That Summer Vibe

Okay, so we may not have the sun but at least we have the vibe of summer.  Summer is a time when life slows down and moves over to make way for fun.  We've been super busy with fun lately.  There has been daily swimming lessons, RKA took an impromptu business trip to Montreal, my friend visiting, a baby shower, a double birthday party, and now we're packing for a road trip.  Our summer is well underway.  Last Sunday we spent a blissful day in a nearby tourist town...it revolved around all of our favourite food groups....candy, ice cream, and strawberries - mmm!

Kid in a candy store...


"Can I have a lick of yours, little buddy?"


"Of course you can, I adore you big sis" (that's why I pester your relentlessly)...


Strawberry - pickin'




Yes, that is a bit of jam freshly spread on her forehead...


They still fit into the wagon




B ate as he went - note the red fingers...


Yes, 'twas a day of delectable goodness peppered with some quaint old fashioned charm.

A visit to a little train museum right beside a live line...


One tiny nose pressed against glass, viewing one tiny train...


Dropping a quarter into a juke box to choose a vintage song...


Covering your ears in disappointment and protest when the ancient juke box plays the wrong song...


Miniature benches to fit miniature ladies...


Picket fences and glamour...


Antiquing (teaching the young the value of old)...


A real live auction in front of city hall...


It was a Sunday for the books!

Yes, our summer is a vibin' and we have many more memories just waiting to be made!  Off now in search of sunshine!

Canada, Camping, & Calamine

Camping is like a rite of passage for a Canadian kid.  You've gotta grow up knowing what it feels to have campfire smell saturate your skin and hair, be covered in dirt, bug spray and sunscreen, wear clothes covered in marshmallow innards.  More than just the physical transformaton camping causes, it ignites a primal instinct that we all share...The urge to gather branches to whittle into weiner-roaster or fire-pokers...The comaraderie and comfort of sitting huddled in a blanket and staring at a campfire - everyone hoping that someone else takes the initiative to get up and put another log on the fire.  Showers are missed, toothbrushes are forgotten and even helmet rules are ignored with a shrug of the shoulders and the adage, "Ah, we're camping!".  Camping invokes a sense of freedom and exploration that simply can not be paralleled in the comfort of your own home. 

We set off to celebrate our freedom and exploration as Canadians with a family camping trip to a lovely tourist town not even an hour east of home.  Picturesque is a word that comes to mind.

It seemed as though most of Canada had the same idea for the weekend but we finally found a campsite off the beaten path...

Bikes? check.  Marshmallows? check.  Burly-man with an axe? check.

Ghost stories? check.

Staying up way past bedtime? check.

Happy camper? check.

The second day we were joined by our good friends and their kids.  It is so much fun to camp with friends!  The only problem was we were also joined by mosquitos.  The climate was perfect for them to hatch and they were buzzing like crazy!  R is allergic to bites and she got covered in welts, and then I covered her in calamine!  Poor kid. 

No time to wallow, though!  There were lots of Canada Day festivities...pancake breakfast, live music, flag raising, parade, fireworks.  The town was full of Canadians proudly decked out in their red and whites.  We took the kids to the flag raising and they may not have understood it but it meant a lot to me to be able to celebrate our country with them. 

 

R&B were definitely jazzed by the pedal car we booted around  town in and they waved their flags proudly...



...and they were thrilled by the  fact that they got to stay up until 10pm for the fireworks on the beach....

It was a  Happy Canada Day!!!

We woke the next morning to clear skies and we had a date with a lake.  It was like the kids were starved for the beach.  They were slinging mud, rolling in it, catching minnows, and generally acting like beach babies.

 

More friends joined us on the beach and it was an entire day of splashing, digging, sculpting, snacking, and chatting.  A perfect start to our summer!

Tom Jones

For some unknown reason our local neighbourhood park is named Tom Jones Park...the sign is kind of hidden though and no one really calls it that, except for our family.  The kids often tell people they went to "Tom Jones" and get a bewildered response.  We started calling it TJP now which may not be any better.

Anyways, we rode our bikes to TJP today and it was a bit of an adventure.  We were there for about five minutes when an eight year old  boy decided to ignore numerous warnings and disrupted a bee hive.  He was stung in the head and ran around the park holding his head and screaming and crying.  I was distracted by this drama and I didn't even notice that little B was being bossed around by a 6 year old girl.  R was very concerned and came running over to tell me about it, "Mommy, that girl told B that he had to sit there and he wasn't allowed to move!".  By now the incident was over and B had carried on.  R wasn't ready to move on though...she insisted that the little girl be told off.  I tried to convince her to just drop it but that just didn't sit right with R.  She marched over to where the 6 year old girl was on the swings with her eight year old (bee-stung) brother and her ten year old sister.  Little 4 year old R walked right up and gave her a piece of her mind.  I couldn't quite hear the conversation but R was obviously standing her ground.  She came back satisfied.  I asked her what she said to the girl and R said, "Oh, I just gave her a little talk!"...R truly is bold as brass!  R must have been nice about it though because a minute later the same kids asked her to play "Grounders".  It was so funny because the other three each did the classic "1-2-3-not-it!" and R simply beamed, raised her hand and proclaimed, "it!"...she didn't mind being it - she was just naively happy to be included.

The drama didn't end there though.  We got onto our bikes to ride home and B promptly bit it on the pavement.  His balance bike seemed to have failed him and his lip was bleeding and he was screaming his little face off.  Head thrown back, big tears and bloody mouth.  Hugs, kisses, and even promises of marshmallows couldn't get him back on his bike so I carried a whimpering squirt, his bike, and pushed my bike home.  Every day is an adventure with these two!

Rocky Point

Our Star Seahorse

R got her first taste of the spotlight today and I think she liked it!  She was a galloping seahorse in King Neptune's Sea, and if you ask me her lines were fluid, her movement was graceful, and her timing was impeccable.  No really, she rocked that under the sea scene!

As you can see - she took it very seriously.  She practiced really hard and she remembered the routine very well.  Her teacher complimented her on her memory and placed her at the front of the line - booya!

True to tradition, her daddy and her little bro brought her a bouquet of flowers to congratulate our little ballerina on her first big show.

A star is born!
(Well, maybe...on the way to the show she informed me that next year she would like to skip ballet and take belly dancing lessons instead!)

My girl

 

I adore my little girl for many reasons, especially her...

love of dress-up

willingness to join in

strong spirit

company in our bed when RKA is away

zeal for cleaning windows

unbelievable memory

sense of justice

quirky dance moves (like when she does the one armed chicken wing move)

competitive streak

vivid imagination

enthusiasm for tea parties

independence

disgust with the rain

brilliant smile

"Daddy"...in their words...