Okay, I am back. http://www.atypicalife.net/blog/ME.html','popup','width=320,height=240,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false">See?

I got my new Olympus today. Between that and missing you guys somethin’ fierce, I am all set for mucho blogging in the a.m. Oh, and uploading a whack of pics! ‘natch!

Monday, July 21st to Wednesday, July 23rd.

It had been six years since our last family vacation. Somehow, we were organized. The girls had their knapsacks packed for three days. The van was clean, reservations were made at a great deal, and even the baby had plenty of toys for the road.

We also were on the road by 7:30 am on that Monday morning. I couldn’t believe it. I think maybe I was even more excited than the kids. After all, we knew exactly where we were going and what we were going to do. The baby even had a nap on the way. The drive was great (except for the construction areas).

At 11:01 we had crossed the Confederation Bridge, linking Prince Edward Island with the mainland. This time, we were in a large van and could see quite clearly over the side and off in the distance. We stopped in at the large tourist center there for a run-around in the playground and to snag a map and gaze at the overpriced touristy knick-knacks. There were even some step dancers performing, so I gave Emma a loonie to drop in their bucket. “Yook Mommy! Girls dancing!”

We decided first off to find the campground and get things settled there before heading off to do all the fun stuff. I think we were all fairly tired from the drive, but determined to have as much fun as possible as fast as we could. We went to Rainbow Valley first, and went on just about everything except for the water slides. Actually, Addison went on one slide after standing in line for half an hour, and the girls skipped the experience because they weren’t allowed to wear their goggles. And yes, we did go on the paddle boats. All of us. Not all on one, silly, although the kids & Ron managed to give me at least three heart attacks while they switched seats around out on the water. Disregard the fact the water is probably thigh deep; I worry, it’s my job.

We were really tuckered by this point, so we drove back to the campsite to set everything up and rest before supper. You know for every trip, somebody forgets something important. For us, it was the vacuum (yes the vacuum, we had a plug there) to blow the air mattresses up with. So after setting things up and letting Emma run around, we headed off to find a hardware store and some camping supplies.

You know, for a small island with lots of small farming communities, you’d think we could find a large hardware store sooner than traipsing over half the island. At any rate, we got a foot pump and stopped at a Wendy’s restaurant for supper. We also admired some scenery behind it, as (or course) it was practically right on the ocean. There was one point while driving, where I said to Ron, “You know why those couple fight on the Amazing Race? It’s because they have maps like this one, that why!”

That night, blowing up the mattresses with a foot pump wasn’t near as bad as I thought it would be. We all took turns and happily nobody lost their temper. At some point in our explorations if the campgrounds, Emma ran around in a circle, arms outstretched, yelling, “This is fun! This is fun!” But by the time night was falling and her eyes were drooping, she looked at me, and in a small voice said mournfully, “Emma wan go home.”

The kids all slept in the tent on the air mattresses, and Ron, the baby and I slept in the van. The back seat folds out into a double bed. It’s really neat. There’s this one spot where there’s a ridge & gap, but otherwise it was not too bad. Kinda bright when the sun comes up though. But there weren’t a lot of bugs either. Funnily enough, I had packed a ton of toys for Emma, and she hardly touched them.

Honestly, I can’t remember much detail of what else we did. We went to a lot of places we had been before, but didn’t remember it as being quite so expensive. The kids and Ron played mini golf, which they heartily enjoyed, while I kept Emma entertained. I also ran into an old friend of my grandmother’s, so that was weird. And sad. We also went to the Canadian Center for Home Children, which was also sad. The house they had it is was really nice. Quite empty other than some displays. Home children were brought over from England to work as something like indentured servants in Canada. Many times they were tricked into coming, something the people getting them often didn’t know. They were told the children were orphans, and in some cases they weren’t.

We didn’t do anything related to Anne of Green Gables. There was this one spot we went to that was interesting, while Ron stayed with a napping Emma in the van. Sort of a copy of the Ripley’s down the road from it, which we also went to but with different stuff. They had a huge display on the Titanic (very sad) and in the basement a tour of a recreation of King Tut’s tomb. Now that was neat. We were sad to see they didn’t add more to the Great Island Science & Adventure park. Was still cool though.

One night we went into Charlottetown to visit Gertrude at Homeschool and More. She has her business in the basement of her lovely home and was very accommodating. I wished I could have brought home more. We had a very enthusiastic conversation, and Addison remarked she sounds just like me! We also stopped in at a place to have a famous Cow’s ice cream, but didn’t realize they wanted $3 for a small cone. We skipped the ice cream. Then we went to crawl the Charlottetown mall and got that 3-pack of Tomb Raider.

At the campsite, we spent as much time as we could in the pool, when we weren’t doing the cooking and cleaning and organizing. We shared any cooking we did, when we weren’t eating out. Emma was alternately concerned and fascinated by the campfire at night. “Daddy maked a fire!” Of course we roasted marshmallows! We couldn’t decide whether to spend an extra day or not, when we realized that we were all really tired, and it was looking like rain on the last day. So we decided to go to one last place, Woodleigh Replicas, then go home. We were most of the way around the park when it was raining far too much to mosey around the rest. So we left and started the endless drive home through the pouring rain.

Emma seems to be over her hatred of any drive over an hour long, which is good, but by the time we got close to home we were pushing it. We had stopped in Moncton to have lunch and visit Chapters. They had a sale and we got around 7 books for under $30. Addison spent most of his time looking for a bathroom, which I thought he found and presumably used.

No so, for an hour from home, in the driving rain, on a torn-up section of road where everyone was going 20kms, he tells us he has to go. Really bad. He hung on till we got to a small gas station a half hour outside of town. We laughed at him as he got wet going in, got wet running around to the side of the building with the key, then had to take it back and get back in the van. Beats standing in the pouring rain though.

Next time, I think we will just spend more time at the campsite and less time running all over the place. You know, like a relaxing vacation.

Eh. Can’t think of a title. Emotionally stressful week here, folks.

First, we were planning on having my aunt and my 87 year old grandfather come up for the weekend. Now he cancelled at the last minute because he didn’t want to be driven up while it was raining. Possibly heavily. Is it going to rain here? Not much, but they’d have to drive thru some rain to get here.

Second, it was Mom’s 50th birthday this week, and she’s having a party today. We were supposed to have a picnic on the beach, but we may have to have it at her house because of rain. I was a bad daughter and said no to having it at my house (which is smaller). Most of her family is supposed to show up.

Third. That whole Addison-and-his-girlfriend issue. The shock of that coming up unannounced led us (well, at least me) to forget our whole dating policy. We’ve since made adjustments. More later.

And fourth – this weekend was also the second annoversary of my grandmother’s death from uterine cancer. Yes, the spouse of the grandfather mentioned above. Yes, we were very close. This weekend’s Calvin & Hobbes was quite apt. If you want to read my journal entries from aroudn that time, they are over here. (The first few August entries are most appropriate. You can see some of the previous ones for the backstory.)

So. Three Four good reasons as to why I can’t seem to hammer out funny stories for the journal, or be witty in a flurry of emails. I felt like I was trying to keep every single person above totally happy, and the Internet is way at the bottom of that list. Sorry guys. I know I don’t usually make formal announcements of breaks, mostly because I am fickle , but I have to take the long weekend off (it’s a long weekend here, did you know that? I can’t remember why – Victoria Day?) and I’ll be back on Tuesday, hopefully fresh as a daisy.

And yes, with a plethora of funny stories. I’ll tell myself to post them first. It’ll be worth it! You can say you knew me back when I had my nervous breakdown…

Kidding!