Category: Real Life & Real Fun
How the iPad saved us
We enjoy naming our "things". Take our cars, for example. We were all teary eyed as we said goodbye to "Trusty Rusty", our Subaru wagon. One of us adored "Boomer", a (horrible) pick-up truck that was stolen twice but then returned just before we got the insurance check. (darn!) Now, we have "Bluey" and it's like a 6th member of our family. "OK kids, let's find Bluey in the parking lot". I'll wake up after sleeping on Contact C (a pillow), put on Colonel Mustard (pants), jump into Bluey (car), head over to Horny Tim's (Tim Hortons) then to Blob-blobs (Loblaws) for some milk. Typical lingo in our household, these fun names just stick and we continue to use them. Hence, it wasn't a surprise as we found ourselves naming our new family toy, the apple iPad. Our kids are old enough to say "I" when asking for something but they have a horrible habit of saying "me" way too often. On our drive out East (to visit PEI, NB and NS) recently, we heard our 3 year old repeat "Me want the iPad" from the back seat one time too many. It stuck. Pad-me.
We love our Padme. Our Padme rocks! Padme became an invaluable tool on our trip and we all learned to navigate through it's myriad of apps and features by the time we reached our first stop in Quebec City just 4 1/2 hours from home. Padme came to the rescue saving us from traffic jams, travel boredom and bad hotels. We found rest-stops, gas stations and learned how many minutes it would take us to get there.(especially helpful if someone was in a "panic"). We found attractions just off our route (we had a wonderful break at the longest covered bridge in Canada in Hartland, NB). Padme kept Ian busy in the 9th hour of driving when nothing else would. Peter read his book on Padme during the nights in the hotel rooms as the kids slept sideways in a double bed to make it "feel" like a king. Padme took us on an alternate scenic route along the coast of NB to the amazingly long and initially frightening Confederation Bridge. I sat in the back between Ian and Aleda and played Reversi with them on Padme. Love.
During our week-long ocean front cottage stay in Darnley, PEI, we would unwind in the evenings, overlooking the sunset behind the lighthouse on the dunes and research our next day's trip according to the ever changing island weather forecast and the info we gathered from talking to locals. After a morning of Canada Day activities at the Charlottetown Harbour front Festival and a tour through Province House in downtown, we pulled out Padme to find a quiet beach just out of town to unwind and take a nap before heading to a quaint fishing village packed with thousands to watch the fireworks display. We relied on Padme to get us out of a traffic jam after the fireworks, finding an alternate route home while hundreds of cars rallied to go out the one and only exit. (at least, that's what they thought! aha!!). Having Padme allowed us to communicate with friends and family, it allowed the kids to keep up with some fun math games, and learn the lyrics to some cool new songs. We've been home for 4 weeks now and haven't even broken the ice with what else Padme has to offer. Our next trial will be after 8pm tonight which is when the Rogers Cable guy (or gal) shows up at our door to pick up our cable tv box. No more cable. But not to worry.....Padme to the rescue!! Pad we, Pad you, we all pad for Padme.
