Where the Dinosaurs and the Dollies Play

Our nine day retreat has come to an end. As always the girls were a big hit with the family. I, on the other hand, am the chopped liver chauffeur. Such is life as a mom.

Upon our arrival in a small Saskatchewan city, I hit the dollar store to stock up on some new interesting toys. I purchased a twelve pack of blocks and later discovered shmoo in our midst. I felt like a member of the secret club of Her Bad Mother! Bring your shmoo block to gain entrance to the VIP room.

The xylophone broke in matter of 3.5 seconds, which is probably a good thing. The big score was the dollar dinosaurs. We teamed them up with a viewing of Go Diego Go! The Great Dinosaur Rescue and we got Buttercup roaring!

On a cool afternoon we took the girls to play at McDonald's. I naturally always buy the car toys so we got two new Hummers to add to the toy collection, however upon leaving Strawberry spotted the Polly Pockets. With a cry of "Puh-leeze, I need a dolly" came the beginning of a new collection of little toys. Strawberry has never played with dolls so I was surprised by her request but Grandma hopped right into line to purchase the desired miniature plastic item.

One doll and two girls is not a good combination. With another shopping trip, we quickly added three more dolls to the mix. The McDonald version is much safer for a baby to play with then the actual Polly Pockets with their removable jelly clothes. It was a true delight to see the Polly team playing along side with Stegosaurus and his buddies.

Other highlights of our time away were many trips for fruit filled Tim Bits; eating four meals of the best perogies in the world; the dry lightening storms that helped disturb any possible sleep; Buttercup's three new molars that also kept sleep away; too many desserts including my new favourite pineapple gelato; as well as the exciting hour and half spent in the wave pool. I even successfully went bathing suit shopping and managed to find two half priced, decent coverage suits that I would wear out in public.

Just before we were to fly home Britain's police foiled an alleged plot to blow up planes in mid-flight and security level was switched to high. When we originally left Toronto, I felt somewhat uneasy about the fact that I had purchased my own tickets online, secured my own boarding tickets and got on the plane without showing my ID to one person. From that extreme to the opposite, insane, treat everyone as a major threat is absurd. My carry on luggage was swabbed, probed and examined fully twice by the same individuals. Even my lip gloss was considered to be a threat. Luckily I had taken a quick moment to repack the forbidden suntan lotion and leave in hair conditioner. It is really sad that security is not better trained in knowing to keep alert at all times. I do appreciate that they are doing their job but it shouldn't take a scare to fly them off the deep end. It is discouraging to see regular, everyday travelers treated like criminals.

To add to this already gloomy state, Air Canada should really be posting signs around the airport that say "No Services" just like the small towns that you drive by that don't even have a gas station. We couldn't even purchase a sandwich. The flight attendant had perfected her art of snarling and treating all passengers with equal disdain. The over three hour flight no longer features a bad movie or headphones for listening to special radio programming. Flying - the new Highway Robbery of the Skies. How's that for a slogan?

Maybe I'm a little sour because both my girls decided to spend the entire flight bouncing around even after dosing them up to the maximum children's Tylenol limit. Traveling solo with two under three is not something that people do for jollies. However we made it safe to home sweet home where my bloglines are crying out for me.

I have finally mastered Flickr and you can see more photos of our vacation by clicking on my sidebar.