last fling

Yesterday we went on our last holiday fling to the big city (Saskatoon). We left yesterday morning, bright and early, hit Tim's for some crappy tea, went back home to pick up some stuff we had forgotten (life jackets, razor and pablum), stopped at Turks for lukewarm coffee and a weak steamer and made it onto Hwy 11 before realizing Steve had forgotten his sun glasses. We were beginning to wonder if maybe we shouldn't be going. However, the rest of the drive there was uneventful.

First thing we did when we hit the city was stop at Broadway Roasters for some Monk tea ( and as I look back now I should've bought some hot chocolate 'cos they are one of the few places that make their hot chocolate with actual chocolate milk that in my opinion tastes WAY better than chocolate syrup in white milk) then off to the exciting Saskatoon zoo. Now if you haven't been to many zoos I strongly recommend going to the Saskatoon zoo before hitting a bigger zoo, something like Calgary. Otherwise, the whole time you're walking around looking at animals that you would normally hit on Saskatchewan highways, you're children will be like "where are the dinosaurs? I want to look at something else? Are the elephants here?" etc, etc. Doesn't really enhance the viewing pleasure. Altho' the bull elk was quite aggressive and would charge the fence everytime a vehicle would drive by. That was pretty cool.

Then there was the fishing pond. Now I have to say that lately I find fishing quite relaxing and soothing. It doesn't really matter that I haven't caught anything. However, when the stupid fish are jumping all around the place where you've cast your line, that can tend to be kind of nerve wracking to say the least. And before you know it, the peaceful lull of casting and reeling in is covered by a gentle stream of "loving" words geared towards fish. All in all, an hour well spent.

Now off to the Days Inn. Luckily, for some freakish reason yesterday every major road in Saskatoon was either closed or backed up thanks to construction and a stopped train. So travel on Circle, Idyllwyld, 20th, 22nd, and Warman were completely retarded. It took us over an hour to get from the Days Inn to Fuddruckers. Anyway I skipped ahead of myself. So we decided to stay at the Days Inn 'cos they've been really good to us in the past. This time was no exception. We even got Shrek goodie bags for the kids. We thought the pool and waterslide would be a nice treat after a day of walking around and we were right. Add onto that the fact that we actually remembered the kids life jackets (after forgetting the first time I mean) and it was clearly a highlight. The best thing that happened tho', I'd have to say was when Matthias came down the slide and swallowed a bunch of water, which in turn made him cough spasmodically, making me grab him and hold him against me to pat his back which resulted in him throwing up down the front of my swim suit. Good thing I have cups, otherwise that mess would've wound up in the pool!! Ha... ha... ha...

One thing I regret was not taking the camera into the hotel with us. There were plenty of memorable moments playing fish on the beds with the new Shrek cards, jumping from bed to bed and making Keziah shriek with glee. Today wasn't as eventful. We did some shopping, went swimming again (and not to be outdone by her brother, Callah, not wearing her life jacket, right before we were going back to the room, walked right up to the waters edge, plugged her nose, actually said, "weee!" and jumped into the deep end feet first. Steve dove in after her, but it'll take a few days to get the image of her eyes, open looking at us, as she was going down, out of my head) and hit a cool playground before piling back into the van and coming home.

Now I can say that summer is over.
I feel content, at least for awhile.
A new year is upon us.
Change is in the wind and things are happening.

Did I mention that Matthias has to catch the bus at 8:12 am? I don't get out of bed until after 8:30 if I can help it.

Summer please come back!