Mirror Image

Have you ever used Face Time?  Although I have never personally used Skype, I imagine that Face Time is the Apple equivalent of Skype. (If I am wrong on this I am truly sorry and beg your forgiveness.  It's not my fault that I am technologically challenged.  Don't hold this against me.)

My description of Face Time? Basically, you hit the little "Face Time Icon" on your computer and a screen pops up allowing you immediately see your own image standing there.  If you are like me, you instantly forget who you were going to call.  Once your brain begins working again, and before "calling" your desired contact, you can fix your hair, check your teeth and throw any of the mess you can see behind you off to one side giving your "contact" the notion that you and your home always look fab-u-lous, darling.  Then you select the contact you want to..well...contact, and then you wait for the person(s) to hear you "calling" at their end, check their hair, teeth and background view and eventually accept your call.  The screen image of yourself now minimizes and you are looking straight into the beady loving eyes of your friend/family member.

I have mentioned before that my sister lives many many miles away in a far off land.  (Not really, just the good ole' US of A)  So, since we both have made the switch to Apple we make very good use of the Face Time app available to us and it's just grand.  My sister is younger and thinner and cuter than me but in the right light people say we look a lot alike.  Which leads me into my story.

I hear the "Face Time" alert and go skipping with joy to the computer because I know that somebody loves me today.  I smooth back a few stray hairs from my pony tail, check my teeth and see it's my beloved sister calling for a chat, and realizing I have no time to clean up the view of colouring books and crayons behind me, I angle my computer so I have a plain wall behind.  Then I hit the "accept call" button and wait.  And wait, and wait.  Some thing's not right.  I look to see if I hit the wrong button - no.  The girl staring back at me looks lovely...it HAS to be me, right?  Then I see that darned stray hair and go to smooth it back, but now I really start to freak out because the "me" on the screen is not doing what the "me" in real life is doing.  So after the Twilight Zone music (think TV program from the 60's, not Vampire vs Werewolf) subsides, I realize that I am in fact looking at my sister, who is, in fact, looking at me and we are basically both idiots who obviously maintain on too little sleep.

The End.

PS - as I have been fighting a terrible cold for going on 3 weeks, I will admit that my cooking has taken a bit of a backseat, and my poor beloved family have been eating a steady, and somewhat unimaginative diet of noodles, soup, sandwiches and cereal.  Thank the good Lord for Thanksgiving and the care packages sent home to fill in where I, the supreme ruler of my family's kitchen have been terribly neglectful.  Here's hoping to a weekend of recovery and a fresh start in the kitchen next week....I hope I remember where my frying pan is.

xo

Jen

We were supposed to do this....but we did that.

Hello.

The boys had been after us to go hunting "tad poles" for exactly 8.352 days.  And because we are such accommodating and wonderful parents...ahem...we agreed that this would be a wonderful learning experience and Sunday would be the day.  We promised.  

Minutes after we loaded the car and set out on our science-journey extraordinaire, it began to rain.  Heavily.  

So, instead of this....

We played this...

Instead of making our way in here...

We made that...

In lieu of finding one of these...

We found this popular game...

And although my boys put on their very bravest smiles and pretended to be having as much fun as mommy and daddy (in the clean, dry, mosquito-free house), their little hearts and minds were dreaming of much bigger things...

I still think this is cuter.  Sigh.  Boys.

Clearly, Monday was a sunny day and the disappointment from the day before was long forgotten....

xo

Me

Trip to Kusterman's Blueberry Farm

It's blueberry season and I am so thrilled.  These little gems are a staple in our house and although I picked until my fingers were purple and my back ached for a week, our freezer stores were completely depleted by about mid-November last year.  Looks like this year I will have to kick it up a notch, enlist some help from my dear, sweet husband and my boys in order to properly stock-pile my freezer with local berries.  I'm sure they will be ecstatic.

Our first visit to a near by U-pick farm was to Kusterman's, located near Mt Brydges (about 15 min West of London) and it was great.  I only had the boys with me and they were a good deal of help until the call of the zip-line was just too strong.  I did everything in my power to keep them focused on our task but alas, the hay bale mountain and petting zoo won out.

This is WAY more fun than picking blueberries!

Tarzan yell!  (You know the one)

"Mommy, can we put one of these up at home?"......they asked no less than 8 times

OK.  It was hard for even me to resist this little guy.

However, we did manage a beautiful start on our picking.

So lovely.  So beautiful.  I am at one with the blueberries.  In fact, that's me there.  You know - the crinkly-scrunched up, wrinkly one right there on the right.

The moral is to throw on some non-white clothing, toss your family into the car and go "picking".  It's good for the soul, ya know!

xo

Jen

Geocaching!

Do you know what Geocaching is?  

Sometimes it's a nature story....

Sometimes it's a love story....

Sometimes it's an animal safari...

It can be a comedy....

Or a tragedy...

MOSTLY, it's a treasure hunt!  And really fun!  And a great way to spend some time with your fave peeps out in nature and stuff.  Word. 

If you've ever been out for a walk in a park or for a hike in the woods, there is a good chance you've walked right by one of these hidden "treasures".  

These little finds are stashed in places all over the world.  So when we're bored and the weather is nice, we tie on our sneakers, pack some water and go hunting! 

xo

Jen

Tubing On Newfound Lake in NH

I have a cousin.  His name is Bob.

Bob was totally awesome when we were growing up. He would play barbies with my sister and me if we wanted, and when we would stay the night at my Aunt and Uncle's we would spy on him getting ready to go out on dates and watch him slick his eyebrows into place and wink at himself in the mirror. 

Fast forward to today.  Bob met and married a beautiful, fun-loving woman who is just as wonderful as he and they have 3 gorgeous children together and are living in a small New England town just outside of Boston.  AND...they also have a lake house!!

and a boat!!

and we got to go on it!

Does this thing go any faster?

Ha!  There it is!

We also went tubing, well - let me clarify, my children went tubing while I held the handles on the boat with white knuckles and prayed my babies wouldn't fly off and turn into water pancakes.  OK.  Actually I took pictures and prayed they wouldn't fly off and turn into water pancakes.

Did you know that Newfound Lake in New Hampshire is said to be one of the cleanest in the world?  Also, I was informed that it is fed by 8 springs and reaches a depth of 182 ft!!  Note the crystal blue water and the big smiles on the kids.  I will admit to jumping in somewhere in the middle and found that despite the depth, the water was warm.

But not before we stopped at an organic farm stand - I have no idea what that has to do with anything, but we did.  And I felt good about it.  It was organic, did I mention?

But back to tubing...

Sorry it's a bit blurry, this is where I moved my camera ever so much in order to call out "HANG ON!".  I'm such a mom.

At this point in our vacation, there is one day left until my husband will be flying in from Toronto to meet us...so far he's missed out on some real fun.  Of course I will not show him the pictures to rub it in....wink, wink!

We had a great visit!  We loved the lake and the lake house, and my cousin and his super sweet family...and tubing, oh, the tubing!

xo
Jen