Oh, Canada! (again)

Nels and I got back from a weeklong fishing trip to Ontario last Saturday. We spent a week at Separation Lake Lodge, not far from Kenora. It was about a 7-8 hour trip from home. We had a great time, but dang, fishing for six days is WAY too long. The baby was fine and I think she liked the rocking of the boat, which we spent about 8-10 hours a day in...but my butt could only take so much sitting on the plastic swivel boat chairs.

I took four books with me, thinking I'd read one of them, and read all four.

Erika, on the other hand, fared much better than her prego mama. She spent the week in New York City with my brother and his wife. She got fake nails, saw two Broadway plays (Mamma Mia! and Legally Blonde), went to the beach, a water park and went shopping. She flew out to NYC with my brother and sis-in-law and then flew back alone, meeting my mom in the Mpls airport where my mom had just arrived back from a weeklong trip to see friends in Colorado. The two of them then flew to Brainerd together. It worked out perfectly.

My dad stayed home and spent quality time with our dog, Daisy, and my poor grandma was responsible for feeding our two cats, two fish (in separate tanks) and hamster and watering our plants.

This was the only vacation I've planned to use for the entire year until my maternity leave kicks in when the baby's born in October. So sad to think I won't have anymore time off this summer, but excited that my due date is getting closer and closer.

As of this weekend I'll be starting my 27th week of pregnancy. I can't believe I'm entering my third trimester already. Time has gone by fast and the baby's room is like a storage room right now, heaped with baby gear I've bought at garage sales and a lot of Erika's stuff. My goal for the next month is to take everything out and bribe my dad and hubby to start painting. I'm heading to the paint store tonight to get some samples to figure out what color would be best. Nels also wants to install wood flooring in there, too.

I just hope we can get it all done in time.

My bad, this is my third daughter

Erika has long been BFFs with our neighbor, Carissa, who is 13. We share a backyard so they've played together since they were 4 and 5 and she practically lives at our house.

Carissa told me Sunday that really, this baby will be my THIRD daughter, since she's my second daughter. I said yep, that was true.

We took the girls to the cabin later and my sister-in-law helped the girls and my nephews tie-dye t-shirts. They had a lot of fun, and while Carissa didn't have a t-shirt, she tie-dyed a baby onesie I brought for her "little sister." It's very cute. She did a great job.

Carissa said she's going to be at our house everyday once the baby is born. I'm not sure how that will be any different than it is now, but that's OK by me. The more helping hands, the better.

We had a busy but fun Fourth of July weekend. We spent the majority of the time at the cabin, hanging out with my in-laws. My friend Suzy joined me and Erika and Erika's friend Kat at the Brainerd Fourth of July fireworks. It's fun to watch the display from the football field but apparently babies, even those still nestled inside a well-insulated tummy, don't like fireworks. Little did I know. The baby was moving around so wildly that I thought she was trying to hide behind my kidneys. Hopefully she won't remember the trauma after she's born.

Poor little girl. I promised her she wouldn't have to endure the fireworks next year. Not the big bangs, just the little stuff that her daddy and his brothers like to fire off at the cabin on the Fourth.