Weekend Staycation with Friends

While blogging seems to be low on the priority list these days, there are just certain moments or events that I just can't let pass without documenting to remember later.  Let's be honest, that is why I started this blog in the first place.

This past weekend was our annual visit from my friend Sara and her 2 kids.  What started back I was on mat leave with Cooper has turned into an event that both the adults and kids look forward to.  We have covered off so much of the city and we rarely do the same activity twice.  Except Calaway Park.  We've been doing Calaway Park every year for as many as I can remember.

The one problem we run into is that Sara's kids are adventurous when it comes to rides and mine are not.  Let's put it this way.  Macy is barely 6 and she couldn't wait to get on the roller coaster this year.  Grady on the other hand is 11 and has little interest in giving it a go.

The ship, as shown below, is Grady's favorite ride and up until this year has been the scariest ride he would even consider.  Trust me, it is not that scary.

Sara and Macy were sitting across from us and while Macy's expression is totally real, Sara saw me taking the picture. I think it is an awesome one just the same.

Poor Macy is the only girl of the group and she takes it like a champ.  In normal fashion, when you say everyone turn around for the photo, the only one that looks and poses is Miss Macy.  Of course.

This year Grady tried this drop ride.  It is always my favorite. I love losing my stomach on rides, I do not like to spin.  I was happy that Grady stepped out of his comfort zone and tried something new, and he loved it.  He went on it multiple times even by himself.  Despite the non smile, I promise he was enjoying it!

Our new adventure this year was a trip to the mountains.  We decided last year instead of putting Calaway Park on the top of the priority list that it was time to bring Sara's kids to the mountains.  They loved the view so much that at lunch the 2 oldest refused to switch spots with us so we could enjoy it.  Insert eye roll.

What you can't tell from these pictures is that Macy got car sick on the way and threw up just before we started the hike.  Thankfully she recovered and we were able to finish the Grassi Lakes Trail which is about a 5km hike round trip with spectacular views.  This is the first time we walked all around the lake and ventured into the caves.  It made for a great photo op!  There was no way I was climbing in that cave.

Here we are after our hike drinking Bud Lite and wearing the name tags (labelled proudly by Macy) that came in the box of beer we purchased on the way home.

The other part of our group looked a little like this.  My boys love having Aiden sleeping in their room and I was happy that this year when Aiden woke up at the crack of dawn he didn't wake the other 2 up.  Ha!  It turned out that one of the mornings Aiden slept until 830 which may be his new sleep in record.  So glad we got to celebrate that with him!

Sunday, the boys headed to a virtual reality place. I have no idea what it is or what they did but they all said it was the highlight of the weekend and it allowed us ladies to get our toes painted.  This is something that I miss out on having only boys, no pedicure with my kids!  I loved watching her face light up when they painted flowers on her toes and how she picked the same color as me.  She is the sweetest... just like her mama!

I love the weekends that Sara comes to visit.  Once upon a time we lived together and I love that once a year we pretend we are roommates again and stay up way to late watching Big Little Lies (instead of Golden Girls) and drink booze (instead of Diet Coke).  There is just something about having a friend that you've had for longer than you haven't. Thank you Sara for dragging your kids 600km to come and spend the weekend with us.

An Anuual Visit with Sara: The one with all the poop

Meet Sara.

We went to high school together, then lived together for 3 years during university before I eventually moved to the big city shorty after graduation.  Over 15 years later and we still talk on the phone once a week for an hour.  Truthfully, it is probably the biggest reason I still have a land line.

She started coming once a year during the weeks that her childcare was closed and now she and her kids continue to come because we have so much fun.

This year, she arrived late Thursday night and we left all the kids with Jasmin Friday and went to the mall for some retail therapy.  Sara was on the hunt for a purse. Not just any purse... but a purse with an outside zipper and a zipper that closes the whole thing up.  I am no stranger to her prerequisites for her purses and it amazes me every time she finds one that meets her criteria.  It was also amazing to me how she fits so much in her purse and how heavy it is.  I carry my wallet and glossy gloss.

On our shopping trip we bought each of the boys a new poop shirt for $6.  Best $6 ever spent.  They loved them and proceeded to wear them for 2 days.  Grady and Aiden are both having poop themed parties this summer so it was an obvious choice.

Each year my kids seem to introduce Aiden to some new thing that they all become obsessed with  and this year was no different.  This year the game of choice was Fortnite. They are obsessed with the dance moves in the game and have taken to watching (and making!) videos of others attempting the different dances.  it was fantastic entertainment!

We caught Aiden practicing his dance moves on the way out to yard as us girls watched from the window and giggled. Poor guy was embarrassed when he turned to see all 3 of us watching him out the window.  This continued in the field, at the mall, every where we took them.  They tried to post the video on Coop's YouTube station but the ipad got confiscated before they were finished or I would have posted the video.

The kids started having sleepovers during the visit last year which means later nights, early mornings, and tired kids.  No wonder they are tired, Aiden isn't even sleeping on the mat!

Like previous years, we packed up the kids and took them to Calaway Park for the day. Sara's kids love it there, mine, not so much.  They like to go to play games and eat cotton candy and maybe go on about 5 rides and definitely no scary ones.  Notice the poop shirts again on day 2.

Macy spends time with me and my boys while her mom and brother go on the roller coaster.  Not because she is scared, but because she is too short. In prior years, Macy screamed the whole time her mom was gone but I think I am finally growing on her.

Can I just say how nice it is to have a little girl around.  My favorite line of Macy's this weekend was when her Mom asked her to wash her hands and she turned around and tells her "I'm not into that Mom".  OMG I laughed.

A close second was when we were watching The Bachelorette and little Macy was still up at 11pm and she snuck upstairs to watch the rose ceremony with us.  She takes one look at Jordan (the model) at the rose ceremony wearing only a towel and asks very frankly,  "Where are they going to pin the rose"

Good question Macy, good question.

While at Calaway the kids found these poop hats.  They really wanted the hats and for $10 you could get the hat full of rings and play the ring game.  Bam!  We had 4 hat fulls of rings and not one ringer.  That game is harder than it looks!

 As if the 5 hours we spent at Calaway wasn't enough, we came home and had a lemonade limeade stand at the house.  It certainly wasn't my idea but when I said no and they asked for a garage sale I decided the limeade stand would be easier.  Truthfully, the accountant in me loves the idea of teaching them about profit and loss.  We made $4 in revenue (8 glasses) and truthfully they drank half the product and didn't buy the supplies.  I'm pretty sure they were operating at a loss.

Why limeade you ask?  Because the frozen stuff can also be used for Margaritas!  I had lots of them on hand but me thinks its time to reload after my loss in supply.

While the kids filled up on limeade, us ladies drank mojitos.  I have declared it the summer of the mojito after I bought a bar muddler. I have almost perfected it.  Did you know there is 2 tablespoons of sugar in a mojito?  Me neither.

Like every other year, it rained for one of our few days together.  We planned to go hiking on Sunday since Sara's kids have never been to the mountains but when the forecast showed lots and lots of rain we opted instead of a day at the pool.  Next year we have already decided to make the mountains a priority.  Yup, already planning next year.

..

No matter what we do or how long they stay, my absolute favorite part of the weekend are the mornings when we pour our coffee and sit in our PJs and visit.  Or when we pore a glass of wine for me and a beer for her and pretend to watch TV while we spend the time catching up after the kids are in bed.  It's the little things.  It is quality over quantity.  The every little day things that we do together instead of apart.  I am so lucky to call her my friend.

Thanks for a great weekend!

Our Annual Weekend Visitors

I've told you more than once that I am fortunate to have so many wonderful friends in my life.  Some I've just met and others I've known for years. Like decades.   I feel so fortunate that year after year, Sara makes a 6 hour drive with 2 kids by herself to visit with me and my family.  Sara and I lived together for 3.5 years during University and we met in high school over 20 years ago.

She moved away the year after we graduated and I wrote her letters.  Like with a pen and dropped in snail mail.  I still remember calling her every few weeks for a very short call since it actually costed money to talk long distance back in the day.

Then I moved to Calgary and the rest of my posse stayed in Saskatoon.  We've made every effort as a group to stay connected with phone calls and annual visits.  I love my weekly talks but nothing beats a face to face visit.

While the trips have changed over the years the friendship has not.  I'd argue that our trips are still exciting but the excitement comes from getting sprayed with a water gun instead of from finding a great deal at the mall!

Let's start with a selfie of the moms while the kids run wild in the pool behind us.  Don't worry, I only put my drink down to take the photo!

  

Back when we first started these trips in 2011 they both fit in the bathtub together.  There is no way that would happen now!

Now all three of them prefer to sleep in the same room and stay up as late as possible leaving little 'adult' time for us.

Cooper is hidden in the bed somewhere!

As they get older, they have strong opinions on what they want to do.  Grady had his heart set on InjaNation, an indoor ninja training obstacle course among other things.

 

This place isn't cheap but it provided a full hour of entertainment for all 4 kids and they came out sweaty and tired.  Just the way I like them!  Cooper was so tired he couldn't be bothered to pose for the picture.  At the end of the weekend both my kids chose this as their favorite part of the weekend.

From InjaNation we decided to go to Heritage Park.  In all the years Sara has been coming to visit we had never gone there.  She had been there once, as a bridesmaid for our wedding!

While the kids had fun doing things like this:

The moms were more low key:

In all honesty, my favorite part of the weekend may have been when the kids decided to play dress up in gasoline alley.

In all the years we've been going to Heritage park never have we ever closed the park down.  Ever.  We literally stayed until they kicked us out.  We attempted a group shot but Cooper wanted nothing to do with it.  See him in the orange shorts behind us?  I guess technically he was in the picture.  He was in a mood all weekend.

Sunday morning we kicked off the day at Calaway Park, something Aiden had been looking forward to since he arrived.  He is a ride guy and it showed when he insisted on riding the roller coaster twice, including once on his own.  My kids just stick to their 2 favorites - the swings and the swinging ship.  Pretty tame.

What they do like to do is to play games.  Sara and Macy won in this round.  By the end of the day each of the kids took home a stuffie.

Here we are in line for the bumper boats.  Unfortunately for me Cooper can't ride by himself so I went with him.  We got drenched by these 2 in the other boat.  The water was freezing and I was drenched at the end.  Not my favorite ride of the day.

Last year when Sara and Aiden went on the roller coaster and left Macy behind she screamed the entire time.  This year me and Macy were besties and i sent her this pic of us boarding the swings.  Now if I could only get her to stop calling me Deena....

We managed to snag a better group shot on our way out of Calaway Park.  I must admit it is kind of fun to have a permanent amusement park 30 minutes from your house.  Although it hasn't' made my kids any less scared of the rides.

I look forward to this weekend every year.  A time that old friends reconnect and new friendships are formed.   Aiden left us the sweetest note when they left and apparently cried on the way home that he wanted to move to Calgary.  It is questionable whether he wanted to move to be closer to us or the roller coaster.  Grady asked several times when we would see Aiden again and why it may not be for another year.  I love that our kids get along and enjoy each others companies well enough that they leave us alone here and there for adult time.  Even if Macy stayed up until we went to bed every single night.  At least she was quiet.  Sara has a night owl on her hands....

I hope that my kids develop the kind of friendships with their friends that I have with mine. Ones that accept you always and that stand the test of time and distance.  Looking forward to reconnecting with the rest of our crew next month!

A Weekend with Sara

Sara and I met in grade 10 and have been friends ever since.  I started eating lunch in the school cafeteria in with Carmen and Sara since none of us had our license or friends to drive us anywhere.  It was a match made in friend heaven.

I really hope that it was Halloween in this photo. I think Sara was the devil.

Here we are more than 20 years later and still great friends. Sara is my Sunday phone call. We rarely go a week with out a quick chat or a few texts.  She is an old friend. Ha!   But seriously, I am lucky to call her my friend.

Each year when her day home closes Sara plans a trip to our house with her kiddos and we take Calgary by storm.  Even when rain threatens to dampen our spirits.  Who are we kidding, the kids have too much energy to just let us sit around.  Even in the rain.

We kicked off Saturday morning at Calaway Park.  Aiden had been there just a few weeks ago and it was on the top of his list for the weekend.  The forecast called for rain starting at 2 pm but we figured we could power through in 4 hours no problem.   That could have been the case except the rain started after we'd only been at the park for an hour. We stopped for lunch and found a semi dry place to eat and the rain magically stopped.  We ended up being at the park almost 6 hours.

We took this photo as we left.  The kids were high on sugar and the moms were ready for their beer that they knew were chillin' in the fridge at home.

The rain started again that night and it rained hard.  James really wanted ice cream so we headed out in the rain only to find out that there was a tornado watch going on.  So needless to say, no time for pictures, we grabbed the ice cream and came home.  Thankfully the kids didn't hear the radio as my kids are terrified of weather related items, tornadoes in particular.  Yikes!

The boys enjoyed 3 sleepover nights.  Late to bed and early to rise.  Aiden was always the first up and proceeded to wake at least one of my boys up and before you knew it they were all up at 7am every day.  The good thing was that they were like a heard of elephants coming down the stairs to there was no hiding that they were awake!

Sunday was the day of Sara.  When I started to throw out ideas, her favorite was the ride on the ctrain to the Calgary Tower downtown with a pit stop at Wonderland (the big white face) that she saw on the Amazing Race Canada.  Done.

Sara and I and the 4 kids took the train, which was a huge success, and James met us downtown with the car just in case we needed it.  He just didn't want to ride the train.  We walked and picked him up at his office building where he parked.

We paid a very expensive entry fee to ride the long and very full elevator up to the top of the Calgary Tower.  Aiden got out of the elevator and within in seconds expressed his disappointment in the tower.  Ha!  In the end I think all 3 enjoyed.  The glass floor is terrifying for adults, kids not so much.

Next up was the big white face.  It is pretty impressive.  I've walked by it many times from the +15s but never right up to it or inside of it. You can see how big it is by looking at the kids inside the face in the photo below.

Next up we headed to the giant park downtown and James introduced the kids to Pokemon Go.  It was beyond annoying for Sara and I who had to stop every few steps to look for imaginary monsters.  I don't get it.  Whatever we thought didn't matter, the kids loved it.   I am pretty sure Sara is cursing my name for introducing Aiden to this annoying game.

We ended the day with Gina and her family coming over for dinner.  Macy was beyond thrilled to ditch the boys to play with the twins.  The sun was shining and the kids behaved most of the time which equals a great end to the evening.

Sara and I spent our adult time catching up on Bachelor in Paradise and finishing the Bachelorette finale.  Sara quoted her friend Steve countless times and I fell asleep on the couch each night as per usual.

It was such a good weekend. I was so lucky to spend so much time with my favorite gals this summer.  Now I have to accept that it will be a while before I get this quality time with any of them.  There is just something about friends that you've known for so long that is special.  The distance and time between visits doesn't matter.  They will always be my best friends.

Thanks for a great visit Sara!

New Friends. Old Friends

I have been so excited to spend the weekend with Sara and her kidlets and this weekend they finally arrived.  For 2 years in a row, when her daycare closed, she would load up and bring Aiden to visit for a few days.  Then she got pregnant, had a baby, and after a 2 year hiatus she was brave enough to make the drive again and I am so glad she did.

She arrived after midnight on Friday night trying to do the majority of the drive while the kids slept.  They fooled her and stayed up past 11pm!  She put the kids to bed and we made the mistake of staying up until after 2am.  We both have early risers so we were 2 tired mamas on Saturday morning.

Aiden rises earlier than my kids so when me and my kids came downstairs on Saturday morning Aiden was waiting for them.  They were instant friends.  It was so odd.  They don't really remember each other well but they didn't miss a beat.  Pokemon was the common interest and proved to be interesting over the weekend with many trades that were made and subsequently undone. The art of negotiation.

Saturday morning routine for us is Soccer, so Macy and Aiden joined us.  Cooper played soccer.....

The rest of us went to the park.  The boys were playing on this funny slide thing and had a little accident.

Let's just say there was a lot of crying and saying their nuts were bleeding.  I'll let you imagine what happened.

We prepped the van for our crew and rotated who got to sit in the back with Sara.  It isn't often taht we have 7 people riding around in the van.

Strange things happen when you have 7 people in a van including creepy faces.

Macy is too sweet to have a creepy face.

After soccer we headed to the zoo despite the grey clouds that were threatening to open on us.

We managed to get through the penguins, the dino, and african secitions before the huge drops started.  We entered the rainforest building and by the time we were ready to leave it was pouring.  We waited for a bit but in the end decided to make a run for it.  We didn't make it.  

The girls (including Macy) got separated from the boys and we didn't make it to our destination.  It was raining so hard we ran for cover, ironically just around the corner from each other.  The rain eventually cleared, we saw the butterflies and then went to the car so we didn't get rained on.  Again.

I have not mentioned James juice addiction on the blog... but he is on a health kick and is drinking cold pressed juice you can only buy at certain places, one of them being the Bridgeland market.  Since it is close to the zoo, James insisted we go there for icecream.  I had reservations about it, but we went anyway and it did not disspoint.

Grady and Aiden both chose rocky road and didn't like.  I don't know what there was to not like about it.  Heaven on a cone if you ask me.  Cooper chose plain vanilla and even it was good.  If you are in the area of the Bridgeland Market, stop for icecream.  You will not regret it.

AFter we ordered pizza, the kids had a communal bath. While they didn't actually bath all together, they may as well have.  Cooper got in first, followed by Grady, Cooper got out, Aiden got in, Grady got out and Macy got in.  And 3 out of 4 of them had a good time with the foam soap.  Can you tell??

We put on a movie called The DUFF, a typical James movie.  I don't recomend it but he claims it had good reviews.  I fell asleep on the couch as usual and James and Sara watched most of the movie.  Reminded me of when my Mom is here and I fall asleep on the couch.  I am noticing a trend.

It was a good thing I went to bed early because Sunday morning was Grady's birthday party with 13 boys.  Yes, thirteen boys.  I'll cover the party next week but let's just say it went by in whirlwind.

Right after the party Sara and I headed directly to the science center for the rest of the afternoon.  I warned her that the kids love the science center but there is a lot of standing around watching.  It was exactly as i said except I expected to be standing together.  Instead I watched these to from afar while  Cooper put on a presentation in the stage area.

And Sara watched them from the other side while Macy played in the toddler area.  So while the kids had a great time and they kicked us out when it closed at 4pm, Sara and I watched quietly from different sides of the children's play area.  {{sigh}}.

We closed out day 2 with a movie night complete with popcorn, foamies from the basement and popcorn.

If you think it was easy picking a movie with 4 kids you would be mistaken.  Macy clearly wanted Paw Patrol as she would get excited and point when we saw it on the netflix menu.  Cooper wanted Transformers, Aiden wanted Pokemon, and Grady wanted something else.  In the end, Grady won rock, paper, scissors and he chose the Pokemon movie for Aiden.  Ironically, the only kid still watching it at the end was Macy.

Monday was an odd day as my kids had school.  Sara spent the morning packing, Aiden colored, and I started this blog.  After we picked Cooper up from school and had lunch we went to the a new play center on our end of town, Joso's.   It was so quiet being an school day afternoon.  At one point we had the entire place to our self.    We spend 2 hours there, it was uninterrupted adult play time.

It was nice to have some Cooper/Aiden time.  Aiden falls right in between the ages of my boys and over the weekend he seemed to gravitate towards Grady, which is totally normal given he is the 'older' kid and the bonded over Pokemon.  When Grady was at school, the other two didn't miss a beat playing superheros and running through the play area.  Like I said, instant friends.

After we picked Grady up from school, Sara and her crew slowly packed up and started the process of leaving.  Of course we took a group shot with my new selfie stick.

I had such a good weekend.  There was crying, there was screaming, there was rain, there were early mornings.... but there was also beer (for Sara), wine (for me), popcorn and ice cream, laughs, stories, and new memories created.

While Sara is an old friend to me, I loved watching my friends develop new friendships.  New friendships that will hopefully turn into old friendships because their mamas insist on getting together a couple times a year.

I feel so fortunate to have so many great girlfriends that make the effort to come and visit me and take time out of their schedules to visit me when I am in town.  Like tomorrow.  Lucky for me, I will be spending the day in Saskatoon with a few of these important ladies. 

Here's to new friends and old friends and to making new memories.