A New Chapter Begins

Well summer is almost over (in a couple of days) and with a new season, also comes a whole new stage of my life. Both of my kids are now in full time school! My daughter started kindergarten and my son is in grade two, now both of my kids are no longer at home during the weekdays, and it feels so weird. They are growing up! I get a little verklempt every time I think about it. I got especially emotional on my daughter's first day of school last week. They had the gradual entry system for the kindergartners, so the first day was only an hour, but I still got all choked up (I had to put my sunglasses on so no one would see my tears, luckily my husband was with me, so he could drive us home). Her new school is so big, and she is still so little, and full, six hour days seem so long for a five year old. My son had half day kindergarten when he first started school and I though that was perfect, but now the whole district has switched over to full days. I know she'll get used to it and she's getting bigger everyday, but it's still hard to think about. Certainly I will enjoy the time off and am looking forward to getting a lot done around my house, but hearing my daughter tell me in the morning that she misses me when she's at school, is hard.

I feel like so much has happened over the summer and I was just too busy to write about it. I felt burnt out and couldn't bring myself to post anything. I needed a break and I also wanted to focus my attention on my kids and not the computer. But now that I have some free time, while the kids are at school, I am going to try writing again. I do miss it and it's a good outlet for me to have some creativity in my life and have something that is all my own.

So I'll play a little catch up here and tell you about what's been going on with me and my family. My daughter finished preschool in June and my son finished his program at a special school for kids with behavioral difficulties. It was bittersweet having them both leave their schools. The preschool that my daughter went to was so great, and we had been taking our kids there for four years (my son for the first two and then my daughter for the second two). We will deeply miss the teachers that nurtured and cared for our children, they so were amazing! I can't say enough good things about them, and I feel like my kids went to the best preschool in Vancouver, that's how great they were! And then my son's school, they really helped him a lot. He was in a one year program to help him with his behavior and though some people might not understand what it's like having a child with behavioral issues, and might judge him (or me), I have seen so much improvement over the last year and I'm so happy about that. It's like night and day really, and though I know he's not perfect and certainly still has some things to work on, he's on the right path to success in his life, and I owe it all to that school.

After school finished we spent the summer at beaches and lakes and spray parks and outdoor pools and playing with friends and family, it was so much fun. We went canoeing, and peddle boating; we went camping and to Playland (my son was tall enough to go on all of the big rides this year and he loved it, he even went on the big wooden roller coaster and exclaimed when he got off "That... Was... AWESOME!!!"). My husband started a new job, my kids had both of their birthdays (now my daughter is five and my son is seven), and we got a new kitten. My son learned how to ride his bike with no training wheels and fully dunk his head underwater, and my daughter learned how to swing on the swings with no one pushing her and to climb to the very top of the climbing web at our local park. There has been so much growth and change this summer it's almost unbelievable to my husband and I, and we both welcome it.

Now my kids are at a new school together and it seems like a good fit for both of them. My daughter's kindergarten teacher seems really nice and my son's new special program seems really great too. I'm happy with the new changes life is bringing and I feel like things are heading in the right direction.

Here's a bunch of pictures from some of our fun, summer adventures.

These are from our annual camping trip at Manning Park, when we got to go canoeing for a few hours, it's one of our favorite things to do as a family.

These are from Playland, the kids always have a blast there!

These are from our day at the beach with the cousins.

This is when we went to Alouette Lake with friends, we got to go peddle boating and the kids loved it.

Here is my daughter on her birthday and she was very happy with her present!

A new kitten!!!

And here we are at a birthday party in the park, gotta love face painting!

So how was your summer? Did you get to do all of the fun things you wanted to do? Feel free to share, I'd love to hear about it : )

I Am Guest Blogging!

Photo Credit

I am a Blogger Buddy! A dear friend of mine, Kyra (you may remember her from this post, or this post), of The Scribe's Desk, has asked me to be a guest blogger for her "Blogger Buddy Thursdays" today. I am so excited! I have never guest blogged before, so this is a first for me. Please go on over to her site and have a look around. She is an excellent writer and a fantastic blogger, she's been at it for years (and she even has her own children's book out, called Tale of the Lost Swan Egg, which is wonderful). I love her blog and her writing and I bet you will too. I am very honored to have my post up on her site today. I hope you enjoy it  : )

Queen Spur Of The Moment, At Your Service

We just had one super busy, adventurous weekend, and it was all brought on by a bag left behind by my husband. He travels a lot for work, and on Friday he was in such a rush, at five in the morning, that he forgot his bag with his clothes and toiletries (can I call guy stuff toiletries, or is there some man version of that word that doesn't sound so girly or pretentious? Basically I mean his toothbrush, hair gel and razor, etc). When I realized he'd forgot it, I felt so bad for him. He's not the kind of guy to go out and buy all new stuff (we are not made of money), so I knew he'd end up suffering through his weekend work trip with no change of clothes or anything (okay he might have gone out and bought a new toothbrush, he's not a barbarian, and he's in sales so he's gotta have fresh breath when talking to clients).

After picking up my daughter from preschool that day, I walked in the door and saw his bag on the table and thought, poor guy, wouldn't it be nice if I could bring it to him? So that's what I did, I used his unfortunate mistake and turned it into a little vacation for the kids and I. Of course he was just on the Island, in Victoria, which is only a forty-five minute drive and an almost two hour ferry ride away. But it can be a lot to manage when you have to pack up everything in a matter of hours, make the quickest dinner ever, and rush the kids out the door to catch a ferry, last minute. Still, I did it. I kind of like the challenge. Certainly there are days that I wouldn't be up for it, but it's almost summer and I swear the sun gives me extra energy to accomplish amazing feats. I don't think I would've done it in the wintertime.

So after I started thinking about going, I quickly made all of the right calls to make sure it could be done, like ask my hubby if we could come and crash his hotel for the weekend, and make sure the hotel room was big enough to accommodate us (we ended up with a king size bed and squished the four of us in it, luckily our kids are still young enough to do this; you can bet in five years from now they would not accept this fate), and I phoned up an old friend that I hadn't talked to in a year (but who I love dearly) to see if she'd want to hang out with us while we were there. Luckily everything worked out in our favor, my hubby even had our extra car seat for our four year old in his company car, which he never does. I just had to carry my son's booster seat (and all of our other stuff) on to the ferry and hubby picked us up on the other side. It was a whirlwind takeoff and a whirlwind trip, but I did it. Queen Spur of the Moment made it happen, and it was well worth the effort.

While I contemplated going, I thought to myself for a minute, that it would be much easier and cheaper to stay at home. But really, how boring is that? We haven't been on any kind of vacation in years (aside from our yearly camping trips, of course). Then I thought, I have to take advantage of this opportunity, it may not come up again for a long time, and I will kick myself later for not going. So we went, and had a wonderfully fun, fly by the seat of our pants, unplanned mini vacation. I am so glad that I didn't listen to that negative nelly voice in my head and decide that it would be too hard or to expensive to go. Life is short and sometimes you have to make things happen in order to have a little adventure for yourself. No one else is going to do it for you.

Here are some pictures of our weekend getaway (sorry, lots of pictures), starting with the ferry ride to Victoria.

On Saturday we went to the harbour at Fisherman's Wharf Park, a block away from the hotel. There were four seals swimming around in the marina and the kids got to feed them. You can buy a plate of raw fish at one of the little restaurants, for five dollars, and feed it to seals. They swim right up to the dock and practically jump up eat it out of your hand. It was so cool.

 Then we went to a lovely beach and had a picnic lunch. It was such a gorgeous day.

Shockingly, my shy daughter snuggled up with my friend, who she hadn't seen since she was a baby. My little girl never ceases to amaze me. She's really coming out of her shell these days.

This is my friend's son who is the same age as my little guy. His mom and I met by taking our boys to the same baby group years ago. I am so glad we have stayed in touch.

The beach also had a great playground, with cool stuff to climb and lots of space to run around. The kids had a wonderful time. And I enjoyed watching them and chilling out with my good friend.

The next day we went to a different beach which was only a ten minute walk from my friend's house.

I saw these pretty flowers on the walk to the beach, and I had never seen them before. It's interesting how in Victoria, which is only a few hours away (and of course separated by water) from Vancouver, there are many similarities but also many differences in the two environments. I saw quite a few different types of trees and flowers that I don't see in Vancouver. It really made me feel like I was somewhere else, not still in our province. I know there are a lot places on Vancouver Island that are like that, like Tofino for instance, which has the most beautiful bog ever. It makes you feel like you are somewhere else in the world.

So all and all we had a wonderful trip. There were a few bumps along the road, like missing the 7:00PM ferry home and having to wait two hours to catch the 9:00PM one. The kids were crazy at that point, along with all the other kids on the ferry. But they sure had fun running around with them in the kids' play area, reveling in the insanity of a late night ferry adventure.

Parenting - The Balancing Act

Being a mom is all about balance, or at least you hope you can find some. Today I met up with a good mom friend of mine, Kyra, of The Scribe's Desk, and while our kids played at the school playground (for almost 3 hours!) we chatted. Of course there were many interruptions, like "mom I want a snack" and "mom help me" (the four year old was stuck up high on the monkey bars), but we did get to talk a lot. We talked about life and parenting and blogging, and the many difficulties of balancing everything. And it's funny how after about an hour we said to the kids, "five more minutes" and then ended up staying and chatting for almost two more hours, we were enjoying the conversation that much!

Sometimes it feels like we give up everything we are to be parents, and have nothing left for ourselves. With all of the cooking (I despise dinnertime), cleaning (arg dishes, my nemesis), juggling appointments (school, doctors, lessons and veterinarian), grocery shopping, yard work, and looking after the kidlets, it's hard to find time for anything else. And then on special days, we get to see our friends and be outside and it all feels good again. I know I go through little phases of not being social or being too busy to meet up with people, and we rarely have anyone over (I think that's because my house just always seems too messy to have company and I don't have the time or energy to keep up with it all) and being a stay at home mom starts to feel isolating and stressful. But then I get to do park play dates (now that that the warm weather is here, yay!) or specially planned girls' nights out and I feel whole again.

I have come to realize over the years, that I am a very social person, and I need those adult interactions and conversations to feel sane. There is only so much answering kids questions, mediating kids arguments, playing kids games and reading children's books that one person can handle before they start to feel a little crazy. And when hubby comes home from work and he's too tired to talk because he's been talking to clients all day (or if he's been gone for half a week on business) well that doesn't help any. So thank you to the all of friends that break up the hustle and bustle and housewife monotony, and help provide balance in my life. They remind me to slow down and think about myself once in a while, and that in turn enables me to be a better parent.

Photo Credit

What Is A Good Friend?

I have to give props where props are due. I just started this blog and got lots of great advice from a good writer friend of mine Kyra of The Scribe's Desk (I needed the advice too, I was nervous about doing this, about writing and putting my thoughts and opinions out into the ether, for anyone to read and possibly diss). And what a good friend she is, commenting on all my posts and giving me great feedback. A good friend is someone who is supportive of your new endeavors, who has your back when you need it, and even if you don't talk for awhile can pick up just like no time had passed. I really appreciate all the help and support you have given me and I can't wait to read your new children's book, Tale of the Lost Swan Egg. I bet my kids will love it!