Fun at Grandmom's

We spend an afternoon at Margo's. She was so nice to fill the pool, and we had to kick the kids out of the pool when it was time to go home. It was soo hot this day!

Tucker enjoyed the pool too. I think he misses the pool at home, I always had it filled up last summer. As soon as the girls got out of the pool, he squished himself in! lol 

He was so nice that he got the water all yucky dirty!

Cool Dude Brooke.

Chloe says take a photo of me, then she looks at Brooke instead of the camera. lol

Posing for the camera...I think she needs lessons

Chloe's more of a natural....lol

Tucker and Ice.

I took this photo after he took the ice from the bowl. I had brought out a bowl of ice for him, he got all excited and ran around the yard with the ice in his mouth, then came back to the bowl and took more. lol It was so hot!!

A video of Tucker with his million pieces of ice. 

Assiniboine Forest Biking

So on Wednesday, we decided to go on an adventure, we packed up the bikes, and Tucker and headed out to Assiniboine Forest. We don't have room for my bike in the van with the dog and the kids and the other bikes, so I had to walk to keep up, which was kinda like running at some points. lol

The kids loved biking up and down this hill. Of course, what kid wouldn't love the opportunity to go really really fast??? lol I can tell you who was nervous about this part of the adventure..her name is Mommy. I thought for sure someone was going to break something and it was so hard to just let them enjoy the fun. But, I did it! I only show them going up and down maybe 1 time each but they each did it at least 5 times!

August Date Night

We dropped the girls off with Margo and headed out for supper. We originally thought that Olive Garden would be a good place, but we weren't done our coffee by the time we got there, so we decided to keep on going. lol 

We drove down to Osborne Village to see if there was anywhere there that we would like to stop and eat at, we both thought of Confusion Corner Bar and Grill at the same time. That is where we headed!

We sat out on the patio, even though the sky looked angry. lol 

The scenery from our table.

My handsome date!

And me of course! lol 

The bathrooms were pretty fancy, or at least I thought so anyways. Definitely, not McDonald's or Tim Hortons. lol 

All of the stall doors, had actual doors on them. 

This is Jeremy's dinner. He had The Hawaiian Burger with a Tomato soup.

I had the Drunken Steak Sandwich...Medium Rare

And of course French Fries, because no eating out meal is complete without fries. lol at least in my mind...unless of course it's pasta.

Although, the food looks yummy, and it really did taste fine, we did find 3 hairs between our plates of food. That was kinda gross, needless to say, I don't think I'll be heading back there any time too soon. Especially not for a 15/plate kinda meal that has hairs.

We left the restaurant feeling a little disappointed but optimistic about what else the night might hold. On the advise of a friend here in Winnipeg, we decided to go mini golfing! I haven't played in so long.

We went to U-Puttz Black Light mini golf. It was a great time. At first we were like under water with fish, squid, octopus, dolphins and sharks.

I wasn't going to take a photo of the 9th hole, because it was kinda boring as you can see....but I got a hole in one here!!!

Since I got a hole in one on the 9th hole, Jer had to get one on the 10th hole. lol

Then we entered into the dinosaur world. lol

Where, Jeremy got another hole in one on the 13th hole. lol

Here is our score card...As you can see I totally fell apart in the 2nd half. Jer distracted me with all his hole in ones. lol Ending scores Jeremy 46, Lisa 49. Both of us still below PAR for the course! yay us!

Military Family Life Pt 2

I read an interesting article the other day about how as military spouses, we go through friendship dating every posting. I agree with this so much it's kinda funny. lol

The article stated that there should be an online friendship dating site for military spouses. I laughed at this and the possibility of names makes me chuckle. But, we kinda have a online friendship dating site. It's called Facebook. Most posting locations have a military spouse group on facebook. I have joined both the Shilo one (when posted there) and the Winnipeg one now that I am in The Peg. Sometimes, you start talking to someone from the groups through private messages or text messages and you get to know them so well that by the time you meet them in person it's like meeting up with an old friend, not someone that you just met a week ago, in an online group.

Friendship dating is much like real dating. You can often be set up for blind dates by friends. I did this with one friend who was moving to my home province. I have a great network of friends there, and I was able to set one military spouse to help make her posting a little easier. And like setting up a friend for a blind date, I selected one of my friends who had lots in common with the military spouse and who was also a military spouse. Usually, it's easier to connect one military spouse to another, because they can relate to what you are going through and the whole friendship dating experience is familiar as well.

I have also had a friend set me up with one of their friends. Facebook, Email and text messaging makes it so easy to stay in contact with friends, old, new, close by and far away. It would be so easy upon being posted to hide in your house and only communicate with "old" friends through technology, but it doesn't do any of us any good to become hermits.

In Shilo, I met some very different people, the first 3 people I met in Shilo were not people I wanted to be close friends with, and I knew pretty quick with two of them that our friendship would be at a distance if it existed at all. The third took me a little longer, not sure if it was because I was so eager to have a friend, or if they hid their craziness better. I think it was a combination of the two. lol Either way, I'm glad that I found the great friends I did find there, and I miss those girls so much. Erin, Catherine, and Melissa made wading through the crazies all worth while!

In Fredericton, it was a lot easier...I already had a support network, so any of the awesome military spouses I met there, were just bonuses! And I met some great ladies at the Second Language Training (French Classes) put on through the MFRC. It was a great course, we learned so much, and we had a ton of laughs! Alana, Sonia and Suet are three of the sweetest girls, and I miss them all very much and am so happy I met them.

In Edmonton, I was working, so I met a lot of my friends through work. That was pre-kids, now my kids are how I meet people....that and the online friendship dating site called Facebook. lol I did meet some great military spouses. There were events often planned for the "Officer Wives", and I didn't miss a single one. I loved getting together with those ladies, hearing their stories and having the support of people who knew what I was going through. One thing I don't miss about working and making friends that way, is I don't get near as many civilian "Ohh, I don't know how you do it"'s. lol Love my civilian friends to pieces, but as a military wife, I don't like hearing how difficult you think my life is. lol

So far in Winnipeg, I have met a couple of really great ladies. The Winnipeg Military Spouses Facebook group, has brought me into contact with quite a few wives. I met one lady, Carolyn, who interestingly enough still lived in Shilo, when I lived in Shilo. Both of us had joined the Winnipeg Spouse group, hoping to get support for our upcoming postings. We started talking a lot, asking questions and helping each other through our HHT (house hunting trips) and our moves. We even had the same Brookfield Agent in Shilo, so we often would bitch about her. Our Brookfield agent is by far the worst one we have had in all 4 of our moves. Useless...anyway, that's for another day. lol We found it so amusing that we both lived in Shilo and had never met...and to make matters even more interesting we are both New Brunswick girls...and not only that...but small town NB girls AND we both fell in love with Manitoba boys! lol Through our conversations, Carolyn and I have found we are a lot alike. We finally met for coffee and dessert on Thursday, Aug. 15, and I swear when the two of us met, it was like we had been friends forever. I love how that can happen! lol

I met another lady Emily through the Winnipeg spouses group. Her and I hit it off quite well too. We share a lot of the same thoughts and feelings towards things, and we have kids close in age. Her and I also did a lot of chatting prior to our first meeting. by the time we met up in person, we already felt we knew one another a long time as well. Our busy schedules make it hard for meet ups, but we get together when we can.

The most recent meeting I have made from the Winnipeg spouses group is Jennifer. We met to go for a walk in the Assiniboine park with the kids. Jennifer and I did pretty well with our first meet. At first, I felt it was a bit awkward, but we soon found a wealth of common ground with our hobbies. She crochets and knits and I knit too! She scrapbooks!!! She takes photos and edits them! Once we found that common ground we have been getting together once a week with the kids to explore the city. Her boys and my girls get along swimmingly. They are constantly asking when they get to see one another, and often want to invite them along on different outings we go on.

Postings are hard on the whole family. The hubbies are moving to new job positions, meeting new guys and also making new friends. The wives are moving to a new city, a new job, meeting new people and attempting to form bonds with the people we meet. And the kids are moving to a new city, going to a new school, and making new friends. Our family looks at every posting as a new adventure. We like adventures and look forward to each new one we get to take together, despite the obstacles, we will always have one another and the memories.

To all my friends, thank you for being so awesome, and to all the military spouses going through the friendship dating game, good luck, there is always someone worth your time at every posting, it's just to find them. Ohhh and don't be scared to ditch the crazies! lol

Assiniboine Park Biking

Friday evening, we took the girls and their bikes to Assiniboine Park so they could have a nice bike ride.

They did amazingly. I think Chloe is almost ready to lose her training wheels too.

They certainly had a blast and enjoyed the freedom that they were given. lol

Peak of the Market 2013

We went to the Peak of the Market Family Fun Day with Melissa and her boys. They were our neighbours in Shilo and were in Winnipeg. It was a lot of fun, although a bit stressful for the mommies trying to keep track of 4 kids, and dealing with whining and the heat. I am sure that we will go again next year. There was so much to do there! 

First things first, the girls had to get hair extension. Brooke picked purple, of course! lol

And Chloe picked pink, of course. lol Chloe was so sad when they were putting the extension in, she thought the lady had picked up the white extensions instead of the pink, she was soo upset. But was very happy after she seen the photo and saw that it was in fact pink. lol

They aren't letting me take them out either. So I'll let them stay in until the elastic holding it in breaks and falls out. lol

There was a petting zoo. The kids all thought this was awesome!!!

Melissa picked up a baby goat right first thing and was carrying it around, well of course, my girls wanted to hold a goat too. So Brooke took the first turn...and the little sheep was giving cuddles to the baby. It made for cute photos!

More cuddles

So cute...holding the goat, I think she would have stayed there all day holding the goat.

Look at how proud Chloe is that she's holding the goat! The goat we got a hold of for Chloe to hold wasn't really interested in being held. lol But it did stick around long enough for us to grab a couple of photos.

We did a tour of the processing plant at Peak of the Market. They supply a lot of the veggies that we eat to the stores. I've never seen so many potatoes, and onions in my life! 

At the end of the tour, everyone got a carrot to take home.

Stopped for a photo by the Peak of the Market boxes!

Brooke chowing down on her carrot. She was so excited to just eat the carrot. lol

Chloe eating up her carrot.

Well we know that Chloe has an obsession with mascots! She was very excited to get her photo taken with Goldie the mascot for the Gold Eyes Baseball team. 

And we all got in the photo with Goldette! Thanks Melissa for this great photo!

Chloe was so excited for the pony rides!! This is her first every pony ride. Let's just say this horse lover was extremely stoked to be on a horse! lol 

As you can tell from her smile..this was the best part of the whole day! lol

Unfortunately, none of the photos of Brooke turned out, they were all blurry. 

On our way out, we decided to stop for one last bit of fun. All the kiddos dressed up in the fireman suits!

At Melissa's suggestion, we put the girls in the suit together! lol Good thing there was helpers because they kept falling over. Each girl is in one pant leg of the suit. lol  They look awesome tho!

I thought this photo came out good....too cute. 

All in all we had a great outing, even with the stress and tired kids. lol As we were leaving there was a policeman handing out whistles. By the time Melissa and I got to the car, we had headaches, and not from our kids either. I asked the guy "Is it your job today to see how many parents you can annoy?" He said "It's my job to make sure no kid goes home without a whistle" I said "so the answer is yes." and he just smirked. lol