Vacation Week

We’ve had a fun last couple of weeks. Michael has had this week off of work for vacation, and it just so happened that he had a work conference in Toronto the Saturday before his vacation week, so we decided to all go along and do a little Canadian exploration. While Michael had his meetings on Saturday, we went to the Toronto market, which is very large and would have been quite fun except for the fact that it was just a little too crowded for me with the double stroller and all the boys. Isaac grabbed a yellow tomato off a table and put it up to his mouth before I could reach him, so luckily the girl at the vegetable stand made an exception for me and took my US money to buy the basket of tomatoes, because I didn’t have any Canadian cash at the time. We walked all around Toronto and ended up at a playground right in among the tall buildings before joining Michael for lunch. After that we decided to stay at the hotel for the afternoon while Michael went back for the last of his meetings, since all the things I’d planned to do that day were outdoors and it was getting quite rainy. I thought we’d relax, take naps, and the boys would be excited to watch a movie or something (since they don’t ever watch tv and they don’t watch movies very often). I told Michael afterwards to remind me the next time that staying in a hotel room alone with 5 young, worn out kids (who can’t take naps because it’s just too noisy with that many people all in one room) just isn’t relaxing. But after Michael got done with his meetings we went back into downtown Toronto, parked the car, and started walking. I was on a mission to find some good food for dinner – something out of the ordinary. We almost stopped at a pizza place and then at a place that seemed kind of like Denny’s (just because we’d been walking a while and the kids were starting to get hungry and grumpy), but then we found a little Mediterranean place that was fantastic. Just the kind of thing I was looking for. The boys had falafels and we had some kabobs and then finished it off with baklava for dessert. It was all very good and worth the walk to find the place.

The next day we went to church in an area in north Toronto near our hotel, and it was a really cool experience. Toronto seemed very multicultural (which I loved), and the ward we attended Sunday had three sets of missionaries, some of whom were doing translations during the service, and someone told us there were 63 different nationalities in that one small ward. It was cool, and everyone was friendly. I told Michael I almost wanted to move there to be in that ward (except for the fact that our kids doubled the primary and they had to call in teachers for Isaac because he was the only kid his age – and you’d have to live in Canada, which I can imagine is even colder than here in the winter). After lunch we took a ferry to Toronto Island (Kolby told me that we were taking the ‘tooth ferry’). The islands have nice parks and beaches. I quite like the Great Lakes, because with the sandy or rocky beaches and the fact that you can’t see the opposite shore, you almost get an ocean feeling – just no salty air or big waves. After spending some time walking around the island, we drove to see the Toronto temple, but unfortunately the gates were locked so we could only look at it from outside the fence.

On Monday we drove to a place an hour or so away from Toronto that was recommended to us by a couple different people – the African Lion Safari. It was this place out in the middle of nowhere and on one side of the park it was kind of like a normal zoo – animal shows, some animals on display, a petting zoo, a little train and boat ride, and a playground. The animal shows were fun, I especially liked the ‘birds of prey’ show. It reminded me of my brother, Matthew, who is on a mission for our church right now. Matthew has learned all about falconry and he wants to get a falcon (actually, I don’t know which kind he has in mind, if it’s a falcon or hawk or something else), and since Michael has always loved those kinds of birds (bald eagles are his favorite animals) I’ve thought it would be such a cool thing for him to learn all about it and do it with Matthew. Anyways, it was fun to watch the animal shows. Oh, and we also got to see the elephants take a bath in the lake, which was kind of fun. But the other side of the park is the really cool thing. You can drive your car through the animal reserve and be right in there with all the animals – lions, rhinos, giraffes, ostriches, antelope, etc. The first time we went through we took the bus because we’d heard the animals could damage your car, but we were a little disappointed that some of the animals didn’t come right up to the bus (and we saw some getting onto some of the cars as we drove by). So later we went back through with our car and went to the baboon area. At first the baboons didn’t seem to care that we were there, but we drove around the loop again and when we came back three of them came right over and climbed up our windshield onto the top of the van. They sat up there a while, and sometimes would jump from the top of our van onto other nearby cars. That was probably the coolest part of that day, and the monkeys didn’t even break off our windshield wipers. That evening we drove towards Niagara Falls, looking for a hotel along the way. After trying at one expensive place we found an inn for a good price. It’s always funny, I’m sure, for hotel employees to see us unload our car – carrying in child after child. As long as we can find a room with two queen beds, we can put the baby in a playpen and line our other boys up (sideways) all in a row on one queen bed. (I wonder how much longer that will work?) :) We’re always a little nervous that the hotel workers will not let us have all our kids in one hotel room, but if they ask how many kids we have we’ve always told them, and at least so far no one has ever given us any trouble about it. Oh, and it’s a good thing that we wore out all the boys so well on that trip, because Michael accidentally left the playpen at the first hotel in Toronto (and we couldn’t go back for it by the time we realized it was missing), but luckily Courtland was so tired that he fell right to sleep in our bed with us and slept fine all night long (and luckily it was the extra playpen, so we still have one to use at home).

Then Tuesday was the last day of our trip and we went to Niagara Falls. We found a deal and got tickets so we could see several of the attractions there. (Luckily, kids 5 and under were free, and the lady was nice and counted Kolby for free too, even though he’s six). So we saw this ‘4D’ movie of how Niagara Falls was formed – and for the movie everyone wore the plastic raincoats and went into this room where the floor moved and there was mist and water splashing while the movie played in a large circular screen that went all the way around us. It was kind of a cool idea, but Isaac and Camden were pretty nervous about it. Then we went down to these tunnels that go to the back side of the falls and then come out on an overlook beside the falls, which was pretty cool – the water was coming down so strong and there was such a mist there that I couldn’t look straight at the falls from the overlook. Then we went to another place to walk down a trail beside the river (although it was a nice, short walk and the river was pretty, it wasn’t especially exciting or anything – although I did read that it was the only place in the world where people were allowed to stand that close to class 6 rapids, so that’s kind of cool). Then we went on the ‘Maid of the Mist’ boat that goes right up to the front of the falls – which was the coolest part. All the boys got their little plastic rain coats again, and it was fun. And wet. Courtland was the cutest – he just toddled all over the deck and was so excited to play in the puddles that had collected on the boat (he probably would have been just as happy in the bathtub). But it was fun.

Then we drove home, and we were surprised that they didn’t even ask for the kids’ birth certificates when we went over the border – it was harder to get into Canada than to come back into the US. We went and picked up Brax from the kennel, and he was very excited to see us – took quite a while to get him calmed down that evening. But we were glad that we found a kennel that was affordable. We didn’t want to leave Brax home and ask someone to come feed him just because he was brand new and we didn’t know how he would do, and didn’t want to chance him running away or anything, so I started looking for a place to take him while we were out of town and all the places I found were just silly – they said they played dog-friendly tv shows and classical music and all sorts of things, and they were all very expensive. Then I found this place that is about 45 minutes from here out in the middle of farmland, and it’s nothing fancy but they feed the dogs and they have enough room to run around, and you can’t beet $10 a night – I figure that’s about what you’d have to pay if you hired a teenager to come feed and walk your dog while you were out of town. So, anyways, we were glad to find a place that would take the dog for less than the price that we paid for the dog itself.

And we’ve been enjoying Brax this week – he’s doing well with the house training and he does very well with the sit command, which he already knew when we got him. I’ve also been working on teaching him to lie down and to stay as I walk away and then come when I call him, which still needs some work, but he’s doing well with that. And he was pulling a lot on his leash, especially when we went for walks – so much that I couldn’t push a stroller and walk him at the same time, I had to have one of the boys push Courtland in the little stroller. So I took the suggestions from a couple people to get a ‘choke collar’ – the metal kind with prongs that lay flat when the dog isn’t pulling, but are uncomfortable when the dog pulls, which seemed to work very well to discourage him from pulling as we walked. But then I heard about a collar called a ‘halti,’ that goes over the dog’s nose and so if the dog pulls when you are walking it automatically turns their head to the side to discourage the pulling. (Apparently dogs show that they are dominant by putting their mouth over another dog’s nose area, so the idea is that it discourages pulling while also reinforcing the idea that you are in charge). I tried that, and I think I’ll return the choke collar to the store, because this one has not only greatly improved the pulling while on walks, but he also stays next to me much better, rather than trying to walk ahead of me the whole walk. He also seems calmer when he is wearing it, although he doesn’t care for it when we are not on our walks. But I think that I can now take the dog on a walk while pushing the stroller, which is necessary for me. This is pretty fun – having Brax has not only been fun for the boys, but I enjoy the motivation to take at least one walk each day (yesterday he and I went on a run, and I don’t know the last time I went running). And Michael is so excited – he’s never had a dog before, and every evening after the boys go to bed he sits down and Brax comes over and rolls on his back for a good tummy rub, and Michael just loves it.

Since we’ve been home we’ve kept busy. We decided to try to get our raised bed garden built, and that’s taken up much of our time. We built the frames for the raised bed, and a little fence (an attempt to keep the squirrels and deer out), and we started to get up the chicken wire on the fence yesterday before it just got too cold and windy, so we still have that to do, and we’re going to fill it with the dirt tomorrow too, so it’ll be all ready to start planting soon. My plan is to do strawberries down one side and vegetables on the other. So now I’m really crossing my fingers that everything grows really well, since we’ve spent so much time on this already. It should be fun, though.

And for Mother’s Day Michael got me four pretty clematis plants – there are a couple already in our yard that I absolutely love, so I wanted to try to plant some more and have the flowers all over the yard. I got one of them planted yesterday while Michael went to the temple and the boys napped, but today it has been extremely windy and cold, even with some snow flurries this morning, and it looks a little droopy today, so I’m really hoping that it won’t die. I’ll wait a couple days until it warms up again before planting the other three. Oh, and speaking of Mother’s Day, I also got to go to a Mother’s Day Tea (where they served pink lemonade and lots of little desserts) at Eli’s preschool on Thursday. We got dressed up and it was all decorated and we were presented with all sorts of works of art that the kids must have been preparing for weeks, and the kids all served us food – it was really fun. Eli made me a bead bracelet that he’s just so proud of whenever I wear it. So cute! Then this morning Michael brought me an omelet in bed and the boys gave me pictures they drew, and Kolby also had several little art projects and a book he had made at kindergarten for me. So sweet. And Michael has been making tacos for dinner for me while I’ve been writing this. So it’s been a nice day.

Oh, and I’m so excited. My dad called me while we were in Canada and told me of his plan to surprise my mom with a trip out here to visit us for their anniversary (since he had a free plane ticket). So we made letters from all the boys telling Nana that they would each do something like play her a piano song and take her to a waterfall, and then sent some pictures of each of the boys that Dad asked me to print for some frames he’d gotten for her. I talked to mom yesterday, and she said she’s planning on coming this summer and she’s going to try to figure out some way for Dad and Aaron to come too, which would be great. I’m really excited, not only to see my parents and my brother and spend time with them, but I also can’t wait to show them our house and all the fun things we’ve discovered here in New York. So I’m excited for that.

Well, I hope you are all having a great Mother’s Day. I’d better finish up with this so I can go make some Mother’s Day and birthday phone calls. Happy Mother’s Day to our moms and grandmas today, and happy birthday to Michelle yesterday and to my dad today!