Almost Ireland time!

I need to do a quick catch up post before I leave for Ireland - which is happening tomorrow! I can't believe it, looking forward to blogging about that when I get back! On the 16th, we took the whole family to see Cirque du Soleil Volta. It went better than we feared, but not as good as we hoped. Adam sat through the first half, and it looked like he even enjoyed it! However, once the intermission came around, he was done - he briefly ducked back into the tent once but immediately changed his mind and went and sat in the lobby for the rest of the show. Brian and I took turns sitting out there with him. The other two kids enjoyed the show! It was worth a shot, maybe we'll try again in a few years!

Brian has continued to tear apart our laundry room and bathroom, we have decided to do the contracting ourselves so this will be interesting! Brian's parents were here this past weekend, we didn't do much that was exciting. I find we vacation with them a lot so that's when we do our interesting stuff with them! 

I honestly don't even know what to write, my brain is really preoccupied. And tired. I got up at 5am to try and prepare myself for the time change, and I went and did a gym class at 6am. I have always thought people that went to the gym at 6am were crazy, well I just became one of them. Thankfully this is only temporary insanity and for a very specific reason that will go away soon.

Tomorrow at 7:20pm it's wheels up and back to the Emerald Isle! Looking forward to it!

Fall is definitely here!

So it would seem that summer has left the building, the first week of September still had shorts weather but that abruptly ended at the end of that first week! It's not terrible, at least we're not having snow like Alberta did this past week (sorry to throw you under the bus Alberta!). 

We cleaned up the beans in our garage on Labor Day weekend, it was time. We got some aquarium rocks for Adam's bean box, he seems to like them. Not sure if he likes them as much as the beans but the truth is the beans had to go. We actually have some mice in our crawl space and attic we learned this week from an exterminator, and they have been hoarding beans! There were a few piles of beans here and there in the crawl space, not good! So, the end of the beans era, hopefully the rocks are an okay substitute. They don't stick to his clothes as much either, much less migration into the rest of the house - I like that a LOT! 

School started the day after Labor Day and all the kids got off to a great start! I was really nervous dropping Lynsey off on her first day of Middle School, but she met her good friend and she felt a lot better. That made leaving her there a lot easier! I was a bit surprised at my emotions, I thought parents were supposed to feel sappy on the first day of Kindergarten, not sixth grade! The boys had a good start, Adam apparently just blended right back into his school schedule without too much of a hitch (except for when he got on the bus that second day, apparently he threw a fit because the bus number was different!! Where did that come from?? Haven't had an issue since that day so who knows!). 

What else is new with the Kroekers you ask? Well, we have started a renovation of the main floor bathroom and laundry/entry way. Brian has worked hard the last week with the demo. He had a friend over last Saturday to give him a good start on the laundry room, but then throughout the week he tackled the bathroom by himself. Both rooms are gutted now! We had thought we would hire a contractor to do most of the work (except the electrical which Brian was going to do himself) but the labor cost was just so high that Brian is going to do more of the work himself and sub out the rest. Hopefully we don't regret this decision! It will be an adventure, hopefully a good one. My biggest concern is that I don't want it to drag out too long, but I'm sure I'll survive if it takes a few months to complete. At least I will be gone for a week of it starting Friday the 28th! If I haven't already mentioned this, I am going to Ireland by myself for 9 days! I can't wait, it's hard to believe that it's less than 2 weeks away. I am nervous but sooo excited!