The madness is soon to begin......

.....And they call it vacation! Hah! Wednesday we will be starting our successive trips. We're going to Grand Rapids to visit some friends & Chad will be attending the Festival of Faith & Writing which he has wanted to go to for a few years, but since the Seminary never gave them time off to attend it, he was never able to. Hence, this year, we're going. We'll be coming back home late Saturday night, then Chad has to preach at 2 different churches Sunday.
Not bad so far, eh? But Monday we leave for 2 weeks to England (with a side trip to Ireland). I know now that you're saying "Stop your whinging, you get to go to England!" But I'll have to do laundry in there somewhere too & I'm a little worried about what to pack for Asher. Normally we can nip into Walmart on a trip if we forget something, but that won't be an option over there.
When we get back, Chad leaves the next morning for a 3 day men's retreat for church, so I'll be a single mum for a few days. I don't mind so much during the days, but I really miss having him to help at meal times (and of course his company at night as well). Chad gets back from his retreat Saturday night & has to preach again on Sunday. Then we get 2 days of normalcy before the next leg of our journey.
Wednesday we'll be going back down to Grand Rapids for Chad's Seminary graduation. Yay! I'm excited about this. Coincidentally his 10 year highschool reunion falls on the same weekend. Yes, he's been in school all this time. This summer he'll be up for candidacy and ready for his first REAL job!

Some interesting things

I found this on a blog I read & thought it looked fun, so here it goes:

What was I doing ten years ago (1998):
*Going to Dordt College
*Studying for Finals
*Worrying about my future
*Getting ready to go home for the summer
*Enjoying hanging out w/ my friends w/o much real responsibility

5 things on my to-do list today:
*laundry
*Get some groceries
*Bake a cake
*Figure something out for dinner
*Take a nap

5 snacks I enjoy:
*Sour Grape Candies
*Hot Tamales
*Ice Cream
*Hostess Suzy-Qs
*Soft Homemade cookies or brownies

5 things I would do if I were a billionaire:
*Hire a maid
*Go live in England
*give to my church
*Save for kids' college
*Invest

5 bad habits:
*staying up too late
*not cleaning the house
*not eating healthy
*not working out
*spending too much money on good deals

5 places I have lived:
*Poulsbo, Washington
*Claresholm, Alberta
*London, England
*Grand Rapids, Michigan
*Strathroy, Onatrio

5 jobs I have had:
*Espresso Barista in drive-thru espresso stand (great for someone who loves Lattes)
*Drive-Thru at McDonald's (great for someone who loves Grilled Chicken Sandwiches)
*Mail order Manager at Frontier Western Shop (great b/c I didn't have to deal w/ customers face to face)
*Switchboard Operator at Charles Russell Solicitors (great b/c I could check email all day)
*Medical Assistant at East Paris Internal Medicine (great b/c we had free lunches everyday)

Sing a Song

Yesterday Asher & I were riding the bike around & Asher asked me to sing a song. I asked him what song I should sing & he said "You Bet Song." I told him that I didn't know that song & asked if he could sing it to me..... Here's what I got: "Yoooouuuu Bet Sooo-ooong" Apparently it was a very short song. A few minutes later I heard him singing, "Wheels on bike a roud a roud, round a roud..." Kids are great.

Just call me "Honey"

We're not too sure where Asher picked it up, but for the last week, he's been calling Chad & I "Honey." It's kind of cute, but also a little disconcerting to have an almost-2-year-old ask, "Have some milk, ok, Honey?" Chad & I don't call each other honey, and we don't really know anyone else that he's been around that would. The only thing we can figure out is maybe someone in the nursery called him "honey" recently.

The weather has gotten nicer. We actually have temperatures above freezing! It's been great to get out to the park & go for walks & be OUTSIDE! It feels strange in some ways to deviate from our winter schedule, but it's definitely nice to get some fresh air!

"Music Please!"

We have a 3-disc-changer on our CD player. We usually have a CD for each of us. Chad has number 1, I have number 2, and we put a kids CD in number 3. Asher quite often will ask for music & I ask if he wants Mummy's music, Daddy's music or Asher's music. The other day he asked for Daddy's music, so I hit number 1 expecting some Nickelback or Finger Eleven..... Instead what I was greeted with was Avril Lavigne singing "Hey, hey, You, you, I don't like your girlfriend!"
I'll be the first to admit that Chad & I have diverse music tastes, but it just wasn't QUITE what I was expecting.

Our Upcoming Trip

We are planning a trip to England this spring & decided there was a deal to go to Ireland for a week that we really couldn't pass up. We were discussing it at the dinner table & Chad asked Asher if he wanted to go to Ireland. Asher replied, "Des!" So we asked him to say Ireland. His reply was, "Ireland, Walmart!" He really does love his trips to Walmart, any time we are going somewhere, he'll say "Walmart." So, we had to explain there is no Walmart in Ireland. Poor guy looked so disappointed..........

Aghhhhh, Canada!

Last week I received a call from a man in immigration asking if I'd be home b/c he had some papers to deliver to me. Lo & behold, I am now the proud owner of an appeal in the Federal Court of Canada. It seems that the Citizenship Judge who permitted me to continue in the Citizenship process made an error in judgement in the Minister of Citizenship & Immigration's eyes.

I made an appointment with an immigration lawyer & yesterday Chad & I went to see what his take on my case was. He said that the nice Judge man had probably liked the fact that Chad was studying to be a minister & decided I was a nice person & judged in my favour. He did not follow the laws & maybe he was on drugs when he made the decision.

So, what are my chances? I could go through with the appeal, it would take about 1 1/2 years & cost about $4000, or I could wait until June 2010 when I actually have enough time in Canada to apply again.

The issue was that when I applied I had not met the 1095 days residency in Canada in the last 4 years, & it's only gotten worse with Chad being in school in the States. I had read somewhere that your time still counted if you were outside of Canada accompanied by a Canadian spouse. We fell under that category, so I applied. However, the Canadian spouse rule was for Permanent residence, not citizenship. So here I sit, still 2 years from being able to say, "I AM CANADIAN!"

"Bert did it!"

Asher has been turning on the TV recently. It's not something he's supposed to do, & he knows it. Frequently I'll be in the kitchen, & he'll come say "TV." I'll go check, & sure enough, the TV is on.

Today I saw him playing with a small figurine of Bert, he went over to the TV & used Bert to hit the "on" button. I set Asher down for a time out & when his time was up, I told him that he wasn't supposed to turn on the TV. He very innocently looked at me and said, "Bert TV." In other words, "I didn't turn on the TV, Bert did it!"

Ahhhh, the fun starts now!

Our Romantic Dinner for Three

We decided to go out as a family to the local Pizza place. We haven't been in awhile, but figured that since it was V-day that it wouldn't be busy. We got to the restaurant around 5:15 to find only about 4 tables were occupied, that seemed a good sign, however, it took about 10 minutes for someone to come & seat us.

It seemed there was only 1 waitress on staff, so we actually had the manager covering our table. We ordered our drinks, pizza & I decided we needed an appetizer too. We got our drinks about 15 minutes later..... and waited about an hour for our breadsticks!

We noticed there were more & more people arriving, and the waitress/hostess began telling people that she could seat them, but it would be about 1/2 an hour before she'd be able to even get their order. I don't think it was that bad, but I think she just wanted people to go home, or somewhere else.

The manager walked by our table at one point and said the pizza should be out soon, it'd been over an hour already, and we were very thankful we had at least ordered the breadsticks... not least of all b/c Asher was getting a bit antsy. We usually eat around 5:30, and it was already 6:30 or so.

There were a few people that had been seated who now started heading for the door, they must have gotten tired of waiting. One man went up to the front carrying his pizza to ask for the bill & a box, another went up demanding refills for his table. The three of us just sat at our table, starving, wondering when our pizza would show up.

The manager came out again and said that he was really sorry and that he would comp our meal & give us another free meal for next time. Normally when we are apologized to at a restaurant my response is, "that's ok." I did not say that this time, instead I said, "thank you." We were very glad that he was so apologetic, and didn't try to make excuses, but was just sorry for our wait.

Finally after 1 1/2 hours of waiting, our pizza arrived! We had ordered a large, 1/2 hawaiian, 1/2 Italian, and got 2 mediums..... The guy who brought them to the table said they ran out of larges, so we got 2 mediums instead. Chad figured they forgot to put the order in for our pizza & figured that mediums cook faster.

Two hours after entering our romantic locale, gazing into eachothers eyes, wondering to ourselves if love would be enough to get us through, we left. We were satisfied, and our wallet was suffering no ill effects. The moral of the story? Just be patient and polite & you'll get good service...... depending where you are, of course!

The Worst Trip in History

We have finally returned home after the worst travelling experience I have ever had. We went to Montana for my Grandma's funeral. The actual time we had there was wonderful. We enjoyed spending time with my family, and all 11 of my cousins were together for the first time in 17 years.

We left on Tuesday afternoon last week to go to a hotel in Detroit as our flight out was early on Wednesday morning. We got to the border in Port Huron only to have Chad's Passport set the alarm off. An officer took our passports away and we were escorted to a parking spot. An officer held a stick in front of the car and instructed us to drive right beside us. Apparently Chad was a flight risk! He had inadvertently turned in his Student Visa when we moved to Canada for the internship, but he should have kept it b/c he's still technically a student. We spent an hour explaining to an immigration officer what happened, and he finally let us go.

We went to the hotel that I had reserved on-line, to discover that it was a MOTEL of the lowest form. We decided to continue to the hotel we had previously stayed at. When I called to cancel the first hotel I was told that we should come see the rooms for ourselves (I told the lady her hotel looked dumpy so we wouldn't be staying there). I said we had, and she then told me that I'd be charged for the room anyway...... chalk it up to experience. We'll be sticking with our old favourite from now on. I paid for 2 nights, one before our trip and one after our trip.... I don't suggest this for the future (more on this later).

Wednesday morning we arrived at the airport bright and early for our 8am flight to be delayed, then cancelled for mechanical problems. The next flight they could put us on would be the next morning, could we go home? Chad said "not a chance, I'm not crossing the border again!" We asked about other airlines and got put on a Delta flight at 4pm. The check-in lady comforted us by informing us that Delta was in the "nicer, newer terminal fully equipped with children's play areas." We got our luggage off the carousel and headed to the "nicer, newer" terminal. We were told we had to wait to check-in as you are not allowed to check-in more than 6 hours before your flight. Luckily at this point we only had about 1/2 an hour to wait.

When we finally got rid of our luggage again, we headed to security. Off came the coats, shoes, out came the liquids, laptop, fold the stroller.... it's much worse when you travel with a little one! The security officer informed us we had been flagged for extra screening. Sure, why not?

Twenty minutes later we were on our way to find a child's playplace. Chad & I had visions of mall-style play areas like we've seen in the Seattle airport..... Little did we know. We passed 2 play areas before we discovered their definition was quite different from ours. The play area consisted of a Little Tykes House. Asher enjoyed it for awhile. Not 8 hours worth, but it was better than no play area at all.

After many hours of bliss, we were boarded onto our plane and off we went. Asher must have decided it was night time b/c he fell into a deep sleep that lasted most of our 4 hour flight. Our layover was surprisingly uneventful. We arrived in Montana and awaited the arrival of our 3 suitcases & carseat. We received 2 suitcases (one with a large hole where the wheel used to be). After discussing with the ticketing agent that the hole was not there to begin with we were informed that wheels are not covered by the airlines. Chad found our other suitcase, but the carseat remained unaccounted for. We were sent to our hotel with promises of a carseat exchange by the next day.

We had a great time. My brothers were there, we had an adjoining room with my parents, so we could send Asher in to visit them, the only complaint was the pool was a bit chilly.....

Our flight out of Montana was at 5pm and check-out was 1pm. I asked the desk clerk if we could have a late check-out of 3:30 so Asher could get a nap, and she said that would be fine and put a note to that effect in the computer. We put Asher down, decided we should sleep too since we would be getting back late.
-1:10, the maid calls, "Will you be staying or leaving?" I told her we were having a late check-out of 3:30. "OK"
-1:20, "Hi, this is the front desk, your check-out time is 1pm." I told her the situation only to be informed that since check-in was at 3 we could stay no longer than 3 or we'd be charged for another night. "Fine, we'll leave at 3."
Asher of course woke through all these calls, so the nap was not as we had planned.

We went to the airport to await our outbound flight. 5 minutes before departure, no plane. The board finally switches to let us know we'll be 1 hour late.... 1 hour later, same thing happens again. At this point I know we're going to miss our connection so I go the the check-in to see if I can rebook. Apparently the flight we were on at 7pm was the last one for the night and the next one they could get us on is 10am. The lady tries to convince me to go back to the hotel and catch a 6am flight from Montana to get the 10am connection. We decided we'd like to get as far as we could in order not to get stuck in the tiny airport in Montana.

We missed our connection, and stood for an hour to get rebooked on the 10am flight. Since it was a weather delay the airline wouldn't put us up, but gave us a hotel discount voucher. We headed for the hotel shuttle area to be informed that our hotel's shuttle came every 1/2 hour, and we had just missed one. When it finally came it was quite full already, not too sure where all the people on the bus came from, but they had to turn people away. This is the point where I was very glad to have Asher along, as there were protestations that the baby had to be allowed on the bus, so we got squished on.

We got to our gorgeous hotel around 11pm, and headed straight to bed, but where was the crib we ordered? 10 minutes later I called for it to be informed that they hadn't received an order for one. It finally came about 10 minutes after that.

Tuesday morning we awoke bright and early to catch the 7am shuttle from the hotel to the airport. We almost caught the 6:30 shuttle, but we were too slow in putting our coats on. The 7am arrived on time loaded with people. They had room for 5 passengers, and were taking crew members first. There were 5 crew members, we didn't have a chance. There was a guy who apparently worked for the airline that kicked up a fuss and said this thing happens every morning and he had to get to work same as everyone else, he pushed his way onto the bus and there was a bit of a scuffle, but that was all they took.

One man got so irate he yelled at the manager, the guest services guy, and anyone else who looked like they worked for the hotel. The manager wanted to call a cab and have the hotel pay for it just to get rid of the guy. That would have been a pretty costly cab fare though, since we were about 1/2 an hour from the airport. The irate guy said there were 2 more busses out there and he was going to take the keys and drive them himself! He signed up for the 7 o'clock bus, and what's the point of a list if you don't honour it?

Around 7:20 another bus showed up and the manager rushed out to tell the driver to take us all aboard and get going. The driver protested that he was the 7:30 bus, but the manager said if he didn't go he'd have a riot situation on his hands, so off we finally went!

We got to the airport to discover that the lines for security were quite long, so we decided to eat at the Burger King before we got in line. I was quite chuffed to discover that a restaurant had the foresight to have a kid's meal on the breakfast menu! I always think that would be really smart, well, BK is really smart! :)

After eating, we got in the security line and in about 10 minutes we were through! The security personnel were really efficient (although they did dump out Asher's water. Apparently juice is allowed, but not water for kids). We boarded out flight on time, and we were on our way home!

We arrived at the hotel around 3:30pm, and since we had missed our flight, they had changed our reservation to the next night. Since it was early afternoon we didn't really need the room anymore, so I asked if I could have my money back. "No, we can't refund." I asked if I could get a voucher for the credit. "No, unfortunately not." What he could do is change my reservation for a few months out, so I can call to change it and stay there again, but if I don't use it w/in 6 months I lose my money. If you're flying out of Detroit in the next few months, let me know, and you can have my room.

We were supposed to be back home in Strathroy by 5pm for the Youth Group's Pancake dinner, but it was over at 7, and that's about when we got home. Asher went to bed shortly thereafter, and slept 'til 8:30!

We are home, and happy to be here. Chad says no more air travel in the States..... we'll see how far that gets us!

An Experiment in Dining Alone

This weekend I went down to Grand Rapids for a Seminary Wives retreat. It was really fun, and I really enjoyed the opportunity to get away for awhile. It was nice to hear a crying child & know I had no responsibility for it!
On my way home it was about 6pm and I decided I had too far to go yet to make it home before I ate. I didn't really feel like fast food, so I decided to eat at Ruby Tuesdays. I didn't actually feel that weird going into the restaurant by myself. I figure lots of people go in alone, usually they end up meeting someone, but I could go in and wait for a table alone. So I put my name on the list and waited for them to call me. The manager came up to me about 10 minutes later to inform me that "your table is almost ready. We're just getting it ready. It shouldn't be much longer." I appreciated her telling me that, but her tone of voice was like I must be retarded to be there alone. I felt like telling her that just b/c someone comes to a restaurant alone doesn't mean there's something wrong with them.
So after a few more minutes I was seated at my table. I perused the menu, chose my dinner, and THEN I started to feel a bit awkward. I had no one to talk to, nothing to look at, I didn't want to eavesdrop on someone else's conversation (more about that later), I didn't want to stare at the couple across the way with twins b/c I'm sure they get enough of that everywhere they go.... I was really glad there are TVs in that restaurant, even though they were all election coverage, at least I now know what's going on in the political realm. Even so, I still felt a bit funny sitting alone and watching the TV. I felt like I'd be better off with a book.
Incidentally, while trying NOT to eavesdrop, a new family was seated at the table next to me. They had 3 daughters aged from 13 to about 4. The oldest was protesting quite loudly that she wasn't allowed to have MySpace, and she didn't think that was fair. The mother said "we'll discuss this later." Which prompted the daughter to ask when "later" might be. Apparently the girl's birthday is in March, at which point she will be eligible for a MySpace account, and she didn't see any reason why she shouldn't be able to get one then. The mother said that they would discuss it after her birthday in March. "I can get it after my birthday in March?" "No, we'll DISCUSS it after your birthday in March, and I don't want to hear another word about it until then." At which point the 4 year old daughter says, "She gets MySpace after her birthday?" Mother is about to lose it here folks! "No, we'll DISCUSS it then, and I don't want to hear another word about it from ANYONE until then."
Oh, the joys of parenthood, something to look forward to.

The Power of Suggestion

So, I'm pregnant..... I feel gross in the mornings, I feel gross whenever I have to cook something, and I feel gross whenever Asher makes me spin around (but he enjoys it so!). I'm really hoping that in a few weeks I'll go back to feeling somewhat normal again. I don't think it lasted very long when I was pregnant with Asher. I remember pregnancy being Wonderful!
The other day Asher and Chad were watching Fraggles. I was reading a book b/c I find the Fraggles to be quite annoying. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of the Muppets, just can't stand the Fraggles. Anyway, the guy and his dog were discussing a donut...... I then wanted a donut, so off to Tim's we went!
A few days later I was watching Gilmore Girls, and they made Cinnamon rolls. Cue a trip to the store for some Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls! Granted, what I really wanted was Cinnabon, but I couldn't justify a trip into London just for some Cinnamon Rolls.
It should be interesting to see what the next 7 months bring!

I Must Be Quite Thick

It has taken me about 8 years to realize that my best friend, was just that. MY best friend. I always knew that she had other friends that were closer to her, and that was fine. Recently it dawned on me that I've been making all the effort for the past.... oh, 8 years or so. We don't live close so that makes things a bit harder, but even so, there's alot of things one can do these days to stay in touch. It's just a bit disappointing. I figured we'd always keep in touch and talk about whatever. It seems I'm not even worth talking to at all. It's not that I don't think I'm worthwhile (I know I'm pretty cool), I just wish she'd make a bit more effort.... or any effort at all.

Yesterday was a pretty good day

Yesterday Asher was sick. He had a pretty high fever, and whenever he finally got out of bed, he'd ask for a drink, some bread, followed by a return to bed. All in all he spent 5 hours out of bed. I had the most wonderful day! Of course I was housebound, so that put a bit of a kink in the day as I had things I was supposed to go out and do, but all in all, a day spent indoors while your child sleeps isn't a bad day! I read, I finished season 7 of Gilmore Girls, I mucked about on the computer for awhile.... Of course, today he seems to be making up for lost time. He just tipped over his toy basket and announced that he made a "mess."

Saturday mornings we usually go to McDonald's for breakfast. I'm not sure when this tradition started, but Asher has really gotten into it. This morning (after we made sure he wasn't sick anymore), we asked him if he'd like to go to McDonald's. His response was, "Eat, Pancakes." Funny how he knows that in the mornings he gets pancakes there, b/c at any other time of the day he merely says "eat" if we talk about McD's.

Board Books

A question was posed to me by a friend last week. We were shopping in a thrift store and looking through the books. She paged through one and then put it down. She then asked, "How many books does a kid need, anyway?" Well, Chad & I are really into books. We'd much rather buy books (generally second-hand) than borrow. Simply because if you need to reference the book, or want to read it again, you can. Plus we tend to recommend many of the books we've read to friends, and then we can simply loan them out. We have found that if you recommend a book and leave it up to a person to find it on their own, most likely they will forget or not be able to find it, but if you own it you can simply hand it over to them so they can also enjoy it.
Today I was in Asher's room putting his books back on the shelf b/c he has a tendency to take all the books off the shelf if he's looking for a specific one. As I put them back I decided to count how many he has. There are over 100 board books on his shelf! I was astounded by the number, yet I find it interesting that we are already getting sick of reading many of the books b/c we seem to read them over & over again. I am very thankful that he has that many and not just a dozen or so! He must get his love for books from his parents. I can't wait until he can really start to read on his own though. I know that we'll still get asked to read books to him, but he's already starting to look at them on his own a bit. What I REALLY can't wait for is when he gets past the board book stage into the paper book stage, b/c I've been stocking up!