Tee Pee tenting ….

Okay, so the Monsters and I went to family camp for the weekend and the most amazing part is that I didn’t kill anyone!  Yep we all came back alive and in one piece.

Now down side of the weekend was that I will not be asking a particular babysitter back.  This weekend was a busy one for everyone in our house.  Nana went to Wilkie, Saskatchewan for the weekend and the Monsters and I went to family camp at Our Lady Queen of Peace Ranch just outside of Bragg Creek, AB. Nana left on Thursday afternoon, which required me to get a babysitter for Thursday evening and as I took a shift at another store to help out the manager, whom I knew, I needed a babysitter for first thing Friday morning too.  Sadly when arriving home mid Friday afternoon, I was greeted with, “Mummy, (Healthy Weighty Wee Man) threw up!”  Apparently he happened to vomit all over the living room floor Friday morning.  Not only did the Babysitter NOT call me at work to let me know this, she also made a sick, FIVE YEAR OLD BOY clean it up.  It’s not an easy thing to have to say that I will not be asking her to come again ~ EVER.  I can’t convey the amount of disappointment I feel in finding out what was happening in my home while I was at work.  I wasn’t even given the courtesy of a phone call to ask if I could or would come home.

So Friday mid afternoon, I arrive home and still have to get ready for a weekend of camping.  While not all that hard, I was fighting exhaustion.  Remember, I forgot I am not Wonder Woman, and committed to working an extra shift? An eight hour shift.  Starting at 6am.  After working a five hour closing shift.  That means I had to be up by 5am to be awake enough to drive safely to a store that was not mine and therefore not close to me.  So pardon me if I said I was just a bit tired.  I still had to pack our clothes, gather up everything we needed, everything the dog needed to spend the weekend at Winsome01’s, load it all in the van and get on the road.  Oh did I mention it was Friday?  OH! And it was also the first day of Stampede?  Yeah … traffic sucked.  As I was getting ready to leave, W01 texted me inquiring about an ETA …. I wanted to tell him not so nicely where to go.  Did I say I was tired?  Sleep deprived even?   One of those can make me … irritable.  Both together equals down right cranky!  Okay so we get on the road.  About an hour later than I wanted.  But all things considering, I think even that is a feat!

Now the one thing I haven’t mentioned … the weather.  In the city ofCalgaryduring the day and while we were in the city limits, it was a pretty good day!  The sun was shining, gloriously dry and very warm, and it was breezy.  Not windy, but a very present breeze.  It was nice.  As I leave the city and head west to our destination, the breeze picks up and is a light wind, at times gusting to a heavy wind.  I really didn’t think much of this I was focused on trying to get to camp … an hour late.  While trying to get the dog to Winsome01’s, and us to camp, I’m also trying to ascertain whether Healthy Weighty Wee Man is going to vomit again.  He was saying he wasn’t, and would then follow that with, “Mummy, my tummy hurts.”  About 10 minutes out from camp came the dreaded words ….  “Mmmmmuummmmeeeeeeee …. I’m gonna be sick!”  And me without a plastic bag in the car … good thing I had stopped at Wendy’s for supper, and we had at least a paper bag in the car.  I get pulled over and am really in a quandary about what to do.  Do I go on to camp and stay the weekend potentially making all the staff and other families sick, or do I turn around and go home.  After sitting for a few minutes, and HWWM does not get sick, we go on to camp.  In hindsight I think Healthy Weighty Wee Man was trying so very hard not to be sick at that point because he wanted to go camping so very much. 

Once we were at camp, we get parked and I get the Monsters out of the van and head in to the dining hall to check in (Praise God for all mercies big and small! We were not the only family late!), on the way down the path to the dining hall ….. Healthy Weighty Wee Man tossed his cookies.  The area beside the path was tall with wild grasses, and HWWM was pushed/told to run in to them so he could be sick. (and therefore I did not have to worry about cleaning it up!)  Thankfully I was up wind from HWWM as I don’t do vomit well.

After Healthy Weighty Wee Man finished being sick, we went in to the check in and I said that HWWM had just been sick so we would not stay.  The director of the camp, a lovely plump, matronly type woman said to stay and if Healthy Weighty Wee Man didn’t come around and was sick again, we could go home in the morning.  So we stayed.

While the night was uneventful with Healthy Weighty Wee Man, or either Oldest Large Child or Wee Blonde Child not getting sick no one in camp got much sleep.  Remember that wind I mentioned earlier? It was so strong and gusted so hard at times I thought the teepee was going to come down on us in the night.  Even with the sun rise, the wind was still very strong, although not as strong as the entire night before.  Because of the strong winds, there was no boating of any kind for the day, which the monsters were not really impressed about, but seeing as they don’t know how to swim yet … I wasn’t too concerned about not getting in a canoe or on the pontoon boat for a spin about the lake.

the first morning at camp good thing the wind lept me awake so I kept the fire stoked all night! Look at how Wee Blonde Child slept!

One thing that did make the weekend memorable for me was Healthy Weighty Wee Man’s reaction to his first trail ride on a horse.  If you recall last year, HWWM was put up on a horse and walked around the paddock for a few minutes, as he was too young to go on a lead trail ride.  This year, all three were on the trail ride although the horse was lead by a wrangler or parent and the monsters had no control over the horses they were on.  All three of my monsters were one of the first to be mounted on their horses and had to wait for the rest of the group to ready themselves.  While waiting, Healthy Weighty Wee Man started to get nervous about being up to high.  I knew that once he was moving he would enjoy the ride so in my trying to convince him, I asked him to be patient.  One of the wranglers heard us talking and helped distract HWWM from his nervousness.  They pinky swore (which holds really huge meaning with HWWM!) that he would stay on the horse and of he still didn’t like it once we got moving, he could come back to the paddock and get off the horse.  Yeah that didn’t happen.

the trail ride.  really the is a smile on Healthy Weighty Wee Man’s face!

HE LOVED IT!  Once we got moving, Healthy Weighty Wee Man loved the horse back ride!  In fact he wanted to keep going when the ride was done.  However, as sharp as a tack just out of the package, HWWM figured out how to get more horse time in by helping the wranglers feed and water the horses that were still tethered.  Of course not to be bested, his sisters got in on  the action!

helping the wranglers feed and water the tethered horses!

The rest of the day was filled with a tractor trailer ride, hanging about camp, snack times and the Saturday evening BBQ and finally the marshmallow roast all followed by an impromptu game of kick the can for the Monsters with the on hand camp counsellors.  Even with the wind calming down, it was still quite cool and the lack of sleep the night before didn’t help the excitability of the Monsters although once we were back in the tee pee for the evening, with jammies on and a fire started, they all miraculously fell asleep rather quickly!

don’t let the pictures fool you … they were back to killing each other a few minutes later!

Sunday morning was wake up, pack up, breakfast and home time.  Sadly it was an excellent morning, with no wind, warm sun and blue skies stretching for miles!  All the more reason to head home and to our beloved Lake Sundance!  After collecting the dog from Winsome01’s

To all my American Friends and “Family” …. I wish you all a safe and happy Fourth of July celebrations

wahhhhooooeeeeee!  A day off!  AND it’s not only a holiday …. it’s Canada’s Birthday!  While ours was pretty much quiet, being that there were no parties and we didn’t go to any fireworks or anything, we did go hiking!  We spent the day walking up the side of a mountain made long before our country was even thought about, along trails that were used by animals (of the feral, natural kind. Not my own!) before they were used by humans.  How could you get more Canadians than that!

I went to take a picture of Healthy Weighty Wee Man and these were the result!

Today was Wee Blonde Childs turn for a MiniFest and it rained   But well, to prove that children, as sweet as they are, are not made of sugar! Here are the pictures to prove it!  Enjoy! 

Oldest Large Child had her last game of City Finals, but because of WBC’s MiniFest, I was unable to attend.  Sadly, Foothills Crush lost once again in shoot out.  The girls were greatly disappointed, but they have lots to be proud of.  While a great many of the girls played indoor soccer together last season (really just two months ago) there were a a good handful that were new to the team for the outdoor season.  All the girls got on great and played exceptionally well and I am so proud of al of them not only my own.  Oldest Large Child did show a side of herself that while I knew was there … I hadn’t seen show itself until recently.  OLC is Miss Congeniality off the field, but put a soccer ball in front of her in the middle of a soccer pitch and she is a force to be reconned with! (that’s ma girl! )

Today, both Oldest Large Child and Healthy Weighty Wee Man had soccer. 

OLC had the first of a playoff round.  The girls had to play against a team they have played a couple times before and each time they were handed their jerseys they lost the games so badly.  Today they lost …. in shoot out.  The girls fought hard and played really really well.

Healthy Weighty Wee Man had his own little soccer tournament called Mini-Fest.  After trying everything we could to get HWWM to actively play, consistantly during the regular games in the season, he finally found it today!  Healthy Weighty Wee Man was a scoring machine!

okay so the post is a day late … deal.

You know more often than not you don’t hear Father’s Day being referred to as just that … it is often referred to as Dad’s Day.  I am not offended, dis-heartened, or put off by this in fact I think being a Dad far out reaches being a father any day.  Any man-boy can be a father.  It takes someone really special to be a called a Dad.   Now I don’t have a problem with that.  I have been very fortunate to not only have a father, but my Dad in my life and they are one in the same person.  I have also been very fortunate to have loved and treated as a daughter by three other men in my life, my American Dad, Papa D, my now ex-father-in-law, Big D (not to be mistaken with the previous!) and my now ex-step-dad-in-law, Granda L. 

Too many people forget that to be a dad, a REAL Dad, the kind where you not only capitalize the word, you ALL CAPS the word, takes someone really, Really, REALLY special.  The word, Dad, is significant to so so many for too numerous reasons to list.  Including my own monsters.  For Beautiful Baby Girl, Pretty Morning Sky, Dallas, Erin-the-then-Irish-Baby (and many others in my life now that I think about it!) the word Dad conjures images of the man who raised them.  Taught them to use tools, ride a bike, swim, ski, helped with homework, stayed up all night wiping a fevered brow, cleaning up vomit and all the other things that real Dad’s do.

So for all you real Dad’s I hope that you were able to enjoy your families and love them with all your heart.  Even more than you did the day before.

Okay, so if you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that Pretty Morning Sky is one of my longest, closest and quite possibly my best friend.  Anyhow.  Pretty Morning Sky and I do not live in the same city, or even anywhere close to each other.  Because of this, we often have frequent and sometimes lengthy conversations on the phone.  This is a practice that actually dates back to the origins of our friendship.

So today while on the phone with Pretty Morning Sky, we were both on the internet telling each other about different websites we had come across that the other might like.  One website that PMS had found is called Smartcanucks.ca (see link here) its a great website that informs the internet where to find great money saving deals in Canada, as well there is a blog about different products they have found in the world.

One such product was finding condoms in a dollar store (see link here for complete post).  Now, far be it from me that people on a tight budget should not be offered affordable contraceptive options.  But I have to say … personally, I can’t say I would trust condoms from a dollar store …. that is one product best paying full price for!  Don’t you think?  Either way it had Pretty Morning Sky and I laughing so hard, the Monsters thought my head was going to blow up!

I am going to use proper first names with this post.  I do not know, or have forgotten what the last names of those involved are.

I met Baby Daniel yesterday afternoon in the lane out the back of my house.  My neighbour was walking around the neighbourhood with him and his cousin.  They were visiting her for a possibly indefinite period of time.  Both of these children were the sweetest children you could meet and just looking at them made my ovaries hurt.  After a brief chat and giving over all my toddler stuff to my neighbour for the babies to use while they stayed with her, we all went on our merry ways about life.

This late morning after taking two dayhome children with me to collect Healthy Weighty Wee Man from kindergarten, we came upon Baby Daniel and his mom, Ayla.  Ayla was driving and had stopped at the entrance to the cul-de-sac where my neighbours house fronts on to, literally a few houses away from mine.  When we first saw them, I did not know it was Ayla and Baby Daniel.  We only saw the car stopped at the stop sign.  I could see from a distance that, what I know now to be Ayla, the driver of the car was considerably upset.  Hysterical is a better word.  Thinking that I could not concionably let this person drive away in such a state, I sent the boys I sent the boys in my charge on ahead to my house with the next door neighbour, knowing Nana would be waiting for them to arrive for lunch.  I was going to see if there was anything I could do to help the person calm down before proceeding on their way.

After seeing it was Ayla and that Baby Daniel was in his car seat in the back.  Ayla was hysterical and was telling me that my neighbour had just been beyond vicious, hurtful and physically abusive to her.  Not knowing what happened, but knowing what I saw in front of me, which was a young mother verging on hysterical and knowing that never mind she was a danger to others on the road, but that her baby was in the car with her.  My first thought was to not let her drive away until she was calm.  During my conversation with Ayla, she had said that my neighbour had called the police and that she was concerned that Child and Family Services could become involved and that Baby Daniel would be taken away from her.  While there was nothing I could do about the previously mentioned things Ayla had told me, I could try keep her off the roads while she was hysterical and if the police were truly on the way, it would be better for Ayla and ultimately Baby Daniel that Ayla be in one place and not driving when the police arrived.

With in a few minutes the police arrived.  After explaining my presence and giving my name etc etc, to one police officer while another went to the neighbours to hear their side of things, the officer that stayed at Ayla’s car, started talking to Ayla at which point she started to get upset again.  Knowing from my own experiences that it does not help a child to see a parent so upset, I offered to take Baby Daniel back to my house while they sort things out.  I offered this completely thinking that with in a half hour or so, everything would be sorted out and Ayla would be collecting Baby Daniel and everyone would be going on there merry way.  Not. So. Much.  Sadly, it would be a couple hours later that I would be giving Baby Daniel to a Social Worker who was apprehending him as Ayla was taken in to custody.

Now in that time that Baby Daniel was at my house, he was the sweetest, most congenial baby you could meet.  Once he realized he was in a safe place, BD was swiftly crawling, climbing and just generally being a jovial baby.  He was actually a delight to have about.  It was especially hilarious to watch Ella, the dog, with BD.  She was so gentle and kind, almost as if she was afraid he would break if she touched him.  At one point, Babby Daniel crawled over to Ella and took her rawhide bone away from her to play with.  He took it right out of her mouth.  Ella looked at me, back to Baby Daniel, back to with a look of concern, confusion, and hurt on her sweet dog face, as if to say, “But that’s mine! Do something about it!”

I do hope that Baby Daniel will be well taken care of and that he continues to be a sweet natured person. All the best to you Baby Daniel, may you be well cared for and loved for the rest of your life.

uhm is it Tuesday yet??

The weather so far has been great and I’m thinking in hind sight, we should have gone to the Zoo today!  Going to try for Calaway Park tomorrow … please let the weather hold out long enough to get through the weekend and keep everyone busy to exhaustion!