Feeling Hot Hot Hot

Hot enough for you?
Mmmmm if I hear that one more time I'm going to scream.
Yes it's hot. We're in the middle of a heat wave. It's hot, yes we get it.
Canadians like to talk about the weather. We derive great joy out of complaining about the heat or the cold or the rain or the humidity - no matter what we have, we can spend a good 5 minutes talking to our neighbours about the weather-o-the-day. It's mindless chit chat really, but it's one thing we can instantly relate to a stranger - we are bound by this common fascination with discussing the weather - we have TV channels dedicated to discussing nothing but weather, and worse still, I find myself tuned to it several times a day. We are weather obsessed.

In the middle of this heat wave, I've been thankful that we had the foresight to get air conditioning last year - even though we barely used it. I knew that at some point, we'd be glad for it. We used it more in the first week of June than we did all summer last year, so Huzzah for us - we made a smart move getting it last year.
With temps in the 30's all weekend, and humidex temps in the 40's (well over 100F) we've been sweating it out, not in the comfort of our airconditioned house, but outside - with a plethora of activities designed to tire out small children so that they will tumble into bed at night without a fuss.
Saturday Chris took the older boys to his mom's. Oma has a pool, so the kids happily piled into the van to take in an afternoon of swimming - which, given their size and inability to swim means sticking their toes in and sitting on the first step in the pool. I stayed home with a napping baby, and cleaned up before our dinner guests arrived - Thanks again Charlene and Jeff for bringing the yummy steaks. Evenings are actually quite pleasant, so we ate outside - hoping the kids would be exhausted after an afternoon of sun and water -They weren't. In fact they stayed up even later than usual, I'm guessing because of the coconut rasperry dessert bars we brought out after dinner.
Sunday brought more searing temps, and trying to rouse sleepy boys in the morning to get them up and dressed and ready for Sunday School. They were celebrating Matthew's birthday in class and the annual church picnic was after church, so we dressed uber-casual (read shorts and t's) and managed to somehow arrive on time. The picnic was outside on the grass - with hotdogs (that my kids don't eat) and potato salad (that they also don't eat) and I made a coke run which they happily guzzled down. Heat makes me tired, and by 1pm I was ready for a nap. We had been invited over to a friends place in the afternoon to go swimming, so I was hoping the boys would nap first before we went over .Joey did, Duncan and Matthew did not; despite my best efforts of putting on a Dora video and making a fort in the family room with blankets and pillows for them to lounge on. By 3:30 we had them packed up again, with swimsuits and towels and of course those darn Dash t-shirts that they refuse to take off.
Swimming was glorious! Our friends place has a man-made lake that has a sandy bottom, and is refreshing without the seaweed and icky stuff of natural lakes. Matthew stuck his toes in, and was more content to roam the grass in search of a cat he'd seen earlier, Duncan spend most of the time hiding behind a bench, petrified of an air pump that was being used to blow up a large water trampoline, and Joey, my sweet Joey, I discovered is a naturally born swimmer - he normally doesn't get a chance in the tub to do much with the other boys crowding him, but with just mummy and a lake, he took to the water like a champ, lunging and dog paddling by nature. I simply must get that boy some swimming lessons! After a few hours, with Chris and I very much refreshed, we loaded the kids up to go to McDonalds for dinner - nothing like a Mickey D dinner to cap off a day like that, right? They were asleep by the time we got there, and since we were with a friend and her 3 kids, we roused them from their bliss and dragged them into the restaurant. Of course they perked up considerably once inside, and the prospect of french fries loomed before them. 1 hr later, I was wiped, and the kids were getting their second wind. We took the long way home, winding around into fancy neighbourhoods, oogling the million dollar homes in a desperate effort to lull the kids back to sleep in the van. No such luck. Another late night for them, and as i tumbled into bed I prayed for rain.

Monday arrived bright and sunny and - you guessed it - Hot as blazes. the kids slept in until 10am which was a blessing. Around 11:30 I got a call from my friend Julie asking if we were coming over - DOH! We'd made these special plans nearly a month ago, and she'd just been at our place on Thursday, and I STILL forgot. Talk about getting ready in a hurry. Throw some clothes at the kids, and tell them we're going to Sarah's house - Amazing how quickly they can get ready when motivated! We arrived a little big flustered, but thankful that Julie had her air/con cranked up to just below sub-zero temps - ahhhhhh sweet relief.
The whole point of our Monday visit was to visit her neighbour who had the remarkable opportunity to house the Stanley Cup for the day in her backyard! They were having a Stanley party, and invited people to take pictures with the cup! What a privilege! I've never seen it that close, let alone had a chance to touch it, and take pictures of my kids in their Maple Leaf Jerseys standing in front of the Canadian Holy Grail! Then it was back to Julies for a visit while the kids played in the backyard. After 3 days of outings, and activities and heat - they fell asleep on the way home - but unfortunately woke up when I brought them in the house. Perhaps by this time they were overtired, but we had a terrible time getting them to bed last night.

Finally today, it all caught up to them. they slumped like rag dolls in front of the TV at 6:00pm.
We carried them up to bed, where they slept until about 9pm - caused a bit of a ruckus, and now at 10:06 are quiet - presumably passed out on the floor of their rooms. Why they prefer the floor, I don't know. They have comfy new beds - but more often then not, I find them curled up on the floor. Not to worry. They are asleep, and will be out for the night.
Today reached 42degrees, with no end in sight for the blistering heat. July isn't even here yet.
And to think that only 6 weeks ago we were complaining about the cold.
This weekend promises to be just as busy as last weekend, with Matthew's Birthday coming up and lots of grandparents to share it with. I'm tired just thinking about it. The following week is MY birthday. All I want is an afternoon nap ;)