Unites States of America

So much for my desire to have the children visit all 10 provinces and 3 territories of their own country before going to another country.
Jacob does have 8 provinces under his belt! The twins a mere 2, but hey...

Yesterday, the children experience the United States of America for the first time.
More precisely some "cross-border" shopping! I know that some of you might be totally against this,... to appease your minds our purpose was to purchase an "American" cell phone to use on our big trip in a few weeks. We did come home with a new DVD for the children one of which we have not seen in the stores in Canada and two really cute tops for me to wear at the conference in a few weeks.

Some of the highlights of the trip include the following:

1) When mom is driving on a big bridge which she does not like doing, especially when the driving surface is metallic with little holes all in it. It feels slippery. and dad whispers to mom so the kids don't hear "at least they have really high curves" The newly four year old will yell out from the back seat in a totally surprise tone "Hey, we're not falling in the water!?" Nothing, like the child blurring out the mother's fear.... Joey laughed and I laughed along nervously.


2) If mom and dad have valid passports and are both travelling by car with their children, the children can enter and leave the United States with Birth Certificates as their sole documentation. All the official websites say the children need passports, however plenty of private website (according to my dear husband) say that all you needs is their birth certificates. So we decide to save some money and try crossing over with only the basic documentation for the children and it worked. Hurray!


3) Children, especially the four year old variety, might very well expect the United State to be a place rather then a collection of places. Meaning, he might be very frustrated and confused at more roads and places to drive to once he arrives at the United States.


4) Even if a child has only seen the occasion pictures of Ronald McDonald's he will still get very excited and fascinated at a live size statue of said character. Pictures to come on facebook albums.


5) If a precious little almost 2 year old little girl is really grumpy stick her in a vehicle and drive several hours and she will be the happiest little girl in the whole world. No lie, this is totally true. This is the same little girl that will tantrum if when we pull up to our house before she has had her fill of a drive.


6) I am starting to relax a little more regarding my attending the SHE SPEAKS 2009 conference as I now feel confident to have a cute business casual top for each of the three days of the conference. Some of my "still in touch with style" friends will be coming over within the next few weeks to help me put some outfits together for the conference. A good old .. play dress up time. Now only if I felt confident about which subject I will speak about during my 3 minutes and 5 minutes judge speaking time!!!!


7) It is frustrating for a nearly 2 year old little girl to be told to tell her parents when she needs to go potty, but when she does there is no potty in sight, or you just past a exit from the highway and the next one is several minutes away. (Esther is potty training and doing well, for simply sake we are doing her first as she is ready. Daniel still thinks potty time is a time of self-discovery!)