Did You Eat My Muffin?

This is a story of "The Case Of The Missing Muffin." It is rather a funny one. To this day it is still only slightly funny to my dad, for it was his muffin that went missing.

I can only laugh at how distraught my father was to find his beloved Bran Muffin gone from the place he had tenderly left it on his kitchen counter. You see, I work in the office next door to his home. When I need some milk for coffee, I raid my mom's fridge. When I smell some good baking. I go to see what's baking in my mom's oven. When I've completely forgotten my lunch, I check to see if somethings available in my mom's cupboards. (My mom is OK with this arrangement)

Well, this particular day, I wandered into the house for some milk for my coffee. On the counter, I spied a Tim Horton's muffin box with a bran muffin in it. I thought to myself, "there were six. Now there is one. I'm sure everyone's had there fill. So, muffin # 6 will go along very nicely with my coffee."

Not too long later, into the office comes the boss.(My dad) Not with too happy of a look. He says to me, "Did you take my muffin?" Of course I couln't lie. So I had to admitt to it. To my dismay, I got a bit of an earful for taking his muffin.

I was a little humbled by this and had to drive all the way to the nearest Tim Hortons to replace his muffin. I handed it to him and laughed at him for being sooo dramatic about a silly muffin. He replied that it was the principle of not taking something without asking.

A month or so has gone by since this incident. Just last week we had some guests at our campsite and the story of the muffin came up in conversation. My dad stuck to his story, "That it's the principle." And I stuck to my story, "You were just in a mood and it had nothing to do with principle. You just wanted that darn muffin right then and there."

Well, did we ever have our guests laughing. I have to tell you that in the end of it all, he did admitt that it really was about the fact that he was in a mood and really wanted that darn muffin right then.

I think that I won when I reminded him that he was very fortunate to have his daughter so close to him that she could just pop over for this or that. Not every parent is blessed to have all there children so close by. He agreed quickly. The stealing of the muffin is forgiven. It amazes me how my dad has attempted to use one missing Tim Hortons muffin to teach a life lesson to his daughter. I have to say that the lesson has been lost on me.

It was a summer Friday night in Downtown Chilliwack. For the past few years this meant something. It meant it was 'Party In The Park' at Central Park for families to enjoy. A main stage is set up for three live bands to perform every Party In The Park. As well as a Funzone for kids to have some play time. My son Cayden's favorite thing is the face painting done by the owner of Miss Muffets Toy Shop.

It is only for face painting that Cayden will stand for a whole hour patiently. That's not fair. He won't stand this long if it was for something I wanted! I have to say, It's worth the wait.

Another favorite is that after have a face painting, we head over to sit and listen to the music while Cayden and many other children dance and move in front of the stage. I think Cayden must have been catching a few episodes of 'So You Think You Can Dance'. He had the moves! I loved all his attempts at break dancing.

There is also a little market to browse. I got some good deals on some fresh produce and we all walked away with an ice cold pop and some Kettle Corn. Another favorite thing of mine is bumping into alot of people I know and having a quick catch up. It has been a growing event and well worth the trip even if you happen to live in the Sardis side.

The Animals Are Too Loud!

It's about 10:30 pm and our dear little boy is still awake. He has come out of bed with a number of different requests through the evening to postpone the inevitable; falling asleep.
It's finally been about 20 minutes since his last appearance so I figured, "finally, he's gone to sleep." I go down to peek in on him, only to find him laying on his back, twirling some hair with his fingers.

I ask him why he's still awake. Thinking at this time the obvious answer would be that it is far too hot to sleep. (It's verrrry warm tonight!) But his response is this. "My animals are too loud so I can't fall asleep." What you need to know is that on this very hot night he has piled six stuffed animals into his bed to sleep with him!

So I said to him, "Why don't I take them out of your room so that you could sleep." He says, "No, they need to stay here, but I need to sleep somewhere else."

He didn't get his way and the house is finally quiet. His animals must have stopped "being too loud" because it wasn't too long after before he finally fell asleep.

The BMX Track Gets Found

Yesterday Cayden and I were on a search for a little dirt track for him to test his new two-wheel biking skills. We never did find the track so this afternoon we made another attempt. We headed out the door before the rain clouds came and did a little more searching by the Canadian Tire, where two people mentioned thinking there was a track.

Ah hah! It was found! What a great little place for kids to hang out get some hang-time. Cayden had a blast. With a little confidence through practice he picked up speed and attempted even some of the bigger hills. It was rather funny because every time he'd go over a little hill he'd let out a loud giggle.

Were looking forward to making some more visits to the track in the future. He gave me a list of a few friends we should call and invite along. So don't be surprised to get an invite to hang out at the local BMX track by Cayden. Don't worry, he'll encourage you to start on the 'little bumps' first to get some practice.

Today was day unlike most days. It was a day with zero plans or commitments. It doesn't happen very often and I found it rather strange. We decided to hit the road and see what would come our way. We set out with a bike, swimsuit, snacks and camera so as to be prepared. The camera was as per Caydens orders. He informed me that I needed to take the camera along to take pictures of him because 'I like pictures'.
Our first thought was to find a place with jumps, bumps and lots of dirt for Cayden to ride his bike. We were sadly dissapointed to not find the track that a friend had thought was located somewhere by the local Canadain Tire. Anyone with information of where such a track might be will have to let me know.
With a whole day ahead of us I decided to hit the highway and head in the direction of Langley. We made down to my favorite stores with-out a hitch. This was not the case for all the travellers atempting to head East out of Vancouver. Those poor travellers had numerous accidents in their path. One at 248th St. ( Traffic was stop and go all the way to 176th St!) One at Clearbrook Rd., Another one at Whatcom Rd. and even another serious one at Vedder Rd. We managed to scoot our way down many side roads to make good time getting back to Chilliwack.
The afternoon was still young so we had a nice afternoon in our very own back-yard sanctuary. Cayden dunked his head in the pool and styled his hair in a mohawk that he was very proud of. What a cutie. In perfect form he modeled his new hair for the camera.

The Three Amigos

This week I learned one important thing. When you have two extra kids for a sleep-over be prepared to give yourself at least an extra 1/2 hour in the morning if there is a time-line to keep! I think this is probably the first time ever that I have had to get more people than myself and Cayden up and out the door and off to work.

I thought I had given myself enough 'extra' time for the extra two children. Not so. It seems that just because Cayden and I have a routine of breaking Olympic records for morning preparations, not all children are up for the same challenge. It wasn't with-out a lot of 'hurry up, were going to be lates' before we finally got loaded up and on the road.

It was a fun time for Cayden to have his two little cousins over to play. Definitely not a lot of peace and quiet for me this afternoon. I have no complaints though. The sound of kids laughing, giggling and then arguing over a toy, is what makes children so fun to be around.

We won't have too many more opportunities for sleep-overs due to the Antolin family pulling up stakes in BC and moving to the Philippines to join there dad on the missions/resort endeavours. He left on his own this past May to get the resort started before the family joined him. You can read about their new and exiting venture at;
jovenantolin.blogspot.com.

Cayden chats with Nana while having some lunch. He invited himself to join them on their next camping venture.
Not too tough to get kids to eat their lunch when it's got this on it.

Jessica showing off her missing teeth. Look at those big eyes!

JJ says it was finger licken' good.

GOSPA

Surprising enough, even with-out being in school I have managed to be late in turning in an assignment. Not a school assignment, but a work one, mind you. The assignment was what one would think should be pretty easy to complete. My task was to come up with a Strategic Plan for the agriculture division at Denbow. That's next on my task of things to do tonight. It'll be only one day late. Not too bad eh?

Developing a Strategic Plan is a great thing for everyone to do. Whether for business or personal reasons. The term GOSPA refers to the following;

Goals- are both qualitative and quantitative
Objective- the sub goals that must be accomplished to achieve the larger goals.
Strategies- different ways you can accomplish objectives.
Plans- the written plan on how to achieve those objectives.
Activities- the tasks that have to be completed and measurable for you to fulfill the plans.

Alright, so I've now re-educated myself on how to develop a Strategic Plan, so I'd better get down to business and 'get er done'.