July 1 (Canada day) fell on a Thursday, so we took Friday off and went to the Astral Harvest Festival in Driftpile, Alberta (Near Lesser Slave Lake) 7+ hours North from our doorstep.
We were panicking and scrambling trying to find childcare for both the Astral Harvest weekend and the Motion Notion weekend... then Ursula offered to watch Quinn for us for A.H.!!! (THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!), with her wonderful offer, we were able to secure my mom for Motion notion weekend..
We drove up to Edmonton after work on wed, and took off early Thursday morning to the site. We went with Lisa, Dean, Tracy Marie, Tracy Hamm, and Shawn Gravel.
It was a fantastic festival! We were very impressed. Huge site (North County Fair Grounds), 3 stages, cool people with a very 'earthy' feel. It was nice to run around and relax and party and Dance dance dance! It was the first time in a month I didn't think about anything but Me.
(eventually, I will try to upload some pics; I will put up a quick note with links to the posts w/ pics).
We ended up hanging out A LOT with Ben Friesen. That was pretty cool, as we've never had a one on one with him, it's always been at a large gathering. He is pretty awesome!
I bought a new hat. It's pretty awesome. Big, pointy, fluffy, orange with bear (?) ears. I will post a pic! I love it. It's really warm, great for late night outdoor adventures - BUT, it's fun fur, so not good in the rain or snow.
The drive home was tiring. It's about a 7.5(?) hour drive plus we took a 2 hour pit stop in Edmonton. Ursula fed us the most amazing meal - her home made Vietnamese!!! It's restaurant quality, and exactly what my body needed after a crazy weekend of fun!
We had two weeks to recover and I mean two weeks! Man Sleep deprivation and me are no longer friends! Hard to believe I used to do that EVERY weekend! So finally adjusting back to normal and we take off for .... MOTION NOTION! We booked Friday & monday off as vacation days.
Whoa, I thought I had fun at Astral; That was just the warm up! Motion Notion was near Perfect. It was a lovely Family reunion / Gathering of the Tribe. My only complaint is that it rained and rained and rained. However, we were prepared (thanks for a run to Drayton to pick up some rain gear for those in need) and we managed to party/dance through it! And luckily the sun came out for most of the day (noon - 6pm).
Our camp set up was spectacular this year. We had two 14' x 14' sun shelters set up which gave us a nice large 'living room' for the 2 blow up couches (thanks Karen & David), and the air mattress (thanks Kevin & Katie!), and with room enough for many many chairs.
We hung up our psychedelic art work on the outsides and on the inside roofs, and Tracy's boyfriend was ever so kind to bring us his portable stereo system (with a sub!) and a battery. So we had tunes and extreme comfort available.
My cousin Amanda and her boyfriend Andrew moved to Drayton valley (From Kamloops), so they too joined the festival, by commuted from home (30 min drive). It was cool to hang with them, especially since in my mind Miss Amanda is a child, but in reality is a 20+ something young woman!
My days were true bliss and relaxation. Normally, we would have headed to the beach, however, we had such a good set up and guaranteed GOOD MUSIC, most of us opted to just stay at camp. Ursula and I went out saturday night and came back around 8/9am. I loved hanging with her for the night; So Much FUN! Since the tent was hot, I decided not to go to sleep, instead drifting off and on through out the day while relaxing on the air mattress in the cool breeze. I was so relaxed and at Peace. The feeling of having _NO_ responsibility was incredible (no offense to Quinn). The mattress shenanigans I encountered with Kelly were beyond silly and will forever be ingrained in my mind.
At times I wondered how it was possible to be having so much fun!
The only CRAPPY thing that happen the whole weekend was, Mine and Ursula's beautiful Hula Hoops were STOLEN! Can you believe it? We sure didn't. I am quite sad. And Ursula had just bought hers there at MoNo, never even got to break it in... grrrrr. They were both UV Reactive / Glow in the dark. My guess is, the sun went down and someone walked by, saw them glowing.... and took them. Asshole. So help me, if I ever spot my hoop, I will take it back.
I digress. At the market place Lair found me a kick ass skirt/tutu thingy to wear over my jeans. Its fluorescent orange and yellow - like a mini version of my floral dresses! Fun Fun!
Monday morning was rainy and miserable, so we woke up, packed and fled.
We are at a good stage in life as a family. Now that Quinn is FIVE, I think we all appreciate the time away (Me & Lair away, Quinn with family or friends). It's nice that we can leave for 1 - 5 days knowing he will be 100% fine (compared to being a baby/toddler where there's more to worry about!).
Quinn says he had a lot of fun with my mom, they even managed to get out and about lots which makes us really happy.
So here we are again, recovering from another ridiculously crazy fun weekend. The thoughts of Shambhala have been in the back of my mind. Maybe one more round before I lay it to rest... Lair even told me I should go this year, but I can not afford the time off work since we're going to Disneyland in October. If we weren't planning this trip, I would have gone!
Last weekend (July 24) was gorgeous. On saturday, Lair had to work. Quinn played outside from 10am - 4pm in his sandbox and pool. I tidied the house and played outside. When Lair got home, he built a new BBQ we bought. We've been BBQ-less all summer! Which is really hard as we probably cook on it 5 nights a week in the nice weather. It was great to sear meat!
On sunday, we went for a 3 hour bike ride. Did I mention our friends bought Quinn a Tag-a-long
bike for his birthday? I posted a few months ago that we were thinking of getting one. It is so awesome! Makes for an easy family trip for Quinn - if he gets tired, he can just relax. We bought a bike hitch for our truck, except it's the wrong size :( We look forward to getting a bike hitch so we can drive to the river paths or elsewhere for biking fun.After our bike trip, Karri, Jay & Nicholas stopped in for a BBQ. We had a fantastic visit. I'm very excited for their wedding!
So here we are ending another month. A month of happiness and joy, chaos and unsettled emotions. Let's see what August brings.
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