Silly Soup

Mmmm, mmmmm, good memories.  Back when Sarah could fit in the soup can.  Albeit the largest Tomato Soup can around.  She could duck her head in and Caleb would put the lid on and we'd look and look.   It was absolutely a great hiding place.  That soup can was a source of great fun.  We used to try to toss all the stuffed animals into the can from the top of the stairs.  They had some good times with that can.

I wonder if they'll ever play that way again....

um...

Caleb?

Did you stuff your sister into another soup can??

At least it was a LARGER can!
(thanks Hornby, for the trip down memory lane, and the great way to conceal the water tanks!)

Canada Trip - Day 9

I discovered a neglected draft of a blog from 7 years ago... no time like the present to finish a series of posts!!  

Day 9 (Church, Beacon Hill Park, Downtown, Double Decker Bus, Dining; al fresco, 182 photos)

We attended church in the morning in the old first ward chapel.  (The wooden ceiling with the drop ceiling fans, the nationalities represented were in the teens, the talks were incredible, the more things were the same, the more they were different.)

After changing our clothes and grabbing our picnic for the day, we headed once again for Mount Tolmie. We had managed to not take any photographs the day before.  After our photo stop, we drove to Beacon Hill Park.  We were immediately greeted by the peacocks who were strutting their stuff!  Ellis got into the strutting business.  

The females may not have been impressed with the grand plumage, but we were!

We had chosen Beacon Hill for the day because of the Jazz concert in the park. 

Thankfully we had a picnic plan, because we were..... early ... for the concert.

And we had this adorable face to look at.

Whittaker found some reading material to wile away the time.

There were trees to look at. .. fascinating trees to look at...

Waiting... was... fun... 

Waiting was... exhausting.  

Some found a quiet place to rest.... and then they were joined... and joined again... and their quiet place to rest became a less than tranquil wrestling space.... but... 

The concert finally began.

We enjoyed our picnic with the strains of some great Jazz played live on the bandstand.  As much as we enjoyed it, the 15 of us needed to move along (the concert was 2 hours long).  We had already waited for it to start for some time.

 When we planned our down town day, we didn't realize it was, 'The Busker's International Festival', AND, the 'Deuce Days Downtown'.  Downtown Victoria was packed!  We walked from Beacon Hill to town and were overwhelmed by the crowds. 

Thanks to the events, we saw a lot of performers, antique cars and classic cars, display booths, smelled wonderful foods, observed a living statue. 

We also did NOT get to see much of the Empress hotel since it was closed for tours, NOT get to leisurely stroll along the inner harbour and enjoy the marine scene since it was crowded, noisy and hectic.  We did enjoy some bagpipes and meeting a totem carver who enthralled the boys for a long time with history and some totem carving information.

We DID ride the double decker bus!  It was worth the wait.  Fun to be up so high and see the kids enjoying the ride.  On our walk back to the van we made a human totem pole and followed a few more peacocks.

Dinner this evening was al fresco.  We had planned a simple meal for our last night which only required adding hot water.  SOOOO  we popped out the camp stove in the condo parking lot, and boiled our water, ate our dinner out of the packets and enjoyed a simple pleasure.

(Somewhere along our route this day, in the Schmidt vehicle they heard a bump sound.  Amber actually turned to the kids and said, "It sounded like someone fell out of the van!  Settle down."  In actuality it was a bag of all their swimming gear falling out of the unzipped car top carrier.  A casualty of the trip.)

We bid farewell to our friends for a week, since they were continuing on with their journey in the morning.  They were headed to Oregon for the next 4 days.  We would be remaining in Victoria.

Day 11

Day 11 (Museum, Chili dinner on a time constraint, Circus and more Eden and girls time!, 122 photos)

I awoke early in the morning and began laundry. Whittaker was quite enamored by the laundromat machines and the number of machines.  Grandma took the little kids for a swim.  Whittaker had a swimming lesson with Sarah, and was brave enough to jump in from the side of the pool.

Eden fed us again.  Essentially Eden fed us whenever she saw us.

We went to the Royal British Columbia Provincial Museum.

Many of the exhibits were much more than I could have anticipated, completely up to date and new. 

 Many of the exhibits were fond memories just as I remembered them from my childhood.

This clock was in the hotel exhibit..... Suspiciously familiar looking.... We had the same clock... There's a lovely story to go along with from Grandpa Livingston?

It doesn't matter how often I have already visited the museum.  It did not disappoint!  As I type.. Whittaker is telling me... "I'd like to go there."  Seven years later he doesn't remember it... Need to plan another trip and include a visit to the Museum.

  We could have stayed all week, but we only had 2.5 hours.

After our time at the museum we returned briefly to Eden's where.... she fed us again; homemade chili.  

Then she had tickets for her girls to go to the circus.  We joined the party and were pleasantly amused for a little over an hour at a circus.  We had practically front row seats!!  Of course there really wasn't a bad seat in the whole place. 

 It may have been a small town, no animal circus but the awestruck and mesmerized faces were the best indicator of a good time.

Another late night transfer to the condo that went well thankfully.

Sarah, Miles and Duncan sleep at Eden's.

Cooperisms

Just a lovely summer evening.  The children were enjoying their supper on the deck.  The laundry was blowing gently on the line.. (the 7th load for the day!).  Suddenly a commotion outside had everyone's attention.  The weather changed like activated by a switch.  The laundry no longer blew gently on the line.  Patrick's work shirts instead were seen billowing full of air and flying across the yard toward the canal.  The seedlings on the deck were all hurled off the table and their contents blown completely away.  The furniture on the deck was in full movement as it was sliding across the ground.  Plastic bags from neighbours garbages were flying through the air, trees in the distance were losing limbs and all the spring blossoms were gone.  All within a 7 minute change in the weather.  As it began, we heard these shouts from the outdoor eating children.

'A tornado!'
'A huricane!'
(from Cooper!).. 'SAVE YOURSELVES.... LEAVE THE FOOD... RUN FOR COVER!!!!'  He was on a one way course for the house and nothing would deter him from reaching safety.  His only concern for the others was to call out his warnings to them and allow them to fend for themselves.  Only once safely inside did he venture to suggest that someone should go out to help Derek and Whittaker and perhaps someone could grab what remained of his supper?

It ended as quickly as it began.  The dark skies suddenly produced fluffy clouds and a double rainbow.

Patrick referred to it as a micro burst and Cooper determined to know all the details was quickly reading all the information available on Wikipedia.

We were soon being informed ,
"We were very fortunate to have survived the burst as unscathed as we did.  It could have been far more damaging.  Of course Patrick may not think so if that one shirt that flew away can't be recovered."

Parade of Scouting

 Miles riding on the float with the Order of the Arrow.  He was thrilled to be included as Caleb's stand in!

 Patrick driving the air conditioned truck that pulled the float.  

 The scouts carried the flags at the beginning of the parade.  Cooper and Duncan chose large flags this year and were amazing.  They carried them the entire 1.5 miles of parade without any resting.  Cooper said it was an honor to walk with the National Guard carrying the flag and he knew he should carry the flag straight and high.

Whittaker walked about half of the parade and then joined Emerson in the stroller.  Emerson sat and watched the people lining the streets.  

 What the boys walked the parade, carrying flags in 100* weather for.....

a popsicle at the end!

 Emerson's traveling system.  

How do I get the parade route air conditioned? or at least petition for a 6am parade start time!?!  

Something is amiss in the planning that the women and young boys walk carrying the flags, the older boys ride on a trailer/float and the men drive the air conditioned truck.....

Epic

We went to see a movie.

It was Epic.

Really!!

The movie was called, 'Epic'.

I am of the opinion that Epic actually stands for
Etched
Permanently
In
Cranium,
because this particular movie experience will indeed be just that.

We had free passes to see a movie at this little theater a few towns away.  It would only take us 30 minutes to drive there and hey, free tickets to see a movie in the theater that wasn't available at Red box or on netflix yet.  We were there.  Our friends were coming also.  We had 15 people between our two vans.  The day had been a busy but productive one.  I had been cleaning and sorting and packing for the coming trip.  We were to leave at 2:15.  At 2:00 I was still outside setting up a tent that I needed to assess for the trip.  As I opened a panel, I was covered in dust.  (haven't been camping in a while and obviously the tent wasn't cleaned up after the last trip!)  The temperature outside is in the high 90*f's (mid 30*c) and I was perspiring profusely.  Now with the latest dust, I looked like I'd been out mud wrestling.  I decided to have the fastest shower ever.  While I showered I called out assignments to the kids so we would still be on schedule and have everything we needed for baby.  As fast as I tried to be we were in the van at 2:21, my hair still wrapped in a towel, my skirt askew, my shirt barely on (it was rolled in the back and wouldn't pull down over my still wet body), but we were off to a movie called, 'Epic'.

The drive down Emerson fell asleep, Whittaker (no nap) whined and screamed everytime I hit a bump because his DVD would restart his movie.

We pulled in to the parking lot of an old dilapidated looking theater with a line of people already queued up for seats inside.  I had Kenzie and Duncan jump out to get in line with Amber and I parked.   The parking lot was full. Amber called to say they had the seats, although not all together.

It took me a while to find a parking spot and I hit the curb as I finally parked and wondered if my tire had survived.  Fortunately no harm done.  I unloaded the four remaining boys and grabbed the diaper bag.  The 100* day was not helping the mood or rush.  We made it into the theater and found our seats.  Whittaker immediately began to whine.  He didn't like this movie (which hadn't yet begun). He didn't want to sit here. (Only seats left dude and it's on my lap with Emerson!).  Why didn't he have a popcorn.  He could smell it! (I'm the queen of popcorn for movies, but not at theater prices with 7 children!)

Our seat was the last seat near the wall.  However other rows had one more seat right next to the wall and we had an empty space before the wall and I sent Whittaker to stand there while he was whining so I could attend to Emerson's bottle.

Once the movie began Whittaker became mesmerized and Emerson drank his bottle (I hoped he'd sleep!), and he appeared to watch the movie intently.  About half way through the movie Emerson decided he had reached his limit.  I was madly pulling out things from the diaper bag to entertain him and keep him quiet.  My seat being at the end meant that leaving would be almost more disruptive than trying to keep him calm and quiet.  I seemed to be succeeding with some snack puffs he likes to eat. Whittaker became restless and began to whine again.

Did I mention that it was 100* outside and this theater was either not air conditioned or it wasn't working?

I was perspiring again.  Shouldn't have bothered with that shower earlier.  I mean really... a dark humid theater would have been a great place to show up all sweaty and covered in muck.  It's how I left.

What was worse was the two wiggly, whining boys on my lap were also perspiring and that made them all the more miserable.

So I was feeding Emerson puffs and gave Whittaker the bottle of water that I had brought so I could make a spare formula bottle for Emerson should I need it.  Emerson lunged for the container of puffs.  I kept it from exploding everywhere in the dark, barely, but Emerson ended up successfully grabbing an entire handful of the puffs.  He immediately stuffed the whole lot of them in his mouth.  I typically feed him one at a time.  I was trying to pry the ones out of his other hand when Whittaker jerked around to whine at me one more time causing Emerson to slip from my leg.  I caught him, but he began to gag.  GAG!  and then full on choke on his mouthful of puffs.  I pushed Whittaker off my lap and tried to help Emerson.  His choking was getting worse and he wasn't making any sounds.

I had to perform the heimlich on him.

It didn't work the first time and I had to hit his back much harder than I thought before all the puffs and some other nasty vomit came out, followed by a blood curdling scream.  I grabbed the water bottle from Whittaker to give it to Emerson and Whittaker proceeded to scream at me for taking it.  Amber tried to comfort Whittaker and explain that Emerson needed it right now.  After a few seconds I felt confident that Emerson was going to be okay and I handed back the water bottle.  Whittaker sat on Amber's lap and held the bottle, staring at the screen.  (He never did drink any of the water!)

Emerson never did completely calm down after that.  He wanted to snuggle and was whinier than ever.  I needed to stand and rock him.  So I took advantage of the empty space between me and the wall and stood up... oh yeah... in the vomit!

So there I stood.  Pressing my body as tightly as I could against the wall of the theater which I was sure had children's boogers, gum and popcorn grease on it, so that I wouldn't block the view to those sitting behind me, sweating profusely in the non air conditioned theater, trying to calm my 30 lb baby who had just escaped a choking emergency, while convincing Whittaker who had realized I'd moved and insisted on standing next to me mauling, holding onto my overly sticky body, standing in the vomit.  All so we could take the kids to see an Epic movie for free.  I think I'd have preferred to pay to stay home.  It was at this point in the movie that I looked up and made eye contact with Amber, who had been trying to help and we just started laughing.

EPIC

Go see it in a theater near you today...

Better yet... stay home where it's cool, and manageable and enjoy a peaceful afternoon.

Fanfare please

This post needs to be prefaced with a drum roll, a loud trumpet and a huge question mark over my head!!!!

?

It is officially my 1000th post.  

YES

1000!!

I was a little stunned.  I knew all week it was coming and I almost didn't blog so I could have more time to decide how to celebrate such an occasion.  I even asked for input from all around me who didn't really seem too intrigued (especially those who rarely even read it!).  Except of course for one!

Cooper.

He is my newest and biggest fan.

He reads old post, new posts, posts about him, and posts about everyone.  He comments.  He repeats his favourite lines over and over and over.   And now he even has begun to write his own blog... not yet open to the general public.  (Real announcement coming soon!)  So perhaps it has gone full circle.  I have inspired someone to blog.... it was after all, someone else, in a time not so far away that inspired me to blog.  And now 1000 posts later....

For my 100th post I posted a list of 100 posts from the draft folder that I intended to still write.  Some I wrote, others are still germinating in the draft folder and obviously many, many others took precedence and were posted.

I considered simply posting a photo with the caption.... A picture says a thousand words..... so why do I continue to be so wordy if the picture can do all the talking???  But the pressure to decide which picture!

I considered going completely public with my blog... but then got nervous and couldn't handle the stress.

I considered asking for readers to come out of the closet and comment about their favourite post from the past.  (Still open to that idea, but I also realized, I'm sort of a closet reader and still not a big commentor, although I love to receive them... just struggle to give them, so I didn't want to make anyone feel uncomfortable.  After all this should be a celebration for everyone involved!)

I considered sharing what my favourite posts were, but then I discovered that it was a daunting task, and even after re-reading pages and pages of posts... I couldn't decide.

I considered a prize drawing or a raffle... (but what, and how, and who..)

I considered throwing a party, but somehow a real life party for a written word entity was a bit ... odd. What would we do... sit around texting each other witty comments or take photos and think of great ways we could blog about it later?

I considered simply thanking the nation for throwing such an incredible party for my achievement today with fireworks that have been going on for over three hours now!


And then I was shown the way.


Cooper began to read a new book.  He was enjoying the book.  He took it with him to lunch, in the car as we ran errands, into the bathroom , shh,  to bed.... pretty much didn't put it down.  I needed him to finish a quick task and promised to mark his page so he could come right back to it.  His response surprised me.

"Normally that would be a great idea, BUT I know exactly where I am.  The next page is the 100 page anniversary of the book and me!!"

? Anniversary?

"Well, yes, when you reach the 100th page of a good book it's worth celebrating."

?So, how do you celebrate?  

(with a mischievous grin),  "I'd love to celebrate it with a bowl of ice cream... or some popcorn...."

?Is that the usual way for celebrating a 100 page anniversary?

"Of course not, but it would sure be a great new tradition!!  Don't you think?  (*sigh), No the celebration ends at the end of the 100th page and then you get to keep reading a great book! "


And so, there it is.  The celebration isn't the important thing really.  It's worth noting, much the way reaching a milestone birthday is worth noticing, celebrating even, the way a graduation is worth mentioning.... but it's not the end, not the finish line, nor the jumping off point like a wedding or first day of a new endeavor.  It's just good to know, something to smile about, to appreciate having reached it, and feel a sense of accomplishment for..

and then....

to continue.....

Snaggletooth

Derek was blessed to have a 'snaggle tooth'.  Not just anyone can claim such things.  He is the only one I've ever known.

What is a snaggle tooth you ask?

It is when two teeth grow as one in the space where two should be.  They either have their own roots but have connected as they've grown, or there is just the one root system.  It appears that Derek has the one root system snaggle tooth variety.

Legend has it that if you are chosen to have a snaggle tooth you will have handsome looks all your life!  So far, Derek is proving that legend to be true, he's one handsome lad!

The legend goes on to say that if the snaggle tooth is just the one root system you can barter with your mother to keep the tooth instead of allowing the tooth fairy to take it.  Channa even offered to pay double the tooth fairy rates when it fell out.  Having said that, Derek was on a mission after it fell out to keep it away from the hands of the tooth fairy.  He didn't put it under his pillow.  In fact, he wouldn't even hide it in the bedroom.  He and Duncan took great thought in how to hide the tooth from the fairy.  They eventually tucked it in a baggie, inside a book on the bookshelf and then placed the heaviest book they could find on top of the stack of books and another one in front of the book.  They weren't taking any chances.  Sure enough in the morning the tooth was still there.  Channa wasn't expected for another two days so each night they changed the location of the book as another method of confusing the fairy.  When Channa arrived, the tooth was safe and sound and she did indeed pay double the going rate for the 'snaggle tooth!'.

The final bit of the legend is that if you have a one rooted snaggle tooth and you are seven years old and it falls out on a national holiday (Canada Day) of either of your national roots, and you lose another tooth within three days on yet another national holiday (Independence Day-USA), you will receive the next thing you ask for AND have good luck for the rest of the week!!  You will be taken camping to one of your favourite campsites AND you get to choose all the meals the following day!

Derek is one lucky snaggle tooth possessing fellow!  We are so honoured to have been witness to the rare event and the fulfilling of the legend.


I personally hope his luck changes a little.... he's running out of teeth and when he chooses his meals for the day they may resemble Whittaker's pureed baby food!!

Wyoming

Just a quick trip to the Ranch.  

One night.  

Just enough time to;

--confuse the, finally, for all of 2 days, officially, licensed Caleb.  ('um in the 19 months of learning to drive I never encountered this type of sign!?')

--sample (completely overeat!) delicious food!
--visit and renew friendships.
--have the best and longest night sleep I've had in well over a month!
--attend a Sunday School class... I'd almost forgotten what life outside of Primary was like!
--test the new playpen for Emerson.  (should work nicely for our upcoming vacation)
--rearrange the carseat order in the van twice.  I think we may have a successful seating arrangement in the van finally.

--find the perfect jammies for Caleb!  At one of our stops to switch car seats around I took a turn down a side street so we could hop in and out of the car without traffic around us and low and behold there was a yard sale.  So Caleb switched the seats and we went perusing!  He was SO pleased with our find!
--enjoy talks at church for Gus's mission farewell which included the wonderful, (can't pick up a cowpie without getting dirty, cause it doesn't have a clean side, analogy of staying away from sin!).  Also loving Gus's motto of 'learning to love hard things, work, trials...'
--listen to over 22 music CD's in an effort to find the perfect travel mix for our upcoming driving vacation.
--watch 9 movies on the Car DVD systems.  I think with 3 screens, and all new headphones for the passengers, we finally have perfected the art of electronic travel.  Well almost.  With Whittaker's seat behind the driver's seat he is within reach for talking and helping but when I drive (with my short stature), he complains bitterly that he can't reach the buttons on his DVD player.  So I have perfected the 'scoot the seat back so he can press the button and then quickly return my seat to it's original position so I can safely drive maneuver'.  (Perhaps we could find the remote control for the next trip!

--compete for who had the most mosquito bites.  Duncan won with 101, Whittaker however reacted more with his 41... and complained far more bitterly about each and every one.  Even with all our bites another boy visiting definitely won the prize with an uncountable number... over 100 simply on his arms!

--Have a wonderful visit as always!

Cooperisms

Cooper frequently tells me how sweet and cute Emerson is.  How much he is learning and how he can see that he's already getting smarter.   First thing in the morning he often has a happy greeting for him.

This mornings greeting:

"Good Morning Emerson.  Oh, it's an adorable festival happening in the crib.  oooo.. "

*sniff*

"what a whiff!  End of festival!"

(after a diaper change and new clothes...)

"Let the adorable festival recommence!"