Tales From a “GREEN” Minivan

I have been extremely neglectful of my blog this summer so I though I’d recap in one post quickly what we’ve been up to over the past few weeks!

You may remember my rant about our “Green” van well  we finally got a “new to us” Toyota Sienna.  A friend of mine works at Toyota and I had him on the lookout for one and he delivered. We’ve been happy with it, and got it just in time for our road trip to New Hampshire. The cargo space is amazing and it only had 33,000 kms on it!

Just before leaving for New Hampshire I got a call from the Roofing Company I contracted to replace our roof and they had an opening!  So the roof was completely replaced and now we have one less house worry!  The crew from Dowd Roofing was great, they made certain that my yard as well as my neighbour’s yards were cleaner than when they arrived! I even made sure to compliment them with I went in to pay the invoice at the office.  I would highly recommend them!

Since we were putting hardwood floors into the second story of the house that meant we had to remove EVERYTHING from these rooms, which happen to be 3 bedrooms and a storage room.  While clearing out the storage room we realized that the majority of the stuff we had been holding onto we really did not use or need so I listed the stuff we didn’t need anymore on Kijiji and it sold immediately. We decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to move our laundry room upstairs!   Our nextdoor neighbour is a plumber and he did all of the work and installed ceramic floors in the new laundry room and also in the bathroom!  This now means I will get a proper pantry in my kitchen as this is where the laundry currently is.  I’m SOOOO excited, hopefully the work will be complete this week.  Here’s my new set of Front loaders arriving (yes they’re blue) and a shot of the boys room completed!

Liam and Ciaran’s new room together!

New Hampshire was a great escape of the CHAOS in the house. Our condo was fabulous as usual thanks to SkyAuction!  We had 3 levels, 2 bedrooms, and if you can believe it two sets of washer and dryers! The unfortunate part of the trip was our bout with the Flu.  We’re almost 90% sure it was the H1N1, but didn’t have a chance to confirm it.  We all got over it in about 3 days and tried to enjoy the time away even though the weather did not really cooperate.  On my Birthday we took the kids to Santa’s Village, in Jefferson, NH.  This is a great little park for younger kids (although I’m pretty certain Mackenzie really enjoyed her day there as well).  Finn was able to go on almost every ride with the exception of the rollercoaster and Kenz didn’t find things too “Babyish” !  It was a great way to spend my Birthday, I have some fond memories going as a child as well. Here’s some shots from this year and some from 1975 when I was 2 years old!

Front Entrance

Front Entrance in 1975

Andrew and the kids on the Bunny

My mom and I on the Bunny in 1975

After getting home the kids have been going to some day camps and spending some time at what we like to call Sarah’s Backyard Waterpark.  She made her own slip’n’slide that beats any store bought one and even did a Tutorial on her blog! I’ve also been working some early mornings to take the afternoons off to go to the beach or take the kids out to have a little fun. A new indoor play facility opened up and the boys just love it! They’ve also been playing some Summer Bingo to try and keep chores and learning fun this summer. The weather in July has been pitiful here in Saint John, it was the Wettest July on Record with nearly twice the normal rainfall and when it wasn’t raining the fog was as thick as pea soup.

The drive to Take Mackenzie to Camp

We’ve also been lucky enough to get out a little bit lately too.  We spent an evening at our friends place and got to listen to some great live music compliments of SJ’s Brent Mason.  He even made up some impromptu songs about the kids from tales we told earlier in the evening.  I recall one about Finn’s shenanigans getting into some drywall compound! It was really funny!  I tried out the new Moosehead Light Lime and I was surprisingly impressed, not only with the fact it matched my shirt that evening, but it tasted pretty good as well!

Brent doing his “thing”!

The next celebration I got to attend was my Dad’s Retirement Party!  After 37 years with Irving Pulp & Paper he has officially retired. My dad is an extremely hardworker and a bit of a perfectionist that has always taken pride in his work.  I’m extremely proud of him and very happy for him to be entering this new chapter of his life with his new wife Linda. Oh and Dad if you’re reading I promise to not keep you too busy with little projects around my house..lol

My Dad with my 3 “little” brothers and me!

The following weekend I got to catch up with my oldest friend of 31 years, Andrea!  She was home from Ontario and with the convenience of Facebook I was able to track her down and we went down to my old watering hole O’Leary’s Pub.  I was so great catching up with her and I hope to get together again while I’m in Toronto later in the month for work.

One thing that we hadn’t got to do was any camping!  I have had everything already to go, but every weekend it was raining!  Finally this past Saturday we did our first little camping trip to Sussex, NB.  We stayed at Town & Country Campground, and got to take the kids to the Drive-In Theatre to see Aliens in the Attic.  It was a lot of fun and now I can’t wait to do some more!  I took all of the camping gear out of the new van and put it in the green van, so that way the next time we got it was be so easy to get everything loaded and on the road.

I promise to be not so long winded in future entries and update a lot more often! Thanks for reading!

Last week was Liam & Mackenzie’s March Break.  We don’t normally travel too far from home during our breaks as it’s early in March.  I wanted to do something that had a “GREEN” element to it, but also have a short getaway and see some sites.  After doing a little research I decided on Boston.  Wait a minute…Boston is an 8 hour drive or a airplane ride away!  Luckily we border the State of Maine, that has decided that passenger rail travel is still a priority!  You see here in Saint John, NB we do not have a passenger rail link.  The closest station is in Moncton, NB and there is limited places we can travel to.  So we drove to Maine and caught the Amtrak Downeaster to North Station in Boston.

For the drive down to Maine we used our new GPS, and I have to admit I’m kicking myself for not buying one sooner!  If you want to end all bickering between you and your co-pilot the GPS is the answer!   Definitely get one that way say the street names, it’s extremely helpful!

The train ride was fairly uneventful, I noticed as we got closer to Boston there were more and more people sporting Bruins attire, sure enough there was a B’s game that evening! We had to pack light as we knew we’d have a day that we’d have to carry our bags with us.  So I managed to pack everything into one backpack for the six of us! Pretty impressive and I didn’t forget anything either!

Here’s some photos from the weekend!

The boys on the Downeaster Train.

Just outside North Station

Dining at Durgin Park- Yes Ciaran is pluggin his nose, he didn’t like the smell.

Kenz, Finn and I outside Cheers!

The boys getting new Sox hats at Yawkey way.  (Their old ones got left in Florida! )

All 4 boys in their matching hats outside Fenway Park

Papa, Nanny & the Boys at the Aquarium, while Mackenzie Finn and I headed out to Natick to go to American Girl!  What a great store!

Now that I’m home I can’t wait to go back and stay even longer. Andrew and I decided that this trip would be our “trial run”for a longer stay this summer!  Even though the boys were a little under the weather, I still think it was a very successful trip!

Yes, for the second time in 3 days my van is back on a tow truck!  Just as I was arriving at school to pick the kids up for an appointment Mackenzie had afterschool it died right in the parking lot.  Blocking people in at one of the busiest times at the school.  I got right on the phone and called the tow truck company I used a few days before, then asked the afterschool program if the could keep Liam for a few minutes until I got things sorted out.  I found Mackenzie and tried to call her a cab to get to her appt, but the doctor wouldn’t wait the extra 10 minutes!  GRRR! This is the third time we’ve had to reschedule this appt.

Next I called Andrew, he could hear the panic and frustration in my voice I’m sure.  He said he would pack up and head straight home to find a rental van. Phew. Then I realized that we would not all fit into the tow truck!  I then called my friend Joanne and she came and picked up Liam and Mackenzie and brought them home in her van.  All I have to say thankfully the little boys were at Andrew’s mom, otherwise I think I would gave broken down and lost it right in the parking lot at the school!

I had it towed straight back to the mechanic (and I use this term loosely) who “fixed”  it just 3 days ago by selling me a new battery.  I knew it was the stinking alternator all along, but would anyone listen to me?? Luckily we did not have to rent a van (not that we could find one), as mom mom came through and let me use her car until the van was fixed 2 days later.

OK rant over!  Ideally I’d like to keep this van, it is environmentally the right thing to do, but where do you draw the line financially and time wise?  I’ve wasted a lot of my precious time dealing with van related problems in the past few months.  Andrew finally got a taste of it over the Holidays when we went in for a quick oil change with all 4 kids and didn’t get out of there for almost 4 hours. Then I had to go back a week later after another part had to be ordered and installed!  I deal with all of the vehicle related things as it has to be dealt with while he’s at work and I have the flexibility in my schedule, but logistically I’m tired of it.

So we’re going to hold onto this “green”minivan a little while longer but also watch for something that will fit our needs and I have a huge wishlist!  I’m not going to just settle, and lets just hope I can find one that’s green in colour too!

Here’s my wishlist:

• The most possible LATCH/UAS and top tether anchors
• 8 Pax capability
• Remote keyless Entry- Remote opener even better
• Rear AC
• Roof racks
• multiple 12 v  outlets
• 1-2 years old with low kms (or miles)
• Preferably a Toyota or Honda

So am I asking for too much?  We won’t buy new ever again, our Mazda was only 2 years old and had 30,000 km on it when we bought it.  I’d seriously look at a Mazda again, but they stopped making them in 2006 and replaced it with one of the ridiculous Crossover SUV’s the CX-9.  Good job Mazda, as you’ve just alienated any family with more than one car seat from buying one of your vehicles.  I had looked into their Mazda 5, but there just isn’t enough cargo space for a family of 6.

Let me know what you have and what you like about it.  I’m sure this is going to be a long drawn out process!

I’m a little disappointed with myself as I really thought I was going to get to blog more during my month off. I’m pretty sure most of you were aware that I took the month of December off.  Things seemed to be piling up (quite literally) all around me and I needed to take a break from my screen time and focus on things that have been neglected around the house. The first part of the month was extremely busy with many appointments and general household CHAOS!  My dad was over for a few days to help get some unfinished projects around the house completed. Mid-month I got to take a little weekend vacation with my mom and Andrew’s mom down to Maine to do a little Christmas shopping without any of the kids.  It was a nice break and we had a great time without the men around! Then later that week I took a quick impromptu trip down to Halifax to get my BIL to an important appointment at a specialist.  The weather was very bad and winter driving does not bother me, so we loaded the van with Finn in tow and spent the night at my BIL & SIL’s home in Dartmouth then headed straight back to Saint John right after the appointment.  So sorry I didn’t get the chance to meet up with some of my friends in the area, but I was only in town for less than 24 hours!

After that busy week the next thing I knew Christmas was quickly approaching, luckily I was pretty much ready, most gifts were wrapped, I had already picked up the food for our Christmas Eve Seafood Feast.  Here’s a few pics from the evening and a tradition we have in our family every year!

Sweet Finn posing in front of the tree

The Miller’s looking a little Norwegian

Matching Jammies

Christmas Day was our usual tradition of getting up and putting on our…jammies!  Yes we spend the day in our PJ’s, we go to my dad’s for brunch and then to my mom’s for turkey dinner.  This year, I’m not sure what happened but I din’t get a pic of us in them!

Boxing Day was a hoot!  While we were in Maine we saw some red Christmas t-shirts at Old Navy in every size!  I thought wouldn’t it be fun to wear them to our annual family get together?  Andrew’s mom then saw them and said why don’t we get them for all 13 of the Miller’s that would be attending, so we ripped through the shelf and found 13 ranging from size 2T all the way to XL!  Here’s a shot of all of us!

We finished off the evening by getting a shot of the 6 Miller Cousins in the matching PJ’s

Not sure what we’re going to do for our New Years Celebration, we have a few invites, but I think it may be a low key gathering and perhaps a little Rock Band 2 for the Wii involved!  Andrew and I are ADDICTS!  It’s so much fun!

This evening I got to meet up with a co-worker from 1992!  That’s over 16 years ago, I honestly don’t feel old enough to have worked there over 16 years ago, and most people most likely don’t recall who they worked with that long ago.  Disney was different especially my co-workers and fellow Disney Cast Members at the Canadian Pavilion at EPCOT Center.

Almost two years ago I joined a social networking site I’m sure most of you are aware of- Facebook.   Immediately I was drawn to the fact that I could look up people I had lost touch with and started finding some of my co-workers from Walt Disney World.  There are Facebook groups dedicated to former Disney Cast Members, and it’s been great to catch up with so many that I’d lost touch with.  One of these friends was Bea!  The last time I saw Bea was 3 years after we left Disney in 1995 when we had a reunion in Halifax and a Pub Crawl.  Bea knew I was back in NB and was coming to Fredericton for work, so I decided to drive up and get together with her. Let’s just say she looks exactly the same!  It was so great reminiscing and seeing where each of our After-Disney lives took us!

Thanks for the invite to Fredericton Bea!

Here’s a shot of us 16 years ago in 1992 when  we worked for the Mouse:

Here we are now in 2008 16 years later!

I forgot too mention this with my last post so I thought I’d create one all for them!  The last few summers while driving through Maine specifically along Interstate 95 we kept seeing these weird cocoon-like web-like formations on the limbs of many trees.  This year we noticed they aren’t there anymore, but there was many dead trees.  We were wondering if it was due to these cocoons?

Fast forward about 500 miles from Maine and guess what we saw along the side of the road?!  They’rrrrrrrrre HEEEEEERE!

If anyone knows what they are please comment!  I probably should know, but I don’t!

Here’s a few shots!

and a close up, there’s some type of wormy things in there!

After our busy day in NYC yesterday we thought we’d do a slow paced day and do a little hiking and see some of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.  The Delaware River runs between Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Here’s a little something from the US National Park Service website:

“For 40 miles the Middle Delaware River passes between low forested mountains with barely a house in sight. Then the river cuts through the mountain ridge to form the famed “Water Gap.” Exiting the park, the river will run 200 miles more to Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean at Wilmington, Delaware”

We decided to stop into one of the Pennsylvania  Tourist Info Centres to get some kid friendly suggestions of where to hike.  The guide told us about an area an area close to Dingman Falls, called  Childs Park Recreation area.  We decided to have a picnic lunch then take a hike to see the many waterfalls that were in this particular area of the park.   Lunch was great, it was funny another minivan pulled up across from us with New Jersey plates.  Then a family started getting out.  I noticed right away, that a little girl no more than 2 years old hopped out quickly.  I thought that was odd as she would have to be in a car seat?  Then another little boy younger than Ciaran, then another and another.  I stopped counting when I hit 9 people in that Ford Windstar!  The cargo area was completely stuffed as was the roof.  Then about 10 minutes later I hear a cry.  There was an infant there too in an infant car seat carrier (thank goodness)!  10 people were in that van and only 2 of them adults and only one car seat. That made me really mad!

I’m so glad we decided on this area as it was gorgeous!  Here are a few shots:

The kids really enjoy hiking and the waterfalls were the icing on the cake.   After hiking we decided to cross the Delaware River at a place called Dingman’s Ferry.  In 1735, Andrew Dingman from New York State started this crossing at this spot on the River there has either been a Ferry crossing or a bridge in place for crossing over into New Jersey from Pennsylvania since that time.  It is currently privately run and operates as a toll bridge for $1 to cross.  We crossed here then followed the river back through on the NJ side.

It was a little shaky this bridge!  I found out later that each year after Labour Day the bridge closes
for more than a week to allow engineers to inspect the bridge from the tops of the trusses to the underwater foundations, and to perform any necessary maintenance and repairs. Yikes, it’s awfully close to Labor Day!

The kids enjoyed the drive along the river, the roads were very twisty and had what we like to call “Rollercoaster Bumps”!  I was surprised the speed limit was as high as it is.  When I’d see one of the “bumps” I’d speed up a little then let off the gas on the descent, so it would feel like a freefall.  There were lots of squeals coming from the back!

The next cool site we saw was a Self Serve unattended Farm Stand!  I was excited as I saw some fresh corn on the cob.  Of course we stopped and I picked up a dozen.  Was it ever good!  It’s been a long time since I’ve had corn that fresh.  I’m going to make a point to get back to our local farmer’s market when we get home.  I really want to start buying closer to home.

I hopped back in the van after grabbing my corn and we continued on our journey for about 10 minutes or so, then we came across a slight obstacle.

Yes that’s a tree right in the middle of the road!  We got out as did the occupants of the car ahead of us to observe.  We tried tugging at it for a minute or two and took a couple of photos and chuckled.   I accepted defeat and realized that just the 4 of us would not be able to budge this thing.  We took a look at our map and then discovered that this was the only way to go, or we’d have to retrace our steps and drive all the way back up to Dingman’s Ferry.  We decided to go give it a try, by now another vehicle arrived on the other side, and a man got out and started yanking at the debris.  Andrew and I pitched in and we got one side clear enough to pass and we were on our way again!

Just when we thought that was going to be the last strange site on the back country roads of New Jersey we came across this!

and this:

Yes that’s a traffic light right in the middle of no where!!  We burst out laughing but once we started driving we realized why it was there.  The “ONE LANE ROADWAY” was barely one lane, and right along very high cliffs next to the Delaware River.

What a great day, perhaps not as exciting as NYC or an amusement park, but I think it was one of my favorites thus far!

Just a quick post today!  We headed into NYC via Staten Island, it’s just under 2 hours to drive over from the Poconos.

Here’s a Smilebox I created with our photos from the day.  I hope you enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Everyone slept much better last night!  So much better that we all slept in!  Normally this would be welcomed but the drive to Sesame Place was about 2 hours so I wanted to get going early.  We ended up getting on the road by 9am and arrived in Langhorne, PA right around 11am.  Luckily the park had just opened at 10am and didn’t close until 8pm.  We still had the rest of the day ahead of us.  We paid for parking $15 then got our tickets at the door.  I meant to search out discounts or buy my tickets online, but got sidetracked and ended up buying them at the gate….for the 5 of us (Finn was free) it was over $230!  OUCH!  The good news is that this gives us another day there, the bad news is that we won’t be able to take advantage of it, as I’m not sure we want to take the 2 hour drive down to Langhorne again.

We got through security and started in the water park side of the park as it was desperately hot, I don’t know the exact temperature, but I would say it was definitely in the 30’s!  This family of Maritimers is not used to that!

The boys splashed around in their new Nammu Swim Hats.  They are a UV Sun hat, and work really well, they stayed on the boys heads all day.  I was finding that whenever the boys would be out swimming they would never wear a hat then their little scalps were getting burned.  They never complained about the Nammu’s and wore then from 11am to 6pm!

Finn was loving splashing around at Ernie’s Water Works, and Liam was working with the other kids on this water works contraption.

Ernie’s Wave pool was another hit, even Mackenzie swam here.  She enjoyed the Ernie fast facts.

Big Birds Lazy river was worth the wait, but a tip for anyone going here on a busy day, don’t get into the first line you see, go a little further around the river and you’ll see a second line which is MUCH, MUCH smaller.  Finn loved riding in the tube with me, although all he wanted to do was nurse and kept grabbing at my bathing suit! He had seen a little girl nursing in the line, and starting signing for milk then.  The other mom and I were joking around about it.  It was nice to see another nursing mom, she’s the only one I saw in the park all day, and believe me there was no lack of babies.  I have never seen so many strollers crammed into a theme park.  Other than Finn, I only saw one baby being worn and it was a beautiful little newborn in a ring sling by her very proud dad.  We did bring our umbrella stroller, but Finn never sat in it at all.  We used it for our camera bag and backpack, it did come in handy that way.

Once we got off Big Bird’s Lazy River, Andrew took Mackenzie Liam and Ciaran on the Rubber Ducky Raft Ride aka- The Sky Splash as we weren’t sure if Finn was allowed to ride it.  I sat down and gave him a little drink as discreetly as I could in a swimsuit.  I saw a woman kind of staring me down, and thought that they were disapproving stares.  Turns out she was a LLL leader, and she came over and talked to me for a few minutes and gave some encouraging words, she was very nice.  Finn slept for a few minutes while we waited for the rest of the crew on the Raft ride.  I got some great shots of them coming down.

Hunger was setting in and Captain Ernie’s next to the Lazy River was calling us.  The food wasn’t bad, but as usual themepark fare, pricey!  $8 for a kids meal!  It did come in a cute little Elmo Head Souvenir  thingy.  It think they’ll make great little party favors for an Elmo themed birthday, perhaps Finn’s 2^nd?

After having a bite to eat, we headed over to Elmo’s World.  This area of Sesame Place has most of the rides.  We managed to ride a few, but the lines were very long and didn’t get on all of the ones we wanted to.  There was also this huge rope climbing structure, Mackenzie and Ciaran weaved their way through it way above our heads.  I took Finn down to a little area for toddlers and he had so much fun playing with the large foam blocks.

Next it was time to get a drink for the boys, I had decided to purchase one of those large souvenir bottles for $5.00 earlier in the day, this way you could get refills for $1.50 instead of the $3.00 they were charging.  When I went to buy it, the Sesame Place employee did not hear me correctly and thought I wanted a refill,  and gave me the bottle for the price of a refill instead of the full cost!  Just a tip if you ever get there some day, all of the indoor eating places have fountain pop and free refills.  I didn’t find this out until later.  We started the day out drinking water as I froze our reusable containers, but they soon melted and there was barely a water fountain to be found in the park.

After getting the boys a drink, we noticed that people were lining up along the main Sesame Street for the Parade!  We decided to saty and watch, and Andrew devised a plan that as soon as it was over we would try and hit a roller coaster called the Vapour Trail!  The Parade was cute, the boys tried and tried to get high fives from the characters, Liam succeeded once getting Grover.  Ciaran was a little upset when it ended without him getting a high five too.

Luckily the disappointment of the lack of a high five was short-lived as we raced up the ramp of the Vapour Trail.  One little problem we forgot about was Finn sleeping on my back in the Ergo!  Ooops!  Mackenzie is not a ride person so she was happy to stay back with Finn, so we managed to transfer him over to her back without waking him!  I rode with Liam, who at the last minute tried to get off, I convinced him he’d be fine and off we went.  Ciaran on the other hand loved it and was grinning the entire ride!

On our way out of the park  one of the security officers offered to take our pic too!  What a great park, a lot of fun for any age!

After spending most of the last two days in the van, we decided to take it easy and check out the resorts pool and take a drive around the area to get our bearings.  As usual the pool was way too cold for me, I loike it well over 80, and this one was not even close to that.  I tried to do a little catch up reading and brought my book by Peter Walsh- “It’s All Too Much” about clutter control.  I think I’m going to jump back into the Clutter Control Bootcamp once school goes back in.

Mackenzie has been enjoying a renewed love of swimming and I think it’s due to her latest fad of “mermaids”. She’s been drawing them, reading about them and looking for movies about them.  I’m wondering if it has to do with the new Little Mermaid movie that’s coming out next week?

The Pool are at Sciota Village at Big Valley was really nice.  The pool was crystal clear, and there was a small jacuzzi and lots of lounge chairs.  Finn wasn’t overly happy with the temperature of the pool either so mainly played on the chairs and eventually found a volleyball to play with.

It seems that Liam has lost a lot of his confidence in his swimming abilities.  When we were in Florida in May, he was doing great!  Today all he did was complain and whine for water wings.  Ciaran on the other hand, was very confident yet still a little cautious, which for him is a good thing he was always the daredevil fearless one.  I’m pretty sure I’m going to enroll them both in swimming lessons this fall as their activity.  Soccer was a bust, so hopefully swimming will be better.