Saturday, August 27, 2011

School starts in 10 days! Time to finish cramming in as much Summer O'Fun as we can! This will include a camping trip. We are hauling a jet ski for some friends (we are all camping together) and get to enjoy the use of their jet ski. The weather will be HOT on the other side of the mountains. We are all looking forward to it!

Jax and Cars has hockey camp this past week (well, just 3 of the days). Yesterday, Jax also had a birthday party to attend so he was out of hockey camp a couple of hours early. I had so much running around to do that day that I put 105 miles on my car! Just running errands and shuttling kids! Wow.

Dex went to a sleepover on Tuesday night and managed to lose the stuff sack for the sleeping bag. Lost in this kid's house! And the thing is, this is the SECOND time he has lost a stuff sack in someones house. Last time was early in the summer. So now we have two puffy sleeping bags that would pack much more conveniently in the car if they were nice and compactly stuffed in a little bag. Aargh!

If we ever go camping again, we are buying or renting a trailer to haul all of our stuff. Or maybe I could leave half of the kitchen at home? ;)

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Three weeks ago, my friend took her kids and my kids to the lake for some afternoon fun. On the way home, they were rear-ended! Both cars were drivable although my friend's car needed a new bumper, back gate, side panel and apparently the floor was cracked. She is still driving a rental car. Two of my three kids initially complained of some neck and back pain but I shrugged it off. Mostly because one is highly susceptible to the power of suggestion and the other tends to obsess over aches and pains. Well, three weeks later, the power of suggestion kid has made no mention of any aches but my other son begged me to take him to the doctor. He was sitting in the third row on the passenger side of a small SUV, right at the point of impact.

The doctor took copious notes (for insurance purposes??) and gave my son a page of exercises to do. We are to call back in a week if things are still the same. I hope that the reassurance from the doctor that all is well will be enough to make him realize that he is ok. And if in a week he is not, we'll be going to some physical therapy to help make his back stronger and (it is his upper and lower back that hurt) hope that these issues do not follow him throughout his life. In the meantime, I have tons of paperwork to fill out and need to call the main office of the pediatric clinic tomorrow to work out the billing for this visit.

I know this accident could have been a lot worse. And it is funny but I have never had any misgivings or second thoughts about letting a friend drive my kids before but now I do think twice before I say OK.

Oh, and the rest of the passengers? They were all ok with the exception of my friend, the driver. She has put off going to the doctor for neck and back pain too because she does not have insurance. Yes, the auto insurance will cover but I think the paper work involved is overwhelming to her too.

When I was growing up this was never a problem because we rarely drove in other's cars (no one had 7 or 8 passenger vehicles) and we'd just take public transit (the TTC) where ever we went. I wish we had that option here.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Summer o'fun 2011 continues...

It has been three weeks since I last posted! Shameful!!

The summer finally kicked in (weather-wise and activities-wise). Cars did a two-week intensive swim lesson session at the club. He did ok but not well enough to move up to the next level. I *promise* not to go so long without him swimming again so he doesn't lose all of his swimming know-how again.

On the 8th, we went on vacation to Pacific City, Oregon. We had so much fun! We went with Spy and her family (they go there every year). We rented a house just up the street from where they rented a house so it was perfect for the kids to ride their bikes or scooters to each house. We were 4 blocks from the beach. We'd pack up the cooler then Stephen would drive it down to the beach (you can park on the beach there) and I'd walk down. The ocean was COLD so we rented wet suits for the kids so they could boogie board. There was a huge SAND mountain that we could climb up (a lot of hard work). We rented sand boards one afternoon too so the kids could sand board down the hill. We hiked and we biked. Stephen and Spy's dh took the kids crabbing too. It was really an awesome vacation with lots of downtime to relax. Stephen and I have both said that we'd love to go again sometime.

We were back for three days then we headed to Vancouver for the weekend. We used our Nexus passes for the first time and it was fantastic just driving past the long line of cars in the Nexus only lane. I waved my cards at the scanner then drove up to the border guard. She asked me how many in our party (5!) then she said "Thank you" and handed our cards back to us and away we went! Awesome!! We drove the the Vancouver airport next so we could get our irises scanned so we can use the Nexus passes when we fly to/from Toronto.

While in Vancouver, we went to see the Zombie Walk which was a lot of fun as there were so many zombies and some people's costumes were awesome! The best zombie was an older man who was missing his left arm but he had tied a fake bloody bone to his shoulder so it looked as though his arm had been bitten off. Gruesome but hilarious! My kids were a little freaked out by him and some of the other very realistic zombies but overall they loved it. Before we had quite made it to where the Zombie Walk was starting, my 4 year old niece saw a clearly drunk scruffy-looking man staggering down the street and screeched "Look! A zombie!!".

So the summer activities are clearly getting better for my kids. We still have hockey camp and camping to do (as well as finishing buying school supplies as well as clothes for back-to-school).

This is indeed a summer o'fun!