OUCH!!!!!

Erin is having a nap right now, so I thought I better put in an update since a lot of things have happened since I last checked in!

Well, 'OUCH' represents how we felt for Erin last Saturday night. The poor little bug came running across the living room, tripped and fell chin first into the bottom of the loveseat. The blood started pooring out, followed by a big chunk of one of her molars, and another small chip from another. She also loosened a bunch of her bottom teeth. So we whisked her off to the dentist on-call (who is incidentally in Ottawa) that evening. Erin was just the bravest little girl I have ever seen. She was really scared, but got to sit on Gord's lap while they took a look and took some x-rays. Thank goodness the roots were not broken and the loose teeth have already tightened up. We have to bring her to see the dentist in a few more weeks to have a look at the molar that the big chunk was knocked out of. She has been on a soft food diet all week, but she is getting more daring in beginning to chew today. If I never have to do that again, I wouldn't be that upset. It could have been a lot worse though......

The Monday before we went to Niagara Falls started out a bit rough. Erin woke up with a fever in the morning and Gord stayed home with her. She was still rough the next day and we couldn't track anyone down at the last minute to stay with her for the day, so Gord took her in to work - I had to go to Kingston for meetings, otherwise I would have stayed home with her. I guess she had quite a time for herself though! She continued with a cough for the rest of the week, but she didn't let it put too much of a damper on her holiday in Niagara Falls!

We hit the road bright and early on the Wednesday morning, after picking up Emily. It was an uneventful drive, except for the pouring rain that started around Belleville and ended as we rolled into the Niagara region, and the ridiculous traffic in Toronto. I honestly don't know how people can stand all of that congestion in Toronto. It wasn't even rush hour. We stayed right in the heart of Clifton Hill. Anyone who has been to Niagara Falls, knows this area is simply a hoot! We stayed at the Quality Inn (good choice Chris!!), which was a pretty dated hotel, but the rooms were clean and the service very good. Best of all was the location. We were only a block from the falls. We took a big walk to see the falls on Wednesday afternoon and scoped the area out in general. As part of our hotel stay package, we got some passes for a big ferris wheel that was right next to our hotel. I guess it is the biggest ferris wheel in North America. It was really good (mind you I think the London Eye is at least double it's size!!) and the views were amazing. Aidan didn't want to go on it - he's at a brave stage, until he actually thinks about going on a ride - so Jo stayed down with him, and Chris took Cole (the 2-year old) and Gord, Emily, Erin and I all went together. Erin and Cole just giggled with delight the entire time!! We took the kids to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner that night. It was okay. I was pretty disappointed with the restaurant in general. We went to the one in Toronto last summer and it was just so much better in terms of the service. The kids enjoyed themselves though, which is the important part. After dinner the kids all wanted to take a walk, so we found ourselves in a big indoor Midway for kids. They had little rides and games for the kids to play. Gord used some tokens and played 'The Claw' game and won all of the kids some stuffed toys! I think he had more fun than the kids!!!!! It was about 10:00pm when we all crashed.

Erin actually slept in until about 8:00am the next morning! I got up early (I wish I could sleep in sometimes!!) and used some of the Tim Horton's money we got with our hotel package (how great is that!!!) and picked up coffee and timbits for Erin and Emily. At 9:00am, we met up with Chris, Jo and the kids and went off to Marineland. The kids had a ball!!!! I couldn't believe how much Erin loved the rides!!! It's a good thing Gord has a stomach for rides! I went on a couple of the tamer ones with Erin, but Gord went with her on the twisty-turney ones!! We saw a couple of shows and I think the kids were most amused with the fact that one of the HUGE walruses had a big poop on the stage at the end of the show. Erin continues to tell everyone about that almost daily! My goodness it was hot though. It was 34 degrees in the sun. Everyone was definitely tired from the heat by the time we left. We got back to the hotel around 4:00 and we took the kids down for a swim at the hotel. The pools were pretty good. There were a couple of slides for the two outdoor pools (one was for toddlers and the other was a regular pool), as well as an indoor pool. There was even a playstructure there, so the place was really family friendly. That night, we used another one of our hotel package coupons and ordered up a couple of large Boston Pizza pizzas for dinner. We topped the evening off with another walk, another play at another indoor amusement centre and another big crash around 10:00pm!

We left Niagara Falls on Friday morning and headed for the Vaughn Mills Mall just North of Toronto. Gord wanted to stop at the Pro Bass Shop there and Emily, Erin and I took a walk around the mall. This place is huge and is full of outlet stores. I picked up a few things for Erin for the fall and winter at amazing prices. We dropped Emily off and got home around 7:00pm that evening.

It was nice to have the weekend to unwind before going back to work. Saturday was swimming for Erin, so Gord took her in while I did some cleaning and laundry. I already mentioned how our Saturday evening was spent, so I won't rehash that! Sunday was uneventful and the workweek started up again.

Erin went back to her new daycare on Monday. She did okay for most of the week, but was running pretty rough by the time this past Friday came along. I guess she was pretty weepy all day yesterday. I left work a bit early, so I picked her up at 3:00pm and I'm pretty happy I did. Erin is definitely having a bit of a tough time adjusting. I am confident she will, but it makes it tough with the schedule we have kept. The daycare is now closed for 2-weeks, so we will start it all over again right after the long weekend in August. As bad as I feel for her right now, I know it will be better for her in the longrun to get used to more structure now than to be surprised by it when she starts school. She was really sad about the place this morning, but we had a good talk about it and you know, she really is learning things daily and she talks about all of the fun things they do there, so I know it will just be a matter of time.

Oh! On another really happy note, Patricia and Ashely had their baby on July 14th!! They didn't tell anyone until a couple of days ago, only because they haven't picked out a name yet!! They had a beautiful baby boy and everyone is doing well. I am so excited for them now!! Whenever I hear about a baby being born it brings back such wonderful memories. I am hoping to get up to visit her and the baby soon, depending on their schedule!! I'll let everyone know the name once I know.

Minnie is completely back to herself now. She's getting bigger and is showing no signs of problems from the problem she had with her hoof.

Anyway, all is good. The job is going great and Erin gets to stay home with Emily for the next couple of weeks, so I imagine it will be a fun next couple of weeks around here!

Until next time.....