July 26th...off to the Train!!

Ok everybody. I've decided typing out Little E and Little B is a tad boring in the inventive department...I'm re-naming them. Little E is now Little Dude and Little B is Munchkin. Big E will remain. :) And now back to our regular programming.

Little Dude is fascinated with trains. When he calls his Grandma B she blows a train whistle for him on the phone and he listens with a big grin. We went to a private train terminal on Saturday for a short ride. We took Grandma and Grandpa Z, Crazy Uncle and Cool Cousin J and of course moi. What fun! Here's a few snapshots while we were there.

Little E and Cool Cousin J stuck close together.



While we waited for the train we watch a sailboat from the USA come through the bridge. Little Dude really enjoyed the show. It was a bit breezy and he hung onto his hat.







The line is about 150 years old. The ride was lovely and we stopped at the end to see different rail cars including one that was a big snow plow and one that had a circus painted on the side with cut-outs for the kids faces. Grandma Z was game to help them get their faces up there as they are too short to reach the holes themselves.



I'm not sure what Little Dude thought about being lifted up to look out of these random holes...must have thought we were a bit Cookoo!

We really enjoyed ourselves. It made me wonder, yet again, why on earth train travel is so expensive in Canada. Honestly, if they want people to ride the train (and I for one would do so if it didn't cost both my arms and legs!) then shouldn't it be affordable?

A couple of days ago we started Little B on baby cereal. He's doing well...and loving it. I have a feeling that I'm not going to have to wean him from nursing either, like his brother he will decide that food is great and nursing is just too darn slow! Here's a picture of him trying real food for the 4th time.


I've finally got the videos I promised so long ago. The first one has Little E signing
and the others are just snapshots of our day at home. :)



Well, I think two is enough. :) Not sure it can hold much more! Take care all, those back home we will see you soon!

Wow...first we boil, then we freeze

I can hardly believe so much time has passed already. The end of our vacation, with its long drive in a car with a 2 year old and 5 month old is drawing closer, and closer...and closer!! Scared? I am. Oh, it won't be that bad, but the trip here certainly tired us out!

I have to admit I will be a little bit glad to be back on my own turf...and to know that turf is ok. Leaving your home to the kindness of friends while you're away is an exercise in trust! On the other side, we will all miss the family we have enjoyed out here. When we first arrived we were hot and sticky because the air conditioning wasn't working. Today our high is 21 C...which is very cool. And it's raining...like a tropical rain without that tropical warm feeling so maybe more like an atlantic coast rain? It's not even warm enough for a pacific coast rain. :( Big E is spending this week with his family and the rest of us are here at the farm with my family. I have to admit...I prefer the farm...not because I don't like Big E's family, they are amazing, loving and a lot of fun. I love staying with them. But when I do, I miss the space of the farm. I love the fact that when I walk out my front door, there are no neighbours to see me. :) Not that I'm a big exhibitionist or anything...but ya know...it's nice to know your space is your own. I guess the perfect solution is to have Big E's family move to a farm! We recently had our big family reunion which ended up being kinda small. Hmmm...sadly we missed many family members. I was especially hoping for a big turn out because it is unlikely I'll be back any time soon. Of the 5 aunts and uncles...3 were there with some of their children. Nobody had all of their progeny in tow. So there are lots of cousins I wasn't able to catch up with....and it got me thinking...how do you revive a family reunion? How do you instill in the hearts of the family members the importance of making that connection with extended family you don't see often. Although there are family I may not see much beyond once at the reunion and once at Christmas I have to say I really appreciate those times and the distance between us grows larger when we aren't able to connect during those family get-togethers. So, everyone out there in cyberworld...what would you do? "If I had a million dollars" (BNL) I would order lovely printed stationary like wedding invitations to invite family to the reunion...I'd even ask for an RSVP...and then I'd follow up...maybe cry on the phone? That might be going too far...but honestly I think there are those who don't understand how much we miss them when they aren't there. Maybe some of them will read this and see themselves as I type. WE MISSED YOU!!! please come next time. Here are some pictures...we're a little blurry...we were having so much fun we couldn't sit still!



Little E tried to play the kid games...ambitious for a little guy. I think the game where you sat on the balloon did it for him...the loud *POP* was a bit more than he could handle. Grandma helped little B play in some of the adult games and apparently he did quite well..lol. 2 out of 3 quarters in the bucket so I'm told. I'm considering driving back next summer and making sure I'm here for the family reunion weekend. After all, if I'm not willing to make the sacrifice to be there, how can I mock/prod/guilt-trip my other family members for not coming. I figure driving 3200 Km gives me the power! On the other hand, in case I'm unable to make the trip I have begun to contemplate a satellite reunion. We have family on our end of the country...I'm sure we could get together on the same day...have lunch, do games..take pictures and generally enjoy ourselves. We could send our pictures to the main branch as they keep a scrapbook of photos of the reunions...we could have a satellite reunion page. We could even send video for them to watch at the family Christmas. Hmmm...we'll see.

I am currently at my mother's house learning how to operate my serger. I bought this machine 2 1/2 years ago (yes, my face is pink with embarassment...first because I can't spell that darned word and second because it's taken me this long to get it out of the box!) Having babies really puts a kink in my time to learn anything new. But I'm here now and determined to get to know my serger...my sewing machine has given up the ghost so really this is a move of desperation. That and the fact that it's been sitting in its brown box in my kitchen on the second to last self of the bookcase calling softly to me...reminding me that I still didn't know how to use it! ENOUGH! I'll learn already! Is it a bad sign when inanimate objects call to you? I have very vocal bills as well. "Pay me....pay me...PAY ME NOW!" How does one ever skip a payment when hearing that? Although I have learned, through renting our condo, that not everyone has vocal bills...or perhaps there are those with 'bill deafness'. Anyway, back to the serger...it's a very basic machine, nothing fancy so it shouldn't be too hard. I've watched the power point presentation about how to thread, the different stitches, etc. Even then they advocate watching your thread carefully so that you don't have to re-thread you can simply tie your new thread to the old one and pull it through. It was threaded at the factory (whew!) and I will bow to their expertise and do as they suggest.

I thought I'd start reading another financial book...this one called "Automatic Millionaire". I've already read "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and "The Wealthy Barber". What does this tell you? That I'm a slow learner obviously because they all teach basically the same thing! Maybe this time it will sink in...though it's got lots of time. With Big E in school for the next 6 to 8 years we don't expect to have any real finances to manage for quite a while. In the meantime...I'll try to internalize the lessons taught in those books. It's tough...I'm not a numbers person. :) Maybe in 6 to 8 years I will be...miracles still happen!

Well, dear reader...I'm glad you stopped by. If you are one of my missing reunion cousins...I missed you...a lot. Please come next time...I'm not the only one who missed you. I know immediate family is important...but we, your extended family, feel you're important too and we like to know you are doing well and we missed your smiling face. Safe and happy traveling all.

I haven't given up on the previous post pictures and videos. We are currently at the beginning of our 6 week visit with family who live 3200 Km away from our home. We will stay 3 weeks with one side of the family, and 3 weeks with the other side. It's an interesting dance to try to remember we are husband/wife, mother/father first before son/daughter, gamer, etc. We are trying out the new Wii. I have to admit, after being pretty wary of it...it's a pretty great system. I have beaten dear Big E twice already in one morning. Flattened him in boxing and bowling. That may be one of its biggest draws for me...the winning!! Little E is enamored with the house cat, who is not as enamored with him! Little B is reveling in all the attention, so many people to babble at!

Just before we left on our vacation, my brother and his girlfriend came to visit us. Little E fell in love with his Jeep. We had a good, though short visit and look forward to seeing them again...although the ball is in our court to head to their part of the country. Fortunately they live in a lovely area, and I am eager to visit there anyway...the fact that they're there as well is icing on the cake!