katie-lou-hoo

i started to write about our canada day on sunday but i was distracted by a very long phone call from andrea. due to the said phone call i was not able to go on a run. it is a new rule i have. i have to have a good sleep in order to go on a run. i'm trying a new approach--love and take care of my body instead of forcing it to perform. that is something i have done for a long time. i pushed myself no matter how tired i was to do things and it was starting to take its toll. i was starting to get the amy-red-eye-syndrome. so now i must have a good nights sleep if i want to exercise. so far it seems to be working. i'm marathon training so i have to run so i have to get a good sleep. it helps that it is summer time and i don't have to get up so early to go on a run and if i don't get up on time mic and nat just come with me on my run-- and since it is a good deal harder to push nat and run i have a little motivation to get to bed on time.
anyways, back to parksville. on saturday brent woke up early and went to work (which was not exactly according to plan. he was supposed to wait for me do my run. i woke up early to go and he was already gone so mic and nat had to come with me) he figured he would be done in just a couple hours, but karen kept giving him more things to do so he never got home until 2 and he was supposed to start at romans at 4. he made me call deb to see if she really needed him to work (i love how he always makes me make the awkward calls--especially when it comes to money) deb said she would call if it got really busy. then our time was spent talking about what to do. these talks always seem so unproductive! brent just wanted to stay home and do nothing until it was time to go to parksville to watch the fireworks in case deb called him. i had cabin fever and was ready to go do something because that had been the plan all day. brent had taken the car to work in the morning (not part of the original plan either) and we were just waiting for him (who was "almost done" every time we called.) finally i hit the key thing to motivate brent to get moving--food. i found something that he was excited about bbqing and the ball started rolling. as it turned out we didn't get to parksville any earlier than originally planned but at least we were doing something together.
we found a good spot close to the beach to watch the fireworks. brent amused himself watching a group of young adults sitting nearby. one was really drunk and carrying an almost empty bottle of some form of liquor. after seeing him punch a guy that was driving by three times in the face for no apparent reason, brent got up and left. i knew exactly where he was going and felt a little uncomfortable because i thought it would be so obvious. not long after brent left four police officers descended down on us on their bikes. i was sitting with my back to this group but i could hear lots of what was said. the girls all played innocent--"i'm not drinking, i'm the driver. i didn't know you weren't allowed unopened alcohol here." i don't know how they thought that would convince them--what is the point of bringing it to the beach if you are going to keep it closed the whole time. the police made them dump everything out and then they left. brent didn't return until it was almost done and they didn't seem to notice so i guess it wasn't that obvious. it was much quieter after they left.
sarah and kyle and amy came and we sat and ate junk food. there was a group of people there playing wooden xylophones (don't know the real name) that just added to the fuinki. sarah, amy and i went to have a look. one guy really got into it. he was sitting on a office chair and bouncing around like crazy. i love parksville beach at sunset. the tide was coming in. the water was smooth. the sky was pink and relected off of the water. beautiful. the fireworks were not bad--although the low shooting ones seem to go on and on forever. kyle had funny names for some of the kinds of fireworks--something like cracklies. the girls lay on their backs on the blanket to watch--their faces filled with the wonder of it all. it was a beautiful moment that just filled my heart with gratitude and love for my little family.