Thursday, March 30, 2006

Bad Wife, Evil Wife

I just can't help myself with this post. Your comments just got me thinking and I thought I would share a little more of my entertaining husband. He is a good sport and does not stop by the blog very often so I don't think he will mind at all. So here are a few more entertaining vacation photos for you.



I may have already posted the next one, but I think it is good enough to view twice. Please note he has a drink in each hand while he is sitting down for a little rest.



I don't think I told you that Paul got himself a pretty yucky sinus infection while we were in Jamaica, he actually ended up seeing a doctor while we were there and put on some antibiotics. He was feeling better after that. This next picture is Paul flushing his sinuses with salt water, yummy. (I did this accidentally while vacationing as well, I got slapped upside the face with a wave, it was nasty).



This last one is my favorite. We were on a bus ride from resort to another, about a 15 minute ride the bus was packed and we were all separated. I held the camera above my head to take a picture of the packed bus. When I got home and downloaded the pictures I laughed so hard I cried when I saw this picture of Paul enjoying his vacation. Having a wonderful time isn't he?



Ah, the many reasons why I love him.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Party Planner



every good party starts with good planning. At the ripe old age of four PJ has already figured this out.



PJ feels a good party revolves around the table set up and the dress code. She spent an hour setting up this tea party. And then she set the dress code:

"Mom you need wear the dress you married daddy in."

Now PJ thinks I got married in my old ratty Barb Wire dress. (I put this photo in for you Angie) I asked PJ if she would like to get married in the same dress I did. She had a good look in my purple and pink ratty dress and said, "No thank you mommy, I will get married in what I have on now."

You may notice in this photo how much PJ loves lipstick, the other day during quiet time she painted both her hands and her face with it. When I say 'painted' I mean she literally used a paint brush. PJ no longer has any lipstick in her dress up things.



Daddy also had to wear what he got married in, one of Mommy's shawls and a tigger tie. Sebastian and Quentin had to dress up as well.



And a picture I will be blackmailing Quentin with someday.



Theresa and Wade know how to plan a party too, see what happens when they plan:



Meet Marcus. He is about 5 weeks old in this picture, isn't he sweet. I think it is so kind of Theresa and Wade to have a baby for me to snuggle.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Bananas


I have been feeling a bit Bananas lately so I have a banana picture for you. Jamaican bananas, bound to make anyone feel better.



I spent a few hours yesterday and at least two more hours today typing up a letter for a lawyer regarding a patient of mine. It is quite an involved case and the letter is already 4 pages long. It is making my brain hurt and I am going to step away from up and try to finish it up tomorrow. I wanted to get in the mail by the end of the week but it seems that is not going to happen. I made it to the conclusion but after that I need to proof for the first time. Then I like to step away from it from a day and go back and proof it one more time. I usually pass it on to our receptionist at that point and let her proof it and then off it goes into the mail on Monday. I will feel better when it is done.



Two more bananas.



And one Caribbean beech, that will make everyone feel better.

I think I will go knit something really easy.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Spring Break: Revisited

WHOOT! Blogger decided to upload some pictures for me today, so here is a Spring Break recap for you. Here is a picture of Paul's cousin Taneil (she is very pretty isn't she?) See that cute bundle of joy she is holding (she might not agree on the 'joy' part right now, he was a bit fussy while we were there) that is Logan, he is about 6 weeks old in this photo and I think he is very sweet.



A Close up for you: he is in a mama's milk induced coma in this photo and not looking very fussy at all. Paul's Grandma knit him the little cap. I have a tiny pair of socks on the needles for him myself, if Granny will keep the top end warm , I will keep the tootsies warm for him. I thought they would be fun and quick to knit and a great way to use up the ends of some sock yarn. I was right, I did one in an evening, I am sure the second one will go faster.



Here is a photo from Granny and Harv's balcony, I am looking down at the kids (no I did not spit!) The kids are off to feed the ducks and the geese with Grandpa Harvey.



Here is Taneil's hubby taking the kids and I out to feed apples to the horses. They have 4 horses there and Jeremy and his dad ride them up in the hills to go hunting. I think it is pretty neat that horses work for them. Jeremy's family owns an apple farm, how nice to be a horse living on an apple farm. Jeremy told us that after the harvest they let the horses out into the apple orchard and they eat what is left on the ground and chew on the grass in the orchard too.



Sebastian looks very brave in the above photo, but he got a little nervous when it came to letting the horse eat of his hand. So did I, they were very gentle, but my what big teeth they have! PJ came into the pasture with us, but she is not a big animal lover, she likes them if they leave her alone. She was hiding an apple in her coat pocket and the horses knew it was there, they kept trying to smell her and it made her very nervous. Quentin was the bravest one of all, he loves animals and they love him. He had the horses eating out of his palm:



They have four horses, only two I got photos of, maybe Jeremy could post a comment and remind me what their names are. They are large powerful healthy animals. I was surprised at their gentleness and curiosity, they seemed to enjoy smelling the kids. I think it would fun to spend more time around horses and see what they are about, they seem like gentle, playful souls to me. I did get a bit nervous when surrounded by all 4 of them, that's a lot of animal.



After all the hard work of feed ducks, geese and horses it was time to relax in the sun.



I drove home with kids Tuesday afternoon and was home in time to have dinner on the table for Paul. (Spoiled:)

Wednesday we were up early for dental appointments and running errands.

Thursday and Friday I took the kids to do crafts and book readings at Chapters. That was fun but it was hard to help three kids do crafts. Paul came with us on Thursday afternoon, so that helped a lot.

Saturday Paul was not feeling good (his stomach has had a rough year, he has had flu at least twice, food poisoning once and random ickyness, I hope he settles down soon and feels better) I took the kids to hockey and had a fun afternoon with them. Saturday night I won a couple of bucks playing poker at the the Linfields house. Sunday I did some knitting and some accounting.

That should bring you up to speed. I will try to get some yarn photos taken for you in a day or two. I need to take some pictures of completed projects so I can post those too.

Monday, March 20, 2006

Pre-View



I am catching up to myself and to my tired kids after a busy week with spring break. I was hoping to post a bunch of photos from our trip to Kelowna, but Blogger is not co-operating with me. It will only let me post one photo tonight, so think of this one as a pre-view. I will try to post more tomorrow afternoon.

This photo was taken from Jeremy and Taneil house. (Taniel is Paul's cousin on his dad's side, George's youngest sisters Daughter) They are a wonderful couple and just had a handsome baby boy, whose picture I will post for you tomorrow.

I have been doing some knitting I will show you sometime this week too. I finished PJ's pink socks and Deb's blue ones. I started a new pair as well. I hit two yarn stores in Kelowna and will show you the yarn I bought soon. Maybe you can help me decide what to do with it.

We had tons of fun with the kids tonight. PJ put on a wonderful tea party in her room after diner and we all sat down and played tea party together. She had some strict rules for her party and I hope she follows these rules for quite sometime:

Quentin after diner takes off his clothes and runs around the house, on one of his laps he cruises into PJ's room, where she is getting dressed for the tea party. Paul and I are in the kitchen doing dishes and we hear PJ say:

"Hey! There are no naked boys allowed at my tea party!!" I hope she still feels this way when she is 17!

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Spring Break vacuum

I am in Spring Break Land. I have not been posting because the time has just been getting away from me.

Paul patrolled all day on Sunday and then Monday morning after I got off work I took the kids to Kewlona to visit with gran and harvey. I stayed the night there and we drove back on Tuesday afternoon. Paul stayed home and worked.

I have some great pictures to show you of our adventure, but I have not even downloaded them yet.

Tuesday night I had a fire ceremony and went for a run. Today I was up early with the kids and had them off to dental appointments at 8:30 (their teeth are clean and healthy). I then had to take the van in to have the heater fixed (don't worry it was under warranty)

I was without a car for the whole day and spent the day playing with the kids. I went for a run when Paul got home from work and I have just been trying to keep the kids entertained and out of trouble.

I work tomorrow morning and then I am taking the kids for craft time and a book reading at Chapters in the afternoon. I hope to fit in some grocery shopping before we starve to death and I also hope to blog and post some pictures for you.

Enough rambling, I just wanted to catch everyone up quickly. I am feeling a bit pooped out right now (I wonder why???) and I think I am going to head off to bed. Well, if the truth be known I am in bed as I write this, trying to keep my eyes open. Good Night!!!

Saturday, March 11, 2006

My Little Angel

I had a post ready to send, well all but the proof reading was done. And my little angel, Quentin played with my computer while I was helping PJ. He managed to delete my post. I decided to post these incriminating pictures of a 2 1/2 year old*in*drag* to get him back.




It is a good thing he is so darn cute.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Not So Tropical

I woke up this morning to this:



And this:



And this:



By mid-afternoon it had clouded over and looked more like this:



We had no snow up here until sometime last night. It was a beautiful morning, but the afternoon clouded right over and cooled off a bit. I think it is about -3C right now.

So what do you do with 4 kids on a day like today? You put on your pretty clothes and you dance.





And when you are done dancing you put a hanger on your head:



And you read a book:



I played with kids today and they made me laugh my butt off. They sure are fun to hang out with, sadly the hanger did not fit on my head.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Lives a Beach



And here's mine. Okay maybe not my life, but a picture of it in time. A picture I tried my best to hold in my mind today as it blew snow for much of the day here in Kamloops.

I am trying to get back into the swing of things as far as my running goes. This winter I have been more inconsistent than I have been in several years. Running one day one week and 3 or 4 the next. I am getting back on my program as of today.

I signed up for a 100K relay race with a team of runner's. I will run one or two legs of the race. I have a couple of months to train for it. There are a couple of 10K's coming up soon, race season starts in the next month or so. I will sign up for a couple of those and pick a couple of 1/2 marathons to run. That should get me back at it again.

Time for bed. Goodnight!

Monday, March 06, 2006

Random Vacation Photos



It's just the beginning, I plan to share tropical pictures with you randomly for the next two years. I am hoping it will help my vacation last that long! The above picture is Paul enjoying his first morning in Jamaica. I got up early and went for a run, when I made it back to our resort I found Paul relaxing. There were places to sit and relax all over the resort. You could sit on a swing, recline in a hammock, or even find beds that are hidden in the bushes to 'nap' on.



The resort was pretty big, it was 1/2 a mile from the Giggle Queens door to mine. The Linfields had a beautiful room with a private pool (shared with 4 other rooms). Their room was cheaper than ours by a whooping $10 a night and there room was much nicer than ours was. They had a bedroom, living room, a kitchen and a balcony they could sit out on. They even had a big screen TV!

Our room was closer to the beach and that is why it was $10 more a night, we had a big room, but no living room and no kitchen, a small balcony that I did spend some time on. It was great that we were in different areas of the resort, we spent time exploring the place and split our time between the beach our room was close to and this beautiful pool that the Linfield's room was near. The swim up bar you can see in the above picture was one of our favorites.



I did mention that this post would be random didn't I? The above picture was taken at our first breakfast buffet. There were new carvings every day, these are done on watermelon, but we saw some out of squash, carrots, bell peppers, even one made out wax. The food was very good, you could eat at 2 different buffets, or there were many restaurants you could also chose from on the resort. We had some amazing meals and only one that was bad, don't eat sushi in Jamaica. It was the worst sushi I have ever had, but we thought it was pretty good that we only are one meal we were not happy with. You could eat 24 hours a day there and the food was pretty darn good.



One of my favorite pictures of the Linfields, this one is taken at the big pool pictured above.



One of Paul and I on the beach. Husband in one hand, a drink in the other...It was a good trip!

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Back to Reality

Actually, I have decided I am not coming back to reality. I am just going to roll back the clock for all of you and for myself. I am going to pretend like I am still in Jamaica, I am going to pretend like I had internet access there and I am going to blog all about our trip for the next week.

Are you ready?? Grab a rum, sit back and relax. The name of the game in Jamaica is relax. The answer to every question, every request is no problem mon. I am hoping to ride the relaxed energy for months, maybe even 2 years, that's when I would like try the all inclusive thing again and recharge my batteries for another 2 years. No problem.

Filet and the Giggle Queen came by the house to pick us up on Friday around noon. We were all packed and ready to go. Grandma Judy was off to get her sister at the airport and Marianna was in charge of the kids while we were headed out the door.

We were loading the bags in the truck for the ride to Calgary and the phone rings. I had a funny feeling in my stomach and I said to Paul, "You need to go answer that." He did not want to, but he did. It was his mom on the phone...she had just been rearended in the van on the way to the airport! She was okay and the van was not badly damaged. Off to a great start!

We had a wonderfully uneventful ride to Calgary from there, stopping once at a pub for snacks and beer. The roads were clear and the drive through the Rockies was beautiful.



The temperature dropped as low as -19C but that just made it all the better, we had no worries, we would be boarding a plane in the morning and thawing out in Jamaica by dinner time.



We arrived in Calgary and checked into our hotel around 11:00 Friday night. Saturday morning we were up bright and early to catch the plane.

It was a long travel day with the flight being delayed and we were late getting into montego Bay. Off the plane and through immigration we were greeted by our Air Canada vacation representative who sent us into the Sandals lounge right there at the airport where we could pour our own Red Stripe beer right from the tap. Our bags were immediately taken care of and we did not even see them again until they were delivered to our room at the resort.



The Bus Ride:
Once our bus was ready to hit the road (it was still a 2 hour ride to Ocho Rios) the driver turned to us and gave us the rules of the road:

In Jamaica we drive on the left side of the road, our highways are very narrow and we often pass oncoming traffic with only 6 inches to spare, my name is not Oh Jesus, or Oh Shit, don't scream unless you hear me scream first. I know you are hungry and tired, no problem, grab a few beer for the ride.

Jamaican highways are little more that dirt roads, they are narrow with ruts in them you could, well you could lose a bus in. As a matter of fact, our bus was lost into one of these ruts.

We were bouncing along the 'highway' doing 65mph and there is a loud bang and wobble in the ride, I thought we had blown a tire, but it was not quite that simple:



Say goodbye to the front axle on the this bus. No problem they would have a new bus sent out as soon as they could. Did I say bus? I am sorry, I meant pimp mobile. Oh yeah baby, red curtains, mood lighting, sound system, and wonderful musty odor, sweet.



The curtains, they were there so you could not see the road, this was the ride of my life. I couldn't watch! Filet and Paul look thrilled, I think they ran out of beer.

We did safely make it to the resort and it was an entertaining beginning to a great trip.