Vacation Food

What would vacation be without some amazing food, so, here is my 'take' on some of my favourite food so far.

Jam-Strawberry-from France-bought at Fred Meyer- $6

paid way to much for it but it was very yummy, we crushed a whole jar in only 2 days

Steak-$12-bought at Fred Meyer-don't know original origin of cow

again, paid way to much, but still delightful

Newman's Own Mocha Milk Chocolate bar- who knew he made chocolate, only in the USA I guess

don't know the price but whatever it was it was well worth it, soooooo good!

I love shopping in the USA for food, it is so different from what we can get in Canada, not to mention what we can get in Cranbrook Superstore! We are stocking up on these goodies, we bought 2 boxes of Annie's organic Cheddar bunnies, 2 boxes of Chocolate Cheerios, some romantic tea, and lots of beer.

We are heading out for Portland today and will make a stop for more shopping at a huge clothing outlet, yay, fun, cheep clothes, oh and there is no sales tax in Oregon, bring on the back to school shopping!!

First Day of Decomposing..er.. Decompressing

Here is a little taste of the fun we have been having on day one of vacation. Lots of sun, water and fun!

The Mystery is Solved

Earlier this week Jude had a quick bout of the "throw ups". It only lasted for an hour or so in the morning and then he was fine. Didn't think much of it until last night. I heard Gracie up in the night and finally went to check on her.... she was sick... and doing quite well on her own. She probably would have been up all night taking care of herself if we hadn't heard her running back and forth from her room to the potty. As we were up with her, B came out of her room with a green look on her face too! So, it was a fun night of both of them sick together... I think it is the first time! This morning I am sick. I haven't met their fate yet but I am not in any mood to eat. All us girl's have been held up in the house all day, napping and watching shows. The boys have been out taking in July Fest soccer. I am thankful though that we are all sick at the same time and are getting it over before our trip on Mon! Hopefully tomorrow we will all be better and I can pack!

Thunderstorm Beauty

Usually around here we get a few great storms, we were hopeful that this one was gonna be a big one, but alas we are still waiting for some excitement! At least it was beautiful to look at!

Wanna know something interesting... I have been bit twice by horses. Once was when I was a teenager and the second was yesterday by a very young colt at Fort Steele. He grabbed my leg and took a taste. I have a bruise. I think he was just curious, he tasted Cici's dress too. So, there you go, I have been tasted by two horses.

Not My Child Monday

I am hiding from my kids right now. I need this every once and a while. To hide from them. It has been a long day of kid fighting, whining, and bad attitudes. My patience has been maxed out so I am hiding so I don't say anything I will regret! Looking back on this week though we have had some fun times. Fort Steele twice, library twice, playing outside lots, reading lots, laughing lots. It helps to put it into perspective when I am at my end.

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to let you know all the things my kids Did Not Do this week, they are angels you know. They NEVER do anything embarrassing to me.

J Man this week, when we had a house full of guests over for dinner, Did Not poop outside on our front walkway for all our guests to see. I must mention here that he was 'bare under there' again... you'd think I would have learned my lesson! His accident Did Not fall down his leg and out his shorts to the ground. Paul then Did Not have to hose the walkway down while I gave J Man a bath. Not my kid, our kids would NEVER do that!

My kids would Never be allowed to watch Wipeout, you know that show where crazy adults go through a crazy obstacle course designed to make them wipeout. They would NEVER find it so funny that they would laugh out loud at people falling. My son would NOT see a women, call her Mama, then watch as Mama wipes-out and laugh really hard. My kids don't watch such awful shows and would NEVER laugh at another human being's expense.

Beaner at her tender age of 5 would NEVER be so versed in animal anatomy that when she saw a baby horse today at Fort Steele exclaim loudly that "It's a boy, not a girl, see it has a penis!" She then would NOT then check every other animal we came across and tell us the gender of each animal.

My kids know the rules, they live by the rules and NEVER break the rules. So, Cici would never be so daring as to jump from her dresser on to her bed in one flying leap. She would NEVER than repeat it and then help her brother onto her bed so he could try. I was glad NOT to have walked in on these events that didn't happen and stop them right away!

I feel better. This has been therapeutic for me. I love my kids, they aren't perfect, just as I am not. So, I feel that I can show my face again, head downstairs and help with dinner. Ahhhh, I needed this!

Jump for Joy

Joy is the word to explain how the kids felt when they learned that their friends down the street got a trampoline! So much fun, I however can not tramp anymore, head rush, disorientation, sore legs, not to mention the obvious..(those Mama's out there who have ever jumped, ran or sneezed after having one kid, not to mention three will understand!).. not good for Mama! The kids sure had fun though!

Icky Bugs

Are these two doing what I think they are doing??

Were You Right?

We have had a busy morning of outdoor chores. Weeding, lawn cutting, catching butterflies, worms and caterpillars and washing the car. It was a good thing too that we did all that work this morning, the storms moved in and we spent the rest of the day inside.

Can you guess?

Can you guess one of the things we did today?

Bathing with a Wet Rock

So, you all know that we like our showers. My husband though has been having a hard time finding a "manly" poof to shower with. So, on our last trip to Superstore, he found a great, soft, dark brown poof. It was made of bamboo, cotton and perhaps some rayon. Anyway, he was very excited about his next shower with his manly bath poof. He got up the next morning early so I didn't get to ask him how it went. I, however, being curious, put a bit of shower gel on the new poof and got myself ready for a great experience. It wasn't. In fact it was awful! First of all, because it was cloth like, it was wet, very wet and very cold! As I think about it, I don't think it would EVER dry out. It would be a brown fluffy breading ground for life threatening grossness! I moved on, a little cold poof wasn't gonna stop me from getting clean. I tried to lather it up, it wasn't working, no bubbles. I didn't give up. I put it to my body and started to scrub. A rock is the way to describe the feeling. A cold, wet, rock rubbing my skin off. AHHH!

Later, I asked Paul what he thought. He said it was the worst experience of his life! We looked at the tag and it said money refunded if not completely satisfied. Can you really return a used, wet poof. Well, we did. I chuckle when I think of Paul walking into Superstore with the tag, the receipt and the cold wet poof in a bag. It was all going well until she asked to see the poof. He handed her the bag, she opened it and stared at the cold, wet poof. She looked at him as if he was crazy. What else were we supposed to do. He got his money back and left the store quickly.

What is the strangest thing you have ever returned?

Not Me Monday

I know it is not Monday yet, but I don't think anything is gonna happen tomorrow that will top today, at least I hope not! Get ready, here it comes, the time when I unleash all my embarrassing moments (like it just took me 13 tries to spell embarrassing..).

It is Not Me who gets all excited at the thought of putting my kids down to bed, grabbing a cup of tea, making some toast with peanut butter and honey, heading upstairs with my husband and....... watch 2 full episodes of McGyver. It us pure bliss I tell you, or I don't tell you because it wasn't me!

I would never, after spotting our neighborhood Grouse, encourage my husband and our friend Dave to chase after it and then laugh so hard at the sight of two grown men running all around Upper Chap weaving left and right like chickens.... I would never find that funny, or even chuckle a bit to myself as I am typing...

And lastly, I would never take my son out for a long walk with only a t-shirt and pants... no diaper, no undies. Why would I do that? I would never take him to the park and realize that he was "bare under there" and take him to pee on a tree in a public place. I would never forget that he hadn't had a "number 2" all day and take my son, "bare under there" to a public park. Not Me. And most importantly I would never catch my son "finishing his business" that I forgot he had to do, look at my husband and say "that is all yours babe". I then would never, and I mean NEVER participate in the disposal of said accident by burring it under the rocks at this public park because we had no other way of disposing the evidence. Who would do that, leave such a disgusting gift under the gravel at a public park. NOT ME!

Games

Here are some of the games my kids have made up..

Lick Tent

Jude has to lick Gracie or Bethy in a homemade fort.

Goal: Not to get licked

Volcano

Using a Connect 4 game, line all the red ones on the bottom, then the black ones on top. Then, VOLCANO! Oh, you have to shake it a bit before you yell volcano just as a real volcano would shake. You must pick up the pieces after the volcano explodes and put them back in the box.. neatly (ok, that part is made up by Mama).

Daycare/Babies

This game can be played anywhere, anytime, as long as there are babies near by (I don't mean real babies, I mean the plastic ones). This week this game even happened in the bath.

Snowball Fight

Assume your positions in Mom and Dad's room. Roll up Mom and Dad's white socks and let the fight begin.

Uh Oh, Crying Baby

This is Jude's creation and favorite. Put a baby in a bed, go to another room and lay down in another bed (or on the floor) and then make a VERY LOUD baby cry. Uh Oh, Baby is Crying! You must hold one finger up as if you have an idea. Then run as fast as you can to the baby and comfort. Depending on the baby's needs, you may have to take baby to the potty (remember to remove all appropriate clothing), or give a bottle. Repeat 30 times in a row.

Well, now you know, if any of my kids wants to play, you know how to play these 5 games!

All Pictures © Karis Truman karisisspillinthebeans

Canada Day Part 2

Ahhh, the day is over, the kids are in bed and I finally get to relax. We went to the wedding and had a great time. It was outdoors, no rain and just cool enough. The kids got to run and play, Paul got to practice his golf swing with the just made golf green at 100 yards! We ate great food and enjoyed ourselves. I took way too many pictures and had fun practicing my new skills on a wedding.

If you want to see some of the fun head over here.

Happy Canada Day!

Canada Day Part 1

Day 2

Woke up.

Listened to the kids play downstairs.

Got them and me Breakfast.

Bathed kids.

Showered.

Went to a hot dog sale for this cutie...

This is Kash, his mom is a friend of Deb's (a friend of mine!). He has to wear this helmet for 6 months to reshape his head. It is very expensive so Deb thought as a church we should put on a hot dog sale at our local grocery store to raise funds to help with the costs. So, we went and got some hot dogs, met Kash and enjoyed being able to support this family.

Then we headed down to Mark Creek to watch the annual Duck Race.

They load up a front end loader with rubber ducks and send them down the creek! The kids loved watching them race down the creek!

Gracie was even brave enough to save some that were caught and release them back into the race.

On a more serious note, there was a real life rescue just about to happen just after I snapped the above picture.

A mother on a bike with her child being pulled behind in a Chariot fell over the bank of the creek and tumbled towards the rapids. Thankfully, some very quick men ran over to help, scaled down the bank and helped her and her child back up. Very thankful that God protected them and no one was seriously hurt.

All this action and Canada Day is not even over yet! Next on our agenda.. A Wedding! We are heading out this afternoon to celebrate as Paul marries Kyle and Ellen. Should be fun, the kids are coming with us there too! Hope you are all having a great Canada Day too! Part 2 will have some of the wedding fun we will have!

All Pictures © Karis Truman, karisisspillinthebeans