31 May 2010
24 May 2010
Welcome back, Laolao & Laoye!
Laolao and Laoye flew back yesterday afternoon for another visit. Originally they were to arrive last Wednesday, but my aunt passed away a week ago so they stayed back for the funeral which delayed their trip a few days. The kids have been looking forward to them coming for several weeks now, and were disappointed at the delay (especially as it meant they missed Mustang's 10th birthday) but are happy to see them.
They’ll be with us for about two or three weeks, then take off in the bus to head east. We’ll join them in Halifax at the end of June for two weeks’ holiday as we meander back to our home city.
They brought birthday gifts for the kids which will be presented tomorrow, at a family birthday supper. Some friends will be joining us to celebrate the three family birthdays (Mustang, Button, Laolao).
They’ll be with us for about two or three weeks, then take off in the bus to head east. We’ll join them in Halifax at the end of June for two weeks’ holiday as we meander back to our home city.
They brought birthday gifts for the kids which will be presented tomorrow, at a family birthday supper. Some friends will be joining us to celebrate the three family birthdays (Mustang, Button, Laolao).
21 May 2010
Double-digit kid!
Happy birthday Mustang!
We celebrated her TENTH birthday today! Can you believe it? My girl is 10!!!!!!!
She woke up before the alarm rang this morning, eager to head downstairs and see the two little presents I said I’d set out at breakfast (for both her and Button, whose birthday comes in a mere six days…). She climbed into bed beside me until the radio came on and I said she could wake her brother and go check out the prezzies: one from me (a Littlest Pet Shop critter) and one from Lovely (a ball thrower with some balls).
Nanny had baked cupcakes yesterday, at my request, so I drove the kids to school so we could carry the two huge containers into the classroom easily. Today was Jump Rope for Heart day at their school, so they had that as well as cupcakes (in Mustang’s classroom) to look forward to.
Our friend Giggles said she’d come over this evening after supper and bring Mustang her present, so there’s that to look forward to. We won’t do anything much else special, as Lovely has her training session tonight from 8-9.
Tomorrow will be the big party day – each kid invited three friends and I’ve spent the past week getting things organized. (Didn’t really start thinking of what to do until Monday, so it’s come together in short order!) It’s a joint Littlest Pet Shop-Pokemon themed party. Having a theme always helps! Kids have been helpful in getting things organized – and I decided to purchase a cake – though not the fancy custom-decorated one, just a regular $10 Happy Birthday variety.
She woke up before the alarm rang this morning, eager to head downstairs and see the two little presents I said I’d set out at breakfast (for both her and Button, whose birthday comes in a mere six days…). She climbed into bed beside me until the radio came on and I said she could wake her brother and go check out the prezzies: one from me (a Littlest Pet Shop critter) and one from Lovely (a ball thrower with some balls).
Nanny had baked cupcakes yesterday, at my request, so I drove the kids to school so we could carry the two huge containers into the classroom easily. Today was Jump Rope for Heart day at their school, so they had that as well as cupcakes (in Mustang’s classroom) to look forward to.
Our friend Giggles said she’d come over this evening after supper and bring Mustang her present, so there’s that to look forward to. We won’t do anything much else special, as Lovely has her training session tonight from 8-9.
Tomorrow will be the big party day – each kid invited three friends and I’ve spent the past week getting things organized. (Didn’t really start thinking of what to do until Monday, so it’s come together in short order!) It’s a joint Littlest Pet Shop-Pokemon themed party. Having a theme always helps! Kids have been helpful in getting things organized – and I decided to purchase a cake – though not the fancy custom-decorated one, just a regular $10 Happy Birthday variety.
Mustang at 7 
Mustang at 8
Mustang at 9
and Mustang at 10!!!
19 May 2010
Soccer again!
Button is a keen soccer player. He plays with a group of other boys during most recesses at school (or frequently, if not most). Last fall, and even in mid-winter, when I asked him if he wanted to play soccer again this summer he wasn’t sure, but by mid-March he was keen again. So I signed him up. Of course, by the time I did so most of the spots on teams were taken, so in order to get him on a team I had to volunteer. So I am now the Manager of the Boys Under-7 team at one of the fields a short drive from home.
The managing job hasn’t been too onerous so far. The biggest hassle has been to get the volunteer coaches to respond to my e-mails! (Well, one has a good response record, one decent, and the other two – hard to reach.) I needed to pick up the uniforms to distribute, and the soccer balls another time (they were supposed to be available when I picked u the uniforms but the container from wherever – probably China – hadn’t reached us yet). And I’ll need to do a bit of coordinating for the four summer weekend “festivals” (tournaments). But it shouldn’t be too bad.
There are 13 youngsters on the team and Button is the 2nd-oldest. We had a fun time for our first practice session; the evening was relatively warm and the kids and parents were keen. So we look forward to a summer filled with goals, games, and goodies!
The managing job hasn’t been too onerous so far. The biggest hassle has been to get the volunteer coaches to respond to my e-mails! (Well, one has a good response record, one decent, and the other two – hard to reach.) I needed to pick up the uniforms to distribute, and the soccer balls another time (they were supposed to be available when I picked u the uniforms but the container from wherever – probably China – hadn’t reached us yet). And I’ll need to do a bit of coordinating for the four summer weekend “festivals” (tournaments). But it shouldn’t be too bad.
There are 13 youngsters on the team and Button is the 2nd-oldest. We had a fun time for our first practice session; the evening was relatively warm and the kids and parents were keen. So we look forward to a summer filled with goals, games, and goodies!
18 May 2010
A day by the river
Saturday May 1st I had planned to take the kids out to the season opening of a local heritage flour mill, where they would be celebrating the mill’s 150th anniversary with special activities, games, a barbecue, and so on.
But they just weren’t interested. Mustang just wanted to stick around home and play in our woods and fields, or at the most head off to a local park a short drive away where they’d caught some frogs before; Button echoed that. We also had a lot of things to do around the house, seeing as I like to spend at least part of the weekend out and about doing things with the kids, so some of the household necessities get neglected. (Thank goodness for Nanny, or nothing would happen around the house!) Plus now that we have fewer scheduled activities, I’m trying to do some sewing and cooking with the kids on a semi-regular basis.
So in the morning, after getting groceries, I got them each to do a few seams in our latest sewing project, and we made some jiaozi – Chinese pork-and-cabbage filled dumplings (other fillings are possible too, but that’s our favourite). Then it was time to tidy up the house, clean Calico’s cage, and… you get the picture. Finally, in the afternoon, we headed out to the nearby park. It was a cloudy day but not too cold, and though it had been threatening rain for most of the day none had so far arrived. The kids played with Lovely by the shore, tossing the ball into the water for her to fetch. Mostly she cooperated, but after a while she was getting cold and shivering, so I told them to stop. They caught several leopard frogs and even a bullfrog tadpole – huge little critter! Then it did start to rain. At first it was just a light rain, so we stayed out enjoying the fresh air, but after about an hour it started to get heavier so we headed home.
But they just weren’t interested. Mustang just wanted to stick around home and play in our woods and fields, or at the most head off to a local park a short drive away where they’d caught some frogs before; Button echoed that. We also had a lot of things to do around the house, seeing as I like to spend at least part of the weekend out and about doing things with the kids, so some of the household necessities get neglected. (Thank goodness for Nanny, or nothing would happen around the house!) Plus now that we have fewer scheduled activities, I’m trying to do some sewing and cooking with the kids on a semi-regular basis.
So in the morning, after getting groceries, I got them each to do a few seams in our latest sewing project, and we made some jiaozi – Chinese pork-and-cabbage filled dumplings (other fillings are possible too, but that’s our favourite). Then it was time to tidy up the house, clean Calico’s cage, and… you get the picture. Finally, in the afternoon, we headed out to the nearby park. It was a cloudy day but not too cold, and though it had been threatening rain for most of the day none had so far arrived. The kids played with Lovely by the shore, tossing the ball into the water for her to fetch. Mostly she cooperated, but after a while she was getting cold and shivering, so I told them to stop. They caught several leopard frogs and even a bullfrog tadpole – huge little critter! Then it did start to rain. At first it was just a light rain, so we stayed out enjoying the fresh air, but after about an hour it started to get heavier so we headed home.
14 May 2010
Nanny's birthday
Our Nanny celebrated her birthday on Monday, April 26th. The day before the kids and I baked a chocolate layer cake – from scratch! They bought her a Webkinz for her birthday present. (I just gave her a bonus.) Mondays she stays with us for supper as Button has music after and she either takes him while I stay home with Mustang or vice versa. So we had a nice supper together and then brought out the cake! She was impressed that we’d made it from scratch!!
13 May 2010
Holiday plans for 2010
For the past several years I had been aiming to head to China this summer, when Mustang was 10 and Button 7. But for a variety of reasons that isn’t going to happen – not this year. One of the big reasons is that last year I had a lot of big expenses – special learning interventions for Mustang, a new car, and a dog. Lovely, at least, is sort of paying her way, though she hasn’t done so completely yet.
The other reason, just as important, is that I think a trip to China might be “wasted” on the kids at this age. Not really wasted, but mostly all they want to do still is play, swim, fish, run around and have fun. The adoption agency I used to adopt Mustang offers kid-friendly “homeland visits” and if we did go this year I’d do that, plus maybe stay a bit longer to visit a few other places. (And I would very much have liked to get to the World Expo in Shanghai – though the city’s likely to be atrociously expensive). But an organized tour like that is also quite expensive, so we’ll forego it for a year or two longer, and make the trip once the kids are at least a bit more inclined to do some real cultural exploration. (And then there’ll be a trip to Ethiopia a few years after that…)
So this year, the main holiday will be a trip to parts in eastern Canada – Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick. Laolao and Laoye left the bus here last fall, parked at a storage facility outside the city, so they’re flying back in mid-May and will spend part of the summer with us again. They’ll leave a couple of weeks earlier, in mid-June, and the kids and I will fly out to join them at the end of school. Then we’ll take a leisurely two+ weeks to wend our way back home, spending time exploring this country’s Maritime richness.
Other than that, I’ve got them booked into two different daycamps here in the city – at the Farm, which they both love, and a Science Camp for Button while Mustang will enjoy a Junior Zookeeper Camp. (Button would like to do Zookeeper too, but you have to be eight years old – maybe next year.) Then we’ll all spend a week at our church’s overnight camp in late August (I’ll help in the kitchen, like I did last summer). Maybe another weekend at the fishing campground close to home, some swimming lessons, and voilà! a summer full of fun.
Laolao and Laoye will likely start to head home to western Canada by mid-August, taking their time and enjoying the sights along the way. If they spend a month travelling the roughly 5,000km, that will give them lots of time to relax and enjoy themselves.
The other reason, just as important, is that I think a trip to China might be “wasted” on the kids at this age. Not really wasted, but mostly all they want to do still is play, swim, fish, run around and have fun. The adoption agency I used to adopt Mustang offers kid-friendly “homeland visits” and if we did go this year I’d do that, plus maybe stay a bit longer to visit a few other places. (And I would very much have liked to get to the World Expo in Shanghai – though the city’s likely to be atrociously expensive). But an organized tour like that is also quite expensive, so we’ll forego it for a year or two longer, and make the trip once the kids are at least a bit more inclined to do some real cultural exploration. (And then there’ll be a trip to Ethiopia a few years after that…)
So this year, the main holiday will be a trip to parts in eastern Canada – Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick. Laolao and Laoye left the bus here last fall, parked at a storage facility outside the city, so they’re flying back in mid-May and will spend part of the summer with us again. They’ll leave a couple of weeks earlier, in mid-June, and the kids and I will fly out to join them at the end of school. Then we’ll take a leisurely two+ weeks to wend our way back home, spending time exploring this country’s Maritime richness.
Other than that, I’ve got them booked into two different daycamps here in the city – at the Farm, which they both love, and a Science Camp for Button while Mustang will enjoy a Junior Zookeeper Camp. (Button would like to do Zookeeper too, but you have to be eight years old – maybe next year.) Then we’ll all spend a week at our church’s overnight camp in late August (I’ll help in the kitchen, like I did last summer). Maybe another weekend at the fishing campground close to home, some swimming lessons, and voilà! a summer full of fun.
Laolao and Laoye will likely start to head home to western Canada by mid-August, taking their time and enjoying the sights along the way. If they spend a month travelling the roughly 5,000km, that will give them lots of time to relax and enjoy themselves.
11 May 2010
A visit with Garnet
On the last Saturday in April we made a trip to city where Garnet lives, about an hour’s drive away. After our usual Saturday morning chores we hopped into the car, complete with a gift for Garnet (bought at Lovely’s training session the previous night), and set off. It was a great day – sunny, warm, relaxing. We arrived in time for lunch – my contribution being a lentil salad and a honeydew melon – and after tucking in for a bite, spent the afternoon having fun! Garnet’s family has a trampoline in the backyard which the kids played on most of the afternoon while Mama Garnet and I chatted about life, dogs, the nanny situation, and everything.
Garnet has grown a fair bit since we last saw her at the end of January, though she’s still a lot smaller than Lovely. Her family expressed some concern that she’s not growing faster. I think she might end up being a smaller dog at full growth, though she does still have a good six months more of growth coming. (I hope the slow weight gain is not related to the loss-of-weight spell she had when she was 2 months old. She seems now to be perfectly healthy now!)
It seems to me that Garnet has mellowed somewhat since small puppyhood. Just somewhat – she’s still quite lively and active, but didn’t seem quite so prone to bugging Lovely as when she was little. She and Lovely got on fairly well, except when Garnet tried to steal the ball Lovely was playing with! (Actually, they mostly ignored each other, but that’s an improvement from when Garnet would bug mama and Lovely would snap at her!)
Late in the afternoon we visited that city’s version of an off-leash dog park by the river, which was a first for all of us. It was quite pleasant and not nearly as crowded as the one we go to at home. Then we had a supper of barbecued hot dogs, chips, salad and fruit.
After supper we all headed off, in separate vehicles, to another town about halfway between our two cities where Mama Garnet had seen advertised that the African Children’s Choir would be performing. When we got there – just as the concert was about to start – we were both surprised at the small number of cars in the parking lot, thinking this concert would have a big draw factor. Once inside, it became apparent that we were victims of (somewhat) false advertising – it wasn’t THE African Children’s Choir, but the Canadian-African Children’s Choir from our home city. Still, we stayed to enjoy the music, which was quite good. As nine o’clock approached, however, and we less than halfway through the printed program, I decided we’d leave at the intermission as we were all getting tired and it was getting late! But as soon as I made that decision the organizers jumped to the last two items on the program, effectively cancelling intermission, so we stayed until the end of those two items. Before heading home we availed ourselves of the yummy snacks laid out in the church basement.
It was a long day but lots of fun, and so nice to visit Garnet (and her family of course!).
Garnet has grown a fair bit since we last saw her at the end of January, though she’s still a lot smaller than Lovely. Her family expressed some concern that she’s not growing faster. I think she might end up being a smaller dog at full growth, though she does still have a good six months more of growth coming. (I hope the slow weight gain is not related to the loss-of-weight spell she had when she was 2 months old. She seems now to be perfectly healthy now!)
It seems to me that Garnet has mellowed somewhat since small puppyhood. Just somewhat – she’s still quite lively and active, but didn’t seem quite so prone to bugging Lovely as when she was little. She and Lovely got on fairly well, except when Garnet tried to steal the ball Lovely was playing with! (Actually, they mostly ignored each other, but that’s an improvement from when Garnet would bug mama and Lovely would snap at her!)
Late in the afternoon we visited that city’s version of an off-leash dog park by the river, which was a first for all of us. It was quite pleasant and not nearly as crowded as the one we go to at home. Then we had a supper of barbecued hot dogs, chips, salad and fruit.
After supper we all headed off, in separate vehicles, to another town about halfway between our two cities where Mama Garnet had seen advertised that the African Children’s Choir would be performing. When we got there – just as the concert was about to start – we were both surprised at the small number of cars in the parking lot, thinking this concert would have a big draw factor. Once inside, it became apparent that we were victims of (somewhat) false advertising – it wasn’t THE African Children’s Choir, but the Canadian-African Children’s Choir from our home city. Still, we stayed to enjoy the music, which was quite good. As nine o’clock approached, however, and we less than halfway through the printed program, I decided we’d leave at the intermission as we were all getting tired and it was getting late! But as soon as I made that decision the organizers jumped to the last two items on the program, effectively cancelling intermission, so we stayed until the end of those two items. Before heading home we availed ourselves of the yummy snacks laid out in the church basement.
It was a long day but lots of fun, and so nice to visit Garnet (and her family of course!).
10 May 2010
06 May 2010
April 2010
After Easter, the rest of April passed fairly uneventfully. Lovely started basic training class on Friday the 9th, for eight weeks. It’s not that intensive – I think the training is as much for the owners as the dogs. I looked into a variety of training classes and operations and decided to go with the local PetSmart class, mostly because they were kid-friendly. A few of the other places wouldn’t allow children under 8 to take part, which would cut Button our. But here, we all go into the classroom and we all take turns working with Lovely. The instructor is obviously aware that the kids need to learn how to handle her as much as anyone.
The Sunday after Easter we again had a crowd, but this time I didn’t cook up a storm, mostly just thawed things from the freezer. It was still great! What was most fun was that there were eight kids and just six grown-ups, so all but the two littlest kids got to sit at their own table to eat. After lunch we again traipsed through the woods and by the pond. It’s practically a Sunday tradition!
The kids started swimming lessons mid-month. Button’s in Level 3 and Mustang in Level 4. They haven’t had lessons since the end of summer last year, but they seem to be enjoying it and doing well. I’m so glad Mustang has lost her fear of the deep end and is now quite happy to head off there for diving and jumping fun.
We had two arts excursions in April – saw a children’s theatre show and a kids’ concert, both very fun. Friend Chuckles and I also took in a play one evening, while friend L babysat the kids.
Nanny’s birthday was near the end of the month. The kids and I baked a cake and decorated it all up for her (seeing as she would be with us for supper). Their present for her was a Webkinz ferret – since she has a real ferret for a pet! – and we made her a card.
The Sunday after Easter we again had a crowd, but this time I didn’t cook up a storm, mostly just thawed things from the freezer. It was still great! What was most fun was that there were eight kids and just six grown-ups, so all but the two littlest kids got to sit at their own table to eat. After lunch we again traipsed through the woods and by the pond. It’s practically a Sunday tradition!
The kids started swimming lessons mid-month. Button’s in Level 3 and Mustang in Level 4. They haven’t had lessons since the end of summer last year, but they seem to be enjoying it and doing well. I’m so glad Mustang has lost her fear of the deep end and is now quite happy to head off there for diving and jumping fun.
We had two arts excursions in April – saw a children’s theatre show and a kids’ concert, both very fun. Friend Chuckles and I also took in a play one evening, while friend L babysat the kids.
Nanny’s birthday was near the end of the month. The kids and I baked a cake and decorated it all up for her (seeing as she would be with us for supper). Their present for her was a Webkinz ferret – since she has a real ferret for a pet! – and we made her a card.
04 May 2010
Holiday #5 (2009) - A beautiful park
Our last holiday of the summer was over the September long weekend – after school had already started. I took off a tad early from work and, about an hour and a half after the kids got home from school, we headed out, leaving Lovely and puppies – now four weeks old – once again in the care of Chuckles. This one was the longest drive away, up in the Shield area.
Actually, given the busy after-work-long-weekend traffic, we got only a couple of kilometres from home – still in the heart of the city – and pulled off the freeway to a McDonalds parking lot to have a bite of supper. Picked up some fries to complement our soup, ate in the bus, and played a bit. Finally, about an hour later, traffic had eased up the point where it was worthwhile heading out again and, tummies full, we trundled on our way.
We arrived at the campground shortly after sunset, found our campsite, and settled in for the night. This was also a fairly large campground, but not nearly so spread-out as the previous one. The kids and Laoye had their bikes and sped up and down the roadways, while even walking it went quite quickly to reach the main beachfront area. You could tell this was a well-used and serviced campground – the interpretation centre had some nice displays and talks on a daily basis, and there was both a ferry service to take you across the inlet to the path up the cliff on the opposite shore of the lake and a boat ride along the cliff edge where you could see some of the rock paintings – and observe intrepid climbers doing a technical climb up the cliff face.
We spent our time swimming, hiking, playing, and just plain having fun! The weekend was over all too soon and then – back to the city to settle into the fall routine of school, work and puppies!
Actually, given the busy after-work-long-weekend traffic, we got only a couple of kilometres from home – still in the heart of the city – and pulled off the freeway to a McDonalds parking lot to have a bite of supper. Picked up some fries to complement our soup, ate in the bus, and played a bit. Finally, about an hour later, traffic had eased up the point where it was worthwhile heading out again and, tummies full, we trundled on our way.
We arrived at the campground shortly after sunset, found our campsite, and settled in for the night. This was also a fairly large campground, but not nearly so spread-out as the previous one. The kids and Laoye had their bikes and sped up and down the roadways, while even walking it went quite quickly to reach the main beachfront area. You could tell this was a well-used and serviced campground – the interpretation centre had some nice displays and talks on a daily basis, and there was both a ferry service to take you across the inlet to the path up the cliff on the opposite shore of the lake and a boat ride along the cliff edge where you could see some of the rock paintings – and observe intrepid climbers doing a technical climb up the cliff face.
We spent our time swimming, hiking, playing, and just plain having fun! The weekend was over all too soon and then – back to the city to settle into the fall routine of school, work and puppies!
03 May 2010
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