Connecticut!

Friday - this was mostly included in the Palmyra post. The drive which was supposed to be 4 1/2 hours took us like 7. Oh my goodness, we stopped a lot. Oh well! We got to Suzanne's and honestly I can't remember if Mom, Dad and Andrew were there already or if we went to the hotel. I think we went to the hotel. I have a memory of being in Mom and Dad's hotel room and Suzanne bringing food, so that has to have been Friday. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! Mom, Dad and Andrew hadn't yet been to visit Suzanne in Connecticut so it was really exciting for them to be there and see Sue's house.

Saturday - mostly a blur. I think it was mostly quiet, Mom, Dad, Andrew arrived at some point in the morning and we just hung out I think. Jon, Michelle and their kids landed around 6:30. And we all went to the hotel and went swimming - well, the kids went swimming. After the swimming Suzanne, Michelle and I went shopping for groceries for Anna's baptism, and of course Michelle needed some things for their room.

Sunday 
I'm so glad church was in the afternoon. With so many people staying in the house it was nice to have so much time to get ready! Anna was really happy today. Suzanne bought her a beautiful white dress and she looked gorgeous. We took a few pictures before we left for church.

Church was good. I took Fiona to nursery, she seemed to be fine so I left - oops. She lost it. They came to Sunday School and got me two seconds later. I brought her back with me and she fell asleep in my arms. I left her asleep on a pew with Jon, and went to RS with Mom and Michelle. Suzanne's the primary president so we didn't really see her!

After church it was go time. I took a few pictures before it started.

Anna's baptism service was so lovely. Grandpa said the opening prayer (he started to cry and almost didn't get through it the sweet sweet man), Mom (aka Grandma) spoke about baptism, Jon spoke about the Holy Ghost (it was such a great talk, I really enjoyed listening to him speak), Anna, Kate and Lovey sang, it was just so lovely. AND Michelle passed out all of these 4 x 6 cards for everyone to write a message to Anna when we were waiting for her to get changed. I so want to do this for my girls. I thought it was such a great idea.

I'm so glad that Anna waited a month to be baptized so that we could all be there. I'm so grateful that we were a part of her baptismal day. It was so lovely.

When we got home I took a few more pictures of Anna in the backyard.

 

After the baptism it was hang out family fun, and cake for Thomas's family birthday.

Monday 
What better way to start a Monday morning than with PICTURES!! Suzanne found this great photographer Sarah Cruz. She was so great. We took lots of pictures and got some really wonderful shots.

The Bates Family

The Bacon Family

The McCartney Family

The Grands

The Couples

The Whole Family

The Originals

Where it all began...

I love, love, love the family photos. My only sadness is that again Rayna is missing. She doesn't have much holiday time right now, and she had made other travel commitments and she couldn't come.

After pictures Suzanne had to work - boo. (Oh and Ken went to work too, also boo.) The rest of us went to see the temple, and then a river. The temple is supposed to be finished in September, with the open house to go from the end of September to the end of October. I would love to go to the open house, but I'm not sure how to make that happen! In any case, it was cool to see the construction site, and see some of the materials that are being used.

The plan was to rent kayaks, and canoes and paddle around. I wasn't sure what to expect. I thought that there would be a little shore type area for Fiona to wade around, hopefully somewhere kind of flat-ish for Mom and Dad to sit and watch the kids. I can't remember how far we drove - might have been half an hour, but it was after the temple, so not sure.

Anyway, we got there, the guys - Matthew, Jon and Andrew started filling out paperwork. The kids all changed, we went down some stairs to the water/dock area, and the kids started to explore a bit. Just as Matthew was about to pay they stopped the whole thing. A storm was coming. So, the kids played in the water a little more. The temperature started to drop, and the really dark clouds got closer and closer. Just as we were getting into the cars the heavens opened.

We drove through a pretty crazy little rain storm back near the temple to a mini-golf/ice-cream place. Just as we got there the storm cleared. I had Andrew, Anna, Lovey, Fiona, and maybe Kate in the van with me. Lovey was crying and was quite upset by the storm. She and Anna said a prayer together, and Lovey and I had a fun spiritual little talk about my patriarchal blessing and being safe in the storm. It was really sweet. Michelle took some cute pictures, and so I'm sharing them here.

On the way home Alice ended up in the van with Jon and Michelle and various cousins, and they went to the Mark Twain house. They didn't see much - just a quick stop in, and again, Michelle posted some cute pics which I will share here! Had I known that Alice was going to go visiting Mark Twain's house, I might have had her put clothes on! I'm just glad she was wearing her swim shirt.

The last pic of Alice in the cut-out face came with an explanation:
Alice: Someone take my picture.
Jon: where are you?
Alice: here, with my head in the hole. This is where you put your face to have someone take your picture.
Jon: can't argue with that!

Tuesday
The original plan was for everyone to go to Six Flags. Instead, this turned into a boy trip to Six Flags - which is an amusement park, and a separate girl/grandparent trip to Essex to ride a steam train.  Before we left for the train it was book time.

I can't remember exactly where the story idea for the Rodeo Princess came from. I know I had ideas, and Kate had ideas and I know I was thinking about it for a while, but the idea fleshed out and we've got a cute little story introducing Lovey! Michelle made Lovey the cutest cape, and because we've temporarily misplaced Fiona's in the move, she made a new one for Fiona too. Zeus got to be part of the story, and the girls had fun - well mostly.

We took so long getting the final shots for the story that I was worried we weren't going to make the train. And then poor Dad, of course we had to be all the way down the platform near to the end of the train. We made it though! It was a pretty train ride.

After the train we headed home. Suzanne proposed that we ask Ken to babysit 5 little girls. Ken being the awesome human that he is said yes, and Suzanne, Michelle and I went out to dinner. We went to a place called bartaco in West Hartford. It was a fun night out - I ordered badly which was really too bad, but Suzanne and Michelle loved their food. I ate mine!

Wednesday - Suzanne got up early to continue preparing for her appearance on the WNPR show The Wheelhouse. She was invited to be part of the discussion - she's been a guest a few times now, and with family in town and the topic being the GOP convention it wasn't great timing to be on the show, but you don't say no, and she didn't. She held her own against a room full of democrats and was able to make lots of good points. It really is a great show. It isn't a yelling match but a thoughtful, quick moving discussion of politics.

After lunch and hanging about we all went to the town pool. The town pool was awesome. I need to find a picture online because it was huge.

I found this aerial shot which is copyrighted to Bruce T. Martin Photography. This is a great pic. You can see the different pools and just how big they are. The circular pool is a zero entry or beach entry pool and it was a wading pool. It didn't go above Kate or Alice's heads and they had so much fun splashing around. I didn't bring their water wings because I didn't think we were going to go swimming on this trip. It ended up working well. They pushed themselves and Alice was swimming underwater.

Andrew took the girls around the big pool, then Jon took them. Fiona fell asleep on a towel and I felt to stay with her. All the kids had lots of fun. There was a diving board and most of the kids had turns jumping off of it. Dad sat at the top of the hill and slept a little and watched the kids. Everyone had a really fun time!

Oh it should also be said that Isaac had his third interview with Panera - a bakery/deli restaurant and he got the job. He and Matthew dropped in after his interview.

There were a few times that Jon had his hands full with Alice. The story that Jon told afterwards was that Alice was hitting him repeatedly and he asked her to stop repeatedly. She didn't. He took her hands and kind of made her punch herself with them, and the tooth that was hanging by a thread was knocked out. The two of them were laughing lots when they came back to report!

After dinner we went to see the Secret Life of Pets. We all enjoyed the movie. Fiona and I were a little overwhelmed at times. One of the subplots was about some crazy pets that were un-pets because they'd been abandoned and they were planning the overthrow of the humans. They were a little rough and it was a little more intense at times than I was anticipating.

Thursday - Then that was it, the trip was already ending. Mom, Dad and Andrew left Thursday morning. Andrew, awesome Andrew. He's a great guy, a really great guy. He traveled with Mom and Dad and he helped take care of Dad. After saying goodbye, Jon, Michelle and the family came to Suzanne's house and we drove to Mystic.  Isaac didn't come as he had a training thing for Panera, and Joey went camping overnight with some friends so he didn't come either.  Our first stop was a lookout.

And then we continued on to the Seaport. The Seaport was a historical area. A pioneer village where the village was a little town by the sea. There was so much hands on stuff.  It was pretty awesome. So much for the kids to touch and explore.

After checking out the ship we went to get drinks. We went into a little tavern and Michelle bought some drinks, then I bought some and then when we came out I didn't see Michelle anywhere, and I turned the wrong way. I wandered around a bit with Kate and Fiona, and then by some happy twist I found Ken and Alice. We went to the gift shop and found some things for the girls to eat, and then we wandered back to the village and reconnected with Jon and Michelle and the cousins.

While we were having snacks, Jon and Michelle and the cousins went for a ride in a row boat. Alice was quite devastated that she didn't get to go on a boat.

 Michelle took Anna and Lovey to make some dolls.

And the rest of us made boats! The kids worked really hard and they turned out really cute!

Jon and Michelle and their kids had a train to catch and before that we all NEEDED to go to Abbotts so we left. I could have stayed several more hours. Another time?

Ken has been talking about Abbotts since we went the first time. He was going to eat the lobster feast, as last time he only had a roll and clam chowder. Well, Ken was a happy, happy man! I think everyone was happy, but Ken, he was in heaven!

 

Jon made quite the impression on Alice. Alice was sad to say goodbye to her Uncle Jon.

We all hugged and said our goodbyes. I don't like goodbyes when you don't know when hello will be. I am thankful for phones, and social media, and all the ways the world is small, but I wish my family wasn't quite so spread out. Jon had been driving Suzanne's van as they had returned their rental car the day before, so Ken drove Jon, Michelle and their kids to the train station in New Haven for their train to NYC.

And then there was just the Bates and the McCartneys.

Friday - We almost did nothing today. You know when the day keeps going and you think I could just do nothing, but then you think, if we don't go out we'll regret it? We had gone to KidCity at Christmas time and the girls really wanted to go back. We had just over an hour, but we used it well, and the girls had lots of fun. And by a funny coincidence we happened to be in the medieval castle room with one other woman and her kids and that family was also LDS.

Friday night Suzanne and I went to Target. I really wish Target would have lasted in Canada. Their clothing line this year... so cute!

Saturday
Goodbyes with Suzanne aren't my favourite, but they don't crush my heart. I know I will see my sister again, and fairly soon-ish. I don't enjoy the goodbye, and today I almost cried like I do every time. I think with the impending move, and the visit to Heidi there was a lot to distract me.

Love you sister. So glad that we have each other to lean on and have fun. I'm so thankful for my big crazy family, and for this awesome week we had together. Love you all!

Palmyra

We've talked about going to the Pageant so many times, but there was always a reason not to go. It's late, it isn't exactly around the corner, and we've had really small kids for a really long time! This year though, it seemed to make perfect sense, we'd go on the way to Connecticut, and so we did. We meant to leave earlier in the afternoon, but we didn't. We enjoyed some construction traffic and moments of panic, but we made it with a few minutes to spare.

I had forgotten the feeling at Pageant. The Hill Cumorah is such a holy place, and the Pageant just kicks that up into high gear. All of the actors walking around, Kate ate it up. It had been such a long time since I'd gone - I honestly don't remember the last time. The set up has changed a lot. The parking is all on the same side of the highway as the hill, crossing the road used to be a big deal because of the anti-mormons, but they weren't there. And the parking, it was so well organized, all of it, it is just so well done.

All three girls really enjoyed it, but of course it meant the most to Kate, being the oldest, and the most awake. I guess my opinion isn't totally fair. Alice sat beside Ken, Kate sat beside me and Fiona was on my lap. I didn't hear the conversations that Alice and Ken were having. I just know that Kate and I both had tears a number of times. It is impossible not to feel the spirit testifying of the truth of the things that you are watching.

After the show when we were lining up to go to the bathroom an older woman asked Kate what her favourite part was. Kate was boggled that she could have just one favourite part as she exclaimed "all of it was my favourite." It was such a beautiful night.

I love being able to share spiritual experiences with my girls. I love building their houses of faith, their foundations. I am so glad that we took the time to go and see the Pageant. I'm not sure if we'll go every year, but maybe every other year. It was just so special.

We drove to Geneva that night and stayed in a hotel. The next morning we wanted to swim but the pool didn't open until 10, so we enjoyed breakfast, and then we went for a walk. Geneva is on Seneca Lake, the waterfront area was pretty.

After walking around the town a bit more we went back the hotel, had a fun swim, everyone had a bath/shower, and then at noon we set out for Connecticut! Bacon Family reunion, here we come!

So We Bought a House!

Let's see... where to begin. At the end of March I think Ken went to lunch with Adrian and Chris and they wanted him to join their Master Solve team and work in Whitby. WHITBY! That's far. Ken was excited. Work had been sucking bad for several months. This was what we'd been praying for. But this wasn't the answer I expected, be careful what you pray for.

Almost immediately Ken started talking about moving. And almost immediately it just felt right.  We've talked about moving lots, we'd talk about Newmarket, about being closer to Orangeville, maybe Alliston, heck Caledon - we love Caledon. We'd talk about moving and I never, ever felt good about any of it, and we knew it wasn't time to move.

Even this year, I was watching the vacancy listings, looking for the perfect gig closer to home, the school that would get us closer to Orangeville. But that wasn't meant to be.

It's that whole when you know you know thing. When Ken started talking about moving to Ajax it just felt right, right away. Not confusing, not sickening, just right.

We went on a date, I don't remember when, May maybe? And we drove out to Ajax and we walked around down by the lake. We went to our favourite Japanese restaurant out in Whitby and we talked about the future, a different future than we'd imagined not long before.

We met with a local agent, Ken rented a storage locker, we packed up stuff, we fixed stuff (well paid people to), we painted (paid people - but Ken did some) and we listed (with Maureen - SIL and realtor extraordinaire!) and sold our house. The market is insane right now, and the sale was final within a week of listing. The winning bid came in 24hrs after we'd listed.

And then it was our turn. The first weekend our house was on the market we went out to Ajax and looked at houses. Then we went out again, and again.  We looked at over 20 houses, and then there were two. Advantages and disadvantages to both, but one that made more sense. It was in the south end by the lake, it had four bedrooms, the school start times were awesome, it just made sense, and Ken beamed when he walked around it on Saturday morning.

They weren't considering offers until noon on Monday. We picked a number with Maureen, we wrote a letter - appealing to their sentimental side - not sure if that's the right word, and by one o'clock this afternoon we had bought a new house.

The new chapter begins August 24th. The Ajax chapter.

The Street Festival!

We know we are moving... the house is sold, we have no where to go yet, but we know we are moving. If you know you are leaving a place, you do the things that you haven't done. This year we decided that yes, we would go to the Firefighters pancake breakfast. We passed our neighbours leaving and they told us we were five minutes too late. We waited in line for a while, but it all worked out! The girls ate all of their pancakes and sausage and we were ready to play!

The street festival is so awesome. Pretty much everything is free. The food isn't free, but there are bouncy castles and a swing ride, and games for the kids, and that is all free.  This year there was also a rock climbing wall. I can't remember - I think Alice wanted to do it, but there was a line up at the time, and we'd already been out for four hours (including breakfast) so we were kind of done!

We walked up and down Queen street twice I think, participated in most of the activities, the girls had cotton candy and so many suckers. They all had so much fun!

 

We went back home and I was convinced I was going to clean up, but I was exhausted.  I fell asleep for a bit, Fiona had a nap, everyone was just kind of did their own thing.

For dinner we went to the Cappuccino Bakery in Nobleton, so good! I also saw a teacher - Tim Giasson that I worked with ages ago at Baythorn P.S. We chatted for a bit which was nice. Then we shopped at No Frills and it was back home to get ready for fireworks!

We all dressed warmly, and headed over to Queen street and then walked the rest of the way over to the conservation area - at least we went part of the way. We weren't exactly sure where to go and then I saw Ann-Marie and Macayla and so we followed them and sat across the pond from the conservation area. We had a pretty decent view. It wasn't perfect as there were a few things low in the sky and there was a tree in our way, but the girls all loved it. They were so cute.

I want to mention one more thing - living in a small town has been an adjustment, but I adjusted, and I know there will be things I miss. I'm not exactly sure what they are yet, but I know they will come. At the pancake breakfast we saw people we knew, and then throughout the day on the Street we saw more friends - Melissa, Brent and Madison, Michelle and her girls, Abigail, Makenna and Camden. And then tonight we saw Caroline and her kids and hubby, and of course we watched the fireworks with Macayla and her parents. Tottenham has really been great place to live. I will definitely leave a little bit of my heart here in our first home.

Summer Begins - Canada Day 2016

The school year went late this year, because we started late. It's funny that the first day of the holiday is Canada Day!  We had a mostly quiet day around the house. Ken did some work and I puttered.

In the late afternoon when the girls were getting crazy we left the house. We took some Canada Day shirt pictures and walked over to the Conservation Area, which Kate and Alice kept calling a Conversation area. It was cute.

There were so many people at the Conservation area - so many campers. The park was teeming with kids. There was a sign at the entrance saying "park full". It was fun to see. The girls mostly had fun. Alice had a hard time a few times, but survived.

When we were done we called Ken and he met us on the road, we went to Foodland and then went home and Ken barbecued for the first time this year! YAY! Kate decided that barbecued hotdogs are the best thing ever and that Dad needs to make them once a week.

After dinner the girls had baths and then we loaded up the van and drove down to Canada's Wonderland. The weather had been pretty iffy today and consequently the town firework display was postponed until tomorrow.

Kate was the only one to make it awake to Wonderland - or at least a commercial area just north and across the 400 from Wonderland. The firework display was great and although Kate and I were both really cold, we enjoyed it.

I am so grateful to live in Canada. I'm grateful to be raising my family in Canada. Happy 149th birthday Canada, may you continue to be strong and free!