Rare Form

Can I just say what a little stinker my girl is! She was in rare form today (August 30th).

This morning, while trying to get ready, I was insisting that she brush her hair and teeth BEFORE going downstairs to get her shoes on. In my mind, it was a time saver. Why go all the way downstairs to put on shoes, to then come back up and brush hair and teeth. When I was insisting on getting my way, she got mad, stomped upstairs, and said, "I quit you! Old Mother."

I burst out laughing. Not the right reaction but I could not help it. Then as she continued to talk back, I got on her case.

Later, when we got home, I was on her case about not eating her lunch. This has been an on-going issue for the past couple of weeks. I specifically put in her lunch, what she requests (within reason). Today was a grilled cheese sandwich with "white" cheese not "orange cheese." Come to find out as I opened her lunch box, she had a bite of applesauce and her juice box - that's it.

Everyone says I shouldn't worry but I am because I feel that she's going to need the energy to get through the day at school. She typically eats a poor breakfast too, meaning that she doesn't eat much for breakfast.

Well, when I found out how little she ate, I said, "That's it! I'm going to start packing foods you don't like since you're not eating the foods you do like." "Expect broccoli in your next lunch," I told her. Of course she's saying no way to that idea. I kept reiterating that if she's not eating what she says she will, maybe she'll eat stuff she says she won't.

Later, she used that same logic on the dogs. They haven't been eating much either and she told them that if they didn't eat their food that they were going to start getting food they didn't like. I thought, "wow, that was a quick turn-around." For her to use that same logic within a half-hour on someone else. I guess I was just glad it wasn't me for a change.

After dinner, which she ate right up, she was trying to get me to give her a dessert. I had already planned on going for ice cream with her as long as she did well at gymnastics. When I told her that she was all excited and gave me a high-five and a hug.

When we did go get the ice cream, and when I handed it to her, she said, "precious" like Gollum does in Lord of the Rings. It seems like we have some serious food issues in this family.

Canada Family Reunion

The weekend of August 26^th, we had yet another family reunion but this time for Chris’s mom’s side of the family up in Canada.  It was really a birthday party for Joan’s Aunt Doris who was turning 85 but a lot of the family was coming so it was also considered a reunion.  We first debated whether or not to go since we knew hurricane Irene was on its way.  But what better reason to escape the possibility of rain, storm damage,  and no electricity then to leave and head up north for a family reunion.  We also took Chris’s parents with us so that they didn’t have to be nervous about driving up or back through the impending weather. 

We got up there Friday night and went to Aunt Doris’s house.  She lived in an apartment complex and when Chris and Makenna went out for a walk, they found a farm right behind the complex with goats, rabbits, horses, and other animals I can’t remember.  It was fenced off but the animals came right up to them.  Of course when I went out later with Makenna, the animals were being fed so had no interest in me.

The next day we went to some beach like area for the reunion/birthday party.   It was a really a nice summer day and we got to enjoy the water.  What was really neat about it was that it was really shallow water with a lot of sand bars so you could really walk out far and it was shallow.  The bad thing was you couldn’t really swim as it was so shallow.  Also, the section we were at was the pet section.  A lot of people brought their dogs and they seemed to have free reign about where they went to the bathroom.  I even saw one dog use the water as his spot so I wasn’t too thrilled about going in after that.

 

After the reunion we had to go find this cheese place which took forever to find but when we did, it was worth the trip!  I made Chris buy some maple cheddar and even though it was expensive, it was SO worth it!  We then went to “Aunt Jan’s” house (she’s a daughter to Doris).  She has horses that she shows and takes care of for other people.  She has a really neat farm house and is also building an addition over the garage for guests.

 

Since her sister who has grandkids lives next door, she also has this cool playhouse that Makenna enjoyed. 

All day and night we debated what time we should leave on Sunday; early in the morning, later in the morning, later in the afternoon?  We kept tracking Hurricane Irene and Chris finally came up with a plan to drive more West and then South to go around it.  This worked.  We saw sunny skies the whole way home.

We did decide to stop in Toronto at a Discovery Center but we only stayed for an IMAX movie which was ironically called “Tornado Alley.”  We felt that we should continue to push on as we knew the storm was actually heading into Canada. 

We went through the Canadian border at Niagara Falls and just as we crossed, I got a dreaded phone call from the girl watching our dogs that Maddie was really ill.  She had been trying to call me and it wasn’t until we crossed the border that the phone rang.

Not sure what happened but Maddie was puking and having diarrhea and was extremely dehydrated because of it.  I told the girl to go ahead and have the vet give her the necessary fluids and medicine.

When we got home you could see a remarkable difference in attitude from Maddie – she was practically lethargic.  After a few days she perked up but whatever it was came back again.  We had stopped giving her the medication when it seemed as though she was doing better and found out, just like humans, you should finish the medication.  She seems to be back on track but not quite 100%. 

Who wanted these stinking dogs anyways – oh yeah me – DUMB!

At least we got away and didn’t see any rain and only had a small tree that had fallen from the hurricane right next to our propane tank and still had electricity when we came home.  Even though the vet bill was an unexpected $250 we still enjoyed the last weekend of Summer.

Niagara Falls Reunion

I am SO far behind on my blogging (obviously)!  I will hopefully remember a lot of what we did the last month of Summer!

On the weekend of August 19^th we went up to Niagara Falls.  The annual “Jones” family reunion was this weekend and we decided instead of just going up one night or just for the day that we would make a weekend trip of it. 

We got up there on Friday and went to Chris’s Aunt Doloris and Uncle Bob’s house.  They live in an apartment complex that has a pretty even driveway so Makenna was able to ride her bike again.  This just shows us we really need to pave our driveway.  This poor girl only has been able to ride this bike a few times and she really enjoys the opportunities to do it.

On Saturday before the family reunion we decided to go to Fort Niagara.  I don’t think Makenna was too thrilled so she seemed to immediately attach to another family – who we did not know.   She ended up taking off with them right away (and I mean within 10 minutes of us being there) and she disappeared.   I was used to this happening but Chris was not and boy was Makenna in HUGE trouble when daddy got a hold of her.

She had managed to follow this couple, who had a little boy, up the stairs of one of the structures in the fort.  I knew she couldn’t have gotten too far so I looked around and then went up the stairs and sure enough there she was.  What I couldn’t understand was why this couple assumed we were the type of parents who would just let their child go wherever. 

 

We continued to walk around to the different buildings and then at one point they were having a cannon demonstration.  Makenna freaked!  She was so afraid of how loud it was going to be that she couldn’t relax.  They allowed us to come up around the cannon to see the demonstration but when they were going to actually light it, we had to stand way back.  Well, Makenna wouldn’t even get near the demonstration.  She literally wrenched her hand out of mine and ran away to a “safe place.”  I kind of chuckled but then went over to her and held my hands over her ears.  It happened really quick and then tears started coming.  I think we both thought we’d have a moment to prepare after the fuse was lit but it was like – lit – BANG!  No long fuse there.  Once we got her calmed down, we finished walking around and then went to the family reunion.

Makenna obviously enjoyed this as she got to swim and swim and swim.  She barely came out to eat and then went back in as soon as I would let her.  She also got to meet some cousins who were relatively around the same age

The next day we decided to stop at the Niagara Aquarium – which was really not that exciting.  They did have some seals that were blind – as you can tell by looking at the eyes.  There were penguins, fish, sharks, turtles, and frogs.  But it wasn’t really that big and we were done within an hour.

So we decided to go across this bridge over to the “Discovery Center” – this was even smaller than the aquarium and nothing really too exciting for Makenna to do.  It dealt more with the history and formation of the falls.  So we left there and headed home.