no, think, think, think, where can I go?”
Before he can make any excuses I pat the seat beside me and say, “Come here babe, I wanna sing you my favorite song.” He looks defeated as he obediently comes to sit beside me.
“Isn’t this fun?” I ask.
“So much fun I can hardly sit down,” is his reply.

Ignoring him I say, “OK, turn to page 8 and lets sing “The Linger Song.”

As I start to sing I sway. Mya sways, she likes to sway.
“OK, Stop right there. I won’t sway. I just won’t do it. You can’t make me sway,” Ryan says.

I whisper in his ear and he begins to sway with me, but only for a couple of verses. Much to his relief Brandon saves him by walking on the little dirt road as a truck is backing up. Ryan jumps up to get him and then mysteriously disappears for awhile.

At night it is just freezing. I have an air mattress, a sleeping bag under me, 2 blankets on top of me, 2 feather beds, and a sleeping bag on top of them. I should be snug as a bug, and for the most part I am, except for my face. It’s so cold. I can see my breath in the tent. I didn’t bring a toque or a sweater with a hood so I’m freezing. I can’t just shove my head under the blankets cuz Mya is beside me and I don’t want to suffocate her so I’m stuck with having a cold face. Since sleeping conditions have to be just right or I don’t sleep, I get at most 3 hours sleep all night long. I don’t know exactly, but it felt like that. I kept hearing the snapping of twigs in the distance making me wonder if a deer was walking by or a bear. I was listening intently to see if I could hear a sniffling snout coming around the camp site checking for any food.

Crazy thoughts were flying through my brain preventing me from sleeping. All of a sudden a squirrel lets out a long, loud war cry and within moments I hear pine cones being dropped onto our tent. I think I put our tent too close to his home. He wasn’t impressed. He dropped 11 pine cones on our tent, one on our picnic table and 6 by our truck. He was pissed. We were being assaulted by a rodent at 2am. I almost yelled at him to cut it out, because I was afraid one of the pine cones would pierce our tent, putting a hole in the top of our tent, but I didn’t for fear of waking the baby and the bear sleeping next to me. So I lay there, wishing I was Darth Vader and thinking of all the things I would do to that squirrel if I could. Squirrel moccasins, squirrel gloves, squirrel hat, squirrel soup, baked squirrel, squirrel a la mode, the possibilities are endless.

We went for a hike to some waterfalls nearby, what they are called I don’t have a clue cuz some idiot vandalized the sign so I called them, “Joanne’s knuckle falls.” Joshua wanted to call them, “Joshua’s bum falls.” The kid cracks me up. They were really pretty and we took lots of pictures which I hope turn out, but I don’t know since I forgot to pack my contact lens solution and couldn’t get my contacts in the next morning. I was running around partially blind all day. I could see just fuzzy wuzzy like. Nothing sharp, so I put my camera on auto-focus and hoped for the best. I wish I had a digital camera. My Canon E-OS is getting old and I want a new toy.

We saw an interpretive show by Parks Canada which made me wonder how much these girls got paid. It was a couple of hyped up, 20 somethings, talking like valley girls, singing and dancing like Brittany Spears. They did a little number to “oops I did it again.” Tasteless. They were doing an “informational” show on bears, geared towards families. It was partially amusing, but I was laughing at them, not with them. Their big joke as they ran around dressed up as a grizzly bear and brown bear was that bears get cubs after they hibernate.

“Damn! So that’s what’s been happening to me! No wonder I keep having so many kids. Who’da thunk?” I mutter to Ryan.
“Someone needs to teach these girls about the birds and the bees,” Ryan whispers in my ear.

It was a loooooong play. 0 out of 5 stars. We left early. I’m sure they eventually found out that bears do more than just hibernate to get prego and have cubs I just didn’t want to have to sit through the agony a minute longer. These girls talked like a friend I once had in college that irritated the hell out of me. I would’ve rather scooped my eye out with spoon.

We left for home. I get to sleep in my cozy bed tonite cuz I have to teach Sharing Time (for the last time, yea! I’m released!) on Sunday then I’ll join the troops tomorrow after church to see if they survived another squirrel ambush.

Estimated Time of Departure: 3:00pm
Actual Time of Departure: 8:30pm

ok, let’s just state the obvious right now…. I’m always late. It’s the one thing you can depend on. I will without fail be late. Every once in a blue moon I’ll be on time, but the norm is to count on me being late. It’s not that I don’t have good intentions or that I don’t want to be on time. I do. I really do. It’s just that for some reason or another I’m always late.

People who know that about me accept it and make allowances for it by telling me an earlier time if they want me to be on time to something or they just expect me to show up 20 min. - 1/2 hour late. I was late when I was born, I was late to the school bus, I was late to my wedding, I’ll be late to my own funeral.

My problem? I just hate being early. I hate waiting. I don’t care if people wait for me. I just hate waiting for other people. Hypocritical I suppose. I really don’t care. I just don’t like to wait for anyone or anything. I get bored too easy and can’t stand having to be on someone else’s schedule. I want to get there and instantly start. That and I’m a procrastinator.

I went to Medicine Hat to visit my childhood friend, Leslie. We get along great. I like to cook, she likes to clean. Together we make a perfect match. She’s hilarious. When we get together we laugh and act goofy. She thinks of the funny things to say, I think of the funny things to say or do. We feed off each other and hilarity ensues. We had a good time. We laughed, we talked, we hung out, went for walks and enjoyed each others company. A great weekend. I wish she lived closer to me by Auto-cocks… I mean Okotoks. She wishes I lived closer to her in Medicine Hat. It’s always good to have friends that make you laugh and relax.

Continuing the camping trip to the GCBD:

So we get to our campsite at midnight. We decide to set up the tent since the drunken guy in the site next to us has wandered over and has offered to help us.

“Hey, do you need help?” He calls out from the darkness.
“Sure! That’d be great!” I chirp.
” I’m a little inebriated, but I’ll do my best.”
*sigh* Why couldn’t he have mentioned that before?
We have a nice drunk guy. He just stands there the entire time, our little stout Santa Claus-like foreman and says, “yep, that looks right. You’ve got it. That’s a big tent. I’ve got a few beers in me. I can’t see that well. It’s dark. I can’t hear that well. That’s the front…that’s the top… and that’s the back. Good job… oh look there’s a window and there’s a door.”
Oh go sit down! F*ck! I don’t need a running commentary or a cheering squad.

After 20 minutes of pulling out poles, sleeping bags, pillows and backpacks we haul the kids into the tent and go to sleep… and I sleep kind of. I’m a very light sleeper so if something moves or rustles I’m usually awake. In our hurry to put up the tent, Ryan didn’t tie down some of the top dome part. Since it is Southern Alberta the wind just had to howl and so I was up all night with the damn rustling of the tent. Mya kept getting up every hour it seemed cuz she always wanted a smackerel of milk and since I was right there, why not? GAH!

The morning came and we woke up earlier than we had when we are at home. We awoke at 7:30am. *ugh* Who the hell gets up that early??? I know I don’t. But of course the damn cows in the area and the birds had to announce that the sun was up and everyone else needed to be up as well. Thank you, but keep it to yourself please!

We took showers (yea, I wasn’t camping without a shower and flushing toilet nearby) then we headed off to the Leavitt family reunion. Ryan’s grandma is a Leavitt so that makes us related to everyone in Southern Alberta. Crazy. I ran into people that I knew when I was still single. I was amused and shocked that I was now related to them. As I looked around you could tell who was who. There were a few scenarios that had played out.

1. It looked like there was a bit of inbreeding done amongst some of the family. Odd looking bunch.
2. You could tell who married outside the family. Hot looking bunch.
3. You could tell who was a Leavitt by those Leavitt childbearing hips or big Dumbo ears. These were either chubsters or skinny bean poles with floppy ears.

hmmm… am I getting mean? Yes, I suppose I am. Hell, I’m just telling it like it is….

There was the typical breakfast and the draws… Ryan put $20 down on a quilt. $20 on a freakn’ quilt!??!! I was pissed. WTF?!? I swear, sometimes me thinks he’s a little gay. We better win this damn quilt cuz I could’ve bought other stuff with that money. I’m so not a gambler. If I have to part with my money I want it to be on clothes, food, entertainment, travel or hobbies and I don’t think a draw for a damn quilt falls into any of those categories… well of course we lost. Surprise, surprise. Damn poofter.

Well, on to the races, cuz what’s a family reunion without the races. All my kids’ race and they come in last. Dead last. Ryan came in 4th, so I knew that I needed to represent. I was cheering my best cheer, “Way to go! Good job! You’re a good runner! I’m so proud of you! You did great!” In my mind I’m think “Damn, damn, damn! We had 4 chances to win something and we didn’t win! ARG!”

Yes, I am quite a little competitive one. So when my category came up I had to represent. Show them how it was done. My category? 25-35 year old women. So I was right in the middle. Not the youngest, not the oldest. I cheered and ran over excited and thrilled to be able to run. My adrenaline was pumping. I felt like a thoroughbred horse just pawing at the gates waiting to be set free at the word, “GO!” I was getting nervous. I HAD to win! It’s in my blood to win. I ran in Cross Country and Track when I was younger, I usually always placed in the top 3. This was my sport. I LOVE to run. I could feel the energy and the adrenaline surging throughout my body. I had to shake some of it out and hop up and down cuz it was almost uncontrollable.

I glanced over at my competition. 12 other women that were plumpish and a downs syndrome kid. I smiled. They will all be annihilated in a few moments.

The woman next to me says, “I haven’t raced since I was in high school, I hope I don’t fall. I’m nervous. This is silly.”

“Yeah, whatever. Just shut up bitch and eat my dust. You’re in for an ass kicking.” Well, that’s what I wanted to say, but instead I smiled sweetly and said, “yeah, me too. I haven’t run in forever. I’m outta practice.” Heh. I didn’t want to create enemies since we were amongst family.

I focus on the finish line, channeling all my energy that is surging through my body begging to be let free. I crouch like a tiger waiting to pounce on its prey… and I wait. It’s all about the kill now…

On your mark… get set…. GO!

I leap out of the starting line like a bullet shot from a gun. As I run I can feel myself picking up speed. This is only a crummy 50 meters at best. I roar through the finish line and keep running for a bit to try to slow myself down. I WON!!! Boo-yah! Wooooo Hooooo! I’m not even breathing hard or breaking a sweat!

My prize? A Cadbury Crunchie chocolate bar. I’m all about the chocolate. I would’ve done 10 laps around the track had they have told me I would win a chocolate bar. I’m also all about the winning.

I’m first! The Special Olympics kid comes in 2nd and some chubster comes in 3rd. I’m just thrilled to pieces. I won. I run up to Ryan all joyous.
“Did you see that? I kicked ass! I won! ”
“Way to go hon, you beat the retarded kid and all those fat ladies.” He says sarcastically.
Damn him to pop my bubble of happiness.
“Damn straight I did! So how much did I win by?”
“A lot. A little over a truck length.”
“Really?!? Wooo hooo! Check out my prize!” I’m just still beaming not letting him push me off my pedestal of champion runner at the good ole’ family reunion. “Did you take a picture?”
“Huh? No, I was holding the baby!”
Idiot. “What?!? My first race in 10 years that I run in and I win, and you don’t document it for all time to be framed and revered???”
He just gives me a funny look. “I love you,” he says as if to remind himself that he does. Damn him and the horse he rode in on! That was photo worthy! I was looking around for a podium to stand on, so I could hold my chocolate, wave to the cheering crowd and hear the national anthem. Unfortunately there was nothing.

For the rest of the day I’m a cocky little bitch all proud that I beat out the Special Olympics kid and the chubby ladies. Victory is sweet.

Everyone kept coming around and congratulating me. They are amazed that I put such a distance between myself and everyone else. I tried to downplay it and brush it off saying that I used to run anyway and it was nothing. But inside I was doing my happy jig and screaming, “I WON!!! I KICKED ASS!”

Ahhh… It was a proud moment. Seriously the highlight of my weekend! How sad is that. *sigh* I need to get out more.

Estimated time of departure: 6:00pm

Actual time of departure: 10:00pm

6-137 L rubbermaid boxes, 1 tent, 4 backpacks, 2 apple boxes, 1 luggage, 1 duffle bag, 2 coolers, 4 waterguns and everything except the kitchen sink is packed in the back of our truck. Looking like the Beverly Hillbillies we set off for the Great Canadian Barn Dance in Hillspring, Alberta.

We will be sleeping in our truck tonite cuz I don’t want to be setting up a tent at 1am.

Ryan has just bought a blackberry so I am writing this as we travel. Internet connection while we camp! Brilliant!

Well, we did it. We went camping for 4 hours. From 12pm to 4pm. Oyvey… and what a crazy but relaxing fun time it was.

I didn’t want to go camping Friday night because weather reports said thundershowers. I didn’t hear any last night, and Saturday morning was just gorgeous. Now I’m not camping over until Sunday because again weather man says lots of rain. If it’s not pissing rain tomorrow I’m going to be pissed. I wanted to tent it but didn’t want to deal with the rain.

Instead we did a trial run to see how well we would do if we actually did go camping for the weekend. So we decided on a day camp at Sandy McNab in K-Country.

Prognosis:
Bringing stuff: Grade F: We fail miserably.
Fun: Grade B: We had fun…the kids did too, until they got wet and cold. Then they started to cry. They would have had more fun if I had remembered to bring extra clothes, but I failed in the bringing stuff department.

We forgot:
1. A pot to cook the chili in (had to eat it luke warm, thank goodness I had just made it that morning and didn’t have to add ingredients)
2. Ketchup, mustard, relish for the smokies and hot dogs (we only ate 3 out of 8 without the bun cuz you can’t have a bun with no toppings in my opinion)
3. Lighter fluid (this would have helped keep our pathetic fire from going out. Ryan is no Eagle Scout so our fire kept dying despite having lots of wood in there.)
4. A proper cooler (Ryan went out and wasted $5 on a throw away cooler, which surprise, surprise, broke. Our expensive “7 days keeps ice without melting” cooler is over at the in-laws. They borrowed it in December they still have not given it back. I refuse to talk to them now over other issues, so Ryan is in charge of talking to them and getting things back… fat chance that’s ever gonna happen. I’m being sarcastic cuz it takes him literally 6 months to do one thing I ask of him. My damn couches are still not back and it’s been 2 months. Only 4 months left to go.)
5. An axe. (The switch blade he got from the Philippines didn’t work that well on wood. He broke his locking mechanism, now the kids will find it and to kill themselves for sure! *sigh*)
6. Extra clothes for the kids. (They got soaked in the river and during the water fight. It didn’t help that Ryan threw Laura in the river or that Josh got cold from the water gun fight so he rolled around in the dark sand trying to get warm)
7. Shoes for Brandon (This kid constantly ends up going places without shoes cuz Ryan just throws him in the vehicle without them on. He then forgets to get the kid his shoes. I keep forgetting to check to see if the kids have shoes. *sigh* Amazing how things have changed going from 1 kid to 4. I figure shoes on the kids should be a given since we are going out! He walked around the entire time in bare feet. Thank goodness there were no thistles or broken glass anywhere he walked.)
8. Plates (Completely forgot. I remembered while I was packing stuff but as quickly as it entered the thought left. Damn I’m getting Alzheimer’s.)
9. Table Cloth (Not really a biggy, but it would have been nice since you never know who’s ass or dirty feet was on the table before you. Tables are for glasses not for asses.)
10. Dryer Lint (Extremely flammable. It caused our neighbors house across the street to go up in flames. It would be great to put with kindling we figure.)
11. Hot dog skewers (Stupid Wal-Mart had sold out of them. I did try to go buy some, but they were out. Thankfully someone raped a tree and made some skewers out of willow branches and left them behind. Thank you. I kept them. Hey, free hot dog skewers. We’re going camping next weekend (if I can find a campsite) and I need something since Wally world is sold out.)

Despite that we had fun. It was a beautiful day. Ryan fiddled around trying to build a camp fire while the kids and I played by the Sheep River. They tossed rocks in the river and built bridges to try to get across. We had lunch and made smores (I need thinner chocolate so it will melt better).

There were no mosquitoes to contend with only horse flies… Yuck. So I just had to make sure they didn’t bite the kids. I hate horse flies also. What’s up with this creation biting you and taking your blood? Sheesh. Not the brightest minds working on the creation now was there. *sigh*

And this is where it goes to hell. 3 1/2 hours into the day I bring out the water guns, and had a water gun fight. Ryan jumped into the deep part of the river with Laura, soaking her and making her cry. *sigh* People were looking at us like we were bad parents… Well, I didn’t agree with dunking her in the water and tried to stop him, but how do you stop someone who is double your weight?

Josh got upset cuz the water was cold from the water guns so then he started to cry. Brandon got upset cuz he couldn’t get his gun to shoot water properly cuz it was so big for him that he started to cry. We took our cue, packed up and left. Once again I was glad that home is only 30 minutes away, cuz the kids were tired, wet and cranky.

If kids sit too long in wetness there’s something worse than the smell of wet dog, it’s wet kid.

We went home and everyone took baths or showers. The smell of campfire is gone except for the laundry that I have to do. And yea no more wet kid smell. Shampoo is a wonderful invention.

In order to stop the kids from crying all the way home we told them we’d take them to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Bribing… such a necessary evil. We were 1/2 way there when I made Ryan turn around cuz Brandon was sleeping, Mya woke up and was quite chatty and I was tired. So I told him that he may as well take us the 3 of us back home and he can go to the movie with the older 2. Then I could get a nap and I’m not all stressed out trying to keep Mya from talking in the theatre. If it was 10pm and I knew she would go to sleep I’d take her, but not when she’s wide awake and ready to shake. Then that’s just rude to the other movie goers. He did a quick u-turn and dropped us off. Brandon kept sleeping, Mya crawled around the bedroom and I napped on the bed for awhile. They didn’t get back from the movie till 10pm. The kids liked the movie and so did Ryan. Yea Charlie.

We’ll attempt actually camping in a tent next weekend. The long weekend. If I can get a campsite. I better start calling around Monday, so far every place I’ve called is full. Crazy Albertan campers. This time I’m trying to get a spot in Southern Alberta by Waterton National Park. We’ll be going to a family reunion on the Saturday so I figured since it’s a long weekend we’ll camp as well… I’m sure I’ll once again convince myself that I’m an idiot for camping with 4 kids under 7 years old, but only time will tell I suppose.

Yep, the family camping trip. I’m preparing to battle mosquitoes and all manner of insects as we traverse to the beautiful Kananaskis country. I love how it’s only 30 minutes away. If things go crazy we can just go home.

A friend said I should take along some bells to scare away the bears. I don’t think we need bells. All the yelln’ noise of 4 loud crazy kids is enough to scare the dead.

I’m only going to “rough it” for 2 days: Saturday and Sunday. It will be a practice run to see if I can handle the insanity outside of my home… if all goes well we’ll go to Waterton. If not, we’ll be camping in our backyard.

July 1, 2005 Friday

With all the almost unbearable rain we have been getting in June the mosquitoes have come out in full force. They are everywhere and hungry for blood. My blood! I’m scratching like a rabid dog with fleas. Even with bug repellant I think they stole a quart of blood and I have mosquito welts anywhere my skin was showing… Stupid me for wearing a small t-shirt and low-rise Capri’s. I should have worn one of those space suits that cover every inch of your body. It didn’t help that the parade route was by the river so it was like we were walking right into their nesting ground.

I swear I hope birds are going crazy doing the nasty so they start producing lots of lil’ birdies to eat all these freakn’ bugs. I hate mosquitoes. Now I’m all paranoid that I’m going to get West Nile. I’m such a hypochondriac, but seriously… you never know. I gotta watch out for signs. I better go take my temperature…

I slept in so we didn’t get up until 5:50am. We didn’t leave the house till 7:00am. Breakfast already started in Drumheller. Ryan assures me he can make it in an hour and 1/2 instead of 2 hours. We’ll make it to the free breakfast of oj, pancakes and ham. We jump into the truck and off we go. The kids slept most of the way and I, being stupid as always, decided to paint my toe nails in the truck on the way there… I have these cute red Old Navy flip flops with a diamond heart and red bow. I have nail polish to match perfectly. So instead of doing my nails yesterday, no! heaven forbid I procrastinate it until this very morning. Let’s just say the road out to Drumheller is not the smoothest or the straightest. I felt like I was blind, drunk Helen Keller painting my toes. *sigh*

Had breakfast. Delicious. Got ripped off. I had to pay a $1 for each of my kids to let them have balloon hats made by some clown… what a waste, cuz 2 minutes after getting his twisty balloon hat Josh says, “Hey! You wanna hear a balloon fart?” He pops his… “My balloon farted!” He laughs hysterically… and there went a dollar.

The parade was lots of fun. The kids got lots of candy, they had fun waving at the floats and being sprayed by water guns. After we went to Coop to get hot dogs, watermelon and a juice box. I was once again reminded that yep, I still do hate hot dogs. We went to the World’s Largest Dinosaur and the dinosaur water park was lots of fun. The kids ran around and sprayed each other with the water guns.

Ryan and Guy went to watch people bridge jumping. Guy dared this man that he met over there to jump off the bridge for $10. The man jumped in with jeans on. This water is just gross! It is all dirty and full of silt from the floods. It’s just a very muddy river. Ryan and Guy come back all proud of themselves and laughing at the sight of the guys facial expression when he hit the cold revolting water. I was annoyed that they didn’t tell me cuz I wanted to see that!

When Jayna found out he gave the man $10 to jump in the water she just stares at him pissed… It was so funny to see her expression. If looks could kill he’d be a dead man. She started ripping into him, “Why do you always have to spend every last cent that’s in your pocket??? blah, blah, blah…. I’m just laughing cuz Jayna is the most quiet thing and doesn’t say much, but now she’s so mad cuz he spent the money uselessly.

Guy looks at me for backup. “Wouldn’t you pay $10 to see some guy jump off a bridge?”
“No! I’m not stupid! What idiot would pay to watch that?…. oh ya.. you did.” I retort.
I had to back up Jayna at that moment….don’t want to make the woman mad at me for agreeing with him.

We stayed there for a couple of hours then headed off to the reptile museum. It was awesome! I got to hold Brittany the boa constrictor. Yikes… well, I didn’t hold it, I just let them wrap the snake around my neck and quickly had a picture taken. It took everything I had not to run around screaming… snakes are meant to be seen behind glass… thick glass. The snake that the chick on the web page is the holding is a smaller version of the snake I held… Brittany the boa must have been eating lots of small children, cuz this thing was huge. All my kids had the snake wrapped around their necks. The boys thought it was pretty cool. The girls.. not so much. Brandon kept freaking the care taker out cuz he kept trying to grab its flickering tongue. Yikes, I quickly put a stop to that.

Ryan tells me he wants to show me this road with a 100 bridges… so we go. It’s a windy road, with amazing hoodoo’s that surround it, but there were only 10.
“100… 10… it’s all relative.. it seems like 100 though, ” he says.
riiiiight.

Well, on our way back there’s this sign that says and I kid you not! “Village of Idiots 5 km.”
“Did you see that sign?” I ask Ryan, of course he hadn’t because he’s the most unobservant person I know. I thought maybe I was mistaken, but sure enough… 5 km later another sign:
“Village of Idiots (with an arrow pointing south)
Rosedale 8km.”
It was too funny. I wanted to take a picture of it, but Ryan of course wouldn’t stop. It was such a funny sign though, the highlight of my day. *sigh* so this must be where all the idiots originate from, no wonder there are so many close to where I live. They breed them in that town I guess. lol…. now I know where Ryan actually came from.

Thursday, May 26, 2005

I’ve realized something….

I’ve unfortunately inherited my off key voice from my mother.

So my brother Anthony calls and asks her to buy him a karaoke microphone. Of course when we get home she decides to try it out.

My cousins and I are all there hangin out so we decided to go a few rounds on this thing to test it out. I go sing 3 songs and yes I admit I can’t sing to save my life! Especially since I was singing “I’m too sexy,” “mamma mia.” “Can’t Touch This,” & “I love Rock n’ Roll” … ok.. so I think I sang a few more… I admit, It’s addictive and I kept trying but to no avail I still SUCKED from song 1 to song 6 … 6 songs I think I made my cousins endure, but I think I made up for my singing by my MC HAMMER moves cuz I can definitely grove like HAMMER!!! Never mind that I have CRD (Caucasian rhythm disorder).

So my cousins get on and brother-in-laws.. well.. lets just say it was laughable as well.. they are no better than me..

Well of course then my MOTHER decides to get on and bust a few rhymes.

HOLY HILARIOUS! I’ve never laughed and been purely annoyed, bugged, irate and flustered in my life! She proceeded to start off at 8:30pm with Brian Adams “Everything I Do.” She then goes through all of ABBA’s songs, Tom Jones and other Oldies that she liked….

I think I’m going to send hate mail to Tom Jones and ABBA for writing so many damn songs! Seriously! Did they have to do so many?!?

My mother’s singing is worse than nails on chalkboard. So she’s singing ABBA’s Mamma Mia. She’s 1/2 way through and she pauses and says, “Oh, Well.. NOW I’m off tune!”

“NOW?!? Mother you weren’t on tune to begin with!!!” I snipe.

She ignores me and keeps singing song after song after song after song completely off tune. She drove everyone out of the room! My cousins left and I retreated to my room which was of little avail because the room she’s howling in is the next room. *SIGH*

I tried to put Mya to sleep cuz she was so tired but the cow shrieking, chicken squawking/cat howling/ bat singing, frog execution going on in the next room kept waking her up.

I suppose my only consolation is that she bought this for Anthony and he only lives one block away from her.. so I’m sure she can grace his many parties with her “lovely” singing voice or go over whenever she feels like getting down and killing a cat.

And just when I thought my mother was bad my GRANDMOTHER tuned in for a few rounds… WOW!!! All I have to say is WOW!! Someone was slowly butchering a dog.. a cocker spaniel.. or a Weiner dog….or a poodle… dogs all over the Philippines were howling along with them.

Finally after 2 torturing hours I was able to put a stop to the singing by telling them that my ears were bleeding…err.. I mean that It was late and we needed to get sleep so we could go to the ocean tomorrow.

Finally I had peace and shortly thereafter my ears stopped ringing.

May 27, 2005 Friday.

Today we went down to the ocean again in Rosario. We had a BBQ at some resort. It was nice. The sand was crazy hot, we went down to the ocean and swam in the water. It was warm, but not as clear. When I asked my cousins why they said it was because there is a lot of sewage dumping in the ocean and the ocean used to be clear but not so anymore…. so after hearing that I quickly got out of the ocean grabbed the kids and went and got something to eat. After eating just rice and salad (I’m losing weight here it’s fabulous! I recommend the rice and nothing else diet.) They had fresh muscles and clams from the ocean, but after hearing the talk about the sewage dumping I wasn’t in the mood. They also had sea weed, burned goat, BBQ pork, beef steak(brought out way to late, after lunch was over) and a Filippino veggies like bitter melon and okra which I don’t like. I’m so sick of flip food, I just want to go home and cook my own food. Some gay dude the next picnic table area over kept singing Madonna songs and it churned my stomach and brought nightmares from yesterday back. I just lost my appetite.

So the cousins, kids and I decided to hit the pool at the resort. They had a big one and a kiddy one. There was no one there but us, so we had tones of fun! They brought along inflatable whales, dinosaurs and kiddy stuff to keep us laughing and having a great time. We spent the rest of the day there and it was so nice! After I played in the water for an hour I figured everyone was pissn’ in the pool and I should get out so I slept on the lawn chairs and desperately tried to get a tan before heading home. The kids splashed and played hard in the pool with their cousins, aunts and uncles. It was nice and relaxing.

After spending the day there we went to get another massage for Mya and me with John’s (Florence husband) grandparents. It was so nice, I finally had a massage for the first time and loved it. She totally fixed my left sore shoulder. It no longer hurt.. stupid me forgot to get my right shoulder fixed, I was so happy that my left one was not hurting anymore *sigh* Duh.. I just blanked out. Well, I like massages given by her because she doesn’t push so hard that it hurts… I just don’t understand why people always feel the need to push your muscles so hard that it’s like they are trying to go right through your body with their hands. Well, this woman was simply wonderful and relaxing.

The next couple days were spent packing and seriously counting down the hours and minutes until I could go home. I am just so ready to go home and I’m sooo sick of my mother. I swear I am never going to go on another vacation with my mother again for the rest of my life. AND when she is old and needs to be taken care of I’m sending her to an old age retirement home.. and a 60 minutes home at that! WOW. lol… just kidding… only 1/2… ok… I’m not kidding.. I’m dead serious! She is driving me crazy.

We went to Manila on Sunday it takes 6 hours to get there and we went shopping at Tutuban on Monday May 30. WOW…. good shopping. I was able to buy shirts for the kids for $50 pesos like $1!!! Of course everything that was one size fits all just fit Laura again so I got her lots of cool shirts like Banana Republic, Tommy Hilfiger, Gap, etc. I bought the most fabulous shoes for Laura and myself and I shopped for Ryan and the boys. It was a shopping day. I can’t really say fun because I was so stressed over the noise and trying to keep tabs on all the kids, but I got to shop and I love to shop and I loved to shop because everything was so cheap in price yet such wonderful stuff so it was enjoyable. Would’ve been better if Ryan were there because I like to get his opinion on things.

So the next day Tuesday May 31 I wanted to go to the mall, but my aunt would not let me go so I got Grace to bring me to the mall. We told my aunt we were going to go to the market to get Brandon a leash because I lost mine when I got to the Philippines. So instead of taking me to the market she took me to the SM Mall…. Seriously I LOVE this mall.. I wish there were malls like that here. It was wonderful. I got to ride a motorbike with a cab extension on it and a jeepnee to get there. It was so much fun!! I quickly shopped around got all the final things I wanted and then headed back. I talked to my aunt to make sure Grace wouldn’t get in trouble by telling her I couldn’t find the leash at the market so I made her take me to the mall. She looked at me disapprovingly but I really could’ve careless I just didn’t want Grace to get into trouble. I’m just so proud of myself for coming up with a great excuse for going to the mall. hehe.. I’m so sneaky.

Laura didn’t want to leave the Philippines. She was begging, pleading and whining at me to stay for another month.
When I told her no, she said, “ok, how about for another week?”
“no”
“ok.. 5 days! just 5 days!?!”….
“no”(I’m seriously in trouble when my kid gets to be a teenager her bargain skills are developing quite well.)
“3 days?….
I just look at her….
“ok.. one?” ..
I said, “Laura, if you want you can stay, but for me and the boys and Mya we are going back to Canada.”….
“ok.. fine… I’ll come too.” pout pout…
lol….

Josh on the other hand was so excited.. “are we leaving to the airport yet? Are we going home yet? How much longer till we go home? Is that a long time or a short time? Are we leaving now? No? ok… how about now? Now?” He did want to take one of the nannies with us though… “I want to take James back home with us! Can we just put him in our luggage?” I said, “well, where will he stay?” “Oh he can sleep with me and Brandon in our bed in my room.” He’s so funny that kid. He had lots of fun with James and James is really funny. They got along together so well that he was sad to leave James behind.

Well, then we packed up said our goodbyes and they drove us to the airport. The airport in Manila is crazy we went through 3 baggage scans before we got to the plane. We had to wait for 3 hours to get through the lines at the airport and we made it there with 10 minutes to spare before the plane took off. I let the kid’s race around the airport during the 3 hours so by the time we got on the plane they were tired. THANKFULLY my mother was seated 3 rows ahead of us so she couldn’t inject her two bit opinion on how I was raising the kids. It was just me and the kids the whole way home to Vancouver and it was nice. However, Laura threw up on the plane again. She wasn’t feeling very good the poor girl. This time she threw up all over the seat, blanket, pillow and floor. Yikes! We were almost to Canada only 1 more hour left. Every time I thought about landing in Canada and going home I had tears in my eyes. I missed home. I missed Ryan. I missed my friends and I missed normal food.

Once in Vancouver we had to go through customs and my mother managed to piss off the customs guy. He was only able to ask me 2 questions 1. when did I leave, and 2. why my husband wasn’t with me. The rest of the time I was distracted with the kids or my mother interrupted him. The kids were wired and were feeling quite mischievous. Well Josh and Brandon were. Laura was still not feeling very good. My mother kept trying to butt in and inject her to bit opinions and try to answer my questions for me and she wouldn’t stay behind the yellow line like they told her to.. she was just plain annoying… I was getting so sick of her and it took every fiber in my being to ignore her and not snap. After we got our bags the air Canada guy got pissed off at her as well because she wouldn’t stay behind the yellow line and she had brought 2 extra bags with her and not paid for them. She just bribed the guy at the Philippine airlines to let her on with the extra baggage. So after 15 minutes of arguing with the guy she finally fesses up and he gets so pissed off he rips off all our baggage tags and yells at her. He then made her pay $25 for each additional box. I just walked away. I pretended not to know her and I took the kids to the bathroom. When I got back he had thankfully sent her out. She was standing at the glass exit doors and banging on the glass waving and yelling to me that she was there.. I just pretended not to notice and shook my head.. the air Canada guy just smiles and snarks, “I got rid of your mother for you!”
“Thank you so very much! You just made my day!” I said.

I walked out to the exit, said a brief goodbye to my mother and left to catch our flight to Calgary. I was so tired and exhausted. The kids were towing the rolling carry ons and I had Mya strapped to me in the baby backpack and I had Brandon on a leash and he insisted on towing a rolling luggage. We looked like a bunch of drunk ducks waddling in and out around the airport. Everyone chuckled, cooed, smiled, and stared in disbelief at us. Mya was having a great time smiling and kicking her feet and waving her hands at everyone. Everyone said, “Is your husband here to help you?” and when I said no we were on our way to meet him they would say, “Wow! You’re so brave to take 4 kids all by yourself.”
To which I’d retort.. “I think the word I’m thinking of is stupidity…It’s not brave it’s just stupid. I wasn’t thinking properly when I thought this over. My hamster is not turning as well as it should be!”
People were so nice, letting us go through or ahead of them and getting a kick out of the kids because all of a sudden they got new energy, Laura was feeling better and the boys were ecstatic to go on yet another plane and Brandon felt the need to scream “Plane, plane” at the top of his lungs to let everyone know that yes indeed there are planes parked at the airport.

I kept looking around to see if Tom Welling was there and I could have a Tom Welling Experience and get a picture, autograph, a hug, and his shirt… lol.. but unfortunately for me… I was not able to see him at the airport. *sigh*

Well, they slept the whole way to Calgary. They were so exhausted and so was I. I was definitely in need of some rest. I was so excited when the plane touched down in Calgary I almost kneeled down on the floor and kissed the ground… there’s no place like home…. click click… there’s no place like home… I was tearing up just thinking of seeing Ryan, the newly painted house and being able to be back home… back to the familiar.. back to my awesome soft inviting bed…..back to reality…

….*sigh* fortunately and unfortunately back to reality… My day dream thoughts of me running into Ryan’s arms abruptly came to a halt when I saw the hairy person in front of me open up arms and say, “Hi guys welcome back!”
Whaaa???? What the hell happened to your face???
Yes, Ryan decided to grow a beard while we were away… and then come to the airport with it expecting me to love it… *sigh* and I thought that after 11 years of knowing each other that he knew me better… I hate beards…When we got home he went straight upstairs and shaved and that was the end of that. He said guys at work were taking bets as to how long it would take for me to have him shave it off. I told him that if I knew exactly which luggage contained my razor I would make him go into the bathroom right now and shave it off.

Well, then we went to collect our luggage. Now the Calgary airport has a Drumheller Dinosaur exhibit up with a bunch of dinosaurs ripping through and eating up luggage and clothes… well, when I saw it I said to Laura, “Oh no! I can’t believe it! Did you see that! All the dinosaurs went through our luggage and ripped everything open! OH great now we are going to have to go through and try to find our stuff! Laura do you see any of your clothes in there?” LMAO!!! She fell for it and went over to take a look. “oh no! I don’t know I’ll check!” After a few moments she said, “no I don’t think my clothes are in here.” I just cracked up laughing… “Mommeeee! Quit tricking me!” lol

So I’ve been pulling Vampire hours. I’m up all night long and I’m sleepy during the day. I’m having a hard time adjusting to the time difference. Laura was up and went to school right the next day. She came home and crashed but she was excited to go to school now that she was back home. I would drag my sorry butt out of bed and take her to school late… like noonish.. but hey at least she got there for a few hours…

I’m probably in a better mood now than when I came home. I came home to find out that instead of concentrating on painting (like he was suppose to and like he promised) Ryan had been interior decorating by bringing in these ugly couches he got from his parents into the house and cluttering up the room with a crap load of furniture and end tables… you couldn’t even move. It looked awful.” But they are comfortable” was his argument. I was not impressed. They stink too. It smelled like canned tuna, old people and a bunch of farts. He has to move that stuff out and bring back the black leather furniture. So I decided to take comfort in the fact that everything would be painted….The basement wasn’t painted and neither were the bathrooms or bedrooms… again I wasn’t impressed. I was so upset that I didn’t even freak out, (I was a dead calm. That’s always a bad sign) I just went upstairs and took solace in the comfort of my bed and fell into an immediate deep sleep…. over the next 4 days I had to “De-Ampy”. I was a raging b*tch until I was able to calm down and settle.

Now I’m fine, back to being silly me still trying to adjust to the time change. All in all I’m glad to be back and I’m glad to be home. I now understand why there are wars over homeland and why people miss their country and have true patriotism and love for their country. I really missed Canada, I love the culture of the Philippines, I love my cousins, I had a great time, but I was glad oh so glad to be back…. There really is no place like home.

May 25, 2005

So Laura and I are sitting at the table talking and I say to her that when we get back to Canada I’m going to teach her how to make some chocolate chip cookies.
She says, “Why do I have to learn?”
I said, “Well, so you can learn how to bake and cook.”
She says, “I don’t have to know how to cook.”
I said, “Why not.”
She just shrugs and smiles.
I look at her and say, “Well, Laura when you move out of the house one day and get married you’ll have to cook for your family.”
She looks me straight in the eye and says, “no I don’t, my husband will cook.”
I smiled and said, “ok.. well, what if your husband is at work, then what will you do for lunch?”
She says dead serious, “I’ll have my nanny cook for me.”
I said, “Well, what if the nanny is taking care of the kids, then what will you do?”
She says, still serious, “Well, I’ll have my housekeeper do it.”
YIKES!!!!
“Well Laura,” I said, “I sure hope you marry someone very, very rich.”
She just smiles coyly.
*sigh* this trip has not been a wake up call for my daughter like I had hoped.
Instead she sees that all my cousins have nannies that take care of their children, clean their houses, do their laundry and make dinner for them. So now she thinks the world works like that. My cousins do live a charmed life. If they want something they will usually send someone to do it for them or get it for them. My aunt has 3 houses out here, so since we are here for most of our trip and we’ve only gone down to the poor regions twice while we were here I don’t think she realizes most of the people here are poor. I try to tell her that and point out the rickety houses as we drive around, but that’s just not sinking in. I guess it’s kind of hard to see that as we drive around in a 2005 Nissan Patrol with leather seats and air conditioning. All my cousins drive vehicles that have leather seats and tricked out vehicles. *sigh*

I miss Ryan and so do the kids. The only one that wants to stay longer is Laura. That little princess of mine likes being pampered and she has been enjoying not having to do chores or having to go to school. She asked if we could stay for another month. Joshua has been asking to go home ever since Ryan has left. Everyday he asks if we are going back to Canada today. He’s really excited to go back to school and hang out with friends and see his daddy. Brandon and Mya don’t give a rip where we are as long as they are with me.

Anyway, nothing much has been happening here. I have been packing for home now. I’ve been going to the market to get last minute things and just making sure I have everything ready to go. I am relieved to go home. I’m finally done… I’m done living with my mother. She’s driving me crazy and I’m sure we are driving her crazy as well. It’s time to go back. I love the country and I still love being here and I love hanging out with my cousins, but next time we come we’ll plan the itinerary and our entourage can come with us if they want to or not. One thing I am tired of is every freakn’ time we have to go somewhere we always have an entourage of people with us. We are driving around in a vehicle that seats 5 with 10 people piled on each other injun style.. except now I’m calling it Flip style. I feel like I’m playing that game we played in high school for fun called stuff a bug. Where you try and fit as many people in a car as possible. If we take the patrol that can hold 9 people we are squishing 15 or 16 people in. Seriously.. I’m done…

I swear with Mya I feel like I’m being chased by fans, it’s so annoying. I walk around with Mya and everyone surrounds me and is cooing over Mya and wants to hold her, “Hi Mya, Hi Mya.” It’s driving me crazy. I always try to pass her off as quickly as I can so I can get some space. For some reason people think babies are blind and deaf and they need to be inches away from her face to coo at her. If she freaks out then I’m left to people encircling me and touching her and saying, “Hi Mya.” over and over and over again… seriously it’s driving me nuts. Even when I go to walk away, I’m followed by people.. “awww, Hi Mya.” like they can’t say anything else. I’ve snapped a few times and have said, “ok that’s enough” and went to hide out in the bathroom until they found something else to do. Nuts I tell ya NUTS! Sure it’s sweet, but like I said before… done.. I’m done… I could never be a celebrity.. I’d go batty at the constant attention. I’d be one of the celebrities that snap and beat the tar out of people taking pictures of them or something.

Anyway, this will probably be my last email. Today is Thursday here, on Friday we go down to the ocean again, Saturday we go to Manila. It takes about 6 hours so when we get there it will be night. Sunday my aunt is taking us sight seeing to Cohoridor.. it’s some island with a nice beach and a war museum. Monday will be spent going to Tutuban it’s this really cheap place to buy clothes. This is where all the remainder of my money will be spent. Tuesday we will be finishing up packing all the stuff I bought and go to the airport.

Our flight leaves at 5:00pm on Tuesday May 31. We will be arriving in Calgary I think 5:00pm I’m not sure on the time on Tuesday May 31. We gain a day coming back home. Wish me luck and say a prayer for me that I’ll be able to make it through 3 airports with 4 kids. I’ve lost my leash so I’m still trying to find a small dog leash to tie onto Brandon so he doesn’t wander off. I am only taking 2 carryons. One for Laura filled with snacks, toys and books and one for me filled with diapers and extra clothes for the kids. I’ve had tones of fun here and I’ve loved hanging out with my cousins and I’ve loved the shopping, the site seeing and the ocean. I’d recommend visiting the Philippines. It’s great! I’d love to visit here every year if I could, but for now I’m set to go home and get back to the daily grind of life.

so I love ya all! I’ll see you when I see you and talk to you when I get back! Hugs to all!
Love, jo

p.s. tell Ryan he only has a few more days to finish the painting before his crazy family comes back to turn his world upside down again. Enjoy the peace and quiet for a few more days till the Lee kids and the Nazi wife gets back.

Friday, May 20, 2005

Hello to all!

The Philippines consists of 7101 Islands. We left Baguio and traveled north to Vigan City in Illocos(the Province). We crossed 2 Islands to get there. It was amazing. The Pacific ocean stretched out on the side. We crossed over bridges to get across rivers in order to get to the other island.

The roads are crazy here and it is very bumpy. I am hanging on to the HOLY SH*T bars for dear life. It’s a wild ride, because they all drive like a bat out of hell here. There are no real traffic rules and the speed limit is only determined by how fast your vehicle can go. As we were driving Josh threw up in the vehicle so when we stopped in San Fernando to clean up, have lunch and buy some Gravol.

We checked out my Aunt’s Silver Store locations she had in the mall. My brother in law purchased some Gravol for my kids so they wouldn’t throw up again… well…before we left Canada I went to see Dr. Byam and asked him about giving the kids Gravol. He said I need to test it out first because it will either have a calming effect on them or else make them go crazy hyper… well, we tried it on Brandon( who is 2) before we left and he was normal to calm… so I thought Laura(7 years old) and Josh(4 years old) would be t