A Tinker Town Day

The leaves on the tree outside my window now have yellow edges, so I figure I had better get on posting some of our summer photos before summer is over. This post is more for myself than anyone else. Because I don't print photos (there are too many!) - this blog ends up acting as our virtual photo album. In case you want to peek anyways, here are some (unedited...didn't have time) photos of a SUPERB day we had at Tinkertown in July. We left Micah elsewhere and got the kids all-day bracelets for the first time...so they had the freedom to go on the Merry-Go-Round a kazillion times if they chose to.

Which of course, they did. 

Here's Rob, husband/father/leader extraordinaire...proving his dad-ness by waiting in line to unload a truckload of cash just so we could make ourselves dizzy and sick. What a great sport. 

How Ellie and Josh felt about what was to come:

They were in fact, rather affectionate all day.
Special events seem to make them want to hold hands and stuff:

 The train ride that always looks more fun than it actually is:

I'm not sure who or what they are supposed to shoot!? At least they're not aimed at each other. That's right kids - you cover each others backs!!

Waiting in line for the bumper cars. I waited and zoned out. Apparently Ellie waited and zoned in. By the time we got close to our turn she said, "Mom let's choose purple car number 13. Purple number 6 isn't working that well." That or the 6 year old driving it by herself simply couldn't reach the gas pedal...

Since I have nothing to say about his giant blue lady bug, I'll use this as an opportunity to report that this girl got her first loose tooth yesterday! I admit my stomach dropped when I felt it wiggle. I suppose she really is going to grow up, after all.

They went twice. I went once. I like the ferris wheel in theory much more than in actuality.

Ride number 1 of kazillion...it's really all about picking a cool horse. 

I hope the poor teenager placed in charge of running this ride...

...had earplugs!!

Our short-legged, tall-torsoed children:

Is it just me, or is she thinking that in 10.5 extremely short years

she ain't going to be pretending anymore?

Not so sure about the start of the roller coaster. He ended up loving it!

"To kick her, or not to kick her...?"

And that smile, ladies and gentlemen, pretty much sums up our day:

Highlight of the trip: Rob and I convinced the kids to ride the big ship ride with us. You know, the one that swings back and forth? We told them that if we sat in the middle 'we'd hardly feel it moving'. HA! Rob and I scream-laughed the entire time while trying desperately to keep our kids from flying off the ride, and I was heard shouting, "WHAT WERE WE THINKINGGGGG????" while the kids just buried their heads in our laps and waited for it to be over. 

Surprisingly, they still trust us.

The Lighter Side of Things

 I have an overwhelming amount of 'summer fun' type photos that I'd like to post for my in-laws' sakes :) but the key word there is OVERWHELMING. So while I work up the courage to jump into that project, let me divert your attention to...

the Lighter Side of Things.

We were driving to Superstore one day when Rob asked me a question about the pharmacy drive-through. No clue what it was, but my answer to him was, "I don't have a hot clue."

Rob, "Do you have a cold clue?"

Josh, "I had a cold flu!"

Ellie, "No you DIDN'T! You never threw up!"

Josh, "YES I did! When I was cleaning up the elf!" (Josh smashed a $1 garden gnome to bits and pieces when we weren't looking, and had to clean up all the pieces after, crying the whole time. No puke though.)

Me, "What did you throw up?"

Ellie, "I think he means he had a tenter tamptrun. Tenter tamptrun... tenter..." (looks confused as she tries to explain he threw (up) a temper tantrum).

Josh, "Yeah, because I was upset."

Puking a tantrum in the middle of a cold flu. GOT IT. :)

Even though Micah has already uttered his first words, Ellie and Josh continue to be enthusiastic about all his 'other' first words. For instance,

Micah, in his carseat, "A da da da da da."

Joshy, from the back seat, "MOMMY!!! Mommy! Micah's first words are 'GOD IS FAITHFULNESS!'"

Wow. Smart baby.

What happens when Micah gets left alone in a room with his sister.

 I threw together a casserole one evening that ended up having pasta, chicken, broccoli and oregano (among other things). While we were eating Ellie said, "We should name this casserole."

Rob, "How about broc-egano casserole?"

Josh: "How about EYEBALL SPLASH!"

And the winning name is...(drum roll please)...EYEBALL SPLASH! 

 Josh has appointed himself Ellie's hero lately. She likes to pretend she's falling off one of our swings (with great gusto and drama) and Josh puffs out his chest (seriously) and sprints to stop the swing for her. It makes me giggle every time. (If you compliment him on a job well done he waves his hand and says, "It was noffing, really."

Well, one day Ellie comes down the stairs from her room and again, with eyes wide and voice full of expression she declares, "Mommy. JOSHY is SO BRAVE. He just killed a spider on my wall." Josh comes running in behind her, and in his lowest voice and a forced scowl on his face he gravely agrees, "YEAH. I SAVED her LIFE. I'm a  HERO."

You go, Joshy!

 Josh started panicking the other day when trying to catch up with Ellie, who had already run into the backyard to play. Looking for his sandals he huffed, "Mommy, I can't find my other flip."

Me: "You've got your flop, then?"

Josh: "No, I've actually got my FLIP but I can't find my FLOP anywhere!"

And lastly, I'll leave you with a good 'ol leg-slapping joke, written by Josh himself:

Q: "Why did the lip jump over the eyelash?

A: "To JOIN THE BAND!"

(Bet ya didn't see that one coming!)

Hope you're all enjoying your summer!!

Our First 2-Day Beach Adventure!

This week my parents rented a cabin at a lake that is 1.25 hours away from here. They invited me to join them for a night while Rob was away at a conference.
1.25 hours only* seems like a long time:
1. when you're a kid and
2. when you're an adult with 2 teasing children and a fussing baby crammed into the backseat of a car and no other adult along for backup. I just kept throwing things into the back seat that would distract everyone for 10 minutes or so. By the time we got there, the car looked like it's own natural disaster!

We had a blast. It was super hot and muggy, but also cloudy and windy, so it was survivable. Micah thought the sand was awesome, as did the kids....and myself...and my dad. I love things that bring out the kid in everyone! (Check out Micah's latest face wound. The wall vent was the winner.)

Ellie was the official sand castle 'decorator', adding that feminine touch with pretty stones and shells:

And then suddenly, even though the water was frigid, our two budding fish were in the water, having a blast!

Micah preferred a much smaller body of water:

We somehow managed to sleep in our own sweat and woke up early the next morning (6:10, to be exact :) and had a good long snuggle with Bapa while watching cartoons. The only form of 'roughing it' in this kind of camping was the lack of air conditioning. :)

Cousins Regan and Drew joined us in the afternoon and we celebrated with ice cream!!

Micah's response to his first cone:

Highlight of our two-day trip? The kids first ever boat ride, thanks to my uncle Kurt! They were so pumped.

Later in the day we celebrated my mom's birthday and then I packed up and came home to find that my playpen was broken and had nowhere to put Micah for the night! Great neighbours helped to solve that problem. All in all I'd say our first 2-day beach adventure was a smashing success!!

*Okay. There are actually quite a few other things that make 1.25 hours seem long. Waiting in the walk-in clinic, waiting for someone to come home when they are 1.25 hours later than they said they'd be, waiting for your food at a restaurant when you can smell everyone else's...

What's one thing that makes 1.25 hours seem long to you??

Summer in the City

Okay, looks like I can manage to find time to blog after all! Last weekend our city had its annual summer kick-off event called 'Summer in the City'. Although we were planning on going Saturday, we took a sneak peak on Friday and couldn't resist getting Ellie and Josh each a pony ride. Ellie and I have been reading a chapter book series together called, "Pony Crazed Princess" which has ignited a passion in Ellie for all things pony, as you can tell by her face here:

So the next day we went back without Micah (who had tried to jump out of the tractor train ride the day before). We had an agreement with the kids that we weren't going to go on any rides that cost money, because they wanted to save up for Tinker Town, an amusement park not far from here. There was still PLENTY to do.

Here's Josh in the shades Ellie made him wear, enamoured with a street hockey game:

We obviously couldn't pass by the ponies without another smiley riding moment!

Josh thought it was just as cool, just in a more cowboyish way:

We spent quite a while at what was probably the best petting zoo I've ever been to.
All the animals were super tame and easy to interact with:

Our friends TJ and Amanda from Penner Pumpkins provided everyone with rubber duck water races:

Ellie won! (Rob and I raced, too. I lost and got a weird burning sensation in my chest. Perhaps I should exercise one day.)

Amanda is a seriously talented face painter!

While waiting for Josh to get his face painted, this guy came and gave Ellie a handshake. I thought for a moment she would either bawl or bolt, but she managed to stand her ground and give him a shaky smile...kinda scary, if you ask me!

Josh's turn!

Much to Ellie's delight, there was a huge board with buckets of paint for the kids to have free reign with:

Rob made friends with the Funny Loud Knife-Throwing Guy and got some juggling tips:

Ellie and Josh leaning on one another for moral support during the Knife-Throwing Guy's act:

Josh's version of looking at the camera and smiling:

Can't forget the good times to be had on the bouncy castle!

And Josh's highlight of the day - the bouncy slide. I totally thought he'd be timid. NOT a chance...the higher he bounced and flipped down that slide, the better! Look at the wild euphoria in those eyes:

Stay tuned for more summer hoopla!

(Next up - a visit to the cabin that my mom and dad are renting.

I'm going alone with the kids. It should be...interesting. Prayer always welcome. :)