The glory of September

The embodiment of September's magic

Ahhhh, September.  Really, is there any time of year that can claim to beat the crisp, sunny days of late September? The leaves are changing, the apples are divine, the bugs have mostly disappeared, and the harvest is bountiful. Every day seems like the perfect opportunity to treat yourself to a fresh, soul-filling hike in the woods.  There are birthdays to be celebrated, new friends and routines to explore, and, if you are Juniper, it is close enough to October that it finally seems legitimate to obsess over your upcoming Hallowe'en costume.

A little nature explorer, using her new compass/binoculars/magnifying glass that Clark brought back from Ireland

Oh, and the other thing about September?  The fair comes to town, of course.   I couldn't bear to list that with all the other lovely aspects of late September, as I am not the biggest fan of fairs. I have, in fact, successfully avoided the fair for many, many years, clinging to dim and unpleasant memories of the FREX (the Fredericton Exhibition).  My immediate association with such spectacles is noise, crowds, filth, and terrible food. Hornets circling around garbage cans, possible piles of vomit, and the ever-present danger of stepping in a big pile of manure.  Terrible, right?

The quintessential fair - except the"Gravitron" is now "Starship".  Lame!

This year, however, something shifted ever-so-slightly as I started to see signs for the Carp Fair popping up around town.  Little wisps of earlier memories began to filter back in, and I suddenly remembered how much I adored the fair as a kid. The filth and noise and crowds weren't a problem - in fact, they added to the joy and magic of the whole experience.  So much energy!  Such colour!  So many things to see and do, and so many rides to explore! When I finally saw it once again through my kid eyes, I realised it was actually my parental duty to introduce the kids to the fair in all of its glory.

So many beautiful horses and wagons!

In the end, despite the frenetic nature of the fair; the facial sunburns; the greasy food that was consumed; and the unnecessarily large amounts of money that were spent, I have to say it was a pretty big success.  As an added bonus, we were joined by my mom and dad half-way through, which made the whole thing all the more exciting.  We watched heavy horse competitions and other side shows; we saw various exhibits; got up close and personal with a whole lot of animals; and even conceded to a couple of rides at the end.  For the low, low price of a kajillion dollars, we were able to ride the Ferris wheel for 2 whole minutes, and Clark and the kids got to go down the super-lame sack slide.  But for Juniper and Linden?  Pure magic.  Truth be told, even I had a little bit of fun.  We might - MIGHT go back next year.  Oh, who am I kidding?  Now that the secret is out, I will have absolutely no say in the matter.  I do believe the fair will be one of the best parts of September for years to come.  Here are some photos from the day:

Before the fair, we went out for breakfast at our new favourite diner...

... where, if we're lucky, we can watch sea planes take off and land!

The kids try their hands (literally!) at milking a big, plastic cow

Linden was a natural!  Perhaps it had something to do with the plaid flannel shirt and cord jacket we dressed him in that day.

Linden poses with his unfortunate faceless family. 

Look who we found!

As you might imagine, it was next to impossible to tear Linden away from the model train exhibit.

The kids' first ride on a Ferris Wheel!

Linden had this look on his face the entire time.

Juniper was pretty pumped as well.

Wheeeee... (yawn)... wheeeee....

Apart from the fair, the other large celebratory event to grace our week was Clark's 36th Birthday party.  It was the day after he got home from Ireland (and a Monday), so it was, by necessity, a very quiet affair. Me, Clark, Faye and the kids.  But there were some beautifully wrapped (and carefully chosen) presents and cards, some make-your-own pizzas, and a chocolate-mint cake.  That's a pretty awesome party if you ask me.

About to blow out the candles (in some harsh shadowy late afternoon light. I like Linden's profile on Clark's shirt)

A freshly-picked wildflower bouquet, and a happy cake-eater

The pile of awesomely-wrapped presents.  For those who are interested: A bottle of scotch (eclipsed by the much better bottle Clark bought himself at duty-free on the way home), a special iPad stylus for an art app, and three hand-picked Value-Village records.

A close-up of the art-work on Linden's record (the ever-classy "Violine Danse 2"

Juniper's card.  The resemblance is uncanny!

Linden's card.  The resemblance is... more abstract.

As for me, I allowed myself some pretty glorious morning woods-walking adventures every single day this week.  That goes a VERY long way to maintaining some much needed fresh air and sanity.  Here is glimpse of some of the spots that made me pause along the way:

This patch of fungus was AMAZING. The most brilliant naturally-occurring orange colour I have ever seen.

And it went right up the tree!

Reflective marsh

Panorama of the woods trails

Look closely!  Four friendly turtles sunning themselves on a log

Dark and light and magical

 And finally, a few other random tidbits from the (clearly VERY full) week:

Our dear old family friend Charlotte came for a visit! She was a big hit. 

For reference, there is Charlotte, hanging out in a basket during our trip to Nepal, circa a million years ago.

For anyone keeping track, The Worm Academy is now an official Paleontological dig site. Linden is clearly in charge, as he is wearing two hats and yielding both the official digger and the brush.  He has so far uncovered volcanic rock, dinosaur bones, and buffalo remains.

OK, that is certainly all for now! Today, we say good-bye to Faye, AND my parents, who are all making the journey back to Fredericton. There may just be tumbleweeds rolling by our house by about mid-week.  As sad as that is, it may be a good thing to have a little less excitement around here for awhile. Juniper, for instance, went to bed with a full-on body aching, coughing, worn-out sort of cold last night.   Seeing as I caught Linden licking things like the Ferris Wheel door this weekend, I can only imagine he'll be next.  But who knows?  Maybe September will weave its magic, and the sickness will pass by quickly this time around.  At least I'm no longer solo-parenting!  See you next week!

back from Ireland

Beatnik in black, perusing the New Yorker.  Julie takes a rest on the ottoman.

We survived!  Despite that fact that Clark whooshed off to lovely Ireland, leaving me to deal with everything right before the kids started their first full week of school, we have emerged on the other side, mostly unscathed.  And apart from the threats of a cold on Linden's part (which I effectively nipped in the bud with all my various well-honed techniques, thank-you very much!), we also remained mostly healthy.  This was in no small part because we had the help of my sister Faye, and the blessing of glorious warm fall weather at its finest.

Every day after school, the kids have been hard at work developing their "worm academy"

Early recruits

I have to admit, however, that even with help, I still find these long stretches of solo parenting extremely difficult.  I know it is somewhat ridiculous -- loads of people do this on their own ALL the time.  Perhaps it is in part my personality. I am not an anxious person by nature, but I get completely flummoxed by the knowledge that I am responsible for all things kid-related, 24 hours a day.  All decisions are mine.  All night-time wake-ups are mine to deal with.  And, the real kicker - all sickness is mine to take care of. Even if there is no particular threat, the possibility can leave me sleepless.  It is so weird and annoying and debilitating, but it is, I suppose, what it is.  I'll probably get over this in the next 20 years or so.

Reunion dinner at Kanata Noodle House!

The first-full-week week update is decidedly mixed.  Juniper is still thrilled about first grade, and has been incredibly upbeat and bubbly, even after long days.  She has, however, gotten moved TWICE now for talking too much in class.  I am simultaneously annoyed and elated by this news.  She is such a social person, that I believe this friendship and acceptance are what is making school so enjoyable for her.  After the difficulties that she had in May when we first moved here, I truly think that is more important than anything else at this point.  She even seems to let it roll of her back when kids have teased her about things like "eating dirt" when she takes out her seaweed at snack time.  Hopefully she can maintain that confidence.  THEN we can deal with the talking in class.

The streets of Galway.  I'm only a little jealous.

Linden, however, has been slowly degenerating as the week goes on.  He started proclaiming mid-week that he no longer wanted to go to school. Instead, he wanted the bus to either drop him off at the day care he had been attending, or to stay at home and play.  When pressed for details, he revealed that school was "boring" (not even sure where he picked that adjective up), because there are "too many kids", and "too many toys".  Ummmmm.... what?  I was always, however, able to get him on the bus in the morning (despite his protestations), and when I asked his teacher about it, she assured me that he has been doing really well while at school.  

One page in a series of "books" Linden has been creating at school

This morning, however, he LOST it.  He threw himself on the ground when the bus got there and refused to get on (despite the fact that "taking the bus" was his favourite activity every single day last week).  Clark therefore had to drive him to school, and leave him at the playground while a teacher tore him away.  I'm sure this happens to like 75% of the kids in the first few weeks (especially the very young ones), but it is oh so very heartbreaking.  Fingers crossed that it all improves sooner rather than later.  Today was possibly extra bad because Clark has only JUST gotten home (and it is his birthday), so Linden had a lot at stake in arguing to stay home rather than go to school.

A friend I met on a walk the other day

Anyway, that is enough post for one day.  Especially today!  There are many birthday-related things to prepare.  I promised the kids, for instance, that there would be a cake waiting for them to decorate when they got home.  That means some baking, and mostly likely a trip to bulk barn as well, for some decorative candy.  Also, in an attempt to shake of some of the 5-hour jet lag, Clark is going to go to work a bit late, and take advantage of this beautiful morning to go on a walk with me.  So off I go! Birthday pictures will, no doubt, be posted next week.   A special shout-out to my sister Andrea, who is ALSO celebrating a birthday today.  September 21st is clearly a very auspicious day.  See you next week!

First Days (and getaways)

That look... that hair... that rock... all signs point to trouble.

I am writing this morning from one VERY quiet house.  Eerily quiet.  Faye is here, but still sleeping -- otherwise, I have the place entirely to myself.  Clark has landed in Ireland for his week-long conference, and for the first time ever, both kids are off to school on a Monday morning.  I am not exaggerating when I say that this is, in many ways, the beginning of a new era for me.   Juniper will get off the bus at 2:50 each day, but until then I have five full days to myself, every single week.  It is kind of sad, granted, but also exciting - this may actually mean that I finish my thesis once and for all.  I can't even imagine how good that would feel.

Contemplating the boating scene

Anyway - I will get to first days of school, because that is obviously the focus of this week's post.  First, however, I wanted to put up some pics from our very fun and adventurous trip out to Lac La Pêche last weekend.  This is our third trip to the lovely Gatineau Park in Quebec, and it has so far never failed to delight.  This time around we planned for a full day trip, and went to an area where we could rent boats (a canoe for us, and a kayak for Faye), and make our way to a popular rock jumping location.  The idea was to pack in as much summer goodness as we could into one last-weekend-before-school expedition, and we succeeded fully, if I do say so myself.

Eating a picnic lunch at a camping site we paddled to

Our boats patiently waiting as we ate lunch 

Ready to go!

Some lily pads along the way

A family picture that Faye snapped

 The scenery, as you can probably gather, was spectacular.  And apart from a few very windy stretches, the paddling was also pretty ideal.  We stopped at one site for lunch, and then made our way straight to the jumping rocks.  Everyone had a BLAST.  Juniper even jumped once from the really high rock, but that was enough for her - I think the impact scared her a bit.  Clark is determined to actually go camping there before the fall gets too chilly, so we may yet have another Lac Le Pêche adventure in the next few weeks.  Clark has also decided that he is going to build us a "simple" canoe this fall, so that we have our own boat to take on such outings.  I'll keep you posted!

Faye and Linden, mid-air

Clark takes his first leap from the tall rock

Faye and Juniper tackle the big rock as well!

Chatting and drying out in the sun

SCHOOL!
And finally, the much-anticipated first day shots.  Juniper and Linden both had different first days.  School officially began on the Tuesday after labour day, but the junior kindergarteners had a much slower, staggered entry.  We had an intake meeting with Linden's teachers for half an hour on Tuesday, but his first real day wasn't until Friday.

Taking Juniper to the bus stop

Showing off her exceptionally black outfit (not my choice), and her psychedelic back pack

A close-up on her hair ribbon - the one burst of colour in her ensemble

Excited to start!

Despite Juniper's nerves about starting the "big leagues", she had a fabulous first week.  As it turns out, she has a little friend named Lindsay in her class that she had met over the summer  (in fact, they are seated right next to each other!), and they are already besties.  And while she claims that she "doesn't understand anything" in class, she picked out a french book at the library over the weekend, and read the whole thing to me.  I think she will be just fine.

Group shot, waiting for the bus

 Linden has also started school off with a bang. At our intake meeting, he was at his most charming, and was super excited about all the toys and play spaces in his new classroom.  His teachers seem amazing, and he took to them both right away, offering hugs as we left the meeting.  He was also incredibly keen to take the bus - I think he'd been waiting his whole life to be big enough for that day.  There were no apparent nerves or fears; no tears, and no looking back once he was seated.

Mr. Dapper (with some serious bed head)

Wearing his first-day crown (to identify him as a JK student in the purple class when he got off the bus)

 Though it was certainly quite emotional sending Linden off, on a BUS, on his first day of school (he's still just a wee little lad, after all - he won't turn 4 until October!), I didn't find myself getting weepy or distraught.  Mostly I was just excited for his new adventure, and happy/proud that he was so confident and pumped to be a big kid.  I will say, however, that Clark and I promptly jumped on our bikes as soon as the bus rounded the corner, and raced to his school before his bus got there for some good old-fashioned stalking.  Like, we literally hid behind trees with a big zoom lens so that we could watch him get off the bus, and make his way into the playground.  He was cool as a cucumber.

Stalker photo

It was also really fun meeting Linden when he got off the bus at the end of the day - both Juniper and I were excited to greet him and hear all about big boy Kindergarten.  He was full of smiles and energy and stories, and pretty pleased with himself about the whole experience, I'd say.

Front seat keener

Holding the handrail - safety first!

I think they were both pretty excited to see each other

Holding hands on the grass

One last first day shot!

And that's about it!  I think I might go start my first Monday off by going back to bed - just a wee little nap.  It is already exhausting flying (mostly) solo, and Clark hasn't even been gone 24 hours! Then I'm going to -gasp!- get some work done!  Wish me luck!  I'll leave you with a picture of what Linden likes to get up to on a rainy weekend day.  Naturally, it involves mud and construction.  See you next week!

Some serious brick and mud work

Things got real when Clark contributed some scrap wood