A quick trip

Last Friday, I flew back to Saskatchewan to see the dog, who is quite sick (albeit finally getting a little better). People can travel to see me, but she can't, so off I went.

When I got there, she was at the vet. I went to pick her up, and she was happy to see me. (I like to believe she was happier than she would have been to see anyone else, but that's probably not true.)

Of course, I got to see a lot of people, too. On Saturday I helped two of my sisters build a bed, and then we went to see some family friends.

My sister's mattress + box spring mean the bed is level with the shelf

On Sunday, we met up with some cousins at the lake. (I scraped my knee getting into the boat, and it promptly got infected, so I've been treating it twice a day ever since.)

On Monday, I helped mom look for railings for her steps, went for lunch with my mom, sisters, and niece, and got together with a friend for a walk by the lake.

Tuesday we decided to have an appetizer supper, so mom, B, and I spent the afternoon making appetizers. Yay for pear/brie/prosciutto appetizers!

Yesterday I flew back, just in time to enjoy the loud taxi strike at the airport.

The Popcorn Story

I've told this story a few times lately, so I thought I'd share it here.

A couple of years ago, I bought some microwave popcorn. I don't eat popcorn often (um, except for at the movies), but occasionally I like it, and this particular microwave popcorn came with a cheese topping.

One night while Wanda was at work, I decided to try the popcorn. I microwaved the popcorn, poured it into a mixing bowl, and sprinkled on the cheese topping, then I sat down to enjoy my treat.

I took a piece, and ... it wasn't very good.

I tried another couple of pieces. They were even worse. I decided I wasn't going to eat it, put the bowl on the counter, and went to bed. An hour or two later, Wanda got home.

When I got up in the morning, the bowl was empty. I thought "hmm, maybe it was just me. Wanda apparently liked it."

Then Wanda got out of bed, and said "That popcorn was awful!"

But ... she ate the whole bowl.

It's all over but the laundry

This year, my mom brought my niece and one of my cousin's daughters to visit, and there were no injuries.

I couldn't believe it, either.

They flew into Toronto on a Friday night. They got in around 5 and checked in to the airport hotel, and Wanda and I drove down to meet them. We got there a little before 10.

The girls were a little ridiculously excited to see us.

Saturday morning, we met up with my cousin and all six of us drove to Niagara Falls. Another cousin met us there, and we spent the day going on the Hornblower (which used to be the Maid of the Mist), eating at the Rainforest Cafe, and walking around the falls. (My niece didn't want to go on the boat because it would be boring, but I made her go anyway. She loved it.)

A monkey in a tree

The falls

We went back to Toronto Saturday night.

Sunday morning, we checked out of the hotel and drove to a subway station with parking. We left the car there and took 2 trains to get downtown to meet up with my cousin again. We walked around downtown and ended up at the CN Tower.

The girls are somewhere around the R

We'd originally planned to go to the Ontario Science Centre - the girls have passes so would have gotten in free - but it was hot, and I was afraid that if we got back to the car, no one would want to get out of it again to go to the science center, so we went to the aquarium instead. I really like aquariums, and this one was good, despite the fact that it was crowded and there were too many people with empty strollers and wagons.

We came back to Ottawa on Sunday night, so Monday was a quiet day. We watched movies, and the girls got their hair cut. (My niece didn't want to watch Captain America because she doesn't like superhero movies, but I made her and she loved it.)

We also went to Menchies for frozen yogurt. (My niece didn't want to go because she doesn't like frozen yogurt, but I made her and she loved it.)

Not enjoying the frozen yogurt

A friend brought her kids over on Tuesday and we made stilts. We didn't' quite finished them - it was ridiculously hot - but it was still fun. After lunch, we went to Britannia Beach and the kids played in the water. We finished up Tuesday by going to see Inside Out.

We had planned to go to Calypso on Wednesday, but the cabanas were booked, so we moved it to Thursday and went shopping instead. The girls had a good time spending every penny they'd brought with them.

Shopping

Thursday was Calypso. As usual, we spent a lot of time on the lazy river, and tried a bunch of the other rides. It rained Thursday morning, so it wasn't terribly crowded. The adults got sunburned, and the kids (who have t-shirt bathing suits) were fine.

Calypso

Friday morning we went to see Age of Ultron (since the girls had watched the first Avengers movie at some point - I don't normally let them watch as many movies as they did this trip, but it was really, really hot out). We went for lunch, and then I cruelly forced them to go for a walk in the woods. We tried to feed the chickadees, but they were apparently on vacation as they were nowhere to be found.

Can't wait to go for a walk

Saturday we went to Ray's Reptiles. I've somehow never been there, although I've seen their traveling show. (My niece didn't want to go, but she seemed to have a good time, anyway.) This is also when I made a terrible mistake - I bought the girls magnetic rocks. They played with them constantly. It was very irritating. (I think this is also the day Wanda took them mini-golfing. It's hard to remember exactly.)

Waiting for the show at Ray's Reptiles

Kissing a turtle

Sunday we went downtown to the Busker festival. (My niece didn't want to go, but ...you know the drill.)  We didn't have much time there, but they enjoyed it, and they got to take the bus there, so all was well. After the festival, we went out to my cousin's aunt's cottage. It was a beautiful day for it.

At the cottage

Monday morning I took the kids to Minions (even though it was the third movie they'd seen in theaters since they got here), then it was time for lunch so that they could get to the airport. They flew home last night.