Another Bite!

This weekend Nick and I went with another couple up to Bon Echo park for a weekend of camping. It was absolutely beautiful! The best campground we have ever been to. When I get all of the pics from the couple we went with, Ill be sure to post them. We were thinking of just the two of us going and bringing Mikayla along but decided not to take the risk with the mosquitoes. As most of you know, Mikayla is allergic to mosquito's and reacts pretty severely when she gets bitten. We have had to make a few hospital visits due to the bites after finding out she was allergic last summer. So Mikayla stayed in Newmarket with my mom for the weekend where we thought she would be safer. Turns out there was no hiding from the mosquitoes as she was bitten on the face at some point on Friday. My mom noticed a bit of swelling Friday night and by Saturday morning her eye was swollen shut. After a trip to the doctor, Mikayla is now on a strong antibiotic and the usual Benadryl. Whenever Mikayla has been bitten on the face, she is always placed on a strong antibiotic just to be safe from any infection. At one of her hospital visits last year the doctor explained to us that the face is the only area we have to be extremely careful about. Behind our eye socket we have water sacs that swell and fill with fluid to protect the brain. But if there is too much swelling pressure is put on the brain which can be a serious matter...and an infection on top of the swelling would only worsen the situation. So were going to keep a close watch on Mikayla and stick with the medication and hopefully things will clear up quickly. Her eye is looking better already and not once has she complained about it. Here is a picture of her eye tonight (Sunday). It looks great considering it was closed shut yesterday morning.

African Lion Safari

Yesterday we went to the African Lion Safari with Auntie Mouse (Melissa) and Uncle Andrew. Nick, Melissa and I had been before, but this was Mikayla's and Andrew's first time there. We had a great time. We drove through the Safari in the Marlymobile that John and Cheryl had let us borrow for the adventure. The baboons were the best part by far! We actually drove through a second time just to see the baboons again. They played with the wipers and jumped from car to car but the loved Lobby the lobster. Lobby is a little bobble head lobster that Mikayla brought back from out east last summer. Lobby has manage to travel on many road trips with us. After the first drive through of the safari we had some lunch, fed some goats, got some air brush tattoos and Mikayla went on a pony ride. We all ended up getting these little airbrushed tattoos and the girl working there must of thought we were crazy. It started out with just Mikayla getting a pink unicorn and then Nick and Andrew decided they would get tattoos too. The deal was that they would pick out each others tattoo and the colours they were airbrushed in. Nick ended up with a black and pink tattoo on his forearm that said "playgirl" and Andrew ended up with pink and purple tattoo in the same spot that said "babe". Melissa and I felt left out so we jumped on board. Melissa got a little red turtle and I ended up with a purple pig. We then hit up the gift store where Mikayla got a tiger mask hoping that she could scare the animals on the safari on our second drive through. I'm not too sure if it work but she sure did try. She even wore the mask out for breakfast this morning.

Here are some pictures from the day...

Some Cheetahs wrestling

Baboon on the windshield

They found Lobby!

The babies were so cute!

The 1st timers! Andrew looks more into it than Mikayla does!haha

Mikayla on her pony ride, she loved it!

I love this picture! While feeding the goats, she would laugh til the point of falling over!

Tough little girl..

My little tiger...

Tired after a long, fun day!:)

Seneca Graduation

So today was the big day...my graduation. The ceremony was really nice and it was great to officially be done! No more assignments, essays or exams!! I'm just glad I didn't fall on my face while receiving my diploma, that was my biggest fear...especially because I was wearing heels and I have enough trouble walking in bare feet as is. Over all it was a great day! We celebrated with my closest friends from school with a nice lunch afterwards. Also after the ceremony, while walking to the parking lot Safehaven called to offer me a position as a Residential Support Worker. Safehaven is a residential home just up the road from us for kids with severe disabilities and complex medical needs. I meet with my supervisor tomorrow to review and sign my contract and once that is done I can begin my training. Perfect timing! I can't wait to start:)

Here are some pictures from today...

Waiting to get gowned by our professor before receiving my diploma on stage

With a few friends from school after the ceremony


Some with Mikayla


...and my Mom and Nick

Mikayla's Birthday Weekend

Our little Mikayla will be 4 on the 10th and its so hard to believe!! But we sure did have a good time celebrating:)

On Friday Nick, Mikayla and I headed up to Algonquin for a night of camping. We had planned on spending 2 nights but we didn't get off to a great start and Mikayla wanted to come home because of the unbarable blackfies. As most of you know Mikayla is highly allergic to misquitos and blackflies. So bad that after a weekend of camping for her 3rd birthday, her eyes swelled shut and she spent some of it in the hospital causing her to be late for her own borthday party. It was then that we discovered the allergic reaction. So this time we went prepared! We had a full bug suit that Granny bought her, benadryl (stick and liquid) and a cream my doctor gaave me to put on instantly in case of a bite. But the buggers still managed to get into the suit. She only got a few bites, and luckily not near her face. However the bites she did get seemed to swell quite abit but nothing like last year. We also got hit by the worst storm I've ever seen!!It started out as what seemed to be heat lightning in the distance but out of no where we got pounded!! The ground shook with thunder as it started to pour. The brand new tent Nick had just bought was missing pieces so it leaked all night and we ended up soaked! AND THEN to top it all off, me being the moron I am...locked the keys in the truck...along with everything we packed. Dry clothes, our food, cells etc. We woke up in the morning wet, hungry and with no phone to call a tow truck. So Nick headed to the ranger station to find out that the power was out so we were stranded! Luckily the gave him a coathanger and after 5 hrs of trying, he got the door open. We then changed, packed up and headed home. Aside from the bad start, we ended up having an awesome weekend! We spent Saturday Go Karting, at Chuckie Cheese and at Mikayla's favourite park in Aurora. Sunday followed with a suprise birthday party at Granny's. It was an awesome day:) Thanks to everyone who came and to Cheryl and John for throwing it!!It was a blast!! Here are some pics from the party.

Update:Soccer, Family Reunion etc

So since the last time I have blogged, I have started my outdoor soccer season and I'm loving it!! I use to play competitive soccer for York United (Newmarket and surrounding area) as well as one year at a provincial level for team Ontario. Soccer was my life. I started when I was 3 and played on my older brother's team until the age of 9. At that time I started playing rep for Newmarket. I played year round both indoor and outdoor until I found out I was pregnant at 16. I honestly thought that I would never play again. However I returned last summer playing houseleague for my old coach of York United along with 8 of my old teammates. This is just a fun league, no practice and 1 game a week. I don't think I would be able to handle the competitive stuff again but I am happy to be back on the field:) Soccer was always something that I did with my Dad. He was at all my games rain or shine and loved the road trips we shared at tournaments far away. I lost my Dad a year and a half ago and I know he'd be so happy to see I was back doing what I love. As weird as it sounds, playing again helps me heal and remember those times we shared. That was the only reason I decided to give it one more go...but I am soo glad I did.

Aside from soccer, yesterday Nick, Mikayla, my mom and I attended the 44th annual Oliver Family Reunion (my dad's side of the family). I hadn't been in years so it was great to see everyone and spend the time together. I wish the weather had been nicer but overall it was a great day. At our reunions we have a bunch of little events like races, raffles, balloon tosses etc. Mikayla competed in a bunch of them and came home with a few ribbons to show for it. Mikayla came 1st in the 3-6 yr old race and 2nd in the balloon toss with her cousin as her partner. I think her heads gotten a little big since yesterday lol. She thinks shes the fastest kid in the whole world, and everywhere we go...we have to race there. I raced in the ladies race and came second. Turns out that the girl who beat me, was the same girl I could never beat when we were kids hahha. Nick missed his race, he was in the washroom (so he says), I keep telling him he was just too scared so he was off hiding somewhere lol. We all had a blast though:) I spent most of my time catching up and playing around with the kids and Nick spent most of the day speaking to my Grandad about the war. My Grandad flew a fighter plane in WWII and shared all his stories with Nick. It made my Grandad's day I'm sure.