Happy Mother’s Day to all the GORJ MOMMIES out there!

We had an interesting one over here. Things are, well, always interesting when you have a cheaty monkey around. I mean, cheaty monkeys’ll take the most mundane thing and turn it into something fabulous and fascinating: "Look, Mama! Der’s anudder farm! And aNUDDER farm! LOOOK, MAMA! Look a diss tractor! Is it raining? Is it nighttime? Look at da HORSE, MAMAAA! Is Rascal sleeping? I wake him up. EEEEEEEE….."

Yes, it rained. It was all of grey and chilly and sorry and gloomy. But, we still took our road trip out to one of Josh and my favourite spots, Stratford, Ontario ….

We like Stratford because of all its cute little shops, the literary culture and plays that it’s famous for, the Avon river with the swans and the ducks and paddle boats….

But, the Stratford we went to today was nothing like the one we love. No, it was grey and dull and NOT HAPPENING…

…And, it was windy…

…And, all the cute little cafés and shops were…

…Except, it seemed, for this one…

…Eeeeeeek!

But, we definitely made the best of it, of course. Josh and I laughed that we ACTUALLY took the trip on this most muggy, off-season of SUNDAYS. What were we THINKING?!?

We managed to find a sweet little café where I had a DELISH vegetarian sandwich with local goat cheese, pesto, lettuce, and roasted peppers….

…And, we were ecstatic to find our FAVE toy store actually OPEN! (I spy with my little eye, THE MONKEY — can you find her in this pic, Gorgeouses??)

Awesome store. They have EVERYTHING there, Gorgeouses, EVERYTHING!

Monkey is obsessed with LOVES her new magic wand….

…While she attempted to turn me into a frog with her new wand…, we struggled to make the cranky little rascal happy (in a TOWN WITH NO CHANGE TABLES) with a magic ball thingy of his own. It worked….

Then, we found, to my UTTER JOY, that a bookstore was open! a bookstore was open!

The bookstores at Stratford are amazing. They’re SMALL, sweetly disorganized, and full of character…. I bought another diet book a nutrition book for $2.99!….

Yes, Stratford is a land where you won’t find a Chapters or Indigo or Borders, or Barnes and Noble…. It’s a town of the small bookstore. I LOVE the small bookstore. Could live in the small bookstore. Which reminds me, Stratford is also a land free of Starbucks….

Instead of a chai, then, I had green tea, which is supposed to be FULL of health benefits (says new $2.99 book). And, right here and now, Gorgeouses, I pledge to drink a green tea INSTEAD of my daily chai tomorrow. And, I will KICK BUTT and take names in kickboxing and start losing weight again. Am in SERIOUS, SERIOUS rut. Diet is DOWN THE DRAIN. Must suck it back up…. MUST SUCK IT BACK UP DRAIN! Ugh.

But, I’ll not focus on that as Mother’s Day draws to a close…. No. I’ll focus on Monkey’s Fairy-Princess magic wand….

It’sgrandma: I crown you…PRINCESS MONKEY!
Monkey: NO! YOUUUU CAN’T! MAMA’S DA KING!

…And, I’ll focus on THESE….

These feet. They KILL me! CLOSEUP:

BIG-TOE CLOSEUP:

I can’t handle that AT ALL.

Happy Mother’s Day! LOVE! xo Haley-O