I just remembered a moment in PEI that will likely make me laugh forever… and to laugh at yourself is a healthy thing to do. Best if you do it before others do!
After having Dija at the hospital we had to get a prescription and Walmart was close to our next visit and had a pharmacy. I ran in leaving everyone else in the van until I knew how long it would take. I need to give information for the computer…. The questions start. I just need to mention that hospital air makes me stupid. Date of birth? (Now remember that I have five children to sort through to grab the right date.) Month, check… date, check… year… 1987.
“How long do you think… oh wait… Did I say 1987? Um well I did have a baby that year but not this one! Her year is 2007. Sorry about that.”
I found it so much funnier than he did. Then I left him thinking that I’ve been having babies for over 20 years. Not that there’s anything wrong with that!
Someone please remind me to blog about the photo shoot next in case i forget… as you can see I’m losing my mind.

It was an unplanned adventure that just kind of happened. Nana (babysitter) was going away for a few days and deserved the break so I had booked 3 days off without clients. That made 5 days of no work all together…. I cannot remember the last time this has happened. So it suddenly occurred to me that we should leave town. There is family property in PEI with all the luxuries of home calling our names. Grandma was out of town so it would be empty too – perfect!
We set out Sunday afternoon when Papa’s Sunday duties were over. I had packed everything before he arrived so we were ready to go. We went with the ferry route because it lands about 15 minutes from the cottage. It was a lovely summer rain kind of day. We arrived and loaded onto the ferry without incident. Snacks in hand we went up to the passenger level and it was stinking hot and stuffy inside… not the way I want to spend family time so outside we went. Rain does not make us melt. We stayed on deck the entire trip and it’s a good thing we were only going to PEI because it was wet! Kids loved it though.
Trey and Dija are not terribly demanding about what we do as long as we are hanging out together so there was no urgency to go anywhere or do anything. Monday afternoon we decided to play in King’s Castle Park. It was great taking pictures of the kids climbing on very creative play equipment and just running around with them. Then it happened… the main event that high jacked moments of our vacation and turned it into a typical family trip for us (since Justin wasn’t there to have an emergency). Dija was bit. Just one tiny mosquito but he bit hard. Her right eye began swelling before we made it back to the cottage in the middle of nowhere without a Benadryl carrying drug store for miles. Thankfully the gardening lady stopped by and happened to have some at home so she made a return trip for us and delivered the goods. Morning came and it looked nasty. By Tuesday evening I knew it was time… off to ER in Charlottetown.
I have had great service at our local hospital during our rare visits and I’ve never had cause to complain about our waits but this visit was amazing. It was clear that I had brought in the princess… or they thought she was very sick. They whisked her in ahead of everyone and checked on that poor little eye with the puss running down her cheek. She was a trooper and tolerated the poking very well. On the way out with a prescription in hand she questioned, “Why da doctor not pix my eye?” The infection cleared in a few days and the swelling went down enough to open the eye in another few… at least she managed to see half of the island!
The following morning was like a dream come true for Trey. He loves to save the day. I’m not sure when this started but it’s important for him to save the day now and then. When we realized we had locked ourselves out of the house I was thankful that I had left the kitchen window open. A ladder, some jiggling and a skinny four year old could be the solution. Once he was inside, Trey had to jump down off the kitchen counter (he fought past the fear) and unlock the door. Then he simply ran over and jumped back in his car seat as he yelled, “I saved the day!”
The Drive home included ice-cream for breakfast and more rain! We drove over the huge bridge and about two thirds of the way over Trey decided it was enough and asked if we could just get off the bridge now.
We’ve decided that we will do more mini vacations this year and take the kids out on adventures. They are really well behaved and pretty easy to entertain and you never know when you can save the day.
Next adventure – pack Benadryl, lots of snacks and a big bubble to keep Dija in.

The Happy House is what the kids call home… Neenee and Papa’s Happy House. Story time here is always good because Papa is really great at reading a book and is very creative about how the story unfolds. I prefer to hang out close enough to listen but don’t bother getting me to read to the kids because I just can’t compete with Papa’s storification!
Recently we’ve been watching the interest in books grow and we often find Dija sitting reading to her kitty or her doll. Then there are the moments when the two kids are caught sitting on the sofa together with a stack of books and they will “read” to each other. I listened as Trey read the race car book to his sister and he carefully explained how two people can be in the red car together. They know that the red car always wins at the end of the book and they imagine themselves in the driver’s seat as Papa reads it rather dramatically. Well tonight Trey was in charge of the story and he did a fine job of solving the problem. “Two people can be in the red car. Trey and Dija. Tonight we can both win Dija!” I was thrilled that they were sitting together with books but with that little explanation I felt like that moment was more valuable than loving books.
This “big brother love” characteristic of Trey’s is something that provides tear-in-the-eye moments for me all the time. He can be soooo sweet with her. (He does the normal brother stuff too!) Dija had a run in with some splinters. Her one hand and both feet looked like she had a run in with a porcupine. Between Uncle Justin and Papa taking turns they all came out but it was a process. The final stages were post bath and Dija laying face down (prone, in case Justin reads this) on dining room table with a needle and tweezers and lots of screaming. The screaming was more fear than pain but she had our attention for sure. Brother Trey stood right in front of her face and, as if he had training, he spoke to her very calmly telling her to hang on it’ll be ok. He was the calm for her storm at that moment and it was so adorable I can’t even remember what he was saying because it was more about his approach. Sensitive boy with visible love.
Remind me to come back and read this entry when his 4 year old sauciness is coming out!