You Know It's Going To Be A Bad Day When. . .

. . . you turn your head slightly at 6 am and your neck locks, shooting pain radiating down your back, up your neck, and into your arm.

That was my start to Canada Day. I lay there, feeling paralysed by the pain of moving, until I realized that I needed to get up and try to stretch before all the muscles joined in on this little strike. I tried to lift my head, but nothing was less than excrutiating, so I just put my hands behind my neck for support as I sat up. I started doing the neck exercises that the chiropractor gave me years ago, which have helped prevent this from happening with any frequency. I guess it helps if you do them sort of regularly! All the flute and guitar playing, the decorating last weekend, and most importantly - missing my last massage because of work! - have contributed to this condition.

I managed to do quite a bit of stretching, and to massage out some knots with Amazon's Homedics back massager (thank you for the loan, Amazon!). That thing could be a weapon for some, but it sure is powerful (so powerful, in fact, that I had to open my jaw to prevent my teeth from clacking together when I used it on my neck - on the low setting!). All that and a good dose of Advil, and I was ready for Canada Day on Parliament Hill.

Okay, so not the whole day. Hubby and I took Corwin and Clara to see the changing of the guard and the RCMP Musical Ride this morning. Then we watched some boats going through the locks to the river. We saw some people with Canadian Flag parachutes jump out of a plane and float around the sky, and watched a man (in a Speedo! ugh!) do a fancy dive from a huge pole into a tank of water. The paramedics were, thankfully, not required. The four of us beat the insane lunch rush by minutes, and enjoyed a leisurely meal at the Blue Cactus Grill, complete with a Rickard's Honey Brown for Hubby, and a large Sangria for me. After a little detour into Lush (probably the cheapest purchase ever for me!), we topped off the afternoon with some delicious gelato from Piccolo Grande before the long, hot trek to the car. Both kids dozed off on the way home, and Hubby carried Corwin into the house where he slept for another half hour (but he was so excited about Canada Day that he was up at 5:45 am, so the nap was a very good thing). A dip in the neighbours' pool, barbequed burgers for dinner, and that was Canada Day for us.

We opted not to do fireworks - both because the kids were up late-ish (for them) last night, and the weather wasn't looking promising. Not sure if the rain held off for the fireworks, but it is absolutely pelting right now. There were more pops and bangs in the neighbourhood to torment Jazzy dog, and now the thunder is freaking her out. Hmmm. . . maybe having a freaked out dalmatian pressing against my spine all night has something to do with my neck? Nah!