The End of our Canadian Adventure

The Last Day in Canada

Canada: Day Four

Canada: In thirds

Day Three of our trip entailed a morning trip to the Toronto Zoo.  Mistake number one on this day was that we had told Bailey we were also going to the Science Museum.  Because of this, we basically heard our entire visit to the zoo, "But I want to go to the Science Museum now."  Yes, we learned a very valuable lesson.  And if you're ever in Toronto we do highly recommend the Science Centre.  We could've spent an entire day there.  If only we had...

The second installment of our trip, eh?

Day two of our trip involved driving up into Toronto earlier than anticipated.  Originally, we were going to ride the Maid of the Mist and see more of the falls, but Bailey had a rough cough, so we decided to hold off until possibly the end of our trip.  Mommy managed to talk Daddy into stopping at a Canadian shopping mall on our way in order to take advantage of the Gymboree sale that was only going on while we were in Canada.  For future reference, Gymboree is much more expensive in Canada and Canadian Gymbucks are useless.  Once we finally arrived in Toronto, we found our hotel and then went in search of the Royal Ontario Museum, known locally as the ROM.  It was hard to miss.  Bailey's favorite detail about the museum was that it housed dinosaur bones, in fact, rooms and rooms of dinosaur bones. She had told us on the way there that she'd dig for dinosaur bones like she's done in the past, and we shouldn't have ever doubted her because such an exhibit existed.  She knows more than her parents, which is always a shocking and humbling experience for us. 

Falling for Niagara

I guess it's time to finally share some pictures from our Niagara Falls/Toronto, Canada trip we took in late August.  The following photos will be from Day 1 of our trip.  We flew out from Kansas City, a connecting flight in Detroit and then flew into Buffalo, New York.  From Buffalo we drove up to Niagara Falls (because it's only a few minutes away).  Our first day included being patient on flights, missing a turn but witnessing beautiful scenery instead, crossing into Canadian territory, hunting down some ghosts, and seeing incredibly large waterfalls.  It was indeed an excellent way to begin the trip.

Reunited and it feels so good...

I've been a *bit* behind on things (BIG surprise) and so I decided maybe it's due time to share photos from the 2008 family reunion held the weekend in August.  In my defense, I did spend hours on a slide show I made of all the photos back in early August, but neither our actual Family site, nor Bailey's blog site would allow it to be viewed.  It was a wasted effort on my part and it kind of killed my motivation.  And the only reason I did so is because on the family site it takes FOREVER to upload photos and there is a limit on how much I can upload per month.  (Not like Bailey's website at all, except sadly, I haven't updated her site in ages.)

 

So, excuses aside, here is a massive collection of photos from the family reunion.  Please keep in mind most of these photos are unedited, so they haven't reached their fullest potential by any means.  I also realize that many of you have no idea who these people are, and that's okay.  You don't have to look.

We weren't expecting her to catch us...

We knew better.  I mean, we've been parents for four years now.  We know what we can and cannot get away with at this point, and what she's going to figure out.  She's a bright kid.  So when we snuck into the office last night alone together, we should've made better arrangements.  Because it is always likely that she'll walk in and catch us.  It hadn't happened yet, but well, there's always a first.

 

I have certain needs and hobbies and interests.  They're no secret really.  Rob has his own interests.  Also not really a secret.  We share these common interests and hobbies, mostly, and then in comes Bailey, catching us at the most inopportune time.  And you KNOW she had questions.

 

Because right there on my computer screen as I'm enjoying a laugh of guilty pleasure, is a picture in an e-mail from Grandpa.

 

 

 

 

Bailey instantly wanted to know what that sign meant and what it said.  I was too busy stuttering "uh, um...uh..." as though I was in the middle of an interview with Katie Couric or Charlie Gibson, and fortunately, Bailey did what any logical interviewer in this day and age would do.  She answered for me.

 

It says, "hey, she's gots to go away."

 

That's right, Bailey.  That's right.  And you better believe I gave that child a high five.

 

 

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How not to clean a cat

There are many ways I could have entitled this entry from this past week.

 

Aerial's Worst Day

Cat Scratch Fever

A Wet Pussy

Spray & Wash

 

But instead of writing any of those titles, I'm going to teach you how to NOT clean a cat.

 

If you're a child, say around the age of four, and you figure your mother is thinking you're just playing in your toy kitchen setup, so she's going to let you giggle about like a schoolgirl by yourself while she envisions you sipping tea with your feline friend, maybe it's not such a good idea to saturate the cat in any kind of substance, especially since that cat will soon later go find your mother and try to lay on her lap.  This is bad because your mother will quickly discover the cat saturated in Lysol Kitchen Cleaner.  And while she wonders out loud what happened, you instantly reply with an "oops, sorry," giving away your part in the crime.

 

Drenching a cat in Lysol Kitchen spray is not how one would typically clean a cat.  And if you do any of these above things mentioned in this scenario, do not be surprised if your mother asks you to go to your room.  But you will be surprised she asks you calmly to go to such a place, because she's not as irrational in this scenario as perhaps even she thought she'd be. 

The mother then has to take the cat into the bathroom with a bottle of cat shampoo in tow.  The cat will instantly growl and cry in the bathroom, her sounds echoing and bouncing throughout the room.  The cat will boycott this idea and protest the evil waters by leaving vicious marks on your mother's arms.  This is impressive since the cat doesn't havefront claws, but the back claws leave the impressions of a suicide attempt gone wrong.  Luckily, it was side to side and not up and down.  After numerous failed attempts and lots of loud cries from both the feline and the mother and a few exits on the mother's behalf to clean her wounds, the mother manages to hold the cat into the tub long enough to smother her in shampoo and bath water, hoping to rid the cat of any kind of Lysol residue.  The cat will by no means be appreciative.

 

After all is said and done, and the blood is no longer gushing from the mother's skin, Mother and Child have a nice discussion with no yelling involved, surprisingly.  But the conversation does involve how to not clean a cat, how cats should not lick Lysol, and how Lysol should only be used by adults and just because your mother's done a lot of cleaning in the kitchen lately, doesn't mean the child needs to.  Especially involving a cat, because a cat is not a Kitchen.  As stated clearly on the Lysol label.

 

And although you may say you didn't mean to, that's not entirely true.  However, apologies certainly help in these sort of situations, especially when given to the feline cat.

 

 

 

Playing with Food

Bailey and I had the television on this afternoon (as in Friday) and there was this commercial, a Yellow M establishment commercial to be exact.  And these children had a straw stuck through a chicken nugget and making it fly across and it ended up dipping into sauce.  At some point during this Golden arches exploitation, Bailey stated in distinct opposition, "they're not supposed to play with their food." 

 

She's absolutely right.