busy weekend

Just some of the pictures from the Steel City Safari on Sunday - definitely the highlight of a busy weekend. Even though John insisted he didn't want to go, I dragged him anyway, and boy, am I glad I did! The second we walked in, he was in his own little world, darting from display to display, then back here, then over there, and back around again. Notice him not looking into the camera in any of the shots - I may as well have not been there. I actually lost him in the crowds a couple times. Thankfully, he had a few favourite displays he kept returning to again and again, so I just checked them, and found him every time.

It was a big charity event, where all the local little zoos and conservation type groups - as well as the local reptile store - brought in animals to the convention centre for an afternoon. I expected John to want to stay maybe an hour or two. Almost four hours later, they were shooing us out. I think it was the Hamilton Conservation Authority who brought a hay infusion, and set up a "microscopic safari" with various little swamp crawlies under microscopes. John really liked that one. So much, that when he saw they had packed their equipment, he ran over, threw his body across the bins and pronounced "You can't take them away!" The guy running the station seemed to appreciate his enthusiasm, but he still had to take his crawlies home to the lake. He loved the turtles too. He spent more time there than anywhere else. He enjoyed petting the big snakes, too. He kept following the anaconda around. There was a display of scorpions, which he called lobsters. He looooved the goat petting zoo. I must have spent $8 on little handfulls of food for these goats, who'd probably never eaten so much in their lives. The picture above is John trying to feed a very overfed goat, which was falling asleep. He was also very big on the pony rides. I think he took 5 pony rides by the time it was all said and done. He kept slipping through the gate. He was so excited about the whole thing, I think he missed the part where I had to pay $4 every time. But, it made him so happy, and it all went to charity, so it was $20 well spent. There were birds too. He wasn't too big on the parrots, but he liked the ducks. I was surprised he wasn't excited to see an owl, because he loves owls, but he was a kind of blah about it. But he wouldn't have anything to do with anything furry. Probably because almost everything furry was something big and scary, like wolves and lions. No interest in those at all. But frogs and snakes and turtles and bugs? They were awesome! All in all, a really fun time. I'm glad was able to take him to that. Just wish dad was there!

On that note, the cat is out of the bag. I resigned form my job at the Review on Friday, so now it's public knowledge that we're on our way to Calgary. It was a sad thing. As much as being a working mom was tough, I'm going to miss my job a lot. My paper was in this kooky little town that reminds me so much of Dryden. It was like being home. I'm not going to miss the gruelling slog of day-to-day life with little kids and a full-time job, and the futile hunt for the perfect work-life balance. But I'll miss the people and the personalities and all the politics of small town life.

On the house front, it's still not sold. I think we're at the one month mark now, with our first open house either this Sunday or next Sunday. We're hoping it will sell before we move, which should be around Christmas, if all goes as planned.

As for Joan, she has John's stomach flu. Fever, vomiting, the whole thing. She seemed overly crabby, though. She wasn't eating or sleeping for couple days and I'd caught her picking at her ear, so I scooted her up to the Doc on Monday morning, while I still had a car, to have her checked out. She did have an ear infection, so it was a good call. She's on her first round of banada-flavoured antibiotics. I'm glad I took the flavoured kind, because even with all the sugar, she hates it. Even John says it smells yucky. But she seems to be getting better. She's sleeping better, at least, and she's not so pale.

While I was there, the doc mentioned the stroke. He said he was completely floored when he read the letter from the pediatrician. He said that never even crossed his mind. It's things like that that make me glad I live in a city - our doctors aren't any better than northern doctors - they just have more resources to draw from.

Anyway, better go! Mike should be home from work by now, so I should give him a call. They have him on this horrible noon-8 shift. It'll be fine when we're all there, but the two hour time difference means he's getting home very late for me. It's no fun.