Chancery's 7th Birthday!

When Auntie B & I asked Chancery what she'd like for dinner for her birthday she said she'd really like mac & cheese, & hot dogs!

So we decided to do a fire pit since my kids had been asking for one for the past 2 months, but we didn't have one in PEI

I got to sit by Noodle

Asher & Apple enjoyed watching the fire

Then it was present time!  Noodle, Jelly, & Apple gave Chancery a playmobile set

'How to Train Your Dragon 2'

"I've wanted this for so long!"

"A new Dork Diaries Book!"

Chancery had been asking for the past 2 years for a "fuzzy pony".  I knew she wanted a My Little Pony which was fuzzy, but they don't make them anymore, so I put in a call to Grandma V, & she gave me my old fuzzy pony to give to Chancery!

Grandma V also gave Chancery 2 jackets, which she loves!  In fact, she is so excited to wear them that despite 32 degree weather she wore black jeans & her new black jacket!

She had a great day & enjoyed celebrating her birthday with her cousins!

Morning At The Park

Thursday we spent the morning at the park.  We had a little while to wait before we could go for a little ride on the train.

The kids & PChad played freeze tag to pass the time

Run away PChad!

Asher was really enjoying being 'it'

Apple was a certified unfreezer.

She had a great time running from person to person unfreezing them!

Chancery & Noodle decided to take a break from the game & climb on the fence

Chancery asked if they did anything special for birthdays & they said she could get her picture taken with the train!

Ice Cream!

After our exciting day at the zoo, we decided to add to the excitement by letting the kids make some ice cream!  Auntie B has an ice cream ball, which you put ice & salt in the outside part, & cream, sugar & flavour in the inner part.  Then you roll & shake the ball for 10 minutes, open, scrape the cream off the sides, close & repeat for another 10 minutes.

I was put in charge of the 10 minute scraping, but unfortunately I chose a spatula which was a little too big for the opening.  I pushed the spatula in, & about half of the ice cream mixture sprayed all over me, the floor & the counter.  When the kids saw what had happened they were so disapppointed thinking that all the ice cream had spilled out.  So, while PChad continued with the ice cram ball, we told the kids we thought it would be fun to lick the cream off the counter so as not to waste it!

The kids all got right in there & went to work cleaning up the mess I had made.

At one point Uncle B came in & said, "What happened in here?"  But we told him not to worry about it & just to carry on mowing the grass while we dealt with it.  He figured out pretty fast that the mess must have either been my fault or Auntie B's because we would not have been so relaxed about it if a kids had done it!

Once the rest of the ice cream was made, the kids enjoyed small bowls of it.  They all said it tasted really good, & I don't think they will quickly forget the ice cream ball debacle!

It's A Zoo Around Here!

 Wednesday we headed to the National Zoo with Auntie B, Noodle, Jelly, & Apple.  The great thing about this Zoo is that admission is free.  The only thing you need to pay for is parking, & Auntie B had a parking pass, so that was free too!

We went in the rainforest area & saw a couple of spoonbills

I guess PChad's shirt was just the right colour green because they kept pecking him,

& even tried to kiss his cheek!

 We ate a picnic lunch in the shade of some bamboo, & a friendly chipmunk ate our crumbs

(we didn't feed him, honest!)

Asher, Apple, Chancery & Jelly taking up the whole path

(but getting along for a few moments!)

 When we got back home Asher was excited to find a toad in the yard, "just like the ones we saw at the zoo!"

We had a great day, & it was nice to see the pandas, tigers, lions & elephants I remembered seeing when I was little.  The kids even hopped on all the painted elephant tracks on the path on the way to the elephant enclosure.  The only thing we missed was the giraffes, which the zoo has gotten rid of.

Higher! Higher! Go, Go, GO!

Since the kids had been cooped up in the van for the past 2 days we decided to try to find something to use up the kids' excess energy.  Auntie B had heard about a climbing place, so we decided to check it out.

 Asher decided to take a little break halfway up.  This one had a nice little bridge for him to sit on.

Apple enjoyed watching her brothers & cousins climb, but was a bit put out that she wasn't old enough to climb yet.

She & I walked around to watch all the kids climb, & she had a fun time on the bouncy toys.

 Jelly took a bit of prompting to climb higher than a couple of feet, but he was really proud once he got the hang of it! 

Chancery didn't get very many photos taken since I couldn't find her most of the time.  She found a little friend to climb with & the two of them climbed together for most of the morning.

Asher climbed almost all of the 75 walls.  He was quite tired out by the end of the day, & at bedtime he said, "Daddy, my arms are tired!"

PChad gave Noodle some extra encouragement, & the two of the climbed beside each other a few times.

At the end of the day Noodle climbed almost to the top of the pirate ship!

Here's a picture of Noodle, PChad, Asher & Jelly climbing Mount Rushmore!

Into The States!

Sunday we travelled from Moncton, New Brunswick, to Boston, MA.  We awoke to find that Digby had found a nice spot to sleep, thankfully I had folded all my clothes, so they were just nicely pressed, & warm!

We had a bit of a problem locating my room key, but then Chancery found the notepad & decided to write down some clues...

We did find it in the end, under a serviette on the table!

We got all packed to hit the road only to discover someone had not thought very well about where they should park.  The guy parked behind us left an empty spot though, so PChad managed to get out without too much trouble.  These are the times I'm glad he has experience with driving semis!

We drove, & drove, & drove, & the kids were good for the most part.  At one point we were stuck in stop & go traffic for quite awhile & PChad said, "smells like someone's brakes are burning."  After a little longer he said, "the smell seems to be following us... maybe it's us."  And, yes, it was us.  We pulled off to the side of the road & he took a look & poured some water on the brakes to cool them a bit.  They seemed to be better, but we decided we should have them looked at in the morning.

 After some confusion due to construction & roads being re-named, we found our hotel, then went for dinner.  The kids coloured, did trivia about the baseball player who founded the restaurant.  We didn't do very well on the trivia since we don't know any Red Sox players!

Tomorrow after getting the van checked we're off to Maryland to visit Auntie B & Uncle B!

Bye-Bye, PEI!

Friday we set out in the afternoon aimed for Moncton.  We stopped near the bridge for coffee, because tradition demands it, & also stopped at the visitor area.  It was my first time stopping there, but better late than never, eh?

 PChad & I had spent the day packing the van & trailer, & doing some last minute things like getting the phone & internet disconnected, bringing my car to be shipped, & going shopping while some people came to look at our house (I got a new skirt!). 

By 1pm we had an offer on the house, which we accepted, & by 3pm, we were gone!  We prayed (& many others did too) that our house would sell for a good price before we moved, & it was pretty close, but God made it happen!  We will miss our island friends, the only home our kids have known, & the beautiful summers, but I will glad to avoid the winters!

They Came, They Packed..... They Forgot Some Stuff

Tuesday the movers came to pack our stuff.  We kept some of our stuff separated for our trip since the movers are putting our things in storage for a few months until we find a place of our own.  We'll be house-sitting for the first few months to give us some time to sell our PEI house, & to find a suitable house in BC. 

These are the piles of things we are taking in our vehicle for the first few months.  It's a good thing we have a big van to put it all in!

The garage was in the process of being packed, with half the items being taken by the movers, & the other half being taken by us.

Surprisingly, the truck was only filled about 1/3 by our things, but that's mostly because most of our weight is books, which don't take up a whole lot of space.

This is how we'll be traveling through the States for the next 3 weeks.  PChad traded one of his motorcycles for it!  Not only do we have all the things we'll need for the next 3 months while our other furnishings are in storage, we have a car & 2 motorcycles!  It's a 15 passenger van, with only 1 row of seats, so it has lots of room for all the boxes, & even for the middle of our dining table, 6 folding chairs & the guitar that the movers forgot!

It's not too difficult to find our rig in the parking lot.  It's parked waaaay out back taking up about 6 parking spots!

Rolo Brownies

Every time we go to a potluck, or I need to make a dessert for some event, my go-to thing to make is Rolo Brownies.  I get asked for the recipe for these all the time, so I thought it was time to share...

Ingredients:

• 2 Pkgs of a good brownie mix (don't go to the dollar store, get the Costco brownies, or the 'Chocolate Decadence' mix that costs a bit more.  Trust me, it's worth it)
• Eggs, Oil, & Water as directed on the Brownie Mix
• One 203gr bag of Mini Rolos 

Directions:

1. Prepare 1 package of brownie mix as directed, & pour into greased 9x13" pan
2. Sprinkle Rolos over top (if you want to be crazy, drizzle caramel ice cream topping as well)
3. Prepare second brownie mix as directed & pour over Rolos
4. Bake as directed, adding about 10-15 minutes (test with toothpick to see if they are baked)

Super yummy hot with ice cream!

Sunday Pictures

Asher - 9 years

Chancery - 6.5 years

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 Asher: "As a good-bye to PEI, we decided to be outside!"

Chancery: "It's a beautiful summer day, & we are celebrating lots of things today!"

Asher: "One of them is a farewell party with our church."

Chancery: "And it's also our church's birthday!"

Asher: "And we're having a potluck!"

Chancery: "And we're taking Daddy to the BEACH this afternoon!"

Asher: "He doesn't get to come with us very often, so we better make sure he has a fun time, right, Chancery?"

Chancery: "You bet!"