Come in the tent!

Ever since we played "in the tent" in our bed on my birthday, Cole has been loving playing "in the tent."  He has actually been asking to go to bed early, so he can get in his bed and play that he's in the tent under his Lightening McQueen blanket! And of course, anyone who happens to be in his bed with him has to come in the tent as well!  He wants Zach to come in the tent, but Zach prefers to crawl out! It makes getting him down for a nap or to sleep at night quite a lengthy process!  He likes to pretend he's driving his tent...not sure where he got that idea from!  He has quite the imagination, my boy!  We usually drive to Sobeys in Tuscany.  He loves grocery shopping!  Actually, I think he just likes Sobeys because he gets a free cookie there!  Anyhoooo, today we decided to make a big tent in the living room.  Cole and Zach thought it was great, but Cole was not so pleased that I was taking pictures of them in it.  He told me today that he didn't want any pictures.  I took them anyway!

In other news... we had a fun, busy weekend.  On Saturday, we took the boys to see Sesame Street Live.  Cole loves Elmo!  He was quite excited about it, and I think it lived up to his expectations.  Although he did find it a little long.  Maybe because he was excited because Daddy had told him we were going to go look for a new "jeep car" (powerwheels jeep) for him after the show.  I thought it was very well done, I was quite impressed with the staging, and it was fun taking the boys to their first show.  Zach really enjoyed it too - he was clapping and dancing along!  I'm quite pleased that both my boys really seem to enjoy music.

As promised, we did go shopping for a new jeep car afterwards.  The boys have a third hand Power Wheels jeep that seems to be on its last legs and no longer runs, and Cole has really been wanting to drive it.  After I think over an hour of deliberating, we ended up with a John Deere pick-up type vehicle.  Cole had great fun trying it out later that evening.  He's not the world's best driver! He got stuck in the trees, almost took out our fence a few times, almost ran me over, ran into his slide... I dread the day he gets his license! :)

A few pictures of Sesame Street

Cole's favorites, Elmo and Abby Cadabby

Trying out the new jeep.  Zach's not too sure about his brother's driving...

Hmm, actually, I guess this is kind of fun!

Of course, he may have thought twice if he'd seen this before he got in the car with big brother!

My littlest one is becomming quite the little monkey!

He's already figured out how to get up the slide!

Hey, where'd my chauffeur go?

Loves chewing on those fingers!

And yes, he climbed into the sandbox by himself too!

Thirty-four!

I turned 34 yesterday.  Yikes! That means it has been 17 years since I was 17!  !7 years since I entered my last year of highschool.  My last year of my childhood, my last year at ICA and in Africa. (aside from the year I went back to work.)  Some would say that I'll hit middle-age next year, but I disagree!  I plan to live well past 70, so I figure, I won't hit middle-age until I am at least 40.  Maybe 45.  :)  As my husband says, age is just a number.  And, aside from not being in as good of shape as I'd like, I certainly don't feel like I'm in my mid-30's.  I still love to get down on the floor and dance around, being silly with my kids.  I love to make up silly songs and rhymes and make ridiculous faces.  For my birthday, I went to the amusement park!  So, pbbbbbbt to getting older!
I had a wonderful birthday, starting on Saturday night.  Since my sister and I have our birthdays just 4 days apart, we decided to celebrate together with some of our girlfriends.  We had a great time eating chocolate, talking - as moms do, mostly about our kids! - and playing Taboo.  The last people left after 1 am.  That's the latest I've partied in quite a while!  On Sunday, we enjoyed a pancake breakfast at our church.  One of the perks of having my birthday during Stampede week - I can almost always get a free pancake breakfast on my birthday!  Then we went to Calaway Park, our local amusement park.  It's no Disneyworld or Six Flags, but we enjoy it.  It seems Cole is shaping up to be quite the little daredevil!  He loved the rides, even the scarier ones!  He even went on one all by himself! We'll definitely be going back again this summer.  Then we had supper at Moxies, which has my favorite dessert in the whole world, the White Chocolate Brownie.  Mmmmmm!  So, that was my birthday cake! :)  As we were leaving, we got caught in a hailstorm, with marble-sized hailstones!  Poor kids were pretty terrified, getting pelted by the hail as we were trying to get them in the truck!  And we were all soaked!  So, when we got home, we stripped off the wet clothes, dried off, and snuggled in our king-sized bed for a bit to warm up.  Cole and Zach had a blast crawling under the comforter and pretending it was a tent!  I think that might've been their favorite part of the whole day!

I'll close this post with a few pictures, but before I do, I've been reflecting on some of the things that I've done in my 34 years.  So here you go:
I have lived in 4 different countries - Canada, Mali, Niger, and Cote d'Ivoire.
In Canada, I have lived in 4 provinces. 
I have moved 13 times between cities/provinces/countries/continents.  That doesn't include moves between houses in the same city and the numerous moves back and forth between ICA and home.  (Since we had to pack up all our stuff each time we left ICA for vacation, it really was a move.)
I have visited 6 provinces, at least 17 states, (I might be forgetting a couple), and 10 countries. (not including Canada and the US)
I've ridden a camel out to the sand dunes in Timbuktu.  Yes, it is a real place!! It's in Mali.
I've swum in the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Carribean, and the North Sea. (Brrrrrr!)
I have shared a room with at least 2 dozen different people - I can't even count all the roommates I've had!
I've had six different sets of  "parents" - not including my actual parents, of course!
I've lived in dorms, done room and board, lived in a basement suite, lived in 2 apartments, lived with roommates, and owned 3 homes. (none of them by myself though.)
I've jumped out of an airplane- twice!
I've gone skinny-dipping, a few times. ;)
I've eaten goat, camel, frogs-legs, crickets, and flying termites- yes, all on purpose!  Probably several other bugs not on purpose, and likely other meats I'm happy to remain blissfully ignorant that I ate!
I've learned at least 10 words of 6 languages besides English, and greetings in 3-4 more besides that.  The only other one I can actually speak anything resembling fluently though is French.
I've married the love of my life.
I've had 2 wonderful, adorable boys.
There's much more of course, but I don't want to bore you! 
All in all, it's been quite a ride!  I feel so very blessed to have had the life that I have had for these first 34 years, and I look forward to seeing what God is going to hand us over the next 34 - and hopefully more - years!

And now, here are the pictures:
One of our friends, Sara, made us these very lovely and delicious birthday cupcakes!

Cole getting ready to drive his car at Calaway Park.  He loved this ride!

Cole and Jeff flying the airplanes together.  Jeff doesn't do rides, so it was pretty special that he went on one with Cole!

Zach's only ride - the carousel.  He loved it!

Driving the car again with Cadence and Jordan.  You can tell from Cole's face how much he loves this ride!

O Canada!

I love Canada Day.  In fact, I love any holiday!  I love any excuse for a celebration!  Although I spent many Canada Days outside of Canada, one of my favorite memories from the years we spent in Canada was going to the parade and fireworks.  Alas, Calgary does not have a Canada Day parade.  I suppose because the Stampede parade is only a week or so later, and it's just more difficult in a big city.  So, every year since Jeff and I got married, we have headed out to Drumheller for their parade.  It brings me back to my childhood.  Sitting in the front yard of a family from the Church (whose name sadly escapes me at the moment!), having hot dogs afterwards, and of course, collecting the candy.  I still love collecting the candy!  You might say, I'm like a kid in a candy store at the parade.  :0)  Sorry for the lame humor! But seriously, I love sharing this little piece of my childhood with my boys.  And watching their excitement as they wave their flags and run into the street to collect candy.  Well, Zach doesn't run into the street yet, but he would if he could!  Making memories of our own, that hopefully we'll carry on for years.

We decided to be brave this year and stay out and camp in Drumheller for the weekend.  The rest of my family has done it for the past couple of years, but we haven't been able to, for various reasons.  So, we loaded up Jeff's truck with our tent, way too much food, way too many clothes, toys, and a whole lot of firewood - seriously, it looked like we were moving! - And off we went to brave living together with a busy toddler and an equally active 9 month old, in a 20x20 canvas house.  (You'd think that in all my many moves as an MK, I'd have mastered the art of packing light.  Nope.  Not even a little bit.)  It went remarkably well.  In fact, the boys loved it!  The first night, Cole said, "We should go camping more often!"  When we came home, he said, "No, no, go back to the campground!"  They both loved being outside, and the freedom that comes with that.  And Cole loved being able to sleep with mommy at night.  Although, getting them to go to sleep at night was another story!  We kept ourselves entertained playing at the playground, swimming, going out to the playground at the Tyrell Museum, and visiting with family over at my aunt's house.
After the busyness of the past month, moving and settling in to our new house, it was wonderful to have a break together as a family.  We came home tired and stinky and ready to sleep in warm beds that wouldn't deflate on us, but very happy and thankful for the break, and with some wonderful memories.  And a whole lot of pictures! :)