Our Thanksgiving Tradition...

Every Thanksgiving my in-laws, Ann and Bob come visit us in Nova Scotia. It's always nice to look forward to their Fall visit. Part of our tradition is a visit to Dempsey Corner Orchards to pick apples. The apples go from tree to pie (and apple crisp too) all is one day. DEEElicious!!!

Here's a picture of Ann, Bob and Steve in the middle of the orchard contemplating how many apples will be needed for the said pies! bahahaha!

Here's Michael sampling the apples...just to make sure they are okay for Grandma's pie! lol!

Walk of Fame!

Taken at the corner of Hollywood and Vine in L.A. during my parents trip to California. Too funny eh?! LOVE IT!

Corn Maze!

Last weekend, we went to the Evan's Family Corn Maze with our neighbours and had so much fun! The kids LOVED it and had a blast running around to all the different stations to get their stamps. The problem was that they literally wanted to run...so we had to try and keep up. With the corn stalks being 7 feet high, it's quite conceivable that you could lose a child in there. Yikes! We didn't let them out of our sights!

Here are the kids at one of the stamping stations. They had 8 stamps to collect and they were displaced all over the maze. (See map pic)

Here we all are at a dead end. Luckily Steve could lift the kids so we could find our way out!

I think Fall might just be my favourite season. The colours, the weather, the activities, the turkey feast!!! Ah who am I kidding...summer wins hands down...two months off is hard to beat!

Here's the Laurel Street Gang in the maze! 

BONUS: We bought our first bag of Honey Crisp apples of the season right after we left! Yummy!!!!

New Play Structure!

This is what $60 000.00 looks like! 

Our new playground equipment is amazing! The kids and I bike down every weekend (usually more than once since it only takes us 4 minutes).  It has so many cool features. Super FUN! 

Abbey has totally mastered the Monkey Bars. Here's a cute little video!

By Popular Demand....

Everyone seems to be calling and emailing about Steve's landing video. Here's two more videos of Steve flying taken by the Loadmaster. Check out the Davey Crocket hat on the flight engineer. Too funny!

Maybe I'll get someone to videotape a Math lesson of mine and post it to see if there's as much interest! tee!hee!

Here's Steve right after take-off - 60 degree bank turn on his way to Alert from Thule.

Here's Steve landing on a clear day in Alert. A little less nerve wracking I'm sure!

He's BAAAACK!

and not a moment too soon! These past two and a half weeks have been the hardest ever of all the times Steve's been away. There was just so much going on...the dreaded bus situation, Abbey and Michael starting "maternelle", me starting my Master's and the craziness that is September for teachers...I thought I was going to go off the deep end (seriously!). But all that ended when I heard to garage door go up Friday morning at 4:32 am...a whole two days early! Yay!

Steve was staying in Thule and flying back and forth to Alert dropping off supplies. Here's a video of Steve landing in Alert...you can appreciate the conditions they were flying in. If you listen carefully after landing you can hear the reverse thrust kick in to slow the Herc down.

Here's a pic of Dundas Mountain ("The Beer Can") taken from the cockpit and one of Steve on top of it. He and the Winnipeg crew he'd been flying with while in Thule decided to climb it. It took them 22 minutes or so but the record up is a little over 6 minutes.

Cool iceberg shot taken from the cockpit. I'm fascinated by icebergs and would love to see one.

So, life back to normal! I'm a happy girl!

All in a Day's Work...

Who knew this...

could cause so much grief in this Mommy's life! 

This is bus #227...many sleepless nights have been spent thinking about said bus. AHHHH!

So, as previously mentioned in an earlier post, the first day went pretty well all things considered. I cried, but really what mother doesn't right?!? 

I picked Abbey and Michael up after their first day excited to hear all about the days events. They seemed okay with it all...until bed time! Everything always comes out at bedtime eh?!? This is when my darling little boy announces that he is never taking the bus again and that the bus driver is mean. Now in my most understanding loving voice I explained how lucky he was to be taking the bus and how he was only able to do so now because he's such a big boy. All to no avail. There was just no changing his mind...I decided not to keep fighting it so I put him to bed with lots of extra cuddles and hoped for the best the next morning.

Alarm goes off Friday morning, I'm showered, dressed and ready to wake my babes up by 7:15 am. Walk into Abbey's room with a cheerful "bonjour ma belle Abbey" and my princess wakes up, stretches, gives me a hug and tells me she's excited to wear another dress to school today. Fantastic...so far! I approach Michael's room, pause at the door...say a little prayer and bounce in with an even-friendlier, more upbeat "bonjour mon beau Michael" to which his response was hide under the covers and yell "I'm not going to school and I hate the school bus!" Hmmmm... WONDERFUL!  So NOT the response I was looking for?!?

I gave him a few minutes to settle down and got Abbey ready to go and then Steve called to wish the kids a good day. I had warned him that today might be rough so he thought he might be able to give Michael a Daddy pep talk. Yeah...that wasn't happening either! I somehow managed to get both children dressed, fed and out the door in time for the bus. 

The moment of truth * cue dramatic music * the doors to the bus open, Abbey hops on, Michael throws himself onto the pavement and cries like he's having his fingernails torn off.  So now I've got Abbey on the bus and Michael laying on the street corner...FANTASTIC! 

Needless to say, Janice (oh wonderful Janice) drove Michael to school (he wasn't getting off that easy) and my little princess rode the bus solo. Emotions were running high all around

and so ...day two of the walk of shame into my school with my big sunglasses hiding blood shot eyes! FOR THE LOVE!