Adventures in bowling

Ah, bowling. Fun at the best of times. Hilarious with two small children. I'd been promising Jessica that I would take her bowling ever since the end of June (when we tried to go at the cabin only to discover that the Huntsville Bowl isn't open during the day). Since next week is the "official" start of the school year (kindergarten being pretty taxing and all that), I figured we should probably go today.

Well, it was a lot of fun. Personally, I have to say that bowling with bumper guards rocks! The best was Rachel attempting to roll the ball down the lane. I'm sure I could have sent four down the lane (or more) in the time it took her one little ball to make it down to the end. Jessica was actually pretty good! Rachel only made it seven frames before she tired of it, but Jessica picked up the slack and finished her game for her. In the end, Rachel scored an 81, Jessica a 91 and me, a 100. Not bad for us amateur bowlers (and a little embarrassing to say that I only beat my 4-year-old by 9 points - lol).

After bowling, I let them each pick a candy machine to pop their quarter into. They both chose jelly beans and were blissfully happy with their small handful. A sweet ending to a very sweet outing.

Adventures in self-pity

So, it's been a while (for all you eager readers out there - ha). A very eventful few weeks. Jonathan and I celebrated our 11th anniversary on the 17th. Hard to believe it's been 11 years! That same weekend, Jonathan took Jessica to the baseball game with her friend Isabel. Junior Jays Saturdays means that they were able to run the bases after the game. Very cool.

Then on the Sunday, we did a "nine and dine" round of golf with my parents, and this is where all the trouble started. I felt pretty horrible after breakfast, so I took a nap in the afternoon. Improved a little, but still horrible upper abdominal pain. Then I golfed the worst round of golf in my life! I wanted to curl up and hide. I literally had to take five swings with my 5-wood before I even connected with the ball at one point!! And of course, spectators make it that much more fun. Sigh. But that is only emotional pain, and I can survive it!

But my tummy pain continued throughout the week, getting progressively worse, and always after I ate something. (C'mon, who needs to eat anyway?) And then on Thursday, I reinjured my knee bending down to help Jessica get changed! It hadn't healed yet from my ACL tear, and now it is (again) the size of a balloon. But that's not the best part - my pain got so bad, I went into emergency on Thursday night. They thought it was my gall bladder, which would require immediate surgery. But no, my blood work came back squeaky clean. Then the ultrasound revealed nothing.

After speaking with the doctor, the official diagnosis is a referral to a GI specialist (oh joy, oh bliss), with the leaning toward it being an ulcer. An ulcer?!?! Seriously? And who says being a Mom doesn't cause you stress? Ha.

Adventures with zinc cream

Well. How much trouble can two little girls get into in five minutes? As I am sure you can guess, a whole lot.

This morning, they were just adorable. Jessica sometimes asks to "help" Rachel get dressed. I am not sure what goes on, but usually Rachel emerges from her room with her clothes in the right place and both are very proud.

Jessica asked to help this morning. So I gave them Rachel's pull-up, top and shorts, and left them to it as I went to the bathroom to brush my hair, teeth etc. I returned not five minutes later to disover a most ghastly scene. Jessica had retrieved the zinc diaper rash cream from the change table and proceeded to smear it all over Rachel (and I mean all). Her face, her arms, her belly, her back, her legs, her feet, everywhere! She looked like she might be an albino child. And Jessica had it all over her front. They managed (in five minutes) to use close to an inch of cream from the tub!!! Jessica looks at me and says "It was Rachel." Sure it was.

So I scooped them both up (unfortunately without the thought of a photo) and plunked them directly into shower. Jonathan had to scrub them for at least ten minutes before most of the cream was off, while I attempted to remove the cream from the bed posts, chair, pillows, etc. Even after they got out of the shower, we still had to wipe them down with baby wipes! Yuck.

The best part was their clothes sticking to them as I pulled them on. It was like to trying to dress a wet child, except they weren't wet. It makes me laugh now, but man was I fuming at the time!!

And what this reminds me of is when Jessica got her hands on the Vaseline two years ago and used it as hair gel. After ten washes, at least, she still looked like her hair had some 1950's brillo in it. Didn't disappear entirely for about two weeks.

Thank God it happened when Jonathan was still home!

Adventures in camping

How much fun was that? It was awesome. We finally had a family camping trip, complete with tent, coleman stove, campfire and dirt. Lots of dirt. I think that my children might have resembled Pig Pen from the Charlie Brown comics.

We went to Earl Rowe Provincial Park, which is just outside Alliston. It has a great beach and lake (although it is a little muddy/murky) and an amazing swimming pool. Plus a park store (for ice cream of course) and a little nature centre. Jessica got to hold two different garter snakes. Rachel was enthralled with the real stuffed bear.

Lots of time was spent in the sun and the water. Jessica got sunburned. Rachel survived the entire weekend without napping. And oh joy, oh bliss - the girls slept in until gone 8 a.m. both days! Woohoo.

We've already booked activities for the rest of our weekends this summer, but next summer will see us camping at Earl Rowe several times. But for all you die hard campers out there, this definitely was not "real" camping. It's the kind of camping that I like. The kind with flush toilets, sinks, showers and a Dollarama, Canadian Tire and McDonald's within driving distance. Yay.

Adventures in swimming

Jessica is a fish. Now I know a lot of people say that about their kids because they love the water, but I seriously do think she may begin to develop gills. Last summer she was swimming like crazy in her floatie suit and now she is swimming without it! She is four and a half and can swim the length of my parents' pool.

We spent the day at the pool today and Jessica learned how to dive. I showed her once and then she just crouched and jumped head first into the deep end! Just in case I didn't mention, the child also has no fear. Up she popped and promptly climbed out of the pool to do it again.

Rachel on the other hand is not as fond of the water. She is a more cautious soul, not as inclined to race down the slide, or jump off the second-to-bottom stair (thank goodness), or leap into the pool like her sister. Usually, she quietly plays on the side, dipping her watering can to fill up her little blow-up pool. But for the first time today she ventured into the water and let me lead her around the shallow end while she held on to two of my fingers. And to top it off, she asked to jump off the diving board. Thinking this would be a little much for my timid little girl, we jumped off the side and she did pretty well! A few tears, but they eventually ended in smiles and an "I did it Mommy!"

Today is one of those days where I am so thankful that I am a Mom.