An easy way to spruce up your weekend – go see Harry!

Posted on July 19, 2009 by Sherry

Here is something which will not be a surprise to anyone who knows me even a little – this weekend we went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The reason this wouldn’t be a surprise to most people is because I have always gone offline completely whenever a new book came out in the series so that I could read it without fear of spoilers, and the only times I missed the movies in theaters was because one time I was experiencing horrible morning sickness (with Hayley) and another time I had just given birth (to Breanna).

I’m a bit of a Harry Potter fan. You know, just a little. To the point where I know all the spells, characters, debates, and prior to the final book had a great deal of fun indulging in theories all over the Internet. I’ve also been known to enjoy some good Harry Potter fanfic and even wrote some myself.

So yeah. It’s no surprise that I saw Harry Potter this weekend. It made $104 million on its opening night; I don’t know how much it made over the whole weekend but I certainly contributed to it. Also, oh my GOD. It was so ridiculously good. They’ve all been fun but I’ve usually had some gripes after the fact. This time the movie was two and a half hours which helped avoid cutting out too much of the important story parts which was really nice. There was only one thing that they left out that I would have liked to have seen included but the story didn’t suffer for it so it was okay. I really think that this was the best adaptation of any of the books so far.

George made fun of me for crying. It’s okay because I made fun of him for jumping so high that he nearly fell out of his seat. Good movie indeed.

Can you tell I was really happy to have seen it?

(What? What do you mean you don’t take pictures in your in-laws’ bathroom? I thought everyone did!)

*******

The amazingly crappy summer continues with further instances of rain and cloud and temperatures that are way too low to be considered normal July weather. It rained today which ruined my plans of hitting the park – not only were all the swings and slides wet, with the proximity of the woods it also means the park was a total mosquito paradise so that was out.

However, thankfully the sun broke through the clouds after supper – of course! Just when it’s time to start setting! But at least it was there, so I grabbed both the kids and we went out for a nice long walk around the neighborhood. They needed the fresh air and exercise, and the air felt pretty good to me too. It was also nice to actually have some evening light for taking pictures.

I know that by this time I’m usually bitching about the humidity but honestly, it’s getting ridiculous. The kids tried to swim last weekend at the party but the pool was brand new so the water was cold and so was the air – they didn’t last long and I didn’t get in at all, choosing to just hold Breanna up on the side of the pool to splash her feet instead. I haven’t been swimming yet and it’s been almost a full month since summer started. Enough!

I need some pool time. Really desperately. Please?

An outdoor party on one of the few nice days so far

Posted on July 13, 2009 by Sherry

Honestly, so far this has been one hell of a crappy summer. There’s been way too much rain and while it may be great for the grass, we can’t enjoy it since we’re INSIDE all the time. Also, it is killing my flowers. Totally killing them. They can’t handle it and I’ve lost all the flowers on my geranium, an entire box of white pansies, and the yellow ones may be next. It figures that I wait ten years before finally planting flowers, only to do it on one of the most monsoon-like summers.

And it doesn’t help that it rained again today, and when I went to check the forecast I found this:

Well YIPPEE.

Anyway. It wasn’t looking good on Saturday, but Hayley had a birthday party in the early afternoon. This left Breanna very sad since she wasn’t invited (I told her she’d get birthday invites when she starts school but this was of little comfort) so I took her to the park for a picnic. We had to eat really quickly and get to the swings as fast as we could because I could see the clouds coming in, but we got some fun time in together before it started to pour.

When we had to go back out later it was just ridiculous driving. There was so much rain coming down that even though we parked all of 15 feet from the door we were all soaked by the time we got in.

Luckily it didn’t rain on Sunday though because we had an outdoor party that day. The sister of the drummer in George’s band was having a party at her house but it was intended to be outside in the backyard and the band was going to set up beside the back deck. A storm would have been a disaster. It ended up being quite chilly but there was nary a drop of rain so that’s all that mattered.

The house is in a rural area and surrounded by farm land. I LOVE it out there. They have two kids as well, not much older than Hayley, so their yard is like a child’s paradise – pool, treehouse, swing set, slide, trampoline, tons of toys. Hayley and Breanna were NOT bored, let’s put it that way. Also, they’re at an age where it’s so much easier to go out with them because I don’t have to hover and follow all the time like you do with younger kids. I just let them go and they had a blast – the entire day they must have jumped for a total of three or four hours on the trampoline. They slept SUPER well that night.

Meanwhile, I had a great time because I hadn’t heard George play in a really long freakin’ time. I miss that so much. Also, *rawr* and all that.

It was a really good time. The food was delicious (lots of grilled chicken, sausages, plus side dishes of pasta salads, potatoes, and oh my GOD Tabbouleh – I ate so much Tabbouleh), everyone had fun, and it was so nice to be out. Unfortunately, the second that the sun went down, approximately 500 angry mosquitoes came out of nowhere and attacked us so the show came to a stop at about 9 pm and we had cake and coffee in the kitchen, leaving by about 10 pm.

I love that my kids are growing up in a world where it’s totally normal to have parties that involve live bands.

Outside all day = good sleep for everyone

Posted on June 14, 2009 by Sherry

Yesterday we decided it was the perfect day to just get out of the house and not come back until the day was done. So that’s exactly what we did.

We started the day off by going to our favorite used bookstore. I love books and I love bookstores, but USED bookstores are my favorite. I can easily spend hours poking around – or I could if I didn’t have two kids following me around. Breanna was funny, she kept pointing out totally random books to me, suggesting that I get this or that. I went with a list of six books I would like to read and found a grand total of none of them. But hey, that’s part of the fun with used stores, you may not always find what you want. In the end, I found The Second Summer of the Sisterhood. I read Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants last year and really loved it, so I’ve been meaning to get this for awhile.

After our time amongst the books, we were hungry so we stopped at “La Belle Province” for some lunch. Because we’ve gone there several times for lunch, Breanna always refers to it as “Lunchtime”. Once we had stuffed ourselves full of greasy yet tasty fast food, we drove over to the West Island Blues Festival. We had gone last year too, but it was so hot and humid that I felt pretty awful and George ended up not enjoying it at all because the sound guy sucked. This year was hot and a mix of sun and clouds but it wasn’t humid and there was a nice breeze so we were all very comfortable and the sound was way better. We only stayed for two hours, seeing two of the bands, but it was fun.

Breanna barely sat down the entire time we were there. She danced almost constantly, at one point even getting right in the middle of the space in front of the stage and shaking it like a crazy person.

We planned to go home then, but whenever we go to the West Island, Hayley likes to go down to the water. She asked if we could please just go for a little bit, and it wasn’t very far away so we went down and watched two Labs fetching sticks in the water, checked out some ducks, and enjoyed the cool breeze coming off the water.

The kids were a bit tired when we got in the car to come home. Not that it showed.

By the time we got back home it was too late (and I was too tired) to start making our original plan for supper (chicken in an Indian mango curry sauce on rice) so we just got some fresh take-out meals from the grocery store (I love their Thai chicken and vegetables on noodles) and settled for that. We had also planned on having a family movie night but the kids were so tired that we stopped the movie after an hour and put them to bed. There was mild complaining but they were each conked out in five minutes flat so it was obviously the right choice.

George and I had some tea and watched some stand-up comedy on TV, then I took the dog for a walk around the block – it was so nice outside that I would have gone longer if I hadn’t been tired. I ended up crawling into bed right at 11 pm and I think I fell asleep before the clock changed to 11:01. We all managed to sleep until about 8:30 this morning and that felt GREAT.

There’s a lot to be said about being outside, especially when your two kids spend most of two hours running back and forth across the music festival park or dancing.

Today we’re heading out to see my parents for a couple of hours since it was my dad’s birthday on Thursday, then it will be back to the grind once I get the kids to bed – Hayley has one more week of school, then two days of “fake school” (in other words, the 22nd is Fun Day where they play all day long and the 23rd is the last day which means cleaning up the classroom, having an assembly, then watching a movie in class). Then summer is here, and we can look forward to a whole lot of outside time!

A lack of sleep makes me ramble

Posted on June 2, 2009 by Sherry

Breanna is either going through a growth spurt or she’s turned into a tiny teenage boy. It’s unbelievable how much food she can eat in one day. Right now it’s 10:45 am and she’s been up since 6:30. She actually only started eating at about 7:30 though, so we’re talking about just over three hours of time, and this is what she has eaten so far:

– A bowl of Raisin Bran cereal (except she takes the raisins out. I have a three year old who would be thrilled with a box of Bran Flakes.)
– A bowl of strawberries
– A strawberry yogurt
– An apple
– A piece of bread with peanut butter
– A slice of cheese

That all also includes milk in her cereal and a juice box.

I’m going to need another job just to cover the amount of food she eats on a daily basis, although maybe this will push her over the weight limit and we can start using a booster seat in the car soon!

*******

Speaking of jobs, I just started a new blogging job. It’s part of b5 media, where I already write for three other blogs, but this one is a member of the beauty & style network. (Let me pause for a second while I struggle not to laugh over the idea of ME working for a beauty & style network.)

It’s still keeping me in touch with my niche roots – celebrities – but it allows me to branch out a bit. The site is called Celeb Look and basically I detail what various celebrities were wearing while they were out and about, then I link readers to places online where they can buy the same outfit or similar knock-offs.

I only started yesterday but I’m already enjoying it. It just never fails to strike me as hilarious that I work on fashion sites (I write for this one too) and most of the time that I’m writing I’m often wearing such fabulous outfits as pajamas, track pants, or jeans. I almost feel like a fraud, but I figure it’s just my way of living vicariously through people who make enough money to afford to wear Calvin Klein and Versace.

*******

This coming Friday I get to go to Hayley’s school for a Volunteer Appreciate Tea in the afternoon. I went to one last year as well and it was a lot of fun – it was very British-style with fancy china cups, a variety of teas, some coffee, and tons of cookies, biscuits, and other baked goods. It was really nice but I’m looking forward to going this time even more because I know more of the parents this year. I’ll have to take pictures this year too, last time I was a little shy about it since I didn’t really know anyone.

Before the tea, there’s an assembly in the gym where they have the whole school come and sit down and the principal gives out an appreciation certificate to all the parents who volunteered over the year. It’s almost like an awards show where each person is called to come down and pick up their certificate and it’s fun because all the kids applaud and cheer – it makes you feel a little like a rock star. Last year I remember most of Hayley’s class was reaching out to give me high fives as I walked past. It’s the closest I’ll get to being a celebrity at this point in my life!

Hayley’s extra excited about it because the tea goes past the end of the school day so she gets to go down to the daycare with her friends to play. Every once in awhile she asks me why I can’t put her into the after-school daycare and I point out that it’s because I work from home and therefore we DON’T NEED IT, but sometimes she wishes she could play with her friends, so this will be fun for her too.

*******

I stayed up past midnight two nights in a row and got up with Hayley for school at 6:30 two mornings in a row. It’s not a good combination, I’m exhausted today and not in that good, hilarious loopy kind of way. It’s more of that “holy hell I’m going to pass out and sleep for 36 hours straight” kind of way. Perhaps tonight I could try to get to bed before the day is actually over, yes?

(Magic 8 Ball says: Don’t count on it.)

Stream of Consciousness

Posted on June 1, 2009 by Sherry

For reasons that I can’t even really understand, I have been suffering from incredible writer’s block. Luckily it hasn’t gotten in the way of work. When your job requires you to write numerous things daily, a complete mental blackout is a very bad thing. However, I did find it pretty much impossible to write here for some reason. Who knows why.

I’m tired of the same old entry sitting up top here though, so I’m going to just force myself to write anyway, some sort of stream of consciousness effort. Let’s see what the past week held that I haven’t told you about.

I had a personal record last week. I got a headache on Monday and I swear it did not go away until Saturday. It wasn’t just one headache after another it was the SAME damn headache all week long. Tylenol didn’t help, all that did was dial it down a notch so I could function and then it came straight back to full force after four hours. I was starting to make jokes about brain tumors while thinking “hahaha… hmmm, maybe?” in the back of my mind, but George suggested it was weather-related. Considering it also rained all damn week and was a weird combination of humid yet damp and cold it’s entirely possible.

I do know that on Saturday George got me some Advil and two of those plus a break in the weather finally kicked my headache to the curb. Sunday was the first morning where I woke up without any pain and that was a total relief. Which is why I was so pissed off that I later smashed the side of my head into a hard, wooden chair while bending to pick something up off the floor. That was awesome. Luckily the pain went away with two more Advil.

Any more painkillers and I’ll need to check into Betty Ford.

*******

Hayley’s class has been studying the rainforest (hence their field trip to the Biodome) and they all had to do a research project on one animal that lives there. Hayley picked the iguana and she had to write up about two pages’ worth of information on iguanas (she ended up with three, detailing things like what they eat, who their enemies are, and so on) and then she had to make her own iguana and its habitat. Yeah, it was a lot of work for a SIX YEAR OLD in GRADE ONE, but she had fun at least.

She originally made an iguana out of clay – and she actually did most of it herself, I just kind of guided her and showed her how to make spikes down the back – but the more it dried the more it fell apart. I ended up having to glue three of the four limbs back on, as well as the head and the tail. I was worried it would completely fall apart in class, so I suggested that she make one out of cardboard too. She used a printout as a stencil, traced it onto construction paper, glued it to cardboard, and decorated it.

She also used a shoe box as the habitat and glued green construction paper, sticks, and some leaves that we bought at the dollar store to make a rainforest for her iguanas. All I really had to do was cover the outside of the box for her (since it was a neon pink Barbie shoe box!) and she took care of the rest herself. She’s really crafty and artsy. I think it came out really well!

*******

They should be getting their glasses sometime this week. Hayley can’t wait, she asks about them all the time. Breanna doesn’t think of it often unless someone mentions them, but Hayley is tired of squinting at the board in class. I can’t wait to see the difference it makes for both of them.

*******

On Friday Hayley had two milestones. One of her friends takes gymnastics and they were having a special party on Friday evening. She invited Hayley to come with her and they got to play on trampolines, do obstacle courses, and all kinds of gymnastics activities. It was the first time we had ever just had Hayley dropped off somewhere like that without one of us being there. Her friend’s parents went out for dinner and picked them up about three hours later and they had both had such a good time.

In related news, Hayley would like to sign up for gymnastics in the Fall. I totally saw that coming.

The other milestone was that Hayley had also been invited to sleep over. She’s spent the night at her grandparents’ house before, usually when George’s sister is in town, but this was the first sleepover at a friend’s house. We had told her that if she changed her mind she could come home at any time, even if it was 3 am, but she did great. They didn’t even go to sleep until 11:30 so she just slept straight through until sometime after 6 the next morning.

She was EXHAUSTED on Saturday. She actually fell asleep in the afternoon, something she normally never does unless she’s sick.

Since Hayley had been out, Breanna and I did a movie night on Friday. She loves Sleeping Beauty but had never seen the actual movie, so we got her that, popped some popcorn, and she stayed up later than usual. Then on Saturday, since Hayley was asleep and it was the first time there had been any sun in days, Breanna and I went out for a walk for awhile. She actually spent most of the hour and a half making “soup” with a puddle of rain water in a rock, stirring in all sorts of bits of nature. I think I need to get her a water table for the summer. Or even a big tupperware container.

It was a pretty decent weekend overall. And I’m just really happy to be starting this weekend off without any headaches!

How to find some peace

Posted on May 6, 2009 by Sherry

The other day the kids were both driving me crazy. They’re going through a phase where they can barely be in the same room together for longer than three minutes without some sort of epic fight breaking out. And I swear to you, they can – and will – fight over anything. ANYTHING. They’ll fight over who gets the one lone yellow bowl and who has to have a blue on (I’m about to throw the damn yellow bowl out). They’ll argue over who gets to lock the door when someone leaves. It never ends.

It got to a point where I was seriously debating walking to the nearest mental facility and insisting that they lock me inside a nice soft room until both kids reach adulthood but I’d probably change my mind after the first couple of days (maybe a whole week?) so something less drastic was in order.

It turns out that a dumb Beagle on your leash, Jason Mraz on your iPod, and woods spread out around you can do a whole lot of good for the soul. Remember what I said about how we need a yard? What we really need is a place with a yard that backs onto a really huge wooded area. I felt so much better once I was away from street noise and people and was just surrounded by trees and plants and dirt paths. I would do so well in a tiny cabin in the middle of nowhere. With a good high speed Internet connection, naturally.

But seriously, this kind of landscape does wonders for the spirit.

In other non-stabby news (with a nod to Angella for the term “stabby” which is so accurate, isn’t it?), Hayley decided that she really wanted to cook something. She’s been getting her own sandwiches from time to time but she wanted to make something more substantial. I wish I could remember who it was that mentioned it on their blog (if you remember, please tell me!) that the danger with kids cooking is that they could burn themselves on a hot stove, but so what? That’s how they learn. That stuck in my head for awhile.

I’m obviously not about to let my six-year-old handle a pot full of boiling water and she’s not ready for unsupervised cooking, but just some basic stove use? Well, why the hell not.

Thus, the other day when she came home from school, instead of giving her a yogurt or something simple for a snack, Hayley made herself some scrambled eggs. She was super excited when I said that yes, she would be making them on the stove and no, I was not going to do any of it. I narrated to her, telling her what she needed to do and I mimed things for her (like cracking the eggs into a bowl and how to whisk the milk in) but she did every single thing herself.

And she did indeed burn herself a tiny little bit on the edge of the pan, and the world didn’t end. She basically reacted like me, except that she said, “Oh, OUCH!” whereas I would have used a slightly stronger expletive than “ouch”, but she was fine and she kept cooking.

The only time I finally stepped in was when it was time to dish the eggs out into two bowls so that she could share some with Breanna. For one thing, I wanted to make sure Breanna got more than one bite in her bowl, and for another, the frying pan is a bit heavy and I didn’t want Hayley to lose her grip and drop the eggs all over the floor – not because it would be a huge mess, but because it would have triggered one of those “really tired post-school kid meltdowns” of epic proportions.

She was so very proud of herself and is already looking forward to doing it again. Maybe I’ll let her make us breakfast this weekend. It IS going to be Mother’s Day after all!

Breanna won’t be ready for real stove cooking for awhile but she has helped me pour and stir things before when they’re not directly on the burners, and the same day that Hayley made the eggs, Breanna made her own tuna sandwich, first helping me mix the tuna with the mayonnaise and then making the actual sandwich herself. The only thing I had to do was cut it (square, please, never ever triangles!).

Do your kids cook?

This, that, and other stuff

Posted on May 4, 2009 by Sherry

We had a busy weekend. Luckily it wasn’t the crazy, stressful kind of busy. Just busy in the sense that we had plenty of moments to enjoy.

Friday night, Hayley’s school held another movie night in the gym. The admission is free and they sell popcorn, drinks, and chips to raise funds. They were showing Bedtime Stories and since it’s not animated I had a strong suspicion that Breanna wouldn’t be interested at all, which would leave me following her all around the gym and cafeteria for an hour and a half. Instead, she went with George to get some ice cream while I took Hayley to the movie. When we were outside the school Hayley picked a couple of dandelions to give to her principal.

I made a good choice in not taking Breanna this time. Last time it was Wall-E which she loves, and even then she wandered a lot. This movie would not be her thing. Actually, there were an awful lot of kids in the gym who weren’t paying much attention – it was mostly all the parents watching the movie. Still, they had fun and that’s what counts. They seem to mostly just enjoy coming to the school out of uniform to socialize. And by the way, it’s a really cute movie for slightly older kids. I enjoyed it and want to see it again to fill in the parts that I missed (such as when my drink got kicked over, ahem).

When Saturday rolled around I was on a mission to finally – after ten freakin’ years – do something to make our balcony look nice. It was a good start last summer when we got our bistro set, at least we had somewhere nice to sit (which was why it was a shame it was so darn rainy), but for years I had been saying that I wanted to plant some flowers. For reasons that I don’t even understand, I just never did.

First, one of Hayley’s friends invited her over for the day, so we headed over there to drop her off. After that we went straight to Canadian Tire. Breanna had been disappointed that she wasn’t joining Hayley, but once she wandered around the garden area with me, helping me pick out flowers, she was much more cheerful.

I don’t know much about flowers, I’ve never had a very green thumb. Honestly, I have killed every plant I’ve ever owned. I went with what was familiar and what came with indications that they would thrive in full sunlight since we get constant sun from about 11:30 am until sunset on our balcony, with no overhang to provide shade. I ended up getting pansies in yellow, orange, white, and purple, as well as one geranium plant. They all make me smile because my grandmother on my dad’s side always had those in her window boxes. I also got a packet of wildflower seeds for fun.

When we got home, Breanna and I ventured out on the balcony with a giant bag of earth, some plant pots, and our flowers and we got to work. I realized I didn’t have a proper shovel, but we managed with our hands and some sturdy spoons. Ghetto gardening!

I didn’t get any good pictures of the pansies that are in the longer boxes up on the railing because it was a little too windy to get a good shot. Just ask Breanna.

After we were done and washed up, we were invited to go join Hayley for some pizza for dinner. Breanna was thrilled to go play with the two big girls and I was thrilled to have a glass of wine and talk to other adults. By the time we got home, both kids were so tired that they were out within about ten minutes, sound asleep.

On Sunday morning, Hayley wanted us to all go do something fun together and it was a nice day so we decided to go to the park. When we were headed out we saw our neighbor’s daughter; she’s in grade two at Hayley’s school but because they’ve known each other for years they often hang out together, especially when they go see the handball games at lunch. We ended up inviting her to come along and they all had a lot of fun. I was happy to take a lot of pictures, and was even happier when George took over the camera and took several shots of his own. I love seeing his pictures. This one that he took of Hayley hanging upside down from the top of a ladder is awesome:

I also liked this sequence. He took a picture of Hayley who was inexplicably climbing up the OUTSIDE of a play structure, and then he immediately swung the camera my way to capture my reaction to Hayley’s acrobatics. I was muttering, “please don’t fall. Please don’t fall. I am NOT going to hover but please don’t fall.”

Then I took the camera back.

Breanna was so tired that she fell asleep on the couch at 7:30 while I was drying Hayley’s hair post-bath and I had to carry her to bed, slip her diaper on for the night, and then I was able to tuck her in. Hayley was in bed at 8 and out less than 15 minutes later. It was the quietest bedtime in ages and I was able to watch the early release of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button that Paramount had sent me (I love my job). I loved the movie so much, I gushed about it a little over here.

You just can’t complain about a weekend that was filled with movies, flowers, playdates, and park outings. I can use more of those please and thank you.

Field Trip

Posted on April 25, 2009 by Sherry

I think that one of the best things about working from home (aside from having business meetings over Skype while wearing pajamas) is that my schedule is flexible. I still have to get certain things done each day but I don’t have to account for every single second of my day as long as I’m done when I go to bed. That meant that when Hayley’s teacher sent a letter home saying the grade one students were going to the Montreal Biodome as part of their current rain forest studies, I was able to sign on as a volunteer parent.

The Biodome is seriously one of my favorite places in all of Montreal. I’ve been there more than ten times now and I never get tired of it because there’s always something to see that I missed the time before. There are still countless animals that I have never even seen yet.

Anecdotally, the first time I went there was about 13 years ago. I worked at Second Cup as a Barista and I hated it because the boss was a sexist pig who screamed at the girls – even in front of customers – for the same mistakes that were overlooked if it was one of the guys. I was standing in the metro station, waiting to go to work and decked out in my black uniform shirt, a black skirt, and striped tights. I had absolutely no desire to subject myself to another day of crap, and I suddenly noticed an advertisement on the wall for the Biodome. I thought, “you know, I still haven’t been there. I bet that would be more fun than being screamed at for minimum wage.” And so, when the metro came, I got on and I didn’t get off at my stop. I went all the way there, spent – literally – eight hours at the Biodome, and then came home. While walking around and looking at animals and birds I decided life was too short to put up with that and I quit.

Anyway, there was no question that I was going to go and volunteer for Hayley’s field trip. I was thrilled when two other moms that I know pretty well also volunteered. It was a lot of fun. The kids enjoyed it a lot, and I think they learned quite a bit too. It will be so helpful for them as they keep studying this segment, having seen some of the rain forest with their own eyes.

It was also a bit stressful, just because it’s a huge responsibility to be keeping a bunch of kids safe. I had five kids in my group, Hayley and four classmates. I swear, I spent so much of the day counting heads over and over and over that by the time I crawled (exhausted) into bed, I was still saying “1, 2, 3, 4, 5… 1, 2, 3, 4… where’s?! Oh. 5. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…” Still, I never lost anyone. Lost track of one from time to time, but always found them within ten seconds. Thank God, because no one wants to be that person who says, “uhhh, I lost your kid. My bad.” Also, for anyone who thinks that little boys are scary, they totally aren’t. I love having two girls, but there were two boys in my group that were just awesome and so cute. One insisted on holding my hand everywhere we went, and the other never stepped more than two feet from me. Awww!

Of course, there are other ecosystems, not just the rain forest, and as was to be expected, the penguins were a HUGE hit with the kids.

We spent about an hour or so at the Biodome, then we gathered to have lunch in the cafeteria. After that we had a majorly long walk to the Botanical Gardens so that we could go through their greenhouses. The kids were a little bored. I understand because I was too when I went in elementary school – at that age you just don’t care about plants and flowers. Now, as an adult? I would love to go back for several hours with my camera and just take a billion photos.

What they did love was the “Butterflies Go Free” exhibit. In one huge greenhouse there are hundreds of butterflies just fluttering around. Sometimes they land on people, sometimes they just hang out on plants. They have fruit platters out and there were always several butterflies getting their fill. They were just spectacular. I couldn’t get a shot of my favorite unfortunately, which was this beauty. When they flew up high, the light filtered right through their wings, making them glow a little.

This guy never even flinched when I closed in for a photo. So amazing.

Day 113: Caligo eurilochus (Owl Butterfly)

We were also supposed to go to the Insectarium but by the time we got out of the butterfly exhibit and made the long walk over there we only had five minutes to check it out. I did get to show Hayley cockroaches though (the enormous ones from tropical areas, ewwwww!) and I told her that’s what we’ll have crawling around if she doesn’t stop leaving her food lying around. Mean, perhaps, but effective so far!

The kids were all exhausted by the time we piled onto the bus to come back to the school. I’m sure that they all slept like the dead that night. On top of all that walking, when we got to the school we saw that George and Breanna were waiting for us. We drove over to George’s parents’ house for a bit and we ended up playing in the back yard and going for a walk in the woods. By the time we got home and ate some supper, Hayley was totally wiped out. She was asking to go to bed by 6:15 that night and the only reason I said no was because I didn’t want her to wake up at 5 am. You can tell she was tired.

She was in bed a little before 8, after eating very little of her pre-bed snack, and I swear it took five minutes tops for her to pass out.

I had a great time, though let’s just say it wasn’t only the kids who were tired. My pillow was very wonderful last night. I would definitely do it again. I know this is a yearly trip in grade one so I look forward to round two when Breanna gets there!

You can check out the full set from the Biodome here. (And yes, I have all the proper names on the animal/bird/fish photos but that’s just because I’m a huge nerd and pored over the Biodome website to find which one went with which picture.)

We need a yard

Posted on April 19, 2009 by Sherry

I’ve already known this for awhile of course, but the simple fact of the matter is that we desperately need a yard. At this point I figure it doesn’t really matter much whether that yard comes attached to a house, a townhouse, or a lower duplex, as long as it’s there and it’s ours.

We’re lucky. Our apartment complex surrounds a fairly large courtyard and we can play down there, but it’s not fenced in, so there’s always a complete inability for me to completely relax. I’ve tried taking a book downstairs with me while the kids play ball or pick up pine cones, but I just can’t read because I’m always watching to make sure they’re in sight and not headed for the busy street. Still, we are lucky because other apartments and condo buildings on our street don’t have much in the way of grass at all.

We’re also lucky because we can walk to our park in five minutes, and the park is bordered by woods. The park is small and it’s very inconvenient in the dead of summer because there are NO TREES whatsoever in the actual play area (I wish I could pack up the park near my parents and bring it over here because it’s a nice size, has a lot of great equipment, and a ton of trees spread out). The lack of shade makes it really difficult to spend much time there once the sun is blazing hot and the humidex is sky-high. Also, the woods have been shrinking bit by bit each year, but at least they’re still there and it’s fun to go walking in them – it helps to appease the fact that I would give anything to essentially live in the middle of nowhere. I envy people who live out in the country with woods galore surrounding them.

There’s also another apartment complex about a five minute walk from here that has a great courtyard full of trees and rocks and benches and grass and sometimes we like to go there, even though I feel a bit weird about playing in a courtyard that I don’t pay for with my rent.

The thing is, though, although we’re lucky to have the courtyard and we’re lucky to have a park and some woods so close by and a fun courtyard within minutes, it’s not the same as a yard. A yard would let me relax. If we had a yard I would bring my laptop outside and do my work in the shade while the kids ran around. I would sit and read a book with my feet propped up while the kids played. I would splash in a pool with them. It would be different.

Going outside requires a great deal of prep work. There’s no bathroom at the park so we have to make sure everyone has peed at least once (if not twice). We have to bring snacks, drinks, toys, etceteras and lug them with us. It’s certainly no huge ordeal, and I realize this is definitely a first world complaint when you think about third world kids playing with broken nails and bits of rubber from a blown out tire. But it still means that if someone has to pee or is thirsty after the last juice box is gone, or if it’s lunch time, we have to pack everything back up and head for home.

If we lived somewhere with a yard, we could run in and out as needed. Hungry? Go in and grab some fruit from the counter. Thirsty? There’s water in the fridge, go get some! What? You want the soccer ball instead of the beach ball and the bubbles instead of the jump rope? They’re right inside the door, go ahead! Are you jumping like that because you need to pee? Don’t be silly, go to the bathroom and come back out!

I know that it means we’d be outside so much more than we already are.

On Friday we picked Hayley up from school and we had to get a few things from the Dollar Store (I <3 the Dollar Store) and Hayley wanted to get a little set that came with two plastic golf clubs and two balls. We bought them and then decided to drop by to see George's parents since they live a few blocks away from us. When we got there, they weren't even home, but George called them on their cell and said we'd just hang out in the back yard for awhile.

It was great. George has a key so we were able to get the kids a snack and something to drink and we had access to a bathroom. Meanwhile, the kids played golf (they decided that while it was fun, Wii Golf is much easier!), picked up fallen branches and tossed them in the woods, and did somersaults.

We were there for over an hour, just playing out back and hanging out outside, and the fact that we could go in when we needed to was a stark comparison to the park or the courtyard (which is four floors below our apartment, a bit of a pain). When his parents got home, we went in for about ten minutes, then went home, but it was the chance to play in an enclosed yard that made the difference to the kids. I didn’t have to keep an eye on them as much (other than to make sure they weren’t hurting each other or digging in the garden), and I could relax and take pictures more easily. I thought about how much fun it would be to have Pearl out on her long leash that attaches to clothes lines (she can’t run free unless it’s REALLY fenced in 100% because Beagles just have too much of a habit of bolting).

So it’s official. We need a yard. I don’t care as much about the building sitting on the yard, just as long as that yard is closed in so the kids can play to their hearts’ content. It would make the upcoming summer a whole different ball game.

Anyone got a house they’d like to rent out?

The other half of a good one

Posted on April 14, 2009 by Sherry

Sometimes I worry about these long four-day weekends because Hayley is used to every second being used up at school that I feel like I need to create a full schedule to fill in the time that she’s off. Then I remember that it’s FUN to just go with the flow and not necessarily have any set plans. Because that gives you time to just sit around eating too much Easter chocolate and spend another two hours in the park on the final day of the long weekend.

The kids were both up bright and early on Easter morning. Hayley has had a lot of questions about God and Jesus lately, and I’m doing my best to answer them in ways that she can understand. However, on Sunday it didn’t matter to her about things like Jesus rising from the dead and sitting at the right hand of God and salvation. At 7:15 all she wanted was the chocolate that the Easter bunny had left lying around various parts of the living room.

(How did the Easter bunny even come to be? I should go Google it because while I understand giving gifts at Christmas and the tie-in to the three Wise Men bringing gifts to the baby Jesus, what in the heck does a large bunny leaving chocolate eggs out have to do with the Resurrection?!)

Anyway.

Breanna was still asleep when Hayley woke up but all it took was hearing her big sister say, “Breanna! It’s Easter!” and she was sitting bolt upright in bed, ready and raring to go. They were not impressed that they had to wait for me to take Pearl out to pee, but I really didn’t relish listening to “arroooooo” for the entire egg hunt.

They were pleased to see that the bunny had eaten his salad and apple that they had left out for him, but mostly they were ecstatic over all the eggs they found.

We also gave them a gift from us, a little Easter pail with some jelly beans, markers, a notebook, and a Precious Moments soft doll. I *love* the doll and wouldn’t mind one for myself to be honest. Those dolls then went everywhere with us for the remainder of the weekend.

In the mid-afternoon we went to see George’s parents and had our Easter dinner of chicken, ham, black-eyed peas and rice, vegetables, and key lime pie. We had wanted to visit my parents on Monday for an Easter lunch but the timing didn’t work out so hopefully we can get out their way next weekend.

Breanna was so eager to eat that when she was done playing, she went and sat all by herself at the little table set up for the kids. It was at least 20 minutes too early for her to be waiting for supper but she flat out refused to get back up, and she sat there drinking some juice and waiting patiently.

It was totally delicious but poor Hayley got a little carried away. She ate so much that her evening went down the tubes because she got a huge tummy ache from all the food.

Luckily she was all better by Monday morning. It was quite nice out and I didn’t want to waste the day so I put off most of my work until the late evening so that I could take the kids out to play. As per Breanna’s request, we first went for a walk in the woods again. Her new thing is that she insists on leading. Just to bug her, I ran ahead and taunted her because I was first. She then charged straight past me, yelling, “no you’re not! I’M FIRST!” And then she gave me this face.

Well she sure told me!

When we got to the park, Hayley was ecstatic to find a five-year-old girl there with her family, so they played together for a long time, further proving that language barriers are non-existent in kids – she spoke Spanish and French and Hayley is still learning French, but they managed anyway and had fun.

Meanwhile, the girl’s older brothers and father were practicing soccer on the grass and you could tell by the way they kicked the ball around that they play on teams. Breanna ran straight for them and I cringed as I thought of the scene she might cause when I would go to remove her from the middle of the game.

Instead, they immediately welcomed her and let her play. They would kick the ball hard back and forth a few times and then one of the boys would stop the ball and kick it very gently to Breanna, and then they all hooted and hollered at her in encouragement when she would take off kicking it along the grass. They did it for a good half hour with her, and I let them know I could take her to the swings but they flat out refused and said as long as she was having fun, it was fine.

At one point Hayley thought it would be funny to climb into a baby swing but was unamused when she realized she couldn’t get out. The father came over to help me when he saw me struggling to pull her out and on the way back to the grass he mentioned his sons were 14 and 16. I told him that they were both incredibly nice kids because really, how many teenagers would be willing to play soccer with a three-year-old? Those are exactly the kind of kids I want to raise.

We were all so exhausted when we got home that by bedtime it took very little prompting or effort to get the kids to sleep. And frankly it didn’t take me long either.

I think all weekends should be long ones. Four-day weeks and more weekend time to spend playing would be a wonderful thing.

(You can see all the Easter photos right here.)

Chaos Theory

Category Archives: Photos

An easy way to spruce up your weekend – go see Harry!

An outdoor party on one of the few nice days so far

Outside all day = good sleep for everyone

A lack of sleep makes me ramble

Stream of Consciousness

How to find some peace

This, that, and other stuff

Field Trip

We need a yard

The other half of a good one