This Past Weekend

What news would you like first? Would you like to hear about the great weekend we had in Toronto with wonderful weather and the zoo and Nanny and Thanksgiving turkey and Grampa in Barrie and jumping in leaves in the backyard?

Or would you like to hear about the frantic scrambling we had to do to find babysitting for our kids when we got back Tuesday night?

Ok, trip to TO first. The kids all travelled well in the car on the way down on Thursday night. They slept most of the way, which was nice. They even went to bed well when we got there. Amazing. Naps all weekend were sparse, but I really appreciated the fact that all 3 kids slept every night all the way through. Phew! And hooray!

Friday we went to the zoo, and patted stingrays and dug for dinosaur bones and saw hippos and elephunks and tigers and lions and zebras. And snakes. They were Anya's favourite, apparently. I liked the stingrays. They would swim right up to your hand to be petted. And some of them seemed to have a sense of humour -- they would splash people on purpose!

Everybody had a great time, and the weather was fantastic. It was sunny, and not too hot, so all the animals were out and about and nice and close for everyone to see. We saw the kiddie zoo, the stingrays, and walked around the African section with the stroller laden down, and that was us done for the day. We left at 3pm, but unfortunately it was Friday afternoon on a long weekend so it was two more hours before we got back to Sheena's. Luckily the kids slept the whole way.

The rest of the weekend was spent visiting with DH's mom and brother and family. We didn't stack the days too full, and it was great because the kids had time to play, and we didn't rush rush rush all over the place. At least, not too much. I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to visit with more friends, but it's so easy to burn out when we go visiting. Perhaps next time we can work something out that's not too stressful, and see more people.

Saturday we went out shopping for turkey dinner stuff and stuffing, and visited with DH's family.

Sunday DH spent most of the day cooking and prepping dinner, which was just AWESOME. Turkey with gravy and two kinds of stuffing and mashed potatoes and broccoli and cauliflower and cranberry sauce. Yum.

Monday we left for Barrie, and spent time with Grandpa John. He cooked us a great chicken and roast pork dinner. We spent the afternoon raking leaves and letting the kids jump in the pile. Dhara was a little suspicious of the whole process, but Anya and Elora were very excited to help the pile grow handful by handful. We even got a very nice family picture in the pile, as you will see shortly. (Or not. I'm tired.)

Tuesday afternoon we drove home, and had a great dinner of hot dogs and strawberries. Not too bad, considering.

Then, the bad news. Our babysitter's son was sick with a contagious fungal infection, and we needed to find new childcare. Fast. Yikes. First we panicked, then we started calling around. All I wanted to do was relax on the couch after our busy weekend, but it was not to be. Sigh. Ready, set SCRAMBLE!!

We finally found a home daycare down the street (that was answering their phone at 8pm!) and had two spots, so we signed Dhara and Elora up there. Then one of my Guiding friends agreed to babysit Anya Thursday and Tuesday (the days she was off school.) So that only left Wed, Fri, and Monday afternoon from 3pm on. My contract at work is up next Friday, so I ended up just giving a week's notice, and Tuesday is now my last day. DH is going to come home from work early on the three days to pick up Anya, so we're mostly covered. Phew.

And a fun side note: With three kids in daycare, I am losing $10 a day. How's that for not at all worth it? Chantelle, I miss you! :)

I feel a little frazzled. My mind keeps running around in circles, trying to account for plans and details, and the happenings of the day. I need a long hot soak in a nice bath. Sadly, I hate our tiny bathtub, so maybe I'll just go to bed instead.

Pictures tomorrow.