Hello Summer!

Fairytale

Happy belated solstice to all!  I don't think I've ever counted it as my very favourite season (autumn still holds that title), but there is something undeniably magic about summer.  And despite the fact that the kids have one (not quite whole) week of school left, I think everyone feels as though we got a pretty great head start on summer vacation over the last few days.  Some cases in point:

1. End of routines:

This past week, school has been more of a party than anything else, and our weekly lessons are coming to a close.  In particular, the kids had their second to last piano lesson of the year last Thursday, and it was quite a treat.  The backstory is that we were lucky enough to snag our extremely talented friend Ian to give lessons to both kids this year. These take place in the cute little Parish Hall of the grand St. Paul's Church -- an iconic Halifax church where Ian is currently working as Musician in Residence.  On Thursday, however, Ian took the lessons to the church itself, which meant not only that the kids got to play on a gorgeous grand piano (in front of whatever residents and tourists were exploring the church at the time) - they also got to try out the magnificent organ:

Getting some lessons before filling the church with some enormous organ sound

2. Projects

I know, I know - we've always got projects ongoing.  But this past weekend, we did two things of particular note.  The first was a project that my parent's neighbour, Cathy Baker, thought I might be interested in, and therefore sent along pics and how-to's.  Appealing to my diy (do-it-yourself) nature, my thriftiness, and my need to figure out the muddy mess of our garden between the raised beds, I attempted to make rhubarb leaf stones.  Take a look!

Step 1: harvest nice big rhubarb leaves, and cover with cement (I reinforced each one with strong chicken wire)

Step 2: Wait patiently (about 24 hours) for it to cure, then flip it over

Step 3: Peel off the leaves

.... and - voila! 

Pretty cool, right?  I have not yet placed them in the garden, for a few reasons.  First, I want to make sure they are completely cured before I put them in.  Second, I think I want to make at least four or five more.  And third (this is by far the worst reason): I have a much decreased interest in physically being in the garden right now, as there have been a couple of RATS that have been visiting this past week.  I don't even want to talk about it.  It involves our lovely new compost bins (and yes - we were very careful about what we put in, but the rats were still clearly interested), and has now escalated to various traps. I really hope they just go away or die in short order, but that remains to be seen.

The second project is one that I have been chipping away at diligently over the last little while:  cleaning out our garage. This is a necessary thing to do anyway - the previous owner of this house kindly left all of his tools behind for us, but this also meant he left all of his accumulated garage junk.  The garage has, therefore, been in dire need of a sort through and purge since day one.  More importantly, however, I am attempting to claim the very back of the garage as a makeshift pottery studio, but can only do that when enough space is cleared.

A very willing little helper

This weekend, I finally got it to the point where I had identified and coalesced a pile of junk big enough to warrant a trip to the dump.  Carroll and Stephen VERY kindly let us borrow their truck, and it all just... happened!  The catharsis of getting rid of all that debris was tangible.

Loading the truck

3. The Beach
Nothing says summer like the beach, right?  Our weekend family adventure yesterday was a trip to the glorious Lawrencetown - home to both Lawrencetown Beach and Stony Beach.  We didn't even attempt to put on swimsuits (the water is still frigid, as was the breeze on this particular day), but that did not stop the kids from splashing and getting their clothes soaked.  Plus, it is possible to spend an entire day just watching the waves, playing with rocks, and observing the hoards of surfers and kite surfers that come to these particular spots.  I have never tried either type of surfing, but I can tell you that after watching the kite surfers, in particular, I was enthralled.  It looked like SO. MUCH. FUN.  Anyway, here are some pics from that adventure:

Sir Linden, ready to claim the beach

Those little black dots in the ocean are just some of the many, many surfers out.  There were some great waves!

Pretty profile

Summoning the waves (Juniper)...

... and running away from them (Linden)

Green grass, blue sky

Making a "rock house"

As we were trying to follow a path from one beach to the other, we got fairy led (ie, led astray), into this magical, mossy forest

It was fun, but soon impassible.  Just when we decided to call it a bust, and head back, we emerged out from where we had entered, and there was the real path, clear as day.  Fairy led, I tell you.

Back on the right path

At stony beach, with kite surfers in the background

the Father's Day round-up

When you're too stupid to take a fresh picture of a father and his kids on father's day, you have to use a repeat from last week.

This post will be quick, as I've got Juniper home this morning -- she's missing a much anticipated field trip to Citadel Hill as she woke up feeling... I don't know.... kind of crappy I guess.  My hope is that she just partied too hard this past weekend, and not that this is the beginning of some terrible plague.  I live in perpetual fear of such things.

Now used to me taking pictures all the time, the kids arranged themselves "artistically" for this shot

"Partying?" you ask?  Yes indeed - on Saturday, we headed off for a sleepover adventure in Lunenburg.  The kids got to play, Clark and Will got to do some fun boys hang-out stuff, and (on top of holding down the fort), Zsofi and I got to... wait for it... learn how to play Mah Jong! 

Safety first

The whole thing was a hoot.  We arrived Saturday, and the dads took the kids out for supper while Zsofi, two of her Lunenburg friends, and I got to have a lovely potluck with Will's sister Sara, and three of her Mah Jong buddies.  After a delicious meal, out came the game, and the teaching began.  It was amazing!  Sara and friends have been having monthly games of Mah Jong for over a decade, and I think now us newbies have been inspired to do the same, if we can find a nice Mah Jong set somewhere.

Meanwhile, Clark and Will brought the kids back, put them to bed, and then turned around and spent the rest of the evening in a local pub.  Sounds about right.

Oh, Linden.

The next day, after a father's day brunch, Clark and Will took off for some Mahone Bay biking trails, while Zsofi and I rounded up the kids for a park day.  The dads, apparently, had a blast:

Panoramic shot mid-ride, with Will bringing up the rear

Zsofi and I, however, had a lot of attitude management to do, as none of my family had slept particularly well.  I was short tempered, Juniper was grumpy, and Linden entered "not-enough-sleep-Linden-mode", which is kind of the worst thing ever.  But... we prevailed.  And really, the most important thing on Father's Day is that the fathers got to do their thing.  So - success!  I hope.  We'll see how this "Juniper sickness" thing plays out.  If all goes well, we'll mostly just spend the day reading Harry Potter and lounging, and everyone will be hunky dory tomorrow.  Fingers crossed!

Oh - and Juniper wanted me to mention that when we got home on Sunday, the kids gave Clark cards, and created an "appetizer plate", with sausage, cheese, crackers and cucumbers (which Linden cut himself).  She apologizes that no one thought to take a picture of this beautiful creation, as it is now all eaten.  And that's a wrap!  See you next week!

Girl's Weekend!

Sunset harbourfront stroll

This past week was, for the most part, unremarkable.  The kids and I survived my solo parenting stint more or less unscathed, with nothing more serious than some stuffy noses, night-time coughing, and the occasional bad attitude to deal with.  When Friday night hit, however, this turned from "hum-drum house" to "party headquarters".  First Clark made it home safe and sound, and then he turned right around, headed back to the airport, and.... picked up our dear friend Erin!  Thus began an extremely fun and indulgent girls weekend.

I think the kids had fun too!

What are the key components to such a successful event, you ask?  Well, at this particular stage of life, I think it boils down to the following:

1. Some seriously awesome friends, all together physically in the same spot.  In this case, it was me, Zsofi and Erin, who have been besties for longer than we haven't, and who don't get to all be together that often anymore

2. Supportive and capable partners who take care of all things kid/houshold logisitics-related for a couple of days

3. A gorgeous, gorgeous weekend weather-wise

4.  Indulgent walks, meals, and chats (for those interested in specifics, we had delicious meals at: Heartwood, Star Anise and the Wooden Monkey, and spent one day strolling all over Halifax, and the next at the beautiful Crystal Crescent).  

So, without further ado, here are some pics from the weekend -- both from the perspective of the ladies, and the kids (who also had a blast).  Yes, yes -we did see and interact with kids and spouses... Zsofi and I do, after all, live in Nova Scotia.  But our responsibilities were few and far between. 

Group shot while everyone was briefly in the same spot (excluding, of course, Mish and Zack, who stayed in Ottawa)

Crazy version!

Clark took all four kids to the park for the day on Saturday, all by himself.  What a guy!

The dance-party that was staged on our return home...

... with some bits that were even pre-choreographed!

The dancers posing post-performance

Is there anything cuter than Eva giving Linden a piggy-back?

The girls!  It is crazy to think that I was only slightly older than this when I met Zsofi...

Trying (rather unsuccessfully) to execute a self-timed group shot on the Dartmouth harbour front...

... with the end result being ridiculously shadowed anyway. Clearly, however, we thought the whole thing was hilarious!

Beauties in Blue

Scaling some boulders at Crystal Crescent

Can I just say that we completely rock at packing picnic lunches?  Gourmet salad and dressing, grilled chicken, and rice.  Served on plates, tucked away in some remote boulders by the crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean.  We have seriously upped our game in the past 20 years.

I think this was immediately post-crazy moment where I tried scaring away the squirrel who would NOT leave us (and our lunch) alone

Look who found us just as we were finishing lunch!

Doesn't this just make you breathe more deeply?  It sure does for me!

I love all the precariously piled boulders, as though they were tossed there by some playful giant

Intrepid explorers

Zsofi and Juniper rest and soak up the sun and sea breeze

And then, just like that, it is all over.  Last night, Zsofi headed back to Lunenburg. The kids headed off to school this morning (and Clark to work), and then after some breakfast and on last leisurely chat, I reluctantly took Erin back to the airport.  It seems oh-so-sad to be back to reality this afternoon!  Ah well, time to start planning the next one, I suppose.  See you next week!

Hodge Podge

Double Rainbow!

This week, I don't have much of a narrative to offer.  We dropped Clark off at the airport yesterday morning for a week in Toronto (for the annual CMOS conference), and therefore my inclination is to bemoan the trials and tribulations of - you guessed it - solo parenting.  But.... I'm sure you're all just about as eager to read these lamentations as I am to write them.

So instead, a hodgepodge.

1. Juniper and her eyes

At the IWK Children's hospital, waiting for the ophthalmologist

 The fate of Juniper and her eyes has been a confusing one for us. We have, you see, moved around so much that we've ended up consulting many different specialists, all of whom have slightly different opinions and recommendations on what to do.  Without going into technical specifics, the problem as it stands right now seems to be that, even though Juniper's eyes are currently both working, they are working independently of each other.  This means that she has very little (basically no) depth perception. So - the question is whether or not to get surgery in the semi-near future. The potential problem with this (other than just general surgery concerns) is that it could mean she ends up seeing double (which would, of course, suck - more than no depth perception, I'd say).  Anyway, at this latest appointment, the ophthalmologist tweaked her prescription ever so slightly to give it another three months to see if it helps correct things.  The upshot: ANOTHER new pair of glasses, which she'll be sporting as early as this week.

Post-appointment

Also, on a related note, the morning of the appointment, Juniper woke up completely hunky-dory.  We put in the eye drops they had prescribed (for dilation purposes), and then headed over to the appointment.  She started yawning and acting kind of short and surly as the appointment went on, then instead of going out for a treat as we had planned when it was done, she said she wanted to go straight home, and didn't even feel she could walk to the car.  As the afternoon progressed, she was dizzy, nauseous,  exhausted (she napped six times), and threw up twice.  Now, either that was one incredibly short, coincidentally-timed flu that no one else got, or else she had a rare reaction the drops.  I really hope I can convince them to prescribe something else next time, just in case.

The lady slippers are out!!

 2. Linden

Linden, my enigmatic little guy, continues to confound and delight. He is currently in a phase where he likes to - I don't know - assert control, perhaps - by refusing to do things like pee before we leave the house, or wash his hands properly.  This is, of course, extremely frustrating - especially since he is generally a filthy human being, and also likes to put his hands in his mouth (thereby contracting any number of different bugs and diseases on a regular basis).  Also, depending on factors such as how much sleep he's gotten (or just generally how mischievous he's feeling), it can be IMPOSSIBLE to reason with him or get him to concentrate or follow simple instructions. Also very frustrating, as you might image.

I told Linden that talking to plants helps them grow strong.  He was delighted, and ate his snack by his carrots so that he could carry on a one-sided conversation. 

But, he can also be one of the sweetest, most considerate people I've ever met.  For instance, I just got a new wallet (my old one had bit the dust), and the evening it arrived in the mail, I proceeded to transfer everything over, and left my old one on the couch.  When Linden got up the next morning, he found my old wallet, completely empty, and immediately went to his piggy bank to get some change to put in it.  He had just assumed that an empty wallet meant I had no money, and didn't want me to be sad.  How sweet is that?

He's also typically very quick to help with chores, and very grateful when you offer to help him.  For instance, when I said "OK, Linden - time to clean your room.  Do you want some help?",  he replied with: "Oh, yes please, mama!  Thank you for offering!  I love you!" I try to remember this when he's screaming in his room over some perceived injustice, or has just done the thing you asked him not to do 10 times in a row.

Diligently vacuuming

3. Double rainbow!

Finally, we had what is perhaps the most spectacular double rainbow I've ever seen the other night.  A complete double arc, just outside the window.  It was awe-inspiring enough that we even got Juniper out of bed to see it (as she had not quite fallen asleep yet).

Panoramic double rainbow

The full spectrum

Taking it in in the lovely evening light (yes, those are Juniper's "pyjamas".  She even likes to be fancy when she sleeps) 

See you next week!