4th of July or July 4th if your Canadian, eh!

I had this brilliant idea to take a trip south of the border to see one of Glenn's really good friends.

They have just recently starting working together again (they started Left Coast together in the 90's) and Dean has been asking Glenn to come and see him for awhile.

So five beating hearts left our farm at 6am Thursday morning (the cat stayed home) and arrived in a suburb outside of Seattle at 10am. The boys were great on the trip down, Gavin slept part of the way and Riley watched movies on the portable DVD player (thanks Airmiles!!!).

Shortly after we arrived Glenn and Dean left us at the house with Dean's girlfriend Georgia. None of us had ever met Georgia before (we haven't seen Dean in over two years) and she got me, 20 month old twins and a dog dumped on her.

Georgia jumped right in as the boys were exploring everything. Dean's son Kyle is 14and Georgia's daughter Jessica is 23, so the house was not toddler proof, soon to be rectified though.

The boys got a taste of what suburban living is all about as Dean's lives at the end of a cul-de-sac.









Being a new place naps were not easy as well as the fact that we only had one playpen. Gavin would not nap at all - crying and screaming (I was actually quite embarrassed as they normally sleep so well), so I aborted his so that Riley could at least sleep.

Georgia had an appointment so that left me with one sleeping toddler and one awake toddler. After she left I laid down on the couch with Gavin who ended up falling asleep on me. I took him upstairs only to hear Riley crying, so I swapped them out.

Gavin slept for a short time and then we went outside to play (above pictures).

Bedtime came and the boys were up about an hour past when they normally hit the sack, so off they went.

Long story short, Gavin again refused to sleep and cried and screamed and it came down to me forcing Glenn to take them for a drive, which zonked Riley out, but not Gavin. I went to bed at 11:30 with Gavin laying beside me and Riley in the playpen.

Since Thursday was a late night, Friday mid day brought naps for everyone (except Georgia I think). Gavin again screamed at nap time, so he and I slept on the couch, while Glenn was upstairs with my angel Riley.

I eventually got up, but left Gavin behind!


Mid afternoon brought out the fireworks. OMG I have never been in the US of A on the 4th of July, WOW, the noise level just goes UP!!!

Since Dean and Georgia live on the edge of the cul-de-sac, everyone congregates down there. I can't even give you pictures that will do it justice.

This is the street covered in debris about 2 hours into it, with another probably 4 to go.



Dean, Gavin, Georgia and the fireworks for ONE household!


Once the fireworks started the boys FREAKED!!!! I tried getting them to wear their earmuffs for the track, Riley refused, but Gavin did ok.

Georgia and I ended up taking the boys inside as Riley was just not going to enjoy it. After a bit Gavin went back outside with the boys.

Gavin with Dean enjoying the show.


Riley never did get into it and would rather stay inside and wear his earmuffs. He just felt safer inside.


This is what we got when he was outside.


We were supposed to stay down until today, but between Gavin not sleeping and the fireworks turning our dog into a bowl of quivering mush, we, well in reality, I aborted our vacation at about 9:30 last night.

Gavin ended up having the same hissy fit when we got home and ended up sleeping with Glenn in the upstairs bedroom last night. I wasn't going to let him figure it out at 1am.

We fixed him today though, it only took about an hour of crying (it broke my frickin' heart to hear it) and then I had to wake him up after a 3 1/2 hour nap. Tonight he only cried for about 15 minutes and then he was out!

Even with the sleeping problem, it was nice to get away and was even nicer for Glenn to catch up in person with Dean, instead of via email and phone. There was even a girl's trip to the mall where I dumped $100US in Helly Hanson! It's a shame that we didn't get to stay and enjoy the fireworks a little more, but I had to think about my sleep deprived children and my stress level!

Boy cousins are AWESOME

After the ladder incident (and climbing the scaffolding as well) I got to thinking about an offer we had from one of Glenn's sisters.

Our nephew had two sets of "gym" stuff that she had offered us awhile ago. I had no idea where I would put it, so I had actually forgotten she had offered it to us.

Sunday morning I gave her a call to let her know we were interested in it if she hadn't already gotten rid of it.

I figured since I was on holidays this week I would go sometime this week to pick it up. Deb was on her way her way out and I told her it was no rush....she called me back a few hours later to let me know it was in her driveway.

I made the call at about 10:30am and the boys were playing on it by 2pm!!!

Gavin likes it as well, but I only have pictures of Riley so far.







There is another box of parts which I am in the processing of trying to put together (you have to really think about it, even with directions)! I've also realized you can't do it with 2 almost 20 month old boys around, they tend to steal your parts!!!

Happy Canada Day!

Everybody out of the pool

I posted the other day that Glenn had set up our pool....with the weather being over 30 every day it's been nice. The boys love the pool and the floating seats that Uncle Tom and Auntie Linda got them last year still fit. Barely.

Last years pictures




Gavin likes to float around and it's getting really good and kicking his feet and will swing his legs back and forth under the water. They can also stand in the pool and walk along the bottom. Riley seems to still be a little stiff but we are working on it.

They love being swung around in the water and don't seem to mind the splashing.

On Saturday, the day of the ladder incident, Glenn was swinging them around and we were playing with them and teaching them the joys of the pool. I had gotten out for a break but the boys were back in their seats in the pool with Glenn.

"Um, honey, have you fed them lately?" Glenn asked. "There seems to be food floating in the pool."

"I haven't fed them recently and I don't think they had any food on them." I replied.

"I was skimming off the debris and thought I had it all, but there is tonnes in here now." Note, Glenn spends most of his time in the pool with a net and you are NOT ALLOWED in the pool if you haven't washed your feet!

I didn't have a response to that when all of a sudden Glenn realized - POOP!!!

I started laughing when he removed Riley from the seat and he swim diaper was BROWN!

Although I was laughing so hard I had stitches in my side, I rescued Riley from his very upset Dad. When I removed the diaper there wasn't much left in it. I then remember while he was swinging Riley around his diaper had started to slip off!

By this time Glenn had jumped out of the pool and was swearing as the pool had only been up for three days!

The pool has since been partially drained and Glenn spent a good portion of yesterday afternoon vacuuming everything out.

By the way, if you don't feel like swimming in our pool now we are fine with that!

Monthly update

You know, if I posted anymore often you might be behind on your reading :)

So June is coming to a close and the boys keep amazing us.

I won't bore you with all the details, but this one.....

Glenn has many projects, redoing 200sq ft of deck and creating the boys playground are two of them.

Glenn put up our pool last week and today we enjoyed it. After spending the afternoon in our backyard and the temperature reaching around 30C/86F we decided on getting a pizza from Papa Murphy's (the ones you bake yourself). While I was gone Glenn was in charge (kind of a given since he's Dad).

Let me start again....went I left, Glenn was skinny dippy in the pool and the boys were running amok in the backyard. Upon my return, Glenn was still in the pool (but now covered) and the boys were alive. I fired up the oven and threw in the pizzas and returned outside.

I sat down and Glenn posed a question to me, "What's the least likely thing you could think of that Riley could do?". What!!!

He starts to laugh, "Well, I'm in the pool and watching Gavin and watching for Riley, because he took off to the corner. Then I start calling to him 'cause I can't see him. When I finally find him, he is up the ladder (which Glenn has leaned against a tree - which is part of the new playground), 12 feet in the air!"

"Did your heart drop when you saw him?" I ask

"No, I just told him to get down" he replied

I think I need new child care!!!
**************************************

Our new pool - May long weekend - don't mind Georgie's butt


Riley hanging out in Mike's trailer in Mission in May for the Divisional

The BBQ that created monsters - Glenn is unable to cut the lawn without the boys riding on each knee. If he leaves one behind he will scream, cry and throw the ultimate hissy fit until his Daddy comes back for him (applies to both).


Riley the ham


New comfy spot


Mr. Serious



Gavin - playing the back yard


In other news, I'm in love.....I cashed in a WHACK load of airmiles and gave myself a new camera for my birthday. Can you notice the difference in the quality of pictures?







Rocky Point - Port Moody




A boy and his very WET dog






The Canon Powershot that Glenn and I received for Xmas just after the boys were born was a step up from our previous digital, but this Nikon SLR is AWESOME. I'm not the greatest photographer in the world, but Glenn loves to take pictures. This camera is supposed to be easy for novices and so far Glenn is enjoying it as well.

That's it for me, but you got a big dump of photos. Enjoy!

Ga-gin & I-E

Wow, life just gets busier.

The boys are going to be 19 months on Tuesday! It's hard to believe, but then you just have to take a look at them to see.

Kit's Beach before dinner at Grampa's


Kid friendly dinner at Grampa's - Dad you need some kids stuff!



They are beginning to communicate better with us.

Gavin
Saying for awhile now
georgie - our dog
nooooo - said in a singsong voice in response to me saying no
thank you - which started out as "tank you"
daddy - sadly mommy only gets squeaked out occasionally
new
hi
IE - Riley
et dow - get down and this is posed as a question after I tell him numerous times
hewo - hello into his cellphone (old one's of course)

Riley
Saying for awhile now
georgie - our dog
daddy
meow - for the cat, which he was calling georgie as well
hoo - hello
ee ya - see ya which comes with a backward wave
new
hi
ga-gin - Gavin

They probably say more than that, but those are the constants, and what I can remember off the top of my head.

When we ask them to do something, they are now understanding more. If we ask them if they are hungry, they head straight for their chairs, thirsty? - head for the fridge. Do you want a time out? - well of course the shake their heads no!

This won't be a long post - OF COURSE, but I was asked to kindly post some pictures and they didn't care about content....you got your wish girls.

We are having our annual BBQ on Saturday, so hopefully this year I will take more than two pictures and will post some in due course :) Laugh all you want, but they will eventually show up here and maybe before July!!

Riley mowing the lawn as Gavin gives directions from behind


Lots of toys in the fireplace behind them


We headed down to Blaine, Washington to see some friends at the end of April. They have a LARGE piece of property and we went and enjoyed it! Their dog Hunter was very good with the boys. Riley liked him until Hunter stole his water bottle, I don't think they were friends after that!






Have a great Friday and even better weekend!

Life interupted

Today is day three of studying for my Stats final tonight at 6:30.

Usually my exams are on a Monday or Tuesday and I have the weekend to study. This time I have used Wed, Thurs and today. Initially I had only booked yesterday and today off to study.

I'm sitting here this morning with a major headache, but glad I had Wed to study.

Yesterday I was off in my own little world, studying linear programming, probabilities and distributions when Glenn came roaring into the room, "Get ready to evacuate in a minutes notice!". What the hell?

I jumped up, looked out the window behind me (which had I turned around I would have noticed), and the mushroom farm behind us was up in flames. Although, the farm is at the back of our property (200 feet behind us), the very edge of our property has a ton of trees, and the tree line runs right up to our house.

This was not a small fire, the flames were at least 50 feet in the air!!!

As I ran upstairs, Glenn had instructed Alma to get the boys ready. I kind of just stood there in awe of the fire and not sure where to start. So I started grabbing diapers, bottles, then stopped. I was in utter fear. Alma said, "Lee, take a deep breath and focus."

Then, I packed up dog food, cat food (oh where the hell is the cat carrier?), birth certificates, passports, etc...

The boys started to feed off my anxiety and began to whine. I decided to head outside to get a better perspective of what was actually happening.

Once outside, there were three cars in our driveway. One was Global TV, the others just decided since our property is the only one without a gate, they could just park here. One of the carloads just happened to see the smoke from the highway, the other car was having lunch with the Fire Chief from our district. The Global guy said he saw the smoke from Coquitlam Center (!!).

I stood for awhile, not really wanting to venture to the back of our property. Once the two cars left, I wandered back to Glenn.


See those trees??? That was what scared us.



He was filming and taking pictures and assessing if we "Had to get the hell out"!!! We watched for awhile and our neighbours stood with us for awhile.

Once I realized that our trees weren't in danger in anymore I started to calm down. I lost an hour and a half of studying.

Now, anybody who knows my history knows why I freaked.

At 14, while my Mom, my sister and I were out, our house had an electrical fire. Our kitchen and laundry room were gutting and we had major fire damage. We were out of our house for three months. In that fire, one of our dogs was rescued by a Burnaby firefighter (the guy gave him mouth to mouth). His paws were burnt but came out ok. Our other dog, spent his time under our house while the fire was being put out.

At 19/20, the apartment I was moving out of had a fire. The people who went to move my stuff out while I was at work, got a surprise. The only thing that survived that fire was my cat. She jumped from the third floor. My friend's cat was no so lucky. I lost everything in that fire.

Yesterday all I could think of, was that I didn't want to lose everything a third time!

The building is now a pile of rubble, it was 40,000 square feet!!! The fire started at 12:30pm and at 9 last night, there were still flames. I listened to the heavy machinery tear down the building for a long time last night. Alma said they finally moved out this morning just before 7am.

Although we never really actually came close to having to leave, the inital panic left it's mark. I feel really bad for the owners of that farm. That is 14 years of hard work, literally up in flames. The news said nobody was injured, which is great.

I'm off to try and recapture some study time before my exam, but I will leave you with the little ones which made us smile at the end of the little bit of panic yesterday.

16 months!!!

Ok....exhale. I promised you wouldn't turn blue :)

Today my boys are 16 months and fully into toddler hood.....take a deep breath....and....release. That is how the days go.

Anyone who is currently raising their kids, or is watching their kids raise their kids, appreciate what Mothers of toddlers go through. Think about it times two.

Somedays I come home from work and all is peaceful.....but I can tell it wasn't so at some point. The lamp from the living room is now on the dining room table, the basket of diapers and creams no longer resides on its place on the side table in the living room....and other times as soon as I open the door, the whining slaps me in the face and Glenn is running to hide.

At times it is hard to appreciate that they are healthy and happy even though they were two months premature.

Especially when Gavin heads to the DVD player, when he knows you are too far away to get him, and turns it off and on, and off and on.....all the while looking at you and smiling!

Then there is Riley who has mastered climbing....the couch has had to be moved away from the open stairs to under a window. This child is on the couch and hanging from the back if it before you can blink. Then before you can get to him he is running the length of the couch. Glenn couldn't find him one day and could hear crying, he had fallen behind the couch and was stuck. Quick as lightening that child.

There are times I just get tired thinking about all they do in a day. Just as you have rescued one, the other one is doing something else they aren't supposed to.

But this is also a good age....Glenn is currently tearing apart our deck. Gavin isn't a great helper, but Riley is. As Glenn scrapes the deck, Riley will pick up the loose bits and put them in the garbage. Gavin just tends to eat it.

Oops, my lunch was over about 10 minutes ago, more soon.

Complaint department

So I've had a few inquiries as to when I'm going to update this blog. I was actually a little perturbed.....and then I realized the date of my last post.

Um...ok, it's a little outdated. But again I refer to my original post (I'm to lazy to link it for you), and there was a warning.

I'm not going to complain, but let's map out my day (Mon - Fri).

- Up at 5:15, that's AM
- out of the house by 6:05 (again that is AM)
- Put in a full day's work
- study on the train ride home (final is on the 14th!)
- arrive home at 5:45, that is PM and almost a full 12 hours after I left
- eat dinner with all my boys
- play with my kids until their bedtime at 7:30
- clean up the days mess (no longer have to make bottles, YEAH)
- socialize with my husband
- submit any assignments
- Mondays watch J*on and Ka*te Plus 8
- Tuesday watch Biggest Loser
- Thursday watch Survivor
- pay any bills/catch up on blogs, when not watching stupid Reality TV
- go to bed
- repeat

March 1 is tomorrow, which means that

- Up at 5:45 or maybe 6 AM
- Leave the house at 6:25 (Starbucks opens at 6:30, hence sleep in)
- Arrive at work at 7:15
- work until 1 or 2
- return home to play with kids, do laundry, clean my house

and this will be every Saturday until May.

Sundays are a day of rest (hahahahah).

I know there are some bloggers that post everyday who have jobs, kids and basically a life, but some of these bloggers are posting at Midnight. Not for me, I'm in bed by 10pm folks as I need at least 6 - 7 hours of sleep. If not, the world better watch out or remember me the first few months after the boys were born. Shivers!

Maybe you will forgive my, shall I say laziness for the past two months, when I leave you with.....







I promise to post stories (and there is a few) in the next few days.....I promise you won't turn blue holding your breath. In reality you are probably reading this post plus a newer one :)