Canada Day in Review

Our Canada Day plans were rather last minute, but that was okay because we had a great time celebrating our country's 141st birthday!

On Monday morning, I had a phone call from my mom saying that she & my dad, my little nephew and an aunt & uncle and cousin were all coming for to our house for the night! I knew on Friday that they might come but it wasn't confirmed until Monday morning! They were catching a ferry around supper time and would be at our house around 8pm. Time to tell my kids about the excitement (I tend to keep things a secret from my kids just in case plans change).

So Monday was the mad dash, cleaning and making sure there was enough bedding for everyone. Jeremy came home from work and tried finishing things up in our garage. We are almost finished (just need to put down a bit of lino at the entry area and sew & hang some curtains) converting our garage into a rec room. God has blessed us with quite a bit of free stuff, helping us finish the garage.

My family was a bit late getting here, thanks to the ferry, but the kids were ready to greet everyone nonetheless. After some visiting time, we got the kids settled into bed. When the grown ups went to bed at midnight, it was nice knowing we had already had a good visit and lots of laughter. I still have visions of my dad galavanting around in his...maybe I'd better not say!, my dad making us all laugh - somehow it's hilarious when it's midnight, my dad wears his breathing apparatus (to help his sleep apnea) and makes silly faces! Maybe you had to be there!

Tuesday morning, Canada Day, we got up (some earlier than others), made a wonderful breakfast of fruit, pancakes and healthy baked omelet. We laughed over the early morning escapades of some of the children - my little nephew climbed into bed with my parents about 5:30am and Daniel joined them about 6am. So much for sleep!

After breakfast, we quickly got ready and got all 10 people out the door and off to see the parade. The parade wasn't as exciting this year as it has been in past years, but the kids enjoyed it and even got a bit of candy. One thing that I thought was so neat was an entry by the Gideons. They were handing out Bibles! My kids wanted one, but I thought it would be better if they left them for other kids who don't have bibles yet. Here are a few pictures of the parade.

Aiden, my little nephew, at the parade

After the parade, we came back to the house and relaxed.

My Dad catching up on some lost sleep with Aiden's bunny

Uncle Don having a snooze!

My Mom & Auntie Marion visiting!

Okay, we didn't relax for very long before we had everyone working (sorry, no pictures to prove we worked hard)! Because Jeremy was so close to being finished and we had extra hands available, we decided this would be the time to move our upright freezer and treadmill off our deck and into our garage/rec room. So Jeremy scooted to his work, grabbed a dolly and loaded up the heavy items. Of course, moving these big items put my mom, aunt & myself to work cleaning up the things up and cleaning up the deck afterwards. It's amazing how much dust accumulates over time! Thank you, Mom & Dad, Uncle Don & Auntie Marion for all your hard work. My aunt kept sweeping even though she could hardly stop sneezing from all the dust!

The guys decided they needed to go to Canadian Tire for some "guy time", so us ladies got things ready for our BBQ supper. It was a delicious meal, topped off with strawberries & vanilla ice cream (thanks Auntie Marion & Uncle Don!). After letting the food set for a few moments, there was just enough time left for our family to quickly pack up and say good-bye before heading off to the ferry. It was a short time, less than 24hrs, but filled with a LOT of laughter (any time my dad and aunt are together there's sure to be laughing) and good memories.

Daniel showing off his new sunglasses