It's official!

Hanging out in Beebe Woods

This will, by necessity, be a rather short little post.  It was one of those weeks where the camera barely left the shelf, and I therefore have very few photos to share.  There are two important things to report, however.

1. It is now official - we're moving to Ottawa in April!  Clark has been offered a job working for a company that develops and manufactures oceanographic equipment, called RBR. He will be there in the capacity of a "research scientist",  which will be a new position for both Clark and the company. We are actually all pretty excited - though we will be so very sad to leave the Cape (for any number of reasons), it feels good to be finally moving on to the next chapter in our lives.  We had never anticipated moving to Ottawa (as it is not coastal), but I really couldn't think of a better place to end up.  It is central, has great French Immersion for the kids, lots of potential opportunities for me, and (perhaps most immediately appealing), we already have some wonderful friends who live there.  We are now just entering the nightmare of logistics, the first of which will be where to live.  Clark's job is actually in Kanata (a suburb of Ottawa, 30 minutes outside of city centre), and we are currently leaning toward renting there, despite the fact that the 'burbs are not particularly appealing to either of us.  I think at least for the first year, that makes sense - Clark will be able to get to work with little to no commute time, and we can have a leisurely year to suss it out, see if we hate or love it, and then make more informed decisions for the long-term.  If anyone has strong opinions on this, let us know!

Picture with the Cape Cod Bagel Marlin

 2. My parents (aka, Mary and Bob), came for a weekend visit!  This is the second weekend in a row that we've had some grandparent hang-out time.  There was more swimming (the kids truly can't get enough of it); some library knitting/story time with Juniper; Clark and I got to go to a movie (Imitation Game, which we both thoroughly enjoyed); and there was just a whole lot of general excitement.  We even found some Christmas gifts in the basement from mom and dad that we had forgotten about (long story), so there was also some unexpected present opening!

Story time with Mary

And that, I suppose, is that about that.  Juniper got me to record a few new episodes of her educational newscast, which you can find here, if you're interested: love, snow and ballroom dancing. (Or, as you may have memorized my now, you can simply go to juniperandlinden.org). See you next week!

All about me (sort of)

The "smack-dab in our MID-thirties" selfie

This week was my birthday week.  Not just the week of my birthday, mind you - my birthday WEEK. What - you don't all get birthday weeks? You must not all have mega-planner 5-year-olds, who love a reason to celebrate.  This week, I was woken up every morning by Juniper reminding me of exactly what day it was with respect to the 15th.  "Good morning! It's 6:45am!  Four days until your birthday!"  "Good morning! It is 6:45am! 3 days until your birthday!"  And so on.  There were also many, many secrets and surprises afoot.  Gifts, cakes, a party... the list went on and on.  Since Juniper was in charge (a self-appointed party planner, of course), she set the rules, and she was the official keeper of secrets. 

A beautiful birthday bouquet

As you might imagine, however, a 5-year-old keeper of secrets is a very, very difficult role to fill. By the time my actual birthday rolled around, I was filled in on the following facts: I was going to be treated to breakfast in bed, I was going to be having a home-made brownie cake, and that the day after my birthday there would be a surprise party wherein the next door neighbours would come over. Juniper even told me what they were going to be making me for dinner that night.  As the end of the day drew near, however, she was filled with remorse. "I'm sorry I spoiled all your surprises", she apologised tearily.  "Everyone else can keep secrets, but I just can't".  We agreed, however,  that she hadn't told me what she was going to be wearing, or where people were going to be hiding when they yelled "surprise!", so really it could be counted as a success in the end.

Birthday Girl and helper blowing out the candles in the eerie glow of the flashing numbers

 The actual day of my birthday didn't go quite as planned - I had envisioned sending everyone off to school and work, and then taking the morning to do some yoga, go on a nice long walk, maybe watch a movie or read, then spend the afternoon at the pottery studio.  A truly indulgent day off.  As it so happens, however, Juniper woke up the night before, and puked.  This is the second time this has happened in the last two weeks.  Completely isolated incidents, completely random, and seemingly no other symptoms before or after.  The upshot was that I spent the night barely sleeping (I am weird and  paranoid when it comes to all things vomit-related), and also that Juniper spent the next day (my birthday day) at home. So - I was exhausted, cranky, and in charge of a little snippet of a girl who was also tired (but otherwise tickety-boo), upset that she didn't get to go to school, and wanting to do exciting "birthday things", whatever that means. The morning was a bust.

Linden, a self-proclaimed "construction-er"

The afternoon took a turn for the better - Clark came home at lunch with Linden, managed to get both kids to nap, and then worked from home for the rest of the day.  I therefore was free, and set out to take myself on that nice long walk, with the intention of ending up at the pottery studio (so that I could at least get those two planned activities in).  As I walked out the door, however, I was met with gale-force winds blowing freezing rain into my face.  "Screw it!"  I yelled at the freezing rain.  "I'm going shopping!"  And so I did.  The goal wasn't even to necessarily purchase anything in particular, but rather to just browse around at will and try clothes on in a leisurely fashion - things I never ever get to do anymore.  It was fun!  And I did find a few (on sale) gems to take home with me, so all was well that ended well.  When I got back, we all turned around and headed out the door for a lovely Thai dinner (Juniper's choice, of course), and I was given a nice (used) chopping board that Linden had chosen out as my birthday gift from the Good Will store (it was between that and a toy chainsaw that apparently made a REALLY loud sound like this:  "VROOOOOM!").

This is what you do, apparently, when there is no snow in January.

Seeing as Thursday didn't go quite as planned, I took Friday to do what I had intended to do on my birthday - yoga, a nice walk, and a wonderful long stint throwing some pots at the studio.  It was divine.  And it was followed by my not-so-surprising surprise party, complete with delicious food and more cake.  Really, I couldn't have asked for a better birthday week.  

Look who came for a visit!

But - it didn't end there!  On Saturday, Clark's mom and stepdad (Deb and Yvon, as the kids call them), popped in for a very quick but satisfying visit.  There was swimming, eating out, more shopping, playing, gifts... all the things that you do when your grandparents come to town.  Plus, Clark and I got to go out on a little date Saturday night, which is so very rare, and so very lovely.  Deborah and Yvon left later the next day (I told you it was a short visit - especially when the drive down is more than 8 hours long!), but it was a nice cap-off to a celebratory week.

Another Taft's Playground tree shot, entitled "hands on heads"

 I will leave you with the next instalment from JuniperAndLinden.org - another off-the-cuff news item.  I expect this to be the start of something pretty regular. Happy Martin Luther King day!

parties and playgrounds

Sporting a pair of homemade hats at the playground

This was, really, an uneventful first full week of January.  Aside from a not-actually-sick-at-all sick day for Juniper (she didn't go to school on Tuesday because she had a strange, isolated vomit in the middle of the night the night before), it was school and work, and everything that goes along with that.  During the weekend, however, we kicked it into high gear.  On Friday, Juniper's friend Tuli came home with her on the bus (how exciting is that??), and then the rest of her family joined us for a nice dinner and hang-out  (no pictures - snap!).  

Then on Saturday it was an awesome potluck/party at Valerie and Dan's:

Juniper and Miguel, during the "Sparkle Show" that the kids put on.  There are so. many. shows.

On Sunday, we spent a lot of time outside.  It was chilly, but well worth it.  We started out the day with Juniper deciding that she would like to "go on a jog" with me.  We have never done this before, and I wasn't entirely sure how such an endeavour would play out, or how successful it would be.  Not only did Juniper want to jog, she wanted to go all the way to Woods Hole.  Knowing this would prove disasterous, we got Clark and Linden to drop us off farther along the bike path, and then make our way to the Village from there.  And you know what?  Juniper did fabulously!  We would jog for a bit, then walk for a bit, then jog again, then maybe sprint for a few seconds, then sit on a bench, then repeat.  We made it all the way to Coffee O, and rewarded ourselves with a muffin and some tea.

At the starting point of our jog

 Now, let me take you on a little trip around the playground with Linden:

Oh, hello!  I'm the happiest when at the highest point of the play structure. My particular talents include climbing on dangerous parts that aren't meant to be climbed on, especially when you're only 3.

I enjoy going down slides face-first despite repeated warnings not to and despite numerous face-fulls of sand ...

... and then climb up the really steep twirly slide, even though I'm also not supposed to do that.

Sometime I get myself into inexplicable conundrums, and then cry indignantly until somebody finally helps me out.

And finally, this gem:

What? 2015 already?

One happy New Year's cracker prize recipient

Happy New Year!  Though it may sound cliché, I do believe that 2015 is going to hold much in terms of new beginnings for this little family. It seems a little surreal to me that the holidays are now officially over, and a brand new year is already in full swing, but I'm ready to take it on!

I don't have all that many photos or stories this week... we had a very quiet New Year's Eve (I was, for instance, in bed shortly after 9pm - yeeee haw!). We did, however,  fit in a lot of wonderful visiting over these last few days of the holiday, and even managed to sneak in some down time, so I feel quite happy and satiated. (Still extraordinarily tired, but it may take a good couple of years yet until I catch up on 5 or so years of lost sleep.)

On New Year's morning, we joined the good people of Woods Hole for an annual (very chilly) walk around Eel Pond.  We were ecstatic to discover Coffee O was open afterwards

I tried to capture the very rosy cheeks and cream cheese moustache...

... but Linden, of course, took the opportunity to try and pull as many faces as he could.

No comment necessary.

My very fancy sous chef. Sadly, shortly after this photo was taken, Linden peeled his baby finger instead of the carrot. 

What I do have, however, is a video montage! It was overdue, and a nice little present to start the year off right.  Enjoy!