Happy 60th Anniversary Nanny & Gramps!

Whew, it's safe to tell now. Last Wednesday Ryan flew out to the East Coast to surprise his grandparents on their 60th anniversary. Since it was a BIG HUGE secret, I wasn't to tell, mention or even hint about it in any form - whether texing, Facebooking or here on the blog. He was pretty worried I would let the cat out of the bag, but I didn't! Well, I did, but more about that later. I wasn't able to go because my doctor forbade me to travel.

Ryan started off his journey in Windsor to visit Grampy and Pammy first. I can just imagine their surprise when he knocked on their door! He got to see Nanny Pauline and have family dinner with her too. I still wasn't allowed to breath word of his trip since he was still going to surprise everyone with showing up in Moncton the day of the anniversary party though.

The very first day Ryan was gone I noticed the neighbors' house across the back suddenly had a smashed out window and their screen was laying against the house. I'm not sure if they locked themselves out, got a baseball through the window or were broken into. It kind of freaked me out since there were three police cars across the street on the other side of the house a few days prior to that. Seems like a little rash of crime has been going through the neighborhood. And this, just days after we turned down an offer for a very sweet (but holy, expensive) home alarm system.

Bailey took the opportunity to become Terrified of Something that night as well. I'm not sure if she heard thunder, or was scared of the balloon floating around in the living room, but she shook and shivered and acted all squirrel-y that whole night. I don't know how many times I was up with her. Ugh. That was the first night of 3-4 nights where she didn't sleep very well. Meaning we didn't sleep very well. Cailin was fine for the most part, but her teeth were bothering her so she was awake crying a few times in those nights too.

I think she and Bailey were both out of sorts over Daddy being gone. Bailey was for sure, and still is.

We did have a wonderful weekend at the farm even though sleep was scarce around these parts. It was dreadfully windy at times, but we had a blast playing outside. Cailin helped Papa rake and shovel rocks off the lawn and got to ride around in the wheelbarrow. Although having never seen a wheelbarrow before, it took her no time at all to figure out how to work it. She also taught herself how to throw rocks and had a great time doing donuts in her Little Tykes car. She helped Nana pick rocks off the lawn and put them in buckets to pack to the wheelbarrow. They had fights over whose bucket was whose, mostly Cailin would yell, "Mine!" and get both buckets while Nana had none. She played in her playhouse, walked both Buster and Bella and trucked around the yard after Papa.

We made a couple trips into Beaver City for supplies and such, and one emergency trip to replace a forgotten suckie for naptime. Bailey was so pooped by the end of the third day at the farm that she slept that entire night through. Cailin too, that fresh air really wipes them out. It was a great weekend.

I did have a little more neighborly excitement though. When we got home in the windstorm that was, I realized that the neighbors two doors down HAD LIT A FIRE in their backyard. It was big enough to see over the fence line. It wasn't just a little windy either, it was downright dangerous to have an open flame and the yard between us is filled with flammable goodies. Gas cans, paint, paint thinner cans, garbage cans full of leaves and all sorts of used engine oil in various containers. Bailey had an absolute meltdown over the fire - she's terrified of flames - and wouldn't stop barking at the neighbors as they visited over their flaming disaster while listening to some crappy country music. Now, I don't want to be that neighbor. The one that calls the authorities every time something is a little out of line on our street. This young couple is very nice, and they're getting married this summer. But I seriously thought about it as their noise and music irritated me and their fire scared me. Next time I won't hesitate to call the fire department. It wouldn't take much to have another out of control fire here in the province.

Meanwhile, Ryan made his way to Moncton on Sunday morning to surprise his grandparents at their anniversary party. Oh boy, did he surprise them! Sounds like they had a great time and great turnout, with 50 guests or so. When he called later that night, Cailin sure put on a show for Nanny June, Grampy and Nanny. She knows how to work my Blackberry better than I do, turning on the speakerphone and talking away to them for quite a while. Since the big surprise is over, I can talk about it now, yippee!

Now it's Monday. The sun is out, the wind is minimal and Cailin slept in til 11am. Breakfast was a quick affair, much slathering of the 60 SPF sunscreen occurred and we went out to work over the water table. I painstakingly cleaned the water table out only for it to fill up with grass and tree droppings almost instantly. Cailin doesn't care though. She stole my coffee mug and used it to play in the water. We were out there for a long time, until I got too hot and thought maybe we should get out of the sun for a while. I had to drag her out of the wagon to get her inside. She wasn't all that happy.

How I let the cat out of the bag:

A quick trip to the bank was refreshingly pain free and actually quick. On our arrival home, I wasn't even out of the car yet when I heard the yowling of a very angry cat. I gathered up my sleepy toddler and deposited the diaper bag on the front step to investigate the horrible noises coming out of the next door neighbor's tarp covered storage area thingy. There was a cat screaming in there, a lump moving around under the tarp. So I did what anyone would do, I poked a toe into that moving lump. It jumped surprisingly high into the air and another lump made a horrible screeching noise next to it. There were two cats fighting under the tarp. I got mad. I'm so sick of cats screeching under my windows when we're trying to sleep. I poked a toe into the other lump (cat) and yelled at them to get out of there. It took a few more pokes, but they eventually tore out from under the tarp and ran away. Not surprisingly, it's the new neighbor's cat that was one of the culprits.

This black and white beast is at the center of every single cat issue we've had this spring. Cat pooping in our yard? He's the guy. Cats fighting around our house? He's involved. I've driven in the yard to break up several fights now - all with this feline being in the center of it. It's not fair; I don't even have a cat! I don't want a cat, and I don't particularly like cats, why am I cleaning up after them and chasing them out of my yard?! I need some advice on how to manage this.

Oh! I forgot to mention my last prenatal appointment. I'm seeing the baby doctor now, I'm getting referred to the surgeon at 32 weeks and I've been bumped up a week according to my size and ultrasound. I'm now almost 28 weeks along. That means Jellybean will be making his appearance the first week in August. He's doing very well. I haz heartburn. I'm also grounded from all travel due to an episode I had back in March. No worries, Jellybean and I are just fine and everything's great. Just no travel for us until he's on the outside.