Sugar Sugar

Do you know the song Sugar Sugar? It’s a song from the 60’s by a band named The Archie’s. If you’re unfamiliar with it, I encourage you to look it up. Not only does Nola love to read Archie comics, she has fallen in love with that song. She’s also a solid 9.5 years old. She’s been begging to use my phone so she could listen to songs. She made her own play list and asked me to download certain songs for her to listen to. I obliged, however, it has become an inconvenience! Realizing she IS in fact the age of having her own music device, we started looking around. What is the modern day Walkman? I immediately asked the Facebook world for thoughts and opinions. The stipulations were pretty firm for us: no internet, no data, no games, etc. A music device was all it would be.

After a short visit to Best Buy for something else, I took a look and asked the clerk some questions. It came down to this. And the girls LOVE it! They share it and have their own separate playlists. It’s very small but does the trick and we are very happy with our decision on this. 

I know some people have expressed their opinion about younger kids have technology because you don’t want them to be “behind their peers” or “feel left out” or just because “it’s the way of the world”. Yup, I may be unrealistic or controlling 😂 but I read a thing saying that all the big-wigs in the technology industry don’t allow their kids access to any of it and it made me stop and think. 🤔 This isn’t the only reason for our decision; the girls also just get so heavily addicted and emotional from it. Anyway, my circus, my monkeys 🐵

Now, let’s recap last weeks travels! We found ourselves in a neat RV park just outside of Hamilton. While we were staying there, they had “Family Day” which meant some games, 50/50, complimentary BBQ and live music in the evening. The girls each participated in the foot race—I actually don’t think they’ve ever been in a foot race before except while playing! Heidi earned herself a second place ribbon and Nola a third! I was just proud of them for trying. When it was all said and done, Nola was disappointed she came in third. If she had come in last, she would have gotten the rainbow ribbon which is the one she really wanted 😂 Can we say non competitive? 

Aside from doing the typical grocery/Costco and errand run, we had the pleasure of visiting friends in New Hamburg! It was on Sunday and we chose a little Baptist church to attend. It was immediately obvious we were entirely under dressed 🤣 but they were friendly and welcoming and it was a great message! After that, we grabbed some lunch and headed to our friends.

The things I’ve REALLY noticed about this part of Ontario is the vegetation and the brick houses! The trees and bushes are SO thick and the houses are so regal and stately looking. Certainly older buildings and architecture than anything we would see in the west.

On Monday we took a day trip to Niagara Falls! It was amazing! Their size is so impressive. Apparently, they are the most powerful waterfalls in the world. 🤷🏼‍♀️ There were also a TON of people there. The diversity was fascinating and the languages interesting. I remember seeing one mom, who on second look was deaf. Her and her husband with with their young children and she was signing and sounding heck to her little boy. You go mama! Then the Jewish family with six and seven children, with the boys in their traditional kippahs. We saw every colour of person, heard every language imaginable and walked until our feet fell off! Niagara was A LOT more commercialized then I anticipated. All of Clifton Hill looked like Vegas for kids and lunch was over $100! We also enjoyed a “Journey Behind the Falls” and got to experience being right up beside Horseshoe Falls! Very humbling. The temperature was 27° or 28° so we were hot and sweaty when the day was done!

{Nola says, "that picture is beautiful but you guys are in garbage bags." 😂}

{I missed getting a picture of them in FRONT of Horseshoe Falls 😭😬}

The next day we loaded up and traveled to Ottawa. We have decided we will stay until Monday enjoying and relaxing. Now that we are halfway through our trip, we can more clearly see how much time we have to spend in places and where we should have taken extra time. Oh well 🤷🏼‍♀️

Yesterday we wanted to catch the crossing of the guards at Parliament at 10am. We left in good time but did not anticipate the difficulty we would have parking the truck down town Ottawa. We finally found open air parking and hustled to the Parliament grounds. We showed up a bit late but enjoyed them nonetheless. Steeped in tradition and pomp and circumstance, the girls admitted they really couldn’t follow everything that was happening. After that ended, we hurried over to the Mint to get a tour, only to have to wait for the next one a half hour later 😑 It was noon by now and everyone was starving but we stayed for the tour (which was really good) but afterward only had an hour to eat lunch and get to the Parliament for our scheduled tour. Our feet hurt, we felt so rushed and we were HANGRY. This is not the way we like to travel so we scrapped the tour and just found The King Eddy for lunch and STOPPED. We took our time eating and just enjoyed being in Byward Market. Afterward, we walked around the shops and vendors and browsed and explored before coming home early to swim in the pool.

{History Alive!}

Tomorrow we will try again for the tour and hopefully stroll the Parliament grounds and read many of the monument statues. We will also grab a coffee with our friend Kendal, who currently has the pleasure of guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Solider.

{Kendal is on the left.}

As for my health, it has declined a bit. My lungs are hurting and inflamed. I really couldn’t figure it out because we’ve been eating fairly well and I haven’t felt stressed...until my friend asked if it could be the humidity! I think that’s exactly what it is! So I will be careful and just rest a little more often for now—maybe catch a nap or two. 😉

Now, further inside Jeanette’s verbal/written processing...

I’ve noticed something about humans. It’s not good or bad, it’s just a thing. It’s harmless but it’s made me reflect on what I do and how I want other to feel. While traveling or on a trip, conversation tends to AWAYS look like this:

Traveler: “we are going to/in Nova Scotia!”

Friend: “oh! Are you going to (insert list of all the things the friend has seen and done and how much they loved it)” OR “you should do xyz! When I was there, ...”

Traveler: “um no” or “maybe”

With my insecurities and natural Fear Of Missing Out, I’ve had to come to terms with this and let a lot go. I ABSOLUTELY realize people ONLY do this because:

-they’re excited to share

-they want their friend to have a good time

-humans like to talk about themselves

But after I hear all of the amazing things they have done and seen, it makes my trip feel a tad less special because I’ve done none of their amazing things! Lol 😬

Yes, I put my petulant child away and know my trip is uniquely my own and this is not a competition. We will see and do all the things we are meant to. But it has nudged me to change my verbiage. Maybe a conversation doesn’t have to be about me and I can have a conversation with someone else that looks more like:

Traveler: “we are going to take a trip to Moosejaw!”

Me: “that’s wonderful! I’ve been there and it is awesome. What are you planning to do? What are you most excited about?”

Traveler: insert excited list

I want to be interested. I don’t have to be interesting. Our language is conscious and it definitely makes people feel a certain way. I don’t write any of this to one particular person or to make someone feel bad. As I said above, it’s all so well meaning! But this trip is a refining process for me and me being more aware in that respect will make me a more pleasant human.

Wow! Did you stick around until the bitter end??? Thank you so much! I would love to hear your thoughts around anything I talked about!

Much love,

xo jmac 🌞💛

Post Script. Follow us me on Facebook Stories and Instagram Stories for a day to day look at the things we are doing! Also, I'm considering vlogging on YouTube......