Well, the trip to BC was amazing. We spent 4 days in Vancouver, Surrey and Whistler, then drove down (in a rented car) to Eugene, Oregon to see Emily and Colin (we miss you guys!) and came back up to White Rock for Sue & Chris’ wonderful wedding on Saturday before flying out of Vancouver again back to Toronto. I’ll be uploading my pictures (as soon as I find the damn cord for the camera) and talking about each day in detail, but for now I’ll leave you with a few of my favorite pictures of Adam‘s and links to the rest of the set.

A weekend at the cottage is never complete without certain required traditions, and the creation of some new ones. Here are some of my memories from our most recent cottage expedition, to celebrate “Old Man Wallace’s” 30th birthday.

Getting “While you’re upped,” which means getting sent for a beer when you’re not actually up.

Colin and Aiden getting inducted to the “I’ve tipped in a canoe” club, of which I have been a proud member for years.

Ollie trying to eat a caterpillar, a chipmunk and that ugly bug with wings we found in the cabin.

Learning that Aiden does not require sleep. We think he’s a cylon.

Adam taking record 2 Gigabytes worth of pictures in 4 days.

An 8-foot bonfire for no reason on a perfectly warm night.

Sleeping 15 people in a cottage that is supposed to sleep 10.

Adam endlessly poking the fire because he can’t let it alone, and me endlessly bugging Adam about poking the fire because I can’t let it alone.

Watering the flowers in the rain because “it was a directive.” The weather was great, except for the fantastic thunderstorm as we were leaving, and it was a perfect mix of hilarity and clarity, of laughing so hard our cheeks hurt and sitting still for almost a full hour to stare at the perfect sunset. With Colin & Emily’s move to Oregon just around the corner, our cottage days together are numbered. But even when they are over, we’ll still have all these stupid memories to keep us laughing.

A fun Sunday. Adam, Colin, Emily and I went to the Sky-dome (I refuse to call it the Roger’s Center) for the first time in a long time. We got to see the Jays Sweep the Red Sox (but I secretly kind of like the Red Sox) and watch Frank Thomas pull off a pretty nice Grand Slam Home-run.

We thought going to the Sunday game would be better since Friday was Colin’s Athletic Therapy Banquet and there may have been some hang-overs on Saturday. But then we proceeded to have a jam session on Saturday night which led to wine and 4 cases of beer, so Sunday was a bit rough anyway, as Emily demonstrates on the train home. More pictures here.

Chuki’s brother/cousin/nemesis/bestfriend/scapegoat, Ollie lives with Colin and Emily but came to the family while we were all still living together and Ollie the kitten could still terrorize his older, grumpy brother Chuki.

Adam: “So, I was reading about this new kind of dinosaur they found that would eat it’s food by sucking it up like a vacuum.”

Emily: “Was its name Ollie?”

My sister-in-law is a gambler, one of the most dangerous poker minds I have known. I know this to be true even though I am not naive enough to try play against her because her prodigious talent has already helped her nab top prizes at local tournaments, casinos and the deadliest of home poker-night playing fields. It’s a funny thing for her to be good at too; Diane is a level-headed woman who does not take needless risks and doesn’t even play the lottery, as far as I know. But behind her fan of cards, staring a dealer in the eye, Diane can bluff, bet and beat the most battle-hardened of poker sharks.

How does she do it? She never looks like a threat. From what I have seen, Diane does not change her attitude around a table and people mistake the laughing eyes for naivety and the sweet smile as honesty (which is a virtue she possesses in large quantities – away from the table). And while she is dazzling you, she is putting her considerable mind to work, crushing with logic, a keen ability to sniff out a bluff, and a good sense of when to stop throwing chips.

Now, her twin brother (and my husband) on the other hand, has a lot to learn about gambling. He proved this to us one night as Emily, Colin, Adam and I were sitting on the brown couch watching a movie and we had the following conversation: (more…)

Adam has the funniest habit of holding conversations with people while he is unconscious. He SEEMS to be lucid, but the content of these conversations is usually completely hilarious and he never remembers them.

Last night I came into bed about an hour and a half later than Adam. He opened his eyes, looked at me and then stood up. I asked him what he was doing and he said, “I don’t know, getting ready for bed.” I said, “but you’ve been asleep for the last hour and a half.” He looked at me and then looked down at himself and said, “I was wearing less clothes.” I asked if he thought someone had come while he was sleeping and put more clothes on him and he just said, “yeah,” and then got into bed and went back to sleep.

I think my favorite sleeptalking episode was one night about a year ago when I was reading beside him as he slept. He had been asleep for about an hour when he suddenly sat up, stretched and looked at me with that “I’M AWAKE!” look which means he really isn’t. I closed my book and asked him what he was doing. He looked around, leaned back on his pillow and put his arms behind his head. “Just… taking a break.” he answered.

“From… sleeping?” I asked.

Adam isn’t the only one of my current or former housemates who has done unexplainable things in the night. I remember sleeping in our room one night at Sixth & Elm when, at about 3 in the morning, Colin got up from the room he shared with Emily and came into our room. He sat on the sofa chair near the bed and was just staring into space. I got up on one elbow and quietly asked, “Uh, Colin? What are you doing?” He looked at me, threw up his arms and stalked out exclaiming “God! Can’t a guy just sit DOWN anymore?!”

And my favorite memory on this subject is walking out of my room late one night to see all the lights on and Emily and Colin with all the sheets off the bed, halfway through flipping their mattress. I commented on the fact that that was a weird thing to be doing at 4 am and Emily just said “Yes it is,” and Colin didn’t even look up. I guess it was hot and the mattress was sweaty, but neither of them was really clear on whose idea it was to flip it at 4 am and Colin doesn’t even remember doing it.

I am not immune to unusual night-time habits. Apparently I hum in my sleep, so Adam says and he has woken me up several times to show me the weird positions I sleep in, including on my back with my arms behind my head and my knees bent with one leg crossed over the other, as if I was relaxing on a beach.

With all this night-time activity, it’s no wonder we are all so tired during the day.