Tuesday, July 16, 2013

O i love Canada

i almost contemplated giving up my Canadian citizenship a few weeks ago when my passport application got rejected for the second time. by  a few weeks ago- i mean last week. yup. i traveled to Canada sans passport. craziness. fortunately we bought our plane tickets to buffalo, new york, and then drove across the border. so i was able to get in to Canada with my citizenship card. awesomeness. and HOPEFULLY i will be able to cross back into America with my permanent resident card, but we'll see for sure next sunday...

anyway, for those of you who prayed for our travels on Saturday- the Lord heard, and processed all of your prayers! we almost missed our flight- we were at the wrong terminal ;( almost an epic failure. almost. but God managed to get us to our gate 5 minutes before they closed the doors, and he also managed to delay our flight an additional hour so that we could go to the bathroom, get some water, and really get ready for our 3 and a half hour flight. us being kinda late ended up saving me a LOT of strife because they had already boarded half of the plane and then ended up taking everyone off and getting us a different plane. if i had been on that plane with my kids and all of our stuff, i would have been really really annoyed. instead i was on the outside and i was elated. yay blessings!

and when i had looked at my itinerary earlier in the week, i was irked by the fact that i had a 3 hour layover in Chicago, but because we left phoenix late, our layover in Chicago did not feel too long, and it also allowed me to not feel even remotely anxious about the possibility of missing our connection had our stopover been shorter. more blessings!!

and even though mia is my little miss independent, she was SO GOOD on the plane and i didn't even have to drug her. all three of the kids were exceptionally awesome, even though i didn't have a single movie or tv playing. that's all the grace of God and YOUR prayers folks!!!!!!

I've been in Toronto for three days and have already seen three of my bffs. i met my future sister-in-law- and she is a GEM. my kids LOVE her already, and topher thinks she is very pretty :) she already loves my kids too, so i would say things are off to a great start for all of us already!
tonight i went out for ice cream with my four siblings and her, and it was simple wonderful bliss. it's been at least two years since we have all been together in one place.

lily, topher, and sungu go to science camp at the science center from 9-4 every day this week, so we have been having a relaxing and wonderful vacation filled with good food, good friends, good learning, and great family. the weather is a bit hot for my liking, but it's still better than being in Arizona right now :)

i do miss my christobear (but not Maurice) though, but he has been hanging out with his friends and living it up- even while hanging out with other people's kids. he will be joining us on sunday morning and we are all excited about that. please pray for him cause he will have a one hour layover in Philadelphia, and hopefully he will make that!

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

California. Part 3

Some years are kind of boring for us. I mean, we usually move every year, but aside from that- some years we just lay low, sign up for every session of swim lessons the city offers, and call it good.

but not so this year my friends. this year, we are on crack! California crack! our first trip was in march when we went to Monterey to visit my sister and her family. then in april we went to Disneyland with Chris' dad and co. then in june we went to Mission Beach in San Diego with Chris' mom, step-dad, and Robert's family. and it was AWESOME.

chris' mom and Jerry have been planning this trip since LAST year- when they decided they didn't want to give us a Christmas present- and instead gifted us this trip. and it was worth it!! my kids don't need more toys- they need more awesome memories with people they love! and this year was choc full of that so we are counting ourselves extremely blessed. and as Robert aptly, though depression-inducingly, noted- that lily is already 1/3 away from being out of the house so we need to be creating memories ASAP styles!

so we left for San Diego on a Saturday, and got back the following Saturday. so wonderful to spend a whole week away from this sweltering desert that we call home! Barb and Jerry rented out a beach house that was about 27 steps away from the beach. it could not have been more awesome. we played at the beach twice a day, most kids, and sometimes adults took naps during the day, we ate in for 98% of our meals- which was perfect because Mia is at the anti-being-in-public portion of her toddler career. and most of those meals were MAD DELICIOUS! and I didn't have to make hardly any of them!!!! (coincidence?... I don't know...)

the kids loved playing in the sand, burying themselves, jumping in the waves, finding sea shells, and surfing on boogie boards. all six of them were so ridiculously good, I didn't even know how to handle it. I was afraid the beach- and mostly the ocean, were going to be too dangerous and crazy for the kids. but they seriously did so stinkin great. lily even got stung by jellyfish remnants twice, but she handled it like a champ.

most nights Robert, Lindsay, Chris and I played cards. I LOVED that too. such a simple activity that just doesn't occur when we are at home. everything about the trip was excellent. it was laid back, fun, and relaxing. the only outing we went on was to the San Diego Wildlife Zoo. it was fun, and made all the more so when we go to hang out with 13 other Watsons who just happened to be in San Diego on vacation the exact same week as us, and who also happened to buy the exact same discounted tickets that we did on LivingSocial.

all in all, our family has been spoiled rotten by our extended family this year and we are SO VERY THANKFUL for it all.

these pics are in reverse order...:


chris and the kids before we met our friends, The Perry's, before we drove back home.

eating fruit snacks on the beach!

building castles in the sand

Robert taking lily 'surfing'. he just spun her round and round and round and she just loved it so much! she even got a jellyfish sting on her leg while doing this but it did not stop her from living out the movie that the kids watched 100 times that week- Barbie: A Mermaid Tale.

Mia LOVED the water. she didn't care that it was dangerous or occasionally freezing. true, unconditional love.

Topher also loved boogie boarding.

Dinner at the beach house.Magnifique!

Robert showing off the awesome fish that he caught with Chris deep sea fishing. we ate well that night!

the kids with Nana and Papa before they left early on Thursday.

my boy Corban and I on the tram at the zoo.

Jerry, Lily, and Topher's knee cap, and Lindsay in the hat, on the tram.

Mia walking with Barb and Jerry.

My crazy kids.

Lily and Topher during all the other kids' nap time. I really loved hanging out with them quietly during the day. they colored, played with their hero factory, and were just so awesome while I read. a book! I read a book. it was magic. the quiet, the fellowship, the book, the reading. all of it!

family fun!

one of my fave pics from the week, which also happened to be our first time at the beach.

enjoying the 6 hour drive.. pray for us cause we are flying/traveling to Toronto this Saturday! and by 'we' I mean the kids and I... hopefully there will be a lot of this 'Mia napping' business...