Seatbelts and Valium

I was wrong and he was right.

He passed the written portion of his drivers test and

today he drove himself to school with me in the passenger seat, clenching my buttocks, trying not to scream out loud.

He would hate that.

So for the next while its Valium and Martinis for breakfast.

Just so I don't scream out loud.

16 and driving.

Why do I think he's still 10?

Buckle up mom - it's going to be a long ride.

Stuff About Nothing and No More Word Verification

They said they didn't want to do this again this year - that they are getting too old.
I made this thing when Son #1 was two and Son #2 was on the way.
It took me hours to make those characters - by the time I got to the cow and camels I knew proportion was not an option.

Let's just call this 'folk art'

I knew this was coming - last year the Wise Men were standing on their heads, the camels were perched on the palm tree trunks and we had sheep in the sky instead of angels and stars.

I think instead of putting chocolate in each pocket (along with the figure to put in the nativity scene) I will put money into the pockets.
That should spark the desire to carry on this tradition.
Bribery, you are my friend.

And boys, when I said "Grow Up!"  I did not mean giving up stuff like this.

It's winter here and pretty nice.  

Son #1 likes to take photos and this is a picture he took in the hills near our house.  

The doe and her two babies  went about their daily activities while photos were taken of them.  They were aware that Sean was there but seemed not to care.  

He has 30 minutes of pictures and this one is my favourite. 

 I love how her tongue is licking the lichen off the tree branch.

My niece and her husband are expecting a baby in less than  2 weeks. 

 I'm excited - even though I am almost 3000 miles away from them.  

I have been sewing and making baby things - this is the quilt I sent.  

The nursery has a dog theme.
Their baby is a boy!

This is some of the other stuff I made.

My pottery room is full (over-full really) of items that need to be glazed.
Lots of beads and pendants for jewelry - fussy, piddly stuff.

To go with these that are waiting to be strung.

Many of these are Christmas orders.
 I hate the glazing process.
Maybe I'd like it more if my pottery room wasn't the size of a closet.

I am stalling and putting it off..

Procrastination, you are not my friend.
I should do something about that.

Maybe tomorrow.





I'm going to Les Ballet Jazz de Montreal with The Ladies on Tuesday night - so excited!



I know I will try some of their moves once I leave the building.
 I hope for full black-out darkness when I try this leap.
 I know it will not be successful.
Or pretty.


And now I am leaving the house to go and pick up Son #1 from Silver Star Mountain Resort where he spent the night with 27 other people in his friend's dad's new condo.
I hope the condo is still in respectable condition when they leave.

I can't wait until he passes his N driver road test - two more weeks!!
Fingers are crossed that he doesn't make any mistakes - his friend hit a pedestrian - just a small nudge but a failure none the less.
I sympathize as did the same to a State Trooper in a Key West Florida gas station.

He was very nice and only limped for a short time.

Like an old car that needs a tune up, I have run-on.
So I'll chug to a stop now.

Have a great weekend everyone.

and....
word verification is off and comment moderation is on.
Whew! what an ordeal it is dealing with computer robots.

Love It or Hate It

We had a wee bit of snow and The Boys were out trying gather together enough snow to start the build of their front yard snowboard park.

This photo below does not pertain to them as they would shovel all day long just to build some jumps.

For the rest of us this is just too close to home.

Their shovelling efforts were in vain - the sun came out and now the snow is gone.

yay

Run!

Last night The Boys and I went for a run.

Not far, 1 km out 1 km back.

When we were returning home Son #1 said "mom, you run like your shoes are going to fall off."

Thank goodness it was dark  and no one could see me try to kill him.

One, Two,Three, and another and another and....

The last long weekend of the summer is coming up and I am a bit annoyed that summer has passed by so quickly. 

It seems like just yesterday that I was telling you that the spring snow melt was trying to take out our bridge.

The boys go back to school on Tuesday - one to Grade 12 and the other to Grade 9 .

They are excited, they like school.

 Time passes too quickly.   Just as they are getting interesting it will be time for them to move on.

I am not happy.

But I still have flowers!

They are full of pollen and since I brought them into the house we are all sneezing and the stocks in Reactine must have gone up substantially.

The seed  package said they were ornamental sunflowers for a cutting garden but they grew so tall I need a tree-limber to cut the blossoms off.

Son #2 suggested I plant runner beans next year and that way he can sneak out from his bedroom window.

(right - that will happen)

Son #1 bought himself a car in anticipation of passing his drivers road test at the end of November.

He worked really hard, and gave up a lot of teenage time with his buddies and the girlies, to get this car.

Here's The Husband showing him how to check fluid levels.

I made him a shirt - and no, VW, relax, I will not be selling these on the black market.

Since he can't drive it on his own  for a few months he drives with the 'rents and last night offered to drive us to town for Frostys.

One the way home Son #2 said, "Hey! now that you have a car, can I buy your motorcycle?"

(this is not a face you can trust - he is quite devious!)

oh, dear....
There will be no runner bean plants next year.

I'm not going to make sneaking out, and driving off, easy for him.

My plans for this last long weekend of the summer?  Counting all the new gray hairs on my head.

Anything special for you?

A Mother of an Invention

I pride myself on being a sewer.  I have two industrial sewing machines and two home version sewing machines. 

 I have made wedding dresses, bathing suits, leather purses, jeans and countless costumes and  assorted garments for our boys but yesterday this is how Son #1 left the house to go to work.

My First Aid kit contains a roll of Duck Tape and now too, so shall my sewing room.

And to think of all the time I wasted actually mending things for them!

Necessity, you are the Mother of Invention.

And Duck Tape, I have always loved you.

No Plan and No Map Video Do-Over

Video in YouTube for you Suz!

( It is not so pink once he jumps and I stop pointing toward the sun.)

(and I usually don't sound like this - it sounds like I have the rope around my throat - but in my defense I was scared beyond words)

This is my mantra.

Here's the video.

No Plan and No Map

Week One 

Lightning, thunder, rain,  and life in a small trailer turns into a car trip to Kelowna to shop, eat, shop, eat and stay in a hotel.

We had one day of boating, tubing and wake boarding and the other nice day we went to a pool party at the neighbors.

Several cocktails were consumed - it's okay I was on holiday!

Week Two
This is the Without a Plan and Without a Map part and done in a borrowed not too modern motor home.

We drove 

We shopped

We drove

We ate

We drove

We saw where The Husband grew up -yikes! (quite remote and a very small village)

We took the ferry

We saw a snake (I HATE snakes)

We saw bears, deer and a raccoon

We drove

We bungeed - well not me I'm afraid of heights

We zip lined - again not me  (heights)

 We hiked

We travelled in a motor home which is an experience not to be missed .  ugg

We stayed in a resort

We surfed -not me - (someone needs to hold the stuff)

We skim boarded - (not me - someone needs to keep Archie the Dog out of trouble)

We ate

We laughed.  And laughed and laughed - I think too much fresh air is not a good thing for your brain it makes everything funny.

We played in the tidal pools

We ran into our neighbors who were as stunned to see us as we were them.

I did laundry

We stopped in Lytton, Savona, Vancouver ,Nanaimo,  White Rock, Tofino, Uculet ,Cathedral Forest, Parksville ,Coombs, and Hope,
In Lytton I tried to buy cheese and the clerk said the only cheese they had was inside the smokies.   ?  !  

We are glad to be home.

I am putting all the photos at the end so that you can silently say, "Oh God here she is with slides of her vacation" and then quitely slip away to get a cold beverage...........

Too close to home to get out of the motor home.

Maybe we'll just drive and never get out.

Anyone want to hike to the waterfall?  no..  no.. no.. sigh.

Parksville sand castle contest.  We were not the builders, just the gawkers.

Driving to Tofino

  No. no echo here.

This is where Son #1 lost a $50 filter to his camera and we had to convince him The Vacation was not ruined.

It is 32 deg C here while you wouldn't know that by the attire.

The husband is an adventurer - he rode his bike from London to Greece and back! (he didn't cycle the entire way he did take a couple of ferrys). I would have flown home from Greece.  Well, to be perfectly honest, I would have flown back from the first ferry crossing which is the English Channel.  

I think there's something dead in here - or maybe someone's sandwich - but Archie the Dog is determined to get it.

Archie the Dog hopped onto this log by himself and the nearby tourist thought he was an agility dog.  HA!  He only has to be agile enough to hop up on our bed.  He had fun though.

This is Tofino.

This old boat has been turned into a "hotel".  They were calling a B & B except they didn't offer the second B.

MacKenzie Beach where we stayed in the motor home and also found the great Crystal Cove Resort.

Chestermans Beach.

See the tiny black dots in the upper left side of the photo - this is where the surf lessons were taken.

Arm indicates 'I'm going that way'

Leg indicates "darn it!"

Wet sand indicates its not as easy as once thought

Five hours was just about enough of this for them.

ahhhhh, the smell of dead ocean things!

A bit chilly.  Next year Florida? 

Crystal Cove Resort.
Much more comfortable than the motor home......

....which we had to leave at the front gates as motor homes not allowed.

They are always waiting for me they say but when we get to where we are going it's "mom did you bring the....?"

Things I hate to step on when I'm in the water.

This kite surf almost drove Archie the Dog insane!  He ran off down the beach to attack it and when he saw just how large it was he spent the rest of the day growling but with his tail between his legs.

Long Beach surfing was most unsuccessful but they had a wonderful time.

Long Beach - 22 km in length

More Long Beach

Downtown Ucuelet

Cathedral Forest

Zip lining over the Nanaimo River.

 Bungy over the Nanaimo River!

And finally, the video of the Bungy Jump.  The voices are myself and Son #2.  Speaking was very difficult but considering the dry mouth, while holding back the urge to puke, I think I did okay.

Okay, that's it.  Back to reality.
Next post - vegetables and crafts (or maybe not).