First day(s) of school!

Newest entrepreneurial endeavour: homemade drawings. $0.10 per drawing; $0.25 for commissions

Last Thursday marked two milestones: Juniper's very first day of kindergarten, and Linden's first day of preschool at the Child Center.

Juniper insisted that she was going to take the bus to and from school on her first day, despite my (multiple) suggestions that we drop her off. (Apparently I did the exact same thing on my first day of school). So, as per her insistence, we all got ready, made sure everything was packed in her ginormous book bag and that she was wearing her special sign that designated her as a kindergartener, so that everyone could help her get where she was going. Here is a little photo series from that morning:

All dressed up and ready to go!

Dwarfed by her book bag en route to the bus stop

Close-up on her hand-decorated book bag: her family, holding hands, with a rainbow, a sun a flower and a butterfly

Close-up on the VERY fancy, sparkly hair bow and stick-on earrings

You can tell she's excited by the real smiles!

Getting on the school bus...

... and big waves and smiles as they take off!

I only cried a *little* after the bus left. I might have been (extraordinarily) tempted to hop in the car and stalk follow the bus until it got to school, and then watch everything unfold from the sidelines. As it so happened, however, I had parent helping duty at Linden's preschool that morning. So instead, I gathered all the things I needed for Linden and myself, and off we went to the child centre.  Here are photos from that part of the day:

All set to cause trouble (notice the steri-strips above his nose?  Library accident. Only Linden).

Naturally, Linden went right for the trucks

Because I was parent helper, he got to ring the bell when it was time to come inside.  

Linden can't just ride the zip-line - he needs to maximize injury potential

And how did everyone do on their first days?  Well, shortly after we got to the child center, Linden declared, "OK - you can go now".  

"Actually", I informed him excitedly, "I'm parent helper today, so I'm going to stay!" 

"Well, after you finish your helping, you can go, OK?"

Yup, Linden is going to be fine.

Juniper was still smiling when she got off the bus at 4pm, and when I asked her if she thinks she'll like school, she replied:

"Oh, I already do!  I love everything about it!"

I think she's going to be fine as well.

With a little adjustment time, I believe that I will also pull through it all, thanks for asking.

Right now, my mom is visiting, as Clark is spending the better part of a week on a work trip. Could things be more exciting? And with that, I'm off to the playground.  Have a great week!

Some breakfast fairy-type conversations.

Getting Settled...

I always forget exactly how amazing O'Dell Park is

We are back on the Cape!  Just a little over three weeks of relatively constant road-tripping, visiting, playing and appointment-keeping, and I would say that all four of us are ready for a whole lot of down-time back in our own little space.

Whether or not we actually get that down-time remains to be seen - this week marks not only the beginning of September, but also the beginning of what I have always considered the new year.  Juniper will be starting her very first day of Kindergarten, Linden will be starting his very first day at the Child Centre, and, for the very first time since Juniper was born, I get 4 consecutive mornings to work.  I have grand aspirations to actually pump out the rest of my thesis - wish me luck!

Dreaming big

And so, as we pause momentarily at the edges of jumping into so much newness and excitement, I shall briefly recap our last week in Canada. Enjoy!

Mary's Birthday:

My mom turned 65 while we were in Fredericton!  To celebrate, we all descended upon my sister Kelli and family (who had all just returned from a Hawaiian vacation earlier that morning), and had a delicious meal compliments of Faye and Sandeep. 

Juniper and Bob

Hijinx in the wagon (Ethan is piled under Sawyer and Linden!)

Sawyer helping Linden make the shot

Cousins!

Group shot

CRAZY group shot (I think my dad wins)

Visiting
Clearly, our whole trip was one non-stop continuum of visits, which is amazing. And exhausting. But way more amazing than exhausting.

Linden and Great Aunt Evie

Evie got out her huge box of buttons, and let the kids dump them out and play. Heaven.

The kids had SO much fun with Faye and Sandeep (and Clark and I had SO much fun while they were looking after them!)

 Miscellaneous...

"I am the Lorax! I speak for the trees!  Let them grow! Let them grow!" (Linden proclaims this loudly every time he finds a tree stump)

On a mission to find fairies in O'Dell Park

Juniper came equipped with a flashlight and magnifying glass.  Sadly, no fairies appeared.

NEW HAIRCUT! (she got about 10 inches off!)

After the big haircut, Juniper became obsessed with doing everyone else's hair

Right before our epic journey home, bright and early Saturday morning

Goodbye, New Brunswick (and Nova Scotia)!  Hello Cape Cod!  Stay tuned for some "first day" pictures next week...

Road trip

Helping Grandpa with the compost pile

 To suggest we went on a "road trip" this past week is actually kind of hilarious, as I feel like we have been in the middle of one crazy epic ongoing road trip since we left the Cape.  But on Wednesday, we packed up yet again, and left the farm for the sparkling shores of Nova Scotia.

Juniper and Dory

En route to Halifax, we made a very important pit stop in Sackville, NB, where Juniper had just spent the last couple of days with her aunt and uncle, Theresa and Scott. By all accounts, she had a whale of a time, and despite being incredibly trepidatious at first, she became fast friends with Theresa and Scott's new dog, Dory. We arrived just in time for lunch, and Juniper had spent the morning helping Theresa prepare food and setting up a restaurant, complete with handmade placemats, name tags, and a menu.

Carefully bringing out the food

Menu

The gang, reunited

To say our trip to Nova Scotia was a whirlwind is an understatement. We were there for only three full days, and it was so completely full of visits and appointments, there was no down time whatsoever. We didn't even get to tell some people that we would have dearly loved to see that we were there, let alone get the chance to poke around downtown Halifax.  Here are some of the things I managed to snap pictures of:

Our hosts!  Carroll and Stephen were so very gracious to host us while we were there, and had a house full of toys and good food and comfort. They also had the added bonus of a ridiculously cute granddaughter, Emmalyn, who would often stop by for some playtime. Both kids LOVED having a new playmate around.

Carroll and the kids

Stephen and Linden discussing life

Emmalyn, always full of smiles!

Thursday, (the morning after we landed in Halifax), we got up bright and early (so bright and early that I actually had to wake Juniper up), and headed for the Annapolis Valley for the day.  I had booked appointments for both kids with a fabulous osteopath who works in Kingsport, and then we met our dear friends Zsofi and Will, and their twins Eva and Sylvie, for a day of fun in and around the Valley.  

Revelling in the slime and sludge, post appointment

We spent morning in Wolfville, and then headed to a place called Ross Farms, which I had shockingly never been to.  It is a living museum of sorts - a farm preserved as it would have been back in the 1800s/early1900s, complete with people tending to the chores and animals and other daily tasks.  It was pretty fascinating, and a fabulous place for the kids to run around and explore.  Everyone was plum tuckered out by that evening!

Happy to be back with her buds

Eva, Sylvie, Juniper and Linden 

Posing in front of some echinacea post-lunch

Walking down some old train tracks in Wolfville

Flax drying at Ross Farms (I got to see the whole process of turning flax into linen, which was SO cool)

Visiting the GINORMOUS pigs.  Notice Juniper plugging her nose. 

One of the favourite stops: the old school house

Juniper trying out the tablet and graphite stick

Linden contemplating the old ways

Helping with some chores

Having spent a week on the farm, Linden figured he was the expert on all things hay-related, and moved some around this field a bit

Linden, Sylvie and Eva, carefully carrying feed for the geese and the ducks

Group shot before we parted ways

Other than our day in the Valley, the rest of our time in Halifax was spent flitting from one place to the next, visiting as many people as we could. This included, happily, all of Juniper's Halifax buddies, who she still counts among her best friends, two whole years later.

Juniper and Cheri (who runs the daycare Juniper used to go to)

The old gang! (and one new friend) l-r, back to front: Calla, Juniper, Ewan, Patrick, Aven, Linden, Jack

Juniper and Bella (with Linden photobombing in the back)

And that is all I can manage to post this morning! We are now back in Fredericton, and will be here until we head back home later this week.  We will be celebrating my mom's 65th birthday this evening, and there will no doubt be some other grand adventures before we go, so stay tuned!