He's....Toothless!

And also accident prone.

See that?

He lost is other front tooth.

Guess how?

It didn't get really loose and then fall out. Oh no. This is Kamden we are talking about.

He knocked it out. With his own knee. He has a dent in his knee to prove it.

Unfortunately I did not witness this marvelous feat. I mean not just anyone can knock out their own tooth out, especially with thier knee.

Our Kamden is talented.

Jack claimes it was a collision with the couch in which he doubled into two, likely to take the brunt of the impact. I guess he didn't account for a knee in the face.

Which conicidentally enough, he is aware can happen. He kneed himself in the forehead not too long agou while jumping around on the floor. I saw him do and yet, I still could not explain to you how he did it.

He cried that time. This time, no tears. He was a bit concerned about the blood. I explained that teeth bleed much less when they are ready to come out.

And see that mess under his nose? He did that at school. He was sitting somewhere and fell (I have no idea!)into some dirt or something. The story was not quite clear.

He does not get this from me. Oh no.

(No one mention that I had knocked both teeth out by the time I was 4, m'kay. It is our little secret. I didn't use my knee so it is much less newsworthy.)

I Miss This

I started blogging way back in March 2006 (wow, 5 years ago, time flies). For the next several years, I was an avid blogger, posting on this, that and everthing in between.

I loved it.
I developed a love of writing, of expressing myself. This, considering in my previous life I had despised any form of expressing my thoughts in any form of coherant manner, was no small acheivement.

2010 saw dramatic decreases in my post numbers. My heart just was not in it in anymore. I don't know why.

And now that I am working far more, my desire to blog has waned even further. It took me a week to post our vacation post, for goodness sake.

The other day, Kamden needed to bring a story about when he was a baby to school. The first place we looked to find one was in the blog book from 2006.

We laughed. We cried (from laughing so hard). And we lauged some more. (My writing was pretty laughable)

It reminded me of why I do this. Those memories are priceless and not a one of them did I remember until we read the post out loud.

I am reminded not only of the memories I am preserving but of the community I have missed while I have been absent from this world.

I miss y'all.

Obviously now that I am working, my time to read blogs is much more limited. At the end of the day, after working on a computer all day, I am not that keen on logging onto Google Reader.

While I was on vacation, I did have the time and I realized how much I missed reading my favourite blogs.

So what does this mean?

I hope it means that I will make the time to do something I love.

It's not a promise but it's darn close.

Our Trip

I know you have all been sitting on the edge of your seats awaiting the plethora of pictures from our trip south.

Or I am not delusional.

I will let you figure that one out.

I will cease the rumours right now. I am not 3 months preggo. I am, however, carrying the effects of several days of continuous tortillas and guacamole intake. I highly recommend it and the boot camps I have been pushing myself to the limit in to lose the "effects".

We have now been back in the Arctic for a week. The weather has turned somewhat spring like but you didn't hear that from me. Shhh.

Our trip was great. We were away 14 days, the longest ever. We wanted to space it out because we knew our kids (or us) would not enjoy back to back to back days at Disneyworld.

That whole phrase "Disney vacation" is a misnomer, in my opinion. Jay and I went to Disneyworld for our honeymoon. There is no vacation in tromping the asphalt and waiting in line at Disneyworld. Yes, it is fun, but a vacation is not what I would call it. More of an exhausting adventure. It's not African Safari but you get my drift.

Hence our taking 14 full days to do 4 days at Disney, one day at SeaWorld and one day at Discovery Cove.

Here is our conclusion. We went, we saw, we bought some Mario t-shirts. The end. We will not be going back.

For us, that was enough. As my prior post indicates, our boys were not over the moon enamoured by the whole Disney experience.

However, Florida was beautiful. The weather was fabulous. The house we rented was fantastic as was the pool located in its back yard. What we did love (boys included) was our two days spent at SeaWorld and its sister park Discovery Cove. (I am far to lazy to link but if you are interested, use that wonderful tool called Google)

SeaWorld, as you know, involves seeing all kinds of aquatic animals. These animals have long fascinated me and my boys share this fascination.

Discovery Cove was a completely unique experience. It is part of SeaWorld but requires separate entry. The park includes a snorkeling pool, a warm beach pool, a river, and if you pay extra, a dolphin interaction. Food, drinks and equipment are all included in the entry price. This includes beer.

It was worth every penny.

And Jack and Kamden loved it. They loved the snorkeling (Jack got the hang of it right away and Kamden was happy to play in the pool), they loved the river (even when I tried to swim with Kamden on my back - the lifeguard suggested a life jacket. Now, why didn't I think of that?) and LOVED the dolphin interaction.

We got a dolphin named Diego. I always knew dolphins were amazing animals but there is nothing like seeing it up close and personal. It was an experience of a lifetime.

So there you have it, a great trip, all said and done.

Back to reality. But it is a great reality so no complaints here.

The Happiest Place On Earth

Or not. You be the judge.

Judging by my smile, yes, indeed it is. Or the dorkiest. Same difference?

Sunny Florida, oh how I see myself wintering here when I retire. Or next year.

I am proudly Canadian but darn it if Canada isn't synonymous with Old Man Winter.

Sea World had an Arctic Exhibit. It will come as no surprise to you that we felt right at home. In fact, they may have invited us to become part of the display.

We declined.

It was cold in there.

Check out Kamden's wink. I think that's what he is doing anyway. We'll go with that.

So these two here are aged 6.5 and 9.5 years old respectively. Perfect age to tackle Disney World with all it's rides, adventurous and not so adventurous, right?

Here's the tally so far:

Everest Adventure Roller Coaster - Kamden only, nay. The Yeti shadow scared him and he didn't like the fast parts. So, um, the whole ride then? Fail.

Journey to Atlantis water ride at Sea World - they didn't like the fall and the water. Right, so the whole ride again, pefect. FAIL.

What did they like then you might ask?

A ridiculously cheesy boat ride (my Grandma drove faster) in the Mexican Pavilion at Epcot. With cartoons of Donald Duck. He's totally Mexican, right?

Oh and the fireworks were too loud too, just in case you were wondering.

Pool days at the ridiculous fabulous house we rented, roaring success, Disney rides, fail.

Turns out we could have avoided shelling out for Disney tickets, who knew?

Just to be clear, we are having a great time, however, Disney and the happiest place on earth is not the center of it all. Thank goodness we opted for the house rental!

Stay tuned for the next episode, Magic Kingdom, the one where we avoid Splash Mountain like the plague.

Miss me? Tales of a lost Tooth and a Dimple

Where does the time go?

I have been a busy beaver. Turns out working for a living takes up my spare time. Who knew?

Seriously though, I was away the last three weekends in a row for work which was fun, challenging (I had to present in front of 40 or more people....gulp, and I did and it was fun), and generally exhausting.

I got home early this morning (1 am UGH) and was very happy to crawl into my own bed.

This morning at breakfast, Kamden lost the front tooth that has been hanging on forEVER. I was really happy I didn't miss it!

I didn't really think it was possible, but he is cuter.

But still the same old twerp we know and love.

This guy too. That dimple is something, ain't it?

Down a Life, or Three

Our Saturday was typical. My parents were in town to watch Kamden play soccer the night before and left just after lunch.

It was a beautiful day and Jack and Kamden had energy to burn so I told them to go outside and play. Lord knows we get a handful of winter days where it's not so cold you lose appendages in minutes. It's a simple situation of enjoying them when you can. And by you, I mean them. Not me. Double standard? Damn straight.

Kamden took the bait. Jack, well he takes after me. Nothing short of a threat to his life will make him venture out.

I asked Kamden if he would walk down to the end of the street to get the mail. He said he couldn't do it by himself.

No worries said Jay, he will go along with him.

Kamden is ready before Jay and heads outside.

This is not big deal. He is 6 and half years old. He knows the rules. He stays in the yard, off the street, yadda yadda.

Jay gets dressed and I hear him say he can't find the mail key. I yell that it likely fell somewhere - it is small and constantly getting lost. He takes my keys which have a second mail key.

A few minutes later, as I am dusting the living room (annual event! there were balloons and everything!) I see Jay standing on the sidewalk looking perplexed. He mouths he can't find Kamden.

I run to the front door (side actually if you want to be technical) and open it. He can't find him. I throw on my coat and a pair of shoes (boots, flip flops? who knows by this point?) and run out.

We. can't. find. him. anywhere.

He is not in the front yard. He is not in the back yard. There was fresh snow but I could not see foot prints.

It may have been 2 minutes. It felt like 20 hours.

We run into the house and yell. We yell outside.

He is no where.

I am using my I am freaking right the hell out here and can't stop panicking voice (you should hear it, it's nothing short of awesome).

I check everywhere I can think of. So does Jay.

Finally Jay runs down the street. There is Kamden at the damn mailbox. Which, for the record we cannot see from our house because the street curves. Apparently we also very swift that it took us that long to clue in to look there. In our defense, he usually means what he says. He said he wasn't going so I presumed he didn't.

I am down at least three lives. And also, we now know where the mail key was. Detectives, we are not.

I know the terror that parents feel when the possibility that one of their children is gone forever feels. It was literally 2 minutes and I kept thinking, here it is, the moment that will forever change my life. The moment in time that will split my life into two parts. Before and after.

Yet despite that, fully expecting him to pop up at any moment. I have the privilege of knowing the relief of finding him. So many parents never know that relief.

To say I am grateful is an understatement.

Mental note, just because he says he isn't going to do something, doesn't mean he won't.

After he was found, he and Jay build a snowman. It was so warm he decided he had to pose in his T-shirt. And I let him. Wonders never cease.

Also, notice the level of the snow compared to the car. We have had a LOT of snow here in Saskabush.

God I love this kid. Plain and simply, I cannot imagine life without him.

Completely unrelated! Practicing his speech. He, apparently, has a lisp. I, personally, think it is part of his charm.

Jack was doing some homework on the computer while all this was going down. He started running around the house yelling for Kamden too.

Then after he says, he wasn't worried at all. Uh huh, sure buddy, whatever you say.

To state the obvious, I gave Kamden a little further instruction on telling us if he is going somewhere before he leaves. Explaining that Mommy gets a tad bit worried when I don't know where he is.

Mommy can only handle one heart failure a year. Max.

Red

It is only the second week of me attempting to participate in You Capture and I already thought I might not be able to make it. We don't have a lot of red in our house but amazingly enough, I found some if I looked hard enough.

I painted this for Jack when he was about 4 or 5. He loved trucks when he was younger and this is Dumpy, a character from a book he loved at that age.

I thought this accountant with all her creativity housed in her left pinkie toenail had done pretty good. The lady at the framing store, however, had a different opinion.

She asked if Jack had painted it.

In hindsight, I kind of see her point.

Jack's curtains. I am almost positive he will be asking to replace these any day now. They were perfect for him when he was little though.

The blanket that we snuggle under every morning when we call Jay to say good morning. It reminds me of my Auntie Vicki. It was a wedding gift from her and I love it still.

The nets that adorn our living room. Our Kamo is a sports addict and spends many an hour playing hockey and soccer with himself.

He is now asking when he can play hockey. Gulp.

And the book I am currently reading awaiting my 3rd cup of tea for the day. Me and the library are like this. Reading is one of my favourite pastimes.