"Ova Scotia" 2013, Ty's Panic Attack, Super Bug, Big Boy Sleeping, Cabot Trail, Moose, 1 Week of Hives, "Shake Your Boobies", Timmy & Corey, Lots of "Strawberry" Eating, Maybe No/Maybe Yes & Obsessed with Poop

Wes:  8 Months & 3 Weeks Old

Ty:  2 Years, 9 Months & 3 Weeks Old 

2 Weeks ago, on Friday, August 2…we were headed out to Nova Scotia!  Normally we leave around 4 AM on Sabbath morning and drive the 12 hours straight.  But Heath was going to be getting out early on this day, so we decided to head out when he got home.  I had gotten almost everything packed in the house, but Heath is the true pack horse and places everything JUST SO in the car.  We didn’t leave until 6:30 PM, but we got on the move.  We stopped at McDonald’s for a Happy Meal for Tyson (he goes crazy for them, since he never gets them unless we are on vacation) and we ended up getting a burrito at Chipotle in Portland.  Our plan was to drive until Saint John, New Brunswick and stay the night.  I had found quite a few places that accepted dogs (I wonder if that is a Canadian thing) and we decided on a Howard Johnson.  Secretly, I had a plan of my own. I was really hoping that we would just keep driving when we got to Saint John.  If Heath could get us there, then if the kids were doing great…I was going to offer to drive the last 5 hours, since “nighttime is my time.”  Well, that idealistic dream went right out the window in a hurry.  My children have not changed since our Florida trip.  They can NOT drive during the middle of the night!!!!  I think I have finally figured out what it is.  My kids are major belly sleepers.  They are OK in their car seats if they are taking a nap, but when it is bedtime… they do NOT want to be on their backs, they want to roll onto their belly and they get downright mad that they can’t.  Earlier in the day, I had realized that Heath had given Ty (and me) his cold…so Ty was sick.  Ty always gets a terrible sore throat at the beginning of his colds and he was in agony in the car.  I gave him Ibuprofen, but it just took forever to kick in.  He was beside himself, screaming,“Ty sick.  Throat hurts me!”  He was inconsolable, crying, and hyperventilating.  I literally thought he was having a panic attack.  I told him, “Ty, you are going to pass out.”  Well, I was wrong about that, but he did end up vomiting twice because he was so worked up.  Of course Westin could not sleep through the hysterics, so he was up crying as well.  This went on for quite some time, until Ty finally wore himself out.  I went and sat with them in the backseat but nothing helped.  I knew then and there that we needed to get to Saint John and get them to bed ASAP.  We rolled in at 2:30 AM American time (3:30 AM Canadian).  We were going to do what we did on our Florida trip.  “Divide and Conquer.”  Heath would sleep with Ty and I would sleep with Wes & the dogs.  Unfortunately, that didn’t work as well as it did on our Florida trip.  I know now that I can no longer sleep with Westin.  At 2:30 AM, he was awake and not tired at all.  He was overjoyed to be in bed with me and wouldn’t stop crawling all over the bed (trying to fall off it) and would not relax.  I would try to cuddle with him and he would pat me in the face and giggle and start crawling off the bed again.  I walked around the room with him and I finally got him to sleep…when what did I hear?  Tyson crying, “Mama!  Water!”  I had to get him a drink and woke up Westin in the process!!!  Man!  I could not get him to sleep until almost 4:30 AM… and then Ty was up at 6:30 AM (American time) because the sun was pouring in our curtains.  I got a whopping 2 hours of sleep.  We had brought a pack ‘n’ play but it was buried in our roof rack carrier.  I didn’t have the heart to wake my snoring husband to go get it, who was exhausted after working and then driving for 8 hours.

How could this angel do this to me?

Heath took pity on me on Sabbath morning and took the boys to get breakfast, so I could get a little more shut-eye…but I actually decided to take a shower and get ready to get on the road instead.  We left around 11:30 AM and got to the cabins at 4:30 PM.  We did not stop at all, except for pulling off an exit, to let Tyson poop on the side of the road!  There was not a gas station in sight, so what are you going to do?  The boys did great driving in the day, as they usually do.  My kids are just weird, I don’t know what to say.  Our arrival was anticlimactic.  We usually honk the horn all the way up the driveway, but the boys had both fallen asleep, so Heath refused to do it.  I knew that they would wake up as soon as we stopped…and they did.  It didn’t matter, no one was there to greet us anyway…except for Devin!!!!  They had all gone to Little Anse, a rocky beach/grassy cliff-beauty of a place.  They came back an hour later and we broke the bad news to everyone.  The bad news being that the Edwards clan would be the ones to infect everyone with a sickness this year.  With (normally) 40+ people staying together…there is bound to be at least one person with a cold…and for the last couple of years, it seems to spread like wild-fire to everyone.  It might have something to do with the fact there are a ton of kids running around, spreading germs, touching everything…and also to do with the fact that we do not have a dishwasher and don’t usually have enough hot water to wash the dishes with.  At any case, 19 out of the 28 people did end up being sick this year.  As each and every one fell to the “super bug” (as I called it), a dagger would go into my heart.  There was a lot of guilt there.  But nothing like the day when Shannon told me that my 6 week old nephew, Griffin, had fallen prey.  Awful.  Well, back to Saturday night.  We got our cabin cleaned out and our beds set up.  The big deal for the week was that we were going to have Tyson sleep in a single air mattress with a sleeping bag for the first time!  I was a little nervous.  He is still in a crib at home!  But the pack ‘n’ plays are really too small for him now.  I fought this with Heath, my argument being, “I don’t think that being away from home, in a new different place is the time to try sleeping in a big boy bed.”  But I gave in because what other choice did I have?  Amazingly, it went great.  He only fell off the air mattress 3 times (once I caught him, as I was walking through our cabin door)  and he never woke up any of the times!  He thought he was the “cat’s meow”, sleeping in the “big boy bed” that is for sure! 

We made it!

Sunday I was a woman on a mission.  With my OCD, I literally could not relax or enjoy myself until my cabin was completely set up, with everything in it’s proper place.  Everyone kept making fun of me for it, saying, “Alison, by the time you have it perfect…it will be time to pack it up and leave!”  I understand it’s crazy, but I feel physically ill being in my cabin until it is picked up and neat.  I can’t help it!  So it took me all day/night, but it got finished!  It didn’t help that Westin takes a long 2 ½ to 3 hour nap in the late morning – so there went all that unpacking time!!!!  Because Tyson & Westin nap at slightly different times (but they have overlapping time), I figured that I needed to find a different spot for Tyson to take his nap.  I found the perfect spot in the old boy’s room.  There are two single beds angled together…so that there was very little chance of him falling out of the bed.  I borrowed my mother’s fan, had our portable iPod player, and he thought that this was the best thing ever!  Again, he felt like he was such a big boy.  I would say, “Ty, let’s go to the boy’s room for your nap!”  He usually whines about taking a nap (unless he is really tired), but he would say every time, “Oh!  The boy’s room!  That’s fun!”  I kept telling him that maybe in a few years all the boy cousins can stay up there together!  That’s fun to think about!  Sunday afternoon us Edwards headed to Port Hawkesbury to get a few things at Walmart & Sobey’s (a grocery store).  The funniest thing happened when we were leaving Sobey’s.  We had bought Ty this pressed-fruit bar thing that he was so excited about.  I was holding his hand, walking out of the store, and saw there was about 4 cars all waiting for us to cross the street.  I picked up the pace a bit and pulled on Ty.  He started fighting me a bit and then started freaking out.  I got him across the street (not willingly) and then I saw what the problem was.  He had dropped his precious fruit bar in the middle of the street and there were cars headed straight for it!  He was crying like crazy, “My treat!  My treat!”  And all I could do was laugh.  It was like watching a train wreck…you know that the car is going to run over the treat right in front of Ty…but you can’t help but watch!  Amazingly, all 4 cars missed it and we were able to run back and save it!  It was so funny!  But the funniest thing was Tyson yelling at the cars (with major attitude), “No cars!  That’s my treat!”  Sunday night, we started off our game playing and played Mafia and then Kelly, Leigh & I played Dutch Blitz (Mia ended up joining us later in the week).  I have to say that we had a moment of silence for Corey, who had to miss this year due to her having a baby boy on August 27 (Mimi & my birthday)!  We really missed her (and her whole family, of course)!!!!  We also missed all the Walls as well!  It wasn’t the same without everyone!  Sunday night was awful with Westin.  He had gotten the cold too and just was beside himself crying inconsolably from 1:30 AM to 4:00 AM.  I had tried every trick in the book, including giving Tylenol, and nothing worked.  I didn’t know what else to do.  So I said, “Westin, I am going to lay you in your crib now.  You are just going to cry in your crib for awhile.”  I laid him in his crib and he fell right asleep.  I was so relieved, but peeved too!!!!!  I could have tried that 2 ½ hours ago, but I thought he needed comfort and couldn’t be alone!!!!!  Guess not.    

The boys playing in our cabin while I was unpacking

The finished product!

Ty's bed

Wouldn't it be fun if they all slept together in the boy's room one day?  (the first of many pictures I stole from Kelly's blog)  

On Monday, Wes & I were so tired…we both slept until 10:30 AM!  Needless to say, I was a little unprepared for the kayak race that was beginning at 11:30!  I rushed to get Westin breakfast (nothing for myself) and then headed to the lake.  We had the “young” team and were against the “old” team.  We thought we had it made.  I was very clear that I have used a kayak like twice in my life and I would be our weakest link.  I told them to be very careful where they placed me in the line-up.  We had a pretty good-sized lead, when I jumped into the kayak.  As I predicted, it was all over from there.  But it was not my fault!  As I was getting passed the paddle, our paddle literally came apart and they couldn’t get it back together!  Finally they gave me the paddle, but it was not put together right.  When I would make a stroke, it would not hit the water right and it was doubly as hard.  We lost our whole lead and everyone agreed we had to stop.  Our family is so competitive!  We ended up having our last 3 people go against their last 3 people and we ended up losing…but it was definitely under protest!  We probably would have kept our lead, if it weren’t for the paddle!  After the race, Ty & Heath went swimming but it was a tad cold for Wes & I.  That afternoon, Mia & I made my salsa for Leigh & my meal, but it didn’t turn out as well as it usually does.  I figured out that it really does need to be as fresh as possible!  Monday night was a great night!  10 of us (and baby Griffin) rented a motel room to watch the Bachelorette season finale!  There were 9 girls and Rad came too!  We got snacks from the Spudwagon and had a blast…until the very shocking ending happened.   It was like someone deflated a balloon!  We were all so disappointed!  For anybody reading that does not know what happened…the bachelorette, Desiree, had professed that there was only 1 guy for her and he ended up leaving the show and leaving her broken-hearted.  We thought that he was going to come back and propose to her, but instead…she ended up settling for the runner-up and accepted his proposal!!!!!  So ridiculous!  Despite that, we had a great time!  Thanks to Heath for staying with the boys!  Thank goodness Wes slept all night that night!

The race is on!

The "Winning" team!  They showcased our paddle - which was the reason for their victory!

Finley lounging with Heath after the race - she ended up peeing on him!

The Copseys after the race

On Tuesday we all headed on the Cabot Trail!  We haven’t gone on that in years and I just forgot how breathtaking it is!  I don’t want to miss going there every year now!  The Copsey clan left later than the Braces, but before the Cases!  We stopped for pizza for lunch and then went to the Sunrise Trail.  I did not realize that this was a major walk…2 ½ to 3 hours to do the entire loop.  I had thought that it was a short jaunt to a look-out and that was it.  Silly me.  We went the “easy” way out to the look-out and it was amazing.  The view was just unbelievable.  We did see 1 moose (a female) on the way there.  This trail is specifically known to always have moose on it and coyotes.  I could not help but think of the woman who had been killed on that very trail last year by a coyote.  Every time Heath would walk way ahead of me, I would remind him of the coyote!!!!  Heath had Westin in the Baby Bjorn and Tyson started out walking.  I knew he was not going to last long and he didn’t.  It was so funny.  This is how our conversation would go….

Ty:  “Carry me!  Carry me!”

Me:  “Ty, you need to walk for awhile!”

Ty:  “No!”

Me:  “Why not?”

Ty:  “It hurts me.”

My parents were great and helped lug Ty, as did Heath to the look-out.  On the way back, I wasn’t so lucky.  Heath really wanted to go the “hard way” (aka…the long way) back because there was supposed to be more moose on that trail.  I agreed to go down just a little way and then we were supposed to turn around to walk on the “easy path” back.  Well, of course (I knew this would happen), Heath would just want to go “a little farther”…until we were WAY too far down that trail.  There was no way I was going to turn back at that point!  I couldn’t carry Ty all that way…so I took Wes in the Baby Bjorn and Heath carried Ty on his shoulders.  Towards the end, I was complaining (only a little bit, I swear) about my shoulders hurting me and Heath insisted on taking both boys.  Talk about the guilt again…but he did want to go that way!!!!  I was happy we did it, though, because we saw 3 more moose!  2 bull moose and 1 more female!  1 of the bull moose was literally 10 feet from us and that scared me because of the kids.  Westin had been making a ton of happy noise and I didn’t want him to spook the moose.  But it was awesome to see them up close.  Tyson said one of the funniest things of the whole vacation on this trail.  He was walking (one of the rare times) and had slipped and fell down.  As he struggled to get up fast, he said, “Oh no!  Moose eat Ty!”  I laughed and laughed at that one!  After the trail, it was nearly dark and we headed to the camping site.  We had a campfire, hot dogs (Ty had 3 hot dogs!!!) and then went home (with my Dad) at 10 PM.  The Cases had gone home too, but everyone else stayed and camped.  We had forgotten to bring our camping supplies.  We have brought camping supplies for like 5 years in a row and we have never gone camping on the Cabot Trail for various reasons…and, of course, this was year that we actually went!!!!  Oh well.  We got home at 12:30 AM and Westin ended up in bed with us that night, but at least calmed down and slept once he came to our bed!

Westy drinking water at the pizza restaurant

The Copsey grandkids (minus Griffin) outside the pizza place

The Cabot Trail

The first moose we saw on the trail

The view from the look-out

Picking blueberries at the look-out

The long way back

The view from the way back

2nd moose we saw (he had been laying down & Heath called to him and he stood right up!)

3rd moose - the really close one

Same one - he looked right at us!

The 4th and last moose we saw

I'm sure Ty was crushed he didn't get to camp 

Wednesday was a quiet day because most of the campers had stayed to do the Cabot Trail.  Shawn & Camille came back in the afternoon and everyone else came back that night.  That morning, I ended up driving to town with Wes, so he would take a nap.  He never had any problems napping all week, except for that day, for some reason.  We went swimming at the lake that afternoon but I, officially did not go in.  Westin fell asleep on the dock and had his afternoon nap (be it a short one) down at the lake.  We went to the Spudwagon that night for some goodies.  The boys came with us and had another late night.

Laughing at Daddy

Crawling under the bed

At least he fell asleep going to the Spudwagon

Thursday morning, I got up early (before anybody in my cabin) and went and parked where I could get WiFi.  My work schedule was coming out and I had to sign up for my per diem hours.  If I don’t do it right away, then I can’t get the hours I want/need!  Everything worked out well and I got all my hours!  Leigh & I had the meal that afternoon, so Heath had to keep being on primary kid duty while we cooked.  That afternoon, Ty, Acadia & Camden had a blast playing in this inflatable pool with a slide that Devin had brought.  We let Ty play all around and then we all went down to the lake and I finally got in the water.  The water was perfect!  In fact, I have to make a point to say that we had fantastic weather.  Only 1 partial day of rain.  It was great!  Oh, and Thursday was a big day because Tyson’s hives finally stopped!  Literally, they had lasted for a full week.  He had them every day.  I was so stressed about it and even called a Pediatric Allergist in Concord to make an appointment.  They told me (kindly) that they deal with chronic hives and if the hives lasted for 6 weeks, then they would see him but that we would need to go to our pediatrician first.  What are they going to do?  Seems a bit ridiculous to me.  At least they have gone away and have not come back YET, but what in the world was it?

He couldn't get enough swimming!

Friday was the partial day of rain.  Even with the rain, a work crew would not be stopped!  Sean & Uncle Charlie put in a new walkway and Heath made new steps for the porch!  It came out amazing!  Heath also restained all of the white trim and got 2 out of 4 walls restained on our cabin.  It looks great!  I realized too late that I didn’t take a picture of it…I am so mad!  We had a Scavenger Hunt that afternoon done by Kelly & Jen and it was a ton of fun!  Heath didn’t do it because he was so busy staining, but Jen was nice enough to watch Westin, so I could go with Ty.  Our team was Rad, Mia, Ty & I.  I drove (since we didn’t want to move Ty’s car seat) and we had so much fun.  Rad & Mia did most of the things, much to Ty’s disappointment.  It would have been too difficult to get him in and out of the car seat all the time!  He kept saying, “Ty come too!”  Poor guy.  We had 3 teams and we came in second (I believe).  It was a good time!  Jen & Kelly came up with some doozies, let me tell you!  On Friday night, we had a campfire, like we always do, and the rain had stayed away for that!  Ty & Wes both seemed really tired, so we put them to bed before the campfire, but then Heath & I both felt guilty that we didn’t keep them up so they could have enjoyed it.  I just knew it would be so hard to get Ty to leave once he had been out there!

 Beautiful new walkway and steps!

Copsey grandkids photo shoot (again missing Griffin)

Ty showing Fin how to use this megaphone thing

 She didn't exactly get where to put the mouthpiece!  She put it directly on her nose! 

  Ty finding a box of kindling

What he made with the kindlng!  Car ramps!

Sabbath was our last day.  We had a nice church service with a great kid’s song service to start it out!  Aunt Melanie took the kids in Mimi’s old room and had a children’s church, which was great.  Then we had a lovely meal put on by Shannon & Camille.  Devin & Leigh had busted out a pineapple to eat so they didn’t have to take it home.  Ty had eaten a ton of it and then was very whiney and complaining that his tongue “hurts me” (There are enzymes in pineapple that can cause your tongue/mouth to feel numb if you eat a lot of it or it is not fully ripe).  Ty had a perfect solution and kept asking for whipped cream to go on his tongue!  “It helps me!”  Yeah, right, Ty!  Sabbath afternoon everyone was packing like mad.  I told Ty that we had to leave and go home and he flipped out.  “Nooooooooooooo!  Stay Ova Scotia!”  Most everyone was leaving that night.  We always drive during the day, so no matter what…we are usually the last “kids” standing!  After sundown, the Copsey Clan went to A&W in Port Hawkesbury for a last hurrah.  Then the Devin Copseys & the Frosts kept driving and Noni & Poppy and us Edwards headed back to the cabins.  We always close up our cabin the night before we leave and sleep in the main cabin, since we try to get an early start and do not want to be messing with caulking around the door etc…as we are trying to leave!  We bunked in the old boy’s room (much to Ty’s delight) with Heath sharing a twin bed with Ty (how cute)!  Wes was in his pack ‘n’ play and I was in another twin.  It was a short night and became even shorter because I made a critical error.  I believe that Westin is cutting another tooth.  Not really sure where yet, but he had all the signs…drooling, chewing on everything, and pulling on both of his ears.  I had given him Advil for a few nights in a row, but had forgotten to before bed that night.  Costly.  He was up crying for probably 1 ½ hours (it took awhile for the medicine to kick in ONCE I had given it to him).  That was not exactly what we needed before starting a 12 hour drive.

We tried to get a good picture of the 4 of us together...but there will always be 1 baby looking down

Caleb looking down in this case

This position is always cute, though!

Kelly & I gave up on ourselves and just tried to get the boys...watch these pics and look at Caleb's hand and the progression of pulling on Westin's ear!  I was so busy clicking that I didn't even see the pulling until the end!

My poor guy!

We left on Sunday AM at about 5:15 AM.  The boys stayed asleep through their transfers and slept until their normal times!  We tried going a different way to the border this year.  Every single year we go, our GPS always tries to have us go through Fredericton, New Brunswick.  As it was telling us to go that way, I changed the route to go through Saint Stephen, New Brunswick (which is the way we always go) to see what the difference was mileage and time-wise.  It said that it was 45 miles shorter and 1 ½ hours shorter to go through Fredericton!!!!  We couldn’t argue with that, so we went that way – if not for the fact that we have always wanted to try it.  (Side note:  I don’t know what is wrong with our GPS because I looked it up on Google Maps and going through Fredericton is actually 50 miles and about 40 minutes longer.  The only cool thing is that you end up way in northern Maine on Route 95, where the speed limit is 75 mph!!!  I don’t think we will go that way again, but at least we got to try it!)  The unfortunate thing was that we were planning to stop for breakfast in Saint John, but on this other route…literally you are in the middle of nowhere.  We thought that we would just stop in Fredericton, since there would be plenty of food there.  I’m sure there is, but you actually do not “go through” Fredericton – you stay about 10-15 miles away from it!  So we were pushing Ty to the limit without a proper meal.  We got to the border at about 11:30 AM and then found food.  Right before we had stopped for breakfast/lunch, Ty was most likely having hunger pains.

Ty:  “My belly hurts me.”

Me:  “What do you think will help you?” 

Ty:  “Go poop maybe.”

You would think that the long drive would make us want to go directly home!  Not us!  We almost always stop in Portland (which we did) and met the Edwards.  We went to Cabela’s, Goodwill, and Macaroni Grill.  We did have to stay in the car with the dogs for the shopping stops but it was cool enough for them at night while we ate, with the windows down.  Long day and we got home at about 10:30 PM.  The boys did really well on the way home.  Here were a couple of funny things that Ty said on the trip home.

Ty:  “Where did Ova Scotia go?  Ty miss Ova Scotia!”

And then…

Ty:  “My bum hurts me” (most likely from sitting)

Me:  “I’m sorry buddy.”

Ty:  “It hurts me!”  (getting a bit more upset)

Me:  “Do you think watching a movie on the  iPad would help you?”

Ty:  “Yes!”  (completely cured)

The puppies' perch on the way back

It was a great vacation, despite it being a smaller group this year.  I have to just mention a few overall things that happened with the boys.  Westin was pretty vocal and impatient with his solid food and everyone noticed.  If it was time for him to eat, and I was getting it prepared…I just couldn’t get it to him fast enough!  And he would cry every time we would finish – he would just want more and more!  So funny!  Caleb “taught” Westin how to use the Johnny Jump-Up, but Wes was just an amateur compared to the seasoned jumper/swinger that Caleb is!  I also have to make note that Westin hardly crawled at all in Nova Scotia.  At home, he crawls non-stop, but I don’t know why he didn’t do it there.  Was he unsure of himself because it was a new place?  Or did he realize there were a million people and he could be trampled?  Smart kid.  Ty came out of his shell this year.  Last year I could not believe how he barely said a word, because he is a crazy animal at home.  Well, the crazy animal definitely came out.  Kelly said he was the “crack-up” of the week.  He just says and does so many crazy/funny things.  For example, I sing, “Shake Your Booty” every time I shake Westin’s bottle and for some reason, Ty is stuck on singing, “Shake Your Boobies” VERY loudly.  If I try to correct him, then he is even louder.  Inappropriate.  Then whenever he leaves a room and comes back (from being outside or going to the bathroom), he throws his hands up in the air and yells, “Ty back!”  or “Ty here now!”  Yes, like everyone has been doing nothing waiting for you to arrive, Ty!  Ty & Aunt Lori had a cute thing going.  For some reason, Tyson called Lori “Corey”…and would laugh & laugh when Aunt Lori would correct him.  Finally, I had said, “Ty, how would you feel if Aunt Lori called you ‘Timmy’?”  So from then on, Aunt Lori would call him, “Timmy” and he would retort back, “No!  You Timmy!”  It was so cute.  Then for some reason, he called blueberry “strawberries” all week long.  I really hope he is not color blind!  He also started a new word that he uses constantly now, but does not fully understand.  It is “maybe.”  Anything I ask him is, “maybe no” or “maybe yes.”  For example….

Me:  “Ty, do you need to go to the potty?”

Ty:  “Maybe no, Mama.  Maybe no.”

Me:  “So is that a no or a yes?”

The last thing that I will mention in the longest blog I have ever written… is that Tyson is obsessed with the word “poop” right now.  Why?????  Everything is about poop.  Great.  For example, during worship Ty was asked what song he would like to sing.  His song, was none other than the classic hit, “Yucky Poop.”  Oh my.  That’s my son!!!!!!!  Have a great week!

RANDOM PICS

Ty discovered that he loved bananas on this trip!

Feeding Acadia's doll