And The Rain Came Tumbling Down, or Oh Canada pt 1

I don't know if anyone in the US noticed, but in June there was crazy rain and flooding in Alberta, Canada.  We happened to be there when it happened, and it actually started the day Eric got there, so Canada, you can blame Eric for bringing crappy Nebraska weather with him.  It rained like crazy for over 48 hours.  We woke up one morning and they had evacuated the campground by our cabin.  Turns out it rained over 220 millimeters in 36 hours (yeah, I don't know what that means in real terms either), which means it rained half of the YEARLY average in just over a day.  There was flooding everywhere, and it even destroyed and entire town.  CRAZY.

We were lucky to be in Mini-Versailles (my new name for the cabin) and stayed warm and dry, but by the end I think we were just on the verge of voting someone out of the cabin, hokey ceremony and all, just to alleviate the cabin fever.

We were on a walk when we saw this beautiful site across the lake.

Ethan was a good sport about going on this long walk...of DEATH

We ended up getting stuck under trees while literal sheets of rain came down.  Eric had to drive over from the cabin just to rescue us.

The change in the park was remarkable:

Little waterfalls came down ALL over.  Even in the road.

Cameron Falls before

Looks more like Willy Wonka's waterfall, after

The river from the falls to the lake, before

After

Red Rock canyon normally has a river actually flowing through it with deep parts throughout.  Normally you can't make it anywhere near the top without getting soaking wet.

When I went with the kids after there was so much silt and tiny rocks that had been brought down that there were just a few inches of water across the now flat bottom.

Normally the waterfall is quite the site...

Now the bottom is much higher and the waterfall is no more because...

There is a hole punched in the back of the cavern from the force of the water.

The wonderful slide we go down...

Now merely a small dip into a tiny pool.

On-the-bright-side the kids were able to go down the new, tiny water slide all by themselves.

or with a little help in Livi's case.

All in all, I didn't suffer loosing my house, or worldly possessions, but we definitely lost something special in that flood.

The Busiest Weekend, EVER... or It's Dance Time Again

There are a lot of jokes I could make about dictators, feeling like an incompetent ninny, and probably a knock knock joke about a donkey and a chicken, but honestly, seeing what the girl's dance teachers were able to pull off I have to give those women some serious recognition. Not only do they put in 1,372 hours, they have to organize all of the dancers, the annoying parents, and they pull off a pretty good show. There were 3 shows this year, with each girl dancing in 2 (or all 3 for some unlucky parents). Since Ella turned 8 and was going to be baptized this year anyways we decided to do it the same weekend as the dance extravaganza so everyone who traveled out here for the baptism could go to the recital as well. 9 birds 1 stone type of thing, or to quote a better blogger than me "Twice up the barrel, once down the side."

This year was a "high" year, meaning that our bills were very high.  Ha ha.  No, what it means is that the costumes (and sometimes props) are more elaborate, which in turn means our bill is very high.  This was Livi's very first year which made it extra exciting for her, and Ella was in 4 dances herself, so between the two I felt like half the show was my girls (slight exaggeration, but for the time we spent preparing it sure seemed like it).

 I vowed this year that I wouldn't be a behind-the-scenes stage mom, like previous years, because it stresses me out, and I always end up getting yelled at.  I can handle a lot, but being yelled at by another adult is not one of them.  I tend to cry, as is the family tradition.  As the show got closer and closer no one signed up for Ella's classes so I decided I could help with ballet.  Ballet was 1st in her show order so I could help at the beginning and then pass the girls on to the next set of moms.  Less stress, right?  Well the last week of dance and still nobody had signed up for Jazz.  I should have just walked away, but I would worry more about Ella backstage with no one to help, than about being yelled at.

So I ended up being a stage mom for ballet, jazz, and for the left-over girls in the finale (not like put in a fridge left-over, just not with a big group).  It was slightly more than I had wanted, but I want the recitals to go well for the girls almost as much as Miss Kathy.  Almost, but no one cares more than Miss Kathy. On the bright side I was the stage mom for 3 dances but only got yelled at twice.  My percentages are getting better!

With such beautiful costumes I had to take lots of pictures, so rather than have lots of scrolling I pre-digitally scrapbooked them (are those even real words).

A Mother's 5th Worst Nightmare

Eric and I finally got to go out tonight.  Our babysitter was able to come earlier than we thought so we were able to go out to dinner before going to see "Oz."

There was about 20 minutes left of the movie when our babysitter called in a panic.  She went outside to see what the dog was barking at and overheard what sounded like a big party and the following YELLED statements:

"Mercy."
"If you aren't going to shoot, put down the gun."
"GO BACK INSIDE."
"Shut her up" followed by a muffled sob and scream.

So she called 911 and we raced home.  The whole time I pictured ricochets and what I would do if I was there to protect my kids.  I worried about retaliation, and the fact we paid twice as much as our last house just to get away from situations like this.

When we got home the cops were there talking to the neighbors, who are a retired couple and the in-laws of one of our judges.  They had taken our babysitters statement already so I drove her home, completely freaked out and gave her a nice tip for her quick thinking.

When I got home Eric said the cops had come by and.....drum roll please... it was an air-soft game.  Yep, teenagers playing with mushy air pellets.  I just had to laugh and laugh (which was kind of nice for once).  I am so glad our babysitter did what she did, and I am even more glad it was just some stupid teenagers.

Also on the bright side it was the neighbor who called the police on Ethan for throwing a rock.  Now I don't have to feel stupid and embarrassed because at least my kids didn't sound like they were going to kill anyone!

For your viewing pleasure: The Magical Tonks

El Misterio De Los Pastelitos, or my life sounds more interesting as a Spanish Soap Opera

This last week has had lots of goodies in it.  When I say lots I mean "so much sugar the Kool-Aid Man would look down on us."  We had a friend over on Sunday so I made sweet rolls to start the week off on the right (slightly swollen, diabetic) foot.  Ethan turned 10 on Wednesday so we had treats for scouts, school class, family celebration and his party with friends.  My brain feels fuzzy from the sugar shock.

On Friday I was a little stressed, in a clawing my eyeballs out with my fingernails kind of way.  "We" (Eric declaring over dinner the phrase "I haven't talked to Mom about this...") decided to let Ethan invite 6 friends over for a sleepover.  I was expecting at least 2 to not be able to come.  Nope.  All of them RSVP'd.  I had to clean the play room that had been completely trashed.  The game that we had centered the entire party around still hadn't come in the mail and of course I had physical therapy that morning.

I baked cupcakes for the party, set everything up, and ran off to get the kids from school.  When I got home I found, to my horror, only 12 of the 18 cupcakes I had baked remaining.  In the middle of the counter sat one unwrapped, half eaten cupcake.  So of course I jumped (leaped off a cliff head first) to the following conclusion: A stranger had broken into my house and eaten 6 cupcakes.  I went into a fight or flight adrenaline rush and started herding the kids back into the car to drive to the police station and report the break in.

Now remember all the sugar I had eaten all week, and the fact my meds have another 2 weeks to fully kick in.  After a few tense moments where my kids were looking at me like I had two heads, my eyes alighted on another clue: cupcake wrappers on the floor.  When my the logical part of my brain finally caught up to the crazy side I figured out what happened.

I had moved the couch over so the boys could play more comfortably on the Wii.  Moved it over closer to the counter.  Our little gymnast of a dog climbed on the couch, jumped on the counter and managed to eat 6 of the cupcakes (well 4 1/2 total.  We found some pieces around).  Of course they were chocolate.  6 chocolate cupcakes in a 9 lbs dog.

Eric got to induce, and I got to clean up vomiting in our tiny "treasure."  On the bright-side we didn't have an intruder.  On the down side I did wake up several times totally CONVINCED there really was an intruder who ate the cupcakes, blamed the dog, and was hiding in the storage area waiting to kill us all, or eat the rest of the cupcakes.  Not a restful night, but on the bright-side we were NOT all horribly murdered and the dog felt much better after the mess she made in the shower!