Fern 2007

Last week was our (seventh?) annual trip to Fern Resort, and I think it was our best ever. I think I gained about 50 pounds, or at least it feels like it. I haven't weighed myself yet, but I'm not optimistic. The diet starts... soon.

I won't give a day-by-day summary or anything, but here are some of the highlights and (one) lowlight:

Good Stuff

• The kids were awesome. They didn't sit still when eating most of the time, and Ryan had a little bit of a tantrum once but that was short-lived, and the rest of the time they were great.
• Four-way beach volleyball. I look forward to this all year
• Golf with Ryan on Fern's 5-hole course. Ryan hit pretty well, I shot two pars and missed an eagle putt by an inch
• Golf with Jeff, Mike, and Jerry at Hawk Ridge. I came in last, but not by much, and I played reasonably well
• The food was phenomenal, as always
• I was the co-winner of the men's singles tennis tournament! Well, this was only because I was one of only three people who showed up, and it started to rain just as we got there, so the tennis pro cancelled it and gave us each points for showing up
• I won at bingo twice - $5 once time and a t-shirt the other time
• Nicky got on stage during the magic show. The magician "pulled" lots of coins out of his ear, his nose, from under his arms, etc. Nicky told us later that the magician was just hiding the coins in his hand and then dropping them in the bucket, but he played along the whole time and was hilarious
• Rachel and Sarah won the "Fern's Got Talent" competition with their routine from High School Musical
• Ryan and I saw a blue heron while riding pedal carts through the woods

Bad Stuff

• Walking with Nicky across the volleyball court, I bent down to duck under the net, while he thought it would be fun to jump and brush his head on the net, and our heads collided. He rubbed his head and said "Ow" and that was it, while I fell to the ground ("you dropped like you'd been shot" said the guy walking behind me) and ended up with a black eye and a nasty abrasion right below my eyebrow

We started our second week of "vacation" on Saturday (though we're working this week), when we dropped Ryan off at Gail's dad's place and Nicky off at my parents' place and came home alone. I love my kids more than anything, and I will certainly miss them this week, but I'll also enjoy not making lunches, not dropping anyone off in the morning or picking anyone up in the evening, not worrying about whether they'll eat what we make for dinner, going to see movies without arranging for (or paying for) babysitters, etc. We went to the CNE yesterday, saw Harry Potter (again) on Saturday and Stardust yesterday, and we might try to see The Bourne Ultimatum on Wednesday. Thursday night we're going to Canada's Wonderland (where we won't even go near Kidsville), and Friday we're going for dinner and then to see We Will Rock You in Toronto. We pick the boys up on Saturday.