Unplugged

Tomorrow afternoon, Liam and I will be leaving on a jet plane (and yes, we do know when we'll be back again!) for vacation at my Mom's.

My mom still lives in the house that I grew up in.  There have been very few changes to the house since I lived there.  The biggest change, is that my mom now has a satellite dish and has access to hundreds of tv channels.  When I lived there we got 4, maybe 5 channels if the weather was just right.

The one thing that my mother still does not have however, is internet access.  She has no desire to have a computer, no matter how often I try to sell her on their awesomeness.  She could see her only grandson while she talks to him!  I could send her pictures EVERY DAY!  Email, games, time-wasters galore!  Nope, she's not buying it.

So Liam and I will be unplugging.

GASP... the withdrawal has already started and I still have the computer, 2 laptops, an iPod touch and my Blackberry all within reach.

Liam is having similar issues.

We will survive.  And it will be good for us.  My mom has 25 acres of forest for her back yard with a cabin and a pond.  There will be trees to climb, snakes and frogs to catch, bats to watch swoop out of the barn at sunset.  We have lots of fun touristy stuff to do and family and friends to visit.

So while it will seem strange to not share every detail as it happens with everyone in the world, I'll get over it.  I'll focus on enjoying the moment and being part of it.  And I promise to upload eleventy-zillion pictures when we get home.

A glimpse of vacation

Liam and I have just returned from 10 wonderful days in Ontario.

• Butterflies and bugs.
• Meeting a new cousin.
• 4 generations.
• Chopping down trees.
• Nature.

• and of course beer.

 Fun was had by all!  I'm sure there will be more pictures to follow.

It's not ALL craptastic

While my last post listed the doom and gloom that we have had on our vacation, it has had pockets of fun.  The sun came out enough yesterday that we put on swim suits and spent time in the ocean.  We've visited 2 lighthouses so far and have seen lots of interesting  ocean creatures.

All is not lost!

Thrill of a Lifetime

As part of my fabulous and 40 birthday celebration this year, we spent the day at the CNE  Nothing says "40" like cotton candy, mini doughnuts and midway rides.  And Liam was finally tall enough to go on some of them with me.

His favourite (and mine) was the swings

We also played lots of carnival games and came home with 7 new "stuffies"

Even Grandma got in on the games.

But for Liam the biggest thrill was going on his first "grownup" ride by himself.  I love rides, the faster and the spinnier the better .... IF I'm seat belted in AND they don't involve water.  Of course, he wanted to go on the Flume ride.  No seat belts - it relies on gravity and momentum to keep you in and it splashes down into water.  No Thank You.

So we sent him off on his own!  There was a gaggle of kids smaller then him in line so he queued up with them.  The ride operator stuffed all 6 kids into one log.

By the time they came down the last hill you could have fit 2 more full size adults behind them!  Gravity and momentum smushed them all forward into the poor littlest kid at the front.

A Knight to Remember

For my birthday dinner this year we went to Medieval Times in Toronto.  We didn't tell Liam where we were going, but hinted that it was going to be a boring, grown-up restaurant with nowhere to play and probably no other kids.  He was none too thrilled....till we walked up to the front door.  Then I thought his head just might pop-off!

And as an added, super-secret bonus, he was called up to by the King and Knighted by Princess Lenore.

It was definitely a (K)night to remember!

And down he goes

OUCH!!

Liam managed to fall on the ferry yesterday and gash open the corner of his eye and ended up with a really nice swollen shiner. Good thing is we aren't flying home for another week so hopefully it will be healed up before we have to go through security.

We've got crabs!

No, not that kind!

We are vacationing on the Sunshine Coast of western Canada.  It's a deceitful name as there has not been much sunshine yet!  But like most vacationers, we suited it up and headed to the beach.  It was much too cold to swim so we dug for treasure and built sandcastles.  The only down side is that Liam has become insanely afraid of crabs.  These are by no means the market size crabs that end up on your plate!  If you weren't looking closely you would never see them at all.  Now every time we go down to the beach (which just happens to be about 50 feet from Granny and Grandpa's back door) we have to pinky-swear to Liam that the crabs WILL NOT HURT HIM.  As you can see they could surely (insert eye rolling here) do a lot of damage!

Even if the sun were to make an appearance and warm things up, I don't think we will be getting Liam swimming in the Pacific any time soon.

The animals have it!

Here are some of my favorite shots from our recent trip to the African Lion Safari.

The baboons had a great time climbing all over of the car. My dad didn't have such a great time cleaning the monkey poo off the roof.
This ostrich had just spent 5 minutes blocking traffic and was now trying to eat my Mom through the window! I wonder if ostriches are omnivores?

• Liam's view of the giraffes!

Reach for the top!

This was Liam's first attempt at indoor rock climbing. He never did make it to the very top, but he still had a great time. If you are ever in Guelph Ontario, be sure to check out Guelph Grotto The people were great, all about safety and fun and the price was right.

Vacation recap

The first highlight of our vacation was the weather! When we got on the plane in Halifax it was 14C out. 2 hours later when we got off the plane in Ontario it was 31C! Liam asked if we had landed in the desert. Fortunately it did not stay at 31 for too long and we got to enjoy most days with nice temperatures in the mid-20s. We did have some rain and I spent 20 white-knuckled minutes driving through a downpour that was the edge of a small tornado.

The best news of the trip was that I took Mom for her follow up visit for her eye surgery. It was declared a 100% success and she should not have any more trouble with it.

We visited with lots of friends and family. We had lunch with Hilary's Aunt Hilary, spent the day with my Grandmother, I got to see my God-Mother and various other friends. The only person that I did not get to visit with was Iris. My half-sister Madelaine is not working right now so Iris could not risk getting away to see me. The joys of closed adoptions and reunions.

My parents neighbours have 2 little girls near Liam's age, so he had lots of fun playing with them. what I wouldn't have given to have kids living next door when I was growing up! They went with us to the Children's Museum and rock climbing and various trips to the park.

All in all it was a great trip. Liam was spoiled, as can be expected, since he only gets to see his Grandparents once or twice a year. I stumbled across a seat sale last night, so my Mom is now booked to visit us in September. We got the tickets for $44 one way (plus taxes and fees of course) So her return trip will cost less then what it cost me to fly there one way. So Liam will only have to 2 months to be spoiled again.

I'll leave you with a collage of pictures from our trip:

We're back!

Home Sweet Home!

10 days can seem so short when you are on the leaving end of a vacation, but so long when you get to the coming home side.

We had action packed 10 days too. I think in total we had 2 mornings of lounging around the house with no set plans. Don't get me wrong, we had a great time, but it was tiring. I'm looking forward to going to the office tomorrow for some peace and quiet, and to be able to sit still for 8 hours.

I'll update more specifics in the upcoming days, including a new "What Am I?" of an object from my parents house.

For now, here is Liam and Grandpa making faces at the camera:

Leaving on a jet plane!

At 4:45 AST today Liam and I will be winging our way to Ontario for 10 glorious days of being spoiled by Grandma and Great-Grandma and Aunt Hilary and Grandpa and probably a few other people too. The weather is supposed to be HOT which will be a lovely change from the damp and dreary that we have been experiencing in the Maritimes.

Our trip is going to include a day at African Lion Safari, the Lego store, the Children's Museum and lots of other fun stuff in between. There will likely be a marshmallow roast on an open fire at the cabin where Liam first learned this art form.

We will also celebrate Canada Day while we are away. Canada Day is Liam's second favorite holiday. It usually involves bouncy castles, rides, snow cones and fireworks. What's not to love?

I will however be without computer access for the whole time! My parents don't even have cable so the idea of internet access is laughable! But the break will be great. Time to read and relax and enjoy some of my parents homemade wine!

I'm sure I will take a gazillion pictures and have lots of stories to share when I get back! Till then, have fun!!!