Camping 2013

Summers go soooooo fast! Every year we say "we should go camping sometime!" and most years we end up pitching the tent at GG's for the golf tournament and that's about the extent of our tenting time. This year we took a weekend and actually went to a real campground, woohoo!

The kids love it and lugged up all the sleeping bags, mattresses and pillows quite excitedly. Then I remembered what I hate about camping: the loading & packing of all the stuff! Gotta make sure to put the tent in last so it's the first thing on top when we get to the site. But the cooler should be packed last so it'll stay colder that way, but it's one of the biggest things so should go into the van first.... it was almost a paralyzing conundrum! Finally I had everything ready to load. Unfortunately it wasn't at 2pm as I'd planned, it was 5:30! I was going to take the girls out and set up the tent ahead of time and come back for Murray so we could eat at the site and have a bonfire. Another plan gone bad but not the end of the world.

We got everything set up and explored a bit and then turned in for the night. Checkers was incredibly restless and preferred to roam around and shake his head every 5 minutes. It was a looooooooooooong night! The kids were oblivious but Murray and I woke up not feeling too refreshed!

Nevertheless, we're camping and we're going to have fun darn it! But what to do? We shall go on a lovely nature hike and find the waterfall! We are certainly not sitting around in a tent to play iPods! I told them if they wanted to play video games in the woods, I could have thrown them over the fence in the backyard and saved myself a LOT of work! I didn't spend 5 hours baking, packing & loading to watch them do what they could do at home! They weren't very moved by my speech but didn't ask for electronics again.

We eventually found the start of the trail and began the hike. They were all excited at first, zooming along, racing around and chasing each other along the path. Then the novelty wore off after an hour and we still couldn't tell if we'd found the waterfall or not. We'd seen some water flowing over a small pile of rocks in a stream but were looking for something a little more impressive. The brochure mentioned it was "small but striking" so we kept looking, and looking and walking and looking. We ran out of trail and started back around the loop we'd taken and saw lots of other stuff in the woods but nothing that we'd consider "striking" !!! The girls weren't impressed either and made sure to let us know by subtly mentioning things like "I'M BORED. DO WE HAVE TO KEEP GOING? WHEN CAN WE STOP? CAN WE TURN BACK YET???" At one point, Murray overheard a grumbled "I feel like complaining my head off!" He lost it and said "we didn't have to come camping you know."  (<---- a="" br="" murray="" s="" that="" tirade="">
We got back to the campsite and had some lunch and shortly after that, Boo got dropped off for a sleepover as Teena & Dale had a party and we won the babysitting lottery :) They were quite excited to have her there and showed her around and got her bedroll set up. They spent the rest of the afternoon at the playground and activity centre while I cleaned up lunch, read my book and then got supper ready.

That night we did have a campfire and s'mores, roasted hotdogs, sparklers and a couple Dragons Eggs that we probably weren't supposed to have. (something about no explosives in the rules I realized after). Grammie and Grandad love campfires so they joined the party and supplied the hotdogs and stayed to enjoy the evening with us, hooray, a party!

By the time our guests left and brush & flush was done, everyone was wiped and settled down without too much furor.

Teena had saved the day and brought some ear cleaning stuff so I was able to get Checkers' ears in better shape and he slept better which meant we slept better. Somewhere towards morning, I felt Murray pushed up against me, so much so that I was barely on the mattress anymore. I looked over to see what was going on and Checkers had confiscated his mattress so he was trying to get off the ground and use mine! (despite the fact that I'd made a very nice dog bed with the removable trunk liner and some towels!!!)  Fussy puppies do not make great tentmates.

Lovey & Boo were awake at 6:30 and fairly chatty so that was the end of my shuteye! We tried to read quietly in the tent but that didn't last long and everyone got up for breakfast. They went for a swim while I dried out the tent and tore it down and reloaded the van. We grabbed a pizza lunch at the canteen and headed home!

Good times!!!

they got the "small" part right!

Tricky Fit!

When I did this 3 years ago, it was a little easier (and I used a real camera instead of my phone) http://kelmurandco.blogspot.ca/2010/06/dum-dum-da-dum.html

I was able to get the dress on for a progress check after our 15th anniversary. BUT it required a lot of sucking in and zipper wrestling. I think it's official, I've strayed as far as I possibly can and still get into this thing. I'd better get my act together!

Grade 4, where'd you come FROM!?!?!?

Well that's it. Summer vacation is officially over! School is back in and Grade 4 is our life now! There was a downpour this morning so I didn't get a good photo while they waited for the bus. I'll try and get the individual pics by the door tomorrow if there's time.

They woke up raring to go and were ready and out the door well ahead of schedule. Nothing like first day enthusiasm. That'll be in short supply from here on out no doubt!

They came home raving about their class and teachers. Lovey is excited to be back in Acorn's class. Honey is pleased with her class too. Sweetie is in the same class as Honey this year but says most of her friends from last year are in Lovey's class. I'm sure she'll find friends in this class soon though.

Lovey's planning on lots of school clubs and activities. The newest one is drama. You can't be in that until Grade 4 so she's raring to go now! Honey thinks she'll go back to book club and maybe some others too. Sweetie didn't have much to say on the subject! LOL

Traditional first day of school cake. Simple decoration this year, but tasty!

Suckers!

During a recent trip to the mall, we got waylaid by one of those kiosks in the centre. He just wanted to show us his product for TWO MINUTES! Ok, sure, 2 minutes and we're out of here. I'm not buying though, but knock yourself out buddy.

Then he put ringlets in my daughter's straight as a pin hair. That was cool. Ok, well.... still. I'll let him finish his spiel and maybe if it's around $40 or maybe $60, well. maybe but I was skeptical. Then he got to the kicker. "Regular $240!"

He was going to have to do some major discounting to get anywhere with us. He played up to the girls and showed them how smooth and shiny it made their hair. He showed the different fancy designs of the various models he had. His boss came over and chatted us up, oohed and ahhed over my cute triplets.

Then they told us about the back to school special price they were offering. Pffft. Still a LOT. I maintained my "not interested" stance. They went over my head and appealed to the girls. "don't you think your mom should get this great deal?" "Ok. Ok. You know what? When you buy more than one, the price gets better! but I will give you that price even if you just buy my last one today." Hmmm, well that's a little better but still pricey!!! "Tell you what. I'll give you a gift. What are your favourite colours girls???" They quickly told her and she pulled out little clip in hair strips in THOSE colours and offered to give them to them for free IF we bought one. and they only had ONE left on the special deal. Suddenly I was alone against 5 sets of pleading eyes that couldn't comprehend a mother who would be so cruel!

Bah. They weren't getting me with that emotional bribery business. We left but the badgering went into high gear. They were willing to forfeit allowance, they'd do this, they'd do that and on and on. I ignored and kept heading for the parking lot, leaving them to keep up or get left behind (well not really, but they're never sure. muahahahaha!). We got into the van and on it went still. Finally I thought. I'll put an end to this. I'll ask Murray if he's willing to pay a ridiculous amount of money for a flat iron! Ha! That'll fix them. So I sent him a message.  He didn't immediately say no. huh. well that's interesting. and it was kindof cute and it did make CURLS in Honey's hair!!! But, no! Fight the impulse. It's ridiculous! Who needs an expensive thing like that to do their hair!??!? Murray wanted to know if it had a warranty. Well, actually it comes with a lifetime warranty. He checked online reviews, did price comparisons. All came back favourable and the price on ebay was actually more expensive so he told us to go for it. Where was my partner in solidarity???? Oh well who am I to argue with the breadwinner???

Three little girls exploded with joy as I showed them the "go for it" message. They were out of their seats so fast that I had a hard time keeping up with them in their haste to get back there before "their" straightener got sold! "HURRY MUMMY!"  huh. so they DO know what that means when it suits them. I warned them that they'd better be VERY good for a loooooooooooooong time! (obviously this was BEFORE the wedding fiasco) They told me they would be good, they'd be super duper extra British good! Well that was a new one. I guess they think that all British people are very proper and always well behaved.

Smiles like these are priceless right?

Too bad I couldn't reproduce the sales guy's effects at home! We were getting ready to go to the wedding and Sweetie's straight hair went perfectly. She loved it. Honey was not as keen on my efforts. I pulled the way I thought he'd showed me. No result. a slight wave maybe. Hmmm. I thought it might get better as I went. Maybe it needed to heat up more. Maybe I need to put a bit of hairspray on and then try it. That didn't work much better but then after a few more attempts, I started to see some results. It wasn't much but it wasn't straight anymore. Half way through, she looked and told me it was awful, terrible, no good and to quit. Why that wasn't reason enough to walk away right there, I don't know. I'm a stubborn masochist, what can I say? I convinced her to let me keep trying and it did get better as I went. Not as good as the guy at the mall, but hey, it's my first day here! She wasn't willing to cut me any slack and stomped enough in disgust as I got the last piece done.

Lovey was undeterred though and showed up for her turn. I've now been working with this 450º wand for an hour and in the small bathroom, I'm getting hot and my last customer hasn't done anything for my mood. I start smoothing it and she jerks back. "MUM! you're not curling it right!". What? " You want yours curled? Did you SEE Honey's? That's my best so if you don't like hers, let's quit right now." Nope. She thought Honey's looked fine. OK then.

I worked away but it was awfully hard for her to stand there, sit there, wait there etc. Sigh here, sigh there. She kept turning her head the wrong way and almost singed her face countless times. I was on the last piece, now very overheated and frustrated that I can't get this stupid curling action to work well and she's still not holding her head up so I can pull the piece through properly. In exasperation, I thrust out the wand to point to the spot on the wall where I want her to point her eyes towards when I suddenly make contact with the actual wall. with the 100% 450º degree ceramic plates. Guess what happens to super hot glass like substances when they smack into a solid object. Crack! tinkle. Shards of shiny black ceramic fell to the counter and floor and then I stepped on one to add insult to injury! I almost threw up on the spot. Not only had it been a silly, impulsive, extravagant purchase. I'd destroyed it after ONE use. Oh dear heaven. Murray was surely going to kill me! I managed to hold on to my lunch and finish the last piece with my curling iron, all the while my mind racing with the horror and dread. I frantically grabbed on to the thought that I'd purchased it on my credit card! Anything I buy, if it gets lost, broken, or stolen within 90 days of purchase, has insurance coverage! I can probably buy a new one and get reimbursed! IF they approve the claim. OK. Maybe I can fix this. Then it was time to take off for the wedding so there wasn't time to dwell on it and then we had other problems to worry about there (see previous blog post for details).

Today I phoned the credit card insurance and they sent me the paperwork to fill out. They said the normal procedure is for me to go buy the replacement and then send proof of purchase and then that's when they do the reimbursement. OK no problem. Wait. It was a special offer last week, we bought the last one. What if they're now back up to regular price??? That's OK. I'm prepared to beg at this point. Maybe they'll understand and let me buy one more at the sale price. Or maybe the sale is still on and they get a few to sell each day!

I headed to the mall this afternon with the broken one, shards and all and talked to the guy from last week. He remembered me and the girls and as I explained and asked if replacement parts can be bought, I felt kindof sick all over again and he told me not to worry. He said he'd call his boss and see what she said. The phone call lasted quite awhile but after he hung up, he told me they were going to replace it for me free of charge but I MUST understand that the warranty doesn't really cover this and if it happens again, it won't apply. I was so relieved I could have done a little dance and hugged him. I managed to contain myself to an effusive thank you!

Whew! saved by the kindness of strangers again!

Wedding Guests Gone Bad!

We had much anticipated going to my cousin's wedding! There were trips to the used clothing store to make sure they all found a dress to wear, some girls even found shoes they liked too! We counted down the days, we inquired regularly which day we were one, how many were left, if the wedding was tomorrow and on and on. It was exciting looking forward to the big event! They planned to dance up a storm and stay up LATE!!!

The venue was a summer camp and anyone that wanted to could stay on site in one of the cabins at no charge! Woot woot, free accommodations and no driving home late at night in the dark! Sweet!

The wedding was held on the beach of a lake and it was a cool, overcast day with a bit of a breeze. Then just as they were saying their vows, the clouds parted and the sun shone down on them. It was pure magic! Their daughter was the flowergirl and she came over to us to share the flowers from her basket with the girls and everyone else nearby until it was empty.

After the ceremony, there was a bouncy castle and bubble blowing station for the kids and hors d'oeuvres for us!

As tends to happen with big events, things ran late and the reception didn't get started until late, which meant the dance, which was what they really had their hearts set on, didn't get underway til almost 10pm. They hit the floor with gusto and hopped and twirled their hearts out, with me, with Grandad, Grammie, Daddy, Aunt Cathy, any cousin they could pin down and also random girl who happened to be near us was also fair game. Then Honey got sleepy. Then Sweetie started winding down. A bit after 11, Murray decided to take them to get ready for bed. I stayed with Lovey and let her dance her butt off a little longer. At 11:25 I decided I'd better pull the pin on things as school was starting soon and I didn't want to have a ridiculously late night.

Little did I know, it was already too late. We were doomed. I got back to the cabin with Lovey and grumbling commenced about things. Squabbly conversations sputtered and sparked as we looked for PJs in the near dark (no electricity, just a small flashlight). We headed out to the bathroom for the final brush and flush and that's when things got U G L Y.

The bathroom building had open doors. In the woods. Where b-u-g-s and s-p-i-d-e-r-s live. Guess where they like to head when there are open doors? Yep. IN. There were spider webs on the ceiling, some moths fluttered around the lights and some spiders were sighted. *insert freak out here*

I'm SCARED.
It's GROSS IN THERE MUM!
I'm NOT using the bathroom in THERE! (despite 27 trips earlier in the day)
TAKE ME HOME.
WHY CAN'T WE LEAVE?
I DON"T WANT TO STAY HERE.


Knowing their bladders couldn't possibly last the whole night, I tried to convince them they had to go in there or out in the bushes.

WHAT?!?!?!?
NO!!!!!!!!!!
I DON"T WANT TO!!!!!!
I CAN'T!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
I WON"T!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NO MUMMY NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!

Finally there was just one hold out but she had her heels dug in good and strong. Finally I pushed her into the least spidery stall of the three and made her sit and she promptly took care of business while simultaneously maintaining the loudest and longest and shrillest "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" in the history of girly girldom. The bride's brother appeared in the main entrance to the building, looking concerned and uncertain. Yikes. How embarrassing. He's of course overheard all this drama. Well this is awkward now isn't it?

Him: uhhhh. everything ok here?
Me: yes, sorry, just a sudden case of arachnophobia gone wild.

With a sheepish laugh I turn back to the girls to try and talk them into quieting...... why is he still there?

Him: I just want to make sure everyone is alright.
Me: (perplexed. it's just overtired girls overreacting) oh yeah, it's just the spiders.
Him: (not going anywhere just yet) ummm. well, so..... are you, uhhh, their mother?
Me: Yes. They're tired and need to get to bed.
Him: (still not leaving and now unsure if it's safe to do so or if I'm an axe murdered about to chop them to bits) Oh. yeah. uh, ok then. I have a daughter too, I guess I'll find out about this someday. (hesitantly leaves)

Now I'm good and cranky, he's probably going to phone the police because we can't get our hysterics under control. I march them out and head for our cabin. But it's pitch black everywhere and I've picked the wrong path. and the wrong cabin. and the wrong cabin again with moany groany whining trailing in my wake as we stumble over roots. Then we double back, except this isn't where we started from.... ugh! I see the lights of the reception hall and go back up there and then find the proper path. I think.... "Murray????" I hear him answer so I know we're on the right track and we get back into the cabin.

Only to start up a new chorus of "I don't like it here." "This cabin is DIRTY and GROSS!" "Can I go sleep in the van?"  "I just want to go HOME!"  Of course these things were mentioned at top volume in our whiniest tones and with full on tears. It was the most misery in the smallest amount of space I've seen since the infant days when  I was trapped in our living room with 3 inconsolable preemie infants and just praying to hold on til 5:00 when Murray would be done work. The shrieking and caterwauling went on til after 1am and somehow one of them fell asleep. The other two decided that if they HAD to stay there, they'd hunker down inside their sleeping bags and pull the top over their heads. This created a new conundrum. It's freaking hot when you do that. So we grumble and groan and thrash around a lot, in case anyone hasn't noticed our discomfort. "Settle down and stop rumbling around over there!" "I'M HOT!!!" "Well unzip your bag a bit." "I CAN'T. A spider might jump around and get inside my sleeping bag!!!!"

Murray tried to reason with them that it was no worse than sleeping in our tent. Well they didn't like it THERE either! "Fine. we won't be doing any more camping either then!" Nothing we said was making any headway so we changed tactics.

I played some soft music on my phone and laid down with the most hysterical girl and finally got her calmed down and the thrasher eventually passed out from lack of oxygen, exhaustion, heat stroke or a combo of all three. After awhile I crawled back to my own bunk only to be awakened a few hours later by the same girl I'd left not that long ago! She was hollering, terrified a spider was coming for her. I was too sleepy to stir right away and told her to come crawl in with me. No dice. It was way too risky to walk across the room through the throng of web spinning monsters (that were never actually spotted by the way, it was the POTENTIAL threat that was cause for alarm). This must have been around 5am or so. She was hollering that she wanted to leave NOW. Murray asked her to hold it together so he could get another hour's sleep so he'd be able to stay awake to drive home. Ever heard of the honeybadger? Well she cared even less than a honeybadger. Deciding to take one for the team, I dragged myself out of my bunk, grabbed her, sleeping bag and all and stuffed us into my bunk and told her she could stay there ONLY if she was quiet or I was putting her back. Zonk! Never heard another peep out of her.

Around 8am, I heard a little male voice asking a question. It almost sounded like he was IN our cabin with us. Then I heard my cousin Shawn answer him and although he was speaking fairly softly, EVERY WORD WAS CLEAR AS A BELL. OH dear heaven. There is NO way on earth that any nearby cabin wasn't affected by the parenting fail of the century.

We gave them a quick hushed lecture on the horrible events of the early morning hours and warned them within an inch of their lives to get their stuff gathered and to get out of there without a scene. We packed up in record time and slunk off without making eye contact with anyone else. Luckily not many were up and about yet. We didn't stick around for the brunch and gift opening party. I'm afraid to think of the conversations at that event!

There wasn't anything to eat so we drove home for breakfast. Not one of them spoke a word the whole way home. Murray's pretty sure they were afraid to! Over an hour and a half of silence in the vehicle is practically unheard of so he must be right!

How the angelic faces below turned into such raving lunatics, I have no idea but lucky for them, they're so cute and loving during the day. All I can say is that it will be awhile before we let them stay up late again, special event or NOT!