One Week

Yay! One week from today we're leaving for Nova Scotia. In what can only be described as completely crazy, we are driving the whole way. We plan to leave here on Friday afternoon, arrive at my parents some time on Sabbath afternoon, leave there Saturday night, and arrive in Arichat late Sunday morning. When we do the trip without kids it's about 33 hours total but with kids, well, we'll see. I'm not too concerned about Calleigh since we'll have movies she can watch and other forms of entertainment but of course, for Aubree, it's a pretty boring time to just stare at the back of a seat. But since we're driving through the night for a lot of the trip, hopefully she'll just be doing a lot of sleeping. All I know is that we're getting pretty excited to be up there with all the family. This year will be a lot of work with the cabins going up but I'm sure there will still be time for fun (although I suppose some would say that building cabins is fun.)

As I posted yesterday, this week has been pretty busy because of the cousins being in town. We did have Monday to ourselves before their arrival and a couple of things stood out. We went to Whole Foods to pick up some red lentils to make Red Dal. I obviously hadn't been there in a long time because I didn't recall that they had little shopping carts. When Calleigh saw one and how it was just her size, she was SO excited. She pushed that thing all over the store and put everything under the sun into it. I had to keep coming up with excuses as to why we weren't buying the $15 bottle of shampoo or the organic peaches that were selling for $4.99 a pound. Fortunately she didn't get too upset when I kept putting things back that she had just put into the cart. Sadly, I didn't have my camera with me but I'm certain we will be back soon since she keeps asking me if I remember how she had her own shopping cart. On the way home, we stopped at the playground for a short while. Calleigh found two little girls that she quickly befriended and they showed her how to walk behind a bunch of bushes. While she was back there, I could see her but couldn't tell exactly what she was doing. So a few minutes later, out she comes and she has something in her hand. I go and take a look and what is it but a snake skin. Yikes! I quickly asked the girls, who were a few years older, if there was a snake back there but fortunately they said no. Just the same, I HATE snakes and I certainly don't like to see Calleigh handling the old dried up skin from one. It obviously didn't faze her in the least.

One day last week we went to Travel Country to check out the cargo carriers for the top of the van. We found a Yakima one that fit but then we bought it from Amazon. Thanks to our prime account, we got free shipping and on Wednesday, a VERY large box got delivered to us. So we're pretty excited about it. It wasn't exactly cheap but you figure you're going to have it for a long time and even though we have the van now, there is so much stuff to transport with kids, that you really need the room.

So Shannon has officially departed. Sean flew down here on Wednesday night, got off the plane at about 1 am and then they started driving back to North Conway. Shannon ended up selling her furniture because it was cheaper than transporting it up there. She took with her whatever she could fit in her car. The cousins all came over here on Saturday night to spend our last weekend together. Of course, she ended up leaving at about 9:30 because she had to work the next morning and so we played games without her. We did have a good time though! Anyway, I don't think it's sunk in that she's gone because we know we're going to see her again soon. I know I'm going to be sad once vacation is over. That said, I do think she's doing the right thing.

This morning we went to a couple of yard sales. The last one didn't go so well. Calleigh had a melt down when I didn't buy the little grocery cart they had for sale - - she already has one. I wasn't surprised that she reacted that way. She had a very short nap yesterday from being at Sea World. After the yard sales, we watched the space shuttle land. She's been into the space shuttle ever since we saw (on TV) it take off a few weeks ago. Late this afternoon we went over to Waterford Lakes to use our 30% off coupon for Old Navy (thanks Allen!) and ate at Panera Bread with Ron, Elaine, Kristin, and the boys. Since the boys don't use a highchair, Calleigh has refused to use one when she's around them. We'll see if that continues when they leave.

Last night was a pretty good night with Aubree. She went to bed at 9:30 and although she woke up for about 10 minutes around 4 am, she slept all the way until almost 7:30. Yippee! I didn't feed her when she was awake at 4:00 but I did put her binky back in her mouth a few times and had to re-swaddle her since it was coming off. I don't know if I should really be doing those things because the literature they pass out at the pediatrician says that you shouldn't have them get used to you coming to comfort them during the night. They need to learn to put themselves back to sleep. But, sometimes I just want to get back to sleep myself as quickly as possible so I'm trying to do the expedient thing.

Alrighty, I think I'm signing off here. My bed is calling me. I'll leave you with a bunch of pictures and a little Calleigh saying. I was reading her the story of Adam and Eve out of her little Bible and the story mentions the Garden of Eden. Next thing I know, Calleigh is talking about the "Garden of Eating." I guess that works too!