Finding ourselves suddenly with a free morning, Rowan and I ventured out to our local orchard which features a pumpkin patch in the fall. We already got our pumpkins from the farmers' market this year, but it was fun to go look around. We saw a combine and a tractor working in the fields next to us; all in all it was a really pleasant morning.
One of the few nice ones left...
Presumably he was showing me what the jack-o-lantern would look like.
The pumpkin graveyard- poor things never realized their potential.
For those of you who didn't think my last blog was too long, namely Grandma, here's two (okay three...well maybe four) more pictures from our Canada trip. The rest of you can feel free to let your eyes glaze over, read your scriptures, whatever :)!
On our last day I had to use up our coins because the bank will not exchange coin, only paper currency. With our loonies and toonies ($1 and $2 coins) we hit the "Loonie Plus Store." Yes, there were plenty of loonies shopping there. We invested $1.50 in a pirate eye patch, pirate compass, and pirate telescope. The pirate earring was confiscated and never to be heard from again. Rowan loves dressing up and we proceeded to wander various stores with our mini pirate looking for treasure.
And of course, my glorious poutine. I couldn't refrain from eating it, so there isn't much left. Blame it on pregnancy cravings I guess.
Rowan got to discover his inner biker on Grandpa's bike. He seemed to like it better off than on though- too noisy.
This week Rowan participated in his first soccer class at the local rec center. I didn't really know what to expect considering the sad athletic abilities of his parents, but overall I was happy. He didn't scream, cry, or throw a tantrum like some of the kids did. But he also wasn't into the whole kicking aspect of soccer which doesn't really bode well if this continues to be his sport of choice. Mostly he just carried the ball around. A couple of times he kicked it and even attempted to make a goal, so definite progress was made. At one point he seemed more interested in being the goalie than trying to compete for the ball with the other kids and I can't really blame him. A stampede of 3 year olds is never a pretty sight. But, I was pleasantly surprised since Steven and I haven't taught him much about sports at all. Hopefully this will encourage us to take him over to the church gym over the winter months and teach him what little we do know.
We are back from our trip and I'm still trying to catch up on all the things I slacked on before we left. Namely schoolwork, but I should really get these pictures up while I have a moment. Canada was great and it was so nice for Steven to see a prettier side of my homeland. The oil sands in Fort McMurray are interesting and all, but it certainly isn't a good introductory place if you are trying to convince your husband that this really is a nice place to live. I really wouldn't mind moving back, I just have to get my better half on board. Anyways, we probably won't be able to afford another trip there for a long time, but it was the perfect opportunity with Steve's conference in Banff. His presentation went well and he met a few of the "celebrities" in his field (Wow that's the guy who wrote "Morphological Underpinnings of Korean Syntax!"), including one guy who he's basing some of his research on. Meanwhile, Rowan and I got to gallivant around Calgary and Banff and visit with my dad and his wife.
Without fail, we experienced the curse of being sick while travelling this vacation. Rowan had a fever the first day and threw up during the night, but I was fine. My stepmom caught something as well on the end of our trip. It's just inevitable it seems. So the first day was a bit of a bust, but things improved from thereon.
On our first non-sick day we went shopping at all the Canadian chains I have missed, including IKEA which I guess is more of a Swedish franchise. If only I had more room in my luggage, I would have brought so much more home. By the way, baggage fees are insane. We each had one checked bag and a car seat (can you believe they charged us for a car seat!?!) and ended up paying through the nose for it. It's bad enough they don't even give you a bag of pretzels on a 3.5 hour flight! Anyways, I got my fill of Canadian wear, cosmetics, Shreddies (best cereal in the world), Wunderbars (best chocolate bar in the world), and Kinder Surprises (toys inside chocolate eggs- how can you go wrong?). I just wish I could of brought home a Mountie or two to do my laundry and babysit.
When Steve arrived (we flew out before him), we all went out to Banff to see the sights and orient Steve where he would be commuting to. We stopped for dinner there at the Grizzly House, which advertised "Steak and Cheese Fondue- Buffalo and Elk Served." If there's one thing I can say about this trip is we ate a LOT of exotic meats (exotic for us anyways). Moose (roast and sausage), Calamari, Elk, Venison, Buffalo, Lobster, wild Salmon are only some of the amazing stuff we got to eat. Anyways this restaurant was really cool- they had you cook your cuts of meat with garlic butter over a "hot rock" fired to 650 degrees. Then you got to dip in your choice of several amazing dipping sauces- unbelievable!! The first couple courses were amazing too- vegetables simmered in really hot marinade, bread with cheese sauce- to die for. #1 was mostly just interested in the dessert (fruit and chocolate fondue).
What's dinner without a $4000 buffalo head to take home as a souvenir?
The next day we bummed around Calgary some more while Steve went to his conference. My dad lives near the Olympic ski jump where Calgary hosted in 1988, so it was cool to drive by that everyday. It's so interesting to me to see all the hockey rinks/basketball courts in every neighborhood. Ice rinks really aren't hard to come by there! I met up with my Aunt Denise who I haven't seen in 10+ years, and it was good to see her as well.
Rowan loved Grandpa's house, especially the bear and badger rugs downstairs. He'd purposely step on them just to feel the fur under his feet. I was worried he might break something while we were there because my stepmom has a vast collection of breakable items like Precious Moments and Hummel Bells, but the most damage he did was find a bag of sugar which he then proceeded to feed himself. Most of it ended up on the couch (or as we Canucks call it- a chesterfield), but other than that he was a good boy.
We experienced our first snow of the season while there. It didn't last long, but Rowan sure was thrilled.
See video #12
The next day, Rowan and I hitched a ride with Steven up to Banff so we could play in the mountains. Steve had a shorter day so he was able to join us later on. It's a bit of a tourist trap there (case in point you can buy sculptures made out of moose or bear poop that slowly fertilize your garden as they decompose), but it is beyond beautiful. Steve and I went to have some breakfast at our favorite place- McDonalds and we were in for a classy treat. Would you like a fireplace and stonework with your Egg McMuffin? Rowan insisted on a front row seat.
We walked around a lot and looked at a lot of nice things we can't afford (this didn't include the poo sculptures). Rowan got to buy one toy and he picked a Calgary Flames (hockey team) Zamboni- pretty cool if you ask me.
We went on a little hike before we got picked up Dad. We were grossly underprepared for the weather, so luckily we borrowed some tuques and scarves before we left and layered up big time.
Once we picked Dad up, we went on some hikes, saw some Hoodoos, and just enjoyed being in the Great Outdoors.
Unfortunately we didn't have gloves that fit Rowan, so he improvised.
The Banff Springs hotel- Brad Pitt stays here and probably is the only person who can afford it.
We didn't hit the sites at the same time as the tour buses, which left us to be a little creative as to how we could take a picture with all of us in it.
The Hoodoos
Even at the top of the Canadian Rockies, the tractor obsession cannot be ignored.
Rowan has gotten into maps lately, so he carried this one around letting us know "how we get there." Too bad the Rec Center isn't doing a cartography class.
I think this is probably enough pictures at this point. I really had to hold myself back from taking a picture every time I saw the word "colour" or something in French. I even took a picture of my A&W poutine, but it's nowhere to be found right now. I guess I've become a sentimental tourist, which isn't a far cry from those Japanese tourists who take their pictures next to the Petro-Canada signs (gas station). Anyways, we had a wonderful time and I highly recommend the Canadian Rockies for your vacation of choice!
Things on the baby front are going well. She's measuring big and so am I :(. Body image is a bit of a downer, but we are looking forward to her arrival if we only knew what to call her. Nadia is still a forerunner, but Steve has some misgivings about it because it doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. I suggested Norah the other day, which I still quite like, but he's thinking it's too grandmotherly. It is fun that Norah and Rowan are only one letter apart though.
Things are in a bit of a flurry here while we try to get ready for our trip to Canada. Mr. S is working hard with all the experiments he has going on and I'm trying to finish up as much schoolwork as I can before we leave. #1 is very excited to go, although we have had a few "What is Canada?" moments. I apparently have not educated him very well on the wonders of my infinitely superior homeland (barring a few minor details like government policies and so forth).
The ottomans and some new couch pillows are finally finished after many frustrating moments. I finally understand why people use muslin fabric to create a pattern or prototype before they start hacking into the intended fabric. The fabric I initially was going to use was working out fine and I had finished one ottoman, only to discover I was 2 inches shy of fabric needed to complete the other one due to poor judgement and cuts on my behalf. Long story short, the ottomans are now done with different fabric and so am I. All in all I got acquainted with using a serger and my new sewing machine and I ended up with exactly what I wanted- 2 square ottomans with storage inside and removable solid covers. But next time I will seriously consider just shelling out the money to buy them.
Coming back from the library today, #1 insisted that we pull out the luggage, presumably to start packing. Apparently he had different intentions...
I've decided for Christmas I want a new camera. If I turn off the flash on this one, the picture is inevitably blurry and it's become quite frustrating. I'm discovering the hard way that electronics (laptops, cameras etc) are really just not areas to skimp on.
Anyways, after #1 packed himself he decided he would play for the next 30 minutes. This kid has the best imagination and I am so grateful that I do not have to provide activities for him 24/7. Not to mention it's pretty entertaining. Here's a little video of what ensued during those 30 minutes.
More will be forthcoming after we get back from the land of poutine, glorious candy bars, wide open spaces, and a plethora of other things that I've missed so much. I want to cry just thinking about it- I love you Canada.
For the first time in our marriage, (at least I think) I made a rather large purchase without consulting my significant other. And although he wasn't super thrilled with me, he seems to have come around in the end. One Friday morning I decided to wake up crazy early because there was a garage sale I remembered being particularly good last year. The lady holding it was an interior decorator for model homes and would sell all the furniture she used for bargain prices. Last year she had some beautiful leather couches and I was hoping for something similar as I was a little fed up with our old couch. My mom and I recovered it when we first moved to our townhouse, but failed to take into consideration the fabric's resiliency to stains when we picked it out. I'd spent more time steam cleaning that thing than I care to recount. Anyways this time, the lady had a nice microfiber couch for a pretty good price. And I bought it. It all worked out in the end as I sold our old couch for a really decent price (some frat guys bought it- I doubt they care about stain resistant fabric) and our new one was delivered (for free!) all in one day.
The first week we had the new couch I was replacing the license plates on one of our cars and Rowan decided he wanted to keep the old plates. When we returned to the house, Rowan promptly placed the license plates on our couch and to my horror stained the couch with a ton of black grease, oil, dirt- you name it. I scrubbed it twice and it was gone. I love you microfiber.
Rowan and his buddy taking a break watching Thomas
Here's a couple more pictures from this week of Rowan and his friends. He has a better social life than I do sometimes.
I don't really care for blogs that have incessant whining in them. And yet, here I go. After several fruitless shopping trips for new ottomans, Mr. S and I decided to repurpose our current ones. The old ones had fabric that showed every little stain, the corners were coming through the fabric because the foam had receded, #1 has impaled himself on every hard edge, and they have no storage in them. I went to every store imaginable and either the ottomans were the wrong size or had no storage and all of them were crazy expensive. So I took a large foam mattress pad I bought at a garage sale and cut it to fit our old ottomans to give them extra padding. This went well except my beloved staple gun decided to die a slow death. You can get 2 staples in and then you have to wait 20 minutes until you can do it again. Mr. S made some hidden doors for the bottom of the ottomans so now we can use the hollow interior for storage- which actually turned out surprisingly well. Next I went fabric shopping. I don't know what it is about this town, but I can never find the kind of fabric I'm looking for. The stuff I did find is $40 a yard!?!! Bleh. I managed to score some fabric at a garage sale, but it's not really what I wanted. The only upside is it was practically free- I guess beggars can't be choosers. Today I proceeded to try and finish the project by fitting the fabric, but my serger's threads went wacky and I can't figure out how to rethread them. After deciding to forego the serging, I went to the sewing machine and that also went crazy. I came to the conclusion that I should just take a break only to discover Rowan with some pliers proceeding to rip up the new foam I had just put on. I really should have just bought new ones at this point. Maybe if I go wave a white flag and cry, they'll just reupholster themselves.
Baby girl is still just baby girl and we are at a loss as to what to name her. When Rowan was in-utero we would constantly talk to him, about him, and he certainly got a lot more attention than this little one. I think part of the reason for that is because he had a name and this one is still generic "baby". I think it would help a lot for Rowan to have a name to ascribe to this unseen sibling. We recently took out quite a few baby name books from the library last week with the determination that we were going to solve this problem. If the process of elimination can be equated with success, then we definitely are making progress. No little Fidelma (Fidel as a nickname?!) or Gormlaith here.
Rowan isn't a big help either. Every suggestion we make is met with a resolute "NO I don't like that name." Today we were at the table pouring over books and Rowan kept saying "No, No, No." I turned to him in frustration and said "Well should we call her No then?" He shook his head- smart kid. His only suggestions have been Judson and Gwen, both friends of his and yes, one of them is a boy. I guess we just have to find a girl friend for him whose name we like and whose parents we don't mind antagonizing.
Part of our problem is we want something that is a little unusual, but not strange. If it's in the top 50 of popular baby names, it's out. Also, Steve is finding out that I know a lot of girls with names that he likes, and I can't stand the idea of naming my baby after them. I guess that says something about me. This is probably a bad idea, but here are some of the names we are currently considering. Feel free to name your favorite, but don't be offended if we don't follow your advice.
Nadia (our top runner and even Rowan has given his stamp of approval. Only problem here is her nickname would sound like "naughty"- if you can think of a good nickname for this one, let us know!) Eden (this is bordering on unusual and almost strange for us- also have problems with the nickname Edee) Constance (hate the nickname Connie- sorry to all you Connies out there) Ilona (Steve thinks this is too exotic sounding, but I really like it. It does remind me of someone Donald Trump would marry though) Julia (probably too popular but I still like it)
