Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Showing posts with label Family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Family. Show all posts
Tuesday, 25 December 2012
Monday, 24 December 2012
Christmas Lights and Fun
Just over a week ago we went with Nathan`s family (minus his sister and her family from out west) to Boston Pizza for supper and then to Christmas at the Taylor`s and Canad Inn`s Winter Wonderland.
A description of Christmas at the Taylor`s.....
The trip takes about 6 minutes and can accommodate up to 700 people per night. Tickets can be purchased at the station, where you can also warm up and enjoy hot chocolate. Visitors must walk in from Roblin Blvd or from the 1 hour parking area in order to purchase train tickets. Those walking in will enjoy a 1000 foot lighted pathway in the bush, which will not be accessible to those who drive in. You can also enjoy a longer path of about 2000 feet that takes you deeper in the forest. This trail will take you past the new Gingerbread Village that can only be seen from this trail or by riding the train on the old line. This trail has been improved this year and has more lighting along its length. It is a natural trail so watch for roots and trees, etc.
It was a fairly nice evening when we went but we got there well after 6:30 (when it opens) and ended up having to wait almost an hour for the train ride. We decided it was worth it (considering it wasn`t too cold!) but if we did it again we would make sure to come for exactly 6:30 so we wouldn`t have to wait as long. The tickets were $2 per person or $20 for 12 people I think.
Nativity scene on display while waiting in line for the train.
Walking the light-lit paths.
After that we headed to Canad Inn`s Winter Wonderland which is a drive through light display. The light displays are quite amazing, but for the price ($15 per vehicle) it is a little disappointing - there should be more displays. But at least you stay warm!
Next year we`d like to do Christmas at the Taylor`s again, but we`d likely skip the Winter Wonderland and rather head to Candy Cane Lane, Polar Bear Lane, etc in Lindenwoods for some beautiful lights viewing in a warm vehicle.
Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Code Black!
Who knew a trip to Walmart while on vacation would result in such an exciting story to tell?!
We went down south to the City for a mini family vacation this week. We like to go during the week because the cross border traffic is significantly lower which means less busy shopping and less waiting at restaurants - especially since we're a table of 6. Works out nicely that hotels are cheaper during the week than they are on the weekends too. And the significantly shorter border wait is another huge plus. Thankfully, Nathan's job (self-employed home builder) allows us to go during the week.
Anyway, it had been one of those fairly hot, muggy days that just feels like a storm's a comin'. We were finishing up our shopping for the day at Walmart and had just finished putting all our purchases in the cart and were heading for the till when we heard an announcement over the speaker system which said something like this....
"Attention all customers and staff. This is a Code Black. All customers and staff please proceed to the electronics department at the back of the store."
We had no idea what a Code Black was, but considering a major gust of wind had just blown down some displays, we had a fairly good guess.
At first the girls weren't too nervous. They were wondering what was going on, but seemed relatively unconcerned.
When we got to the electronics department the staff directed us to stand in the area between two pillars that were grey in colour as it was the most structural sound part of the store area. We had only been there a minute or two when suddently the entire store was plunged into pitch darkness as the power went out. I immediately reached out to the girls near me (Jacob was in the front of the cart and Olivia was sitting in the rear section of the cart) and said "It's ok, it's ok". Thankfully the blackness only lasted momentarily as the emergency power source kicked on the emergency lighting. It was nothing like the lit up store we had been in only moments before, but at least we could see.
But now the girls were getting a bit nervous. A worker stopped by (I'm assuming because we had kids) to explain to us a bit more what was happening. I think it may have been a bit better for the girls if we hadn't received the extra information - ignorance is bliss and all that. She said that a Code Black was a severe weather situation and that a tornado had touched down somewhere close by but that's all they knew. They had no idea how long the Code Black would last but for now we just had to wait it out.
Meanwhile, practically every person there had their cell phones out - calling people, texting, tweeting and Facebooking. Some were crying and hugging each other, but most people seemed to be relatively calm.
A few minutes later they decided to direct us all to leave our filled shopping carts behind and head to the staff break rooms at the rear of the building. A few people refused to go back there - they felt is was more unsafe due to the proximity of the outdoor walls. But we figured that the management staff knew where the safest area was and we just had to trust them, though I would've preferred a basement shelter!
I found it disconcerting because we couldn't see what was going on outside. We had no idea of knowing how serious the situation was. I instant messaged my best friend, gave her a quick update of the situation and asked her to pray, especially since the kids were starting to get a bit upset.
As they were herding us to the back staff rooms, our oldest started to become very distressed, at one point she was leaning over and almost hyperventilating, shaking and crying in fear. We did our best to reassure her that these were just extra safe precautions they were taking to be on the safe side, and that they had to go overboard to make sure everybody was ok (similar things I was saying to myself in order to keep my own fear to a minimum and remain calm for the girls' sake). However, reason does not usually work well once fear has taken hold that much, so I just prayed for her quickly and quietly (but out loud so she could hear me) while we were heading back to the rooms.
We found a corner of the room and a couple of the kids sat on the floor while we waited. I prayed for Emma again and then dug in my purse for my phone to let Olivia play a game to keep her distracted - hey, whatever works right? A few minutes later an employee came in and announced that the weather had calmed enough that people could leave it they wanted to, though we were welcome to stay a bit longer till it calmed down more. At this Emma had a huge grin on her face - she told me that she had just prayed for God to give her a sign if we were going to be ok, and right then the employee came in and said the weather had calmed, so now she knew we were going to be ok. It was so sweet. She wanted to wait longer before leaving so I sat down in a chair vacated by a man who had left immediately and held Olivia who was easily calmed and then we waited some more. Fairly soon, Nathan decided to take Jacob for a walk around the store because he was getting restless. Sophia was now showing signs of some distress so I moved Olivia to the floor to continue playing with my phone and held Sophia on my lap which calmed her down easily. After a few more minutes had passed, the employee returned to let us know the weather was ok and we could leave.
Jacob was completely unaffected by the entire thing. He tried to reassure the girls a few times "There's nothing to be scared, everything's ok". It was cute.
Unfortunately the power in the store was not back on, and even after it came on it would take an hour for them to have the tills up and running again. So, we left our cart of items behind and headed to Target! ;)
While we were there Emma started to feel sick. I'm not sure if she had had an adrenaline rush and this was the afteraffects of it, or if that's just normal after a stress-filled fear incident. So we quickly headed back to the hotel where she felt safe and could lie down. After more praying she was able to calm down and go to sleep - though she didn't want to eat the ice cream blizzards Nathan had picked up.
She was able to have a sound sleep, but the next day she had another episode of shaking, crying and feeling sick and I prayed over her again and also reasoned things out with her. We had come down on these holidays multiple times and this was the first time anything like this had ever happened, and that the very next day was probably the least likely day for it to happn again, blah, blah, blah. I told her that God was in control, that God was good, that God loved us, that God was with us no matter what happened and that we could trust Him. (I didn't tell her that that didn't mean we would for sure be safe. There's a time and a place for deep theological discussions, but this was not one of them!) She didn't eat a whole lot at lunch after that either, but since then she seems to have been ok.
We are very thankful for our physical safety and continue to pray that the kids (and Emma in particular) will not have fear related episodes related to storms in the future.
Who knew a trip to Walmart would turn out to be so eventful?
We went down south to the City for a mini family vacation this week. We like to go during the week because the cross border traffic is significantly lower which means less busy shopping and less waiting at restaurants - especially since we're a table of 6. Works out nicely that hotels are cheaper during the week than they are on the weekends too. And the significantly shorter border wait is another huge plus. Thankfully, Nathan's job (self-employed home builder) allows us to go during the week.
Anyway, it had been one of those fairly hot, muggy days that just feels like a storm's a comin'. We were finishing up our shopping for the day at Walmart and had just finished putting all our purchases in the cart and were heading for the till when we heard an announcement over the speaker system which said something like this....
"Attention all customers and staff. This is a Code Black. All customers and staff please proceed to the electronics department at the back of the store."
We had no idea what a Code Black was, but considering a major gust of wind had just blown down some displays, we had a fairly good guess.
At first the girls weren't too nervous. They were wondering what was going on, but seemed relatively unconcerned.
When we got to the electronics department the staff directed us to stand in the area between two pillars that were grey in colour as it was the most structural sound part of the store area. We had only been there a minute or two when suddently the entire store was plunged into pitch darkness as the power went out. I immediately reached out to the girls near me (Jacob was in the front of the cart and Olivia was sitting in the rear section of the cart) and said "It's ok, it's ok". Thankfully the blackness only lasted momentarily as the emergency power source kicked on the emergency lighting. It was nothing like the lit up store we had been in only moments before, but at least we could see.
But now the girls were getting a bit nervous. A worker stopped by (I'm assuming because we had kids) to explain to us a bit more what was happening. I think it may have been a bit better for the girls if we hadn't received the extra information - ignorance is bliss and all that. She said that a Code Black was a severe weather situation and that a tornado had touched down somewhere close by but that's all they knew. They had no idea how long the Code Black would last but for now we just had to wait it out.
Meanwhile, practically every person there had their cell phones out - calling people, texting, tweeting and Facebooking. Some were crying and hugging each other, but most people seemed to be relatively calm.
A few minutes later they decided to direct us all to leave our filled shopping carts behind and head to the staff break rooms at the rear of the building. A few people refused to go back there - they felt is was more unsafe due to the proximity of the outdoor walls. But we figured that the management staff knew where the safest area was and we just had to trust them, though I would've preferred a basement shelter!
I found it disconcerting because we couldn't see what was going on outside. We had no idea of knowing how serious the situation was. I instant messaged my best friend, gave her a quick update of the situation and asked her to pray, especially since the kids were starting to get a bit upset.
As they were herding us to the back staff rooms, our oldest started to become very distressed, at one point she was leaning over and almost hyperventilating, shaking and crying in fear. We did our best to reassure her that these were just extra safe precautions they were taking to be on the safe side, and that they had to go overboard to make sure everybody was ok (similar things I was saying to myself in order to keep my own fear to a minimum and remain calm for the girls' sake). However, reason does not usually work well once fear has taken hold that much, so I just prayed for her quickly and quietly (but out loud so she could hear me) while we were heading back to the rooms.
We found a corner of the room and a couple of the kids sat on the floor while we waited. I prayed for Emma again and then dug in my purse for my phone to let Olivia play a game to keep her distracted - hey, whatever works right? A few minutes later an employee came in and announced that the weather had calmed enough that people could leave it they wanted to, though we were welcome to stay a bit longer till it calmed down more. At this Emma had a huge grin on her face - she told me that she had just prayed for God to give her a sign if we were going to be ok, and right then the employee came in and said the weather had calmed, so now she knew we were going to be ok. It was so sweet. She wanted to wait longer before leaving so I sat down in a chair vacated by a man who had left immediately and held Olivia who was easily calmed and then we waited some more. Fairly soon, Nathan decided to take Jacob for a walk around the store because he was getting restless. Sophia was now showing signs of some distress so I moved Olivia to the floor to continue playing with my phone and held Sophia on my lap which calmed her down easily. After a few more minutes had passed, the employee returned to let us know the weather was ok and we could leave.
Jacob was completely unaffected by the entire thing. He tried to reassure the girls a few times "There's nothing to be scared, everything's ok". It was cute.
Unfortunately the power in the store was not back on, and even after it came on it would take an hour for them to have the tills up and running again. So, we left our cart of items behind and headed to Target! ;)
While we were there Emma started to feel sick. I'm not sure if she had had an adrenaline rush and this was the afteraffects of it, or if that's just normal after a stress-filled fear incident. So we quickly headed back to the hotel where she felt safe and could lie down. After more praying she was able to calm down and go to sleep - though she didn't want to eat the ice cream blizzards Nathan had picked up.
She was able to have a sound sleep, but the next day she had another episode of shaking, crying and feeling sick and I prayed over her again and also reasoned things out with her. We had come down on these holidays multiple times and this was the first time anything like this had ever happened, and that the very next day was probably the least likely day for it to happn again, blah, blah, blah. I told her that God was in control, that God was good, that God loved us, that God was with us no matter what happened and that we could trust Him. (I didn't tell her that that didn't mean we would for sure be safe. There's a time and a place for deep theological discussions, but this was not one of them!) She didn't eat a whole lot at lunch after that either, but since then she seems to have been ok.
We are very thankful for our physical safety and continue to pray that the kids (and Emma in particular) will not have fear related episodes related to storms in the future.
Who knew a trip to Walmart would turn out to be so eventful?
Wednesday, 23 February 2011
A trip to be remembered
OK, for this story you're going to need to know some names and hopefully you can keep all the characters straight!
Hopefully our family you know already - Nathan & Tammy, Emma (9), Sophia (7), Olivia (5) & Jacob (3)
Nathan is the oldest and his parents are Edmer & Betty.
His younger sister lives in Alberta - Deena & Chris, Colter (5), Baret (3) & Hayden (1)
His youngest sister lives in a town close to us - Linsay & Shaun, Taylor (2)
First, a little background. Deena & Chris met and married in Alberta (yes, atbible bridal college). After a couple years they moved back here where Colter was born. I think they were pregnant with Baret when they moved back to Alberta. When they had been dating and newly married, Nathan and I went out to visit them at least once a year, sometimes twice. However, after they moved back, we told them in no uncertain terms that we were never driving all the way out there to visit them - at least not with the horrible passengers we'd managed to acquire in the meantime.
Never say never right?!
Mom & Dad, Shaun & Linsay have gone out to visit them before, and we've always steadfastly maintained our position, despite the wailings and pleadings of our offspring. I'm not sure what made this year different, but we gradually began to consider it. We finally consented to going out this Christmas, with numerous dire warnings to our children that their behaviour during the drive would be the deciding factor on if there were ever to be a repeat of this trip.
Turns out, the kids did fanTASTic on the drive - WAY better than expected.
Turns out that wasn't the problem. But there were problems, oh yes, there were problems.
We planned to drive caravan style. Mom & Dad would drive with Shaun & Linsay and we would lead the pack. We would come "pick them up" bright and early at 5am on the Wednesday after Christmas and book it out West.
*Note - people who do not like to read about other people getting sick, consider yourself warned.
At 4:45am we got a phone call. Linsay had been throwing up all night and they weren't sure what they were going to do. After some discussion it was decided that Nathan's parents would take all their luggage out of Shaun & Lin's vehicle and pack up their own car and head out with us. Shaun & Linsay would follow when they could, hopefully leaving at noon.
So, off we went. Now, I'm a bit of a hypochondriac, especially when it comes to stomach ailments, so by the time we got to Brandon where we stopped for breakfast, I was not feeling so hot. Things appeared to be going in the wrong direction during two bathroom breaks at the restaurant (Tim Horton's of course!), but I convinced myself it was all in my head and we were going to keep going. Worse case scenario, we'd stop in Regina if we had to.
Thankfully, it was just my hypochondria combined with lack of sleep. I napped between Brandon and Regina and every time I woke up I felt a bit better. Whew - bullet dodged. For now.
We filled up gas in Regina, stopped for lunch (Tim's again!) in Moose Jaw and kept on chugging. We stopped in Medicine Hat to fill up again and let the kids run off some steam at the local McDonald's which thankfully had an awesome play place (pictured left). Another 2 short hours (that seemed rather long!) and we were there! We enjoyed a homemade pizza supper and found out that it had been a good thing Shaun & Linsay had not started out with us, because around noon Shaun got sick and Taylor, who had been sick two days previous, got a bit sick again. They were all doing somewhat better by the evening, so they decided they would go to bed real early and try to be on the road by 4am the next morning (Thursday) to get to Alberta in time for our scheduled Christmas dinner (wrenikje and farmer sausage - woohoo!).
Thankfully Shaun, Linsay & Taylor made it safe and sound (and not sick!) and we all had a wonderful Christmas dinner that Thursday, followed by the "program", gifts and we all vacationed happily ever after. Ok, not quite.
Mom & Dad slept in the guest room downstairs. Nathan and I slept in Colter & Baret's room (their bottom bunk is a double) with Jacob on the floor in our room. Shaun & Linsay slept in Hayden's room on a double mattress with Taylor in Hayden's crib. Hayden slept in a play pen in Chris & Deena's room. All the other kids were set up downstairs by the tv for a big cousin sleepover.
During the day Hayden had had some diarrhea, but we chalked it up to teething. Might have been wrong about that one. No sooner had we started getting the kids ready for bed that night then both Colter & Baret started throwing up (they had previously had one episode of "d" as well). Chris & Deena spent the next several hours playing Mexican Train with us, while taking breaks every 15 minutes or so to deal with one or two puking children whose beds had been moved up to the living room, while I stuck my fingers in my ears and tried to convince myself that everything would be fine.
Now, obviously Colter & Baret did not get this from Shaun & Linsay cause they had only been there for a couple hours. So, we had both the Manitoba and the Alberta germs going around full force - we never had a fighting chance.
About every 12 hrs or so, we went down like dominoes.
We had originally been planning to go to Brooks the next day (Friday) and swim at their amazing leisure center, but since it was an hour away, we decided it was too big of a risk. Good thing too because Emma started around noon - not as bad as the boys, only about 5 episodes. We kept all the healthy people playing outside as much as we could - very thankful for the awesome natural toboggan slide courtesy of Chris & Deena's amazing front yard (advantage of living way out in the boonies in hill country). Deena was not feeling fabulous and had diarrhea off and on all day, and yet still managed to be an amazing hostess - in fact, she was a fantastic hostess throughout this whole ordeal, can't imagine anyone doing a better job! I lost track of how many times she disinfected bathrooms (thankfully they had 3 of them!) that week.
Just before bedtime Olivia threw up, and let's just say no one will feel like eating cherry ice cream again any time soon. This was the first time in about 3 years that she had thrown up, so I knew she'd have no idea what was coming. We put her and Emma to bed in the living room and were expecting to be interrupted from Mexican Train numerous times to help Olivia, like Deena & Chris had been the night before. But amazingly, Olivia only had the one incident!
I got very little sleep that night. Every cough or sound Jacob made I thought he was about to get started. Thankfully everything was fine during the night.
Saturday Shaun & Linsay left for the day and night to go visit Shaun's mom and we all stayed home and played outside and recovered from this quick acting bug. Since it had moved from person to person so quickly, and no one had gotten sick in quite a while, we were crossing our fingers and hoping the rest of us would emerge unscathed. Did we not learn in elementary school that crossing your fingers does nothing?!
After a couple of days of this we decided we needed to get out, so we decided to go out for supper in a nearby town. There wasn't much open as it was New Year's Day, but we ate at a local restaurant and headed for home. Thankfully we had not gone too far - we had barely walked in the door when Nathan's mom was running for the washroom. She probably had the worst case yet, with both versions.
I went to bed that night expecting the worst, and hadn't slept a wink when Jacob starting throwing up around 1:30am. He had never been sick in his almost 3 years and he absolutely freaked out. He was screaming and trying to knock away the bucket that I was trying to force under his head and yelling "I don't want to!" in between episodes. Even though we had put a sheet across most of the bedroom floor, he still managed to hit the rug. Deena got up and helped us clean up the room and we bathed Jacob and got him ready for bed. One hour later we were doing it again. Thankfully not as messy this time as Nathan and I tag teamed him and literally forced him to puke in the bucket. Poor guy. By almost 5:30 I had just about convinced myself that he wouldn't be throwing up anymore and was finally ready to get some sleep..... when Sophia walked in our room with her puke bucket and we started all over again. Yup, all kids, sick or not, were sleeping with pails by their beds by this point - good thing!
Sophia probably got it the worst of the kids - I think 9 times. By 7 o'clock I was absolutely exhausted - hadn't slept even a minute all night with a very unrestful sleep the night before. Nathan had been up most of the times as well, but he had been able to sleep in between. So, he took over and I slept from 7 to 10. We had originally been planning to leave today (Sunday), but had already decided the previous day that we would stay an extra day - hoping to go to Brooks, or at the minimum, finish getting over all this sickness.
After lunch we decided we'd all have naps before going tobogganing again. I woke up at 4 and knew my hypochondrianism had become reality. Started with minor diarrhea and I took Peptobismol and Immodium in a futile attempt to ward off the inevitable. By 7pm I was in the washroom experiencing my first ever time of both episodes simultaneously and it was horrid. (hey, I warned you not to read!) Nathan took Jacob to sleep in the living room so I could hopefully get some sleep at night. But he went to bed early cause he could feel it coming on. At midnight he forced himself and an hour later he had to again. After that he was fine. After my own 3 major episodes, it took me awhile to get to sleep as I was quite concerned with making it to the bathroom in time, even though it was directly across the hall. This was bad stuff people. But eventually I feel asleep and all was well.
Nathan's parents left bright and early Monday morning to drive straight home all day. Taylor was up a little early, so Shaun & Linsay left a bit before us. We planned to stop in Regina with them to spend the night at a hotel (with a waterpark!) before heading home Tuesday. They planned to stop and visit friends in Swift Current quickly before joining us later on. They also were expecting it to take a bit longer because they were hauling a work trailer behind their SUV that they had picked up from Shaun's mom's the day before.
We got a phone call as we were eating breakfast (well, Nathan & I weren't eating anything, but the kids were). Their trailer had come unhooked while driving on the highway, had passed them on the highway, crossed the road and landed on a fence! Thankfully no one was hurt and this happened in a town about 45 minutes away, where Chris & Deena go to church. This was the last town Shaun & Lin would pass where they would still know anyone that could help - not a coincidence I'd say! Turned out that the man that Chris called to help them rescue their trailer was the owner of the fence it had landed on! AND he had the equipment and know-how to able to fix the trailer and get them back on their way. Amazing!
Now that they were behind us, they decided not to stop in Swift and were going to head straight to Regina. We were about 45 minutes ahead of them, and getting close to Regina when we got a phone from them. They ran out of gas. Yes, I'm serious. They were going through gas twice as fast due to the trailer they were pulling. They had planned to stop in a small town a bit off the highway to gas up, but as they were passing the service signs there was no sign for gas. They didn't want to risk running out of gas off the highway and were only 19 km from the next major town and the gas light had not come on yet. Surely they would make it. Nope, they ran out of gas 5 km away! It was dark and about -30 outside. So Shaun started walking. After about 1 km a farmer stopped to pick him up and gave him a ride. The farmer said he was on his way to Regina for a hernia surgery. When Lin heard this later she laughed and said there's no way - he was an angel and that was the story the angel came up with . ;) The farmer brought Shaun back to the SUV and they were finally on their way again.
We had driven all the way to Swift Current before stopping for lunch at McDonald's at around 2, which was 3 our time. Yup, McDonald's was the first meal I had after being sick. We had to give the kids a break! Nathan and I both ordered grilled chicken burgers and managed just fine.
Because we ate so late, none of us were hungry when we got to the hotel around 6:30, so Nathan took all the kids swimming (he rocks!) as I just didn't feel well enough for that yet and thankfully they had life jackets, so he could manage all 4. The Regina Travelodge has a really great waterslide area, and we managed to get adjoining rooms with Shaun & Linsay so it worked great!
We let the kids swim till we got the call that Shaun & Lin would be there around 8. They wanted to stop at Canadian Tire to get some stuff for the trailer, so Nathan took Jacob and went with them and brought some pizza back at about 8:45. I watched the girls swim till 8:30 and brought up to quickly shower and get into pj's and be ready to eat when the guys got back.
Taylor had had nothing to eat since noon, so she was really hungry and really tired. Linsay couldn't find milk in the hotel, but a very kind waitress at the restaurant managed to scrounge up some 2% and gave it to her for free - Linsay kinda lost it for this random act of kindness that was so appreciated on this day of all days! The lady must've thought she was nuts crying over free milk ;) Taylor ate about one bite of pizza and decided she needed sleep more. Lin put her to bed in their room while we all ate. Then, while the guys went to pick up our nightsnack from Tim Horton's we got our girls ready for bed in our room, moved a sleeping Taylor's crib into our room and took Jacob with us to their room (he had had 2 naps that day in the car and was not ready to sleep!) to visit and watch tv. When were ready for bed, we brought Taylor back to their room and Jacob to our room and all went to sleep. Perfect set up!
The guys had picked up muffins at Tim's for breakfast the next day (Tuesday), we swam in the morning, had lunch at Chili's and then we were off for home. We booked it all the way, only stopping for a quick bathroom pit stop at a hotel along the highway for Olivia, and got home by 7. Home sweet home!
The kids did amazingly well on the drive.
Hopefully our family you know already - Nathan & Tammy, Emma (9), Sophia (7), Olivia (5) & Jacob (3)
Nathan is the oldest and his parents are Edmer & Betty.
His younger sister lives in Alberta - Deena & Chris, Colter (5), Baret (3) & Hayden (1)
His youngest sister lives in a town close to us - Linsay & Shaun, Taylor (2)
First, a little background. Deena & Chris met and married in Alberta (yes, at
Never say never right?!
Mom & Dad, Shaun & Linsay have gone out to visit them before, and we've always steadfastly maintained our position, despite the wailings and pleadings of our offspring. I'm not sure what made this year different, but we gradually began to consider it. We finally consented to going out this Christmas, with numerous dire warnings to our children that their behaviour during the drive would be the deciding factor on if there were ever to be a repeat of this trip.
Turns out, the kids did fanTASTic on the drive - WAY better than expected.
Turns out that wasn't the problem. But there were problems, oh yes, there were problems.
We planned to drive caravan style. Mom & Dad would drive with Shaun & Linsay and we would lead the pack. We would come "pick them up" bright and early at 5am on the Wednesday after Christmas and book it out West.
*Note - people who do not like to read about other people getting sick, consider yourself warned.
At 4:45am we got a phone call. Linsay had been throwing up all night and they weren't sure what they were going to do. After some discussion it was decided that Nathan's parents would take all their luggage out of Shaun & Lin's vehicle and pack up their own car and head out with us. Shaun & Linsay would follow when they could, hopefully leaving at noon.
So, off we went. Now, I'm a bit of a hypochondriac, especially when it comes to stomach ailments, so by the time we got to Brandon where we stopped for breakfast, I was not feeling so hot. Things appeared to be going in the wrong direction during two bathroom breaks at the restaurant (Tim Horton's of course!), but I convinced myself it was all in my head and we were going to keep going. Worse case scenario, we'd stop in Regina if we had to.
Thankfully, it was just my hypochondria combined with lack of sleep. I napped between Brandon and Regina and every time I woke up I felt a bit better. Whew - bullet dodged. For now.
We filled up gas in Regina, stopped for lunch (Tim's again!) in Moose Jaw and kept on chugging. We stopped in Medicine Hat to fill up again and let the kids run off some steam at the local McDonald's which thankfully had an awesome play place (pictured left). Another 2 short hours (that seemed rather long!) and we were there! We enjoyed a homemade pizza supper and found out that it had been a good thing Shaun & Linsay had not started out with us, because around noon Shaun got sick and Taylor, who had been sick two days previous, got a bit sick again. They were all doing somewhat better by the evening, so they decided they would go to bed real early and try to be on the road by 4am the next morning (Thursday) to get to Alberta in time for our scheduled Christmas dinner (wrenikje and farmer sausage - woohoo!).Did I mention they live in the middle of nowhere? This was the view out their front yard....
And who is this lovely couple?
Thankfully Shaun, Linsay & Taylor made it safe and sound (and not sick!) and we all had a wonderful Christmas dinner that Thursday, followed by the "program", gifts and we all vacationed happily ever after. Ok, not quite.
Mom & Dad slept in the guest room downstairs. Nathan and I slept in Colter & Baret's room (their bottom bunk is a double) with Jacob on the floor in our room. Shaun & Linsay slept in Hayden's room on a double mattress with Taylor in Hayden's crib. Hayden slept in a play pen in Chris & Deena's room. All the other kids were set up downstairs by the tv for a big cousin sleepover.
During the day Hayden had had some diarrhea, but we chalked it up to teething. Might have been wrong about that one. No sooner had we started getting the kids ready for bed that night then both Colter & Baret started throwing up (they had previously had one episode of "d" as well). Chris & Deena spent the next several hours playing Mexican Train with us, while taking breaks every 15 minutes or so to deal with one or two puking children whose beds had been moved up to the living room, while I stuck my fingers in my ears and tried to convince myself that everything would be fine.
Now, obviously Colter & Baret did not get this from Shaun & Linsay cause they had only been there for a couple hours. So, we had both the Manitoba and the Alberta germs going around full force - we never had a fighting chance.
About every 12 hrs or so, we went down like dominoes.
We had originally been planning to go to Brooks the next day (Friday) and swim at their amazing leisure center, but since it was an hour away, we decided it was too big of a risk. Good thing too because Emma started around noon - not as bad as the boys, only about 5 episodes. We kept all the healthy people playing outside as much as we could - very thankful for the awesome natural toboggan slide courtesy of Chris & Deena's amazing front yard (advantage of living way out in the boonies in hill country). Deena was not feeling fabulous and had diarrhea off and on all day, and yet still managed to be an amazing hostess - in fact, she was a fantastic hostess throughout this whole ordeal, can't imagine anyone doing a better job! I lost track of how many times she disinfected bathrooms (thankfully they had 3 of them!) that week.Just before bedtime Olivia threw up, and let's just say no one will feel like eating cherry ice cream again any time soon. This was the first time in about 3 years that she had thrown up, so I knew she'd have no idea what was coming. We put her and Emma to bed in the living room and were expecting to be interrupted from Mexican Train numerous times to help Olivia, like Deena & Chris had been the night before. But amazingly, Olivia only had the one incident!
I got very little sleep that night. Every cough or sound Jacob made I thought he was about to get started. Thankfully everything was fine during the night.
Saturday Shaun & Linsay left for the day and night to go visit Shaun's mom and we all stayed home and played outside and recovered from this quick acting bug. Since it had moved from person to person so quickly, and no one had gotten sick in quite a while, we were crossing our fingers and hoping the rest of us would emerge unscathed. Did we not learn in elementary school that crossing your fingers does nothing?!
After a couple of days of this we decided we needed to get out, so we decided to go out for supper in a nearby town. There wasn't much open as it was New Year's Day, but we ate at a local restaurant and headed for home. Thankfully we had not gone too far - we had barely walked in the door when Nathan's mom was running for the washroom. She probably had the worst case yet, with both versions.
I went to bed that night expecting the worst, and hadn't slept a wink when Jacob starting throwing up around 1:30am. He had never been sick in his almost 3 years and he absolutely freaked out. He was screaming and trying to knock away the bucket that I was trying to force under his head and yelling "I don't want to!" in between episodes. Even though we had put a sheet across most of the bedroom floor, he still managed to hit the rug. Deena got up and helped us clean up the room and we bathed Jacob and got him ready for bed. One hour later we were doing it again. Thankfully not as messy this time as Nathan and I tag teamed him and literally forced him to puke in the bucket. Poor guy. By almost 5:30 I had just about convinced myself that he wouldn't be throwing up anymore and was finally ready to get some sleep..... when Sophia walked in our room with her puke bucket and we started all over again. Yup, all kids, sick or not, were sleeping with pails by their beds by this point - good thing!
Sophia probably got it the worst of the kids - I think 9 times. By 7 o'clock I was absolutely exhausted - hadn't slept even a minute all night with a very unrestful sleep the night before. Nathan had been up most of the times as well, but he had been able to sleep in between. So, he took over and I slept from 7 to 10. We had originally been planning to leave today (Sunday), but had already decided the previous day that we would stay an extra day - hoping to go to Brooks, or at the minimum, finish getting over all this sickness.
After lunch we decided we'd all have naps before going tobogganing again. I woke up at 4 and knew my hypochondrianism had become reality. Started with minor diarrhea and I took Peptobismol and Immodium in a futile attempt to ward off the inevitable. By 7pm I was in the washroom experiencing my first ever time of both episodes simultaneously and it was horrid. (hey, I warned you not to read!) Nathan took Jacob to sleep in the living room so I could hopefully get some sleep at night. But he went to bed early cause he could feel it coming on. At midnight he forced himself and an hour later he had to again. After that he was fine. After my own 3 major episodes, it took me awhile to get to sleep as I was quite concerned with making it to the bathroom in time, even though it was directly across the hall. This was bad stuff people. But eventually I feel asleep and all was well.
Nathan's parents left bright and early Monday morning to drive straight home all day. Taylor was up a little early, so Shaun & Linsay left a bit before us. We planned to stop in Regina with them to spend the night at a hotel (with a waterpark!) before heading home Tuesday. They planned to stop and visit friends in Swift Current quickly before joining us later on. They also were expecting it to take a bit longer because they were hauling a work trailer behind their SUV that they had picked up from Shaun's mom's the day before.
We got a phone call as we were eating breakfast (well, Nathan & I weren't eating anything, but the kids were). Their trailer had come unhooked while driving on the highway, had passed them on the highway, crossed the road and landed on a fence! Thankfully no one was hurt and this happened in a town about 45 minutes away, where Chris & Deena go to church. This was the last town Shaun & Lin would pass where they would still know anyone that could help - not a coincidence I'd say! Turned out that the man that Chris called to help them rescue their trailer was the owner of the fence it had landed on! AND he had the equipment and know-how to able to fix the trailer and get them back on their way. Amazing!
Now that they were behind us, they decided not to stop in Swift and were going to head straight to Regina. We were about 45 minutes ahead of them, and getting close to Regina when we got a phone from them. They ran out of gas. Yes, I'm serious. They were going through gas twice as fast due to the trailer they were pulling. They had planned to stop in a small town a bit off the highway to gas up, but as they were passing the service signs there was no sign for gas. They didn't want to risk running out of gas off the highway and were only 19 km from the next major town and the gas light had not come on yet. Surely they would make it. Nope, they ran out of gas 5 km away! It was dark and about -30 outside. So Shaun started walking. After about 1 km a farmer stopped to pick him up and gave him a ride. The farmer said he was on his way to Regina for a hernia surgery. When Lin heard this later she laughed and said there's no way - he was an angel and that was the story the angel came up with . ;) The farmer brought Shaun back to the SUV and they were finally on their way again.
We had driven all the way to Swift Current before stopping for lunch at McDonald's at around 2, which was 3 our time. Yup, McDonald's was the first meal I had after being sick. We had to give the kids a break! Nathan and I both ordered grilled chicken burgers and managed just fine.
Because we ate so late, none of us were hungry when we got to the hotel around 6:30, so Nathan took all the kids swimming (he rocks!) as I just didn't feel well enough for that yet and thankfully they had life jackets, so he could manage all 4. The Regina Travelodge has a really great waterslide area, and we managed to get adjoining rooms with Shaun & Linsay so it worked great!
We let the kids swim till we got the call that Shaun & Lin would be there around 8. They wanted to stop at Canadian Tire to get some stuff for the trailer, so Nathan took Jacob and went with them and brought some pizza back at about 8:45. I watched the girls swim till 8:30 and brought up to quickly shower and get into pj's and be ready to eat when the guys got back.Taylor had had nothing to eat since noon, so she was really hungry and really tired. Linsay couldn't find milk in the hotel, but a very kind waitress at the restaurant managed to scrounge up some 2% and gave it to her for free - Linsay kinda lost it for this random act of kindness that was so appreciated on this day of all days! The lady must've thought she was nuts crying over free milk ;) Taylor ate about one bite of pizza and decided she needed sleep more. Lin put her to bed in their room while we all ate. Then, while the guys went to pick up our nightsnack from Tim Horton's we got our girls ready for bed in our room, moved a sleeping Taylor's crib into our room and took Jacob with us to their room (he had had 2 naps that day in the car and was not ready to sleep!) to visit and watch tv. When were ready for bed, we brought Taylor back to their room and Jacob to our room and all went to sleep. Perfect set up!
The guys had picked up muffins at Tim's for breakfast the next day (Tuesday), we swam in the morning, had lunch at Chili's and then we were off for home. We booked it all the way, only stopping for a quick bathroom pit stop at a hotel along the highway for Olivia, and got home by 7. Home sweet home!
The kids did amazingly well on the drive.
And, even though THIS was our Christmas reality, 
despite 14 out of 16 people getting sick,
we still managed to have a fabulous time!
See the guy in the back? That's Shaun and he's hiding a puzzle piece on us (anyone who knows Shaun knows this is very typical!) - and all caught on camera! ;)
It'll be trip to be remembered, that's for sure.
despite 14 out of 16 people getting sick,
we still managed to have a fabulous time!
See the guy in the back? That's Shaun and he's hiding a puzzle piece on us (anyone who knows Shaun knows this is very typical!) - and all caught on camera! ;)
It'll be trip to be remembered, that's for sure.
Thursday, 28 October 2010
Summer Chore Charts
Here are the chore charts we used over the summer....
Not sure yet which one of these creative chore charts we're going to use next, but it should be fun! I think I'll do one for Jacob too - there were a couple really cute toddler ones in that list.
Not sure yet which one of these creative chore charts we're going to use next, but it should be fun! I think I'll do one for Jacob too - there were a couple really cute toddler ones in that list.
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
Lead Me
Fathers play an unbelievably huge role in the lives of their children and wives. God has commanded fathers to be the spiritual leaders in the home - to love their wives as Christ loved the church, to disciple their children as they grow in the knowledge and love of the Lord. I am very thankful for Nathan's servant leadership in our family - though he is not perfect, I know that is the desire of his heart.
I watched a video today of a beautiful song by Sanctus Real called "Lead Me" - if only more fathers today would be passionate about being led by Christ in order to lead their families.
Click here to see the story behind the song.
I watched a video today of a beautiful song by Sanctus Real called "Lead Me" - if only more fathers today would be passionate about being led by Christ in order to lead their families.
Lead Me by Sanctus Real
I look around and see my wonderful life
Almost perfect from the outside
In picture frames I see my beautiful wife
Always smiling
But on the inside, I can hear her saying...
“Lead me with strong hands
Stand up when I can't
Don't leave me hungry for love
Chasing dreams, what about us?
Show me you're willing to fight
That I'm still the love of your life
I know we call this our home
But I still feel alone”
I see their faces, look in their innocent eyes
They're just children from the outside
I'm working hard, I tell myself they'll be fine
They're independent
But on the inside, I can hear them saying...
“Lead me with strong hands
Stand up when I can't
Don't leave me hungry for love
Chasing dreams, but what about us?
Show me you're willing to fight
That I'm still the love of your life
I know we call this our home
But I still feel alone”
So Father, give me the strength
To be everything I'm called to be
Oh, Father, show me the way
To lead them
Won't You lead me?
To lead them with strong hands
To stand up when they can't
Don't want to leave them hungry for love,
Chasing things that I could give up
I'll show them I'm willing to fight
And give them the best of my life
So we can call this our home
Lead me, 'cause I can't do this alone
Father, lead me, 'cause I can't do this alone
I look around and see my wonderful life
Almost perfect from the outside
In picture frames I see my beautiful wife
Always smiling
But on the inside, I can hear her saying...
“Lead me with strong hands
Stand up when I can't
Don't leave me hungry for love
Chasing dreams, what about us?
Show me you're willing to fight
That I'm still the love of your life
I know we call this our home
But I still feel alone”
I see their faces, look in their innocent eyes
They're just children from the outside
I'm working hard, I tell myself they'll be fine
They're independent
But on the inside, I can hear them saying...
“Lead me with strong hands
Stand up when I can't
Don't leave me hungry for love
Chasing dreams, but what about us?
Show me you're willing to fight
That I'm still the love of your life
I know we call this our home
But I still feel alone”
So Father, give me the strength
To be everything I'm called to be
Oh, Father, show me the way
To lead them
Won't You lead me?
To lead them with strong hands
To stand up when they can't
Don't want to leave them hungry for love,
Chasing things that I could give up
I'll show them I'm willing to fight
And give them the best of my life
So we can call this our home
Lead me, 'cause I can't do this alone
Father, lead me, 'cause I can't do this alone
Click here to see the story behind the song.
Sunday, 24 October 2010
Coming up....
Coming up in our household this week.....
The regular schedule of...
Sophia's hockey practices/games (2 or 3 times per week)
Emma's dance and jazz classes
Sophia's jazz class
Olivia's pre-tap/pre-ballet class
Emma & Sophia's piano lessons (taught by me)
my community choir practice (I accompany the choir on piano)
Nathan's hockey
Girls Club at church for Emma & Sophia
Coffee Connection for me (ladies morning out at church - babysitting provided!)
And the week will end with a girls weekend away!! Nathan's mom is turning 60 this year and she's taking me and his two sil's on a girls shopping weekend - yay!
Post subjects that are coming up on the blog this week.....
How and why we do chores and allowance in our family
Chore chart samples I've found online
Update on controversial ethical information I've blogged about before
Stay tuned!
The regular schedule of...
Sophia's hockey practices/games (2 or 3 times per week)
Emma's dance and jazz classes
Sophia's jazz class
Olivia's pre-tap/pre-ballet class
Emma & Sophia's piano lessons (taught by me)
my community choir practice (I accompany the choir on piano)
Nathan's hockey
Girls Club at church for Emma & Sophia
Coffee Connection for me (ladies morning out at church - babysitting provided!)
And the week will end with a girls weekend away!! Nathan's mom is turning 60 this year and she's taking me and his two sil's on a girls shopping weekend - yay!
Post subjects that are coming up on the blog this week.....
How and why we do chores and allowance in our family
Chore chart samples I've found online
Update on controversial ethical information I've blogged about before
Stay tuned!
Sunday, 26 September 2010
Family Photo Shoot
We were blessed to have a friend do a family photo shoot for us last weekend and I think the pictures turned out fantastic - thank you Kim!! (Facebook friends, feel free to check out all the pictures on my profile page).
Our blessings from God...
Emma - 9 yrs old
Sophia - 7 yrs old
Olivia - 5 yrs old
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Disney - Days 10 thru 14 - Universal, Disney Studios & going home
Click here for Days 1 - 3....travelling and Epcot
Click here for Days 4 & 5......Prime Outlets and Magic Kingdom
Click here for Days 6 & 7.....SeaWorld and Magic Kingdom
Click here for Days 8 & 9.....Aquatica and Animal Kingdom
And finally, today is the last Disney post for Days 10 through 14.
Saturday (Day 10) - Universal Studios Islands of Adventure
Today was sooooo fun! Nathan & I and Shaun & Linsay left our kids at the house with grandma and grandpa (5 kids in total) and went to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure for some adult roller coaster fun! I'm not sure who was looking forward to the day more - us or the kids :)
We made sure to get there early so we'd be there for park opening. We started off with the Incredible Hulk Coaster which was probably the best of all the coasters, except I found it to be a bit jerky and my head kept hitting the restraints. Then we headed to The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman which is a cool 3d ride that we really liked. I had to close my eyes at one part so I wouldn't get dizzy - I'm not good with that kinda stuff. Then it was off to Doctor Doom's Fearfall - I gotta say, the anticipation of this ride was better than the ride itself, and it was really short and not as scary as we thought it would be. Then we trekked across the park to Dueling Dragons which is actually two coasters - Fire Dragon and Ice Dragon - that run simultaneously! At two points during the ride you actually come to within 18" of hitting the riders in the other coaster. It was pretty cool.
The good part of getting there so early was that we hardly had to wait in line at all. The bad part, was that we managed to knock off all 5 of those rides within one hour - and we paid for it. We totally had to sit down and get a drink and rest for a bit to regain our completely destroyed equilibrium!
After a rest, Linsay and I were tempted to go on the Jurassic Park River Adventure ride. We didn't really want to get soaking wet though, so we watched several of the boats come down the ride and noticed that as long as you sat in the very middle of the ride, it looked safe. So we went and it was really fun, and we did not get wet at all! Well, our hair did slightly, but not our clothes. Linsay actually got "spit" on by a dinosaur right in the face, it was funny. Anyway, we got off and managed to convince the guys to go with us (cause they wouldn't get wet), but when we got there the ride had stopped working. We waited for awhile and they ended up giving us a fastpass type ticket good for any one ride in the park.
Our one mistake was our lunch restaurant choice. We had seen a Hard Rock coming in, but we thought it would take too long to go out there, eat and then come back to the park for a couple more rides. So we stopped at the first restaurant we saw which was in the kids area - Circus Magurkus - what were we thinking?! Yeah, it wasn't great food, but thankfully it wasn't too busy either.
After lunch we saw The Eighth Voyage of Sinbad stunt show which was quite good. We walked by the Jurassic Park ride again on our way out but it still wasn't working, so we went back to the Incredible Hulk coaster and rode it one more time using our fastpasses. What a great time!
Spent a bit of time in the shops and then headed home to swim and then go to Uno's for supper.
Sunday (Day 11) - Disney Studios
Today our "little" family headed off bright and early to our last Disney theme park - Disney Studios.
And Emma & Sophia went on their very first upside down rollercoaster!!! I was so proud of them! We headed straight for the Rock n Rollercoaster and I got a child swap pass while Nathan took Emma on the ride. The rest of the kids and I headed straight to Toy Story Mania to pick up fastpasses to use later, and by the time I got there there was a 15 minute wait just to stand in line to get fastpasses! (55 min wait for the ride itself) Crazy how popular that ride is.
Anyway, I texted Nathan to find out how Emma had liked the ride. I was a bit nervous because it's in the dark (neither girl is a fan of dark rides), and you can see the scary takeoff while waiting in line to get on. But she loved it! That was great because I could reassure Sophia while we were heading over there that Emma had liked it and she would too (I hoped!). Right at takeoff I heard a scared voice yell "MOM!" and so I put my hand on her leg and yelled "You're OK!" over and over for most of the ride. When the ride ended Sophia looked at me and asked "Is that it?" She didn't want it to be over! I asked her if she was scared, or if she had yelled for me, and she said no. Must've been some other kid :) oh well! ha ha.
Then we went to see a bunch of shows - the timing of which was perfect! We headed for the Little Mermaid show (waited maybe 10 mins), when we got out of there the High School Musical outdoor musical had been underway for maybe 2 mins so we watched that.
Then I took the girls straight to the indoor American Idol Experience while Nathan took Jacob to see the Cars characters (which he absolutely loved! He threw a fit when they had to leave, so he didn't get a souvenir there).
The girls LOVED American Idol - Emma was just sorry she was too young to try out to be a contestant on the show. I texted Nathan to go get us seats for the Beauty and the Beast show (like Rainbow Stage theatre production, just shorter) and we headed right over as soon as AI was over. I think we missed the first 30 seconds of that one.
Everyone was tiring out by this point, but we went back to Toy Story Mania to use our fastpasses to get on that ride and we were glad we did - the kids loved it! (Jacob too). It's like a 3D midway ride where you shoot at different targets as you move to different stations in your car. It was fun, but I sure wouldn't stand in line for an hour for it!
After that we headed home for one last afternoon swim and then to Olive Garden for supper.
Monday (Day 12) - flying back to Minneapolis
In the morning Nathan took the kids to IHOP so I could pack. They came back and I think they swam for a little bet yet. Then it was off to the airport. At which point we realized that we couldn't find one of the ipods and 6 of the girls ds games. We eventually figured out that I had left them on the airplane on the way down already. Yep, almost $400 down the drain. Not impressed.
We got to the airport, returned our rental vehicles and went through security. We were waiting at a different gate because it was emptier and I guess we just weren't paying attention to the time, or to the people at our gate. All of a sudden I thought I heard our names being called. We went to go check and sure enough - they were calling our party cause everyone else had already boarded and this was our last call or they were going to leave without us! But Nathan, Emma and Sophia weren't even there, they had gone to pick up something for us to eat on the plane! I immediately texted a frantic message to Nathan that we had to leave right now! Thankfully they were already heading back when he got the message and they were there in the nick of time. Ack!!! WAY too close for comfort.
We checked into the Staybridge Suites (so thankful we changed to a hotel with extra bedroom suites after our disastrous night at LaQuinta on the way down) and headed to Chili's for supper, then came back and swam for a bit.
Tuesday & Wednesday (Days 13 & 14) - driving back home
Tuesday we stopped in Albertville quickly where we realized that Nathan had left his credit card at Chili's in Minneapolis (I phoned and the mailed it back to us). After picking up a few things at the UnderArmour store (runners for $35!! Nathan checked and the same ones were over $100 here) we headed for the City and went to McDonald's for lunch. Nathan's parents and Shaun & Linsay drove straight home that day, but we stayed another night - did more shopping and relaxing and generally just delaying the end of the vacation. Oh, and Jacob got to "ride" a tractor.
We got back Wednesday to a freshly painted house! We decided to have our complete main area redone while we were gone - easy for the painter and for us. Nathan's other sister had gotten in from Alberta the night before, so we went to Nathan's parents for supper (I still didn't have to cook!) after getting a bit of the house put back together and stuff unpacked.
Home sweet home!
Click here for Days 4 & 5......Prime Outlets and Magic Kingdom
Click here for Days 6 & 7.....SeaWorld and Magic Kingdom
Click here for Days 8 & 9.....Aquatica and Animal Kingdom
And finally, today is the last Disney post for Days 10 through 14.
Saturday (Day 10) - Universal Studios Islands of Adventure
Today was sooooo fun! Nathan & I and Shaun & Linsay left our kids at the house with grandma and grandpa (5 kids in total) and went to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure for some adult roller coaster fun! I'm not sure who was looking forward to the day more - us or the kids :)
We made sure to get there early so we'd be there for park opening. We started off with the Incredible Hulk Coaster which was probably the best of all the coasters, except I found it to be a bit jerky and my head kept hitting the restraints. Then we headed to The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman which is a cool 3d ride that we really liked. I had to close my eyes at one part so I wouldn't get dizzy - I'm not good with that kinda stuff. Then it was off to Doctor Doom's Fearfall - I gotta say, the anticipation of this ride was better than the ride itself, and it was really short and not as scary as we thought it would be. Then we trekked across the park to Dueling Dragons which is actually two coasters - Fire Dragon and Ice Dragon - that run simultaneously! At two points during the ride you actually come to within 18" of hitting the riders in the other coaster. It was pretty cool.
The good part of getting there so early was that we hardly had to wait in line at all. The bad part, was that we managed to knock off all 5 of those rides within one hour - and we paid for it. We totally had to sit down and get a drink and rest for a bit to regain our completely destroyed equilibrium!
After a rest, Linsay and I were tempted to go on the Jurassic Park River Adventure ride. We didn't really want to get soaking wet though, so we watched several of the boats come down the ride and noticed that as long as you sat in the very middle of the ride, it looked safe. So we went and it was really fun, and we did not get wet at all! Well, our hair did slightly, but not our clothes. Linsay actually got "spit" on by a dinosaur right in the face, it was funny. Anyway, we got off and managed to convince the guys to go with us (cause they wouldn't get wet), but when we got there the ride had stopped working. We waited for awhile and they ended up giving us a fastpass type ticket good for any one ride in the park.
Our one mistake was our lunch restaurant choice. We had seen a Hard Rock coming in, but we thought it would take too long to go out there, eat and then come back to the park for a couple more rides. So we stopped at the first restaurant we saw which was in the kids area - Circus Magurkus - what were we thinking?! Yeah, it wasn't great food, but thankfully it wasn't too busy either.
After lunch we saw The Eighth Voyage of Sinbad stunt show which was quite good. We walked by the Jurassic Park ride again on our way out but it still wasn't working, so we went back to the Incredible Hulk coaster and rode it one more time using our fastpasses. What a great time!
Here are our superheroes!
Not that we need any :)
Spent a bit of time in the shops and then headed home to swim and then go to Uno's for supper.
Sunday (Day 11) - Disney Studios
Today our "little" family headed off bright and early to our last Disney theme park - Disney Studios.
And Emma & Sophia went on their very first upside down rollercoaster!!! I was so proud of them! We headed straight for the Rock n Rollercoaster and I got a child swap pass while Nathan took Emma on the ride. The rest of the kids and I headed straight to Toy Story Mania to pick up fastpasses to use later, and by the time I got there there was a 15 minute wait just to stand in line to get fastpasses! (55 min wait for the ride itself) Crazy how popular that ride is.
Anyway, I texted Nathan to find out how Emma had liked the ride. I was a bit nervous because it's in the dark (neither girl is a fan of dark rides), and you can see the scary takeoff while waiting in line to get on. But she loved it! That was great because I could reassure Sophia while we were heading over there that Emma had liked it and she would too (I hoped!). Right at takeoff I heard a scared voice yell "MOM!" and so I put my hand on her leg and yelled "You're OK!" over and over for most of the ride. When the ride ended Sophia looked at me and asked "Is that it?" She didn't want it to be over! I asked her if she was scared, or if she had yelled for me, and she said no. Must've been some other kid :) oh well! ha ha.
Then we went to see a bunch of shows - the timing of which was perfect! We headed for the Little Mermaid show (waited maybe 10 mins), when we got out of there the High School Musical outdoor musical had been underway for maybe 2 mins so we watched that.Then I took the girls straight to the indoor American Idol Experience while Nathan took Jacob to see the Cars characters (which he absolutely loved! He threw a fit when they had to leave, so he didn't get a souvenir there).
The girls LOVED American Idol - Emma was just sorry she was too young to try out to be a contestant on the show. I texted Nathan to go get us seats for the Beauty and the Beast show (like Rainbow Stage theatre production, just shorter) and we headed right over as soon as AI was over. I think we missed the first 30 seconds of that one.Everyone was tiring out by this point, but we went back to Toy Story Mania to use our fastpasses to get on that ride and we were glad we did - the kids loved it! (Jacob too). It's like a 3D midway ride where you shoot at different targets as you move to different stations in your car. It was fun, but I sure wouldn't stand in line for an hour for it!
After that we headed home for one last afternoon swim and then to Olive Garden for supper.
Monday (Day 12) - flying back to Minneapolis
In the morning Nathan took the kids to IHOP so I could pack. They came back and I think they swam for a little bet yet. Then it was off to the airport. At which point we realized that we couldn't find one of the ipods and 6 of the girls ds games. We eventually figured out that I had left them on the airplane on the way down already. Yep, almost $400 down the drain. Not impressed.
We got to the airport, returned our rental vehicles and went through security. We were waiting at a different gate because it was emptier and I guess we just weren't paying attention to the time, or to the people at our gate. All of a sudden I thought I heard our names being called. We went to go check and sure enough - they were calling our party cause everyone else had already boarded and this was our last call or they were going to leave without us! But Nathan, Emma and Sophia weren't even there, they had gone to pick up something for us to eat on the plane! I immediately texted a frantic message to Nathan that we had to leave right now! Thankfully they were already heading back when he got the message and they were there in the nick of time. Ack!!! WAY too close for comfort.
We checked into the Staybridge Suites (so thankful we changed to a hotel with extra bedroom suites after our disastrous night at LaQuinta on the way down) and headed to Chili's for supper, then came back and swam for a bit.
Tuesday & Wednesday (Days 13 & 14) - driving back home
Tuesday we stopped in Albertville quickly where we realized that Nathan had left his credit card at Chili's in Minneapolis (I phoned and the mailed it back to us). After picking up a few things at the UnderArmour store (runners for $35!! Nathan checked and the same ones were over $100 here) we headed for the City and went to McDonald's for lunch. Nathan's parents and Shaun & Linsay drove straight home that day, but we stayed another night - did more shopping and relaxing and generally just delaying the end of the vacation. Oh, and Jacob got to "ride" a tractor.
We got back Wednesday to a freshly painted house! We decided to have our complete main area redone while we were gone - easy for the painter and for us. Nathan's other sister had gotten in from Alberta the night before, so we went to Nathan's parents for supper (I still didn't have to cook!) after getting a bit of the house put back together and stuff unpacked.
Home sweet home!
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
Disney Days 6 & 7 - SeaWorld & Magic Kingdom
SeaWorld was the girls' least favourite park, but that was partly our fault. First thing when we got there Nathan and I, Linsay (Nathan's sister) and her husband Shaun, went to ride Manta, the new crazy fun 
rollercoaster. You're strapped in sitting down, and then the floor drops and you're tilted forward until you're completely horizontal, so you're flying through that roller coaster! We were the second group to get on the ride that day, but it took a little bit because they had to run a few more test rides before they let us start riding (scared much?). The kids weren't impressed with waiting since they literally had to just sit and wait with Nathan's parents, as there were too many kids and not enough adults for them to go do something while they waited.Next we went to see the dolphin show "Blue Horizons" at the Whale & Dolphin Theatre. It was absolutely amazing! This was by far the best show at SeaWorld hands down! So many dolphin tricks, constantly something to look at, great people tricks too - diving and some aerial acrobatics as well. If you only see one show at SeaWorld, this is the one to see.
Next we went to see "Clyde & Seamore Take Pirate Island" at the Sea Lion & Otter Stadium. This show was a disappointment for us. I don't know if it was because the dolphin show was so good, or if this one was bad, but none of us really liked it. We kept thinking - it must get better, but it never did. There were 3 actors in this one and 3 animals. The animals did some good tricks I guess, they just weren't as entertaining or spectacular looking as the dolphins. And the show was supposed to be a comedy, but the actors weren't overly funny. We would not go see this again.
Then us adults went on Kraken, the other crazy roller coaster - while the kids again waited rather impatiently.
After this we had lunch. This was a somewhat frustrating experience because they have no lids or straws for their cups. Seriously. Now, I'm all about saving the planet and the whales and what have you, but saving my sanity takes priority at an amusement park. Four kids and no lids/straws makes for an unhappy mama. So, take note and bring your own!
We had to hurry lunch in order to make the Shamu show "Believe" as it was a bit of a trek to Shamu Stadium. We made it a couple minutes late. Also - take note - for all these shows, the soak zone signs are there for a reason - if you don't want to get wet, don't sit there! :) We stayed far away from the soak zones! This show was pretty good, still not as spectacular as the dolphins though. We were sitting fairly far away, so maybe if we had better seats we may have appreciated the sheer size of the whales more, but the tricks itself were just more fun at the dolphin show.
After this we went to the kid section, but by this point the girls were really hot and tired and a bit bored, so I think they maybe did one or two rides before they decided they just wanted to go home and swim in the pool.
So, next time, we would skip the adult rides, and probably do more of the zoo type activities which I think they would've liked better - and the dolphin show of course! :)In the evening we went for supper at Tony Roma's and then went back to Prime Outlets for a little more shopping.
Day 7 (Wednesday) - Magic Kingdom
Today our little family headed out to Magic Kingdom again. We had to take the ferry across cause the monorail wasn't running for some reason. Here's a picture of the castle from the ferry.We went straight back to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and rode that thing about 4 times in a row. We also collected some child swap passes (cause Jacob couldn't go) to use later when it got busier. We were there early so we virtually walked on the ride all 4 times. Then Emma, Sophia and I went on Splash Mountain (wearing ponchos! Yep, we cheat and are proud of it!) while Nathan took Jacob and Olivia on the Magic Carpets of Aladdin.
Then we headed for the Tomorrowland section of Magic Kingdom which we've never even been in before (it's more boy oriented) and straight for the Tomorrowland Speedway - where Jacob got to drive a racecar (not sure if it can actually be called a racecar considering how slow it went!). He loved it. You can barely see his cap peeking over the driver's seat.
Then we headed into ToonTown where Jacob got to ride his first ever rollercoaster (our local mini rollercoaster not withstanding)- Goofy's Barnstormer! He just BARELY cleared the height restriction. He seemed to really like it. The girls loved this ride last time we came to Disney, and they still liked it now - but after riding Big Thunder Mountain, this one felt really short and just not as good (all true!).We then walked through Mickey's house and Minnie's house which the girls just loved! They're doing a lot of renovations in Fantasyland and ToonTown at Magic Kingdom and I think these houses are going to be taken down.
Jacob also really enjoyed Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh (using the FastPass system is crucial, especially when you have young kids that aren't going to survive constant long waits in line).
After the kids were done with rides, we headed back to the house for a quick lunch, and swimming in the pool! We finally took the girls' hairdo's out after this swim.
We all went to TGI Fridays for supper and then our little family headed back to the Magic Kingdom for some more rides (guess which ones?!) and to watch the fireworks and the parade. Looks who's tired while waiting for the parade!
Since the fireworks were first, the park seemed to empty out a bit before the parade, and it didn't seem too crazy getting out of the park afterwards. When the fireworks are last, the show is over and then everyone heads straight for the park gates. But when the parade is last, it's a long route, and it ends at different times for different people, which makes for an easier exit. Makes sense to me anyway!
Anyway, we had missed out on the fireworks during our trip two years ago, resulting in many tears, so I was determined that we wouldn't miss them this time. It's an excellent show. It starts with Tinkerbell flying down from the castle, it's narrated by Jimminy Crickett with a storyline and music to go along with the fireworks, which at one point are even in heart shapes. So fun!
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