Go on, ask them. I'll wait.
Wait a minute.
Wake them up again and ask them to tell you what you REALLY do?
And I'm not talking about the 3,781 job titles of a parent such as; chauffeur, servant, clothes washer, chef, tutor. The list goes on.
Before I became a Mother, I had a long list of things that I swore I would never do when I became a Parent.
You know, no soothers, no night time bottles, no noisy toys, no television.
I thought about writing a post about it but you've heard it all before.
Besides, I've done everything I swore I wouldn't.
Photo taken by SQUAIO
So, I thought that I would put a new spin on an old classic and write about "All the Things that I Swore I Would Do as a Parent".
And so ends this post.
Seriously though, I never really thought about it. I was so focused on all the things I wanted to avoid that I didn't focus on the positives.
If I had made a list, I would have put the following on it...
In three short days, Summer will be here again!
Remember last year how we told you about our Summer Vacation at The Farm and mentioned a Part Two?
Well, in honour of all things ten months late, I thought that I'd tell you about the second half of Summer 2012 at...
Besos, The Zoo
Below is what I posted to my site and below that is the text that I Guest Posted. I am including both here in order to have a record of all The Zoo's writings.
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Today, I'm excited to be guest posting over at "The Knit Wit Shair".
When Shari isn't running her successful blog or mothering her three young boys, she's probably knitting for those in need.
The Let's Cap Cancer campaign is The Knit Wit by Shair's attempt at helping to support Cancer research, while using her love of knitting to also help cancer patients going through Chemo. You can purchase a hat, spread the word, or donate supplies. Any support is greatly appreciated. Check out her current listings in her SHOP.
Shari has graciously agreed to let me take part in her "Photo a Day" meme. I hope that you will hop over and visit her site to see what I had to say about "Family Traditions".
Speaking of guest posts, over the next little while, you will have the opportunity to meet several new bloggers. The reason why I am hosting and participating in Guest Posts is to give you the opportunity to meet new people that you might not otherwise know. Be sure to watch for Shari's guest post here at The Zoo in August. I hope that you will enjoy this part of our Journey.
If you or someone you know would like to guest post at Journeys of The Zoo, please contact me at: journeysofthezoo at hotmail dot com.
Below is the content that was originally posted and has been added her to
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The Zoo has their fair share of traditions. They generally fall into two categories; Family and Outdoors. There are some that fall into both.
Every summer, since the kids were six months old, we've been heading up to Algonquin Park to "camp out". No running water or electricity. Just us and the elements. This will be our third summer and I couldn't be more excited to share it with my Family.
We recently added another tradition to the list
Besos, The Zoo
I'm talking about the name that Ed and Max call her... Fitoo.
Ed claims that the name came about because when Artemis was really young she would walk like she had "two left feet". Truth be told, he's forgotten and that's the best that he can come up with.
All that time trying to pick a name that she wouldn't be mad at me about for the rest of her life and she gets stuck with Fitoo. No insult is meant to all the 7,903,541 people with this first name.
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Today I went grocery shopping with the kids alone for the third time in 2.5 years. I'm not exaggerating by even one time.
I brought along my camera and notepad in the hopes that I would get tons of blog content (you don't think that I'd take them for fun do you!?). I had visions of writing about a real "Clean Up in Aisle Four", Tantrums in the Dairy section and/or streaking in the parking lot.
Nothing.
Well unless it counts that Artemis ate an entire container of cherry tomatoes before we got to the checkout (yes, I paid for them) and Max running up and down the checkout line yelling "Check-out, Check-out".
Why can't those kids misbehave when I want them to?
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I can't count the number of times over the past 12 years that I have said "Ed, you are so full of useless information".
You can't imagine how full of it he is.
On two occasions (that I know about), he has bored the beegeezes out of explained to someone how to make a record. No, I'm not talking about the archaic method of putting sounds to circular objects but how to make said "circular object".
And it doesn't end with that.
He uses big words like "trebuchet" and actually knows what they mean. Sometimes I try to impress him with "I had a trebuchet for lunch". I know, I make it look easy.
Every once in awhile all this useless information really comes in handy.
Trivial Pursuit anyone?
Besos, The Zoo
The story actually begins six months before the successful fateful day.
It was the day that we picked my brother up from the adoption agency and brought him home. I was almost four years old.
I think that this event is one of my earliest memories. Interesting the things that we remember.
To this point, I was spoiled rotten the only child. My world as I knew it was over and I was pissed not pleased.
I played it cool but my repeated attempts to smother love him were all foiled.
So I came up with Plan B.
My mother was having a get together with a whole bunch of suckers nice ladies. I donned my apron (can still picture it today), inserted a plethera of dolls in each of the four front pockets and went about selling my wares.
As legend goes, I walked around yelling "Babies for Saaaale, Babies for Saaaale". Finally I had an unsuspecting fool taker and the deal was sealed with a quarter.
Little did she know.
Not one to renege on my promises, I immediately ran upstairs to my brothers room, took him out of his crib and attempted to leave the premises. I was going to load him into her car (or anyones for that matter). Talk about customer service!
Needless to say, my Plan (to rid myself of this parasite) was once again foiled.
On to Plan C.
All was not lost, I got to keep the quarter.
Be sure to check back next week when I tell you the story about...
This post was written in response to Insane Mamacita's Weekly Random Fact Friday Hop. Hop on over and see what other people had to share.
Besos, The Zoo
We were celebrating Marcella's visit home for the summer as she has been living in Madrid, Spain since last September (and for two years before that in South Korea). In addition, we had a $50 gift certificate given to me by the ever so generous Gingermommy who blogs over at "Ranting Ginger".
After just over a one-hour drive (what dedication), we arrived at 5:15pm with no reservations. No problem. We were greeted by a bubbly girl and only had to wait two minutes (if that) for a table of eight (five adults, three 2-year olds). Before we made it to our table, there were two booster seats set-up (we had the choice of that or a high chair), crayons and paper ready to amuse the kids. Two minutes later, Christina arrived followed by a girl asking her if she wanted a booster or high chair. Whatever system they have for customer service, it works!
The place was starting to fill up but thankfully wasn't too warm (given all the bodies and the fact that it was 31 degree celcius outside). There were tons of kids (those parents know a good thing when they see it) and we got Katie as our server.
I know why Boston Pizza employs her, she is really good at what she does and probably likes her job (although I didn't ask). You know how you can just tell when someone doesn't. With the level of service we received, you would have thought that we were Katie's only table. Not the case but she made us feel that way.
It worked out that Katie took some of our orders before others (our decision, not hers). We were totally expecting to have a delay in the arrival of our meal, I mean, it was starting to get busy and our delay in orders was probably five minutes. Nope. Our meals all came at the same time. Magic!
We ordered three appetizers; caesar salad, nachos and goat cheese spinach dip (pictured, deadly). The last one had a "brushetta-like" topping with zing. For mains, we ordered; pasta, pizzas and chicken salad. All were tasty and arrived hot but I wish that I'd order the Tuscan and not the Greek Pizza (order envy is my specialty). We all ordered non-alcoholic beverages.
I am totally out of touch with prices for eating at sit-down establishments (like Boston Pizza) so I'll let you be the judge on price. For five adults (and three kids, we didn't order anything extra for them), it came to $105 plus tip. I'd have to think that (just over) $20 per adult is a great price! Note that we also took home enough leftovers for two adult meals. To top it off, when we were paying Katie asked us if we collected Air Miles (we do). Double Yippie!
All in all, the restaurant was clean, had a great atmosphere, was very kid friendly (we let the kids run around for a bit, yes, we're THOSE kinds of parents) and the food was exactly what I would expect from a Boston Pizza.
A big thanks to the Owners, Leslie, Rachel, Katie and Ranting Ginger for making dinner, A Meal to Remember.
Besos, The Zoo
Posting pictures of things that I shouldn't.
But it's not my fault, you should send me content.
You know how people joke about doctors not knowing which end to slap when an unfortunate baby is born.
After our kids were born and that conundrum was out of the way, the first thing that Ed and I thought was...
No, I'm not talking about negligence but genetics.
For 2.5 years, we have pointed fingers at each other for the "messed-up-foot-situation".
The time has come, for you my followers to tell Ed that he is to blame, to set the record straight.
The "Zoo Hotel" has been at full capacity for two weeks. It all started when Poppa arrived on May 15. During his visit, we went hiking,
As usual, we got tons of work done. Most importantly, (in my opinion and seeing that I'm the author of this blog, what I say goes), the boys spent all of Sunday "preparing my new craft closet". I'm sure you're thinking, what prep work is required for a craft closet besides removing the clothes, installing a table and hanging some shelves. This is The Zoo you know so nothing is quite what it seems.
First off, they had to remove the old wood stove chimney (the woodstove was removed from the basement as one of last years's work weekend projects). In doing so, they had to patch up the roof. In order to do this, they needed some matching shingles. Seeing as we didn't have any of these, they needed to remove several from another of our outbuildings. In doing so, they figured that they'd just choose to put a hole in that roof (seeing as they didn't have any shingles to replace those shingles) and install a whirlydig. After repairing all the rooves (google that one) they came inside to continue with the prep. They started with fixing the hole in the basement floor (where the fire bricks had been inset into the floor. They then fixed two ceilings and a floor. Not wanting to do things half "as good", they removed the existing asbestos tiles and replaced them with matching wood flooring (that the previous owner left behind). Here's a before picture (note that the chimney has been removed but you can see the hole in the floor). I'll post an after picture when all is said and done.
I have to admit that I don't have any pictures of people from the long weekend. I have some before and after pictures because blog post content comes before family portraits. Priorities people. I know that Kevin took some, including a video of Max running after the soccer ball (a favourite activity).
The boys left on holiday Monday and Nanna arrived in the morning on Tuesday. I think that I forgot to mention that Ed was in Edmonton (on business).
As of May 22, 2012 (seven days since planting), you can clearly see the radishes and beets peaking out, two bean plants (not sure if they're the ones that I dried out the seeds from last years crop of green beans or the yellow wax beans that I just bought) and lettuce or spinach. I'm not organized enough to have row markers (although I have great plans) but I have a system, plant things in alphabetical order; beans, beets, lettuce, onions, spinach. That was until I decided (after the fact) to plant radishes, red peppers and something else in my spare offset rows... I guess it won't matter in another week or two. I am so excited I can hardly stand it.
On Tuesday, we went out for lunch and did some errands. Thankfully, the kids were better behaved than for Uncle Eric's birthday party.
On Sunday, May 27, Rene and Sidney came for Pancake breakfast and then we all went to the Dandelion Festival. We caught an interactive puppet show (some of the puppets were human, they spoke a ton of French) and visited with the animals from the Sunny Acres Barnyard Zoo (in Spencerville). The kids loved petting and holding the rabbits and guinea pigs.
In the evening, Uncle Fred came for a leg of lamb dinner (one of my favourites!) so we got out Nanna's and my Nanna's jewellery box and got dressed up for the occasion.
And this morning, Nanna left for the cottage and the kids did some interior decorating. I knew that they were too quiet...
Besos, The Zoo