The End of 2010

Well, I guess this will be last post for the year 2010! It's hard to believe that another year is coming to an end but I am excited to see what 2011 will bring our way.

2010 has been a pretty good year for our family. I'll do a little recap of some of the highlights :)

~ We were able to go to PEI for a visit with our families during the summer. This trip included attending 3 weddings for some of our dearest friends and family. Cameron and I were also very fortunate to be able to spend almost 2 full months in PEI and Cory was able to join us for almost 2 weeks. It was a great summer!

~ We got to go on our first "real" family vacation to Orlando, FL. We had so much fun and made so many memories while we were there. Although our trip was jam packed and was very busy, it was all worth it. Cameron had so much fun and we can't wait to go back.

~ We made a big announcement in November that we are expecting baby #2. Many of our family and friends were quite surprised to hear this news as we had led them to believe that we didn't plan to have another baby. I think we did an excellent job of fooling them. We are still in the early days of this new part of our lives but we know it's going to make 2011 an exciting year!

Overall, 2010 was a great year for our family. We seem to grow closer together with each passing year and we love making new memories that we'll cherish always. I wish all of our family and friends, both near and far, a healthy and happy new year!

Bring on 2011!!!

Baking is done!

After much procrastination, I have finished my Christmas baking. I didn't do much baking this year and I decided that whatever I could get done in one day was all that I would do. So, this past Sunday I spent the majority of my day in the kitchen. Baking, doing dishes, baking, doing dishes, baking, doing dishes...it's doing the dishes that really isn't too much fun. I decided to keep things pretty simple with my baking choices and I made peanut butter balls, ginger cookies and Skor fudge. Everything turned out great! I packed the majority of the baked goods into the cute little boxes to be delivered to our friends. We only kept a small amount of treats for ourselves because lets face it; the more we have in the house, the more we'll eat! Everyone got their little box of goodies yesterday and I hope that they'll enjoy :)

Christmas Baking

Wow, I can't believe that it's only one week until Christmas 2010! Where has the time gone? Not only that but I am slightly disorganized and therefore behind this year. I'm usually very much on the ball and ready for the holiday season in advance but this year I seemed to have a little trouble. I'm sticking with the fact that the little bundle I have growing in my belly has caused me to be more tired than usual and is taking it's toll on my energy level.

With all that being said, I have managed to get all of my Christmas cards and gifts in the mail...hopefully in time so that their recipients will receive them before Christmas. Although, I have to admit that a couple of our friends who live in the North may not get their cards until after the holidays...oops!

The past couple of years at Christmas time I have done lots of baking and made up little tins of goodies for our SK "family". However, this year I've been struggling with whether or not I would do this again because I just haven't had the energy. After thinking it over and over and over and over, I have finally decided to take the bull by the horns and tough it out for at least one day of baking. I figure if I don't go overboard and just make a few different treats that I should be able to handle the work. I've also instructed Cory that his assistance will be required. So, tomorrow will be my one and only baking day. Whatever gets done tomorrow, is all that I am doing this year. To be honest, it's not the baking that I find so tiring because I very much enjoy that part...it's the cleaning that goes along with it that I despise.

My goal for tomorrow is to bake 4 different kinds of yummy treats and put together the Christmas gifts for our friends. I'm confident with a little help, that I can get it all done in one day and I hope that our friends will be pleased with the outcome. So, here's to Christmas baking!!

The Ellen Show - Can Andy Say That?

I was perusing my friend Amber's blog and I came across a very funny video clip from The Ellen Show. I laughed my butt off so I just had to share and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did! I love The Ellen Show but unfortunately I don't get to watch it as often as I would like. I suppose I could take advantage of the fact that we do have a PVR and I could record it every day. Maybe I'll make that one of my New Year's resolution ;) Enjoy!!

"I'm running away!"

So, I knew it would happen eventually but I honestly didn't think we'd hear the phrase, "I'm running away" from Cameron at the age of four. However, it has been said a few times this past week.

The first time I heard it was pretty amusing. You see, I had let Mr. Cameron stay up late to watch a couple of shows on TV...G.I. Joe and Inspector Gadget so you can see why he didn't want to miss those! Anyway, it was 10pm when I finally told him he had to go to bed. Of course, because he was then overtired he started to put up a little fight. He then said that if I didn't want him anymore that he was running away. I certainly didn't tell him that I didn't want him. I simply explained that it was way past bedtime and that he had to get ready for bed. "I'm running away" was the next phrase out of his mouth.

I refrained from laughing and explained how much Mommy and Daddy would miss him if he ran away. I then asked him where he was going to go if he didn't live with us anymore. To my surprise, he had a plan already in place. He informed me that I had to take him to the airport in the morning and that he was going to live with Nannie (my mom)! I asked him what he was going to do if he lived there and he then said he was taking a big box of toys with him. I decided I should break the news that Nannie has to go to work every day and I asked him who would look after him while she was at work. He looked at me like I was a complete moron and stated, "I'll stay with Grampie while Nannie is at work."

I thought he was very inventive and had quite a plan for being such a tire little boy. I managed to get him settled and into bed with the promise that he could call his Nannie and talk to her on the phone the next day. He seemed pleased with this idea and decided he wasn't going to run away after all...until the next day when he didn't like being told to pick up his toys and he stormed off to his room while yelling, "I'm running away!" The joys of children :)

Portable North Pole

This is so much for kids of all ages...I mean who wouldn't want a personal message from Santa.

To create your own go to:

http://www.portablenorthpole.ca/

We're having a baby!

The cat is out of the bag...so to speak!

As many of you most likely are already aware, we are expecting our second child. Last week we decided it was time to share the exciting news with our family friends. To be honest, I wanted to wait a few more weeks but Cory simply couldn't wait any longer. I ordered the cutest big brother t-shirt online for Cameron for our big announcement and the day that the t-shirt arrived in the mail Cory thought we should just tell everyone our news!

I took a picture of Cameron wearing his new big brother t-shirt and emailed it to my parents. I called to tell them that I was sending a picture that I thought that they would like so that they would check for it right away. While my parents were viewing their email, we were chatting with Cory's parents on Skype so Cameron modeled his t-shirt for them. Our parents were very surprised with our news and also very excited.


You see, we had convinced our family and friends that we had no intention of having another baby. Little did they know that we had decided over a year ago that we would have one more when the time was right. Last fall we decided that we wanted to take Cameron on a really fun vacation before we added to our family. Disney World in Orlando, FL was obviously our choice and we had decided that once we went on our family vacation we would be ready for baby number 2. To our surprise, I discovered I was expecting just one week after our return from Florida and of course we were very excited!

I am almost 9 weeks, so it is still very early but everything seems to be going well so far. I feel very similar to when I was pregnant with Cameron. I don't have any morning sickness but I sure do have afternoon AND evening sickness almost daily! I've been a little tired as well, but overall I really can't complain. Cameron is having a little difficulty understanding the whole concept of a new baby in the family and that he's going to be a big brother but I'm sure he'll start to understand soon.

A funny thing happened the other night actually. Cameron gave me a big hug and squeezed me so tightly. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling the best (a little queasy) so I just asked him not to squeeze too hard because my belly was feeling a little sick. He then questioned as to why my belly felt sick and I reminded him that there is a baby growing in my belly. He gave me a funny look and then asked to see my belly so I lifted my shirt so that he could take a look at my belly. Obviously, there is nothing to see and I'm certainly not showing. He took a look anyway and informed me that he couldn't see the baby and then he put his ear to my belly and told me that he couldn't hear the baby. I thought this was pretty cute and then he looked up at me and said, "I guess the baby is sleeping."

Florida Family Vacation Blogging Complete

I finally finished writing/copying from my journal to recap our family vacation to Florida. I'm really not too sure how many people actually read this blog and I'm also not too sure if any of you wanted to know the day to day routines of our vacation...but you have it to read now or not, your choice :)

I'll now try to be a little more on the ball and keep posting on a regular basis...I hope!

Winter Wonderland

Well, it would seem that winter is quickly approaching. We did have snow here in Sturgis the last week of October but then it got warmer again and all of the snow melted. I have to admit, I was quite surprised because I was sure it was here to stay. So last week we were pleasantly surprised to have a week full of sunshine and warm temperatures. However, that quickly came to a halt and it started to get colder as each day passed. Which brings us to today...the day started with some lovely freezing rain and then changed to snow this afternoon. I just loved when the roads turn to ice and are then covered with a blanket of fresh white stuff. It makes for such awesome driving! Luckily, I don't have to go too far most days and I get to stay indoors on days like these. Cameron did have school this afternoon but I really can't complain about driving 3 blocks. I know winter is inevitable but I really was hoping it would hold out a little longer...sigh.

Florida Family Vacation Day 15

Journal Entry: Sunday, October 17, 2010

Today started before am, which wasn't much fun especially because I am NOT a morning person. It was a very tight squeeze getting to the airport. We had 5 large suitcases plus our carry-ons to fit into the car with 5 of us. Luckily it wasn't a very long drive to the airport.

After the usual process at the airport, we got on our flight to Denver. Our seats were in the very last row and it was super uncomfortable. The only good think about the flight was that the movie was "Grown Ups". We had a 2.5 hour wait in Denver, which gave us lots of time to stretch our legs and have some lunch.

We finally got to Regina at 2pm, cleared customs, and got our bags loaded into the truck. We started our drive home and stopped in Yorkton to pick up supper. We knew we had no groceries at home and we certainly didn't feel like cooking.

After a very tiring day, we are having a very relaxing evening at home. It is going to feel so good to crawl into our own bed tonight. We had an amazing vacation but it is also great to be home. And although we just got home, I can't wait to go back!

Florida Family Vacation Day 14

Journal Entry: Saturday, October, 16, 2010

Today started with a very early morning. Matt and Stephanie left before the rest of us were out of bed to go to the airport. However, the rest of us were up at 6am to get ready to go to breakfast with Mickey.

We had reservations for breakfast at the Ohana restaurant at the Polynesian Resort at Disney. We got to see Mickey, Pluto, Lilo and Stitch. Cameron was so excited to have each of the characters come right to our table to see him. Breakfast was very good and we all enjoyed the experience very much. They just kept bringing us more food until we had had enough...Mickey shaped waffles, scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, biscuits, and hash browns!

After breakfast, we decided to go to the Magic Kingdom for a couple of hours. We had promised to take Cameron on the Dumbo ride because we had missed it the day we were there. There was a 30 minute wait for the ride but we waited. All 5 of us then went on Splash Mountain again since we were there and it's such a fun ride. We did a little shopping, which included purchasing Mickey ears with our names on them!

We headed to Downtown Disney when we left the Magic Kingdom. We yet more shopping and then had lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express. The wait for our food was a little long but the food was yummy. We went back to the house for the rest of the afternoon. We hung out around the pool for a while and then started packing.

We went for supper at Hooters and then went mini golfing at Pirate's Cove again. Mini golf was fun and the best part was that I won! We had planned to call it an early night but we had to finish packing so things didn't quite go as planned.

It's time to finally crawl into bed because we have to get up at 4am to get ready to go to the airport :(

Florida Family Vacation Day 13

Journal Entry: Friday, October, 15, 2010

We finally finished our visits to all of the theme parks, so today we decided to got exploring during the day. Today is also Matt and Stephanie's last day and they decided to stay at the house for the day.

The rest us ventured out for a little drive. It was getting close to lunch time so we found a Johnny Rocket's on International Drive. Johnny Rocket's is a neat little 50's diner that serves really yummy milkshakes and food. After lunch we went to do a little shopping. We had to get a new suitcase because we new we weren't going to be able to get everything into the 2 that we brought with us due to all of our shopping. We went to Ross Dress For Less and found some great deals.

After shopping it was time to hit up the Sling Shot! Sling Shot is a ride where two people get strapped into seats and then are shop up 390 feet in the air. Pernell and Cory went on the Sling Shot while we watched. It was awesome and hilarious! We have it on video so we can laugh at it over and over again. Chantel didn't want to ride so I opted out as well.

After the Sling Shot, we made our way to the Mall of Millenia. We did little shopping until it was time to meet Stephanie and Matt at The Cheesecake Factory for supper. Although we had already been there to eat, it was so yummy that we wanted to go back. Supper was very good and we all took cheesecake home for dessert.

After supper Pern and Chantel decided to go home while the rest of us went mini golfing. We went to Pirate's Cove Mini Golf in Lake Buena Vista and it was really fun. We headed home after mini golf so that Stephanie and Matt could pas as they leave early in the morning.

The rest of us are calling it an early night as well because we have breakfast with Mickey in the morning!

Florida Family Vacation Day 12

Journal Entry: Thursday, October, 14, 2010

Today we ventured out for a our last day at a theme park, Universal's Islands of Adventures. It was a very fun day although I did have a headache for most of the day. I think the headache was likely due to lack of sleep because I had a rotten sleep last night. I pushed through the day but I did skip the water rides. After being wet for most of the day at Animal Kingdom, I didn't want to do that again. Pern, Cory and Cameron got soaked and spent $10 in the people dryer!

We got to experience the new Harry Potter section that only opened in June. It was really neat but it was FULL of people and that nearly drove me insane. We spent just a little over an hour in line just to go on one of the Harry Potter rides and I'm still not sure it was worth the wait. The ride was fun but definitely not on the top of my list of favorites.

We took Cameron to Seuss' Landing and he really enjoyed that. We went on all the rides with him and he got to have his picture taken with The Cat in The Hat and The Grinch. He was little confused about why The Grinch didn't give him a hug though! Cameron also got his picture take with Spiderman and we actually bought these pictures because they were so cool.

After we left the park we went to Benihana for supper. It's a Chinese restaurant where they cook your food in front of you at your table. It was new experience for all of us and we really enjoyed everything. I also learned how to use chopsticks!

It's getting late and we're not planning much for tomorrow. Laundry is on the top of my agenda.

Florida Family Vacation Day 11

Journal Entry: Wednesday, October, 13, 2010

Today we decided to have a more relaxing day, sort of. Matt and Stephanie decided to stay at the house for the day. Matt got some school work done and they went for a swim. Pernell, Cory and Cameron dropped Chantel and I off to go shopping and they went to Gatorland. The boys really enjoyed seeing the gators. They all got to sit on a gator and Cameron ever got to feed the gators.

In the evening, we made our way to Downtown Disney as we had tickets to go see Cirque du Soliel's La Nouba. The show was awesome! I'll admit that I though that the show got off to a bit of a slow start and Cameron was a bit restless but it definitely got better. During one part of the show, there were four little girls that were about 10 years of at most and they were amazing! The little girls were my favorite part of the show.

After the show, we went to Planet Hollywood for supper. There was a wait for a table so we did a little shopping/browsing in some of the shops. None of us had ever been to a Planet Hollywood before and it was pretty neat. There was memorabilia from all kinds of movies and stuff everywhere. The restaurant for 4 floors and they played loud music and videos. Oh, and the food was pretty good too.

After another long day, it's time to call it a night and rest up for another busy day tomorrow.

Florida Family Vacation Day 10

Journal Entry: Tuesday, October, 12, 2010

We were up and on the go pretty early this morning to get ready for our day at Hollywood Studios. Cameron had been asking almost daily as to when we were going to Hollywood Studios. It turns out he just really wanted to see the giant Mickey's sorcerer hat!

We started our day by going on Aerosmith's Rockin' Roller Coaster and Hollywood Tower of Terror. Cameron couldn't go on the roller coaster but he absolutely loved Tower of Terror. We actually went on the Tower of Terror again later in the day!

Most of the other attractions were shows as opposed to rides. We saw The Little Mermaid, Muppets in 3D, and a Stunt Show to name a few. The stunt show was very neat and we really liked it. It showed how they do various stunts with cars in movies.

Matt and Stephanie decided to go home early but the rest of us stayed for Fanstamic. We did a little shopping and Cameron got Mickey's sorcerer hat and Mickey gloves. We stood in line for Fantasmic for a very long time but we did have very good seats and the show was awesome!

While we were waiting for the show, Cory went to get us ice cream. Apparently a few people thought that he was Carey Hart and asked for his autograph! LOL! That pretty much sums up our day. Shopping and Cirque du Soliel tomorrow!

Florida Family Vacation Day 9

Journal Entry: Monday, October, 11, 2010

Today is Thanksgiving in Canada but there was no turkey for us. We decided to take a break from the parks today so we all went shopping. We went to a very large outlet mall and spent a little money ;) Everyone got stuff but no one went overboard. We didn't see Stephanie and Matt the whole time we were there, that's just how big the outlet mall was.

When we first started shopping, I discovered that Cory had a whole in one of his new t-shirts (the one he had bought at Aquatica) and this made him quite upset. So we spent most of the day in search of a similar t-shirt. We didn't have any luck so we stopped into the smaller outlet to look some more. He managed to find a similar t-shirt and he settled for that.

We didn't have time to go back to the house as Blue Man Group was on the agenda for the evening. We had planned to go to supper at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville at Universal's City Walk before the show. Cory, Cameron and I weren't planning to go to Blue Man Group because Cory and I had seen the show in Boston a few years ago. However, Pern wasn't feeling well, so Cory and I went to the show while Pern and Chantel took Cameron home. Supper was pretty good and Cameron and Cory had balloon animals made for them. Cameron got a parrot and Cory got a monkey. Cameron also had a real parrot sit on his arm which was cute.

Cory, Stephanie, Matt and myself went to Blue Man Group for 8pm. Since Cory and I had seen the show before, we knew what to expect and it was very similar to the show in Boston. We all enjoyed the show, although we could have done without the crazy girl sitting behind us. She was very loud and apparently had seen the show multiple times. After the show we headed for home. We didn't get home until 11pm and we were pretty tired.

So, it's time to call it a night and get rested up for our big day at Disney's Hollywood Studios tomorrow. We are planning for a long day so that we can stay to see the Fantasmic show, which is supposed to be pretty awesome.

Florida Family Vacation Day 8

Journal Entry: Sunday, October 10, 2010

Even though we had al ong day yesterday, we were up and on the go early this morning. Today we decided to go to Universal Studios. None of us had ever been to Universal so it was something new for all of us.

Once we got into the park we decided to buy the Express Line Pass. With this pass we were able to go in the Express Line for all of the rides and therefore have a very minimal wait time for each ride. We were very glad we did this because without it, we wouldn't have had enough time to go on everything. My favorite of the day was The Simpson's Ride.

Some other highlights from today include Cameron not liking the Twister ride, which really surprised me. He was worried that a twister was going to come and get us. We assured him that this wasn't going to happen and then he was okay. I think he had seen the actual movie before, he wouldn't have been scared by the ride. We also witnessed a grown man throwing a huge tantrum over the length of time he had been waiting to get on a ride. He was crazy and we felt sorry for his wife and daughter. On the Disaster ride, Matt was chosen to take part in the making of the ride. They kept calling him purple Matt (he was wearing a purple shirt) and of course we kept laughing at him. The ride was about making a movie and Matt was then in the trailer for the movie. It was pretty neat.

One disappointment today was that the big roller coaster was closed for annual maintenance. We bought a few souvenirs at the end of the day before heading home.

Cory, Stephanie, Matt, and I decided we would have a lazy evening at home and just have leftovers for super. We stopped at McDonald's for Cameron and at Super Target for a few things on our way home. Pernell and Chantel went out for supper and we stayed home and watched Beauty and the Beast with Cameron. We all wanted to get some laundry done and make it an early night.

Tomorrow we are planning to go shopping and then Pernell, Chantel, Matt, and Stephanie are going to see Blue Man Group tomorrow night. We all need a little break from parks for a day.

Florida Family Vacation Day 7

Journal Entry: Saturday, October 9, 2010

Today we wanted to have a somewhat easy day but still go to one of the parks, but in the end it was still a pretty long day. We went to Disney's Animal Kingdom and were there until the park closed at 5pm. When we arrived in the morning we decided to go on the more popular rides that we thought might have a longer wait later in the day. We started out with Expedition Everest and it was awesome! So awesome in fact, that we each got a Fast Pass to go on it again later in the day. I should mention that a Fast Pass allows you to a return to the ride during a specific time frame and get in the Fast Pass lane, which results in a very short wait time. We went on the Kali River Rapids next and it was also fun. However, everyone got soaked...especially me! It took a large part of the day to dry off.

We also went on the Kilimanjaro Safari ride and saw all kinds of animals, such as elephants, hippos, and giraffes. Cameron wanted to watch the parade so we found a spot in the shade and Cameron loved watching all of the characters in the parade. At the end of the day we took Cameron to have his photo taken with some of the characters. He got his picture taken with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Thumper...he was most excited for Mickey.

We came right back to the house after leaving the park because Pernell wasn't feeling well. Stephanie, Matt, and Cameron went for a swim while Cory, Chantel, and I just put our feet in the pool. After we got freshened up; myself, Cory, Cameron, Matt, and Stephanie went out for supper. Let me just say this...The Cheesecake Factory...YUMMY! We had to wait almost an hour for a table and it was totally worth it. Cameron was the only one who finished his meal and the rest of us took our leftovers home for tomorrow. Ours meals were so big that we had to get our cheesecake to go and we all look forward to snacking on that tomorrow.

We finally made it home at around 11pm and we called it a night shortly thereafter. Universal Studios tomorrow!

Florida Family Vacation Day 6

Journal Entry: Friday, October 8, 2010

Last night when we were making our plan for today, we decided we would sleep in a little today. We were still on the go fairly early though and started our day by going shopping for a couple of hours. Everyone made some purchases but we will most definitely be doing more shopping in the coming days.

We had lunch at the outlet mall before we made our way to Disney's Epcot. We planned to go to the park later in the day as we were going to stay for the Illuminations show at 9pm. As it turns out, we probably should have gone to the park earlier in the day because we didn't actually make our way though everything. The best ride of the day was Test Track and Cameron loved it! I is so much fun to see how excited he gets.

Epcot was very busy today as they are currently celebrating their 15th Food and Wine Festival. We all met up shortly after 7pm at the Canada pavilion. We found a spot that we thought would be good to watch the Illuminations show from and parked ourselves there. We took turns going to get something to eat so we would lose our spot. Matt and Cory both decided to tackle the giant deep fried turkey leg this evening, which surprisingly tastes just like ham. They couldn't quite finish the turkey legs but they made a big dent in them.

The Illuminations show started promptly at 9pm. It is a show with fountains, fire, lights, fireworks and music. I am pretty sure this was the best fireworks display that any of us have ever seen. Although everyone in the park was leaving and going to their cars at the same time, the system used at Disney makes everything run so smoothly and we were on our way home in no time.

After another long and eventful day, we are all very tired but ready for more tomorrow. Tomorrow we plan to go to Disney's Animal Kingdom because it shouldn't take a whole day to get through...maybe. Not sure what else we'll do tomorrow but we may go mini golfing in the evening.

Florida Family Vacation Day 5

Journal Entry: Thursday, October 7, 2010

Today was our first day at Walt Disney World. We felt that it was appropriate to start off with The Magic Kingdom. Cameron was in awe all day long. He even got a 1st Visit button!

We started our day in Tomorrowland where we experienced such rides as Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, Stitch's Great Escape and Space Mountain. Cameron was a little disappointed that he could go on Space Mountain but he got over it pretty quickly. We also had lunch at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe and Cameron got to meet Stitch and Buzz Lightyear.

Next we hit up Mickey's Toontown Fair where went to Mickey's house, Minnie's house and we a family picture taken with Mickey and Minnie. Fantasyland came next and we enjoyed Mickey's Philharmagic, Snow White's Scary Adventure and the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

The Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade was great and Cameron loved every minute of it. We got to see many of the Disney characters and listen to some Disney music. Cameron also loved that many of the characters in the parade came right over to see him and give him a high five!

Cory finally got to order his coat of arms that he saw when we were at the Magic Kingdom five years ago. It was a little pricey but he's happy and it will be nice to have. He decided to get the Dowling and the McLeod coat of arms. It also has both of our names on it and our marriage date. It will be made and then shipped to us us in SK, most likely in time for Christmas.

In Liberty Square, we went to the Haunted Mansion before moving onto Frontierland. The best ride of the was was by far Splash Mountain and I think everyone would agree. We all got wet and it was awesome! We finished up our day with Big Thunder Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean.

We left the Magic Kingdom at 7pm and headed to Joe's Crab Shack for supper. The food was pretty good, a few had to wear bibs, and we bought t-shirts. It was a very long day but we finally made it back to the house and Cameron passed out on the way home. Tomorrow we are planning to go to Epcot.

Florida Family Vacation Day 4

Journal Entry: Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Today was another fun filled day that started out with a quick trip to Walmart. This wasn't just any Walmart though, this a was a Super-Duper Awesome Walmart. It didn't even look like a Walmart from the outside except for the sign. I'm pretty sure it was the cleanest, biggest and most organized Walmart I have ever been in.

After Walmart, we made our way to Aquatica. Aquatica is the water park that is owned/run by Sea World and it is new. We had no idea what to expect but once we got inside the park, we knew it was going to be a really fun day. We spent the day going from one thing to the next. There were water slides that we down on in tubes and without tubes, we played in the wave pool, and we floated down the lazy river. What we called the lazy river is actually called Roa's Rapids. We all put on life jackets and the water/current just pushes you along. I think this was our favorite part of the whole day because kept going back for more.

We spent close to 5 hours at Aquatica and when we decided that we were wrinkly enough, we got changed into dry clothes and called it a day. When we left the water park, we headed to an outlet mall to do a little shopping. We didn't stay too long as we knew Stephanie and Matt would be waiting for us at the house.

All seven of us went to Olive Garden for supper and it was awesome. We all ate so much for supper, that we were ready to call it a night when we got home. I did do a load of laundry and put out the garbage though.

I'm now trying to remember some highlights from the day. We definitely saw all kinds of sights at Aquatica, including many people wearing bathing suits that they shouldn't have been wearing. Tomorrow, the plan is to go to Disney's Magic Kingdom. I'm the only one still awake so I guess I should go to sleep now.

Florida Family Vacation Day 3

Journal Entry: Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Well, today got off to a very early start for Cory and I. Apparently, we may have gone to bed a little too early because we were both awake for the day at 5:30am...or maybe we were just too excited to sleep. I finally got out of bed just before 7am to get showered and ready for the day. We didn't want to get up earlier and wake everyone else.

Cameron was not too keen on getting up when I woke him just before 8am. He told me that he was very tired and that he was dreaming about Pokemon. We all had breakfast and then made our way to Sea World for the day. Although the park had lots of people in it, it really wasn't that busy. We decided to do the rides first and then go exploring and to see the various shows. Manta, Kraken, and Journey to Atlantis were the big rides and they were all pretty fun. Cameron didn't like waiting when he couldn't go on Manta and Kraken though. We went to the Believe show with the whales, a show with dolphins and Pets Ahoy. I think the dolphin show was everyone's favorite. There is also a kids area at the park and Cameron really enjoyed that part. Cory went on all of the rides with him and I took pictures. We took lots of pictures today but didn't manage to get a picture of the three of us together.

On a side note, I was pooped on by a bird today! Thankfully, it was only on my shirt and I had layered my shirt so I was able to take off the poopy one. It was pretty yucky but still funny at the same time!

After our fun filled day at Sea World, Pernell requested that we go to Hooters for supper. Due to some technical difficulties with the GPS (I won't go into details) we finally found Hooters. this was Cameron's first Hooters experience and he even got a t-shirt. We then went on the hunt for the Walmart that was supposed to be close to the house we're renting. However, after another long drive, we finally gave up on Walmart and came home.

We finally got home at 10pm and we had promised Cameron that he could go swimming. He did get in the pool but not for long because it was too cold. We didn't think we'd need a heated pool so we didn't pay the extra. It's also $35 per night o heat the pool and spa and I personally think that is a bit ridiculous. However, it is unfortunate because we are most likely going to want to use the pool at night when it is colder outside. I suppose this is a disadvantage to renting a house as opposed to staying in a hotel. I was also looking forward to relaxing in the spa in the evening :(

Cameron is sound asleep in his bed and hopefully he'll be well rested for tomorrows. Tomorrow we are going to Sea World's water park, Aquatica. It is a new park and it looks like it should be fun. Stephanie and Matt are arriving tomorrow as well and we're looking forward to seeing them.

I'm off to finish our laundry and to get things organized for tomorrow. Then it's bedtime for me!

Florida Family Vacation Day 2

Journal Entry: Monday, October 4, 2010

After a very restless/sleepless night our day officially began at 3:45am. I had set the alarm for 4am but I didn't see the point in trying to sleep for a mere 15 minutes. Cory and I showered and got dressed before we bothered to wake Cameron. We are quite fortunate that Cameron is in fact a morning person and is always happy when he first wakes up. I should note that he definitely does not get this from me. We were checked out of the hotel and en route to the airport before 5am.

The process of checking our bags went very quickly and we headed for security. We got a little side tracked on the way and stopped to purchase Cameron a new had, as we had forgot his at home. He got a SK Roughriders hat which I am sure will please all of our SK friends. We got through security without any issues and Cory got us breakfast at Tim Horton's while we waited to board our flight.

Our flight from Regina to Denver was on time, actually we arrived a few minutes early. Even though we arrived early, we then had to wait approximately 10-15 minutes because Customs was not open yet. We found this frustrating because we knew we had a lot of ground to cover in the Denver airport in a very short period of time. It seemed to take forever and a day to get to Customs from the gate but thankfully it went very quickly getting through Customs. We then had to collect our checked baggage, which also seemed to take forever, and then we had to re-check our baggage. We then proceeded to a very long line to go through security again. This also seemed to take a very long time and time was a ticking for us. We then booted it to the tram/shuttle that took us to the B concourse and we eventually got to our gate.

Once we got the gate, we discovered that they had started to the board our flight. However, we had to go to the desk to try to get our seats re-arranged. We had never had this happen to us before but all three of us were sitting separately. This wouldn't be a big deal if Cameron wasn't 4! At least of us had to be able to sit with Cameron. The lady at the gate was able to change our seats but still couldn't get all three of us together. I find it very strange that an airline would have a small child sitting all alone. However, we are used to flying with Air Canada but this trip we are flying with United. In the past, we have been separated on a flight but never all three of us apart. One of us has always had a seat with Cameron without having to have anything changed. I am aware that this could be avoided by paying to select our seats in advance but I think we already pay enough to begin with.

I am currently sitting on our flight from Denver to Orlando and Cameron is sound asleep beside me. As soon as we were settled in our seats he told me that he was thirsty and hungry but then he was out like a light long before they started offering food and beverages. I did get him an apple juice and a snack for when he wakes up.

To my disappointment, this aircraft does not have TV's in the headrests. It does have the old school TV's in the aisle about every 4-5 rows. There is a movie playing but I have no interest in it. I tried to watch it but I was bored within 5 minutes. I have done a little people watching from my seat though, which obviously isn't too exciting. There is a lady knitting what looks to a blanket, a quite bright and ugly pink blanket with other colors throughout. With the security so tight in the USA, I'm actually surprised that they allow knitting needles on the plane. I also watched a man in the row across from us order his double vodka on ice at 11am. I suppose it's noon somewhere but it was funny to watch his technique. First he poured both little bottles of booze into his glass full of ice. Then he unscrewed the caps on each empty bottle and proceeded to shake out the last drop. Oh, but that's not all, then he did this for a second time with each bottle. Maybe he just really wanted to get his money's worth.

I believe we are now almost half way to Orlando. We are experiencing a little bit of turbulence, which means the seat belt sign is on. The flight attendants seem a little frustrated with the passengers who are still getting out of their seats to go the rest room. I'm now going to read my new Jodi Picoult book and hope that the time goes by quickly. I'm anxious to get to our destination.

We arrived in Orlando on time and made our way to the baggage claim area with ease. This process was much more simple and required a lot less walking than in Denver. Pernell and Chantel arrived in Orlando a few hours before us so they were able to get the rental car and take their stuff to the house we are renting. We chose to rent a house rather than stay in a hotel because we can all be together, a house is more spacious, we will have our own pool, a kitchen, laundry, and it is much cheaper than a hotel. We are all settled in an ready for Stephanie and Matt to join us on Wednesday.

The five of us went out for supper at TGI Fridays and it was quite good. We then went to Super Target to a little shopping. The main purpose of this shopping excursion was to get a few groceries and necessities. We wanted to have stuff for breakfast and snacks. Cameron really wanted to go to Walmart but he relaxed when he discovered that Target is very much like Walmart. He insisted on looking at the toys but we made it clear that we were not buying toys on this trip.

When we got back to the house, Cameron really wanted to go swimming but we just didn't have the energy to take him. He was a little upset but we will definitely take him swimming tomorrow. We have decided that we'll go to Sea World tomorrow as Stephanie and Matt aren't going to that park. I'm sure it will be a fun day.

Florida Family Vacation Day 1

Journal Entry: Sunday, October 3, 2010

Today is the beginning of our first "official" family vacation ever! Over the past four years we have been on trips but many of those trips were either day trips of weekend trips. Since we moved to SK in March of 2008, we have had four family trips to PEI but those rips just don't seem to qualify as an actual vacation. Also, every trip we have had to PEI has been for a wedding so we didn't even get to pick when we went on these trips. We did enjoy our visits with our family and friends with each trip to PEI but we are very excited for what we a calling a "real" vacation.

There has been much planning for this vacation and we are certain it will be well worth it. We started planning this vacation with our friends Pernell and Chantel in November of 2009. When we said that we thought we would go to Florida for vacation, they immediately said that they'd love to join us. the planning officially began in March of 2010 when Stephanie and Matt also said that they would like to join us. After many phone calls and lots of emails, we were able to decide on travel dates, accommodations, etc. So, here we are, almost a year later and we are ready to go.

This afternoon, Cory, Cameron and myself left Sturgis and headed for Regina. We are staying over night in Regina, as our flight leaves very early in the morning and we chose not to drive to the airport in the middle of the night. Hopefully some day in the not so distant future, we will live closer to an airport. I suppose we were a little spoiled by living only minutes from the airport in PEI.

We are currently sitting in our hotel room contemplating a snack before bedtime, as Cameron is telling us that he is hungry. We are also hoping for an early bedtime for all of us because 4am will be here before we know it. I have everything organized for the morning so hopefully all will go smoothly. I am looking forward to writing about our family vacation to Orlando, Fl so that we can read about if years from now.

I'm back!

I apologize for being absent for the past few weeks to my followers. As mentioned in my previous post, we were on vacation...a real family vacation. We went to Orlando, Florida for two weeks and had the most amazing time! It felt good to get home but after a couple of days, I was ready to go back to the Sunshine State.

I decided to keep a journal on our vacation. Each night I wrote about the day's activities to keep track of what we did so that I could share with everyone when we returned home. I got to thinking, what better way to share my vacation journal with everyone but to post it on my blog. So, over the next few days I plan to copy my journal entries fro our vacation on here for those of you who are interested in reading about the fun times we had in Orlando. I hope you all enjoy.

Prepping for vacation...

I seem to have this ritual for preparing for vacation. Whether we are going away for a couple of days or a couple of weeks, I feel the need to have the house clean before we leave. Our vacation is just around the corner and I have very little ready for our actual trip. However, I did spend the majority of today cleaning the house. Tomorrow, I plan to finish cleaning the house so that I can finally start packing. I suppose the reason I go on this cleaning spree before I go away, is so that when I return home the house is clean and tidy. I think it's important for the house to be clean upon our return. It doesn't seem to matter where we go or how long we were gone for but when we get home and unload the truck, the house looks like a bomb went off in a very short period of time. Plus, it always seems to take a close to a week to get everything unpacked and organized when we return from vacation. It's also just nice to come home to a clean house. So, most people probably spend the last few days before vacation packing and such but I spend those days running around cleaning like a crazy lady! I best go make my cleaning list for the morning.

Cupcakes and Crafts

Well, it's Wednesday again so that means it's a school day for Cameron. What was special about this week is that I was the parent helper at school. The parent helper is responsible for helping out the teacher as well as bringing the snack for the kiddies. I always struggle with what would be an appropriate snack to bring. Of course, I always try to think of something healthy but this time I decided to give the kids a treat and I made cupcakes. The cupcakes were definitely a big hit and only a few crumbs were left uneaten.

At school today we took the kids for a walk so that they could collect some leaves for their craft. The walk was very slow...it's amazing how slow 4 year olds can be when they are out for a walk but yet they run wild when they are indoors. Oh, and it is also a very big chore for them to stay with they're partner and walk in a line...very tricky business. We eventually made it back to school and the kids did a lovely job of creating a picture made out of the leaves they collected. Despite the amount of glue used to stick all of the leaves to the paper, I'm not sure how long this craft will hold up for. I'm hoping Cameron's will last until Saturday night when Cory returns home from his course for work.

All in all, it was a pretty fun day and I look forward to being the parent helper again in November. Although, I must add...being a teacher is definitely a job that I couldn't do on a full time basis. It is a very challenging job and I applaud all of the teachers out there.

My many vacations to The Sunshine State

Our family vacation to Orlando, Florida is fast approaching and it got me thinking. I have had many trips to Florida throughout my life. I have counted 7 times that I've been to Florida for vacation.

Trip #1 to Orlando, FL was when I was approximately 14 months old. This was not a very memorable trip for me as I was so young and simply don't remember the trip at all. However, my mother has one memory from that trip that she will never forget. We were traveling with a family friend and their daughter and we all went to The Magic Kingdom at Disney World. During the noon time parade my mother discovered that I had managed to escape the stroller and she started to panic. Then she noticed many of the parade spectators laughing and pointing at a little girl chasing Winnie the Pooh in the parade calling, "Ninnie, Ninnie!" Yep, that little girl was me!

Trip #2 to North Reddington Beach, FL was when I was 7 years old. My parents decided to take an extended family vacation to Florida for a total of 6 weeks. We did drive to Florida for this trip so I suppose we were actually there for about 5 weeks in total. I still remember when we arrived at our condo and all I wanted to do was go swimming. Unfortunately, at 2pm it was completely dark outside due to a tornado watch and I had to wait until the next day to check out the pool! I learned to swim during this trip and went to Disney World twice, if I remember correctly. It was definitely a fun trip and I still have the journal, pictures included, that I wrote while I was there...with some help from my mom of course.

Trip #3 to Saint Petersburg, FL was when I was 8 years old. Dad couldn't go on this trip so Mom and I drove to Florida along with a couple of family friends. I was in Florida for 2 weeks for this trip. I spent hours in the pool and got to go to Disney World again. I actually went with family friends to Disney this time and we stayed at a Disney Resort (I can't remember which one). I remember loving The Magic Kingdom but being bored out of my mind at Epcot.

Trip #4 to Saint Petersburg, FL was when I was 13 years old. Once again, we drove to Florida and this trip my cousin Joey also came with us. We stayed in Florida for a month and we were joined for a couple of weeks by my aunt Marian and cousin Krista, as well. There were hours spent by the pool, a lot of shopping, and one rainy day spent at The Magic Kingdom...I still remember the sea of yellow Mickey Mouse ponchos everywhere you looked.

Trip #5 to Saint Petersburg, FL was when I was 14 years old. This trip was for a month as well and we drove. I was also allowed to take a friend with me for this trip, Natasha. We had a few visitors stay with us throughout the month as well, including Marian and Krista. It was a really fun trip, even if we had lots of school work to do while we were there. My dad was the brave one who took 4 kids to Disney for one day this trip!

Trip #6 to Punta Gorda, FL was when I was 16 years old. My parents decided we would go to Florida for Christmas this year. We stayed at my grandfather's house for this trip, although he wasn't in Florida while we were there. It was definitely different to be away at Christmas but we had a fun trip. We drove up to Daytona Beach and stayed for one night before driving up to Atlantic City, which is where we stayed for 2 nights including New Year's Eve. Of course, because I was only 16, I really didn't find Atlantic City too exciting!

Trip #7 to Orlando, FL was when I was 27 years old. Cory and I decided it would be fun to go to FL for our honeymoon, which is exactly what we did. We were there for one week and went to the 4 Disney parks, including The Magic Kingdom, Epcot, MGM, and Animal Kingdom. We also spent 1 day at Sea World. We went shopping for 1 day and just relaxed by the pool our last day there. We had a great trip.

Trip #8 to Orlando, FL will begin in just 5 days! This will be Cameron's first trip to Florida. We are so excited to be going with 2 other great couples as well, Stephanie & Matt and Chantel & Pernell. We have rented a house which I think will be much more comfortable for our 2 week vacation. We have already purchased our tickets to many things including 7 day Park Hopper passes to Disney, 2 day passes to Sea World and Aquatica, 2 day passes to Universal, and tickets to see Cirque du Soliel's La Nouba. It is going to be a fun-filled vacation and we've been keeping an eye on the Orlando weather and it has been beautiful and HOT.

It's pretty crazy that I've had so many trips to Florida but I guess it's safe to say that it is my favorite vacation spot. I'm sure there will be more trips to Florida over the coming years but there are many other places that we hope to travel to as well. This trip will be our last vacation for a while which is also why we're going all out for it. I can't wait to blog and share pictures about our family vacation upon our return.

Optimum Pooper

I had to share this...I love this commercial. I suppose this means I may have a strange sense of humour, but I'm quite okay with that!

Slacker

Wow! It seems I have once again been neglecting this blog. I'm really not sure why I occasionally forget about blogging because I thoroughly enjoy it. I would like to say that I've simply just been too busy to blog but that is just not the case. I often think about blogging and then get distracted. So, once again I am going to really try to do a better job of updating on a more regular basis.

There's been lots going on with our family lately but of course I can't remember everything (which is why I should update more regularly). Cameron has been pretty entertaining lately...we just never know what he's going to say next. An example of such would be last week when we had a family tickling/wrestling match on the living room floor. Mommy always ends up taking the brunt of it and in this true fashion I ended up laying on the floor with Cameron laying on top of me and Cory on top of Cameron. When they finally got up I laughed and said we made a Cameron sandwich. Cameron thought this was excellent and declared, "Let's do it again!" He then looks at me and says, "You be the meat and I'll be the salad...Daddy can be the bread!" It was very funny.

Cameron started school (pre-K) last week. I added a pic from his first day of school. As of now, he just goes on Wednesday afternoons but it will hopefully be changed to 2 times per week sometime soon. He absolutely loves going to school and I think it would benefit all of the kids if they could go twice a week. Right now they have to cram a lot of stuff into a couple of hours per week. Cameron is actually at school right now. I find it very strange when I have this time alone in the house...it's just so quiet. I generally don't know what to do with myself for these couple of hours. I usually take advantage and just relax and watch some TV. Cameron is typically in control of the TV in the living room during the day.



In other news, our old laptop died. It was slowly dying and then one morning a couple of weeks ago it had the blue screen of death. It's sad to say but I cannot live without a computer. The computer died in the morning so we then had to take a trip into Yorkton to purchase a new one. I love our new laptop and it works so much better than the old one did. We did decide to take the old laptop in to determine if it could be fixed. We ended up putting a new hard drive in it and they were able to retrieve all of our photos and music files off the old hard drive. I've definitely learned my lesson about not backing up my files. We'll be purchasing an external hard drive in the very near future! I had 2 years worth of pictures that I though I had lost forever.

Bye for now!

Secrets of Better Photography

I recently signed up for an online photography course and I am loving it! I have learned so much and I can't wait to start practicing some of the things that I am learning. I'm only half way through this course but I've already signed up for another course. This course is called Secrets of Better Photography and it focuses on a variety of areas. So far the lessons have been about equipment, film, lighting, exposure options, and portraiture. I'm really looking forward to the next lesson which is on children and pet photography.

Although, I'm loving the course and learning so much, I've found it difficult to get out and take pictures lately. I did manage to snap a few pics to use some of the techniques I've learned but I really need to start taking more pictures. I'm going to make the effort to get out every day and take some pictures. The assignment for the portraiture lesson requires me to find someone who is willing to let me take their picture so I'm on the hunt for a willing subject. If no one is interested, I suppose Cory will just have to have his portrait taking!

Here are a couple of pics that I have taken since I've started this course. They aren't very exciting but I was keeping it simple while practicing various techniques.

Road Trip

This morning I flew out of bed to the sound of my alarm. It's amazing how much it startles me when my alarm goes on in the morning because I so seldom have to actually set it. I often have to remind myself as to why I would have been so silly to set the alarm in the first place but this morning I quickly remembered that we were going on a road trip today.

Cory is gone golfing with the boys for 4 days. They are in Humboldt for the annual Saskatchewan Provincial Police Golf Championship. Cameron and I dropped Cory off yesterday morning and we then proceeded into Yorkton to pick up a few things. However, today we had a bigger road trip planned. We had some problems with our home theatre system and it had to go back to Best Buy to be sent away for repairs and they called last week to say that it was fixed...which thus required a road trip to Regina. Since Cory was going to be away for a few days, I decided it would be good for Cameron and I to get out of the house for a day while he was gone...we sometimes get a little tired of each other when it's just the two of us for days on end.

I invited my friend Amie and her sweet little baby Rylee (who just so happened to have turned 7 months old today) to come along for the day. Amie was also looking forward to getting out of the house for the day. We left Sturgis around 9am and made it to Regina shortly before noon. We decided we better have lunch before we did anything else. We decided on Applebees and it was pretty good. I've eaten there a couple of times before and today's lunch wasn't quite as good as what I've had there before but no big deal. Cameron refused to eat his lunch (it's in a container in our fridge now) and Rylee was a perfect little girl.

After lunch we headed for Best Buy to pick up our home theatre package. It is in a huge box that weighs at least a 100 pounds so two young gentlemen that work at the store were kind enough to put it in the truck for me. We then ventured next door to Winners and Homesense. Amie was on the hunt for a couple of pictures/art work but didn't have any luck. We both ended up just buying a toy for the kids. We discussed doing some more shopping but we both decided we didn't really need anything. I also figured I didn't need to spend any money when I should be saving for our Florida vacation that is fast approaching.

We left Regina at 2pm and arrived in Sturgis just before 5pm. However, we did make a quick pit stop in Fort Qu'Appelle at the Dairy Queen. The DQ in Yorkton is closed due to flood damage so we decided we should get our fix on the way home. We were lucky and didn't have any crazy weather to drive in...no thunderstorms, rain, hail, etc. Cameron wasn't an angel today but he wasn't horrible either...he just likes to push my buttons some days. Rylee was a little angel though and slept most of the way to Regina and most of the way back to Sturgis.

All in all it was a good day and it was great have some company for our little road trip. We'll have to do it again some time. Now it's time to relax for the evening. Cameron's watching a movie and I may put in a movie for myself after he goes to bed.

PEI Vacation - Part 3

I didn't spend my entire vacation on PEI. There was a road trip to Halifax, NS after Cory returned to SK. Myself, Cameron, my mom and my aunt Mae went on a little roadie to Halifax to visit our great friends, Lori and Wayne. We went to NS on a Thursday and came back on Saturday. We did a little shopping, toured the Halifax waterfront, had some good eats and most importantly, spent some time with Lori and Wayne. It was a great little trip!

Wedding number 3 took place on July 17th, which was when one of my dearest friends from high school got married. Krista and Marc have been together for 10 years and finally tied the knot. They live in New Hampshire so we don't got to see each other too often but we are all still great friends. My mom was my date for their wedding and we had a fantastic time. It was one of the most amazing weddings I've ever been too...even better than our wedding! The work that they (Krista) put into the wedding to make it so special and personalized was unbelievable. I am so happy for this wonderful couple. I just wish we didn't live so far away from them :(

Some other highlights of our vacation include:
~ A few trips to the movie theatre...I went to see Shrek Forever After, Toy Story 3, Grown Ups, Eclipse, and Despicable Me...can you tell I miss having a movie theatre so close to where I live?
~ I got my hair colored and cut TWICE by my favorite hair stylist who I actually trust that she knows what she's doing with my hair.
~ Canada Day fireworks...Cory's done a decent job with the backyard fireworks the past two years but these were much better.
~ Cow's Ice Cream...oh so yummy, and Cameron couldn't finish his so I couldn't let it go to waste.
~ Meeting two new little babies...Olivia Margaret Stanley and Aiden Andrew Smith.
~ A second trip to Shining Waters on a very, very hot day.
~ Getting to spend time with family and friends...although, as usual the time went so fast and I didn't get to see everyone as much as I had hoped.

That pretty much sums up our PEI Vacation for 2010. Again, I'm sure there was lots more that happened but that's all your getting! Now we're gearing up for our next vacation which will be in just a little of 2 months...Florida here we come!!!

PEI Vacation - Part 2

Wow! So, keeping a blog updated was apparently much more difficult to do while on vacation than I had thought it would be. I had this vision that while I was in PEI, I wasn't going to run all over the place and that I would have lots of down time. Well, the joke was on me!!! The 7.5 weeks that Cameron and I were in PEI just flew by and we were very busy. We probably only had a total of 5 days that we just stayed "home" and relaxed. The 2 weeks that Cory was with us in PEI also went very quickly but I had expected that. Since I didn't do a very good job of blogging while on vacation and I didn't exactly take notes to keep track of what we did, I'm going to do my very best to recap the highlights!

So, I already gave all the details of Stephanie's wedding, etc. The week after Stephanie's wedding was pretty uneventful for us. I took advantage of not having any obligations and had some relaxation time and got caught up on some sleep. However, our quiet time was short lived because Cory arrive in PEI on June 22nd and we were all pretty excited. While Cory was in PEI we did lots of visiting and touring the Island. On Cameron's birthday, myself, Cory, Cameron, Shirley, Jesse, Dylan, and Brandon went to Shining Waters Family Fun Park in Cavendish. We also had a birthday party for Cameron at Cory's parent's house. Cameron had lots of fun and it was a great way to get to see some family and friends. Cory and I took Cameron for his first round of mini golf in Cavendish. I got some great pictures and you can't even tell that Cameron was being a bit of a handful that day. We also perused Ripley's Believe It or Not after mini golfing and it was quite interesting. While Cory was in PEI we also made an obligatory trip to The Frosty Treat in Kensington...it was super yummy.

Cory and I celebrated our 6th anniversary on June 19th but we were still 4000kms apart. We planned an evening for just the two of us to go out for dinner and exchange gifts. We don't usually do the whole gift exchange thing for our anniversary but we decided we would this year. I had been planning Cory's gift for months! I had boudoir photos taken by an amazing photographer, Rachel Peters, and I gave him an album with the pictures in it as his gift. He was so surprised, he was speechless and for anyone who knows Cory, he's rarely at a loss for words. Cory gave me a beautiful journey diamond pendant and I absolutely love it. We went to Off Broadway Restaurant for our anniversary dinner. Cory used to work at Off Broadway and it had been quite a while since we had gone there to eat and the food was amazing.

Wedding number 2 took place while Cory was in PEI. Our great friend, Ryan, got married on July 3rd and Cory was a groomsman. The wedding took place at a lovely little church in Covehead and the reception followed at Shaw's Hotel. It was a beautiful wedding and very yummy meal at the reception. I had never eaten at Shaw's Hotel before but it's definitely a place I hope to return to on another trip to PEI. After the reception, we moved onto The Lobster Trap for a night of fun and dancing.

I know we did a whole lot more while Cory was with us in PEI but I just can't remember everything and I really don't want to bore anyone with too many little details.

PEI Vacation - Part 3 coming very soon...

PEI Vacation ~ Part 1

Cameron and I have been in PEI for 2 weeks now and we have been keeping pretty busy. We arrived in Charlottetown at just before midnight on June 2nd. Cameron was an excellent traveller as always...even with our 4 hour wait in Toronto. He was so funny when we finally got to my mom and dad's. He quickly found the bathroom and then went to the bedroom where he began stripping of his clothes. He then demanded his Hulk pj's, which I had to search for in his suitcase...luckily I pretty much knew where to locate the pj's. He put on his pj's and told us it was very late and that he had to go to bed. He climbed into bed and then told us to turn off the light and go...we found this whole thing very amusing of course. So, we said our good nights and Cameron very quickly said good night to Cory on the phone and he was out like a light!

I spent my first couple of days doing wedding related things. My first day here, I had to go and try on my bridesmaid dress. Fortunately it fit perfectly since the alterations were already completed. I also went with the bride-to-be for a meeting at the Rodd Royalty Inn to review some final details for the wedding reception, wedding dance and brunch the day after the wedding. I felt bad that I wasn't here for the majority of the planning so I wanted to help out in any way that I could.

My second day in Charlottetown was pretty exciting...although, I can only share part of my day with you. I went to get my hair hi-lited and cut and it felt so good. I didn't have my hair cut since before Christmas and I had been dying my own hair since last October. Part of my day had to do with Cory's surprise gift for our anniversary, that will have to remain a secret for a little while longer. Our anniversary is June 19th but Cory doesn't arrive in PEI until June 22nd. His gift isn't here yet and I'm hoping to have it back before he has to fly back to SK...I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

After only being here for 2 days, it was then time for Stephanie's Stagette...and it was a super fun day. We began the day with the entire wedding party going to Grandpa's Antique Photo Studio in Cavendish. It was really fun and the pics turned out great. Most of the girls then took Stephanie to The Pilot House for lunch and then it was time to get things ready for the evening events. I had done a lot of planning over the past few months and I think it was a success and everyone seemed to have lots of fun. We played lots of crazy games and there were lots of laughs.

I also planned a Bridal Shower for Stephanie and that was last Tuesday evening. It was just the girls in the wedding and a few of her friends that attended. It was a very relaxed evening and everyone had a great time. Stephanie got some very nice things and lets just say Matt is going to LOVE everything that she got...it was more along the lines of a personal shower.

The wedding rehearsal was last Thursday night in Kinkora. We spent about an hour at the church getting all of our instructions so we would be prepared for the big day. Matt's parents then had everyone back to their home for some snacks and visiting. I was pretty tired though so we didn't stay too long.

The day before the wedding was a pretty busy and hectic day but everything came together in the end. All of the girls in the wedding got together at Stephanie's for the night (I didn't spend the night though). We painted our nails and got everything organized for the kissing game during the reception. When I came home from Stephanie's at midnight, I then had to get mine and Cameron's stuff ready for the morning...ugh, why do I always leave things until the last minute?

Saturday morning, the wedding day, came very quickly. I got myself ready and made sure I had everything ready for Cameron. Cameron was spending the day and night with our great friend Bobbi Jo. I had to be at the hair salon by 7:45am...I was only a few minutes late but it didn't matter. All the ladies got their hair and make-up done and we all looked amazing! We then headed for Kinkora where we finished getting ready and dressed at Chez Shea. We made it to the church on time, the wedding was beautiful and everyone looked stunning. Stephanie was a beautiful bride and her dress was gorgeous! We got our pictures taken at Province House in Charlottetown and I can't wait to see the pics. The wedding reception went very smoothly and all of the speeches were great. I managed to work up the courage to get up and say something but I didn't manage to hold back the tears very well...apparently I made a few people cry ;-) We danced the night away and everyone had a great time. The next morning we went back to the hotel for brunch and the gift opening.

Since the wedding has come and gone, I have finally been able to do a little relaxing. The past few days have pretty uneventful and it has been great. I figure I better rest up before Cory gets here because I'm sure that once he arrives, we'll be run off our feet seeing people and going places until he leaves. Cameron and I are both missing Cory and our own home but we're doing great just the same. We have both said we're ready to go home a few times already but we've still got 5 weeks a couple of days before we go back to SK. We still don't actually have our return flights booked but we should be going back on July 23rd.

Until next time...

Bedtime routine with Cameron

Cameron has become accustom to quite a routine at bedtime lately. Every now and the the routine will change slightly but only at Cameron's request.

Every night, Cameron puts on his own pj's...very rarely will he let us help him. Once he is in his pj's it is time to read books...I always tell him just one book but we usually ending up ready two or more! After we read books, the light gets turned out and I have to lay in his bed and sing to him. The song list is as follows...Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Jingle Bells, ABC's, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, I'm a Little Teapot, and You Are My Sunshine. Yes, we sing Jingle Bells every night even though the Christmas season was months ago! After I sing these songs, I then have to turn the light back on and scare the monsters away...from behind the door, behind the bed, under the bed, in the corner by his dress, then end of his bed, behind the curtain, and in the closet! I then say my good nights.

Now, if Cory is working, we then have to call so that Cameron can say good night. However, if Cory is at home, Cory must then sing 5 Little Monkeys to Cameron before he gets to say good night!

It has become quite a process but we do manage to get through it pretty quickly...we're masters now!

Photography

I have always had an interest in photography but recently the interest has grown. Last fall, Cory bought me a new camera...it's a Canon Rebel EOS T1i and I absolutely love it. I still need/want to get another lens for the camera but I'm crossing my fingers that Cory may have actually already purchased one and is saving it to give to me on our anniversary. Thankfully, I have less than a month to wait to receive the anniversary gift and finally find out what it is!

Anyhow, lately I find myself searching through various photography websites...reading about photography and looking at pictures taken by other photographers. I've also been reading the manual for my own camera and I've started to play around with the various settings and trying some different things. Cameron is a great subject but sometimes he's not always willing to sit still long enough!

I'm hoping that during my extended stay in PEI, I will have the opportunity to take lots and lots of pictures and hopefully get better at the art of photography. I have a great friend who just had a baby and I'm hoping that I may be able to take some pictures of her new little bundle.

I may be new to this whole photography thing but I am really excited to give it a try. Perhaps I may one day be able to turn this hobby into something a little more and maybe even make some money doing it. It would be the perfect job for a stay at home mom and mounties wife. Being a mounties wife really doesn't allow for a career due to the fact that moving from place to place is part of the job!

I'll keep you posted on how I'm getting along. Here are a few pictures that I've take this past week.

Cameron is funny!

Cameron is always full of energy and often says some pretty funny things. I've been trying to remember to write these funny things down regularly so that I can share them. He is so busy and says and does so many funny things each week, that I often forget before I get the chance to share.

Lately, Cameron's been talking a lot about how he wants to be like Daddy. For example, he wants to be big like Daddy. When he says he wants to be big, he throws his hands up in the air and jumps, so I'm guessing he wants to be taller. A few weeks ago, he came up to me with excitement in his eyes, he pulled up his pant leg and proceeded to point at his leg. With lots of enthusiasm in his voice he exclaims, "Look Mommy, I have hair on my legs, just like Daddy!" I thought I would fall over laughing because of course the hair on Cameron's legs is not much more than peach fuzz but that's close enough to Daddy's hairy legs in Cameron's mind!

Just the other day, Cameron was once again telling us that he can't wait to be big like Daddy. He then referenced the hair on his legs and then tells us that he wants a map on his back just like Daddy has! He told us the map will have a fish, footprints and pictures on it. For those of you who may not understand this, Cameron was describing the quite large tattoo on Cory's bad...oh dear, I think we're going to have our hands full ;)

We just never really know what Cameron is going to come out with next. This is entertaining at home but I'll admit it sometimes makes me nervous outside of the house...not knowing what nonsense he may share with others! A couple of days ago, I informed Cameron that I was going to have a shower. He responded with, "Okay Mommy, but remember...don't forget to take your clothes off!" He then smiled and went back to playing with his toys in the living room. I just laughed and shook my head...he made it sound like that I occasionally forget to undress before getting into the shower! However, Cameron often gets so excited about bath or shower time that he sometimes forgets to take all of his clothes off before starting to jump right in!

I'll try to remember to keep note of the funny little things that he does so that I can continue to share!

Diners, Drive-ins and Dives

It seems that much of my down time consists of watching TV. I find myself watching the Food Network quite regularly and I must say I quite enjoy it. I definitely have a love of food and I love to watch as these chefs on the Food Network create such a wide variety of tasty and beautiful items.

Diners, Drive-ins and Dives is by far one of my most favorite shows on the Food Network. Guy Fieri is the host of the show and he travels to all kinds of diners, drive-ins and dives all over the United States. He goes to the craziest little places and finds the most amazing food ever! I find myself practically drooling while watching this show...even when it's food that I would probably never let pass my lips.

Whether the places Guy visits specialize in breakfast, lunch or supper and it could be Cuban, Italian or Mexican...the food is always incredible! Even if I've just finished eating, this show makes me hungry...it's crazy. Cory laughs at me because I love the show so much but he likes it just as much ;)

If you haven't watched Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, I highly recommend it. It's amazing what type of food can be found in some of these little places!

Last Day of Nursery School

Today marked the last day of nursery school for Cameron. It was not officially the last day for all of the kids but it was Cameron's last day because we will be leaving for PEI next Wednesday!

Cameron has enjoyed going to nursery school very much this year and I hope that he will enjoy it just as much when he starts again in September. Nursery school was an excellent opportunity for Cameron to have social time with other kids his age, to learn some structure, learn to follow rules and to learn many other things. Since last September, Cameron has changed so much. He can count, sing his ABC's, he actually enjoys coloring, he loves making crafts, and he even follows the rules at school (we're still working on the rules at home).

I honestly wasn't sure how much Cameron would benefit from going to nursery school at the age of 3 but it has definitely proven to be a great thing for him. I'm sure he will miss his friends from school but we may get to see a few of them over the summer. I loved seeing how excited Cameron was to go to school every Wednesday morning and to see how proud he was of the crafts he made each week to take home. It was truly a fun experience for him.

Next year, nursery school will involve a little more work and a little less play to prepare the 4 year olds for kindergarten. I'm sure Cameron will love it just as much as he did this year!

Thank You Mother Nature :)

In my last post, I was whining a little about the terrible weather. Well, the weather has been much nicer this past week...finally! We were able to enjoy the outdoors every day this week. It wasn't just warm but it was sunny and HOT! Cameron was able to play in his whale sprinkler a couple of days and he absolutely loved it. It was so much fun to see him running through the water, having a blast and laughing. I was even able to get a little color this week as well, so I don't have that pasty winter look anymore :)

A few weeks ago we got Cameron a new bike helmet. He refused to wear his old one and informed us it was for babies! In all fairness, the old helmet was starting to get a little small. He now has a super flashy Hot Wheels bike helmet that he is more than happy to wear. So, one evening this past week I decided it would be fun for Cameron and I to go to the post office to pick up the mail and that he should ride his bike. Well, lets just say it took forever to get there and then we both walked back with the bike between us. The bike was passed onto Cameron from his cousin, so it is more than a few years old so I'm not sure if maybe the bike doesn't work as well as it used to or if Cameron was just being lazy. He seemed to have great difficulty keeping up the rhythm of pedaling and it turned out be a little bit stressful for mommy. I'm not going to worry too much about it though because we'll be leaving for PEI soon, so maybe we'll have better luck with him riding his bike when we return in July.

It is the beginning of the long weekend, even though long weekends don't mean so much to me anymore now that I'm a SAHM. It is Cory's weekend off (even though he's going into work tonight for 4 hours) so we are hoping for the nice weather to continue although the weather forecast doesn't look too promising. Regardless of the what the weather decides to do, I'm sure we'll have a great weekend. We're having friends over tomorrow night and we're looking forward to that. Since Cameron and I will be leaving for our extended vacation to PEI in less than 2 weeks, I wanted to see everyone before we left because we'll be gone for almost 2 months.

What is with this weather?

So, here we are on the fourth of May and it pretty much feels like WINTER! I seriously can't believe how crazy the weather has been so far this spring. When I had my little trip to PEI in April, the weather in PEI was horrible...it was quite cool and rained every day. Although, while I was in PEI, the weather in SK was beautiful...sunny and 15-20 degrees every day. However, since I've returned to SK, I think we may have had one nice day. Not only has it been gloomy and cold, we've had snow flurries almost every day for the past week. I just want the sun to shine and for the temperature to stay above at least 10 degrees...I don't think that's too much to ask for.

The nice weather we did have was just a tease. Poor Cameron got a taste of playing outside and ever since it's just been too cold and wet for him to play outside. It was also nice to turn the heat off in the house but that didn't last long either. Mother nature better pull her head out of her butt soon! I want sun and warm weather!

I really was meant to live in a warmer climate!

And the countdowns begin...

Cameron and I are off to PEI in 35 days! I can't believe how quickly the time has passed. We arrive in PEI on June 2nd and will be there until around the third week of July...we have yet to book our return flights. Stephanie is getting married on June 12th so I have to be home before then, which reminds me I better finish planning the Bachelorette party! Cory will be joining us in PEI on June 22nd as he will be in his friend Ryan's wedding on July 3rd. Cory will be returning to SK on July 5th though because he can't take any more vacation at that time. I'm planning to stay longer so that I can then go to Krista and Marc's wedding on July 17th. It will be a PEI vacation full of weddings!

We will also be going on a family vacation to Florida in 159 days! It's still pretty far away but we're all excited anyway. Pernell and Chantel and Stephanie and Matthew will also be joining us in Florida. We have our flights booked and we'll be there from October 4-17, so hopefully we'll have lots of time to have lots of fun. We had originally planned to stay in a 3 bedroom hotel room/condo but then we started doing some research and decided we'd try to find a house to rent. After searching for days and viewing many rental homes in the area, we have finally found one that has everything that we want and it's in a great location...and it's a great price! The next step is to book our car rental. We've already starting purchasing our theme park tickets as well. We're planning to go to Disney (The Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios), Universal (Universal Studios and Universal Islands of Adventure), Seaworld and Aquatica. We're also thinking of taking a day and driving to the Gulf coast for a beach day. It's going to be so much fun and we're all very excited!

Surprise Trip to PEI

At Christmas time, myself and a few others, started scheming to plan a surprise for my wonderful aunt Mae's 50th birthday (April 19th). It all started when my mother and Tracey (one of Mae's friends) decided they should plan something for Mae's birthday. They wanted to do something nice for Mae because she's always doing nice things for others. Then my aunt Marian who lives in Calgary decided she wanted in on this surprise and she had already booked vacation time for the week of Mae's 50th birthday. When I heard about all of these plans, I also wanted to take part in the fun! Stephanie, Mae's daughter, was also in the plan and was looking forward to the surprise.

So, I was lucky enough to get an amazing seat sale to go to PEI. We managed to keep the secret for months and the surprise was a success. We showed up at Mae's house early on the Saturday morning before her birthday. She was VERY surprised to see me and Marian! She thought she was going to Moncton for the day with Stephanie but we then informed her to pack a bag because we were taking her to Halifax. She was pretty overwhelmed and it was awesome!

We went to Halifax for the day and night and had a great time. We did a little shopping, went to The Keg for supper, and went to the casino. It was an excellent weekend with many stories and lots of laughs. I am so glad that I go to be there to celebrate Mae's birthday. It was also nice to get away by myself for 5 days, although I did miss Cory and Cameron. The weekend was a whirlwind for me and it took me a few days to get caught up on my sleep.

Now, I'm counting down the days until my next trip with is only 5 weeks and 2 days away. I'm sure the time will fly by and I'll be packing for my next trip to PEI. Cameron and I will be leaving on June 2nd and Cory will join us on June 22nd.

Happy Birthday Cory!

Today we celebrated Cory's birthday! Cameron and I made a quick (2.5 hours) round trip to Yorkton this morning. We had to go to Dairy Queen to get Cory's birthday cake...a Skor Blizzard ice cream cake. The day was pretty quiet overall but we did have a few friends over to share the cake and it was super yummy.

I had asked Cory what he wanted for his birthday a while ago and he said he didn't want anything. For those of you who know Cory well, that was quite a surprise for me because he can always think of a variety of things that he wants. He was quite logical though and said that because we are planning a trip to Florida in October, that we should just try to save our money. So, today I bought our tickets to Universal in Orlando and gave them to Cory as his birthday gift. It's really for all of us but he was still happy because now that we have made our first purchase of theme park tickets, it makes it seem more real that we will be going on a fun vacation in the fall.

Happy Easter

Today is Easter Sunday and the Easter Bunny managed to find time on his/hers busy route to stop by and leave some treats for Cameron.

Cameron was surprised to find a trail of chocolate eggs leading from his bedroom door this morning. There was a trail of eggs leading into the bathroom where Cameron found a Scooby-Doo basket to collect his eggs and a mini basketball net to play with in the bathtub. There was another trail of eggs that led into the living room where he found Cars and Toy Story tattoos and some bubble gum. The nest trail of eggs led him to a pair of Toy Story swim trunks and another trail took him the toy Big Chill from Ben 10 Alien Force. He then followed a trail of eggs to the back door where he found a big bag of Mega blocks. The final trail of eggs led him to discover the biggest surprise of all in the kitchen, which was a Bumblebee helmet!

Overall, I think Cameron was pretty pleased with the Easter Bunny this year. He received a lot of chocolate so I put the majority of it away and only left him with a little for the day. He has enough chocolate eggs to last him for months I'm sure but I'm also sure he may have a little help with eating all of that chocolate ;)

We didn't have a special Easter dinner today...we had KD, hot dogs and mixed veggies though :P However, we were invited to supper at Ryan and Amie's last night and it was very yummy. Ryan's mom, Lucille, and his step-dad, Herb, are visiting from ON and Rylee (aka Baby Rylee, as Cameron calls her) was there too, of course. We had a very yummy supper of ham and scalloped potatoes. I made a Skor trifle for dessert and it was a big hit too! I was smart though and made the dessert in a bowl that Amie had left at our house and therefore they got to keep the leftovers so Cory and I weren't forced to eat it all!

The weekend is coming to an end but we'll start off the new week by celebrating Cory's birthday tomorrow. Cameron and I will be making a trip into Yorkton tomorrow morning to get Cory his birthday cake from Dairy Queen! Yummy!

We're planning a family vacation...and not to PEI

Yes, we are in the midst of planning a family vacation. Although we are going to PEI again this summer, we are also planning to go to Florida in October. Cameron and I will be going to PEI on June 2nd and we don't know the exact date we will be returning but it will likely be around July 23rd. The nature of our trip is to attend three weddings. Cory will be joining us in PEI for a week or so near the end of June as well.

We love going back home to visit with our families and friends but we have decided that it is time to go on a "real" family vacation. Our original plan was to go to Las Vegas this fall but after a lot of consideration, I decided we should just spend the extra money and go where we really want to go. So, we are planning to go to Orlando, FL for 2 weeks in October! The three of us are very excited and can't wait! We're planning to go to Disney World, Universal and SeaWorld while we are there. We figure we might as well do everything we want to do while we're there because we don't know when we might get to go back. As of now, we have two other couples who are planning to join us in Florida so it is going to lots of fun! Our trip is not officially booked but it's only a matter a time...I'm just waiting to confirm the dates that Cory can get off of work. Cameron is very excited about going to meet Mickey Mouse and he's been talking about it every day since we told him about it and showed him pictures of the theme parks online.

So, needless to say this vacation is going to force us to make some changes in our daily lives and make us be much more frugal. I don't think this will hurt any of us though ;) We're off to a great start though and I can't wait to start booking things and buying our theme park tickets! Disney World is just so much fun...no matter how old you are!