Life at Oak Grove

9 years ago, I became a mom.  My first born came into the world via cesarean and was frank-breech (which means bottom first and the feet close to his face).  

He got welcome with these words from his Dad "Welcome to the real world!".

Can anyone guess which movie inspired Dad?  

So today I am having a tween officially.  A tween who looks forward on what God has in store for him in the future.  A tween who has a heart to help and loves his siblings even if sometimes they do get in his stuff.  A tween who is growing up so fast that I need to catch my breath sometimes.

I love you Alexandre!  Tons and more. xoxo

To celebrate his birthday, I've put up a little something to show how he grew in the past nine years.  Enjoy!

A digital slideshow by Smilebox

Back at Treasure Isle, I was wondering how the baby robins were doing and how they will look now.    There were three of them in the nest.   While I was walking toward the play structure, one flew away and went hiding in a pile of wood near by.  

May 25th – Destination Boston Children’s Museum.   A wonderful museum if you ask me.  Tons of activities to do and to discover.  We were here two years ago – it hasn’t changed much.  The kids had a blast.   That’s what is important.   Unfortunately at the end of the trip both Alexandre and hubby got sick but on a different way that Dominic and Jasmine.   So our

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We are driving back home soon…. After 10 days – we need to get back home.  

Plymouth – we came two years ago and couldn’t see the “rock” because of construction around it.    So on a small day after doing a bit of outlet shopping for the kids, we decided to drive and eat in Plymouth and maybe pursue to Cape Cod.   Once again our plans got changed.   We stayed longer in Plymouth this time and decided, wisely if you ask me, not to drive to Cape Cod (which we had visited about two years ago!).
Plymouth is beautiful.   You can experience lots of things there.  They even make cranberry wine if you are interested.   We just enjoyed the scenery, ate some mussels, walk a bit around, and bought some soft shell crabs and fish for supper.
Enjoy the slideshow of Plymouth, MA!

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Our trip is almost over.  One more BIG day and then we are heading back home to Canada!  Keep reading…

May 22nd – Destination Old Boston area.   We are planning to walk the Freedom Trail.   Have  you caught the word planning?   Because plans sometimes are changed… and once again during this trip our plans got changed.
So we are planning to walk.   And discover the freedom trail.  But we were not planning to realize that we were close to the Boston Garden and Beacon Hill. 
So we were set to discover Boston…

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May 23rd – We got visitors at our camp site.    Ducks are walking freely on the grounds of Canoe River and they are not shy.   They come directly to you in the hopes to get some food.   And the kids gave them plenty of bread…. *grin*   The same ducks tried to come back later in the week – probably hoping we would gave them more…

May 21st - Talk about not being organized.   I way prefer knowing what to do when and being flexible.
Hubby had looked to see if there was a Bass Pro Shop in Boston because he wanted to buy a fish finder.  He didn’t see anything about it so we looked into Cabella’s.   Two were found at about 1 hours and half in Connecticut and 2 hours in Maine.    We decided to go toward Connecticut with the thought that there was some activities to do.   Well I wasn’t prepare whatsoever.  
So the drive wasn’t good because I was moody and stress and hubby wasn’t happy either.  
But we got to Cabella’s and got the fish finder.   Then we went to the Children’s Museum (free again thanks to our membership at home).   Little Children’s Museum which was okay but I’ve seen better.  
But the kids were able to run, explore and learn about what certain animals eat.   They were able to see the lady feed some of the animals, discover how to fly an airplane, dig like an archeologist and much more.
Here’s an highlight of the day.

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Continue reading me… more to come.

So we arrived safe and sound but wet on May 18th.   May 19th is the day were my patience and stress will be tested as we need to back up the RV in our site.  Shall I say to you that in the two years we had the RV, we never really backed it up in a site?   We always managed to avoid it somehow…  But God in all His wisdom has decided to change this.   Okay.  So let’s do it.
It took a few minutes but we were able to do it.  Problem is the site is crooked…  and somehow we can’t get the truck unhook.  Not good.   So I take the kids for a walk.  We saw Canadian geese with babies.   There is even a swan family on site.    Pretty neat.   
By the time I got back the trailer is unhook BUT somehow the tongue slipped and now the trailer is down.  Yikes!   But the RV people were very nice and came to help.  We were now able to set up.  
That was day 3 of our trip…
Remember I told you that Jasmine had been sick.   Well Dominic got it too at some point early in the trip.   Again it lasted only one day.   These empty ice cream containers can become handy in these kind of situation – let me tell ya…
This picture above show you papa swan stretching out near the lake.
Day 4 – May 20  Destination Boston Science Museum.  Which was almost free by the way since weMore to  have a pass at the museums in Ottawa.   Almost because they asked we pay for one child…  They don’t have the same rule there it was 2 adults 2 children while ours is a family package – parents and all the kids.   Oh well…
The highlight of this visit was the on site explanation we had for how the human heart works – thanks to the generous donation from a sheep…  did you know that a sheep’s heart of about 90% similar to a human heart?   It was very interesting – let me tell you.   At first Alexandre wasn’t too sure about the heart but he enjoyed the information he learned that day.
Here’s some of the pictures of the day!

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More to come on our trip to Boston!

Since we were done with school back at the end of April, we started planning a mini-vacation (which we needed badly due to various reasons…) to Burlington, VT.   Yes, I know…  you might be wondering about the title, right?

Well we were planning for Burlington and had found a wonderful RV site as well as tons of activities to do.   BUT since we waited to the last minute to reserve (a first for us…) we quickly discovered that it simply wasn’t going to happen because ALL the sites with sewage were not available.   Roadblock #1.

So we quickly changed our gears and tried to figure out were to go.   We went through Boston for a couple of days two years before during our transition from PA to PEI.   Oh the story we have with Boston and the RV.    Imagine missing an exit on the highway and almost getting stuck under a LOW bridge to finally being able to get out of downtown Boston with only scratches on the top of the air conditioning.  OUF!  But that is another story…

So we found a RV site near Boston and decided to drive to somewhere in NY state for a night while driving to MA.    Found a site with no sewage but perfect since we leave the next day right?   Problem is, we were planning the vacation from May 17 to May 31 BUT we had not taken into account that the last week-end of May was Memorial Day for the Americans.   Consequently, we had to shorten our trip to May 17 to May 28.  Roadblock #2

Another thing happening on May 17 was the 50% sale at Value Village (a second-hand store) which doesn’t happen often.   And we were planning for me to go since our oldest needed pants (incredible how fast one child goes through pants when the knees keep piercing…).   Fortunately, the sale also means that the store is open at 7am.  *grin*   So off I go for a quick run at the sale and found amazing clothes for my oldest and my youngest as well as a couple of things for the two other boys.

Pack the kids and off we go… While driving and enjoying the view, Jasmine got sick – mmmm!   Not once, not twice but more than likely at least four times while we were driving to Treasure Isle RV Park.   Poor little girl!   She didn’t understand what was happening.   Who would at the age of 2?

We finally arrived at Treasure Isle and the site is interesting.  Very close to a little river actually.   Very quiet.  A play structure close by and plenty of space for the kids to run.   Hubby didn’t want to unhook the trailer since we were leaving the next day (but we did remove the electrical plug though!).   However, our plans were changed once again when Jasmine barfed another time.  Okay we definitively need Ginger Ale.  Thanks to our GPS – hubby went with the boys to a Wal-Mart in Rome.   Yep!  That’s the name of the city close by.  Rome, NY.   Weird…

After that first day of driving, the highlight I got was to catch a few pictures of brand new baby robins in a nest that was located in the play structure.   Sweet!   I love creation and the bright colors.    God gave me indeed a sweet memory for me and the family.

Lo and behold, little girl was fine after that.   Great!   But just for precaution, we decided to wait a bit the next morning before deciding to pursue our trip.   We left at around 10ish with no more signs of sickness.

Unfortunately, we hit another roadblock at one point… well more than one that day actually.  So May 18 Roadblock #1 – when the road goes up and there is a railway track there, slow down if you are pulling an RV.   We didn’t went that fast but too fast for the RV who took the jump too fast… RESULT?  Load bangs about 10 minutes after passing the tracks.  We though – flat tires…  Nope.   We pursue the drive until someone needs to go to the bathroom.  We pulled in a  rest area and then I realize the damage done in the trailer.   The top bunk beds had the hit.   They are NOT in their place.  Uh Oh!    Called hubby to come and check.   We need to stop to eat – mind as well stop at a Home Depot…

So we stop thinking 1 hour and 30 minutes would be long enough to repair the problem…   It actually took more than 3 hours!  Yikes!   And we still have to get to Boston…

Repairs done we get back on the road.   But now it starts raining or should I say POURING hard.    Not fun.  Definitively not fun….  But the time we arrive to Canoe River Campground near Boston, it is past 10pm and we discover that we need to back up the RV in our spot.   NO WAY we are doing this in the pitch darkness and pouring rain.  So we took the liberty to set up temporarily in a pull-thru for the night.  We are tired.  The kids are tired.  We need sleep…   So off to bed we go.

Keep following our trip in the next entries…