Lets catch up shall we?

Ok while I may not be the worlds worst blogger I certainly cannot qualify as worlds best. Once again I have fallen far behind and I am struggling to catch up.

I think we last left off in June or July somewhere.

We took a couple of day trips with my Dad in July. The first day we went to the ROM. The kids wanted to see dinosaurs (again) and I wanted to see the dead sea scrolls. We got lots of dino pictures but they won't let you take ones of the scrolls. They are under special lighting and sealed in special containers because if someone so much as breathes on them they can be destroyed. It was facinating to see them. I recognized only one of the stories however. Most others that were on display were records of wars and fighting but there was the story of Potifars wife and Joseph. Just to be in the room with so much history was amazing. They have lots of artifacts leading up to the display to keep you busy and slow the crowd down. I found it a little funny when I was explaining an olive oil press to the kids and other adults started crowding around because they didn't know what it was! LOL All those years of Church must have rubbed off somewhere! LOL
The dinosaur exhibits are in the new wing of the ROM. I must say I am not sure I like the new architecture. It's designed to look like a crystal is gwoing out of the building. I understand the need to growth and innovation and I applaud that they tried something different....it's just not for me I guess! The kids got to hold a genuine piece of dinosaur bone. It was part of a jaw of a diplodocus. Pretty cool!
We went to the Egypt and Greece for a little while but greece ended up being too much for my little ones. All the naked statues shocked my poor kidlets into retreat! LOL Ethan had his eyes covered and Jenna just stood there slack-jawed. They couldn't believe people would sculpt other people naked!
We also took time to check out the america's and of course the bat cave. There was a great asian exhibit there and Ethan in particular loved the precious stones and minerals exhibit! He's all into stones and there special powers. He kept sucking the power out of them as we walked by. Silly boy!

Then we went to the African Lion Safari. First time I have taken the van there on the trail. It was a lot of fun. It was a little cooler so the animals were more active. We avoided the monkeys though....I wanted to van to come out in one piece! The kids had fun playing with the camera and making faces at the animals. The ostriches are always quite a laugh. They're always ticked about something and not afraid to let you know it.
The shows are always good. The birds of prey always freak me out when they come from behind the stage area. Thankfully I am just a wee bit bigger than a mouse or prairie dog so my chances of getting picked up are slim...Jenna however.........LOL

We took a mini vacay this summer and that was to Darien Lake with the Korvers. The tradition continues! This was our first border crossing experience camping. It was a little annoying that you couldn't really bring much of anything across the border food wise. We ended up having to buy it all there. The park itself is great. A little hard to find your way around in if you are new but still a great clean park. Virtually no line ups at all while we were there. The waterpark is super cool too. Poor Jenna though....most of the "big kid" rides require a height of 48 inches to ride. Miss Jenna came in at a mere 47. She was devestated. She prayed every night in the tent to grow that one inch so she could ride the next day. Ethan surprised us the most though. He is notoriously afraid of everything but once we got him on the Viper rollercoaster he found his inner thrillseeker. He rode that thing 4 times!!!! We got him the hat and t-shirt as a souvenir and prize for being so brave.
We tent camped in Dariens campground. Totally worth the price....we basically camped for nothing when you factor in 3 days worth of admissions to the park. On the 2nd day though we encountered a good deal of rain. While we were waiting to go down this one waterslide we noticed that some of the clouds didn't look quite right. I said to Shawn "I'm no expert...but does that look like rotation to you?". We blew it off and never thought anything more about it. Turns out about a half hour later an F1 tornado came blasting through about 2 miles up the road from where we were. We got to witness the damage the next day when we went home. We all thanked Heavenly Father for keeping us safe and sound. It was a little freaky when we saw how close we were!
Then Shawn and I went to a fab 80's party held by a dear friend Rosa Rattray. We all had to dress up and it was so much fun seeing what other people came up with. The party was a blast! I'm telling you...sometimes I miss the 80's!
For civic holiday we went to the annual church picnic for our old ward and then had friends over for a BBQ and swim. It was a fun day. The kids had a blast and we got to see Brandy and Aaron again which is always nice. We miss them terribly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For themost part August was slow. We took a day trip to London to visit my old friend Summer for her birthday. It was nice to see her and her family again and FINALLY see her house which we've been meaning to do forever! It's a cute cottagey type house. I can see a lot of potential in it. We spent most of August hanging beside the pool and taking the kids to various birthday parties. It was nice to have a little down time.
And now we are into September. School started later than normal because labour day was later. I've gone back to work again. I don't know how I feel about that. I love my boss....but I wish I was doing something else. Maybe I'm just in a funk but I dread the thought of going in there right now. The bigger part of me is telling me to suck it up...it's only 4 days a week....but there is that little part of me that keeps thinking there has to be something better! Maybe one day I will find it.
In the meantime we return to home reno land. I will have a new post on that in the next month or so. You can see what our newest adventure is. For those who still read...I'm impressed. Thanks for sticking with me!