TRAVELLING CIRCUS (AKA THE BEST VACATION EVER)

Hello people.  Sorry for the delays since the last post, it’s not a matter of disinterest, it’s more a reflection of the crazytimes that have gone on in the past while, namely the big two-week break for Adam & Heather, and the associated fun times that go with Small World Day Care being closed for business.

So, on the… 12th, Adam and Heather went off to Kenora, by car, with the doggiest of dogs Maddie, carting with them the prized frozen wedding cake layers.  That week, in lieu of shipping Meals off with them, Pake and Grandmaman stepped up and watched Meals for us during the day, with Patrick as bonus Mealie-peon.  I say that because Patrick and Mealie get on like peas and carrots, well, they would, if peas told carrots what to do and then carrots made a show of refusing for 10 seconds and then doing it anyhow.  Guess which one is Patrick in that arrangement.  Needless to say, Amelia had a great time – lots of swimming, a trip to the zoo, lots of play-doh and crayons and ice cream sharing.

This past weekend, Alicia and I were off in Kenora, with Grandmaman and Pake off to Europe for a well-deserved river cruise along with a hundred other retired couples, in the more traditional definition of “retired” (read: really really old).  As such, Mini and Topo stepped into the breach and watched Mealie while we went off carousing, causing 16-drink-minimum-esque trouble, and making fondant Inukshuks – big ups to Leigh & Rob and Rory & Dani for being marvelous travel companions.  By all accounts Mealie was a perfect little girl and was well behaved and enjoyed lots of playtime with Topo and Mini, as well as guest-spots by Jasper and Basil.  We came home to a well-rested and energetic monkey – we missed her lots.

 
This week is a bit more of a juggle, Meals got watched by Mr. Dad on Monday & Tuesday – we did lots of playing and a couple of nice trips, including a Bread & Roses excursion for a coffee w/ almond croissant for me and a ginger[bread] man for Meals.  Then off to the lake to look at the birds and play on the seesaw.  Fun times.  Larissa – Heather’s beloved Brazilian helper – is watch Meals today and tomorrow, before she goes back home to Brasilia (much to everyone’s dismay, we love Larissa and wish her and Rafael all the best).  Then Mrs. Mom takes over Friday and Monday of next week until Heather gets back from doing it up in Jamaica.

So far as Meal’s is going, not a whole heck of a lot is new.  She’s still trying to muscle everyone regarding her wants and generally will throw a bit of a spaz when you resist.  She and I have little talks now and then, it sometimes works but usually not.  That said, its generally confined to meal-time and dressing-time, we don’t have 14 pink dresses so she inevitable has a problem given that that’s all she wants to wear.  Its funny at times when you get her to admit that she’s breaking a rule or being a dork, but that doesn’t matter in terms of what she does the next time.  Alas!  She’s a cute as ever so that helps, probably makes it worse but what can you do. 

“Frontstroke, Backstroke, Fancy Divin’ too”

Okay well more like doggy paddling but whatever, Amelia is swimming on her with her life vest on!!! Exciting times. This past weekend we headed off to Dave and Carinta’s Wedding up in K-W (more on the later) while Amelia stayed at John and Denise’s, we left Saturday and she was her usual clingon in the pool but when we got back on Sunday she was paddling around from one end of the pool to the next all on her own, it was so exciting!!! She is pretty funny she paddles around with this HUGE grin on her face, she is so pleased with herself, we are pretty proud of her too.

So yeah we had a very nice long weekend although somewhat crazy busy. Friday night Jeff had the rehearsal dinner for Dave and Carinta while Amelia and I went and hung out with John, Denise and JuJu at the Reitsma Resort. On Saturday morning Jeff and I dropped Amelia off at John and Denise’s and we headed to waterloo.  Jeff met up with the rest of the guys while I found Mark and Chels and we headed to the St. Jacob’s market then out for wings and beer at the Heuther, yum yum. We were off to the ceremony in the afternoon and the reception in the evening.  It was a fantastic wedding, and lots of fun was had by all J  

We arrive at John and Denise’s Sunday morning, rather tired but not too hung over, we spent the afternoon around their pool and watched Amelia with her new found swimming skills. In the evening, Jeff and I ditched Amelia again that night and went on a little date for our 3^rd anniversary. We went home and biked down to the new BMO field and watched the Under 20 World Cup Canada vs Chile. We were pretty much shelled but it was very fun to be surrounded by soccer hooligans. We biked back along the lake on the way home and watched part of the fireworks.   

Thank goodness it was a long weekend cause I don’t think I could have gone back to work on Monday if I tried, instead we did stuff around the house and in the afternoon we headed to Ribfest with Dani and Rory.  Although we didn’t see as much of Amelia this weekend as we usual do she did have a pretty excellent weekend, kicking it off with strawberry picking with John, Denise and Julie on Friday. I think the strawberry field owners would have been smart to weight Amelia before and after cause from the pictures I think she consumed a fair amount not to mention all the juice she had smeared on her.

J  This past week was another busy one and Amelia was abit mixed up, she hasn’t been going to bed with her usual ease, she ahs been playing in her crib for a long time then crying.  We really aren’t accustom to this because Amelia has always been so easy to put to bed (she usually requests bed).  One night I asked her what was wrong and she informed me that she was scared of the Lions and Dinosaurs OH NO!!! I used to have a very vivid imagine when I was young (or that is what my parents called it) I was forever having issues going to sleep or waking my parents up in the night, it seems the tradition may live on in Amelia. Ugh…  

This Saturday was John’s retirement party and most of Jeff’s extended family was in town for it. It was quite a party, much food and alcohol was consumed by all. Amelia was in her glory with lots of people to play play doh with her and dancing to ABBA on the deck at 10 pm (there were some issues with bed time) L There were lots of pictures taken to remember the evening, some people required the pics to remember…

  Sunday was abit slow but we did manage to get a lot done around the house and the last layer of Heather and Adam’s wedding cake made, yipeee!!!!  I am baked out!! In the afternoon we headed back over to John and Denise’s for a swim and to help them finish off some of the mountains of food leftover from the night before.  Amelia has been good but as I mentioned sleep has been abit of an issue, which has resulted in a testier Amelia.  She is still a pretty good girl for the most part though.