Reconnecting - On Overdrive

On Monday, Kezia was feeling pretty good. We spent most of the day sorting through things in the basement, which started to look a bit organized. I felt better about my accomplishments. We also realized that we needed to do laundry. I sort of neglected it and boy there was a lot. In Fresno, I did laundry 3 times a week, with two washers and two dryers. So after 9 days without doing laundry, you can imagine the pile we had accumulated.

The day ran away from us, and soon I realized that we had 1 hour to get ready to head off to Vita. We were planning to see our friends, Mike and Roxie, and their three kids. It's a 90 minute drive south of Winnipeg and we should have left at 2:30. Well, I hadn't packed for the night (we were then going to Carl's parents' place), the kids still wanted to sign their pictures for Frieda, we still had to go to Don't Photo to get our photos, and Asha was hollering at my leg. Considering all the chaos, leaving an hour late was doing pretty well.

All three kids slept on the way to Vita, but when they woke up on our arrival, were all extremely needy. Kezia had a fever again and Joel was feeling out of sorts. I was wondering if Mike and Roxie's kids would feel ripped off at not having anyone who was willing to play.

After an hour, and once the kids had food and medicine in them, they began to play. The four of us adults had a nice visit, but at 8:30 we realized it was time to go. We still needed to drop by Wendell and Shana's before we headed to Mom and Dad's.

We didn't get to Mom and Dad's until 10:00 and all the kids were wide awake. Kezia's fever had broken, but now Asha was feeling warm. Oh no. Mom pulled out ice cream drumsticks for all of us (yum!) for a night snack. We dumped the kids in bed and followed soon after.

The next morning, we had cereal for 1st breakfast. The plan was to head to Dad's cabin just a few minutes out of town and have a waffle brunch there. Carl and I were amazed at all the work Dad has done in the last year to his farm. The road was built up, the pond was dug, there was a garden, flowers, a playstructure for the kids, pathways cleared, and a little patio by the cabin. It was all very nice. We tromped around there for a while before we ate. Asha was getting tired after lunch, but I didn't have anywhere to put her down (the bed was too much of a novelty for her to settle there), so Mom held her and in 2 minutes, she was snoring on her grandma's lap.

Joel and Kezia loved running around the property and crawling up to the loft in the cabin. Dad and Carl scoped out the tree for the tree house that will be built this summer and Joel and Kezia collected sticks. By 2:00 everyone was tired, and so we drove back into town. All three kids were tired, so we put Asha down for a nap and the older two sat glassy eyed on the couch, sort of watching t.v.

I then took the opportunity to go and see my friend Matilda. I knew her kids were excited about seeing Joel and Kezia, but they were so tired, I knew it would be a disaster if I took them. So I went by myself, hoping Ben and Page wouldn't be too disappointed. Matilda and I had a nice visit outside, while I pitched a ball for Ben to hit.

After 90 minutes, I headed back to Mom and Dad's and we packed up to drive to Winnipeg. It was 4:30 and we needed to get back because we had dinner plans with Tim and Danae. The first part of the drive was fine, but by the time we got back into the city, there was construction everywhere! Lagimodiere was backed up for miles, so we headed east down Dugald Rd. But then north bound Panet was closed and so we had to head down Mission. Arg!!! It was close to 5:30 and we still weren't home. What an inconvenient time not to have a cell phone. And we still needed to pick up salad stuff!

So we got home at 5:45 just as the phone was ringing; it was Danae wondering if we had forgotten about coming over. Carl apologized for us being late and told her we'd be there in 15 minutes. I quickly cleaned the kids up and tried to tame down my frizz head while Carl whipped together a rather lovely salad. We jumped back into the van and drove the 6 blocks to Tim and Danae's (how ridiculous is that, eh?).

We had a great meal with them and Joel and Kezia were thrilled to play with Kaia and Hadley. We sat outside for a while before the mosquitos got aggressive. It was really nice to visit with them and find out how life was going for them.

Well, by 8:00, the kids were getting tired, and Joel had kicked the ball over the fence at least twice, so it was time to go.

When we got home, we quickly bathed all the kids and dumped them into bed. Asha's fever had come down and we were thankful it wasn't accompanired by the puking that Kezia had. After the kids were sleeping, Carl said to me that it felt like Sunday night because the last two days had been so busy. Ahhhh....our life before Fresno, running, running, running all weekend and then collapsing on Sunday night. But it's a good tired when you've had the chance to catch up with friends.