aaaand, REPEAT!

Life here has remained pretty much the same since my last update, minus the swimming lessons, and a great lessening of my anxiety about the whole "omg, I have to get everything ready NOW!!" thing. Turns out, I was a week ahead of myself, so I DO have room to breathe while we get everything else ready to go.

We also spent the weekend away from home, with extended family in my husband's hometown.

We were celebrating the marriage of Lloyd's oldest brother and his charming Bride, and had fun visiting with many relatives that we don't often get to see. The party to celebrate their wedding (in March in Spain!!!) was a lot of fun, and it was great to meet some of The Bride's family.

It was an interesting drive to the place we were headed in central Alberta. I got carsick. (Well, carsick with a touch of migraine, but really!) I, who almost never ever gets motion sick, unless I'm in a small plane doing loops and dives. I, who spent 13 years riding a school bus to and from school, one hour each way, on bumpy gravel roads. I, who can read, and have been known to do mathematical calculations whilst riding in a vehicle on Saskatchewan's bumpy roads, got so sick, that even while I was driving, I was close to pulling over to make an intimate acquaintance with the ditch... I made it to the next big gas station along the highway, were there was a reasonable assurance of purchasing some Gravol. (This stuff works. Especially when you take it ahead of time, like I did on the way home. I shall be stocking up before our flight. ;p) We had a lovely drive home, through the northern route to our our home in Saskatchewan. There are some surprisingly well-stocked gas stations along the way. I wish I had time to shop at a couple of them, particularly the one that had boutique children's clothes. I did buy a couple of items for the children for the flight to Europe. An activity booklet with an invisible ink pen for the boys, and a 50pc magnetic tin for Margo to play house on... with help, of course!

On Sunday, we celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary, and I was delightfully surprised a day early with a scrumptious bouquet of roses. The blooms are magnificent, and so very fragrant. I carried red roses at our wedding, and this bouquet came from the same florist that prepared my wedding bouquet.

Another delightful surprise of the weekend occurred on Saturday, when we took our children, and two nephews, to the park close to where we were staying. There is a lovely walking path around the lake, and a pair of swans reside there. There is also a play structure that the kids can climb all over and slide down, as well as many picnic tables and benches, and an ice cream shack. As we were watching the children on the play structure after a walk to try find the swans, my husband spots an old colleague and friend of his from Yellowknife! What a pleasant surprise! Our friend was there with his son, young daughter (same age as Miss M), wife and father, just passing through town, stopping at the park only for lunch. It was so nice to catch up, and watch the kids play together, and we enjoyed this unexpected gift to the fullest.

There are fourteen sleeps until we leave home to drive to Calgary, from where we fly to France. Fourteen sleeps to get through, and then the adventure will truly begin... I am so freakin' excited, I just can't stand it!! The children are reacting to the changes in the set-up of the house, their toys being packed away, and the rest, and are either the very best of friends (all three of them), or they are fighting like mortal enemies. And the mouth on my seven year old is getting more and more, uh, vocal, as he talks back to me... I know it's the stress of the transition, but I do not enjoy the mouthiness of a verbose seven year old, who inspires his two younger siblings to similar mouthiness. To sum it up, we are not much of a quiet household right now. Thank goodness for good weather, and empty streets where the boys can ride their bikes without much worry on my part about vehicular traffic. And the new pay-house under the newly re-constructed deck that Lloyd put together for the kids. And yes, I typed PAY-house, because my seven year old thought he could charge his friend's admission to enter... He is now reluctantly resigned to making his own money to hand out to his friends so they can pay to get in... This was about as bad as my five year old knocking on doors up and down the street earlier this summer, in an attempt to sell his friends' pieces of art that they brought back from art camp, and they had set up for sale in their garage just up the street.

Life with us is rarely dull. :)