An Update While I Ignore The Homework For a Second

School is two days in, now.

I still feel like a chicken with her head cut off, as I wander around the campus like the biggest "minor niner" with her map and the most confused look ever. I spent tuesday with Will running around buying books and registering. And then, a few hundred dollars later, I went home with absolutely NO idea what I was getting into. When the first day of school actually happened yesterday, I arrived in the class, realizing that everyone else in the course knew what to expect and where to go and who the professors were, etc. Not me.!!! Apparently, they all went to the orientation that I quite obviously did not attend! For good reason-- I hadn't gotten the call by then.

I have had to get paperwork and medical records and criminal record checks...all stuff that was due-- uh-- last week!!! YIPES.

Lucky for me, I went to talk to the lead nurse in charge of the program to ask her where this elusive 'package' was that everyone else had but me. When I told her my name, she nodded her head and said she knew where my package was. She returned with a manila envelope, addressed to me, and sat at her desk with a smile. Then, politely, she smiled and shook her head.

"YOU, Debbi, are SOOOOO LUCKY!!!!"

It was overwhelming at that point, because she was then the THIRD teacher to have said that to me during the day. I was PENCILED into the bottom of every class list. I was the "after thought". I was barely even there! I was in the program by the hair on my chinny chin chin.

One teacher had told the class that there were over 100 people in the program. Now, currently there are still around 109 people on the waitlist!! I BEAT 100 people for this spot?! WOW!

And another teacher said that for the first year, there is usually one (OR FEWER) spots that open up at all.

But when the head nurse said it, it really struck me. I knew I was lucky, but the sudden feeling overwhelmed me and although I felt it before, I am feeling INCREDIBLY blessed for this opportunity to be back in school, doing what I've only ever imagined doing. It all just came together in a mere 20-second phone call, but with Mimi getting into kindergarten early and the school magically finding me a seat, it seems like God opened a window.

I sat in my classes, sponging everything up. Like a child on Christmas morning, just uber excited and hardly able to contain a smile. Everything they said, I wanted to do. Everything they taught, I was ready to learn. I've done two of the courses before (English and Biology) so I may even be able to drop them once the college gets my transcripts. And if not, I already know the material and could use a bit of a 'bird course' to pull up my GPA.

I am overwhelmed to come home each night and be a mom and wife, but the kids are adjusting alright, and after a bit of a 'growth' period, we'll all figure out how to make the cranks turn smoothly. Will helps immensely. Dinner and homework and cleaning and scriptures and lullabies and prayers and then I crumple into bed to begin again the next day.

And I am so happy to do it!!!!!!!!!!

Brackets are the new Elipses

Oh Mylanta.

It has been only, like, THE busiest week EVA!!!!

Not ONLY has our awesome, ridiculously NEW desktop computer received a frikken VIRUS again.... (Note to Will: that is enough of the nudey downloads) (*haha TOTALLY kidding- it's usually from the kids' game site (which I hate).) (You know what else I hate?? Too many brackets.) And because of this, uploading photos of our fantastical week has been, well, uh, challenging.

Of course, we could totally do the whole "first day of school" blog, which everyone and their dogs do. (And dogs go to school, so that sentence actually makes more sense than you first realized, hey?! I am so smart. SMRT.) But our first day went like this:

yah. Too cute. Mimi started kindergarten this year. Can we tell she's a bit excited!?
Or, I could blog about the fact that this is only THE BEST EFFIN' WEEK IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE YEAR!! (and by Effin, I totally mean F.... For FAMILY!!) That's right, folks, it's freakin' FAMILY WEEK! A.K.A- little bro "Uncle Kannie" is getting married tomorrow to Auntie Bree, and all the sibs are in town for the wedding partay. Oh, and Auntie Kiki is 9 months prego, so we celebrated "Baby Boy Gaseous's" impending arrival. And lemme just say, that baby can pass gas like it's NO ONE'S business!! He seriously made our eyes water! Good thing Auntie Kiki is so cute-bellied! (She wants to make it known that she, of course, is a lady, and that lady-farts smell like roses, so it's OBVIOUSLY the male-species growing and flatulating inside of her that makes whatever come out with such a potent aroma NOT her fault!) riaaaaghtt.
Yep.

And in the midst of all the celebrations, shopping, singing (Video to accompany next week's follow-up blog) and eating, there were pickles. And peaches. And kittens. Oh my.
WAY cute kittens, no? Want one? Or five?

And yes, as mentioned above... when last weekend I spent watching my sister's 7 kids, I tried to jar pickles for our food storage. 100 jars later- I am SO ready for pickle-eating season. (don't ask WHEN that is... it's sometime between Hallowe'en and Easter, I'm pretty sure.) Well, when you spend that much time pickling cucumbers and bottling peaches, you end up with a food storage room that is phenomenally AWESOME. Other than the resident Mighties. (And, for those who aren't all Debbi-vocabed, Mighties is my name for mice.)

Yah. (haha I just typed yag. Which, is obviously a mixture of yah and gag. TOTALLY how I feel about the whole Mighty sichee-ation) this mouse was no different-- we have two types of traps in the storage room -- the As-IF-you-have-a-hope traps like this:

And the who-are-you-kidding traps. Like this failure:
And guess which one caught a mouse first? Yah. The failure trap. What? Why call it a failure trap if it caught a mouse, oh Debbi, the wise one? Well, young grasshoppers, because Mr. Failure-trap decided that once it caught said mouse, it would then let it go. I KNOW, RIGHT?! I went to the storage room, and saw the mouse in the trap. (first off-- moment of sheer PANIC as you reread that sentence and realize that *I* saw a live mouse in my house!!!!! Do you not remember how I use a shovel to pick up the dead ones?!) I see the mouse, but there's no chance in Haiti that I'm gonna do anything about it! We're all getting ready to leave for church, so I tell Will to take care of the mouse. He leaves to church with us, putting ridiculous amounts of faith in that trap.

We get home from church, and I (ahem) kindly remind him about the mouse. He takes the boys into the storage room to take care of it. (whack it.) (take it out)(exterminate it)(annihilate it)(assassinate it)(liquidate it... although, that makes me conjure really nasty images of ew-ness of liquid mice) Then Taylor comes out to the car, (where I'm still trying to get far enough away from the mouse issue) and tells me, with a giggle, that the mouse got away. NATURALLY, I think he's just trying to play with my tender emotions. It IS Taylor, after all. Twelve-year old boys think making their mothers scream is funny.

Nope.

It really got away. Will apologized. *smiling*

And I really freaked lost it kept my cool and didn't step into that storage room for another month. (okay, a day, tops, but still)

So, alas. I have another Mighty Mouse to seek and destroy. It's on, sucka!!

But, I have a freaking awesome food storage that mice can't get into. And I have family around all week. And I get an entire morning to myself everyday while all the kids are at school. And..
if you didn't remember... it's Will's and my first anniversary in 4 days. :D *bliss*

So, I gots things ta do, homeboys. Laters.

(As a post script-- I'm pretty sure that some sort of top-secret government official is gonna knock down my front door any second because I googled "other words for killing" and sent off some sort of alarm. If I don't show up tomorrow...you know why...

I AM AT THE WEDDING, hosers! Sheesh. you don't listen, do ya?! ;) )

See ya tomorrow!

Moving to the Country, Gonna Eat Me A Lot o' Peaches

My girlfriend (and SIL, Sin) thinks that song ISN'T about peaches.... and, after listening again, I tend to agree. I mean, as much as the whole "coming from a can" part sounds all officially "peachy", that's not what the song is about. Liars.

Besides, everyone knows peaches don't come from no cans! Peaches come from the hudderites down the street.

And for a REALLY great price too! ;)

I got a case of peaches the other day, and decided that me and my best friend, Jean Pare, would try out a few less-known peach preserve recipes. My mom was a huge Company's Coming Cookbook collector, owning every.single.book and frankly, ALL of us daughters are hooked too. We grew up with her awesome and simple recipes, and are now cooking for OUR families the same things we tried and loved. And, what's not to love with an old lady whose clothes always matched the cover of the book!?

So, I did this. Start with THIS:

Then, decide on this recipe:

And also this one, since you think you'll like both:

Then, after slaving away, on a hot day, in front of this *......(moment of reverence for the beauty and awe that is my gas stove!!!)......*

you end up with this:

Love it.

But, like EVERY year, (remember this LAST year? No, I am NOT making more salsa or zucchini this year!) I caught the canning bug and went to the farmer's market today and bought three more cases of peaches, AND pickling cucumbers. Not to mention the tomatoes growing in our garden. And, the loser that is me is totally excited to try out new peach and pickle and stewed tomato canning recipes. Me and Jean's gots a HOT date, baybay, me and Jean!

Today is Two's-Day

I like the number two. Even in reference to 12-year-old boy mentality conversations about bathroom duties. (haha, duties. Doodies. HAHA. See? 12-year-old! ooooh, it never gets old. Reminds me of THIS Friends episode. ROFL!)

I really do miss my dayhome sometimes. Most days I think about those kids in some way or another. I think about how much more I got done around the house-- for who knows WHAT reason. I think about the money. I think about the friendships I still have with their parents. I had so many kids at different ages, but two-year olds are my favourite. They are spunky and fiesty and terrific. They say funny things, they do funny things, they eat really funny things... they are just fun fun fun.

(Jeremy at 2 years old)

We have two hands for holding.
Two lips for kissing.
Two ears for nibbling.
Two arms for hugging.

Two legs for ... um.. nothing G-rated comes to mind so let's skip this one, shall we?!
Two eyes WITH PERFECT VISION!!!
And two cheeks..
er...
cheeks.

Two is awesome.
Two, as they say, is better than one.
I am glad to have my second chance, too. My number two is my first choice!

In Case You Were Also Curious...

My sister asked me the other day how my BALLS were, chocking back a laugh. Well, my "balls" are just fine...eye-balls, that is.

ISH.

I mean, my eyes are capable of looking at the computer screen for more than a few minutes at a time, which is a HUGE improvement from a week ago! But I'm still SUPER light-sensitive, so it's usually a bit tough to stare at this white screen and type.

The surgery wasn't bad itself.
I am there for a total of, like, 5 minutes.
They lay you down on a surgical table, and after a few numbing eye-drops, they put some nasty thing in your eye to keep your eyelids apart. THANKFULLY, they also give you stress-balls to squeeze. MUCH APPRECIATED.

I didn't have LASIK surgery, which is the most common surgery. No, I had something called PRK. (don't ask, I don't know. Look it up in google). Apparently, I have soft corneas, which makes LASIK a no-go for me. And, to top it off, I also have 'abnormally' large pupils. Will keeps telling me that he LOVES my large brown...pupils...and giggles like a 12 year-old boy. typical.

So, Lucky me gets the slightly easier surgery, but the harder recovery. Instead of a simple cut and seal type of surgery, they SCRATCH MY ENTIRE EYEBALL with some weird dentist-tool looking device. Then they laser, then they put a 'bandaid contact' over my scratched eye, and send me home.

TO. DIE. A. LOOOOOONG. DEATH!


Oh.
Em.
Gosh!

It was the most excruciating pain I have EVER been in. Worse, a MILLION TIMES, than childbirth! At least labour ends quickly (for me, max 3 hours). But allllllll night I was drugged on some pretty heavy painkillers and it was NOT helping.

My theme song became: *THIS*. For about 4 days I slept/ate/showered with sunglasses on. And stayed in a VERY dark room. I hated the light- making me feel much like Mad Madam Mim: *WATCH ME.* (From 4:45 on)

It's been a bit of a slow recovery-- some days I'm not too bad, and other days I'm back to wearing sunglasses everywhere.

But I'm happy that I can wake up and SEE. I wasn't that blind to begin with, but I love being able to look across a football field and SEE the things on the other side, knowing I don't have contacts or glasses on.

Hopefully soon I'll be back to 'normal'. When I can wake up and not have to PRY my weeping eyes apart before I can see. When eyedrops aren't more important for me to have on me than my bankcard!

When Your Eyes Are TRULY Opened

Today I'm having eye surgery. Where, for some weird reason, I'll be staring STRAIGHT INTO A BURNING BEAM OF LIGHT... when my whole entire life I've been told NOT to stare at bright lights! And THIS? This is a friggen LASER!! The thought of smelling my eyeball flesh burn kinda sickens me, but hey, at least I will have pretty, contact-less eyeballs when this is all over with.

In the meantime, I get to wear GRANNY glasses for a day or two. That's gonna be the best. I may convince Will to take me out shopping JUST so I can be seen with him. I mean, seeing as how *I'm* wearing the Granny glasses, and he's so much older than me-- we'll be a cute couple! :)

I'm fairly blind as it is once the lights turn off. I can function without glasses and contacts, but in the dark-- I stumble like a drunk sailor. All the things people use their eyes to see- such a darkness to be put into without them.

Today, I am thankful for the gift of my eyes. To see the beautiful colours, the flowers, the animals. Wentworth Miller. (haha).

What if the surgery goes wrong?! What if I never see again? What would I miss most without my eyes? My family's faces. Their smiles. Their goofy-ness. Even their silver eyes when they cry. Seriously-- with faces like these-- how could I ever want tolook at anything else?!

Not Me Monday- Quiet Summer

It's NOT ME MONDAY.

Where I surely talk about the things I DID NOT do this weekend.

Like, I did NOT do NOTHING! ;) Will and I drove out to Bearfoot Beach to help my grandmother rebuild the dock. Okay, so Will rebuilt it-- I did NOT cheer him on. And, no, I was NOT the 'counter-weight' for the screws he couldn't get in...
don't start, VL.

Other than going to church, I did NOT go over to my S-I-L's house where Sin, Bell and their spouses and us did NOT play cards until WAY past my bedtime!!! Will and I did NOT get to bed last night at 3 am- and did NOT sleep in until 10:45! It's NOT been nice having summer, and having the kids with Chris for the weekend.

Today may be a BIT more productive-- I am off to Cowtown to go pick the kids back up.
Yep. I'm NOT super awesome like that that I do NOT have NOTHING I *HAVE* to do!!! :)

Letters say it Betters

Dear Dave.
Firstly, I curse you with a thousand curses of hot grill pans and burning vegetable oil. I am VERY unimpressed with you for STEALING the recipe for a McDonald's Big Mac, and selling it here, in this tiny town of Mo. You may have called it something else, sure, but you're not fooling this fat-prone chick-- I KNOW it's a Big Mac! Which is why I curse you-- I moved somewhere to get AWAY from my horrible obsession with Big Macs, and then, the love of my life introduces me to your yummy 'Biggy D'.
Curses,
Mrs. Likely-to-gain-400lbs-this-week.



Dear Toilet Paper,
I am so glad that you, my favourite Purex brand, are on sale at the local store. Do you know how happy that makes me and my bum? (and making my bum happy is no easy feat!) Honestly, TP, I only let YOU that close to my behind, and you've got to know that's saying a lot!!! I love you so much, that I bought THREE TIMES the 'limit' amount yesterday, coercing my hubby to go through the lane behind me, JUST FOR YOU!!! I can't get enough of you! To all your friends on the shelves still, you can reassure them that I will be there shortly to ensure a hearty year's supply of softness.
forever thankful,
soft bummed me.


Dear Kitchen,
it has been my joy and my bane to watch you progress. I am loving having cupboards again, having running water, having a countertop that isn't made out of wood. Someday, I will enjoy floors I can clean, and electricity!
-Your OWNER

Dear Lovely Daughters of Mine,
To the two of you who share a room here at this house. I really truly appreciate when I can use the "if you're room isn't clean, you can't go see Chris Daddy" bribe (although, only me and your fathers know that threat isn't ever going to be followed through). But, what I don't appreciate is when I go to pack your "Chris Daddy" bags, you, my lovelies, have shoved ALL THE CLEAN LAUNDRY that was on the floor, into the dirty clothes hamper! This, in spite of it seriously irritating me and Daddy Will who knows how much work it was to clean them in the first place, wouldn't be so bad if I could just gather them out of the hamper and put them away. But what REALLY gets under my sunburnt skin, is that you've USUALLY put some dirty, wet towel or swimsuit ON TOP of these clothes. Making them stink. And wet. And NOT clean, yet still freaking folded! I am NOT sorry for this last time making me SO irate that I then threw the clothes all over the room.
No. I am not 4 years old.



Dear Laundry,
GO *4-letter F word* YOURSELF!
(fold, obviously!)


Dear Tropical Island.
You've been a penpal long enough, and it's apparently NEEDED(from the letters above) that we meet in person. SOON. If it isn't too much of a hassle, can I please request a few things? First of all, I would really like it if you found some extra room at your place for Will, too. And NOT ENOUGH ROOM for anyone else. If you decided that children aren't allowed on your island, that would be okay with me. Because, I don't want to bring mine since they annoy me so easily, but I SURE AS HECK don't want other people to bring theirs!!!! Secondly, I want to ensure that there is FULL room service (including laundry!). Third of all, I do NOT want to see any renovations going on in the ENTIRE island. It must be perfect, finished, and functional. And I want to ensure that there are NO McDonald's nearby. Thanks.
Sincerely,
A Deteriorated Woman!
PS- You needn't stock the bathrooms with toilet paper- I'm bringing my own!

When it all comes together, it's freaking awesome

okay, before I hear about it--

LIFE IS BUSY!!!

I've got lots of little things going on, and, frankly, it's summer and I am outside working on my skin-cancer. (okay, I'm NOT-- I am outside, gardenning and sitting with the kids at the pool and occasionally getting more sun than usual)

There's not much to report to the masses anyways.

I took engagement photos for my brother and his fiancee, my first time doing something like that. I'm no photographer, but it was an honour that they'd ask me and trust my abilities enough. When you're this good looking, though, how hard is it to take good looking photos? Fun kids, I tell ya.

I went to parades and family reunions over the past few weekends. Good times, and Will's family is great.

Went to a lame circus. I am getting laser eye surgery next week-- so I DEFINITELY won't be around a computer to be able to blog. No worries, peeps, I'll either find a ghostwriter or I'll pre-post my blogs. OR, I'll just make Will take funny photos of me in my granny glasses.

In house news,

My countertops came. They're nice.

The installers broke my sink. Not so nice.

The pantry is done, and I've started putting food in it. REALLY nice!

I finally planted something that will flower non-noxiously in my front garden. Maybe my yellow house will look less ghetto next summer! :)

And, that's me.

Off to drop off kids with Chris, play with friends, shop...

you know,

just enjoy the summer.

Six Word Saturday- Hard Hats required

I Live In A Construction Zone.


Sculpturing children, marriage, kitchen and waistband. :)





Play with Cate at www.showmyface.com and share your own 6 words of life.

"Sum it up. Write it down."

How do you number the Stars, the Sands of the Seas, or the Possibilities

Last night, Will and I drove into town and had an impromptu date-night. We headed to the movie "Prince Of Persia".

It's a good movie- you will probably like it if you like either romance movies or action flicks or fantasy films. Or maybe all of the above.

But, after our movie and a stop to play at my parents' home, we went for a walk, admiring the fact that it was one of the first nights that the wind was warm enough to keep us at a comfortable temperature without the mosquitoes getting at us. The stars, way off in the sky, mirrored the infinite possibilities of our course of life from that moment on.

A few days ago, we talked about how all the events in our separate lives have truly led us to where we are; together. How two very opposite youths, two people separated in a million ways, could possibly have found each other at the precise time that it was. Any other time in our lives, we would have never even met, or never have fallen in love, and possibly, never have wanted to.

Is it "destiny"? Is it just part of "The Plan"?
If it IS destiny, then, perhaps, no matter what OTHER choices we had made, we still would have been on THIS spot today? That, somehow, God (or whatever force you believe in) would have moved us pawns into our exact spots, no matter what 'force' played the other half of the board. We were meant to be standing in this path, this square in the proverbial chessboard, at this moment.

If we could really turn the sands of time backwards, where would we take our lives to? What point would we revisit, hoping to transform what happened into something new? What would we be willing to 'change'?

Because, in reality, changing one little thing could make very serious repercussions and consequences. The butterfly effect. There may be no children. There may be less knowledge. There may be different careers. Different loves. Different perspectives. And, for me, the only thing I would change would mean that I couldn't be married to Will... and the prospect of that makes me realize that, instead, every tear that was shed was worth it. I can't go back in time to change something 'bad' that brought so much good. Will and I talked about what we could and would change for his life. There's a few things, yes, but there were essential lessons to be learned from that which have enabled OUR marriage to succeed. Together, we learn from our individual pasts EVERY day.

He once said that there are just so many 'What Ifs'. But, I concluded that, while there are one MILLION What Ifs, the What IS is one in a million.

In Point Form- July

• Chris took the kids this weekend for the next week, camping with his family. I am a bit jealous-- only because his Mom and I are really close and the campsite is a great place to camp. I am lucky to have great (ex)in-laws, great in-laws and great parents. Seriously. All three of my sets of parents would do anything for me, and anything for my kids and Will's and my happiness. With the kids gone, I have been able to throw out a bunch of broken toys they were too attached to, and hopefully get ahead of the laundry and the cleaning. Not if I spend too much time blogging, though.


• Will and I took the two oldest kids (Big Guy and Em) to the Calgary Stampede on Saturday. Sucked, though, as it rained really hard and we were cold and wet. And, after a few rides and one too many handfulls of cotton candy, we also had horrible tummy aches/headaches. The last ride we went on literally made ALL of us queezy, so it was a good thing we saved it for last.


• It was Will and my 1-year Anniversary on getting engaged on Sunday. (See THIS POST if you forget our awesome day). By going to the Stampede, we were able to walk to the same spot where it all happened, and show the kids. It was really fun to 'relive' that amazing moment.


• We spent a day in Waterton, with his parents and the two big kids.


• The boys spent last night until 9pm working on the house! :) Only, it is super cold today (JULY, MY BUTT!!) and because they took out a door to the outside, our home is really cold now! :( Hopefully, they'll get it insulated and drywalled quickly (today???). The pantry is also on its way to being ready to actually HOLD my food! YAY! Soon I won't need to worry about mice getting into it! :(


• I'm such a cool step-mom, I CLEANED Em's room (no small task) and tonight we're painting it PURPLE!! Yep. Cuz purple is a happy colour. She's seeing things much differently lately, and we're talking a lot about stuff. I am glad that she is doing so much better lately! :)

Beautiful "Bearfoot Beach"

It is the awesomest thing to gather a cooler full of fire-proof foods (hot dogs and 'mallows, of course) and head out less than 10 minutes away to a private beach. A place where you feel like you're the only ones in the entire world, and a place where the entire world can't reach you (no cell service).

Where there's no bugs. No yucky things in the water that will graze your feet and freak you the heck out. Just a dock and a swingset and the deer and the antelope play.

It is now one of our favourite spots, and we hope to be there OFTEN during the summer. When it's this peaceful, why wouldn't we be?

Our Greatest Lessons In Life Come From The Journey, Not The Destination

It is simply amazing how "life" gets in the way of truly living. How, for so many days and weeks and even months, Will and I forgot that. How we remember and remind each other that we need to have US moments, but we never seem to MAKE them happen.

Dating was so easy before.

And when REALITY sets in, I tend to believe that in ANY marriage, dating is harder. Which is sad.

So, we finally changed it. We took off for the weekend without any of the kids. We were REALLY going down to the USA to buy appliances at HALF the cost they charge in Canada(THANK YOU YANKEES FOR HAVING A RECESSION!!!) for the house here. So, why not make a mini-vacation out of it?

We drove out through the most beautiful road I've been on yet! You're driving on the side of massive mountains, literally a FOOT away from sheer rock cliffs and driving off into certain death. It was amazing! Beautiful waterfalls and rivers and rock formations, snow and glaciers and wildlife. I sat there, just wanting to see over the side, LOVING it. When Will asked me later, once we were back home, what my favourite part of the weekend was, it was honestly the drive. The time in the van together, just talking or reading to each other. The views. The laughter. The in-depth conversations about who we are and what we want to be separately AND together. The feeling that we didn't HAVE to be anywhere, we could stop whenever we wanted, and we could go as fast as we liked. Like they say, sometimes it's not the final destination that matters, but the getting there.

We got into town really early, where we looked for appliance deals, checked into our hotel, took a nap and then grabbed some supper.

Famous Dave's is soooooo yummy. We stop and eat there everytime, and LOVE it. The company is pretty yummy too. Just sayin'! ;)

It's crazy- after eating to the point of OHMYTUMMY!!! we went to a 10 o'clock movie, and we got out of the theatre at 11:45. The theatre was PACKED!!! What in the world? Turns out, they show movies that START at 11:55 pm! We were sooooo close to just hopping into another movie, but decided to head back to the hotel instead.... After all, we're old. (And we had better things to do! ;) )

The Fourth Of July wasn't anything really special. I mean, on TV you always see American cities and towns all decked out and patriotic, but really, we could hardly tell that it was even a holiday! Nonetheless, we had a wonderful day. Just being together and playing and not having to get ANYTHING done was sheer perfection.

We found a place where they were lighting off fireworks, and we spent a great evening partying with thousands of strangers. Fireworks were going off EVERYWHERE-- something Canadians can't appreciate unless they've seen it before... because we do NOT all light fireworks off in our front yards. At least, not at the magnitude the Americans did. Too fun.

Another night and morning WITHOUT waking up to fighting children or someone needing to pee, we grabbed our appliances and headed BACK down the Going To The Sun road on our way home!

We are sooo refreshed. We are so rejuvenated. We are so in love and gushy again.

Why can't we just do this every week?!