Summer Recap

Well, the summer is almost over and I didn't get any of my personal goals accomplished...oh well. I had planned on taping a few shows (Foster's Home, X-Weighted) so that I had full tapes of them to watch when I'm riding the bike during the cold winter and I think I managed to tape one episode of each show. Have I developed a sub-conscious aversion to TV? Maybe! I had planned on working on felt food while I watched TV...but I watched so little TV that barely any of that got done either. Maybe when House starts again in the fall. But I missed 90% of season 4, will I be able to get into season 5??? We didn't watch any of the movies that we wanted to, I just couldn't get into it. Oh well, maybe in the dead of winter when there's nothing on TV we will watch some movies.

I drove the kids and my mom all over creation, and come to think of it I haven't been alone all summer, except for two doctor appointments and one trip to Costco the other day. Even when I went to work I had at least one kid with me. A few times, Scott has watched the kids so that I could run to Safeway or something...but my mom was always with me. Not that it bothers me, not being alone, I just find it a bit weird now that I think of it. Even when I'm on the toilet, someone's standing outside the door waiting to ask me a question or for me to poor them a glass of milk LOL.

I did a lot of sewing this summer, but almost all of it was mending and tailoring. I've lost a little more than 18 lbs, which is almost 2 sizes I find, so I cut down 3 pairs of jeans (which is a lot of work!), took in a couple of my favourite t-shirts, and made capris out of a few pairs of pants. Usually by this point in the summer, I've made a few pairs of yoga pants for Kylie for school, but that didn't happen this year. I'm pretty sure she has enough to wear in her closet anyway.

I kept up with the cleaning, but when the kids are back to school I will wash walls and ceilings, I think. And inventory my pantry and freezers, I haven't done that in a bit. The only big thing that I did this summer was take apart the 3 ceiling fans to clean them. I didn't even do anything big in the yard, except for pick raspberries. I had to stretch that out over 3 days, because there were so many of them...and by the time I got to the end of the bushes, there were more ripe ones at the other end to be picked.

Oh, my soup!!! It turned out freakin' fantastic and we've already eaten half of the freezer stash. I surprised myself LOL.

So less than one week until the kids go back to school, and I'm a bit sad. Stone me if you will. I loved having them here and we did so many fun things together as a family. Even just the regular old picnics-at-the-playground were super fun. Next summer, I have a feeling that both big kids will think those picnics are lame :( . Oh well, I have one more little mind to mold and shape to my liking :D . There are still a few more summers of playground fun there :D .

This past week, I cleaned out a few storage closets and my closet, packing a few bags of too-big clothes to send to the Sally Ann. This weekend, I will go through the kids dressers and closets, getting out all the too-small things to send to the attic and finding all of the bigger clothes that I've socked away over the year.

Backpacks are cleaned out and ready to go, new shoes are waiting by the door, and the pantry is full of school snacks. Today I saw a flock of geese flying west (so not north or south, I guess that doesn't mean much) and this weekend, there is a possibility of frost. Fall's coming!!!!

Miquelon Lake

Man, I love this beach. Today was 32C, and although it was deathly hot (blech), the breeze coming off of the lake was soooo nice :D .


My husband the rocker :D .


Scott is the best moat digger...all the kids at the beach knew it :D .




Dirtiest feet *ever* .




First feel of sand. Sammy would pinch a bit of sand then look at her fingers, not sure what to make of it. Then she would find a little rock on the blanket, pick it up and go, "Mmmmmmm...." and try to stuff it in her mouth before I could catch her LOL.


First dip in the lake. Looks like she likes it :D .

Thursday :D

Well, Scott's holidays are slowly coming to a close. We didn't quite do all the things that we wanted to do (World Waterpark is still on the list) but we came pretty close. Kylie complained that our holidays were too scheduled and she was missing her friends, so we spent a couple of days around the house. She has been pretty good at playing with Jacob, either video games or on the trampoline, so he hasn't been too bored. Man, I wish there were some little boys living around here. I know, I've said that far too many times this summer I'm sure.

Today we went to Chuck E. Cheese, our annual summer trip. Holy crap can that place be expensive. We had a couple of coupons, for cheap pizza and 2 for 1 tokens, so that eased the cost a bit. Still...$40 doesn't go very far there. Good thing it's only once a year. But the kids had a blast...my favourite is the sketch booth, for some reason I love getting those pictures of the kids. It just captures that moment in time when Chuck E. Cheese was so enthralling to them. I love having those sketches on my fridge :D .

The community health centre just called to tell me that someone turned in the diaper bag that was stolen out of our van last weekend...it was found in the alley one block over from our house. Whomever turned it in found Sammy's immunization record in the pocket (oops) with the health centre's address on it. They didn't leave their name or phone number so I can't thank them...that's too bad. It was really nice of them to take the bag to the health centre. Although I'm not sure I want the bag back after someone rooted through my baby's possessions :( .

Sammy is napping and when she wakes up, I will take the kids to the library and then I think we will take the van for a bath. It's supposed to get up to 32C today (yuk), but good thing the sun is going down earlier...makes for cooler evenings.

Later, tater.

Some pics.

Mini-golf at Whitemud Amusement Centre. It was really fun, although there were a lot of people there. I golfed the first nine holes with the big kids while Scott looked after Sammy and then we traded for the last nine holes.


Getting ready to go-kart. Kylie was having no part of it, so we sat out and watched while Scott and Jake went for a ride.


Library Lips. Kylie got to pick a noisy prize at Stop 7 for the library game (after you read every night for a week, you move your game piece on a giant game board at the library). You're supposed to read for 15 minutes per day, but Kylie hasn't taken her nose out of her book for 3 days. She got 5 books in one anime series and has been reading non-stop since Tuesday.

We've been swimming lots this week: O'Leary, Millwoods and ACT Pools. O'Leary is my favourite, lots of toys and fun for big kids and little ones. Millwoods is dirty and the kiddie pool is too small and not near enough toys to go around. I don't know how anyone keeps track of their little kids in that retarded wave pool...I was really disappointed. Especially because we drove all the way across town to go there.

Today is Sunday, and it's my MIL's birthday. I have to go get her a gift (because Scott knew about it all year and FORGOT until today LOL) and then Sammy and I will go walk the mall, I think. Scott has taken Jake to play tennis, and Kylie has gone with my mom to the Heritage Days Festival. I remember being dragged there as a kid...I hated it. Too many people, lineups for food and drink way too long, super boring...but Kylie enjoys it so she will keep my mom company today.

Have a good day, everyone :D .

Tuesday :)

Today we went to the Edmonton Chinese Garden in downtown Edmonton. What a beautiful day...I think it made it up to 27C, and it was sunny and breezy...just perfect. There was a teeny marble table with four stools, so we sat and had our picnic lunch and then we played a rousing game of hide and seek (the high point of my day LOL). Another high point of my day was singing at the top of my lungs, "HEAD, SHOULDERS, KNEES AND TOES..." because there were some ladies doing burpees in the park (far enough away where I'm sure they heard me but I'm not sure they could see me LOL). Every once in a while during our lunch, I would yell out, "FOUR MORE...THREE MORE!". I'm such an ass.


The pagoda where Kylie has declared she will get married some day. Lookit the cute little marble table where we had lunch.


...a picture of Kylie taking a picture of Jacob taking her picture LOL. And that's me eating in the background! Really, what else would I be doing???










A view of the river valley...you can see the Edmonton Queen Riverboat down there.




My family...Scott is standing behind Samantha, holding her up LOL.