Camel.

We just had a 3 day weekend, which was lovely. It is always great when we get a ‘bonus’ day of Jake being at home.

Saturday morning we went to Walt’s. Ashley was very clingy, I think she remembered the last time we went there (when a big guy laughed as we walked in and it freaked her out), or at least remembered the way she felt last time we were there. She was resting on my chest, hugging Elmo to her chest, and kept asking me to sing the alphabet ("ABC me"). She HATED when Jake left us to go get his haircut/shave, but eventually I got her to look at the other baby in the mirror and from then on she was fine.

I love whenever we are in the car, she asks for "music, Jackson" or "mooshy song" or "Jackson, hat". The last few times I have managed to get her past the little pool in the backyard and not have a meltdown over not going in the pool NOW, because she was looking forward to listening to music. It will be so great when we have a car with a CD player that doesn’t need to wait until the car is fully warm before it will even think about playing a CD.

We went to the store, which was uneventful for us but AWESOME for Ash because she got a Sesame Street colouring book and an apple. Every time we had mentioned that we were going to the store she would say "apple? yum yum!" so we got her an apple. She never ate any of it but she liked the idea of it.

Saturday evening (5), we went to dinner with Jake’s Dad (and stepmother and her 2 girls and their husbands and children) to Chili’s. Everyone couldn’t believe how well behaved Ashley was. She sat in her chair (and half the time, on my lap) and ate ice and corn chips and some of the veggies I had brought for her. After we had eaten, she stood at the window to look at the trees outside, and that is when the other kids noticed she was even there. (Kassie – 3, Rory – 4?, Isabelle – 5) At first it was all nice, Ash and Kassie were smiling at each other and poking each other playfully in the nose. Then Kassie got Ashley’s pacifier, kept shoving it in Ash’s mouth and then ripping it out. Seemingly treating my daughter as though she was a play baby. Then all the kids got into the nose-poking game, and Rory is a typical little boy so that stopped quickly because he almost poked Ash’s eye. Then Isabelle tried to yell in Ash’s ears. Any wonder my little one asked to go outside?

Outside we picked up the rocks from the rock garden and threw them down because it made a fun noise. Once Jake came out and we said goodbye to everyone, Ashley wanted to go to the store ("shore!") so we went to the store she was pointing at – Barnes & Noble. She got to look at the kids books and toys and then played at the duplo table for a little bit with another little girl until I finally convinced her that we should get in the car, listen to Jackson, and go home to her apple.

The rest of the weekend was pretty calm. We watched a movie a day. Saturday we watched The Land Before Time, Ashley liked that there were dinosaurs but didn’t really care about the story, just looked at the screen every so often to make sure it was still dinosaurs. Sunday we watched Rocketman, which Ashley enjoyed only when the monkey was on screen. She LOVED that monkey. Monday we watched Moonwalker. I know my baby loves Jackson, but I was still impressed by how much the movie held her attention. She remembered it too, tonight (more than 24 hours later) she told me "Jackson, singing dancing running walking running running singing dancing running singing" (running is her new favourite word/action, she keeps getting me to put her shoes on so she can run around the apartment).

My Mum is coming to visit in 2 and a half weeks. Have I mentioned that before? Exciting! So soon!! So we want to go pick her up (like a road trip date for Jake and I), but my car… I wouldn’t want to drive that far. So my goal is to try and get a new car by then. Today I inquired about how much of a car loan my bank will give me (no response yet, argh), asked my brother-in-law if he will come with me to look at cars (he will. Yay, Nick!) and looked at lots of cars online. I think I found the car I want. I’ve been telling Jake about all the cars I’ve found and showing him the listings online and this is the first one he got excited about too. It is a 2009 Ford Fusion. I really really hope no one buys it out from under me. I want it. I hope it is as good in life as it is online. It cracks me up because the interior is "camel" coloured. Not tan or beige or anything boring like that. CAMEL. I’ve got a good amount for a down payment, and if I get what my current car is worth as a trade-in, that is almost half the cost done. I just… I want the bank to get back to me and tell me what they will lend me and at what rate. We are going to look at it Saturday morning. That is both really soon and so far away.