Excitement at the Beach

We took the kids to Petro Beach last night for some swimming, kayaking and playing in the sand. Ty brought the canoe as well so he could do some fishing. We got down there (its just past GTI) around 7:30pm; the weather was warm and beautiful and the kids were excited.

We all took turns on the kayaks, Ty of course headed out on the canoe, then the kids frolicked and splashed in the water. Lena and the two older ones went out to their chests, even Ryder tested his limit by going up to his belly button. Then the two little ones returned to the sand to play and build castles while the big boys stayed out deep and goofed around.

Ryder dug a big hole and proceeded to flood it with water, first calling it "Tiger Lake" and then changed the name to "Crocodile Lake". Gotta put some more water in Crocodile Lake for all the crocodiles that live in Crocodile Lake. I think he said the word crocodile about 30 times in 5 minutes, haha.

Lena was prancing around in the sand when she noticed something on her leg near the ankle, looked like a small piece of grass or reed. She went to slap it off but it wouldn't move. I was sitting there at the picnic table watching all this and it was like it happened in slow motion. She grabbed the thing with her fingers and then suddenly this horrified scream burst out of her, "ITS A BLOOD SUCKER!!!!" O.M.G! She started frantically hopping around, stomping her leg, slapping and pulling at this thing, and it wouldn't come off! Gunnar had reached shore by then and raced for the bug spray, started spraying that leech like crazy but it just would not leg go. By this time Lena was hysterical, still screaming and crying, while bad mommy sat at the table and giggled. (You know, that nervous laughing thing I do. Bad, bad me.) Gunnar had a firm hold of the leech and was pulling at it, and it still would not come off! Finally, it came loose and Gunnar flung it to the ground, where Ryder promptly stomped on it, "That's for sucking my sister's blood!" (Then of course he checked the bottom of his foot to make sure it hadn't stuck to HIM! lol)

Poor little Lena was a shivering, sobbing mess, utterly traumatized by the whole experience. She changed back into her clothes and flat-out refused to swim or get near the water for the rest of the night, even though I assured her the leech had come from the deeper waters she'd walked in, because there were reeds and seaweed over there. To my knowledge, leeches don't hang out in shallow water (maybe I'm wrong though). So she just sat by me and I cuddled her and rubbed her back and crooned to calm her down. See, I'm not such a bad mom after all!

A little while later I asked Ryder to find the dead leech so we could be sure it wasn't still alive in the sand, waiting for a juicy foot to come near. He told me, quite seriously, "No mom, it clawed its way back to the water with its one sharp tooth, and then it fell in and drowned because leeches can't swim, and now it can never be revived." Omg I laughed so hard to hear that, in his solemn gruff little voice. We never did find it, either.

So the boys were out kayaking, I was stuck on the beach with the little ones, one of whom refused to play or swim after her traumatic episode, and it was getting colder and windier, the sun was setting, and I realized Ty had taken the truck keys with him in the canoe. I was wearing flip-flops and my feet were blocks of ice. Ryder had to go poop so we ran to the bathroom there. Afterward, we couldn't wedge his cold wet clammy thick thighs back into his suit, so he just ran back to the water buck naked and played, sand stuck all over his cute chubby butt. By now it was around 9pm, the kids were starving (we hadn't eaten supper before we left because we'd had a really late lunch, but I had a roast slow-cooking for when we returned) and they had already eaten the bag of chips I brought and drank all their juiceboxes. I, stupidly, had not brought along a book or anything to keep me occupied other than my pack of smokes, so that was incredibly boring. Just sitting there shivering, chain-smoking, cursing my hubby who'd taken off across the lake in his canoe and taken the damn truck keys with him.

The boys came back in the kayaks and we all started packing up and hauling stuff back to the truck so when Ty finally returned, we could quickly get out of there. Finally we spotted his canoe heading our way. He was just at the area where all the boats are docked in the water when we saw him stop to take a few more casts. Oh, you can imagine the steam coming out of my ears. It was 9:45 at that point. We all watched as he cast and reeled, then he actually got something. He was so surprised! Then, THEN, oh holy mother of all things awesome and righteous, the damn man over-reacted in his excitement and set the hook much harder than he intended, that he actually managed to somehow lose his balance and accidentally flung himself overboard the canoe! SPLASH!! Ohmygod it was so funny. We were all laughing so hard we almost peed our pants, bent over and clutching our stomachs. He returned to shore in disgrace, haha. Good thing he had the foresight to put his cellphone in a ziploc baggy in his pocket before heading out. Unfortunately, he did not put his wallet in there. Bahahaha.

So anyway, we got home around 10, had a very late supper of tender deer roast, tossed salad, leftover corn-on-the-cob, and spinach. Threw the kids in the bath while the boys took turns showering, then everyone hit the sack.

What an exciting night!

The Protein (Dukan) Diet: Day 3 results

Thank you to Deanna for turning me on to this. Mom started the Dukan diet about two weeks ago and has already lost 17 pounds. SEVENTEEN FRIGGIN POUNDS. So that gave me a well-needed kick in the arse to get going and seriously commit to it. And it IS a commitment. Do you know how hard it is to resist eating what everyone else is and just stick to protein? So I've been drinking my protein shakes, eating fat-free yogurt and lean sandwich meat, fat-free cottage cheese, turkey bacon, etc. I started this two days ago, on Friday (so today is actually the start of day 3, I guess) and I'm already down 2 pounds. Doesn't sound like much but I'm pretty happy. Its a good start. Will keep you guys posted on the results as the days go by.

Well, poop!

Things just aren't going my way lately...

It all started with a toilet that wasn't flushing properly. At first the plunger seemed to do the trick, but then after a day or so even that didn't work. I knew, I just KNEW, that little Ryderman had something to do with it. "I promise Mommy, I did NOT flush anything down there!" After emptying the toilet of its foul soup-of-despair, I tried the snakey-thing with the claw, even put my hand up there (*shudder* picture me afterwards, like Lady McBeth, frantically washing and washing and washing my hands and arms), nothing worked. It was at that point, with my arm buried up to the elbow in the throne, when I heard a tiny voice coming from Ryder's room, "Wellll.... I might have accidentally flushed a bath toy down there." WHAT. THE. HELL?! So now I knew the enormity of the problem. It then became apparent that I would have to physically take the toilet apart, flip it over and flush that damn toy out. Googled until I found a how-to article that didn't seem too scary, annnnddd.... long story short, it DID NOT turn out to be a tub toy, but hundreds of friggin' toothpicks jammed up in the bottom like a friggin' Kerplunk game. And of course, the toothpicks held in place a disgusting putrid sludgy mess of crap and toilet paper and even a few cardboard toilet paper rolls. You can bet your ass Ryderman got a spanking for THAT! Toothpicks, of all things. Now I know why the new container of toothpicks I bought went missing.

Also, during the past week I came to discover, after taking Lena in to the doctor because her voice went froggy, that she has strep throat. And then this morning, Gunnar woke up with an agonizing throat. Yep, the doctor confirmed it, also strep. Just waiting now for it to hit Ardan and Ryder. You know, because that's the way it goes in this household.

Oh, and then, tonight, Lena and I showed up for her 6:30 soccer practice, 6:30 like it said on the schedule I was given, only to see her entire team already on the field playing. And I was then informed that the schedule had been changed, ALL our game times are at 5:30 from now on, and oh wasn't that too bad I hadn't gotten the new schedule? And it was our turn to bring snacks, which we did, a huge container of watermelon for the kiddies, so the poor duffers had to eat it after the game was done. Lena got to play for 5 minutes, and she did score a goal in that time (of course), but the coach (who owns Taco Time) awarded her the Taco Time Player of the Game award (a free taco gift card) for having Most Goals Scored this season so far. So that took the embarrassing sting out of our night, a bit.

*sigh*

New Fave Songs

I first heard this song on our trip to Edmonton for the System concert. Tyler was like, "This song is so annoying!" and I was like, "Yeah, I know, I love it!" LOL



I know this Muse song is old but I just love it! (Also, I couldn't embed the official video as it was 'disabled upon request', arrghh!)



Of course, my girl Adele. I chose this version as her voice is so frickin' amazing live.



Something about this guy, Classified, I just love. He seems so real. A white-boy rapper but he keeps it real, you know? His lyrics just lay it all out there, state what he's about. Plus he did the 'Oh Canada' song that came out around the same time as the Vancouver Olympics, so there was that patriotic thing going on. I really like this song... if only the other big rappers out there had this attitude.



Oh, all right, here ya go... (How awesome are the Canadian Heritage reenactments at the beginning and end? He's so proud to be a Canuck, LOVE IT!)