I'm baaacckkkk (or, a week in retreat)

Highschool posse with the beautiful bride (l-r: Christie, Jane, Me, Meghan (the bride!), and Erin)

I can hardly believe my retreat week has officially come to a (reality-filled) close.  It wasn't, I suppose, what you would call a "retreat" in a typical sense... no relaxing massages or days spent blissed out meditating and doing yoga and journalling or reading satisfying novels by the beach.   BUT, it was an entire week on my own schedule.  I ate when (and what) I wanted; a SLEPT IN as late as I wanted, and I had an entire, (huge, lonely, and lets be honest - sometimes a little spooky) house to myself.  

On my arrival last week - I took this picture for the kids, but aren't my parents cute?

 I arrived on a Friday, and then had an action-packed Saturday.  It began with some pre-wedding yoga that Meghan generously treated a bunch of us to  (what better way to start your wedding day?).  Then a trip to the Fredericton Market with Jane and Mike.  Then a long nap.  Then, in the evening, a beautiful and extremely fun wedding.  It was soooooo lovely to be able to celebrate with Meghan and Barry and so many of my oldest, dearest friends.

Sunday, I laid low with my parents, as they puttered around with some last-minute packing and preparing for their trip to South Africa.  Then, on Monday morning, I waved them out the door, and sat down to get to work.

The scene that greeted me on Monday morning: my first snow of the year!  It seemed like fitting weather to hole myself away. It was slushy and icy (and therefore not good to be out and about), but beautiful to observe from the inside.

And work I did.  I basically did not leave the house from Monday until Friday.  OK, that is not entirely true - twice, I rallied just before it got dark to get in a bit of exercise, and fresh air.  That's right, folks - I WALKED!  My foot has not completely healed, but it was good enough that I left my cast behind in Ottawa, donned some ugly (but functional) hiking shoes, and even managed to slowly (and with a distinct hobble), take myself out for some walks.   Things are looking up for ole' fracture-foot.

Anyway, the upshot is that I have now written everything except my concluding chapter, which I hope to get to this week.  At that point, I will have one complete draft of my never-ending PhD thesis.  I imagine it will still be a relatively long road from that point on, but to have something so tangible out of the way will be a pretty satisfying Christmas present to myself.

Also, I felt that by Friday, I had worked hard enough that I deserved some down time.  That meant I got to pack all my favourite Fredericton things into one great day:  wandering around downtown, getting a manicure from my lovely aesthetician niece, Taylor, visiting with my sister-in-law Liz, and hanging with my sister Kelli, and niece Ali.  What a nice bookend to the week!

The Saint John river, as the sun is getting sleepy. I would have been very disappointed if I hadn't been able to at least get in one or two beautiful Fredericton strolls. 

And now - I'm back!  I arrived on Saturday, right around suppertime, and was immediately on duty that evening, as Clark took off for a show.  As it so happened, our friends Alana and Ian (from our Halifax days) were playing that night, as part of the tour for their new album, Dream Magic. (Here is a link to it on soundcloud).  It has been on constant repeat around here ever since it came out, and Clark was absolutely able to call dibs on being the one to get to go to the show that night - not only had he just solo parented for the week, but he use to play in Alana's band back in the days before Juniper.
Here is a little clip of Juniper, dancing to "Anthem" - it is not particularly good quality, but I shot it one night because it is just incredibly cute that she can't sit still when this song comes on - she MUST move.  Even if it is in the middle of supper, as it was that particular evening.

The next morning, we all got to hang out for brunch (and an album signing, of course).  Juniper also gifted Alana and Ian with a pretty awesome picture, showing them both rocking out behind their respective keyboards.  If only I had snapped a shot of that before she gave it to them!  Ah well, you'll just have to imagine.

Outside the yummy brunch diner in Hintonburg

Everyone checking out our newly signed album cover :)

OK - that is plenty for one week.  Off to go take care of all the things that need to be taken care - the list is particularly long today, as you might imagine!  See you next week!

Parades, Museums, and a week without Mom

Clark here this week. Tara has skipped off to NB for a week for a wedding and to hunker down to get a thesis draft completed. We had a pretty jam packed weekend though -- including the Santa Claus parade, an extended Saturday afternoon Museum visit, and a great visit with Simon and Judith. I'll let the photos tell the story. See you next week!

The Help Santa parade -- Lots of old firetrucks because it was organized by the Ottawa Firefighters.

Also, the Garlic King. Because: REALLY Lebanese food.

Post-parade snuggles for warmth.

Reading about insects at the Nature Museum.

Drawing moths and butterflies

Linden's butterfly!

Juniper's butterfly!

Just chillin', talkin' 'bout home renos and other such things.

Sunlit story time.

And checkers!

Linden was pretty proud of this drawing of me. He even came over to me once to see what my teeth looked like. "They're square, ok!". The reason he has no pants on is because he got filthy outside, and S&J have lots of nice light-coloured furniture.

big little things

Linden almost met disaster on this log.  Almost.

It is no doubt cliché to point out the very obvious fact that time tends to fly by at alarming speeds these days.  This is, I would imagine, part and parcel with having young kids -- much of my time seems to be spent always catching up, rather than sitting comfortably in the present.  That, and the fact that I blink, and suddenly both kids are ever so much older than they were the day before.  I realized recently that this growth and change is truly much sneakier than it was even two or three years ago.  When a child is very young, milestones are far more obvious -- for both parent and tot.  Each development seems epic; each hurdle seems a monumental victory once it has been surpassed. At this age, however, milestones can pass by almost unnoticed.  It is not that they are really any less significant, but rather that they get swept along in the chaos of the day, and are replaced very quickly by another.  Today, then, I will list the recent changes that only presented themselves as milestones when I paused this week to think about about them.

Lost in Dahl

1. Reading.  Juniper has been a good little reader for some time now, but it was only very recently that she became interested in sitting down, all by herself, with a novel.  This was such an integral part of my own childhood that it seems like a monumental shift.  Just this past Saturday, in fact, Juniper, Clark and I all lounged on the couch for at least half an hour, each with our own novel in hand, while Linden happily amused himself downstairs with Lego.  It was glorious.  It all ended when Linden realized he was missing the party, and plopped himself in the middle of our lounge fest with his own book.  Though he tried very hard to observe the "silent reading" rule, he just couldn't help himself, and ended up loudly whispering facts about the pictures he was looking at, and repeatedly enquiring if someone could just PLEASE read him the story.  But while it lasted, the independent reading was magical.

2. Wiping.  Some may consider this a gross and unnecessary milestone to include, but it is super big news for me: at this point in time, BOTH kids are now capable of wiping their own bums.  Juniper, of course, has been doing so for - I don't know - a year and half or something, but I despaired that Linden would never be particularly interested in the transition.  With Junior Kindergarten, however, it was firmly stated that the teachers would not be helping with such matters, so the training began in earnest.  Now, don't get me wrong - depending on his mood, Linden will often call someone in to help him, but he has also repeatedly decided to go to the washroom all by himself, with no intervention from start to finish.  The upshot: my days of dealing with other people's poop is almost completely in the past. Monumental news, indeed.

3. Old, dear friends. As I have mentioned before, while this move to Ottawa was a brand new one for our family, we plopped ourselves right in the middle of some of our oldest, dearest friends.  This means I have been able to pop out for impromptu tea dates, spend luxurious evenings chatting or dining or crafting, and that we can actually be a part of each other's lives again, rather than watching from the periphery.  I wasn't sure this would ever be our reality, and the fact that it suddenly is, is absolutely amazing.

3. Thesis.  I almost didn't include this one, because I hate to jinx anything, but I am finally starting to see the light at the end of this long, dark tunnel that has been the writing of my PhD thesis. On Friday, I am taking off to Fredericton for an ENTIRE week, all by myself.  The first order of business will be to attend what will no doubt be a completely rocking wedding.  The rest of the week, however, will be spent in writing seclusion.  I will have my parent's house all to myself (they are taking off for a trip to South Africa), and my goal is to emerge with a complete draft.  I don't know if this is feasible or not, but I am optimistic enough that I have committed it to writing for the world to see.  Not that having a completed draft means I'm done, but I think it means that the hardest bit is over.  Now that is a milestone if I ever saw one.  Wish me luck!

I am particularly studious while wearing this old gem

Luck and Love

Super-relaxed selfie in front of Spa Nordik

This week's post is slightly different from the norm - no tales of family adventuring, and (gasp!) not one single picture of the kids.  But that is because this week turned out to be decidedly different from how we had envisioned it.

To wit:

1. You know all that bellyaching I've been doing over the last month?  "Poor me - I have a broken foot"; "poor me - I had to have both of my root canals retreated? "  Well, it would appear as though all that bad luck is changing.  The root canals are done, my foot is mending, AND we won not 1, but 2 draws we had entered.  We now have a whole extra year's membership at the Nature Museum, and tickets to a local play.  (And for those who are going to suggest I buy a lottery ticket, I already did, and sadly did not win a million dollars.)

Juniper decides to attempt a sill life drawing

 2.  Here's the real kicker:  Clark and I got "LoveBombed".  So, last week we got an email from our dear friend Erin, who said that she and Mish had a super-fun idea for this weekend, but it was to be a surprise.  We had to be up and ready to go on Saturday, and plan to be out and about until supper time.  No clues, no lists of things to pack.  It was all very mysterious, and fun, and all four of us waited in anticipation to see what the day would hold.  The only advice I was given was that I might want to shave my legs (?).

Then, on Saturday morning, Erin, Mish and Zack appeared promptly at 9am as they had said they would, and Erin proceeded to give us this:

Um, what?  To begin with, a whole day to ourselves, just me and Clark, is about the nicest gift anyone could bestow upon us.  But to spend that day at the SPA?  Honestly, I never thought I would get to spend the day at the spa with Clark.  Not until we're at least 50.  It was the most overwhelming, generous, thoughtful and amazing surprise I'd ever been given, perhaps in my whole life.  And the day was incredible.  Anyone who has never been to Spa Nordik should really make it a priority.  We leisurely went from hot pools to saunas to cold dips to lounging in front of cozy fires, and then a whole new round.  For an entire day.  It's amazing how much more manageable life seems after spending an entire day doing nothing but pampering yourself.  

Anyway, this week already looks less fuzzy than all the previous ones in the recent past.  Everything seems just a bit crisper.  And what's more, we have some pretty freaking amazing friends - in the very same city as us.  Lucky barely even describes it.

Have a wonderful week!

Hallowe'en madness

One dinosaur and one fairy, as requested

Whew.  Hallowe'en on a Saturday is an experience, to be sure.  It is one long, complicated, emotional, high-stakes party that begins early on Friday, and doesn't quite wind down until Sunday has officially ended.  Clark looked at me on Sunday, in fact, and said "well, we did it", his tone suggesting that we had, perhaps, just successfully completed a multi-day marathon.  I knew exactly what he meant.  

Hallowe'en morning: we found an outdoor piano in Carp

This is not to suggest that we didn't have fun, but rather that everyone actually took advantage of the extra hour of sleep on Sunday morning, which is a Hallowe'en miracle in and of itself.

The highlights were as such:

Friday Morning: The kids get to dress up for school festivities.  Juniper has more than one meltdown because she is not allowed to take her wand, as they do not allow props or masks of any kind at her school.  We had told her this after reading a note earlier in the week.  Not believing us, she asked her teacher the next day.  Her teacher confirmed the unfair, horrifying news.  On Friday morning, she flopped down on the stairs, and wailed: "What is the point of a fairy without a wand?  It just DOESN'T MAKE SENSE!".  After crying bitter tears for awhile, she decided that she would bring the wand with her, and take up the issue with the higher-ups in the office.  We then had to talk her down from that as well.  This all had to happen in time for her to catch the bus at 7:30am.  

Linden LOVED designing his pumpkin face

Linden, meanwhile, decided that before going to school, he should check in on his pumpkin that he had lovingly designed and carved earlier in the week. In so doing, he discovered that the whole thing had been taken over by mould and rot.  He was, without exaggeration, devastated. In order to quell his heartfelt meltdown in time for HIM to get on the bus, we had to promise to squeeze in a bit of time that evening to go find another pumpkin.

Scary dinosaur with some scaly green face paint

Friday afternoon/evening: Juniper has violin lessons on Friday afternoons.  So we multitasked -- while Juniper was at her lesson, Clark and Linden went to pick out a suitable replacement pumpkin from the SuperStore.  Then, when the lesson and errand were successfully completed, we all hurried over to Juniper's school for a Hallowe'en dance party.  In some ways, this was pretty much the last thing I wanted to do in the whole wide world.  Being in a loud, crowded, dark elementary school gym, trying to make sure that some crazy kid din't re-break my foot while simultaneously trying to keep track of Linden, was not my idea of a good time.  BUT, I got see Juniper at a school dance, giggling with her little friends, and tearing up the dance floor.  This is something that I will only be able to imagine when she is in middle school, as I will no longer be invited to such events. Therefore, I DID enjoy myself - the privilege and the novelty of this event were not lost on me.  Poor little Linden, though - as soon as Juniper got there and ran to her classmates, Linden stopped, looked around , and declared "I need a friend!" We made sure Juniper remembered to take him under her wing.

Juniper, Linden and Zack: three happy Hallowe'en-ers!

 Saturday Morning/Afternoon:  The day, of course, began with much exuberance and running around, with shouts of "Happy Hallowe'en!" ringing through the house. We decided to bundle up all this energy, shove it in the car, and head to Carp for some breakfast, and a tour around their last Saturday market of the season. Of course, they were handing out candy at the market, so we had an unanticipated early start to some trick-or-treating.  I trick-or-treated myself to one more beautiful skein of alpaca yarn, with which I am making myself some fingerless mittens.  I'll post pictures of the hat from the previous skein, as well as the mitts when they are done.  It is just the most beautiful, soft, warm luxurious yarn!

After Carp, we headed into town, to FINALLY attend one of Erin's monthly family yoga workshops.  It was a hoot!  I didn't get to do much, but luckily Clark pulled his weight enough for the both of us.

Partnered downward dog. Juniper is, in very un-yoga-like behaviour, spinning in the background

After yoga, we got a very late lunch from a nearby health food store, then high-tailed it home for some last-minute pre-trick-or-treating arrangements. There were some jack-o-lanterns that needed finishing touches, costumes that needed adjustments, supper that needed to be made and eaten, and candy that needed to be put in bowls.

I came out to take a picture of the pumpkin family, and Linden insisted on coming out as well to be in the picture.  This is his serious, contemplative pose.

Here they are, all lit up!  Both kids designed one little and one big.

Saturday evening: Trick-or treating begins!  First, I took the kids around our neighbourhood while Clark held down the fort at our house.

All decked out with make-up rosy cheeks (her request), sparkly shawl and glow-sticks.

 After we hit a sufficient number of houses, we then drove over to Val's house.  Val is the awesome day-care provider who used to look after Linden for a few days a week before he started school in the fall, and now takes both Juniper and Linden after school twice a week.  She takes Hallowe'en VERY seriously.  In fact, she has an entire, large shed in the backyard that is used exclusively to store Hallowe'en decorations.  I have never seen anything like the display she had going when we got there.  An entire garden filled with gravestones and skeletons and creepy dolls and life-sized witches and zombies and all other manner of gruesome decorations; a smoke machine filling the air; crazy lighting, and both she (a skeleton), and her dad (Dr Dead), handing out "bone" cookies and hot chocolate with "bone" marshmallows, and a skull filled with gummy worm brains.  I'm sure people travel from far and wide to come to her house every year.

It was difficult to get good pictures - it was dark, it was crowded, and we literally had to bribe Linden to get close to any of the stuff, as he was a little bit terrified of the whole thing.  But man, was it ever an event!  When we got home, the kids got to sort through their candy to pick out the few things they wanted, and then bundled up the rest for the Hallowe'en fairy.  They were, to put it mildly, exhausted.

Juniper was into it!

Linden... not so much

With skeleton Val and Dr. Dead!

 Sunday:  You think Hallowe'en was over on Saturday?  Not at our house!  Sunday morning is perhaps even more exciting, because the Hallowe'en fairy always comes while they are sleeping the night before. This year she left a whole lot of awesome paints, some paint brushes, some ornaments that can be decorated and hung on the tree this year, and some colouring sheets.  Oh, and two pieces of candy as well, for good measure.  It was a good haul.  Then it was to swimming lessons, and a post-swimming nature walk, as per usual.

Actual quote: "I love discovering.  I'm a discovery guy. This is so beautiful"

Who knows what the fairy does with all of that left-over candy, but I can tell you that this year Clark and I mutually agreed that the lead-up to Hallowe'en was disgusting, and we both felt gross.  I usually do not feel the need to gorge on Hallowe'en treats - they are the same crappy chocolate and candy that you can get any other time of the year, and that much sugar makes me feel awful.  But this year, what with being laid up with a broken foot, and recovering from my two root canals, I was stuffing mini chocolates in my mouth as though they would make me feel so very much better about my current lot in life.  Clark joined in for the sport of it, I guess.  Therefore, anything left over is now really and truly gone, never to be consumed by anyone.   We're both done.

One of the many projects that Linden brings home, but I really liked this one.  It is currently in the window

I hope everyone else survived the madness that is Hallowe'en-on-a-Saturday, and that you all did not eat as much gross candy as we did.  Next year will be different for sure - this is now here to remind me that it is never worth it. Happy November!