A Series of Unfortunate Events

I haven't written a post for a while, but I do have not one, but several good reasons why. They say bad things come in threes. Well, my 'third' just happened, so I think I am now in the clear.
First off, I lost my wallet. This happens to people from time to time, but it had never happened to me and it sucks! It was my own fault, I was rushing to do a long list of errands in Halifax and I left my wallet on the roof of my car after filling up with gas. After searching along roadside ditches to no avail, I gave up and started the long process of bringing my life back together in id form.

Then another unfortunate incident happened - driving to visit Teresa in the deep wilderness of NB last weekeend- I hit a deer. It could have been worse. The deer could have come flying in through my windshield or it could have been a moose. Thankfully, Caleb didn't see a thing because it was not a pleasant thing to witness and the damage to my car wasn't too bad (I managed to drive it back to NS). So, now I'm dealing with appraisals, insurance claims and trying to sort that aspect of my life out.

Then this weekend came the real kicker. Alan had just returned home from 2.5 weeks on tour and we both happened to be in Halifax for a night without Caleb. We came home after a nice evening out to 5 missed calls from our brand new tenant in our Bayside home. He hasn't even moved in yet, so we were a bit concerned that he was calling 5 times to report something to us...did we have a crazy-high maintenance tenant on our hands who was going to make unreasonable demands before he had even moved in? Well, it turns out that was not the case - I spoke to him first thing in the morning, and I could never had imagined in my entire life what I was about to hear. In our basement, another tenant had moved in - actually several tenants - a whole friggin nest of newly hatched snakes, complete with a 2-3ft mama snake - yes, you read that correctly - in our BASEMENT!!!  Holy smokes. That is definitely worth 5 missed calls.  So it appears that a pregnant snake found a way inside and thought our basement would be a nice warm place to lay her eggs and perhaps spend the winter. I personally would have died if I had been the one to discover this. DIED. Our tenant was actually ok with this, surprised, not overly excited about the situation, but he was calm and cool  (and not crazy!) and we now have someone coming to solve the problem (and I will not be going to inspect the situation, thank you very much).

So there it is. My big 3. I've been trying to figure out what the upside to all of this  is - surely there is something to reflect on, or some lesson to be learned. All I can think of is that we need to take time to enjoy the times of calm in our lives. It is only when things become difficult and challenging that we really appreciate how wonderful it is when the little things in life run smoothly. Before all of this I certainly wasn't thinking how great it was to have a car that worked, a wallet full of id and no wild animals running loose in the house I was about to rent! And in a month from now, when everything in my life is back in order and all of this is (almost) forgotten, I may forget to take a minute to just breathe and appreciate it. I certainly hope I remember to do so (and quickly forget the image of snakes hatching in my basement).

And now a quick note from Caleb, who is sitting patiently beside me waiting to write something. Here it goes - xxoooooooxoxoxooxoxxooooc

Mom, we can only go up from here!

Notable quotables!

 

Canoe concert!

 Here are a few of my favourite Calebisms from the last few months. Enjoy!

We had been admiring the lupins all spring and early summer -Cale even threw them in when we were rhyming one day - poopin' lupin - hard not to laugh or encourage that one! when one day in late July he was looking out the window when he suddenly shouted 'Mom! Come quick! The lupins are all gone!'. He had a horrified look on his face as if someone had come and stolen every lupin in sight. What followed was one of our first ever talks about life and death. He was ok with it, for flowers anyway, which was all we really covered. 

Having trouble sleeping one night, Cale ended up in my bed. He was squirming and half-crying and I couldn't fall back to sleep. It was 3:30 in the morning and I had had enough. I sternly told him, 'You have two choices - either lay still and fall asleep right now beside me, or go back to your own room and fall asleep by yourself.' This really upset him and he started to cry harder. Finally, through his tears he said, 'Mom, just tell me again, what are my options?'

Eating a snack one day he says 'Look mom, one bite of cheese, one drink of juice, one bite of cheese, one drink of juice - I made a pattern!'

Talking about an upcoming trip to a bluegrass festival he asks, 'Who made the rule that there are no drums in bluegrass?'

And my absolute favorite - we had been talking about the tooth ferry and one day while playing lego with Greg he says, 'Look, I made the tooth ferry!' and yes, it was a little boat and yes, all this time he had been imagining a ferry boat coming into his room to take away any teeth that would one day fall out!

Oh my little coastal boy!

Whales!

Family photo - Tiverton, Long Island.

For the past two weekends, Cale and I have been on our own, without a vehicle. Don’t get me wrong, of all the places to be stuck, Annapolis Royal is a pretty great place to be, and for a 3 year old, Caleb is quite a wonderful companion, however, I was very excited to have some visitors over the long weekend.

Not only did my parents come to town for a few nights, a good friend from Halifax also visited for a night with her husband and 4 year old daughter. This meant Caleb had his first ever friend sleepover. The company was great and the kids were adorable.

Buddies!

 On Monday, Alan came home in time to join us for the ultimate Bay of Fundy adventure –whale watching! We boarded a fishing boat in Tiverton, Long Island and hit the open water. Three hours later we had encountered 7 humpback whales and several dolphins. Watching the whales slowly breach the surface beside the boat then flash their giant tails before diving below again…it was breathtaking.  I’m not sure if Caleb could grasp just how enormous the animals were, but he loved the experience and stayed interested for the whole journey. Driving back home, it was fun to look in the backseat and see Cale, snuggled between Greg and Linda, all three of them sound asleep.

Fake whale spotting!

Real whale spotting!