Category: Friends

Water Rats

We went into White Rock on Wednesday to see some friends of ours, and to have fish ‘n chips and to visit down at the beach.

They have 4 girls, and we have 4 kids so between the two families that is…..YUP…..8 kids. Wow, we really took that whole “Be Fruitful and Multiply” thing to heart, eh?

Here, you can see 5 of the kids, and the baby’s head….the two older girls were sitting at their OWN table AWAY from the LITTLE KIDS!

We went to a cute little resaurant – Moby Dick’s – with, obviously, a whale/sea theme, and it was pretty cute, except that when we sat down, we were overwhelmed by the BRUTAL stench of the toilets. Now, I don’t like to cause a scene, but I was willing to get up and leave even though we were already seated and ordering drinks because IT. WAS. SO. BAD!

We did end up asking if we could go out to the patio and when we got out there – the patio was just basicallly big enough for the 12 of us, and so it was awesome private dining.

The food was delicious – going down – but after about half an hour felt like CRAP in my stomach. We don’t eat a lot of fried food, and so this is a BRUTAL amount of grease to subject out systems too. But, like I said…..DELICIOUS going down…

We sat around and ate and talked and ate and talked some more until they very blatently started hurying us along and Honestly, we had JUST finished our meal and it wasn’t like the inside of the restaurant was full, so I’m not sure what the deal was.

Regardless, it was so nice to sit and chat with our good friends. We’ve missed them tons. These are the type of friends that are “life-long friends” I’ve been friends with Lala for our ENTIRE lives, and we’ve known the men since we were 14/15/16 years old. We have the kind of friendship that we “just love”. If we’re close, then we get together. If we’re not so close, then we call or e-mail….or not! There is no pressure, there are no hurt feelings…and even if it’s been a while since we’ve talked, it always just falls right back into that comfortable talk about anything kinda space. No Judgements or pressure – just friendship, acceptance and love….it’s not very often – if ever – that you will find yoursaelf with friends like these, and I am so thankful and grateful to have you guys in our lives. You mean more to us than you could possibly know and so much more than I could ever explain in words.

After dinner we headed out to the beach, and even though it was a grey and overcast day, the kids were DESPERATE to play on the beach, and once down on the beach, the water was just too enticing, and so they had to wade, and well…..once they were in wading…..you just have to swim, and SWIM THEY DID.

We could hear them screaming and splashing around in the freezing cold ocean water, but they were just having so much fun together. I LOVE White Rock Beach because it jsut spreads on and on and on and on and the kids can go WAY out and you can still see them, and it’s shallow for them to be able to play in, and SOOOOO SANDY!

They have a few more days down here on the Coast, and then they are headed back up North, and I’ll miss them, BUT….I’ll see them soon, and it will be as if we were never apart.

And I’ve Finally Arrived……

Wow, that was the longest plane ride to Prince George EVER!  A whole week…..MAN!  I’m really looking forward to posting every day about all the fun times that we will have and I’ll be sure to just LOAD each and every post with TONS of pictures…….

Actually, I’m home!

Turns out, Girlfriend……doesn’t have Wireless access and so I connected a grand total of 3 times and pretty much only to check my e-mail.

We had SO MUCH FUN.  We talked and laughed and cried and talked some more and laughed some more and did laundry and cleaing and ate and herded kids and laughed more, and it was a most wonderful, wonderful week.

I still have to download and go through my camera and think about what else I can say about this past week……

But, for right now, the kids and Jon and I are having some family time as a WHOLE!  Nothings more important than that, and so I’ll talk to you maybe tomorrow if I’m able to wake up……

I’m a teeny, tiny bit tired.  ‘Siah was a complete and utter mess during the night…..nothing was wrong, but he was just extremely restless and wouldn’t actually fall “hard” asleep, and it all culminated in last nights most amazing…..wake up but not really awake-ness from 12:30am until 2:30am and then finally falling asleep but waking again at 4:30am, and being half awake until 5:30am, and then I got up at 6am to get packed and ready for the day……..so, I think I’ll be going to sleep when the kids do tonight, and Jon gets to deal with ‘Siah tonight. YAH!!!!!

Leeeeeeeeeeaaaaaving……on a jet plane….

….except I do know when I’ll be back again.

I’m headed up to Prince George to hang out with my friend’s dog…..well, and her chickens…..are they even still alive, darling?

 She is my dearest and longest friend and we’re more like family than friends.  Well, her darling husband is down here working very close to where I live….when opportunity knocks you gotta answer…..and she is back at home working a full time job (in a stressful working environment) with 5, yes you read that right FIVE children.  She has her 4 girls and one 10 year old boy (exchange student), and well, she never complained to me, but something in one of her recent e-mails to me had me wanting to go and love on her a little, and if I’ve worked this out right – I belive that her hubbie is headed back up there to see her in the days just after I leave, and how cool would that be for him to come home and for her to not be stressed out.

I can’t imagine how she’s coping with everything. 

So, I leave tomorrow and I’m taking the two boys with me.  Yup, me and JJ and ‘Siah are headed out on a plane….I got wicked cheap seats (YAH Westjet ROCKS!) and we’re gone for a week, but dont you be worrying none.  I’m hoping and aiming to post every day that I’m gone. ‘Cause I gotta blather on about Jeremy’s first plane ride (did I mention how excited he is to be going on a plane – he came into the baby’s room this morning where I was standing in my bra and underwear (I know you needed that detail….wait, you’ll understand in a minute) and changing the baby’s diaper, and he walks up to me and hugs me so tight and says in a whisper “Only one more sleep, Mom.  Only one more sleep, and then she snuggled in even closer and whispered again…..mmmmm you’re so warm…)  Ahhhhhhhhh, he’s so sweet…..

Okay, and now that I’ve given you all way too  much of a mental picture of me this morning, shall we talk about sweet hot monkey loving….no…..you’re not really into that right now???….I’m not either, but I’m really trying to distract you…is it working?

Moving on…..It’s…ummmmm…..10pm here, and I’m not packed AT ALL, and I’m feeling a little bit panicky about it, but we’re leaving our house at 11am tomorrow, and i figure that while I’m being all spontaneous I might as well just go full throttle and just throw some stuff in a bag and hope for the best when I get there. (Me planning a plane trip with two kids with one weeks notice is terrible spontaneous, if you don’t know that about me, then you dont’ know me at all…..Typically I’d plan for 3 or more months for something like this…so this is ALL NEW TERRITORY for me.)

And so in the spirit of honesty, NO, I’m not packed, but I’ve been thinking about stuff that I need to take and while that’s not exactly the same as doing it, It’s not quite the same as flying by the seat of my pants……but, i really should get busy, ’cause speaking of monkeys…..Jon’s calling me.

Talk to you next from the wild snowy wasteland of Prince George.

Reflecting

Great Title, eh? 

Sounds like this should be a great inspiring post, full of all the wonders of 2007.  Maybe it might include some of the struggles and hardships that have been overcome or worked through…….NOPE!

I’m justnot feeling that deep this morning.

The kids are GONE! back in school, and my house is quiet, and except for the 4am fight that Jon and I had last night….all is well in my world.

I just realized that all I mention is when we fight….and well, it’s not as bad as it sounds. 

Please realize that we have a 5 month old who is not sleeping through the night, yet; so we are both over tired and on edge.  The fight last night was a stupid one.  Jon had got up to try to get the baby back to sleep (’cause if he smells me then he wants to nurse, and he really doesn’t need the middle of the night feeds anymore, so if he can learn to sleep through, then we’ll all be happier).  So, I was saying….Jon had gotten up at 3am to put the baby back to sleep, and by 4:15am – I couldn’t handle it any more. Jon was agitated, the baby was agitated, and I wasn’t sleeping anyway and I was agitated.  I just figured that an hour and 15 minutes was a good shot, and I’d nurse the baby and be done with it.  I know that’s just teaching him to wait it out, but with no one sleeping in our house, today and tonight should be fun times…wanna come over?

Anyway, Jon was annoyed and the Baby was crying and we were all tired, and some nasty things were said, and it was not a good time.  For some reason, after we had our little fight, the baby went to sleep and slept until almost 7am.

Middle of the night is not a good time to try and work anything out, so we both went to sleep, and now we still have to deal with the rubble of last night.  Not fun!

Moving on, ’cause that had nothing to do with what I originally planned to write out……ha ha HA HA HA!  That makes it sound like I had a plan when I sat down here in front of my computer.  There was no plan.  Which is why this ends up rambling……that’s something I want to stop doing.  I’m planning to have a plan…..see how tired I am….

Any way, I’ll just stop there and continue on down here.

We had a great Christmas holiday time, and you can check out the pics if you so desire.

Our Christmas Eve…….we found out that Taco Time is pretty simple and basic as ingredients if you are looking for a fast food.  Although the hard shells are corn, and some need to stay away from corn….but we were thrilled to find something that had no wheat, dairy or eggs in them….YAH!….oh, we skipped the cheese, and sour cream……that’s how they were “okay”.

I love this shot of me and ‘Siah……not cause it’s an okay shot of me, but mostly ’cause EVERY TIME he sees it, he stops whatever he is doing and smiles HUGE.

I also love this one of the 4 kids…….

…..to go to any of the “sets” just click on the pics, and it’ll take you there.

Then we had Christms morning with just the 6 of us, and it was so amazing. We usually have those mini cereal boxes, but we just bought 2 sugar cereals that we knew had no dairy in them…..but had WAY too much sugar in them.  The kids did pretty good considering they’ve been off sugar for a while now.

The presents part of Christmas was fun, as always.  My parents went overboard, and totally blessed the kids with stuff that they actually needed, and maybe a few things that they didn’t need.  I think the the highlight of Jeremy’s Christmas, though, was the stacking cups that he got.

He’s played those things non-stop since he got them…..everybody’s played those things non-stop since we got them.  I’ll post a video or two hopefully tomorrow.  It’s pretty funny to see grown men challenging each other over “those stupid cups”….even funnier to show them the links to the “pros” and to watch how fast they really can stack those things.  

Jon’s parents came over for the rest of the day.  We had so much fun playing games and eating dinner and opening presents and just spending some quiet time with each other.  It was a very nice Christmas with them.  But it was a little different ’cause ha;f of our fmaily is on the other side of the world…..missed you guys!

Then, on Boxing Day…..are you tired yet?  I know I was, and we’re not even done yet?…….my family got together at my sister’s house to celebrate Christmas.  We had another good time.  The kids all got the play together and the adults all got to play together, and we ate some good food, and well….it was just a lot of fun.  Too bad Xani couldn’t keep her eyes open…I guess the day just wiped her right out.

THEN………the next day, Jon and I headed back to Debbie and Denver’s house to meet up with these guys.  We had such a fun time.  We showed up around 6pm, and then we finally looked at the time, and it was midnight…..it’s true that time flies when you’re having fun.  I just wish they didn’t live so far away. 

We had the 28th off and on the 29th we headed to another friends house for a evening of fellowship, fun and FONDUE!  It was a blast, and there were so many of my old friends that I hadn’t seen in a while, BUT……I stupidly forgot my camera.  Oh well! 

The 30th was Jon’s birthday, and we had a big lunch time breakfast for him, and then we did NOTHING on the 31st, and then we had…….you’ll have to check back tomorrow to check out what we did on NEW YEARS DAY!  Mean, aren’t I?

Anyway,  I don’t really have any NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS, but if I did….and I don’t……I’d be working towards being 175 pounds…..that’s my first goal…I seem to be sitting right now between 178 and 181lbs. and I’d like to drop a few more instead of just sitting here stagnant.

AND……… I want to start posting more…..like every other day, for sure, I hope, I’d like or whatever……..

How was your holiday’s?

Good Friends, Good Food, Good Fun!

We don’t usually get a lot of opportunity to just get out with other adults.

A family of four requires an alignment of the stars and  cosmic balance to get a night out with out the kids, but with a babyistter, and to just get together with great friends without it costing an arm and a leg or two.

My sister invited 3 other couples to her house, and Jon and I lucked out and our names were chosen as the 3rd and final couple to grace their house and presence.

We all brought different parts of the dinner, and it was DELICIOUS!  I made Tabbouleh with quinoa instead of bulgar so me and my wheat free diet could be accomodated.  It was delicious, but the 3 hours of washing and chopping the 1 cup of fresh mint, 4 cups of fresh parsley, 1/4 inch pieces of cucumber and tomatoe……..let’s just say it wasn’t that delicious.  I don’t know if I’ll be making it again.  It was a freak load of work.

We all showed up, Kevin and Jennifer & Kenny and Tracy and Roxy and Jon and I and ‘Siah and Debbie and Denver of course ’cause it was their house.

We talked and ate and talked and ate….hmmmmm..seems I talk a lot about eating, eh?

It was so much fun to just hang out and not be dealing with the older three kids, and ‘Siah and Roxy were so cute.  they are only a month apart in age, and Honestly, I don’t know anyone else – close to me in actual kilometers – who has a little one close to Siah’s age, so it was nice to see another little baby.

We had some great conversation, and Debbie and Denver have an awesome house…when I grow up I want to be just like them…

ps. click on any of the pics to see the whole set.