Sea Stars and Groceries

Today was the hottest day since we've been here...a whopping 81 degrees. Not too bad, but WE HAVE NO AIR CONDITIONING!! So rather than sweating it out in the house, the girls and I headed down to the beach for our afternoon snack. Ryleigh spent some time chasing the surf, then inspecting a sea star and finally sat down for her snack. Avery tried to eat rocks. What is it with my kids feeling the need to stick rocks into their orifices?

This morning my neighbor came over for some coffee and a chat. She's a very nice person and practices law when she's not on her year long maternity leave. It seems that stay at home moms around here are pretty rare. In Canada, when you have a baby, you get one year off for maternity leave during which the government pays you unemployment. Some companies also supplement your unemployment to bring you up to your full wage for a period of time. My neighbor gets supplemented for 6 months. Awwweeeessssssooooommmmeeee.

After our time at the beach we made our daily run to the grocery store. I attempted to locate poplano peppers and adobo peppers to no avail. I settled on jalapenos, which I paid $2.50 for four of, and a red bell. The Canadians, not so big into Mexican food. By the way, milk here is $3.77 for a HALF gallon (well, actually 2 liters, but close enough). Most all the food is more expensive and while most of the time I can find the same stuff, it doesn't always have the same name. For instance, half and half is called mixed cream. That one took me a while to figure out. And then there is something called coffee cream, which is a milk product, but I think has more fat in it. Low fat items don't seem to be as big here. The yogurt is better, even the Activia seems creamier. High-fructose corn syrup is banned in this country, so no worries in that direction, which totally rocks. Even Coca Cola has no HFCS. Score one for Canada!

Another thing that Candadians are into...their coffee and donuts. The most common and popular chain style place here is called Tim Hortons. They are everywhere...kind of like our Starbucks. Only they're more like a Shipleys...with waaaayyyy better donuts and they also serve sandwhich stuff.

All in all, things are going well. I'm soooo ready for Ryleigh to start school, but that doesn't begin for a few more weeks. She is literally driving me crazy. We are going through a very head-strong time right now. She asks a question, I say no, she asks again, I say no, she asks again, I still say no, but louder...she asks again and then it's on like donkey kong. She goes to time out and when the four minutes are up, she lets me know that she now wants to be in time out and will be staying there until she's ready to get up. Seriously?? So that's how it's going to be??? Then you don't get bubbles in your bath tonight....what?, you don't want bubbles...well, then guess what....there is not Santa Clause and I killed the tooth fairy...there, are you happy???

Then I go stare into these big blue eyes...these eyes will never turn on me...they will love me forever...or at least until the milk runs dry.