Summer's Almost Done

The days are numbered for the kiddies. Graham and Elysia head back to school on the third. They are tired of each other day in and day out, it will do them good to see other people all day. Elysia may have some problems getting up early as she's had lots of sleeping in this summer. I think we willhead up to the city one evening this week to do our clothes shopping for school. Graham definitely needs new sneakers, he is merciless on them, we do get our money's worth out of them. Elysia is at that age where her feet don't grow anymore so her shoes last much longer...but she's a girl and of course, one pair is never enough.

This week at work was interesting to say the least. Earl was let go...I've sat wtih him since I started and will really miss him. Was told he was laid off because of economic conditions, I don't really believe that...I think they made a big mistake because he did so many things there and I don't know who is going to do it all...should be interesting to see...all this happened Friday morning right before the big Come to Jesus meeting and lunch. We were having one of our "town hall" meetings, which honestly have become a bit of a joke...everytime they have one, someone has been let go, even goked about it with Earl when the notice came out. Too predictable! Then at the meeting I bring up the fact that the owner/manger likes to kill the mesenger...had not planned on it bu the did it in the middle of the meeting. Needless to say it went over like a lead fart! Who knows, maybe I'll be let go because of 'market conditions'...yeah, like I would cry over that.

Mike's work has certainly been picking up as they prepare for the students coming back. He's hoping to get weekends off this year...this is why we made the move...more time at home and better time at home.

The garden out front is looking pretty good. Lots of sunflowers, some short ones, some red ones and a few really tall ones. A few are over 8 ft high and Mike thinks they are ugly...guess I'll have to plant more next year...haha!

Spent most of yesterday up at Josee's. Elysia spent the night with Sarah and they babysat Sarah's cousins, Keighan and Rylan...they are funny kids. Rylan puts on quite the show. They looooove mom's dog, Sofie. Think they need a puppy...have to mention to David (Jeff''s brother).

Hey, if I post early tomorrow, you'll know that the economic conditions were not in my favor (or maybe they were).

Soccer is done!

Soccer is done in the McKinnon household for the summer. Elysia's team did not make the playoffs and Graham's team had their parent game (I may have let in a goal or two before I left). Elysia moves up to the U16 level this winter, I may coach. Sarah said she would play if I could coach her, Sarah and Elysia have one year where they play the same level so it would be kind of neat to have them on the same team. Graham still has a few baseball games done...

...then it's back to school...according to my daughter it's only 15 more days. We did the school supply shopping last night...cha,ching. It sure adds up quickly. It's funny though how easy they throw the stuff in the cart when it's on mommy's dollar.

Slightly hooked on watching the Olympics. Mike and I watched Michael Phelps win the other night by .01 of a second...how do you even measure that? It was pretty exciting to see. I was also excited to see Ian Miller win a team silver...60 years old, that's amazing. Watched some of the trampoline...I would puke doing that, ten jumps with all the twists and turns in a row. Anyway, it's excited and the coverage has been good.

Took Sarah to her last soccer game last night, they lost their playoff game, the team they played was good, I heard one of the parents saying they had won all their games this year, minus the first one, they have won all the tournaments they had entered...it showed.

Connor's is winding down, he has two more league games and then they will have playdowns...should be interesting to see.

Mike is getting busier at work...the sports teams are starting to arrive back and then the frosh and then the rest of the students. I think he was getting used to the reasonable peace and quiet of the summer.

It was pouring rain when I left work today, only drove 40 with the wipers on high...it was raining "to beat the band" as my mother would say...

I vow to be a better blogger again!

My Garden

I wanted to post some pictures from our garden. We planted some sunflowers, some have red in them and they look like sunset...we also planted some that will be 10-14 ft tall but they haven't flowered yet. I also got some African sunset climbing Black eyes Susans that climb up the posts out front and look great.

I haven't posted in a while, it's been busy. Tracey, Kaylie and Hannah were visiting so between their visit and the kids' activities, there was alot on the go. Tracey managed to make one soccer game for each of her neices and nephews. It was sad to see them go, we may have shed a tear or two but it was great to see them. Elysia and Graham were both quite upset, Graham wanted to know why we couldn't just all live in the same province...things are so simple to a nine year old.

Friday night Janet, Steve, Owen and Parker were in the valley. Janet and Owen came to Elysia's soccer game (we got a little wet) and then they spent the night. Janet and I went to Joe's in Wolfville to relive some of our Acadia days...some scot skins, which were delish and then a walk and drive around town...we saw the old "pink" house (which is now blue) where our husbands once lived together...actually they lived more at our house but had you seen the pink house you would have stayed at our place too...it was a landfill in the making.

The weekend was busy, both kids were playing in the New Minas soccer tournament. Elysia played one Friday night (yeah, it rained) and two on Saturday (it poured during the second game...1 win and two losses and two wet parents and two soaked kids. Graham played three games today, they lost all three but they sure have come a long way. Their passing and their thinking about what to do with the ball has greatly improved. Their coach, David (Connor's dad) told them if they played hard, he would go down the soap/water slide that was set up there and he did. The kids got quite the kick of it. Needless to say we are soccered out. Graham only has his closing night and Elysia has one practice and one game left. Graham still has some baseball to keep us busy though.

Perfect picture

I love this picture!! The kids have pure happiness on their faces...isn't that what being a kid is all about. They had run to the water to test it out and apparently it was a little cool.

Sat night in the valley

This is a picture of all of us in a place called Cathedral Grove in BC...where they have the biggest trees...note the new family picture from the same site.



We had a great Sat night in the valley. We all went to Grandma's house for a get together. Grandma had rented a bounce kingdom, which apparently she got in when it was just her and Tracey there, Tracey laughed so hard at the look of terror on mom's face that she almost peed her pants. The kids all had alot of fun in the bounce kingdom and their little legs should be tired. Poor Elysia ended up with a migraine yesterday, she gets the whole aura of a blind spot before hand...after the second ibuprofen she was feeling better though.





Tracey's friend, Jackie explained to Graham, Mitchell and his friend Dylan how to play Nicky, Nicky Nine door...so they waited until Mitchell's grandfather had gone home and played it on him....they laughed the whole way back to the house.





We had some good laughs, some good food and some good drinks--Beerguerita's, which are a jug (yes, cause only a jug will do) of marguerita and then you put a Corona upside down in it...cause apparently the Tequilla in the Marguerita is not enough alcohol...





Hope it doesn't rain too much today cause I have laundry to get done up to the ying yang and of course, my not so generous company that I work for does not take tomorrow off! AGH! And to think the owner once said that he wants the company to be one where people are proud to work there...yeah, not so much!

Long Beach

While we were in BC, we rented a house on the west coast of the island not too far from Tofino. We spent two days on a beautiful beach called Long Beach, which is aptly named. The first day it was quite windy (actually we kind of got sandblasted), so we spent most of the day in the shelter of the logs, just relaxing in the sun...did however, learn that the lens on a camera does not like beach sand (always wanted a new one anyway...haha). The second day wasn't so windy so we moved onto the beach and played soccer and the kids swam in the water and played in the waves. Just the two most beautiful days and now I have put my toes in both the Pacific and the Atlantic (and both were just a little too cold for me).

Bad Wife

Yesterday (Aug 1) was my husband's birthday and I didn't blog about it...what a bad wife!

Mike turned 39 yesterday, he's still a young puppy. We had a little BBQ and cake for him last night. Tracey and the kids are down so they came over, me mudder came over, Josee, Jeff and the kids...they were all excited for uncle Mike's birthday. These are some pictures we took in BC...the totem pole was on the way back from Victoria and the beach is Long Beach, close to Ucelet where we rented a house for three nights...