Summer Fun at Home - August 20-26

Monday - the day Alice has been waiting for! Today at 4pm Alice had her expander removed. In April (I think), she had an expander cemented into her mouth. We had to turn this crank several times a day for a week, to expand her palate. It sounded awful to me and I kept questioning why we were doing it, but we went ahead with it. Now that the expansion has set the device came out. Alice wasn't allowed to chew gum during the time she had the device. She was very sad about this, but I promised her that as soon as it came out, I would buy her gum. After the appointment as promised, GUM! I'm sad I didn't take any pictures. Alice picked out three packages of gum, and I bought them all for her. We bought the gum at Walmart, tried to get haircuts - but made appointments for tomorrow morning, and I bought the girls dinner at McDonald's - in Walmart.

Tuesday - This should have been the first day of Mom and Me Camp, but I decided not to go because of the rain. Instead of camping, we had a beauty day.

We went to Chatter's. Kate had her haircut there a couple of weeks ago, and it worked out well, so I figure that can be our little girl hair salon. I didn't take a before pic of Alice. Alice loves to do her hair - loves, so she got to keep her length. She had a trim, and then had her hair curled.

Fiona is awful about brushing her hair - AWFUL! Now she has cute short hair!

And with both her sisters having curls, Kate absolutely had to have some too!

After the hair extravaganza, we went to the mall to pick up my hair treatment! Then our last stop was cupcakes for Alice, because today is her HALF BIRTHDAY! Alice is now officially 7.5. I keep wondering how much longer this might be a thing, but given how much my girls love treats, I see this going on for many years to come. I wonder if when they're grown ups I'll maybe do something silly in the name of tradition? Oh and happy day - our latest book came "Americans and Canadians". I feel like it's kind of cute, I don't love it like some of the other ones, but it's good.

Me and my henna wrap finishing laundry before camp.

 Fiona helped Ken make the coleslaw and wanted me to take pictures of her in her apron.

Wednesday/Thursday - camp, it's own post!

Friday - Doctor Visit and the Plumbs! Fiona needed to get her last vaccination and today was the day. And as is tradition, she gets her shots and a prize. She was nervous about the shots but excited about the prize. The doctor was great and after a check-up she had both her shots, one in each arm. The first one was a little uncomfortable but she cried with the second. She calmed down pretty quickly, but poor thing, it bled and it was stinging.

After the doctor we went to Indigo bookstore in Richmond Hill. Fiona has been talking about an LOL doll for two, maybe three weeks. When we got there she didn't know which one to pick. After what felt like an eternity she decided that she wanted a Shopkins surprise lock instead. I should have taken a picture of the inside. The lock opens up to be a tiny little play room for a toy. She was very, very excited about it, and it cracked me up that the toy she's been talking about for weeks, isn't the one she chose! Hopefully this doesn't backfire.

After getting her prize we drove north up Yonge street to go hang out at the Plumbs. At first it seemed like Ruth and I weren't going to be able to find a date to see each other this summer, but we did - yay! Ruth bbq'd hot dogs and hamburgers and we had a yummy lunch and a fun visit. The girls were so cute playing in the basement.

Last Sunday Bonnie, the amazing and wonderful Bonnie, who watched our kids when we went to the temple, came and sat by Ken and I after sacrament meeting and asked if she could take the kids to the movie in the park on Friday night. Heck ya! Well, then it turned out that the movie wasn't until 9, so she took the kids out to the Rocketship Park in Whitby, and then to DQ for ice cream. She even took a bunch of pics and sent them to me!  Ken and I had a nice dinner and then came home and watched some tv before the girls came back. It was lovely.

As we were leaving camp yesterday, Alice got a bug bite in the middle of her forehead.

This is her tonight, the swelling is definitely moving down her face.

Saturday - It seemed like this was going to be one of those Saturdays where we sit around talking about what we should do and we end up not doing anything. Well today we were talking about what to do, but no one wanted to do anything, and then Ken got a notification that we needed to clean the church. We went to the church and the girls helped lots. They were great. We got the church clean and then had a celebratory dinner at Boston Pizza! Oh and today is our move-a-versary. Two years ago today we moved to Ajax. I really like it here so much, it is home. I never felt settled in Tottenham, I felt settled in the house, but never in the place. I don't wonder anymore about where should we go, we are here.

Sunday - it was a pretty regular Sunday. I was expecting a certain change to take place, but it didn't happen... next week maybe? Kate read a Friend magazine in church during sacrament and I think that made a difference for her. She felt the spirit and was in a good mood for primary. Twelve cannot come soon enough for this child - heaven help us survive the next two years.

They briefly mentioned a missionary fireside at church and I didn't think much of it, having not heard about it, but then Janelle said we should come, so we did. Ken made dumplings, rice and fried rice and we had such a lovely time eating and listening to a few of the brothers in the ward share their missionary experiences. 

One more week. I might be starting to freak out a little. Perhaps someday I won't freak out the week before school? Maybe when I'm retired!

Mom and Me Camp

Here we are again. By the end of camp last year I was okay. I survived. The kids survived, I got the tent back inside the bag, the experience was good. The girls and I agreed on the last morning that we would do it again.

Fast forward to this year - the planning starts a long time in advance. Emily paid up right away. Ruth was out - too much going on this summer, and I thought oh no, I don't want to go. Emily said I had to go, she already paid, and so I just did it, signed up, paid the money, it was done.

I don't know when I started freaking out about camp, was it the week before? Was it longer than that?! Camp was coming and I didn't want to do it. Then the weather forecast - that sealed the deal. Rain all day Tuesday. The year before, our first year, it rained so much. I didn't want to go to rain camp. Did. Not. Want. As it got closer and the forecast wasn't changing I decided that for my own peace of mind we would go up on Wednesday, not Tuesday. Alice was upset at first, but once the decision was made she gradually came around!

Wednesday morning, we were ready just after nine. Ken was awesome, helping us pack up the van. We pulled out about 9:15, then got three minutes away and had to come back for my wallet. I was feeling so anxious. I didn't want to go, I couldn't stop feeling upset and I really felt miserable.

It's funny because a day ago or so I was talking to someone about driving across the country with my girls and what a brave thing it was for me to do. It didn't feel brave to me. Not at all. Going to camp overnight with my girls, that felt brave!

We got to camp, and we hung around the pavillion - or at least I did, because we were on deck for making lunch. I put all my food in the kitchen and waited. Alice went swimming and Fiona and Kate were bouncing around here and there.

We made lunch, everyone ate lunch, everyone was well fed (except Kate - couldn't really get her to eat) and I still couldn't calm down. Emily and I went to the campsite, number seven, up the hill and across a road - not as far as it sounds, and I set up the tent. Emily helped which was good. Setting up a tent is a two person job - in my opinion! Alice helped too, hammering in the pegs, and helping hold poles.

The girls had fun finding salamanders, Kate went on a wagon ride, she tried archery, Alice went swimming and trashed a towel, Fiona found some friends, and I kept trying to calm down.

After lunch we went to the beach and hung out. Kate got a headache, she took some motrin and went to sleep in the tent. Alice and Fiona had fun swimming and playing in the sand. I think I sort of started to calm down.

It took about an hour to find all three girls, get them ready and get them to sleep, but by about 10 they were all out. It was cold - about 14 degrees Celsius and it was supposed to go down to 11. I sat by the campfire with a bunch of Moms until almost midnight and then went to bed myself. At 1 am I still wasn't asleep and I needed to "go", so I did. When I came back to the tent Alice was awake. She took a while to go back to sleep and by 7 everyone was awake. I felt tired but okay, and kind of ready to go.

We went and had breakfast and Emily suggested a canoe ride with the little girls. It turned into Emily in one canoe with the little girls - Hazel, Emma and Fiona. I was in another canoe with Kate, Alice and Holden, and Lauren was in a kayak going solo. We had such a great canoe ride on the lake. I think we were out paddling around for about an hour. I wished I'd had my phone with me. I so badly wanted to take pictures, but I'd left it charging at the campsite. I still have all of the pictures in my mind, so that will have to do! It was so lovely on the water, it was such a beautiful morning.

After putting all the canoes away we went and got dressed - except Alice, she couldn't be convinced. Alice stayed down by the water and caught her first fish. She was so excited - except the part where she cut her finger and she cried all the way through the group pictures! Oh and Kate and Lauren were nowhere to be found and weren't in the group picture. Then I started to pack up - very slowly. We had lunch. The girls played, and eventually around 2:30 we pulled out of camp.

The final count was 25 Moms and 97 kids. It was a big crazy camp and we survived year two. I'm assuming we'll go again next year because the girls will want to. Hopefully next year I can figure out how not to be crazy in the first place, because it really isn't so bad. It was actually kind of fun.