Six down.

Seriously?? There's only 3 weeks left? Wow. I guess I should get the back to school shopping down. September 6th is going to be a momentous day: Elliot's first day, Felix's first day of preschool, and my first day back at college. Wowza. Gonna be a lot of photos snapped at the end of the driveway!

Ok, looking back over this week...

Monday it was raining. I set up an art studio, we painted the boys' feet red, stamped them onto little canvases and turned them into firetrucks. I stole this idea from a highly creative friend, who did a much better job on her firetrucks, but whatever. The boys loved it. Then they spent half an hour making their own artsy paint creations. I had to mop the floor when they were done.

We moved on to a photo studio. I tried to get them to take serious photos first, since it's been 2 years since we've gotten portrait studio quality pics done. (For a good reason. It's hard to get these yahoos to cooperate!) Then I broke out the props. The feather boa was a huge hit. Too bad it was ancient and disintegrated all over the floor. There are still tiny purple wisps everywhere.

Serious = Angry? Petulant?

And cue the drama.

Tuesday it was overcast and we had a freaking awesome day. Full of appointments and adventure, and the boys listened and behaved. I was floored. Still am.

Wednesday, the sitter came. Hooooray! I saw my doctor, got the good news that my thyroid and iron levels are stable. Which is a big YAY! More rain, so when I got home, we watched more TV. I like TV. they like TV. Win/win, right?

Thursday we went downtown watch some of the Buskers Festival. My mom arrived and wanted to take the boys without me, but I didn't think that was wise (turns out I was totally right, they were wild and fearsome hooligans, not big on listening. But it was an unplanned trip over their lunch and nap time, so I guess things went as well as could be expected.) I have my doubts my mother would have been able to handle things. Probably would have come back short a child. Despite the crazy, it was fun. We started out at the Market, where Elliot had to be reminded every quarter second to get his hands off the tables. Felix tried to make off with a handful of fresh, tempting blueberries. Of course, after my admonishment to not. eat. anything. the shop keeper handed him some free berries. So much for that life lesson.

We then walked along the boardwalk, where I tried desperately to keep the boys from tipping into the harbour. They were determined and creative creatures. A man was playing guitar on one of the benches and the boys entertained us all by putting on a dance show. I tossed some money in his hat and then watched as he paid it back out to the boys at the end of their performance. He congratulated them on becoming buskers! We fought the crowds to the playground and then moved over to one of the stage areas. We had front row seats for an acrobatic show, which highly entertained the boys. They screamed like banshees when it was time to leave. But no one had napped and it was coming up on melting point. Still, no one napped when we got home, either. Stinkers. We watched Cars. Again.

Friday we packed up and headed to a playground on the other side of town. The skies cleared and the sun came out and we found ourselves completely unprepared for the heat - and the splash pad! They played, we ate, they played in the water, they got changed and played in the sandbox (Felix spent 2 hours in there!)

And then... holy crap, let's talk about crap.

Elliot crabbed walked over from the far end of the fenced off playground and announced he had to poop. Ok. No biggie. I had the potty.  We hustled over to a quiet corner. He did his business, I dug a hole in preparation of disposal. Then I re-thought. Kids are all over this place. So are pets. I just couldn't risk someone finding it, no matter how out of the way I put it. Plus, that's just gross and smelly and unsanitary. The garbage can was over by the sandbox, along with a huge group of kids and parents. I didn't dare walk over, reeking potty in hand. I needed something to seal it up. Hide it. Ugh. There were empty sandwich containers in the stroller. I'll spare you the details, but *gag* *barf* *eeeeew* I'm sorry, maintenance workers. At least there was a bag lining the can.

The kids are still talking about that playground and we're planning a return trip. Maybe. I'm still a little poo traumatized. Why does Elliot always manage to do this to me?

The weekend was quiet, hubby's been working on a project in the basement, so I've been boy wrangling a bit more than I'd like to be. We've been trading off - he'll hang with them for a few hours in the morning, I'll take them until bath time, we both put them to bed. Today I took them to a birthday party. It was girl-centric, a princess theme. But they loved it. They were tattooed,  mustachioed and lacquered on fingers and toes (red for Elliot, of course, and pink & red for Felix)... and had to be talked out of going to bed in their knight suits.

I've been stocking up on rainy day things to do with the boys - gift cards to coffee shops with play areas and the like. As much as I they love sitting in front of the TV, we can't keep doing it to the tune of 4+ hours a day. That's just crazy talk! So we'll see what this week brings. Hopefully some sun. But if there's rain, I might will be prepared. Stay tuned!

Missed every little detail of our summer vacation so far? Well catch up, already! Weeks 1, 2, 3, 4. and 5.