Wiggles weekend

It should have been much, much worse. What were we thinking, bringing a 3 year old and two 2 year olds out for a weekend of fun? Fun for WHO? It seemed like a good idea 2 months ago when I bought the tickets, but as the weekend loomed - I started to wonder if we'd regret it.

However, Saturday rolled around and we packed the van up with kids and luggage, snacks and DVD's, and hit the road. It was a 3 hour uneventful drive to Regina, the worst behavior on the way there was Annique and her refusal to sleep, instead she gazed out the window. I tried not to think about what that would mean for the rest of the day, and just enjoyed the peace and quiet.

First stop was some sort of Fun-O-Rama type place where kids can run wild and free for hours and nobody lets them out without their mom, so its all good. Best four bucks I ever spent in my life, I think. We met a bunch of girlfriends and their kids, and had coffee and visited while the kids wore themselves out on the play structure thing. It took me a while to get over the fact that my child was very likely to be out of my sight for long periods of time, but the point is for the adults to sit and watch, and the kids to play.

One moment where I knew where she was - the ball pit

We went straight from the play place to the concert, there was barely time to feed the kids so we gave them each a chicken finger to eat in the van. Great parenting! Annique was still clutching hers when we went into the concert but fortunately the security there knew better than to seize chicken from an overtired 2 year old.


The concert was short and sweet - a good time had by all. My three year old nephew really enjoyed it the most - he was dancing and singing and having a really good time. My younger nephew was quite a bit more reserved, but he didn't really hate it or anything. Annique recognized a lot of the songs, was happy to see Dorothy, and loved the dancers who were often looking like ballerinas or princesses - two of her favorite things. I took a few video clips of the concert and NOW she wants to watch them non-stop. With great enthusiasm. WIGGLES!! LOOK, mom - WIGGLES, again!

Gee, do you think its safe to let the kids run here?

From the concert we headed back to the hotel, and hauled all three kids and suitcases and lifejackets and whatnot into the lobby, only to find out that the POOL IS CLOSED. They immediately offered to call and find us a spot at another hotel - I think one look at the kids and they knew we wouldn't be staying in a hotel without a pool. Or, maybe they didn't WANT us there if they didn't have a pool. The second hotel had a pool and waterslide so we settled in there, ordered pizza, and took the kids swimming while we waited for it to be delivered.

My nephew approving of the hotel room

The rooms had two queen beds with four fluffy pillows on each. My sister and I plotted to each have a queen bed all to ourselves - we had a portable crib....


a Thomas the Tank ready-bed...


and a playpen, but my youngest nephew was having *none* of that. So my sister didn't get a bed all to herself, but the rest of us did.

The next day was just unbelievably warm for an April day - we did a little bit of shopping and then met my friend and her two daughters to go to the park to let the kids run off some energy before the drive home. It was so hot, there was nothing to do but take off our shoes and socks, roll up our sleeves and our pants, and soak up the sun. I even got a little sunburn on my face.




It was just a wonderful way to finish the weekend - and all that sunshine and fresh air left no doubt that the three of them would sleep all the way home.





And they did. THE END.

Spring on the prairies

So, this was the tail end of March - we had an evening nice enough that we decided to go for a walk with the kids. I took one million pictures and scrapped a page when I got home:

There? Isn't that nice? Almost worth suffering through the weeks on end of ridiculous ass-freezing cold in February. Its been a miserable winter that way - not even a lot of snow for the kids to play in, I think it really snowed twice in November and early December, and then was just so cold that it never melted. Finally - spring is around the corner!!! Right???!?!


SO, the next day.......




......you know it snowed like crazy. Big, heavy snow, and endless piles of it. I couldn't believe it. And of course, I was driving in it because even if it only snows three times in a winter, with my luck I'd have to get caught driving in it. Thank goodness it wasn't far - I was only driving in and around town but still feared for my life while heading down the treacherous valley hill and I slid over the end of a sharp corner and almost into something that could have been a shrub or a pile of steel, for all I could tell with the thick coating of snow covering it.

I bought a snowplow for my husband's quad for his birthday and it actually plowed a bit of snow back in November but since then of course its been sitting in the garage, parked in the way so that I have no choice but to dent the van doors and bruise my shins a few times a week trying to get in and out. But that's all worthwhile now because my husband plowed the driveway THREE TIMES that day. I went out and took some fabulous crazy snowfall pictures, and of course they were the best photos I've ever taken, because I promptly deleted them off my camera. But I do have the video, so its not a total loss.