Bridging Ceremony

June 18 was the day that Sydney bridged from being a Daisy Scout to a Brownie! Thank God the weather held out for us and the rain came just after the party ended. We held the ceremony on our church grounds and it all worked out so well. I am so very proud of all that our troop accomplished in our first year together and I am so excited to be a part of it all with them. It is quite a blessing to be able to do this with our daughter and her friends.

Here is Sydney crossing the bridge and "officially" becoming a Brownie! Congratulations!!!!

Do you get it? (bridging from Daisies to Brownies) By the way, I am proud to say I made the cake. I wish I could claim the yummy brownies too!

We laughed when we later found the cake like this. Apparently, someone REALLY wanted a specific petal or two. The other leaders and I decided that it must have been a future engineer who dug into it. You can imagine how much more we laughed when I put two and two together and realized that it had been Sydney who had been the one who did that to the cake! It had dawned on me that she had recently been up to the table. Sure enough, when I found her, she had the huge piece of cake on her plate along with a huge smile. She cracks me up!

Our Summer Vacation

Howdy, howdy! The last day of school was supposed to be Wednesday, June 8; but, we decided to let the kiddos miss it and head towards Niagara Falls early. We drove pretty much all day Wednesday. We had a gorgeous view of the Falls from our 30th floor hotel room. After getting settled in, we walked down by the Falls and took it all in. Just amazing. We had a delicious dinner at East Side Mario's. Imagine our surprise when they brought out three small dripping ice cream cones for EACH child. Nice idea; but, we certainly could have done without that. Max was about the only one who could devour them quickly enough that he did not end up wearing the majority of it. We made our way back to the hotel and waited for the Falls to start to light up. We never did see all the lights come on; but what we did see was beautiful!

(It is so bright that they can hardly look at the camera.)


(Here is the view of the Falls from our room.)


Thursday brought more time in the car as we drove the rest of the way up to Montreal. We stayed in an adorable well kept apartment. The owners were just wonderful. They had a dozen bagels and a container of cream cheese waiting for us. They thought of everything! Ron and Sydney made a trip on foot to get groceries at an IGA while the other three and I got settled in for our stay.


Friday was spent at the Circuit Gilles-Villneuve. Our original plan was to watch both Formula One practices that day; but, the younger kiddos were not as keen on the idea as we were. So, we watched one, ate lunch, and decided to head out. After all, we wanted to be able to stay for the entire race on Sunday.

(They started off well.)

On Saturday we headed over to the Jardin Botanique and Insectarium. The gardens were absolutely beautiful. We especially enjoyed the Chinese Garden for some reason. :) Unfortunately, the wild bugs (not the ones in the insectarium) decided to snack on my hubby. So, we decided to not venture too much more around outside near the woods. The kiddos had a GREAT time playing on the play ground. They had little yellow flower seats that spin; but, the kids did not know that until they tried to sit down in them. There were several spills! Veronica tried it once and was not happy with the way it turned out. We headed over to the insectarium next. We were really looking forward to this because we just knew the kids would love it. We stopped at a similar place when we were out west on vacation many moons ago. At that one, we got to hold a tarantula. We were already discussing who was going to hold one if we got an opportunity at this place. So, you can imagine our surprise and disappointment in finding out it was closed for remodeling!!!! Of course, the man at the gate where we had to pay apparently did not feel it was necessary to inform us of this prior to us paying and entering the gardens/insectarium! Ugh! Oh, well. We had fun and the gardens were pretty. Oh, by the way, we could hear the F1 cars while we were walking around. That was pretty wild being that close but not actually being able to see them!

(The girls love to pose.)

(Max's arm was being nibbled on.)

(I want one of these circular doorways somewhere in our yard!)

(They just look so cute!)

(Look at the four spiders crawling on the huge web.)

We ate lunch in China Town in a small upstairs restaurant. I am not one to venture "off the beaten path" so to speak; but, Ron is. Therefore, we went up to this restaurant which I would have passed right by without hesitation. The one and only lady (employee? owner?) there told us that they have the best noodles in all of China Town. Well, how could we argue with that? We were sure there was no bias whatsoever. Hee, hee! It was good...smaller portions than we are used to though. This made sharing a bit of a task and made for a much lighter lunch than we had planned. Oh, well. We got to try bubble tea for the first time!!!! This is a drink that my bloggy friend Heather mentions every now and then. So, of course, it was a must try. (Heather- we sat there talking about how I could not wait to tell you that we finally got to try it!!!!) Unfortunately, I could not get into it as much as I had hoped. The big tapioca balls really weirded me out. LOL! Ron really liked it though. We tried a coconut one and a pineapple one. Maybe, if we ever see them again, I will give it a whirl again. I am wondering if it is just an acquired taste? I hope!

(Those little black balls were too much! Ha, ha! We looked for one of those games all over China town but could not find one.)

We headed back to the races on Sunday! The forecast was not looking good. We were sitting there in our ponchos when it looked like it was going to stop sprinkling and actually clear up! Woo-hoo! We got to see the cars go around some...mostly under safety car; but, we will take what we can get! With no F1 races in the US this year, we are just happy to see them. Just wait until next year! God-willing, we will be going to Texas to see them race!!!! Anyways, we lost the battle. It started to pour. The sky just opened up. As we sat there just soaked, we looked at each other trying to decide what to do. If it was just Ron and I, no doubt we could have stuck it out; but, it was too much for the kids for sure. Sydney's teeth started to chatter and eventually Emerson's did as well. We made the right choice by catching a cab and heading back to the hotel. It ended up being red flagged for 3 hours!!!! I do have to admit that it was weird being just a hop, skip, and jump away from the circuit in our pj's watching the restarted race on tv. Oh, well...we were all together on vacation. Is there anything better?!

(Yep, this was not looking good.)

(Poutine is a local favorite. It is french fries, cheese curds, and gravy. Ron, the girls, and Emerson really enjoyed it. Max would not even go near it. I am a vegetarian and it was not; therefore, I did not try it.)

(Look at how wet the circuit is!!!!)

Monday was a day of exploration in their underground city. What a maze of shops, restaurants, and more!!!! We eventually made our way to Old Town. We stopped in at the Basilique Notre-Dame-de-Montreal. Beautiful and peaceful!!!! We ate lunch at a small restaurant where we ended up being the only ones indoors for a long time. Everyone else preferred to sit outside on the patio. It was too cold for us!

(Here we are looking at the Station of the Cross with St. Veronica. Love that one!)

(Here we are, the only ones in the restaurant. I am not sure what is up with Veronica's scowl in this picture.)

(Not that I needed proof that Emerson is my son; but, he did like dipping his french fries in mayo just like me!!!!)

Tuesday was a great day of geocaching. We stomped all over Parc Mont-Royal. It was so pretty! We found four out of the five caches that we were hunting. Not bad; but, there is always that "one that got away". Ron has heard about several people who have found it since we tried. Ugh...how did they find it and we did not?! There had been a group of school kids there just before us; so, we had figured maybe they had messed with it, took it, or something. Bummer...we were wrong. We found a building at the top of Mont-Royal that had vending machines. Thank goodness because we had not packed any munchies or drinks. Ron said that he has never spent that much at vending machines. LOL! Oh, well...gotta keep the troops happy. After "feasting" and using the facilities, we went outside to see the beautiful view of the city below. Then, it was off for another cache.

(One cache down, four to go.)

(Here is our last find of the day.)

We spent all day Wednesday traveling home. It was a long day; but, we made it. We left Montreal just after 6 in the morning and got home that evening around 7. The kids did awesome. Of course, the many forms of electronics helped. How did our parents do road trips without DVD players, game systems, etc.? Yikes!

FYI...If you ever lose a tooth while in Canada, the tooth fairy will give you Canadian money. Just ask Sydney who managed to pull one out during the trip! :)

Hope all of you are having a wonderful summer too!!!!

the dog days of summer

Nope, I am not referring to hot weather. I am referring to our newest "dog", Pansy. Here is a picture...
Veronica is constantly pretending to be a dog. She has named herself "Pansy". Not sure where she got that one! I have told her that she can only play that at home...much to her dismay. She tells me what to say to her even. Say "down". Max gets so frustrated if she starts up and she gets mad if we ask her to stop. Hope she does not bite. :)

More prayers needed...

Please pray for Ron as he has surgery scheduled for tomorrow. He has a hernia. Quite the week around here, huh?!

Today's Procedures

Thank you to everyone who sent up prayers on Emerson's behalf. He did a WONDERFUL job with no food last night. (I know...I am still in shock too!!!!) Our other three were great about not eating around him. Max came up with the plan that he would watch and play with Emerson in the playroom while the girls ate. Then, he, Ron, and I ate after Emerson went to bed. Max is such a thoughtful, smart boy!!!!

We got up a tad earlier than usual this morning as we had to be at the hospital by 6:45. His procedures were scheduled for 8 and they were done by 8:45. Thank God, they did not find anything of major concern. They will get back to us soon with the biopsy results. They are thinking at this time that we may just end up putting him on some prescription medicines for about a month. As Ron puts it, they will nuke whatever is inside his intestines and give him a fresh start.


Here is a picture of him on the way home. He is actually smiling. I am sure he was happy to have a cup of juice, access to food, and his comfy pj's! He is off playing now. He is doing much better. He was complaining of a sore throat by whimpering and holding his throat; but, he has not done that since earlier. Ice cream tends to help such aches and pains. :) He points to his hand every now and then where they stuck him. He probably will for months and I am not exaggerating. He does not forget! He still points to spots where they have drawn blood awhile ago. Poor kiddo!

Again, thank you for all the prayers and help that was provided!!!!