The I.P.M.

On Wednesday this week, I went along as a parent volunteer on Max's second field trip of the year (already.)

 

To the I.P.M. {International Plowing Match} A.K.A. {also known as} G.S. {Gong Show} held in Roseville, ON this year...practically in our neighbourhood.

 

OH. MY.

 

The only phrase that adequately describes this entire day from start to finish is gong show. I can't come up with anything else.

 

This was one field trip I would have been more than content to stay at home and skip. It's outdoors. You spend an entire day wandering through tent cities. With thousands of other people. And school kids....all the school kids from the region were also there on field trips. The weather forecast was showing an entire week of rain. Except for Wednesday. Wednesday showed a little yellow sun amidst the sea of rain clouds the rest of the week. And I thank God for that small blessing! So why did I sign up to go? Because it's just the type of field trip that I need to go on. Otherwise I would spend all day nervously at home worrying about Max getting seperated from his group and lost. Do I sound like an over protective mother? Perhaps. But let me just say...I experienced more than my share of lost kids on this exact field trip. I've volunteered on enough of them through the years to know which ones I really need to go on and which ones are not as big of a deal (from a mama's perspective!).

 

The day before it had rained all day. We went expecting lots of mud. Which there was. But they did a good job with laying down woodchips to help minimize the muddyness. I was on the same bus as Max but didn't actually see him until we got to the Match. And look at that. He left his hoodie and jacket at school. The only child on a bus of 50 that forgets his jacket. And it was chilly out. Oiye. At least he remembered to wear his boots!

 

The group we were in had 3 adults (one of which was the teacher) and 17 kids. It was a challenge. My head was swivelling and counting all day and trying to make sure no one got seperated and teamed up with another school group. (There were thousands and thousands and thousands of school kids...all the same age and size!) The best part of the day for our kids was being able to play in the mud holes and around old tree stumps. They loved trying to get their boots stuck in the mud so that they couldn't get out.

 

 

 

The big challenge of the day was trying to get to watch events ahead of the crowds. By the time our group would arrive the stands would be filled and the crowds would be 5 deep around the edges. Impossible for our kids to see what was going on. This was the case for the "Dancing Tractors", the "Lumberjack Show" and the "Barn Raising".  At one point, us adults were tired and weary from counting and trying to keep everyone together. Our views at the lumberjack show were very limited. But it was next to an empty field. So we told them to go run and play and burn off some energy. And they did for a long while. We started a trend. After we left the field, we noticed other school groups being told to go and do the same thing!

 

During our wanderings, we bumped into Aunt Heather! She was there for the day, helping mom at her booth. This was also about the same time we were walking by the "lost and found tent" and noticed a kid from Max's class sitting in there. He could not be released to us, even though his teacher was in our group. He had to wait until his group leader came to get him. See? Lost kids!

 

We managed to get the kids seats on the bleachers to watch the RAM Rodeo. This next photo is like a "where's waldo" scene. Can you spy Max?  And also, while we were sitting here, we may have heard them make an announcement for another lost kid from Max's class... this kid wasn't in our group but when we heard the name, we all looked at each other and said "heyyyyyyyy! That's one of our kids!"

 

The end of the day. It took over an hour for us to get shuttled from the Match on tractors and wagons, to our buses and back to the school. And we almost lost one of our kids in that process....he was standing in line to board a different bus and that happened in the last 2 minutes of the day! As it was, during the day we found another little boy who was crying and lost from his group and we had to take him to lost and found. And another kid from our school missed his bus and luckily found us and came back on our bus to the school.

 

Two words. Gong Show!

 

All the parents and teachers had headaches on the way home.

 

No wonder! ;)

 When I got home I headed straight for a bubble bath to de-stress. Good thing I can laugh (hysterically?!) about it now!

the birthday soiree

LeeAnne's birthday was on July 8th. But it took until the end of August before we could have a little sisters birthday celebration for her. A birthday soiree!

 

We had an outdoor dinner at 6:30pm, held at my parents. Vanessa helped set up. Mama helped make the food. We strung up some doilie bunting. In hindsight, we should have bought way more doilies. But we made do with what we had. Our table was an old chippy painted door which we set on two wooden sawhorses that belonged to Grandpa Roth.

 

A few mason jar lanterns were hung in the tree nearby....

 

A couple of old trunks, and random chairs were placed around the table. And a yoga ball. Max claimed that one to sit on! :)  I dug out my old cream and gold china that belonged to Grandma Gerber and we used that for the dinnerware.

 

 

 

 

The canopy provided shelter from the direct sun and helped to buffer the wind. It was a rather windy evening.

 

And we used mom's blue flowered glassware. I still remember her buying those glasses at Hafeman's Grocery Store in Wellesley when I was a little girl. They were a big deal because they matched her blue china so well. :)

 

 

The only instructions I gave out was that everyone should wear a lovely summer dress. And since we had a couple boys join us - (dad had to eat and Max too!) -  they were instructed to wear collared shirts. :)

 

 

The menu: grilled pizza on the bbq, spinach & strawberry salad, quinoa salad, fresh salsa and chips.

For dessert: Rhubarb-Raspberry Pie, Peach Crumble Pie and homemade vanilla icecream.

It was all quite delicious if I do say so myself!

 

 

(Dad must have gotten one of the "burnt offerings"...there were a couple pizzas like that. Still trying to perfect the art of grilled pizza!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I will have my pie and eat it too. Forget about weight watchers tonight!"

 

 

 

 

Max snapped a few pics of us afterwards. We were losing the light fast. And he was providing quite the antics while taking the photos. It is a wonder we had any keepers at all!

 

 

And then, very impromptu like, we had a soccer game. Max reeeeeeally want to play a game after our meal. A party game of soccer. Using the yoga ball. So we did. Can you imagine? Some ladies wore heels and some went barefoot. It was a sight to behold!

 

 

 

 

And by the time the game ended it was almost pitch dark outside. A most fun evening. We're going to have to do it again! We haven't done anything like that for years....so I was kind of rusty with putting it together. We learned from our mistakes. Next time it will be easier, quicker and better. I can hardly wait! :)

 

And the quote of the night was from the birthday girl herself, Ms. LeeAnne. We were all nicely sitting down to eat and she looks over at me and says "My, you look so pretty!" and then a second or two pause and "May I have my gift?!" It had to be the way she said it. Unplanned. So spontaneous. And it was just the moment. We were laughing uncontrollably all night about it. And sometimes still to this day we say it to each other. Silliness!

 

The Birthday Celebration

The thing with Max's birthday is, it's never just a one day celebration. It spills over into multiple days. And since it was on a Saturday this year, it was bound to be a whole weekend affair!  Oh to be that young...when you look forward all year to having a birthday. How soon that changes! :)

 

Max came home from school on Friday with a big birthday banner that all the kids in his class had signed for him. I thought that was a super cool idea!

 

Saturday morning (the big day!), was an early one. Hockey try-outs at 8:00am. 

Over the years we have amassed a random and eclectic assortment of birthday banners and decorations. We hung all of them up in his room and randomly scattered nine balloons on his floor. He loved (LOVED!) waking up to the decorations. Such a small thing starts off a birthday right! (He is choosing to sleep in the trundle portion of his bed still. He likes it better than his actual bed. Silly boy!)

 

 

 

 

 

Back from hockey...let the celebrating begin!

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the weeks and days grew closer to his birthday, there was one consistant thing he wanted. A skateboard. Keith and I had other ideas. But the day before we looked at each other and decided that our ideas can go on hold and we'll get him the skateboard. Easy.

 

 It's pretty hard to wrap a skateboard so that he doesn't know what it is. You can tell by his smile above he knows....

 

 

 

 

 

Not in the house buddy! See how he's smiling at me....he knows!

 

 

 

Pancakes and sausages for birthday brunch...

 

 

 

 

 

Every year starting at his first birthday, we've taken a photo of Max wearing Keith's Leafs hockey jersey. This year it was skateboard style!

 

And then we went outside for a few more photos. Someone does not like the Leafs. Can you tell? Makes it a bit of a challenge to get him to wear the jersey!

 

This weekend was the annual New Hamburg Fall Fair. So after we were finished eating brunch, we headed on down to take it all in. Aunt Heather and Aunt Vanessa were there competing in the 4H Calf Show. We couldn't stay the whole afternoon to watch, but we did see them both compete in showmanship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a few hours at the fair, we raced to the grocery store to pick up the cake for Max's party. The cake! One of the most important details of a birthday. I usually trust Sobey's here in town to take care of that for me. A cake baker/decorator I am not. We went with a hockey cake done in cupcakes...easy to serve little 8 and 9 year old boys.

 

I also know enough by now to take a photo of the birthday boy with his cake before the party. Otherwise it won't happen. It will be pandalerium when it is actually time to serve the cake and I won't be thinking of getting a photo.

 

 

So that afternoon at 4:30, we had Max's friends party just to add to the craziness. I was not crazy enough to have it at our house. I know better then that! We headed to Laser Quest and had everything there.

 

Half the boys met us at our place and we drove them there. The other half, met us at Laser Quest. We had them jump off some energy on the trampoline before we left!

 

They played two games of laser tag.

Here they are checking out their scores in between the two games.

 

We had a party room reserved after the laser tag games for pizza and cake...

 

 

 

 

 

 

A good time was had by all. They were tired out from laser tag so pretty calm when it was time to eat and open presents. We sent them on their way, each with a goodie bag full of sugary treats that we had fun picking out and putting together.

 

By the time we got back to our house, it was 7:30pm. We had been going non-stop. But there was still one more thing on the agenda....a quick visit with Grandpa & Grandma. We picked up aunt LeeAnne on the way to their house and enjoyed the leftover cupcakes with them.

 

 

 

And by the time we got back home once again, it was 10:00pm. And we were all very very tired. And we all went to bed and slept sweetly and soundly. What a funtastic birthday for our Maxter. We all had a great day!

 

Sunday morning came very soon. Keith had to teach adult Sunday School. And unfortunately, Max had hockey try-outs again Sunday morning. I'm really not a fan of hockey on Sunday mornings. I'm glad this is only for a short time during tryouts as it's not a habit we like or want to get into. Since Keith was teaching, it was my turn to get Max to hockey.

 

After hockey, Max had been wanting/thinking/planning to run the Terry Rox Race here in town. But you know what. After hockey was over with, he was tired and when I asked him, he was more than content to skip the race. A busy weekend will do that to you....young and old alike! So...the three of us hopped in our truck and went over to Grandpa & Grandma's just in time for lunch to celebrate Max's birthday with all the Gerbers. They were going to celebrate and have cake without him if he would have decided to run the race! You do what you have to do in our family! Sometimes you're celebrated even if you're not there. In this case, he was. Woot! Woot!

 

 

I barely took any photos. I was photoged out. But I did get one of Vanessa showing off her stupdendous babysitting skills. Isn't she just a natural with little ones?....LOL!

Poor Sawyer Brown. When you're 1.5 years old and don't like being contained at all....having aunts who want to hug you and cuddle you is just the worst!

 

And so, we got back home Sunday evening around 6:30. Max was very content to inspect all his cards and gifts and play quietly. Keith packed and headed for the airport around 8:30 to catch a red-eye to Alberta for the upcoming week. And I just sipped tea and read a book. Lovely. :)

 

 

This little man.....we love him very very very very much! His eagerness and energy just radiates out of him. He has worked so hard this past year in hockey and come so far!

After Sunday morning's hockey try-out, each player and parent had an interview with the coaches. Max received some great news...news that he had been working hard for and hoped to hear. He made the Atom AE Team! This week, practices and games begin in earnest and he has alot of hard work ahead of him. But we're so proud of his efforts and what his hard work has achieved so far. It's going to be an interesting fall and winter spent at the hockey arenas! And that news was just a really great way to finish off a fantastic birthday weekend! Way to go Max!