The Next Step...

I love being a mom. I never particularly wanted to be a mom, before I became a mom. I never ogled over babies, or even wanted to hold them. In fact, babies terrified me... but biological clocks, being what they are - I changed my mind and we had kids. To my surprise, I found my calling - so to speak. I felt very at ease and comfortable with my role as Mom and my kids have responded beautifully to the point where I happen to think that I am a pretty good Mom... my kids think so anyway (but ask them again when they are in their 20's!). I haven't felt any desire to go back to work or do something outside the home, and I am fortunate to be in a position where I don't have to work.

However, this year my baby starts grade one. Grade one is big. Grade one means that they will both be gone, all day. My life is about to shift into the next chapter and I have been very uncertain where this chapter should go. On the one hand, I am pretty confident that I could go out and get a good paying job... a job that I would possibly enjoy doing. But doing that job means that now my kids would possibly need after school care and what about during Christmas, Easter and Summer breaks from school. Where do they go then. I also am very guilty of wanting to be included in many things... hubby does get a lot of time off, (but his schedule is all over the place) and if he and the kids are going to do something fun, I would much rather join them and make it a family affair, than be stuck at work. Hence my dilemma... what to do...

I am pretty certain that the first month of the kids being at school all day and me having time to myself, would be pretty much heavenly. I love them, but a break is always good! After the first month of school though, I think it would be very easy to get in a bad place, personally. To not have some"thing" to describe yourself doing. I could fill my time with this and that but when someone was to ask me what I do... how would I answer.

So after much soul searching about what I thought I should do, it occurred to me that I would love to go back to college. I thoroughly enjoyed college, the open-mindedness, the discussions, the learning, the discovery and the writing. It was a much more enjoyable thing than BCIT. BCIT was a means to an end, but it wasn't enjoyable. College was. I never got a degree from college, a thing which I would love to have, but not necessarily my goal at this point in time... at this point in time I need something to engage me, give me a purpose and a schedule, and something to keep me moving forward, so I do not stagnate. I will start slow and see where it goes from there... until my time is a bit more free for myself. So I started with an online English course which will give me the freedom to still be there if the kids are sick or have a pro-d day... maybe next semester I will take more but for now, this is all I can envision.

So it is back to school for the kids and me!

Home Again... and summer is nearly done.

We have had a busy, busy summer. We were blessed with having several rounds of visitors in the beginning of summer; Hubby's parents came up here at the end of May, my parents came up at the end of June and my sister and her kids came up at the end of July. I have had more friends up here make comment on how much company we get, and we are thankful for it. It is a LONG way to travel, and not a destination people would otherwise choose, but we have a wonderful family and friends who make the drive anyway... we are lucky!

Aside from company, the beginning of summer was also busy with outings. We went to the rivers, the Peace River was really low this year due to very little rain so the kids got to slide down the mudbanks again, and again I didn't have the camera! We found fossils at Beaton River, we explored Dawson Creek (which we hadn't done previously as we normally beeline to
the cousins house!) visited their museums and Rotary Lake. Rotary Lake was good enough that we went back again another time, it is a man made lake that isn't very deep, but it is perfect for the kids to swim in. We visited our museum and Charlie Lake for swimming (amid a fish fly hatch I think!), and another time to Charlie Lake for boating and fishing (still no fish for us!). We went to the fair, to the circus, to the movies and we had a flash flood!

Then in the beginning of August, we went on vacation. We decided this year to just go to Squamish, not include the Island as well. This was for several reasons, to be able to have a good visit with our parents, not rushed. For us to feel like we actually have a vacation, not rushing around. Also, to really explore Squamish, the town Hubby and I grew up in, with our kids and also do some of the neat things there are to do so close to Squamish.

The Chief...

Although it did feel a bit wrong being so close to the Island and not going over, but both of my sisters came to Squamish to see us, and it was lovely.

While in Squamish we went to Alice Lake, twice! We explored Nexxen Beach, which I had never been to before, as it was an industrial site when I grew up... I like it better as a beach!

View from Nexxen Beach, it was very windy this day and there was a sail boat race as well as kite-boarders out on the Sound.

We had a great time visiting with all of our family and letting the kids play, but we also headed into the city and took the kids to Maplewoods Farm, which was lovely and the kids really enjoyed. They particularly liked riding the toy tractors and feeding the ducks.

After going to the farm, we headed over to Stanley Park and explored all over the park, but the kids had the biggest memorable moment with the raccoons at Lookout Point. The raccoons there have learned that if they run at people, the people will drop their food and run away... So the whole time we were there the kids were slightly freaked out,as we saw this happen just as we arrived, but also intrigued. There were more incidents while we were looking around so it was quite exciting!

On another day, we took the kids to Science World, which was pretty awesome.

It was expensive to get in, but once you are in, all the exhibits are open for you to explore.There was a Pirate Treasure exhibit at Science World while we were there...

We spent hours inside there and we all had fun, there are so many things to see and do, I am sure we missed a lot, but we ran out of time before we ran out of interest.

On another trip into Vancouver (and past way out to Langley) we went to the Greater Vancouver Zoo. The zoo was also a lot of fun and we spent the whole day there as well...
One of our day trip we went the other way. We went to Whistler instead of Vancouver, with Hubby's Mom and rode the gondola's and chairlifts exploring the mountains. It was a wonderful day, we enjoyed it so much as something completely different. It made us realize how fortunate we were growing up to have been able to explore so much of the awesome mountains and glaciers of that area, and much of it was through the school... Hubby and I really need to stay in shape to give our kids the same experience.

On top of the Creekside Gondola, Whistler

Up on the very top of Whistler Mountain... see Black Tusk Mountain in the background (the pointy one), we climbed up to that in Grade 9. Hubby climbed all the way to the top!

The Peak to Peak Gondola took us from Whistler Mtn to Blackcomb Mtn... the little red things in the distance of that picture... are other gondolas, it gives you an idea of how huge this was!

So apart from all those things, we also met up with Hubby's family at Porteau Cove twice, for dinner. One of those times was with cousins, so the kids had a lot of fun swimming and floating on logs. The other time was after Hubby went with his Dad and the kids out boating on Howe Sound, all around Anvil Island and they saw lots of seals with pups and had a great time. I had been in West Vancouver that day visiting with one of my best friends and having a great time catching up.

I am sure that I am forgetting stuff on here, but it really has been a wonderfully busy summer. So full that it has flown by and it is nearly over!

Another Summer Solstice...

Today marks the longest day of the year, our third summer solstice up north. It has been feeling like summer already for the past few weeks and the kids and I are already brown (Hubby is pink)! We have been having weather in the mid twenties, which feels much warmer up here, again probably because of the dry... it is very dry. The little bits of rain that we have had haven't added up to anything, they haven't even wet the pavement, just made speckles. But I am not complaining!! It has felt heavenly, we are thoroughly enjoying this summer weather and are ready for a few summer storms that are likely to come our way over the next few weeks.

We are very excited to have the kids home for the summer, we can have them to ourselves again for a while. They have already finished their music recitals, their soccer tournaments (in which Maria received a special medal for being always eager, smiling and fun), and all that is left to finish up is school... I can't wait!

But today is the solstice and it is celebrated around the world by so many different cultures and religions, it feels as though there should be a bit more "celebration" here... but there isn't so we can just quietly say... Happy Summer!

I Don't Feel Tired...

Yet I am not going to bed lately... well not until it is quite late! The days are so very long right now, and we have been having such beautiful weather... it feels wrong to go to bed when the sun is still shining! Last night it was still bright out when I made myself go to bed at 11:30... Next week is the solstice... I think my body is gearing up to watch it!

Gardening in the North.

Gardening up here is a MUCH different thing than gardening on the south coast. When we moved from Squamish to the Island, gardening changed a little bit. In that there were MORE things I could grow. The weather and climate on the Island are extremely temperate and mild and there are very few things you can't grow. In fact the main problem I had on the Island was over-growth... whether it was in the form of invasive weeds (blackberries, horse-tail and morning glory were the worst) or in the form of the plants over growing their areas.

The rock-wall garden hubby made and I planted in Squamish, with a cute baby Maria and some container gardens too!

When we bought our house in Saltair there was an absolutely fabulous garden. The plants around the deck were all colourful and scented so that when you sat out in the evenings it was heavenly. There were beautiful, lush, varied species throughout the whole yard.

The beautiful garden in Saltair... just after we moved in. Notice the size of the pine tree on the left hand side of the picture.

We bought the house from a couple who had no children and one of their main hobbies was gardening. Then we moved in... Hubby was working Monday - Friday and I had a two year old and a baby. Let's just say the garden wasn't quite what it was when we left! I tried to keep up with it, but the weeds and the plants themselves were vigorous!

This picture was at Allan's 3rd birthday... so two years from the previous picture... look at the pine tree on the left. You don't have to be good at growing things on the Island, you have to be good at weeding and pruning!

Up here, I am having the opposite problem. We are now beginning our THIRD year (holy cow, how did that happen!) up here. The first year I let the garden just happen so I would know what was in it when it grew... turns out there was nothing in it so I threw in some annuals and had containers plants! Last year out front I planted annuals again, but planned this time so they looked good and lush. Well they eventually did after they recovered from the May long weekend snow and frost we had that nearly killed them! We also dug up a portion of the back yard to plant trees and shrubs to try and make it less sterile back there.

The sticks and dirt are the garden we built... this picture was taken last year, just after we planted it. It looks pretty much the same this year, except now the two trees on the back fence don't have any leaves on the top branches!

We planted six trees, one of them didn't make it at all. It was dead before we started as it had been in a bucket and moved with us from the Island. The other five were healthy, we had a weeping crab-apple, a hawthorn, a cherry, a pear and a Pea Shrub. So far this year the Pea Shrub and the Cherry look good, the Crab-apple has leaves and flowers but it looks sickly (except it seems fine where it is growing out of the shoots on the bottom of the tree). The Hawthorn and the Pear both look dead, except the shoots at the bottom are healthy looking... I don't know what happened to those poor trees... the winter was a fairly mild winter, but we did have people moving dirt a lot behind us, which created a bit of a swamp behind our back fence. We also have horrible clay soil, but I worked a lot of peat-moss and coconut husks into the soil, as well as adding a bunch of soil, around the trees.

In the front yard this year, the little lilac bushes are also failing. One is dead and two have only a few branches with leaves... and this year I decided instead of annuals in the front garden bed, I would grow veggies. Why not?! They are pretty, annual and tasty! So we have carrots, radishes, lettuce, spinach, kale peas, beans and zucchini! We also have a few marigolds that hubby's grandfather planted before he passed away...

So I think each year will be a challenge and things will have to be really planned out. I think I am going to stick with native trees from now on and beautify with shrubs... they aren't as heart-breaking when they die!

So...

You dress for what looks to be a rainy day and wind up sweating in the beautiful, cloudless sky that emerges 10 minutes after you leave the house...

This is while you are walking with the kindergarten class from the school to the gymnastics club for a field-trip...

This is after the teacher, the other parents and you have made sure all the kindergarten kids have on their jackets and sweaters so they are all sweating too...

I could not be a kindergarten teacher, I was far to tempted to tell them to suck it up. If I am going to sweat, so can they!

Six.

Today I am not going to post about living up north... Today is my baby boy's 6th birthday. I am in awe that six years have past since he was born.


Each time either of my kids have a birthday, I find myself thinking back to where I was on the day they were born, at certain times during the day... Maria was born at night after 4 hours of labour and I can still remember the day leading up to her birth (going to the Dr. in the morning, having lunch with my Mom and Irene, watching Tony Parsons on the news, falling asleep on the couch and waking up to my water breaking!).
Allan was born at 8am after less than two hours of labour. So for him I recall lifting up Maria at 6am and feeling my water break, the contractions started about 15 minutes later.

I can remember being quite mad at Anne because she wanted to have a shower before we left for the hospital (I was in labour! There is no logic!) I also remember arriving at the hospital and only having about 1/2 hour until he was born.


So my day of recollection for Allan's birth is over by 8 am... from there my day of recollection gets difficult.
Most days, I forget that Allan ever had anything wrong with him. He is such a happy, healthy, active, smart and charming little boy. But on his birthday I re-live it a little bit and the re-run lasts for a little more than a month, until the day we got to go home from the hospital. That was a day of pure joy and excitement and sunshine and Maria's crazy curls and Allan's gaunt little shaved head and Suki being ecstatic and Michael and I finally able to relax and celebrate our new addition to our family.


That said, today IS Allan's birthday and we will be having fun and celebrating the big boy that he is turning into and trying to grant him a few wishes along the way.

Happy birthday my little man, I love you.