We didn't buy a zoo but it feels like we're packing for a move there!

I'm hoping to take my girls to the zoo tomorrow. 

Three things need to happen:my oldest child needs to fall asleep NOW; my youngest child has to promise not to try to kill me before/during/after the car ride (note to self:cut baby'sfingernails first thing in morning)  and finally the temperature really has to top out at 25 degrees. It'd be fabulous if the highways were congestion free but even if we left at 3am that wouldn't happen.

To help ensure the sanity and fun factor, I’ve asked my youngest sister to come with us. 

She loves the zoo.  My girls love her.  And its really nice to have an extra pair ofhands and eyes when it comes to shuttling three darlings through bathroom and eating routines.

I suspect that I’m actually going to lose sleep over this.  I’m a planner and I have not adequately prepared for this day trip.  Last year, I sent myself a half-dozen text messages in the middle of the night reminding myself of what to take.  Too bad I didn’t save them!  Except now I have to add a few more items to account for Baby C.  On the other hand, we’ll have a stroller to dump all our stuff in. minimum I need:

• a half dozen diapers;a couple of diaper covers; wet wipes; and plastic bags

• two changes of clothes for the baby; and one for each of the big girls and myself

• Camillia for teething and a teether

• two dfferent doses of Tylenol for the big girls

• several water bottles

• nuts, dates, cereal bars, fruit, sandwiches, and juice boxes

• fully charged iPhone, because I can’t take my camera with me.  It's just too hard to balance a DSLR with Baby C in arms. And, I’m admittedly bored with the animal photos that we never print and just need a few of the girls for the memory book.
 You

 know, the one we never get around to making every summer but always plan on and then wish we had.

• A couple of receiving blankets which are the multi purpose superstars of my life

• And cash because the parking at the zoo is freaking expensive; I’ll definitely need
coffee;the car will probably require gas; and I will buy my girls a drumstick and ride on the merry-go-round



Did I mention we only plan on being out of the house for six hours?


How long does it take you take you to get out the door with your kids?  Do you take more or less stuff?  And do YOU like the zoo?

Summer Holiday Hooray!

"I love my family. Summer holiday hooray. " Thats what R wrote on our unofficial summer schedule on Tuesday. Since then she's popped up in the kitchen to consult the schedule, make suggestions for changes, discuss alternatives with her sister, and request permission to create a graph based on it so she can chart her activities. Yes, she truly is my child.

Despite all appearances to the contrary, we are hoping to have a very relaxed summer.

At the same time, I'm worried that my girls won't have a great summer. But honestly, that's only when I compare myself to other mamas-real or imagined. I worry that all the other kids out there going to fabulous day camps, travelling seaside, riding their bikes to raise money for a cause and visiting every tourist attraction in the GTA plus building a treehouse.

My girls get a mama who whipped up a science experiment at 7am, face painted them, and churned homemade balsamic strawberry ice cream!! And those exclamation points are theirs because those are the things we love to do together that don't always fit in the weekends. So could I do more? Sure. Would more be exhausting and so not us? Definitely.

And that's why the thing to keep in mind is that "great" is all about perspective. I don't spend the rest of the year comparing myself to other mamas -I might borrow or learn from them so I shouldn't now. And some of that learning is recognizing that I do a pretty good job and what I do fits us!

Mark asked me if it was going to be too much for me to entertain the girls all summer. My genuine answer was twofold. One, we aren't raising kids who need to be entertained all summer And two, I'm quite possibly more excited than R that she's home for two months. In her words, " I love my family. Summer holiday hooray!"

How do you plan on spending the summer?

The guys at the door

Firstly, I'm writing this via my iPhone app for the first time so please excuse the errors until I get a chance to review from my laptop and get used to the app. It's a short one because I couldn't resist.

So here's my question: in the era of smartphones, did the guy at the door wanting to come inside with his maintenance man-to inspect the household's HVAC ( which for the record I know stands for heating, vacuum, and air condition without needing to look it up) system really think I was going to let him come in? Dude, I looked up your company that you were pretending was a government inspection unit, while you were standing in front of me!! And the fact that you didn't have a business card or a badge? C'mon,take a lesson from the guys that come by at dinner time and aggressively bang on the door and try to bully us. Yes, dude, I will give you credit for being polite, only subtly pushy,and trying to incite my sense of responsibility to mother earth. But the sob story of not having your own vehicle and being dropped off to cover the neighborhood and needing to walk 4km if I really wanted a business card. That story? Not so much making me want to let you in the house.

Here's the thing, I almost never answer the front door. If I'm expecting you, then I'll know it. I'm downright aggressive about door-to-door people to the point of warning them off from a few houses down pointing to my girls and threatening wrath if their naps are interrupted (pretty sure the Wittnesses are praying for my children!). But this guy caught me in an unusually generous mood. And for that he should thank the lovely firefighter who I saw approaching the door earlier and jumped up to answer it. The firefighter even came back with coloring books for my girls. I believed him when he directed me to a website on safety. Must have been the uniform!