The 20 hour car ride: A recap

Hello y’all,

Well, so far, the holiday’s been great.  We made it out here, and haven’t really stopped much yet. I’m sure at some point, I’ll get to the actual events of our time here in Nova Scotia, (including my birthday and a surprise whale watching trip from my hubby!), but I don’t want to get ahead of myself – I know you’re all just dying to have a play-by-play recap of our trip out here, since I made it sound like such a fun time.  Feel free to close your eyes, have someone else read it to you, and picture yourself in the Toyota Echo with us as I take you, hour by hour (almost) from Ontario to Nova Scotia.

Friday July 18

7:00 pm – Scheduled departure time

9:30 pm – Actual departure time.  This is what happens when you take 4 adults who have no real responsibilities (read: kids), and all the time in the world, and stick them on a road trip together

9:31pm – I wonder how the heck Sarah and I are going to survive in the back seat with 1/4 of a seat each to our name.  The rest of the space in the car was taken up with: Suitcases, food and legs.

10:30 pm  -We’re all wired, excited and ready to have the experience of a lifetime.  The car is a chatty place, filled with laughs, about 12 ft  of legs taking up 3/4 of the car, deep talks about family, spiritual things and life in general, a contest to see who can make up the funniest joke, and 1800 kms ahead of us

11:30 – First pit stop.  We pee and switch drivers

12-3 am – Ben drives and the rest of us bail on him and fall asleep.  But don’t worry, we do that move where every half an hour or so, we wake up a little bit and ask if he’s doing ok, even though we’re too incoherent to do anything about it if he’s not, and then fall back asleep before we even hear his answer.

3 am – Montreal.  I take over driving.   

3:10 am – I take the wrong road and get us lost

3:20 am – Back on  track

5:00 am -Stop for gas.  Realize the GPS has us going through the States.  Realize we all don’t have the proper ID, so we can’t go that way. 

5:02 – We’re all grumpy, but we all pretend like we’re not and so we suck it up and backtrack to a road that will take us through Canada.  Don’t worry, it’s only an hour or so out of the way

5:07 – I swear under my breath at the GPS

5:12 – Still swearing

6:08 – The first fart that causes us to roll down our window occurs. 

6:09 – We realize someone farted and Ben, Sarah and I try and figure it out.  Ben even says “I think I farted, but it doesn’t smell like me”.  I had to agree. 

6:10 -We realize that apparently Jo can fart in his sleep.  The windows get rolled down.

7:00 – Switch drivers. Sarah takes over.  Pee break.  I start to brush my teeth and then realize there’s signs everywhere that says not to drink the water.  I stop brushing and start worrying about getting beaver fever. 

7:25 – Sarah has had enough of driving and we switch drivers again.  Ok, I’m kidding she lasted a little bit longer than that. 

8:00 – Stop for breakfast and a switch up.  I’m fast asleep in the back after driving the night shift, so I only wake up enough to tell Ben to get me a bacon breakfast sandwich from Tim Horton’s.

8:15 – I start eating my sandwich and realize it’s not bacon, it’s sausage.  I’m far too tired to be rational, so I get preeety grumpy at Ben for ordering me the wrong sandwich. I stay this way for a while.

9-12 – Nothing much happens. Sleeping, discussions about poo, realizing that sometimes we all get grumpy at our spouses, reading, oh and one more roll down the window fart.  (same culprit)

12:30 – pull over at side of the road to switch it up, stretch legs, etc.  It is here that Ben started doing lunges along the Trans Canada Highway.  It is also here that I pretended I didn’t know who he was.

12:35 – Got back in the car, started driving and then realized we should eat lunch.  So we ate on the road. We had the stuff to make sandwiches (thanks Sarah), but no utensils.  So we used pretzels to spread our hummus, and a credit card to cut our cucumber.

1:15 – Spilled Cranberry juice on my white shirt

1:16 – Silently celebrated because I’d made it 14 hours without spilling on my white shirt.

2:30 – Ben got the giggles. 

3:30 - Stopped for gas, and treats.  Ben and I opted for the entire tub of ice cream.  (Ok, it was only a 1/2 litre)

3:30-5 – I try and sleep, but Jo’s drool marks on the communal pillow are deterring me.

6:00 – We reach home!  We’re greeted by the folks, and a great meal.  Let the fun begin.

 

Well I hope it was as good for you read as it was in person.  As you can see, I’m a great road trip companion, so if you ever need one, you know where I am.

Oh, and Nick and Mel, we miss you out here.  Come back please? Somehow reunion games won’t be the same without you.

From East to (almost) West

As of (hopefully) 8 pm tonight, we will be on the road starting our 16 day trek across the country.  (I TOTALLY just made our vacation sound way cooler than it probably actually is)

We’re heading out with Jo and Sarah (Ben’s bro and wife) tonight to Nova Scotia for some much needed family time, helping Ben’s grandparents celebrate 50 years of marriage, and the Bokma Family Reunion.  I think it should be a fun road trip.  Minus that fact that we have 2 ridiculously tall guys in a Toyota Echo.  For 20 hours.  Who tend to be gassy.  woo. hoo.  (Did you sense the sarcasm in that last exclamation?) 

After a fun-filled week of hanging out with Ben’s family (immediate and extended), we will fly our butts over to Saskatchewan for a week with my family, helping my grandparents celebrate 60 years of marriage, and a cousin celebrate the start of one. 

All that to say – I’m sure I’ll have access to internet, and will try to post from time to time.  Although don’t be surprised if things are a little quiet over here.  I’ll be far too busy trying to figure out my eating strategy: I’ll have to go from Mom B’s amazing meals and baked goods, over to a grandma who finds fulfillment in her life by seeing her grandchildren overfed.  It will be tough, but I think I’ll survive. 

The seams on my pants? They may not.

No longer 7-11

well, the problem with having the title of my last post be a date is that people can tell how long its been since I last posted. (It’s been 4 days for those of you that are actually counting)

I know I said I would post about my wonderful weekend in Montreal – but frankly, I’ve just been a little too lazy busy for that. 

So here’s some pictures anyway – just to appease you all. Sorry for the lack of verbage – although I think I’ve more than made up for it in previous posts – you’re probably sick of reading anyway. Enjoy.

 

Derek and Jenny all married

The first dance

Brent, Ben, Leia and I.  We travelled to and from Montreal with Brent, Miriam and their baby Leia. Sharing a hotel room with a 5 month old baby went surprisingly well. 

 

I thought I’d entertain you with a photo other than our usual pose.  Please dont’ judge the fact that we’re wearing the exact same outfits as the last wedding we went to.  We’re trendy like that.

(the little paper bags are filled with candy from their candy bar…mmmm…candy)

If any of you actual know Derek, you’ll know he is often finding ways to make memorable moments more funny.  Even at his own wedding.

It’s ok Benjy, no one can see your nipples

The 5 of us at breakfast.  We may or may not have gone to Cora’s 2 days in a row. We also may or may not have eaten 4 times our weight in crepes that weekend.

7-11

So it’s July 11th, and that can only mean one thing – yes, that’s right, it’s free slurpee day at 7-11.

One of the ladies that works here in the church office was the first to realize it was 07/11, and then proceeded to reminisce about the days she would go and get nachos and slurpees.  I then realized that it had been ages since I’d actually stepped into a 7-11, and it was then, at that moment, that we knew what we needed to do.

We google mapped the closest location and off we went.  We probably spent about 15 minutes just filling up our free slurpee cups (which by the way are ridiculously small), with “samples”, before actually loading up on our flavour of choice. (I went with G-force orange and Blue Tornado – classic mix, really)

And then it was onto the nachos. Oh sweet nachos that have been sitting in their little containers for far too long.  And the cheese, oh the cheese.  The cheese that is dispensed out of a machine that resembles a soft ice cream dispenser at McDonald’s. (which always makes me wonder who came up with that idea? Who had enough time on their hands to think “cheese in  block form? no, that simply won’t do anymore….let’s slightly liquify it, so that it can ooze out of a machine”)  The best part is that the cheese that stays in the same tube-like shape once it has been squeezed out of the machine and into the little plastic holder that’s included in your nachos tray. 

It’s the type of meal that makes you instantly feel sick, once you’ve swallowed your first nacho, but you keep going anyway because it has an allure about it.  Something keeps pulling you back to the cheese that’s 97% plastic, 3 % cheddar flavouring.   

Have I tempted you yet?  Go ahead, leave my blog, leap out of your seat and get going. I’ll understand.  There’s only 1/2  a day left to maximize on getting as many free slurpees as you can.  And while you’re at it, you might as well get the nachos.  I hear they’re delicious.

I know I’m just asking for it with this one but…

How cute is this?

 

 

Ben and I just got back from a great weekend in Montreal.  We were there for a friend’s wedding, and we travelled there with good friends of ours who happen to have the happiest 5 month old baby.  I will soon post all about the fun we had, but just thought I’d tease you all with these.

We had such a great time reconnecting with old friends from Redeemer, seeing our friend  get married, and just getting away to a great city.  Oh, and playing with a baby, shamelessly taking more pictures than we should have of her, considering she’s not ours.  

(oh and don’t worry, in that last picture, she’s sleeping, not being suffocated by Ben’s chest.)

This would go a lot easier if all of you would stop spinning around

Well, as you may or may not have heard, I have Labyrinthitis.

I know. I thought the doctor made up that name too.  But it actually is a condition, and I was lucky enough to get it. Basically, it means my inner ear tubes are inflamed. (how geeky does THAT make me sound??) If you know anything about the ears, you’ll know that if they’re out of whack, so is your balance, and the ability to be NOT dizzy. 

I am constantly dizzy, from the moment I wake up to the moment I go back to sleep.  I can’t see great unless I’m perfectly still, otherwise everything is a big blur.   I have vertigo most of the time.  Really, this is just a big ol’ bag of fun!

To help you all out – I thought I’d put together a handy dandy FAQ about Labrynthitis for your reading pleasure:

1) Are you still able to drive?  Well, probably not – but am I still doing it? Heck yes I am.  I know I may not be the safest thing on the road right now, and whenever possible, I choose not to drive – but there’s the odd time where I really don’t get a choice.  So if you see a 97 volkswagon golf on the road and it’s going 22 km/h, chances are it’s me, thinking I’m still going REALLY fast.

2) How do you get it? No freaking idea.  To be honest, the first few days, before I went to the doctor, I kind of thought one of my worst fears had come true, and in a matter of weeks little spider babies were going to come crawling out of my ears.  Turns out, it’s just a little ailment.

3) How long will it last? Anywhere from “several days” to six weeks.  I’m seriously hoping for the first option, since it’s actually not a lot of fun. It’s currently been 8 days – which I think constitutes as “several”…so anytime it wants to leave, it’s welcome to.

4) Are you sure you’re not just pregnant? Umm yes.  VERY sure.  5) But really? You could just be pregnant: No, no I’m not.  But thanks for asking. 

Well there you have it.  I also thought it would be fun to put together a list of things you could do to me while I’m in this state.  (Inspired  by my ever-so-loving sister in law Rebecca)

1) Push me over.  Really, I think this could be fun for you.  And I don’t think you’d have to use much force to get me to fall over either.

2) Keep moving around as I talk to you.  Although you’d look ridiculous, you’d really mess with my head.

3) Laugh at me as I trip and stumble over things because I have no balance.  Oh wait – my husband already took care of that one yesterday as we walked around Toronto for Canada Day.

4) Make me carry all of my earthly possessions from my apartment into a truck, and then into a storage unit.  Oh! Hold on a sec, I already took care of that one too, when we moved on Saturday. (Thankfully we had great help! Thanks Jo, Sarah, Rachel, Mom and Dad!)

 

Ok, well I think I’ve succcessfully talked the crap out of Labyrinthitis.  Hope all you Canadian readers enjoyed your Canada Day yesterday.  And for you Americans – enjoy your holiday this weekend!