SIMC: The Tale of Two Cakes

Happy 7th Birthday to Liam today!  Yesterday, we had Liam's birthday party, so I got up early and iced the triple chocolate cake I baked the night before...  Erik was all over the cake when I was working on it so I put it up high and back from his little hands.  I was just sitting down for a rest before working on the rest of the party stuff and I heard "Yummy cake" coming from my kitchen... turns out Erik is more intrepid than I gave him credit for... he used the long tongs to do this to Cake #1:

So Wayne went over to Publix and bought a yummy Chocolate cake covered in cookies... definitely not homemade... so I did the birthday writing on it... only to have all of the icing I used melt while the cake was waiting to be cut at our Pool Party:

Oh well, at least everyone had a blast at the party and both cakes got the birthday boy's stamp of approval - an empty plate!

Here are the newborn and almost zeven years old versions of my little guy:

Sunday Family Stories - Guest Post by Heather's Hubby about the kids

One of the more interesting things about being a father is how different your children really are.

Sunday Family Stories - A Tale of Two Ballparks

One of the things that Toronto has that Charleston doesn't is direct access to top tier professional sports. Toronto has the Blue Jays (MLB), the Leafs (NHL), the Argos (CFL) and the Raptors (NBA), so when we come home to visit family we try to avail ourselves of the opportunity to see games...


In contrast, Charleston offers the RiverDogs (a Yankees farm team), the Sting Rays (an ECHL team), the Battery (Soccer) the Citadel for college football and scores of great college baseball, softball, basketball and volleyball...


Today I'm going to focus on my family's recent experiences with two very different ballparks...


Yesterday, Wayne took Liam to see the Blue Jays - here's what he wrote on his blog about the experience:

Yesterday, I took Liam to the Blue Jays game. Their promotion was as a Jr Jays day with kiddie tickets being half price; As I knew Liam would only last six or seven innings and knowing there would be a large number of families in the building, I thought it was the perfect day to introduce him to the Blue Jays. I forgot however, they were playing Boston which meant it would be a large crowd. 

So I decided to get two tickets in the no alcohol section thinking it would be less popular and a little more quiet for my noise sensitive child. We got to the ticket booth and I explained to the lady that I needed aisle seats as I had a special needs child and that he would consistently need to leave and come back. So what do I get? Two tickets right in the middle of a row. By the third inning, our row was completely full leaving my child feeling very uncomfortable. So we went to ask an attendant if we could move seats. I really wanted to move into 'worse' seats. I explained to the attendant the problem and the bored face basically recited policy to me and told me I was out of luck. I guess I could have just moved without asking and no one would have said anything but I was hoping my hometown team would be accommodating to my special needs child.

So I basically spent another inning of trying to get Liam not to kick the guy in front of me (his feet couldn't touch the ground in the seat) and him 'dancing' trying to get the sense of space. So we left. In total Liam had a lot more fun riding the TTC then going to the game. I could have just spent the $7.50 on the TTC instead of the $25 on nose bleed tickets and $13 for over cooked fries and a Coke.

 In contrast, this never would have happened at the Joe (home of the River Dogs) - first off, if we'd asked for aisle seats, we would have gotten aisle seats - and if they couldn't accommodate us, they would have said so...  if we'd needed to move, and had a good reason, the management would have helped to accommodate that too...


In terms of economies of scale, the River Dogs also keep the family pocketbook in mind when they set prices for concessions - it's still more than you'd pay at an average fast food place, but by no means do you go bankrupt getting snacks... and I've never eaten anything at the Joe that was sub par...


The River Dogs organization goes out of their way to make their product kid friendly... and to make each event special for all kids, even those with special needs... the Blue Jays have put profit ahead of experience, and it shows... even on Jr. Jays days they can't look past the profit to make one child's day more special...


I doubt our family will be heading back to a Jays game anytime soon, but I know that our butts will be in the seats come August when we get home, cheering for our new hometown team - the Riverdogs!

Sunday Family Story: Guest Post from Heather's Hubby

With Erik now almost totally mobile, my world is starting to get busier and busier... leaving less time for blogging and other pursuits... so Wayne has generously shared today's Sunday Family Story:


The Rapture, Armageddon and Parenthood

Sunday Family Stories - The R Word

Just over a month ago, as I was gearing up for Autism Awareness month, Wayne came to me one morning and said, "Did you hear what Liam said last night?"  I had no idea what he meant, but he told me he thought that Liam had several times referred to himself as a "retard"...

Sunday Family Stories - Heather's Hubby on #Autism Part 3 #autismawarenessmonth

My sweet and darling hubby has been taking us on a journey through his life the past two and a half years since Liam was diagnosed with Autism.  If you missed Part 1 or Part 2, I highly recommend that you go back and read them before starting on this final installment:

Sunday Family Stories - Heather's Hubby on #Autism Part 2 #autismawarenessmonth

My husband, Wayne, has agreed to share his story on my blog and I've divided it into three posts - you can read part one here if you missed it (it was written shortly after Liam's diagnosis 2.5 years ago). This is part two and was written (a little over a year ago)

It has been a year since I first wrote about my son and his autism diagnosis. It has been a challenging but rewarding year. First, my son is now 3.5 years and is a very happy child. In the past year he has gone through a lot: 1) he started with four days of therapy a week; 2) he has since progressed to going to a half-day school program here; and 3) has adopted the gluten free diet (which has seemed to help). With all this he is still only using an occasional word - but is progressing in all of his other targets quite well. In particular his social skills have improved greatly along with his small and gross motor skills.

Some observations I have had in the year of having a child diagnosed with autism: I am surprised at how much energy he takes up. We are constantly working with him and trying to get him to do things and it is quite tiring (I cannot imagine the pain potty training is going to be). Add to that the stress of the tenure track and life has been quite interesting on that front. We still have an 11 year old as well and raising her is nothing like raising him - two very different stories to tell there. It seems that our previous parenting experience means absolutely nothing and everyday learning with him has been a real challenge. I am amazed at how many people say, 'he doesn't look different' to us when they are told he has autism. He is a very good kid but when his frustration level rises and he starts to 'head bang' or if he doesn't talk to the store lady or he doesn't like people touching him - it is amazing how many people perceive him to be a 'bad' kid or us to be 'bad' parents. There is a large misunderstanding of what autism is and what it is all about in our community. The expense of having a child with autism is tremendous. Even with a good health plan, we figure it cost us over $10,000 this year out of pocket and that is not including his gluten free diet. It is a strain on a family (we have had to give up cable, my wife has become a 'coupon queen' and no vacations this year) but it has pulled us closer together in many ways.

In total, having my son has been the best thing for me. My life really does have a new meaning. I used to think publishing five (5) articles a year was an accomplishment but now having my son play 'Connect Four' or sing 'Old McDonald' with me is now what I aim for. I have come to terms with my trading potential 'guru' status in my field to being better 'daddy' status in my home (and that was surprising hard to do upon reflection). I still often become sad seeing the struggles that he constantly encounters but happy and heartened that he takes them on with a determination and rigor. I did not think it would be this kind of struggle but it has but with most things you have to work really hard to achieve the outcomes and successes become worth so much more.

Sunday Family Stories - Heather's Hubby on #Autism Part 1 #autismawarenessmonth

Over the next three Sundays, Wayne will be taking over my blog and posting about his experience with our son and Autism.  This week's post was originally written not long after we got Liam's diagnosis (2 and a half years ago):

Sunday Family Stories - Where did the time go?

It's been three months since Erik was born - boy has time sure flown by ... he's moving further and further away from that newborn stage and totally emerging as his own little self...

Well, not so little I guess... he's already outgrowing the 6 months size clothes that he started wearing a few weeks ago... guess I'd better not get too attached to any of these cute outfits, and I need to stay vigilant for sales on 9 and 12 months size winter clothes, since the 9 months stuff fits now, but I'm not sure for how long.

Erik is becoming much more like me than Liam ever did - he's a very social kid, perfectly suited to be the never-stay-at-home kid of this never-stay-at-home mom... he flirts outrageously with any woman who coos at him and has started smiling and giggling at so much.

The other thing is that he's a much happier and better sleeper away from home... at home he wants to be held all the time and entertained, but when we go out the world is his oyster and he just soaks in his surroundings.

He still has amazing head control, and is working on his sitting and tummy time activities.  Unlike Liam, he doesn't mind a stretch of 15-20 minutes on his stomach.

As for sleeping through the night, we're not there yet, but as long as mommy heads to bed at 8:00pm when he goes down for his longest stretch, I seem to be a semi-functional human being during the day.

I just can't believe how fast time is flying by, he's growing up so fast

 newborn

 10 days

 1 month

2 months

Last week

Sunday Family Stories - Holiday traditions part one

I know it's only November, but we got talking about turkeys and that always gets me thinking about how Christmas was celebrated when I was young...

I was lucky growing up to live in the same city as all my grandparents, and most of my aunts and uncles, cousins etc... so Christmas was a pretty big few days...

Christmas Eve was spent at my Oma's house - she always had a real tree, with lots of beautiful glass ornaments and yummy food decorating her tree - I always loved the chocolate ornaments... the tree sat in her big front picture window - a blue spruce that was nice and full and smelled wonderful...

Of course the spruce scent was often overwhelmed by the wonderful smells coming from the kitchen - we always had goose, turkey, knadel (potato dumplings), peas, and more... and as good as dinner was, you always saved room for dessert...

Dessert was simple but simply yummy at Oma's - and we ate it after opening presents... for a long time, my siblings and I were the only children for Christmas - my cousin Lindsay is almost 14 years younger than I am and the only other grandchild, so we were somewhat spoiled... we always got new Christmas pajamas or a nightgown from Oma, a new dress for the next day, and a toy of some sort... as well as a giant Toblerone chocolate bar, reams of paper and a book.

But back to dessert - Fat Cake (a yeasty raisin bread), shortbread, chocolate chip and sugar cookies, and stollen... and finally Cherries!  My oma always canned the dark red cherries every summer and cracked open the mason jars on holidays... the cherries were dark, super sweet and served in special crystal bowls...
It's amazing how you can draw the taste of something into your mind and your mouth years after having had something...

My Oma's cooking was something special - she had a signature way of doing things - no recipe to speak of - just a pinch of this and a handful of that and everything had to 'feel right' - so I don't think I would ever be able to completely replicate one of her meals...

After dessert, we always took family pictures in front of the tree - so that there is a record of every Christmas... and everyone who attended... this is a great tradition too...

Stop back next Sunday for more of my Holiday memories... feel free to share your holiday memories in the comments.

Sunday Family Stories - What's in a name

All three of my kids first names are derived from at least one of their parents names... and one of their middle names has family connections too...

Robyn Anne was named after her father Robert and her mother Shellie-Anne - she is the only one of my kids without a second middle name... It's interesting because Anne with an 'E' is a tradition, both in Wayne's family and mine - Robyn has an 'Anne' Fan that details the history of Anne going back 5 generations..

Anne is a link between several generations of my family as well... my great grandmother was an Annie, my grandmother is Dorothy Anne, my mother is Judith Anne and I am Heather Anne, and of course Robyn Anne fits right in as my daughter :)

Liam Kenneth Stephen was named after his dad - Wayne William Gordon, but there was already a William in his generation, and Wayne didn't want a junior, so we opted for Liam, which I love!  Kenneth is Liam's family connection - it honors his maternal great grandfather - who you can read about here and Stephen is in honor of one of Wayne's mentors and a really great friend - Dr. Stephen L.J. Smith - no relation ;)

Erik's name was a hotly contested and closely guarded secret for much of my pregnancy - Wayne had won earned naming rights (see here for details) by virtue of feeding my need to be a mother again... so the final decision on a first name was his... and despite his dasterdly plan to sell the rights on Ebay, he took suggestions from Robyn and I and we settled on Erik... his name loosely connects to mine through this logic:

My name is Heather - Erika is a German equivalent of Heather, so by naming him Erik, his name is related to mine

His middle names honor his maternal grandfather, Alfred and Reid is the last name of another very special mentor in Wayne's life - Dr. Laurel Reid.  

You might think we are neglecting Wayne's side of the family, but both times we found out we were having boys, we asked his dad about using his first or middle name... and he said not to... so we really honor his wishes by not naming our children after him... and the William connection to Liam is actually Wayne's maternal grandfather's name, so his family heritage is honored there too...

How did you name your kids?  Do you have any special stories about your own name?

Sunday Family Stories - Waiting...

I honestly thought that I might have a baby story to share today... I was having regular contractions Friday night, starting at about midnight and progressively getting closer, so much so, that I woke Wayne up at about 2 AM so that he could shower and get ready, because I was down to about 11 minutes apart...

Once he was showered and wide awake, he sat down and we timed a few contractions - the time was still steady, but the intensity wasn't as bad... I was drifting off to sleep, and then they stopped completely... it's now 7:30 pm and they haven't restarted... so we're back to waiting...

This is something else that I didn't get to experience when I had Liam, I went into labour long before I started worrying about when and how I'd start... heck I was being put on bed rest for my blood pressure and told to relax and my doc would see me in a week.

With Baby E, they are worried about him being big, and that's adding some to my stress, plus we're now in that window where they'd like me to go into labour, so the parting words from my O/B last week was let's hope your water breaks...

In a way, I'm okay with waiting... the longer E bakes, the stronger he'll be... then again, the bigger he'll be... so I sit and stew and wait for E to make his appearance known... and every time I feel a strong twinge, I wonder if labour will be starting...

Have I ever told you that I hate waiting...

Sunday Family Stories - Liam's Birth Story

As we sit here waiting to meet Baby E, it makes me nostalgic back to a few years ago when we met my other little guy... this is Liam's birth story:

Unlike Baby E, I had a pretty good idea of exactly when Liam was conceived, but after five years of waiting, I kept telling myself to hold on a few more days before I bought a test... I'd been late before, and AF had a way of showing up anyway...

This time though, I finally screwed up the nerve, bought the test and lo and behold, it was positive - we were having a baby!!!

I told Wayne and we made plans to find a doctor and decided to wait until we'd seen the O/B before breaking the news to Robyn that she was going to be a big sister... I knew she suspected something, because I was tired, cranky and queasy, so it really came as no surprise to her when we announced a sibling was imminent.

I was having a fairly routine pregnancy, a few hiccups here and there, and everyone was convinced that I was probably having a girl... so much so that even before my ultrasound, my sister went out and bought 'baby' her first bikini... weren't they surprised that May, when baby had boy parts!

It was funny, really - we had agreed on a boy's name rather quickly and there was no arguments about it, but our girl's name choices had been fraught with controversy... so we laid aside the controversy with one sweep of the U/S wand, and sat back to wait for Liam's birth.

Of course, I had to have picked a tumultuous time in our lives to be pregnant... Wayne had gone to a work-related conference at the end of October, before we got pregnant, and had met a colleague who was hiring a tourism and events management person for a business school program in Charleston, SC.  We were living in a little town in South-western PA, called Charleroi while Wayne toiled in a geography department at the California University of PA, which wasn't the most ideal situation... he was teaching the History of Geography and Map Skills instead of his passion... and on top of that, the small town lifestyle just hadn't grown on us...

So, when Wayne got called up by the colleague from Charleston early in December to come down for an interview, we hopped on a plane and off we went on an adventure... Wayne to interview and Robyn and I to check out our hopefully future home...

During the interview weekend, Wayne fell in love with the College of Charleston, and Robyn fell in love with the Atlantic Ocean, and I fell in love with Charleston as a whole... it was kind of like Kitchener-Waterloo, where we had lived while Wayne was doing his masters and PhD work - big enough to have all the amenities and small enough to not be overwhelming...

Needless to say, just before we found out we were pregnant, we found out that Wayne had gotten the job... which would mean selling our house after fast tracking some of the repairs we needed to do, and packing everything up once again for a move across a thousand kilometers less than 10 months after we had settled in Charleroi...

but I digress, that's just background...

In the midst of planning and packing, and keeping the house showroom clean, I was battling morning sickness, and fatigue - the good thing was that Robyn and Wayne were fairly self sufficient... and away all day at work and school, so I could rest when I wanted to rest and I napped a lot....

In May of 2006, just as everything was coming to a head - Wayne was finishing up at Cal U, Robyn was finishing up her school year, I went to another routine dr. appt. and found out that I had failed my one hour test for gestational diabetes and would have to go to the local hospital to sit for the 3 hour...

So, off I trundled and lo and behold, I was about to turn our family's eating habits upside down... I had gestational diabetes - time to count every carb, protein and fat gram, test my blood sugar 6 times a day and generally throw another wrench into the mix...

It was actually a fairly easy transition - we had a fairly healthy lifestyle, it was just being really conscious of portion size and substituting some lower carb choices into the diet...

and so we made our move in June of 2006 and settled into an apartment in West Ashley, SC... Liam's room became the catch-all room for a while... boxes and extra stuff were piled high waiting for places to go... as we  downsized from 2800 sq. feet into a 900 sq. ft apartment... but the rest was all good... Robyn and I started exploring our new home - mostly the air conditioned, indoor venues - cause darn - it's HOT and HUMID in Charleston in July and August, especially when you're in your third trimester...

The weather was still pretty hot and humid when September rolled around... but we managed to endure... We were getting ready for Liam's arrival in a month, starting to wash the baby clothes, put the crib and change table together and clean out his room...  I went to my doctor's appointment on September 14th, to find out that we had another potential hurdle to overcome... my blood pressure was going up... and I needed to go back in two days to have it checked... until then, I was being put on restrictions - limited movement and all... so what did I do on my way home from the doc?  Go grocery shopping of course, then when I got home, I tidied up the house, did some laundry and got ready to go on bed rest the next day....

I woke up on the morning of Friday, September 15th feeling crampy and achy - my O/B had said that I'd probably feel that way because of the internal I'd had the day before, so I thought little of it... I sent Robyn and Wayne off to their respective schools and hunkered down on the couch for the day, expecting to have the cramps subside and start in on the rest that I was supposed to have...

A few hours later, uncomfortable and achy, I headed for bed after making several trips to the bathroom... and my brother called... sitting there talking to him, we noticed that my cramps were starting to come and go... so we timed them... darn if they weren't getting regular - it looked like Liam wasn't going to have any part in me getting bed rest :)

I phoned my doctor's office, let them know I wasn't sure, but thought I might be in labour, called Wayne and told him to arrange for the rest of the day off, and I got myself together... The cramps were pretty regular, but they weren't too intense, so I thought it might be false labour... I packed up my stuff and drove over to Wayne's office, wondering if we were going to meet Liam or not, still not convinced I was in labour for sure.

At the doctor's office, we were quickly hooked up to the NST and lo and behold, we were definitely contracting and at about 6 minutes apart... it was time for a trip to L & D...

We headed over to the hospital, got checked in and sent to a room and then we waited for a nurse to come in and set up my IV in preparation for a visit from the anesthesiologist to get my epidural... the nurse couldn't find a vein!

The second nurse couldn't find a vein!

So when the anesthesiologist came in to give me my epidural, lo and behold, I was a pin cushion that hadn't taken... so he put in my IV and had to rush away to do a C-section.. promising to come back after that...

Of course, fifteen minutes into some other woman's C-section, I hit transition... and darn that hurt... every 3 minutes for the rest of the hour... until my guardian angel came back to do my epidural...

It was another few hours before Liam was ready to arrive - it timed perfectly for the doctor, who managed to finish out her daily office visits before coming back to the hospital to check on me... I started pushing at 5:15 pm and by 5:40, Liam was born!!

Such an accommodating little guy - he waited until the doc was ready to deliver him... and didn't even cause a major bump in her schedule :)

Liam Kenneth Stephen Smith, first picture taken at 5:50pm on September 15th, 2006

Sunday Family Stories - Guest Post by Wayne...

When Wayne noticed that I was in a writing slump, he graciously stepped up and offered to share the post below - isn't Heather's Hubby fantastic!

A little reflective...

Today, I am feeling reflective.  Looking back, life has always been interesting for me.  One of my first jobs was working at a wading pool/ park. Each summer, I used to play games with the local kids, run camp programs as well as coaching various sports.  It was a nice way to spend the summer.  One of the parks that I worked at frequently was Kew Gardens on Toronto's Beaches Community.

One of the primary jobs was to watch the wading pool (really low tech life guard).  It was a great way to get an exceptional farmers tan!  Then again, some of my favorite memories is playing with the kids in the pool, talking to the parents (especially the single moms and nannies) and generally enjoying summer.  The thing I won't miss however, is filling the pool every morning.  You have never felt cold like putting your feet into that water first thing.  I shiver thinking about it (and I still don not think about what was in that water by the end of a day with all those small children in the poll as well).

Every park had a 'hut'.  It was where the sports equipment, chemicals for the pool and first aid materials were kept.  There was so many good memories that happened in those huts.

 

One of the best traditions in these huts was signing the wall, ceiling or where ever else a signature could fit.  It is amazing to go back today and see all of the signatures.  In some of the huts you will find signatures of politicians, leaders of business and maybe even that of a PhD or two (and yes is says 1991 - 1998).

They have since cut back on these summer positions as a result of budget cuts.  It is sad to think how many kids I was able to keep out of trouble because they were at the park playing with me.  We had kids out actually being active and engaging one another.  We worked as mentors and role models. We provided a safe place for kids to be kids while giving parents an hour or two of peace.   This job taught me leadership skills, how to communicate effectively and the importance of empathy (sounds kid of like skills that would contribute to the development of a good educator).  All of this for a grand total of $5.85 an hour.  

Wayne.

Sunday Family Stories - My Opa

I really don't have memories of my Opa, he passed away when I was two years old... but I have memories of great stories and a wonderful family heirloom to share with my children that was made by his hand...

I also don't know all of his story, but the parts that I do know make me proud to have had a man like Franz Loeffler as my grandfather... From early on, the stories I was told of my father's father - Opa, was that he was a quiet man who spoke with his hands... he was a carpenter and I remember the garage at the bungalow where my father spent his teen years and my Oma lived when I was a child to be full of strange and wonderful tools of his trade... chisels, planes, saws - almost everything he did was by hand, in the Old World style...  and he worked on a special piece for his first grandchild, a rocking horse... but I digress... I want to tell you some of the history that I know about him before we talk about my gift...

Franz Loeffler was a young man, growing up in Germany in the twenties and early thirties... as an apprentice and then journeyman carpenter, he was a socialist and believed in unions, trade and commerce... and as Fascism took hold in his country, he made the difficult decision to follow his beliefs and leave a country that no longer supported him and his ideals... from what I gather of the stories, he fled through Czechoslovakia and made his way carefully to Canada.

Upon arrival in Canada, he began to build a life, interrupted by the growing ills in his homeland and surrounding countries in Europe - the escape route he had used fell to German forces that occupied Czechoslovakia and Franz felt the need to return to fight against the oppression and atrocity being wrought and joined the Canadian Armed Forces and returned to Germany as a translator... it must have been an impossible situation as he headed into familiar territory to fight against oppression and tyranny of his own people...

While there, he met my Oma, Ursula, who immigrated to Canada shortly after the war to marry my Opa - she had two weeks after landing on Canadian soil, knowing almost no English, to get herself organized, acclimated and married!

They built a life in Canada, having three sons, my dad being the oldest... who married my mom in 1973 after having known each other off and on all their lives... and growing up down the street from each other... I was born in 1975 and from all accounts was my Opa's darling - he shared some of my firsts... he gave me my first beer, and of course, my first 'pony'...

I know so little of the intervening years...my Oma shared some stories with me before she passed away on January 1, 1998, but what I do have is a legacy... and my children call her 'Dotty'

Dotty is a fabulous, one of a kind preschool size rocking horse... and one of my greatest treasures... my Opa lovingly created her for me and never got to see me ride her... She was a Christmas present that he nearly completed before passing away.

I was inspired to write this before I could contact my family to get pictures to include... I promise to scan and add new pictures of my Opa and Dotty as soon as I can and I will announce the opportunity to come back and see this post come to life... but I really wanted to share this story with you as my Sunday Family Story today!

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Don't forget to check out my giveaways - Etch-a-Sketch Keychain and $45 CSN Stores Gift Certificate

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As usual lately, I am linking this post up at:

Sunday Family Stories - My first airplane ride (reunion wrap-up)

If you've been following along for the past few weeks, you know that when I was six years old, my grandparents, mother and siblings all piled into my grandparents motor home for a trip across three provinces and over 3000 kilometres to visit my grandfather's birthplace of Lac Vert, Saskatchewan.  If you haven't - well, before reading this week's installment, you might want to get some background by reading part 1 and part 2

After having spent the better part of two weeks in close confines, not to mention the stress of traveling such a long distance, my siblings and I were starting to become unbearable brats... no amount of prodding, gentle persuasion or even threats were keeping us from acting like little terrors.

I remember specifically sitting with my grandmother at the kitchen table of the motor home while she tried to share a news clipping about the family reunion and how special it had been, not only for our family, but also for the town of Lac Vert.  On any normal day, getting that one on one attention from Nana and reading the paper would have been important and special to me...especially since my name was printed in the paper as having attended... but my temper was so short and I was so out of sorts and tired that I did the unthinkable - I screamed, threw a fit and cried and said hateful things that I'm sure I apologized for later in life, but in the heat of the reaction, I was just a brat...

Things came to a head after that outburst, and the adults in the family realized that maybe another week to ten days cooped up together wouldn't be a fabulous idea after all... so while I calmed down and had a good cry on my grandparents big bed in the back of the motor home, a plot was hatched.

We'd drive to Saskatoon, the nearest city, and my grandparents would part ways with the rest of our clan... heading off for some well deserved 'adult' time, while my mom, sister, brother and I would embark on a new adventure together - an airplane ride!

We stopped in at a store on our way to the airport and we each got to choose a small toy and a book for the trip - my sister and I chose little dolls that came with accessories and a carrying case that strapped to your wrist and if memory serves, my brother picked a truck... These toys were safely stowed in Mom's carry on until we reached altitude and promised to behave for the rest of the trip, knowing that our new treasures would disappear if we fought (too much)

My sister and I sat together in the front of the plane, while my mother and brother sat a row behind us... I remember that neither Catherine, nor I got a window seat, because we had taken whatever seats my mom could book, so some poor business man was our window seat companion.

I had the aisle seat and remember people watching and talking to the flight attendants as they walked back and forth up the narrow aisles - I was lucky that for part of the trip my sister napped... so I couldn't fight with her too much :)

I also remember craning to look out the windows at the fluffy clouds and blue sky as the pilot crossed over Manitoba and brought us back into Ontario.  I marveled that a trip that had taken us more than a week by land was over in about 3 short hours...

I'm sure we saved my grandparents sanity, and probably my mother's when the decision was made to head back quickly rather than staying with them and it capped off an adventure of a lifetime for this 6 year old and made memories that have lasted a lifetime!

What was your first experience or memory with airplanes?  Do you have memories of family reunions or family summer trips?  Please feel free to share them in the comments - or if you've written a post about it, leave a link for us to read about it!

Sunday Family Stories - Saskatchewan Memories... family reunion part 2

I started this story last Sunday with a memory of a place... Kakabeka Falls and I was right... my mother convinced my dad to find a way to send me pictures from our trip there... his scanner is broken, so he took pictures of the photos with his camera and uploaded them for me.. so the quality is a little rough, but you'll get the idea...

I'm the taller girl, my sister Cat is the shorter one and the blond is my brother and the adults are my Nana and Pompa (grandparents)

Today's story continues the theme... but moves to Lac Vert, Saskatchewan.

I didn't know my grandfather's family as well as I know my grandmother's for the simple fact that there were far more miles between us... We had many reunions with my grandmother's family, held at various homes throughout Southwestern Ontario... but our trip to Lac Vert, Saskatchewan just outside Saskatoon was my one and only opportunity to meet most of my grandfather's family.

I have fleeting memories of this time - I was only six years old, and while I was precocious, I really didn't understand the gravity and magnitude of the endeavour undertaken by the Morris family to actually congregate together...

From my grandmother's memoirs, I've come to appreciate just how much of an undertaking it was:

"Kenneth Cecil Morris, was born on April 13, 1927 to James Albert Morris and Agnes Edna Eastwood at Lac Vert, Saskatchewan.   Ken was the fourth son and youngest of nine children.

He started school at the age of seven and a half, and was taught by Mrs. Hussey at the Lac Vert Public School.

As a boy, he delivered milk and vegetables to town; in the winter by dog sled, and in nicer weather on his Shetland pony, Tony.

In 1937, at the age of ten, his mother was gored by a bull in the pasture across the road from their home.  Kathleen, his eldest sister, who was pregnant with her fifth child, watched in horror as the bull charged.  It was later learned that Ken’s mother was menstruating and that the blood attracted the bull.  She lived just a few days.  Kathleen’s husband, Carl Wullum, had died two months earlier of a ruptured appendix.  Kathleen had a baby boy that same year, a brother for her four girls.

Ken and his sister Doreen, who was two years his senior, were left to survive on the farm with their father.  A decision was made to send Doreen to Toronto to live with her paternal aunt, Frances Morrison.  She and her husband owned a hardware store on Bloor Street and were childless.  There were many tears as Ken and his father took Doreen to the train, hoping she would have a better life in Ontario.

The farm was sold in 1940 when his father enlisted in the World War II Veterans’ Guard after having served in World War I.  Ken was left behind to work on a neighbouring farm while his father criss-crossed the Atlantic Ocean, as part of the National Guard, ferrying German prisoners who were interned in Canada.

At twelve years old, and not very big, he worked as a man; driving four horses.  Many times, his pay was the runt of a litter of pigs.  There seemed little future for him in the west, so he made the decision to join Doreen in Toronto where he came to live with another paternal aunt, Sade Lyons."

By leaving the west at an early age, and being the youngest child, my grandfather didn't know his siblings as closely as he did his sister Doreen, who still lives near Toronto and whom we got together with more often...

My great grandfather had passed away early on in my grandparents marriage and a family that had scattered to the four winds based on circumstances had drifted even further apart... my grandfather himself had not seen some of his siblings in many years at the time of the reunion and had never met nieces, nephews and their children....

The reunion took place at the Lac Vert community centre and was filled to the rafters with 'relations' and pot luck food... as an ankle biter, I wandered around in a bit of a daze with my nametag on and people asking me the same questions over and over ... who did I belong to, where did I live, how old was I and did I know who they were?

My mom was busy talking to everyone - a social butterfly... my dad was dealing with my little sister, who had sprained her ankle just before the reunion... and I think my brother was taking a nap, when I latched onto the one person who didn't ask the same questions over and over .. and was my size...

my cousin, Trevor - we hung out and danced, played chase and generally ignored everyone else - unless it was time to head to the buffet tables or get a drink...  and the time went much faster

I wish, as an adult, that I had more recollection of other relatives and their stories, but at six, I was more interested in just having a good time... and at least those memories are all good :)


Read the exciting conclusion to this trilogy here

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I'm linking up with a few blog hops again today and want to thank anyone who has landed here from them - If you leave a comment on this or any other of my posts, I will happily return the visit... 

Stop back again tomorrow for a yummy MMMmonday recipe and there are great things planned for the rest of the week too!

If you want to know more about my grandfather, I recommend checking out this post


I'm also hanging out with MannLand5 and she's got a few questions...

1. What kind of athlete has the hottest body? 

I'm pretty partial to baseball players

2. Are you a planner or a procrastinator?

Can I say that I plan to procrastinate?...  I'm pretty good at planning things I want to do, and forgetting about the stuff I don't...

3. Diet or regular (soda)? diet, if at all...

4. What's your one "must have" for Fall?  Comfy shoes

5. What's your favorite fast food restaurant? Arby's

6. What do you think is the sexiest profession for a guy? Professor... I like my guys smart ;)

7. Did you wear braces? no

8. Would you rather have a guy that's super sexy or kind? kind, all the way

Sunday Family Stories - Kakabeka Falls

I was six years old and off on an adventure... my grandparents, my mom, my brother, sister and I all packed into my grandparents motor home in late July for a three thousand kilometer journey from our home in Toronto, to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and later, a small town just outside of Saskatoon called Lac Vert... my grandfather's hometown.  Why, you ask?  A family reunion... but that's another story, because today we are focusing on the journey, not the destination...


A year or two before that summer, my grandparents had bought a motor home and started traveling all over the place, taking trips to the Southeastern United States in the winter, and taking off all over Ontario in the summer.  I remember going away overnight with them one fall weekend and stopping by a farm in rural Ontario for freshly picked Mcintosh apples - yum...

but, again, I digress.. that trip was part of the scheme to get my sister Catherine, who was five, my brother Mark, who was four and myself acclimatized to the camper and feeling at home with a long drive... we loved it!  Quite simply, the fact that we could get up and get a snack out of the fridge or go to the bathroom without stopping was a novelty and we relished it...


So, as I said, in July of 1981, and yes I'm that old, we headed west.   My grandfather was at the wheel in the big captain's chair... and I remember the adults talking about hitting the open road once we got past the traffic of suburban Toronto and setting the cruise control... I knew it had something to do with driving, but in my six year old mind, I pictured an autopilot dummy popping up to drive the motor home when my grandfather wanted a break... 

Our journey would take us at least a week, because even with the amenities of the motor home, a kid needs breaks... so we stopped and found playgrounds in towns all the way along the Trans Canada highway.  Our first goal wasn't to get to the reunion - that was a somewhat vague notion at the end of the trip, but to get to the mythical Kakabeka Falls... My grandparents had been building up the place in our minds - partly because it was a goal to reach there by the second or third day of the trip and because, quite honestly I think that saying Kakabeka (ˈkɛkəˈbɛkə) was just so much fun!

You can read the wikipedia entry about Kakabeka falls here,  


While it's no Niagara Falls, to a six year old, Kakabeka Falls was amazing - the rush of water over the 40 foot cliffs was almost deafening and the awe of watching the swirling pools at the bottom.. well I'm sure I was awe inspired...


Somewhere in my parents pictures of us, there is one of all three kids standing with my grandparents in front of this fence at Kakabeka Falls... and if I'd been better organized, I would have asked my dad to scan it and send it to me for this blog post, but I'm not and I didn't... so my six year old self will have to remain my my mind's eye for now and when my mom reads this blog entry, she'll ask my dad to dig out the old photos and find the one of me, Cat and Mark standing with Nana overlooking Kakabeka Falls... found it:

I remember just fragments of the trip really, getting off and on the motor home, stopping at several provincial and national parks and of course, that just before the reunion, we had stopped at one more park to play - and my sister had fallen off the monkey bars and sprained her ankle... I also remember meeting a myriad of relatives, having lots of pictures taken, and dancing with my cousin, Trevor - the only kid my age at the party.  


But, the one thing that sticks out in my mind from that trip forward is that no matter where we were going on a long car trip, an imagined ride in the car or boat at the cottage, invariably our destination would be Kakabeka Falls... whether we got there or not.


Next Sunday, I will have my act together and my mother will have browbeaten my dad into finding some pictures from that era... and I'll post them here with another memory of that long ago motor home trip across 2/3 of Canada to reach into my grandfather's roots.


Please check out part two of the story of our family road trip in Summer 1981!


As for other stories about my family, I invite you to check out:

10 things I learned from my Pompa (Grandfather)

Iwannastay

I'm a Tea Granny

Sunday Family Stories - Heather's Hubby Edition

I am still having trouble writing and reading on the computer... Ach Baby doesn't like it... so I prevailed on Wayne to do another post for us....

So here is one of his stories:

With Heather’s pregnancy family stories have been coming rushing back into my brain.  Some of the stories are happy and poignant while others are sad and morose.  I have even thought of a couple that has really made me laugh.  It has been hard to choose one but chosen I have.  You tell me what category it fits into.

I was never good at school when I was young.  I really didn’t like it for some reason that to this day I can not fathom.  In elementary school I was in particular quite the ragamuffin and/or scamp.  I remember in grade eight having a math test I really wasn’t prepared for so I decided to make sure the test did not happen.  I sat down and went through all of the ways to get out of the test.  While I could have chosen something easy like faking being sick, that was not my way.  I decided to create a nice diversion instead. 

Using a baggie filled with baking soda, a brick and some string I developed a device that would pull the fire alarm during my class period.  That way I could see the test, know what was on it and then study for it when I was sure it would be given to us again the next day.  So I spent hours the night before figuring out the weights needed to trigger the brick attached to a string to fall at a rate of pace that would pull the lever with enough force to trigger the alarm at just the right time.  It was really quite ingenious. 

The next day during the recess before the class I snuck into the storage area and set up my device.  As I wandered into class assured my nefarious plan would work nicely, I confidently flipped over my test paper.  The test was on force and was similar to all of the math I had to use the previous night.  As I looked at the test stunned that I actually knew how to answer the questions, what happens but my plan works to perfection. 

As we are standing on the side walk in the now rain, the teacher announces to us that since our test was disrupted, he was going to just take our homework scores instead and he was cancelling the test.  It is when I learnt that ‘D’ stands for deserved!

Sunday Family Stories - Ach Baby... (corrected)

For those of you who know my husband in real life, this will come as no surprise... he has an unusual view of the world and therefore an unusual sense of humour... but for those of you who don't, please understand that this story is all about a loving and devoted husband and father and a few of his little quirks... and our news about the new addition...

Let's set the scene for today's episode: It's the first weekend in March and I'm off for a little girl time at the Wine and Food festival.. don't really feel like drinking too much, but all the food looks SO yummy!  I'm at the tasting tent for lunch on Friday and gobbling up everything from goat cheese crostini with balsamic reductions, to buffalo sausage to shrimp and grits... and for dessert... key lime rice pudding, cookies, carrot cake, lots of yummy-ness...

I get home and feel sick as a dog, sure it's a bad shrimp or something, I throw up and head to bed for a nap... I don't feel great all week... lingering effects you know... but being pregnant doesn't even enter my mind... I had a period the week before, sure it was a little light but that happens to me now and then...

Fast forward two weeks and I'm sitting in the car telling my husband that I need to make a doctor's appointment - I think I've given myself an ulcer or worse... I've had heartburn and nausea up the wazoo... and it's getting worse, not better... He asks me "Are you sure you're not pregnant?" to which I reply "I had a period... I'm due for another next week... maybe that's why its aggravated...I'm pms'ing..."

Four days later I'm buying a pregnancy test... hoping beyond hope that I'm not dying of stomach cancer... because I've just spent the entire night before throwing up water.... and lo and behold, hubby is right again... I got a little plus sign within milliseconds...

So off to the doctor I go... with no idea how far along I am (I also had a light period in January, so I didn't know), armed with a HGC blood test that they'd ordered when I told them my story... only to be told that yep, I'm pregnant and I'm 2/3 of the way through my first trimester!  The morning sickness will be over soon (fingers crossed)... I even got a beautiful keepsake of an 8 week old gestational peanut for my scrapbook...

Telling Hubby

Boy was he not shocked... he actually gloated that he knew before I did that I was pregnant... and reminded me that we'd had a discussion after Liam was born that if we had another child he wanted "Naming Rights" ... Since we had taken so long to get pregnant with Liam ... almost 5 years ... and I knew I didn't want to be too far over 35 with my pregnancy, it seemed like our family was complete and I agreed...

Now Back to the initial warning ... My husband has this crazy notion that the world's most perfect name is Akbar... he's told friends and family off and on for years about this... and of course each family member has their own version of what a girls version would be.. Akbaria, Akbarina etc... and nicknames... Ackie, Bar, Ackiebar that it's grown a life of its own...

The good news, is hubby is not naming our peanut Akbar or Akbaria... his list of names is a little more traditional and works with Smith... that was one concession I wrung out of him... but until we have a sex, the baby's nickname, in honour of his/her daddy is Ack Baby... if you missed the picture on Friday, here it is

Now you don't think I'd end the story there do you...





Ack baby may end up with a non-traditional name after all... hubby and I have been working on a new budget for the family to take into consideration the new costs of ongoing medical care and baby 'stuff' and his latest brilliance it to give up his 'naming rights' to the highest bidder on EBay... I could end up with an Apple, Sony or Mitsubishi, a baby Microsoft or MacDonald or Google running around... I'm really hoping I can talk him out of that one...

The one thing we have decided on is not sharing Ack Baby's name until s/he is born, since we got wide ranging opinions on Liam's name and the girl choices we made at the time... and it is definitely going to be Wayne's decision this time (with maybe a little persuasion from Robyn and I)...

Stay tuned... I'm sure that I'll be adding to Ack Baby's story over the next 7 months until I deliver and I thank you for stopping by to read this edition of my Sunday Family Stories... if you want to be sure that you catch all the episodes (which may not all be Sunday Stories), please become a follower and if you want to read back stories, please click on Sunday Family Stories in the Labels section to see all of the previous stories ...

Also, don't forget to enter my contest - today is the last day to vote for my "April Fools Lie" - go here and choose A, B or D  for a chance to win a Restaurant.com gift card!

And here I thought I was done.... but Hubby needs to chime in with his perspective in case you don't get through to his comments below:

Sunday Family Stories - Retold from Another Perspective

My wife is a wonderful lady but even after nearly 12 years of marriage she still does not get me which is okay because I barely get me.  Today however, she got it more wrong than usual.  I always liked the name Akbar because it means greatness (though in the interest of honesty my original term of reference does come from Star Wars - though I was five or six at the time).  When I noticed about three weeks ago that something was not in the ordinary, being the observant person I am watched all the signs, put the clues together and lo and behold Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was right, when you eliminate all of the other possibilities the truth remains.    Therefore I thought of the Achtung Baby which was the U2 album that featured the song 'One.'  Achtung is the German word for attention.  So with my sense of humour I decided it was prudent to combine Akbar with Achtung to create Ach-Baby which Heather misinterpreted as solely Akbar derivative.  In my mind however, the sentiment given Achbaby's later discovery is 'Attention Great Baby.'