5 McCartneys + 4 Bates + 1 Bacon = FUN Part 1

This morning my thoughts were filled of summer memories. This summer, previous summers, my Facebook memories, previous blog posts, the cousin books all of it. I was feeling all warm and fuzzy thinking about the dream that is summer. My summers are dreamy - not perfect, but dreamy and I am so thankful for them. I love slow days, adventures days and family visits. 

On Tuesday Andrew picked up Marcus from the airport, and Suzanne, Joey, Anna, and Ben flew to Buffalo, rented a car and drove up to Ajax. It was after 9 pm when everyone was here, but what a happy reunion. It was the first time we'd seen Joey since he left on his mission and the girls hadn't seen Suzanne, Anna and Ben since Isaac's wedding last year.

Wednesday's plan was a slow morning and then a trip to Grandma's building for swimming and visiting. Grandma was so happy to be surrounded by 7 of her 11 grands and CJ was a welcoming host. The cousins had a fun noisy time in the pool. 

I almost forgot, BEN! Ben woke up at 4:30 this morning. When Ken got up with the dog, Ben got up too. Ben accompanied Ken and Milo on their walk at 6:15. They walked down to the lake and then up through Paradise Park. At 7:45 when they returned Ken tagged me in. I then sat with Ben while he jumped on the trampoline for an hour. That kid has energy for days!

Grandma with 7 of her 11 Grandchildren! (Missing Tommy and Seth on missions, and Isaac and Lucy)

CJ painted the fans that were handed out at Isaac and Molly's wedding last year. They are amazing works of art.

Swimming fun.

We went out to dinner at Swiss Chalet. It was a an "interesting" dining experience. The screaming child at the table beside us was a little more fun than was needed and that combined with the slow service just made things a little extra. But we survived! CJ very kindly picked up the bill for the meal, even though we tried our best not to let him!

After we got home from dinner Suzanne wanted to walk down to the lake with the doggy and so we did.

The plan for Wednesday, Canada's Wonderland. Alice and Kate did not want to go which I was a little disappointed about, but I don't know why, my kids don't really like rides and amusement parks and that's okay. That being said, Ken, Fiona and I have season's passes that we bought a few weeks ago. The pass works for this summer, next summer, parking is included, and the Halloween Haunt, and the Christmas Winter thing, AND you can bring friends with you for only $25. 

We made it to the park by 11:00 and took a pic. Andrew got there at 11:30 and we all went on Thunder Run together.

After we took this pic - after Thunder Run, we split up into two groups. Andrew, Marcus, Joey and Anna went off to FAST pass lane to go on the big coasters and Suzanne, Ben, Ken, Fiona and I went to Snoopy land and Kidzville. 

Andrew or Anna, not exactly sure, won a blob fish. 

Andrew taking Fiona and Ben on the swans was the calm that Andrew needed lol. Fiona too. Andrew loves the big rides but they also do him in a bit lol.

Krachenwagon was hilarious. Driving a bumper car is a little tricky! The 10 car pile up resulted in Ben and Fiona not really moving. Suzanne and I might have had a good chuckle.

This was Ben's dragon that Andrew won for him. While we were waiting for the rest of the group to go on Dragon Fyre we found the Dragon's Daddy dragon.

One of my favourite rides of the day was the old cars. Lots of nostalgia and healing for Suzanne because she got to drive me around!

The swings, also a favourite!

We ended the day like we started, on a ride all together. The Carousel was slightly uncomfortable, but still fun. Lots of giggles at the end of the day.

We left the park around 9 pm and went over to Burger's Priest to get burgers and fries. It was so yummy!

Today is Friday and I've been enjoying blogging time and chatting with various family members as they've gotten up. Suzanne and the cousins are going to go see Grandma and CJ for a little bit before we meet up downtown for some Toronto adventures.

Family visits are the best!

 

YW's Camp

This year was Alice's third time at YW's camp and it was Fiona's first time! I'm so grateful to Alice and for the awesome big sister that she is. 

I took this picture of Alice and Fiona in front of the tent all set up at Campsite 2.

Carmen, the YWs president sent this to me of the bottle that Fiona made for Lauryn who wasn't able to come.

Liz Pay sent me this one to me of the girls singing at the talent show on the first night.

And someone sent this or posted it during the Colour war. Can't remember who.

These are Alice's photos that she took at camp and shared with me.

Wild turkey's are fun!

This was Fiona all ready for the pajama dance.

This is the pic I took of Alice and Fiona at the end of camp when I came to pick them up.

This was the ice cream place we had to go to on the way home. We were there earlier than the other car loads so didn't see the other girls. AND they had dairy free ice cream - I had a peach sorbet and it was lovely.

Thomas S. Monson Camp Facebook page is where the last two pics came from. The first is all of the girls from Oshawa Stake and the second is all of the girls from Pickering Ward that played in the Colour War.

I wanted Alice and Fiona to write this blog post, but instead I asked them questions. So here are the questions I asked and their answers.

Camp Questionnaire 

What was your favourite meal?

Fiona - build your own pizza
Alice - build your own wrap

What was your favourite activity?

Fiona - the Faith walk, second favourite activity - swimming

Alice - the Faith walk, second favourite activity - camp fire time(not doing hair)

If you could change something about camp, what would you change?

Fiona - that they would have hot dog buns, that was traumatic. (They had croissant, burger buns and bread, but forgot hot dog buns!)

Alice - I would make is so that we’re not camping, I would be inside, not outside

What new friends did you make this year?

Fiona - Aimee and Bridget, they’re my besties, but I’m friends with everybody, I want to remember everybody.

Alice - Lillie from Lindsay, Dakota is pretty cool (Dakota and Makayla are twins).

What spiritual experiences did you have?

Fiona - the testimony meeting and Espy - we love Espy and we want to remember her.

Alice - I watched the sunset and that was pretty awesome because I was reading a talk - Dare to Stand Alone by Thomas S. Monson. The sunset was the end of the faith walk and then we had our testimony meeting and then we all cried. I feel like the stones in the glasses were pretty spiritual because it was like a lesson about the Brother of Jared about how they turned the stones to light, they wrote 16 things to do to strengthen their faith then we put in the stones and then a little battery operated tea light and we lit up the stones.

I'm so grateful to church leaders that give up their time to make awesome young women's camps for the youth. I'm so grateful that my girls felt the spirit and felt the love of their Heavenly Father. Oh and I'm grateful that sweet Fiona was brave enough to bear her testimony today. That was the perfect end to girls camp 2025!

Kate's Wisdom Teeth

I can't remember exactly when we found out that Kate's two bottom wisdom teeth were impacted and needed to be removed, but it was sometime last year. In November we went to an appointment to meet with the oral surgeon in Pickering. Kate decided that she wanted to be put under completely so we scheduled a hospital date for April 10th. It ended up being the same day as her small ensembles festival for school so that was a bummer. But the bigger bummer was that Kate got really sick and we had to cancel her surgery. I think it worked out better in the long run though, because with Kate having her first job in April, getting her wisdom teeth out + school + work would have been a lot. So it definitely worked out the way it needed to. I had also had a call about a cancellation in May but that was the same day as the recital night, which was also a no go.

So surgery day was instead scheduled for Tuesday, July 29th. We had to be at the Oral Surgeon's in Pickering at 11:00 am. Kate was a bit of a mess the morning before. She might have gone to the bathroom a lot before we left for her appointment. The next bit of fun was hooking Kate up to a little IV and getting her meds started. It took such a long time for her to find a vein, but we're used to that. Getting blood out of Kate is very difficult. Kate was on laughing gas during the finding of the blood and it was sort of calming her down...

It was 11:45 before they were starting the surgery. I think they came to get me about 30 minutes later, maybe a little longer, but we were on our way home by 12:37. When I came into the room Kate was apologizing a lot. Trying to talk but she had gauze packed into her mouth. She waved her arm around her head and said "my wisdom is all gone", Kate also told me that she told the surgeon and the nurses that she loved them, several times.

I thought the second day might be the worst. My friend Shawn said that her son Cooper's third day was the worst. Ken and I kept up with the pain meds - I woke up at 2 am to give pain meds, and Ken gave a dose between 5 and 6 am. And really, it never got too bad. We're at day four and Kate has done so well. We're on the other side. This was scary, but it's done, and the healing is going so well. I am very thankful for how well everything has gone.