Royal Wood

Saturday night Matt and I went out on a date, like an actual one, with grown ups and no kids. It was dreamy. Well, actually it was weird but you take what you can get.

Royal Wood was playing at St. Matthew's Church downtown, it was such a cool venue. Church by day and host to any number of things at night. We went with Katie and Brennan and sat in the balcony. They have concerts there regularly because of the size and the amazing acoustics. It was the best show I've ever seen, not just because of Royal Wood and Peter Katz, but because it sound so dang good in there with those high ceilings.

But about the weirder parts of the night, we decided it would be easier (famous last words) to get the bus downtown from Katie's place instead of looking for parking on a Saturday night. The bus was twenty minutes late, and the driver could not deal with it. She was on the phone/radio the whole time trying to figure out what she should do to make up for lost time. She then chased down the bus on the same route that was on time, flagged him over and tried to pawn her passengers off on him. When he drove away she honked the horn wildly. She chased him down again and we transferred buses. That was all fine, we were a bit later than we had hoped, the plan was to eat first but our dinner window was dwindling.

We get to our stop in front of the church and next to where we had planned on eating. After a fairly uneventful second bus ride, we thought we were in the clear of strange happenings until the bus driver called after Katie. Apparently he had directed a play she and I were in, in high school and remembered her! So weird. That Katie sure is unforgettable, even the director-turned-bus driver can't forget her, ten years later.

The restaurant was crowded and a waitress directed us to stand in the middle of it and wait to be seated. No one came so we left. How embarrassing. With a lineup outside of the church and not a whole lot of time left, we skipped food and went to get a coffee to warm up and kill some time. We sat at the biggest, most awkward booth and Matt had a bad encounter with a filthy bathroom. Told you it was a weird night.

Then it was concert time, finally. It was beautiful and huge and kind of novel to be attending a show in a church. Peter Katz opened and while I'd never heard of him before, I'm a big fan now. He was charming and told sweet stories and played lovely acoustic music. Once Royal came out, I realized we had seen him outside earlier and then spent the rest of the evening lamenting the fact that we hadn't said hello/gotten a picture or something. Either way, he was fantastic and engaging and I can't wait to see him again.

Next time though, we are driving and eating beforehand. Walking aimlessly in the cold looking for food at 10 p.m. on a Saturday in downtown HRM is not something I ever want to experience again.

A New Addition

So we have a new member of the family. The babes were playing when E stopped suddenly and dropped to the ground on her belly. "BUG!" she kept screaming - not in a scared way, in an my-head is-going-to-explode way. Max ran over and they watched a little black and brown bug (water bug? small beetle?) crawl around long enough for me to take pictures. The kids just happened to be wearing their matching footie jams, just to kick the cuteness factor of this story up a notch. So thoughtful.

Anyway, they watched the little bug, trying to catch him in a tissue and a jar for a while. He wasn't falling for their tricks, zig zagging in and out of the baseboards. Max figured he didn't want to go back outside and that he should live here with us. Not in a jar, just roaming free around my house. Awesome.

They deemed him a free bug and named him Buster. Ellie checks under the dresser in the living room everyday for Buster. We even convinced Max not to take a spider in the house, because it would eat his new pet. So our new house guest hasn't been so bad, really. We always know where to find him - not in my ear so far - he keeps the kids busy for a while, he's the only bug allowed to live with us and it's kept the begging for a dog at bay.

Welcome to the family Buster, stay under that dresser though, or I'll introduce you to the vacuum.

Happy Mother's Day

Hope everyone's day is everything they want it to be, filled with extra squeezes, snuggles and lovins!

Practically Summer

We have taken it upon ourselves, us Browns, to will Summer here faster. Chasing bubbles, lots of duck pond visits, lunch on the balcony and our favourite - sidewalk murals.

Max had gotten all of his chore check marks for a month, so we told him he could pick out a toy or book the next time we were out. Well, Max Brown is a funny duck, he chose sidewalk chalk. Of all things. Ok, kid!

Last year the babes loved drawing outside but we only had two pieces of chalk and they lasted all season so we didn't bother getting more. We had blue and yellow. When the kids got their new chalk - 36 different colours - their little heads exploded. It doesn't take much around here.

Won't go anywhere without her back pack 

So that's what we've been doing everyday since, drawing pictures, taking walks and eating outside, even if it means we have to wear heavy sweaters and re-heat pour food a couple of times. It's practically Summer, can you feel it?

Free Comic Book Day

Matt worked all through last weekend so it was us chickens left here to fend for ourselves. We had already skipped a soccer practise the week prior because Matt was working, so I was determined to get there this week. Saturday also happened to be Free Comic Book Day so obviously we had to go. We bussed to soccer, which took almost an hour, Max was goalie this week! He was so excited when he came out, telling us very dramatically about it. We had some time to kill before we had to catch the bus downtown, so we hit up the playground next to the rec centre.

The bus downtown was long and uneventful, full of "are we there yet?" and people watching. Once we were at the comic book store (Quantum Frontier), we got some pictures taken with out favourite heroes to kill time while waiting in line to get in.

Can you spot the Boop?

While waiting at the front of the line, Katie's husband, Brennan was walking by. Talk about good timing, he got to skip the line and go right in with Max. Line cutter. There was lots to do and see, and I had a good chat with the owner about making the day more stroller friendly, his idea, not mine! It was a tight squeeze with the stroller but do-able.

Afterwards we grabbed some lunch with Brennan and then caught another hour long bus home. Three hours on the bus total, which could've been a nightmare, but my city kids didn't mind at all.

Max ended up with four new comics (all free) a little keychain toy and a balloon sword (also free, because he's cute and people just give him things). We'll be going back next year, for sure, maybe not by bus though, hopefully for Momma's sake.