Manitobans invade Ontario ... for a weekend

Sidenote: I had been working on this post for almost 3 hours when everything got screwed up and I had to re-upload all the pics and redo everything. So I am NOT doing the usual amount of colourful words and such because I am just beyond ANGRY that I had to do this all again. Sorry!

So this weekend has been a busy one. My brother, Tim, and his wife, Andee, the ones that just got married...see the post I'm Eloping...came out for 5 days. It has been really fun, especially knowing that I won't be seeing them for a whole year after this. So they got here on Friday morning....early....meaning they got up around 3:30am to get here....and Rebekah and I proceeded to drag them around Ottawa since we were already at the airport, which is pretty close to the Parliament buildings and none of us (except Rebekah of course) had seen them yet.

Wow, Tim had the REDDEST eyeballs I have ever seen, by the way. Apparently he hasn't been sleeping much the past few weeks. I'm guessing he's been working a ton or something (gotta pay for that wedding somehow, hey? another reason I'm eloping...lol) but seriously, he looked like an extra from "Outbreak" who just got smooched by a diseased monkey and was about to start bleeding from various orifices. Haha. Gross.
We also walked around the ByWard Market again (I had to get the sweet Indian-style anklet I had seen the other day and was forever after kicking myself for not purchasing). Then we took the poor travellers home where they proceeded to nap...for 4 freaking hours! Apparently we wore them out or something.

Let's see, what happened on Saturday? Um, oh ya, we went to IKEA. Second time in one week for me but I knew that Andee loves loves loves IKEA so I figured we should take her. And I was right. I actually had to backtrack through the store because Craig and Rebekah were already at the checkout while Tim and Andee were still stuck in the bedroom section. But in reality that is actually Tim's fault. Let's just say that Andee had to wait for Tim for a while. 23 minutes to be exact. But I won't divulge any further information here on the there-for-all-to-read world wide web. If you really want to know, you'll have to ask him. :)

That evening we watched "Untraceable" (Diane Lane, Colin Hanks...) and I ate, like, 15 of the President's Choice Decadent Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I'm actually not even exaggerating about the number of cookies I consumed. I just can't stop with those things. Like, they're my cryptonite. Oh man. But just to make myself feel better I'm going to reveal one of Rebekah's secrets. She ate almost an entire container of Jalapeno chip dip that night. Our piggishness must be directly related to some form of genetic mutation. That's my story aned I'm sticking to it. I'm pretty much from X-Men, then, which makes it cool...right...??? I'm sooooo marrying Wolverine. That psychic telepathic chick's got nothing on me!

Anyways...

So then it was Sunday! We decided to go heathen for a day and embarked on a trip to New York! (The state, not the city. sigh...someday I will be Carrie Bradshaw for a day and try on all the Manolo Blahniks I can get my hands on...). We packed a lunch and drove for an hour and a half to this place called Rockport where you can take a boat tour

through the Thousand Islands (which just happens to be my favourite salad dressing...coincidence??? i think NOT!) to Boldt Castle.

This picture is JUST the playhouse...as in a house >::::::>this mini-castle here is just the power house for generators
where you perform plays for fun

this is the actual castle...with burlap sacks hanging out some of the windows from renovation work

It's this really cool place that this super-millionaire hotel owner (obviously his name was Boldt but he owned the Waldorf hotels...) built for his wife. He actually had the island chiselled into the shape of a heart. Like, talk about having too much money...! So ya, he started building this castle for his wife in 1900 but she died in 1904 so he stopped all the construction and never returned to that island again. Isn't that just so melodramatic and romantic? Awwww. So we took a boat to this place, which is in New York. The whole place is being renovated and finished up the way it was supposed to be. I think they said all that work started up in the late 70s. Beautiful beautiful place. Did I mention it's in New York? (Andee and I were both pretty excited about that fact)

I want this piano...

ME! ->

plus we managed to break the little-kid cart thingy. it was HILARIOUS

And I can't talk about that day without mentioning this stuff called Moose Tracks ice cream, which is basically vanilla with GINORMOUS chunks of fudge and mini-Reese's peanut butter cups. Like, it's pretty much ecstasy in a cone. with chocolate. and peanut butter.

When we got home we ate some take-out and quickly lit a bonfire cuz we could see the clouds rolling in and we were really set on having a fire. We were going to make s'mores with the President's Choice cookies but ... I had eaten them all the night before so that was a no-go. But we had beers and cigars. And rye. So we were set. We got about 2 cigars worth of bonfire time and then it started to POUR. So we went straight-up redneck and hunkered down in the garage for the rest of the evening. Good times were had. :)

And yesterday? First thing after breakfast we went skeet shooting in Craig and Rebekah's backyard. Ah, the joys of having a 10 acre lot. I have an awesome video of it (including Jaden saying "shotgun shell") but it's 21 MB too big for me to upload here...sigh. This was my second experience with a 12-gauge shotgun. I have to say, I love shooting guns. I didn't actually hit any of the clay pigeons, but I had fun blasting away at them! :) Plus you gotta love it when you get to pull that part of the gun that makes the empty shell pop out, smoking and whatnot. Just makes you feel like a Quentin Tarantino movie.

HOW COOL AM I? :P

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>this one was taking during the gun's kickback. haha

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>gotta love Jaden's hearing protection. :)

K

K

And in the afternoon we went go-carting. Let me rephrase that. Everyone went go-carting while I enjoyed relaxing on a spectator bench with my i-Pod, the July issue of Vogue, and a can of coke. What can I say...I just don't love go-carting. I mean, I can already drive and own a real car... On a real road... Going faster than 10 km/hour...without having to worry about some crazy 10 year old kid smashing into me. So I'll just stick with that. ... The afternoon was still fun for me though. I actually really enjoy watching other people have a good time with activities like that. Just like water sports. People just don't seem to understand that I have more fun WATCHING other people doing those kinds of activities than I do taking part in them (ie. wakeboard, surf, waterski, etc. Except tubing. Apparently I'm pretty hard to shake off, according to several boat drivers :) ) Like, I'm just not pumped about doing some of those things, so why would I? People just don't seem to get that about me. When I decide to just sit and watch they always think one of two things: a) I'm too scared or b) I'm a snob. Neither of those is true ... most of the time. ;) I just don't see the point in participating in (or paying for) activities that I personally just don't find exciting or enjoyable. I mean, I'll happily go on roller-coasters, shoot a shotgun, I want to try bungee jumping one day...those are things I'm interested in...but maybe people just find it hard to believe that someone wouldn't enjoy the same things they do. Anyways, I just refuse to succumb to all the pressure people always try to put on me to "try something new". I've tried go-carting...and waterskiing. Just take my word for it when I say I DON'T LIKE IT. Like, some people don't even seem to consider that a possibility!!! Yeesh! :) Haha.

Anywho...That's my mini-rant for the day. No worries, though - It's not like anyone tried to make me go go-carting yesterday. It's just something that frequently happens in situations like this, which is why I went off on this tangent. But seriously, I enjoyed watching everyone else go-cart. Especially Rebekah with Jaden in the seat beside her. Cute!

L

K

And ya, that was pretty much our weekend. I'm not sure what we're doing today. I think just bumming around home. We wanted to do a pool day but it's not looking so hot outside, so we'll see. Tonight anyways we're taking Tim and Andee to the airport for their evening flight home. It's kinda sad. I'd been looking forward to this weekend for so long and now it's over. sigh. Well, that's how things go. But in exactly one week I will be arriving at the Frankfurt airport!! Isn't that crazy? I think it is....