Day 3

The van, in our campsite at dawn

the brook our site overlooked

We slept well, listening to our babbling stream. I woke up first, and got breakfast going. We actually brought our grain mill, to make buckwheat pancakes on the road. The kids love them, and once you get used to them, white pancakes have no taste, and just don’t cut it. Because it was daytime, we let the kids out of the van to explore, but not without plenty of “GET AWAY FROM THE EDGE!” from us.

The kids, nom noming on pancakes and bacon. Mmmmmm....

After breakfast, we headed for the showers. It was a bit room with a shower stall, so we all went in together, so we could clean the kids too. It was a coin shower and we only had five loonies, so we had to do a bit of juggling. Whoever was in the shower had to give the next in line warning, so one could jump in as the first was finished, so we wouldn’t waste valuable shower time. We did the kids all together. Joan doesn’t like showers, John doesn’t like having his hair lathered and Dave just hates water period, so with all three of them together, the screams were deafening. But we all got through, and back to the camp for pack-up. The first thing the kids did? Play in the dirt, of course.

a bridge, built from embalming fluid bottles

Our first stop was a roadside attraction called The Glass House. It was a house and landscaping build by a retired mortician, out of 600,000 empty embalming fluid bottles. It has, to date, been our most expensive tourist trap, at $25 for the whole family. But it was kind of cool - it was built in the 50’s, and while the owner was alive, he gave tours himself and did magic tricks for the kids who visited.

Joan stops to smell the flowers

A tower of the Glass House

Some more local handiwork, we spotted down the road

 

After that, we were still so hot, we stopped down the road in Creston for an ice cream cone, where we picked up perogies and cabbage rolls for that night’s dinner.

We stopped in Cranbrook for lunch, and were mauled by a flock of very socialized geese. They were so relentless, we not only had to move to another picnic area, but we had to send John to scare them away occasionally. He was good at it – he’d run, flapping his arms, screaming like a maniac.

Day three was largely a day of missed opportunities, when our gypsy lifestyle caught up to us. Seems not everyone respects the gypsy lifestyle – they have these things called “closing times”. We missed out on a railway museum that Mike really wanted to see, and the fort steel turn of the century town. We thought Joan would enjoy that, with all the costumes. Maybe another time.




By that time, we were getting weary of BC and the heat. Knowing that there was cooler air on the other side of the mountains, we pressed on, determined to cross the border. But on the way, we saw a sign, advertizing “the Biggest Truck in the World!” and we just couldn’t resist.

Despite all the delays, we DID manage to reach the border that night – a momentous occasion, after three days in BC! We slept near the border, on an old sideroad that looked like it was in the middle of nowhere, but in reality was overlooking the town of Crowsnest Pass. But it was gloriously cool. It was so nice to feel cold again, we slept with the back hatch open.

Alberta, at last!

Day Two

Ruf Ruf wakes up, to face a new day

This was our campsite, in the light of Day 2. It was a closed road, beside a field which had been used to store logs for an old sawmill. The mill had long since shut down, but the road remained. We had our first taste of Gypsy life, as we got our cool new camp stove fired up. It has two burners on top, with a little oven below, all powered by little propane tanks. The night before, we had been running so late, we grabbed a pizza on our way out of town. For breakfast, we had eggs and back bacon on the cooktop, and used the oven part to heat up our pizza. The eggs were a hit, but the pizza was so hard, it went largely uneaten by the kids.




Everyone had slept well. The night was cool, and virtually bug-free, thanks to the dry weather near Osoyoos. But our morning was…slow. It took forever to get the van re-packed, because to make enough sleeping room, we had to dump everything onto the side of the road, in a tarp. Making breakfast, eating, letting the oven cool. All told, we woke at the crack of dawn, but didn’t leave until 11 a.m.

Mike's "shortcut"

To save time, Mike decided to try a “shortcut” to Grand Forks. The roads there wind around the hills, but on the map, this dirt road plowed right over one, and promised to turn a 45 minute drive into 15. Our shortcut wound up taking an hour, as we got lost in the maze of back roads and dead ends. We stumbled into a junction of three roads, with no markings whatsoever, so stopped to get our bearings. Right there, in the middle of no-where was a little cenotaph for a fallen WWI veteran from the area. And luckily, as we were there, a local fire warden passed by, and stopped to see if we were alright. He gave us directions, and we were on our way.

If it wasn't so freaking hot, we may have stopped for a bowl. There was lots of Russian restaurants in the area, to serve the large Russian population

We're not sure if she's passed out from the heat, or asle

We passed so many things we could have stopped to see. There was a mining museum just shy of Trail, but at $8 a ticket, we passed it by. You could spent weeks touring BC and see so many neat things. But we pressed on to Trail, which is down in a deep valley. Like the Okanogan, it gets hot. But unlike the Okanogan, it gets REALLY hot! That day, it was 42 degrees! And they don’t have a lake – just a huge, fast-moving river you definitely wouldn’t want to be swimming in.

We had decided before we left, seeing is everyone needs haircuts, to see if we could get everyone a haircut in a different province. Joan was up first, and she was to get her haircut in Trail. However, it was Sunday, and their entire downtown was closed. We found a small mall on the outskirts, though, where we stocked up on groceries, and got Joan her haircut.



She and I went in together, while all the boys baked outside. Mike tried to keep them cool by dumping water on their heads. Joan was so cute in the hairdresser. The girl had a lip stud, and had a little diamond glued to one of her teeth. Joan’s bangs were so long, the hairdresser clipped them up so she could see. As soon as she did, Joan gasped, and said “What that on you face!?” The girl grinned, and at the sight of the diamond on her tooth Joan exclaimed in horror “What that on you TEETH!?” It was priceless.

Joan, before

joan, after

Lunch break, just after Trail and Castlegar

Joan, keeping her baby brother company while we cook lunch

All the kids attack Mike after lunch

This is when we released the gas. Kidding! They all took a very sound nap after lunch

From there, we left Trail, and headed to the very strange little city of Nelson. Don’t get me wrong – it’s beautiful. But it’s very BC. It has a Centre of rtraditional Oriental Sciences, whatever that is. It has a co-op radio station, and interesting stores. Their pet supply store is called “Downward Dog – uniting you and your pet”. (Downward dog is a yoga pose.) Butr it was beautiful – Roxanne was filmed there, so we put the van through its paces trying to hunt down the fire station from the movie. The hills caused the radiator fan to kick in quite a few times. But we eventually found it. I saw a couple houses that could have been The House, but I couldn’t be positive.

After Nelson, we took a drive along the beautiful shore of Kooteney Lake, where it finally started to cool down. There’s a free inland ferry there, which goes across the lake, so we went for the ride, getting on at Belfour. The kids LOVED it..We discovered that the portholes on BC ferries are big enough for a toddler to fit through. We didn’t find out the hard way, thankfully. But it wasn’t for lack of trying on Dave’s part.

A woman offered to take a picture of all of us. She had originaly said “can I get a picture of all of you together?” Mike and I both thought she’d actually wanted a piucture of us for herself. We’ve become used to being a spectacle. Whenever we’re out together, we can hear people behind us: ‘Oh my God! Look at them all” “Oh, they all have red hair! So Cute!” “Holy cow – there’s ANOTHER one!” So I don’t think our reaction was too out of line. I don’t think Dave understood though. He looks a little annoyed that some lady just took our camera!

"Wado!" Dave said

All of us, looking over the water

We ventured to the deck for a better look

Joan gets a better look on Dad's shoulder

On the other side, it was time to find a place to stay for the night. We knew the provincial park was probably full – only 18 spots there, on a busy tourist highway. But there was a private campsite right next door, advertizing hot showers. After camping, and a day in 42 degree weather, we really needed that.

Day 1

I have a few minutes before it's time to shove off, so thought I'd better get a proper entry in. The blogging hasn't worked out quite as planned - the internet has been sketchy on the road, and there aren't many long stretches of driving.

So here's a quick synopsis of our day 1. We left, as planned, after Mike for off from work on Saturday. But packing took longer than expected, and of course, we forgot a few things at home…had to pick up a few more things on our way out…then it was time for some dinner… By the time we got out of Kelowna, it was 7 p.m. Not quite the start we’d hoped for. But we got a few hours down the road, and set up camp in Kettle Valley, on the side of an old abandoned road. We woke up to a plane circling us, the entire time we got ready to leave. I hope he enjoyed the show.

And they're off - the first attempt.

John and Joan, getting irritated at all the stops on the way out of town. This one was to pick up plates. we're travelling with Aspenware cutlery, and plates made out of fallen palm leaves. They go very well with our VW van. from BC.

Leaving town, attempt 2 - spirits are high!

 The kids' sleeping arrangement in the van. Mike, Tom and I take the bed. The kids share the floor - with the jump sears out, there's just enough room for them all to fit, side by side. Probably the last time we'll ever be able to do this, though. Next year, they'll be too big.

slowly but surely...

It's 3:30 p.m., Wednesday afternoon. We're in a laundromat in Oyen, AB, with a kid in time out in each corner. The last dryer just shut off, so we'll be heading out into Sask soon. Getting there, slowly but surely.

we're alive...and still in BC!

just a quick not to let you all know we're still ok. And deep into day three, are still in BC. I think we're in hell. It was 42 degrees yesterday, and this province just never ends. But it's lots of fun!
More soon!

Ruby's first DIY oil change

Actually, the first DIY oil change for everyone here. It was quite an adventure, for such a seemingly simple thing. Thankfully, we'd been given an oil filter along the way, because they're hard to come by. But everything else - right down to the gasket - was a freak show. Mike was all over the city and I was calling all over looking for all the special things it'd need. And of course, being a VW, everything has to be weird. Here are the guys, assembling the gear.

John, excited to be part of such exciting excitement!

The guys get down to business

We set up a little peanut gallery to the side, so the other kids and I could stay out of the way, but still feel part of the action -especially once the sludge that was the old oil glopped out. Dave wanted to play in it so bad!

I can see why 10-minute oil change shops exist. What a headache that was! But it's done - hopefully done right - and the van has had all its repairs. As far as ICBC is concerned, it's fit and ready for the open road. It's even sporting new plates and insurance papers, so we have RCMP approval, too. I'm going to miss looking like an Albertan tourist, though - seems there are as many red plates as blue on the weekends around here, so we fit in either way. But I wonder if drivers here treat locals better or worse. 

All that's left is cleaning and packing. A daunting task of its own - better get busy! 

life chugs on...

This is the game our kids play if we're working out front. This is our driveway. It's even steeper in person than this makes it look, so if we're cleaning vans or weeding or working in the garage, all the kids grab toy cars, and race them down. We join them if we need a break - it's actually really fun. This morning, we were fishing out the old tires for the Vanangon, and did the same thing, unintentionally. Mike pushed them out, and I caught them, so he could move them into the van. Well, I kinda missed the first one. It managed to right itself on its side, roll right down the driveway, through the cedar bushes and down the cliff beyond. Thankfully, it got caught by a ditch, and flopped by the side of the road. otherwise, we'd be fishing it out of Lake Okanogan right now. (As an aside, you can see the cinder blocks Mike plowed into at the bottom of the driveway, to the left. Grrr. Actually, I shouldn't be too hard on him. He got a $40 tip from a customer yesterday. Instead of making me make a second dinner (he got home at 9 - the kids had already eaten, and were just waiting up to say goodnight) he used it to order us a pizza and we had an in-home date of pizza and TV. He has his good moments.)

Speaking of good moments, we got John to do a little charity work a few days ago. There's a new tech at Mike's work who just immigrated from the UK (apparently British Telecom techs are very well-trained, so there's several of them working here.) Anyway, he came here with his wife and 2-year-old daughter, with just two suitcases. No beds, no car. Nothing. The manager has been lending them his personal car until they get settled in - he's been riding his bike to work most days. But because they were only able to bring a couple toys for their daughter, Mike thought it'd be nice for the kids to assemble a box of things for her, and drop it off. (Their stuff is currently on a freighter, so they have stuff coming, but have to live out of just a couple suitcases for two months until it arrives.) It was like pulling teeth to get John to help assemble this box! he fought hard to have every single toy stay in this house. But eventually, empathy won out, and by the time it came to dropping it off a couple days later, he had come full circle. He was pretty proud of himself for being nice to this little girl, who was in a strange new place with none of her things and so little to play with. We've been trying to build a little empathy in him lately. I don't know if it's because he's the oldest, or if it's just a phase, but he really sets himself very far apart from his siblings now, and can be very short and unfeeling. One day, they were all out playing with the garden hose, spraying each other with the nozzle. John got cold, so came in, but left the nozzle running, and set it near the door, so the little kids had no choice but to walk through it to get in. Then he closed the door behind him and turned on the TV. They wanted to follow, of course, but couldn't open the sliding glass patio doors themselves. I could hear them yelling, so went to investigate, and found John watching TV, completely oblivious to the two blue prunes screaming and banging to be let in. Joan was trying to escape the spray by hiding under a patio chair. Dave was just a sorry site - face smushed against the glass, with a torrential downpour of garden hose water washing over him. John and I had a long, hard talk about that one, as they dripped and shivered in the doorway. But after a few minutes, he realized his mistake, and actually offered on his own to bring them dry towels. As he wrapped each kid up himself, he gave them a big hug and an apology. So there's hope for him, yet, I guess.

a bit of nostalgia...

This is an oldie, but a goodie, and I don't think i posted it before. This picture is from our bigger place in Calgary. it was John's birthday, and part of his present was that he was allowed to have an all-night sleep-over in the livingroom with Joan. (His favourite show is a craft show called Crazy Quilt, but it's only on very late so he often asks to stay up late to watch it - now we just record it for him now and then.) As I recall, we had just steam-cleaned the carpets, and their room was too wet anyway. They horsed around for a couple hours, then conked out. They slept right through everyone getting up. I was in the other room tidying up, and walked in on this - Dave, who HAD been wide awake five minutes before, was snuggled in and sound asleep next to John's bum.

We've been working on getting ready for the trip - mostly getting the van safetied and registered. Its plates are from the wrong province, and are even expired in that wrong province. We had visions of a cop investigating us as we camped by the side of the road, and waking up to a rap on the glass and thousands in fines. So, we broke down and got the inspection. It's far less painful than in Alberta. It was faster, cheaper, and less extensive by far. We had to get a new windshield, because there's a big crack in front of the driver's side. We had to have our driver's side window switch fixed. It's been an issue for a while - you have to jiggle it in just the right way for it to work. But to pass, it has to work for the mechanic on the first try, and it didn't. And we have some worn tires, which we already knew about - Mike had clipped some cinderblocks on our neighbour's parking pad. He had this stupid rule that he would never take our very steep driveway in less than 2nd gear. But it's SO steep, that in order not to stall, he'd need to gun it, around a tight corner. So, he clipped the blocks, and when I got out, I heard a hssssssssss. The rest of the story is obvious. Well, other than my "I told you so!" rant. I generally try to refrain from told-you-so's, but it had been a bone of contention for a long, long time. (I, incidentally, always stop at the bottom of our driveway, gently slip into first, and glide slowly and safely up in a controlled fashion, thus preventing damage to the vehicle, and skid marks on our neighbours cinderblocks, thank you very much.)

Anyway, the one good thing that came out of that incident was that when Mike's pulled the tire out to install the spare, we were able to see how worn out it was. They had been out of allignment - likely from too many corduroy roads - and it had worn the tires out unevenly. We had already planned to pop the alternate set on and get them alligned before the trip for safety reasons - the fact that it caused it to fail was just a technicality.

But other than that, it passed! So today, it had a new windshield installed, and we found a guy who restores and rents out Westfalias, which are the camper version of our van - the ones with little stoves and pop tops. We've seen his vans booting around, and they're always so beautiful - they look like they've just driven out of the factory, and they sound so good. Turns out, he's a mechanic and a body guy by training, and does work on the side for the local Vanagon and Westy community, so we took it to him for the switch repair. We were initially going to take it to the dealership, but we were worried even they wouldn't know what to do with it. We're so used to having it worked on by Vanagon enthusiasts, it just feels like no-one else can be trusted to understand it. He cleaned it all out and got it re-greased, and for just $60, it's all working great - he even reattached the switches to the door. (They had been hanging loose since we bought the van.) He's a bit of a scattered guy - he actually lost our key - he thought he had it in his pocket, and wound up emptying an alarming amount of stuff out on his patio table looking for it. I've never seen pant pockets that could hold that much junk! He didn't take down our address, so I know it's not just a plot to steal our van in the night. But he's nice, he seems to know what he's doing, and he's an enthusiast. He even cleaned all the dust off our instrument panel. And if we ever DO get our van repainted, he'll probably be the one to do it, because all of his Westy's are really something to see.

All that's left is the new tires, which are being installed in the morning, a new set of wipers, which we need for a new windshield anyway, then it will pass inspection and be good enough to call itself a British Columbian again. (We had bought it from a mechanic in Kimberley.) So a pretty dull day, all in all - just chores. But it's a means to an end.

trip briefing...

Just getting some new drivers initiated for the trip! Kidding! But he's at that age when we just can't keep him out of the driver's seat. As soon as we let him out of his own seat, he zooms up there.

Because we've had a number of requests for our non-existant itinerary, I'm going to riun through the basic plans for our trip.

Mike's on again off again vacation seems to be a go. it looked like they were going to need him to stick around, but it all looks ok right now. His boss wants him to take some time off, so he'll find another way to cover the work.

SO. The plan is to leave on Saturdayish. I think. We may be leaving later in the day, camping somewhere in the mountains, most likely. We may or may not roll into Calgary on Sundayish at some point. Or not. From there, we plan to take it fairly easy going across, with no real plans of any sort and have tentatively selected a more northerly route which has us on the trans canada for all of 200 metres or something. How's that for an itinerary? I want to take the kids to see the Tyrell Museum in Drumheller, and last I saw, the route does swing through there. I asked for the Zoo too, but I don't think he'll go for that. Maybe if I can get John to whine for 4 days straight, I can get Tinkertown or something. Beyond that, we'll be in Dryden in time for the following Saturday, for the big homecoming week. We're rigging the Vanagon so we can all sleep comfortably in there, so we'll be essentially be camping as we go. To keep you best informed, we'll e-mail out Mike's cell to parents, but I don't think we'll be in range too often. But we'll check in as we get close. We'll also be bringing the camera and the laptop, and have decided to blog whatever we see out there at least once a day, so you'll have a better idea of when we'll arrive. Should be ummm... exciting. We'll be snaking back home as well, but we'll be leaving John and Joan behind with Mike's parents until we come pick them up for the fall fair. For the first trip, we're hoping to do the whole homecoming thing, taking in all the events scheduled, within reason. The second trip will be more of a traditional visit with family, with a quick drive there and bac - possibly even in one shot, considering we'll just have easy travellers and two drivers. But, as usual, that's all just a rough guide. Hope that helped!

John's celebration-of-the-day-he-was-born Day

John, with the sundae he made himself on his actual birthday

Joan with hers

 

Dave, with his. And two spoons - one for each hand, just the way he likes it.

Sorry I've been a little AWOL lately. I've been sick. Or most importantly, Tom's been sick. It's just a little head cold, but he gets stuffed up in the evening, so when he tried to have his epic hour and a half pre-bed feed at night, he couldn't breathe and nurse at the same time. It meant he had to come off to breathe, then go back on to eat really quick, then get back off to breathe. It's pretty miserable for all, and he didn't get enough to sleep through the night, so he was actually up all night, night after night, trying in vain to get a solid meal in. On top of it all, I was already exhausted from having the cold myself, and Dave had it too, so he needed lots of extra cuddles in the day. So instead of blogging, I was trying to catch up on sleep during the day. We're all doing better now - just some sniffles left for Dave and I, and Tom seems to be over it. The others didn't get it at all, thank goodness. But to be honest, I can't even remember anything we did lately - it's all been a bit of a sleep deprived fog. Definitely nothing exciting.

John's b-day!

OK - this one requires some explanation. This is John's 'party", which was a few days after his birthday. He HAD wanted to do an Earth pinata, but changed his mind (though I still think we need to do that next earth day). Then, he wanted to "fish" for his presents, by us tying them to a rope he'd hang down the stairs, then pull up. IAn the end, he abandonded all that for a strangely intricate plan, involving events with corresponding snacks.

First, was dinner. Then after dinner, was to be an art show, with a corresponding snack of nuts, shown above, artfully arranged on a plate. (all his work was destroyed by Dave, who spread them all over the table.) The art show was a display in the backyard of a rock in a crater, to represent the meteorite that illed the dinosaurs. Nearby was a small pile of dried mud that he had fashioned into a dinosoar skull. It was quite a nice little show.

Next up was presents. This is a cool little camera sent by Auntie Pam and Uncle Ben! (Dave really likes it, too)

And a card from Grandma and Grandpa Walchuk with his first real money in it! He has a piggy ban, but it was scrounged from us. There's a few bucks from the tooth fairy, but he had to lose teeth to get that. This is his first real money all his own!

And of course, his corresponding snack, of artfully arranged m&m's, left over from his birthday sundaes. If you look at it sideways, it's a house, with two trees and the sun. After this was games - they played tag and ate gummy worms - but they were just dumped on a plate. I don't know why, but I actually didn't even get a picture of his cake! He actually chose it himself - a black forest cake. He always chooses that for himself, if given the choice. I think he likes us telling him the story about his first birthday, when we got him a black forest cake, and he ate all the cherries. And then Dad popped a balloon with cake smeared on it, splattering chocolate cake all over the walls and ceiling. He chose his present from us this year, too. I don't know why we've been so out of it lately, but I just couldn't get time to go out and shop - a project requiring Mike to stay at home, while I go out alone. It just never happened, so we decided to tae him shopping instead. He's a very crafty little guy, so we were going to get him craft supplies. We thought it would be better to let him come anyway, because he can get inspired in the store, and now that there's so many of us, he never gets to go shopping anymore. So Mike stayed with the three little kids, and I took John to Michael's, where he was allowed to buy anything he wanted. He picked out some transluscent blue playdough, some ruby stickers, a toy egg that hatches in water to reveal a growing baby dinosaur, and a science kit with little pellets that also expand in water, to become "slimy fish eggs". He didn't choose a single thing I would have chosen for him, and he had lots of fun!

John's had a bad dose of the summer blues. He's been kinda mopey and bored. I guess watching me clean isn't very much fun. But he's perked up in the last few days, because he knows his annual trek to Dryden is getting close! It's at least a week away, but he's already started packing. He has a box that plays Let it Snow when you open it - it held a pair of PJs his Autie pam sent for Christmas. Well, it's now his snack box for the drive. Not sure how long it's going to last before Mike throws it out the window. It's already driving me a little batty. But it's stuffed with nuts and raisins and chocolate chips and other stuff he found in the pantry, all separated into ziplock bags and neatly packed away in this thing.

The kids did have a little shot of excitement yesterday - Joan's OT came for a session at the house. She was suposed to work on teaching her ways of dressing herself with one hand. But she got lost and was late, so we worked on some school readiness stuff instead - playdough, pre-writing, etc. It was a testement to what an amazing job Renfrew did, because we could tell exactly what she'd been taught, and what they hadn't gotten to yet. Before she started there, she had throuble copying lines and other shapes. But yesterday, lines and circles were no problem at all, but she got stuck on crosses. She tried so hard, but got frustrated and made sqiggles instead. The OT said it's common for kids with visual perception troubles to get cought on them, but she has to get through it before she can learn to write. She noted that she's a very tactile learner, so suggested we get her to trace shapes with her fingers in different textures, like sand or mud, or form them with playdough strips. She's going to get some formal testing done to see where she's at cognitively and with her visual perception. Joan had trouble following a series of simple directions, which has always been a sticking point with her. She's eager to please, but just seems to forget what she's supposed to do unless it's broken down very finely for her, step by step. Her old school said it's a matter that she can't figure out a path from A to B when it comes to completing a task. This OT suggested we use pictures - which is something they did at Renfrew - to break down a task for her. The pictures are a visual cue, which can be easier to follow than words - especially with kids who have a language delay. And we're supposed to keep her siblings from helping her - especially John. She's all too happy to let him help her with everything, and he's always eager to do it, which doesn't help her at all in the long run. We try to keep him out of her face, but it's tough. He thins he's helping, and doesn't understand that letting her struggle, even if she gets frustrated, is actually helping her more. I'm really worried about putting her into regular preschool. She needs to move slowly and have lots of attention. It will depend so heavily on the teacher she gets. It has the potential to get ugly. And if we can't get her potty trained, we won't even be able to do preschool - she'll only be able to do daycare, where they may not teach her much of anything academic - but it will still help her language and social skills, so it's still worthwhile.

Better go - I have to go tae a peek in at Dave, who's been sleeping an awefully long time. We had to get groceries last night, but we were running late, so I went with Tom, and Mike stayed behind to get the rest of the kids to bed. We've done this a few times, and it usually works pretty well. Mike is generally better at getting kids to sleep than me. But last night was a bit of an exception. I got home at 11 p.m., to Joan sitting in the middle of the bathroom, covered in poop from hips to toes. It was just way too gross, so it was left for me...and Mike told me that while the boys were roughhousing, Dave got knocked down, smashed his head on a wooden part of the couch hard enough to leave him  dazed, and with an instant swollen bruise. He woke up fine this morning, but he's never terribly careful with his head, and wound up bumping his welt a few times. I gave him some painkillers, and I guess it felt better enough to have a nap - he's been asleep for three hours already, which is a lot for him. But I'm just going to chalk it up to catch-up sleep. Mike did a few tests to make sure he didn't have a concussion, then sent him to bed without anything for the pain. He probably had a rough night, but he's never been one to complain about anything. Actually, I can hear him waking up now - he sounds much happier than before, so hopefully that's all it was. Poor guy. We need to get him a helmet.      

Happy Birthday to John!!!!

John turns six today! How crazy is that!? I don't remember turning six as a kid, but as a parent, it really feels like a milestone year. He starts grade school in the fall. He can add, and almost read. He prefers Nova to Sesame Street. He knows who Bob McDonald is. I can trust him with adult scissors. He's just so...grown up!


We were trying to pull a fast one on him this year, by holding his party on a separate day, and just not telling him. But he's been keeping a hand-made calendar to keep track of the days since Canada Day. It was more accurate than I thought, so he knows it's today. He had wanted a pinata, which we haven't had a chance to make yet, which is why we were trying to hold off - that, and we wanted it on Mike's day off, considering the number of late nights lately. So we talked it over with John, and we're again going to try doing two birthdays. We did it last year, with horrible results. He wound up freaking out, because he thought he was 55. (long story). But hey - he's 6 now, so it should be fine, right? He's calling today "a celebration of the day I was born", whereas the day of his party will be his birthday. Today, he wants hot dogs, and official Walchuk ice cream sundaes, which start with a bowel of ice cream, and about 12 toppings, and everyone gets to make their own. We haven't done it in at least a year - maybe two - so I'm surprised he remembered enough to ask for it. But it will give us time to make the pinata. He wants to make it look like Earth. I just can't wait to watch my kids smash the Earth with sticks. Maybe we should make it our new Earth Day tradition. We should fill it with florescent bulbs.

We're having a heat wave here in the Okanogan. Or maybe this is just the norm. I sure hope not! It's supposed to be in the mid-30's range until next Wednesday. It's actually not too bad, now that it's dried out. With all the rain, it felt like Southern Ontario around here, with it's sauna weather. It was so humid, we had mushrooms growing all through our yard. But it's dried out fast. I can see why people here live in fear of forest fires - it dried up almost overnight, transforming our yard from plush and green to brown and dry in just a matter of days. Now they're REALLY worried about wildfires, because the rain let the grass and underbrush get much longer that normal, and now all that fuel is drying out. So if there is a big fire this summer, it could get ugly. But for now, our big concern is keeping the kids cool. So we got out the little pool Auntie Vicki got for the kids, and set it up!

The first step was clearing the dirt pile that had collected over the patio stones. John had been building an ant empire. Sorry to the ants for destroying the hotel John had built for them.

It was a dirty job, but somebody had to do it.

But we managed to get all the dirt turned to mud and shovelled off, for a nice clean, clear patio. Our landlords would be pleased - and the kids liked the new pool!

It provided hours of fun! I think we better get a case of sunscreen for the summer. The bottles are turning out to be way, way too small for a family of redheads.