June was BUSY!!!

We've had some time to hang with adult friends...amazing!

June has been a crazy month of endings; and in many ways beginnings. Back in September when the school year began, I wasn't entirely sure what our year would look like. The big world of elementary school and my baby starting preschool seemed immense. We initially backed off on

activities so as to allow the kids a smooth start, but as the year heated up, the activities piled on. All in all, it has been a super year for all of us. I can't believe how much the kids have grown and how much they have learnt. Lucas has amazed us all with his wit and intelligence. Mia has blossomed into an independent, bold child. It has been amazing to watch and thrilling to imagine what life will bring for them and us as well. We are blessed with happiness, health and security.

The rain has been a bummer...but you wouldn't believe how hard we've played this month anyways. We've camped, biked, danced, swum, beach-combed and played soccer all the way through June. Hooray!

Soccer was not a hit, but Lucas is a fantastic goalie!

Mia, third from the front of the row, danced all year. She changed from a tiny timid watcher to a happy bouncing, singing participator. Yeah Mia!
Lucas said goodbye to kindergarten today and is running towards grade one. From a kid who wasn't so sure he wanted to go to school, he has morphed into a computing, word-sounding-out, school-loving kid with a troupe of great friends to mark the year. We are so proud of him!

And so into summer vacation we go. (For them anyways, Rob and I are still working!) Tomorrow we leave for another camping trip on the Sunshine Coast and a plethora of summer plans are underway with the kids.

Thank you to everyone who has read their way through the ups and downs of our school year. I know the blogging has been sporadic, but such is life right now!

Soooo.... (Graphic in Nature)

Rob bought a pig's head. To cook. The plan; head cheese. Lucas was quite excited...because he likes cheese. Hmmm. I was not so sure that he was going to be thrilled about it.

Rob went online to learn how to prepare the pig's head. Rob got slightly turned off. Decided that instead of shaving its whiskers, burning the remaining hair and de-boning (removing the skull), he would rather skin it and use the skull to make Pozole. (Mexican soup we love.)

Ting skinned pig's head.

Not thrilled right now. I swear the pig opened his eyes when I first dug in, but glad Rob chose (wisely) not to let Lucas take the head to school for show-and-tell.

I'll let you know how the pozole was... if I can eat it. :(

Rainbows

Today was not all rainbows... far from it in fact. But when a day ends with a walk/bike under a rainbow like this, I think life will be just fine.

Rainbows. Amen.

Folly - As Defined by our Day.

I will arrange my food, yes. But no, I will not eat it.

folly n. , pl. , -lies . A lack of good sense, understanding, or foresight. An act or instance of foolishness: regretted the follies of his youth.

A lack of good sense: Lucas. Why is it that the human brain takes so long to mature? Does it not seem logical that the offspring of each species be born with some intrinsic good sense, rather than acquire it by trial and error?

This is the bike park in Whistler. Grown-up boys were doing amazing things here. The picture does not do it justice, and I could not get a shot of our five year old riding it, because I was too busy running beside him in fear. Lucas persevered for three quarters of an hour. He bailed **BIG** twice. We will return tomorrow. A new bike and better helmet will need to be purchased.

Understanding: Ting and Rob. We are not five-year-old boys, and this has been brazenly apparent today. We do not understand why he is naughty at school. We do not get why he must tease his sister. We certainly cannot figure out why he is good at math. We see no appeal in bubble-gum ice cream. We fall short of understanding the need for a water gun. Why are parents not consistently able to understand their children? To *get* them; feel their emotions, ride the same bike bumps, as it may be. For those we love, why do we have the capacity to shut the door to understanding where they are at? Are we wrong or do we simply lack the sense?

Foresight: Um...yeah, that's us again. Why does it come as a surprise to us that our children are their own people? That they may not be mini-images of us? That Mia may never play field hockey, snowboard or love reading. That Lucas may never love wine, soccer or watching hockey? Ok, it's not a surprise, but we seem to continue to place our own values on their individual choices even though we know better. How hard for them to have such narrow-minded parents, wouldn't you say? Haha...

Folly: a day well spent, even if it meant relearning a few things about ourselves and our kids.

Cupcakes, cousins, caterpillars and close-ups.

This May has been fabulous, I'm sure most of you would agree. The weather; divine. My flowers; resplendent. The company; titillating. Hehehehehe... but it has been a good start to the month.

This last sunny weekend saw us gardening up a storm and sharing birthday cupcakes with family and friends. The picture above makes me reel with how big the boys have gotten. They look so grown up!

Mia and Lucas have been talking for weeks about it almost being caterpillar season and today we finally found one. It was really interesting for me to see how Mia received the joy of having a busy, fuzzy caterpillar crawl all over her. We've always considered Lucas to be our "bug" guy - and I think sometimes we forget that Mia has been just a bit too young to fully understand the experience. Today, that little caterpillar provided an hour's worth of sheer joy as the kids took turns having him explore them. When this afternoon's rain storm set in, Lucas was out in the rain building it a home with a roof so that he wouldn't get hurt. Sigh. Thank you caterpillar, for an afternoon well-enjoyed. :)

Why God Made Kids

Just in from doing some weeding with some "help" from Lucas and Mia. I was getting a wee bit irritated with the exposure of my spring bulbs and *may* have grumped at them.

"Mommy," interrupted Lucas, "God MADE kids for helping Mommies."

True.

Happy Mother's Day!

Palm Desert 2010

Mia snuggles Jackson and Hannah. Lucas would have none of it.

The winter had us wanting for a wee bit of sunshine, and so we took a quick trip down to the club in Palm Desert for a few days. After a brief stop to visit cousins in Bellingham, we boarded the el-cheapo express to LA where we picked up our car and drove to Palm Desert. Yes - a little round-about, but it saved us hundreds and only added a couple of hours travel time. (This is what I kept reminding myself when in the mids of "Are we there yets?") LOL

Ah. The pool. Warm sun. We would drive and drive for this.

The club (aka Club Intrawest Palm Desert) is replete with super tame wildlife. The jackrabbits abound the gardens. (We preferred to call them jackalopes ala Scooby Doo) And Lucas and Mia were convinced they could catch one. Not so much...but cute!

The ducks, on the other hand, are so tame they come and eat out of your hand, and one was even so bold as to come into our vacation home and have a gander (hahaha) around and see if there were any more crumbs to be had. This one is having a go at getting the goods from Lucas, who was holding out I guess!

We visited The Living Desert, an amazing interactive zoo. Mia spent close to an hour grooming goats. That's a girl after her daddy's heart.

Friends were made at the club, and Lucas learned to swim. Yay! he just kind of got his float and was off!

At the end of the week we drove to Santa Monica to see Rob's old haunt. We had a fun afternoon at the pier, riding bikes on Venice Beach and taking the kids for dinner to a pub!

No prizes were won in the climbing of this ladder!

(Embarrassing photos of my attempt were not recorded!)

Wonton Beards

Rob and Mia, after learning how to make wontons at preschool for Chinese New Year, decided that they should make some at home for us. I suppose that Mia felt she should be like her dad for the occasion, so she gave herself a beard. Teehee.

The wontons were divine. :)

Lincoln City, Oregon

Little man has always dreamed of finding bull rushes, or whatever these are, and espied these from the highway with delight. We gingerly carried them all the way to our cabin, where they enjoyed a spot of fame for a week.

Alas, Spring Break is over. We had a wonderful and rather impromptu visit down the Oregon coast to enjoy the week off. It was a good few days of beach combing, warm fires and stormy days. The kids and Pillo were bewitched by the big waves, miles of sand and hours of meandering. Even though I think we'd all have rather been in swimsuits than parkas, it settled some peace back into our creaky souls. Delightful... as was the Oregon wine, good laughs and ferociously competitive Settlers of Catan games.

Mom finds beach treasure and the kids come running to see.

Lucas and Mia now understand erosion. Oh yes, and tsunami zone.

This is Lucas' sea snake. He came home with us where he dried out on the porch. Lucas was determined to bring him home as his next show and tell. After four days, he agreed that it maybe wasn't the best of ideas. Phew.

Big waves; cold ears.

Happy dog.

This, for me, was the highlight of the trip. Before I tell the story, let me preface it with a little background. Historically, the Oregon Coast as well as many other places along the pacific coastline, have been host to the finds of Japanese glass fishing floats, many of them years old, and highly sought after by collectors. In 1999, to celebrate this history, as well as to commemorate a town rich with artisans, the town dispersed 2000 hand blown glass floats along the shores for beachcombers to discover and keep. They have continued this tradition every year since, and having read about the festival before our trip, I secretly harbored a keen desire to discover such a glass float. To no avail.

On the last day of our trip the storms had been so great that we were feeling a bit crazy and decided that we would bundle up despite the beating rain and howling wind and have a quick boo at the tidal pools. We chose to go to the Devil's Punchbowl. Within moments of arriving we saw this grungy large ball way down the beach. The story is a bit unclear here... Lucas, Rob and I all claiming to have found it first! But truly, the find is mine because as Lucas says, you really love that glass float, right mommy? Yes Lukey, I do. :)

I took it into the visitor's centre to have it registered only to find them baffled with my float. It turned out to be a genuine one. At least three years old, likely much more, and having traveled a long way, the float was mine to keep and enjoy. It's cleaner now, and sitting proudly on the mantelpiece. It will serve as a reminder of a great week with a great family; the treasure that was already ours before we found it.

Friday Fun

This is what I get when I ask the kids for a nice photo... oh boy.

I love this photo of mom and Lucas. I have this same pose from them taken just about every year.

Today I love my sister and other fun facts

Most days, your sister is just there, kind of like the footstool or that giant pair of clodhoppers parked in front of the door. Sometimes it's in the way, sometimes you notice it and give it some attention, often you just walk right on past. Of course there are also the days you give it a swift kick in the ... heel? just because you can.

Then, there are days you love your sister. And when I mean love... wow, do I mean love. Seriously. Pouring juice for her. Giving her piggy backs. Washing her back in the tub? Checking to make sure her teeth are getting brushed. Getting her pj's out. Tucking her in, and... yup... I hear a song being sung by a doting brother. Sigh... so sweet... too bad it never lasts long!

The above picture illustrates how sommeliers keep wobbly tiles weighted down. The guy below in the chapeau is a really good tiler. I got a new kitchen floor for valentine's day. How romantic.

Argh, I caught meeself a wee lassie. I might make her walk the plank or I might grind her bones to make me bread. For the time being I'll just dry her.

The Herman boys had a go at ice hockey last week. I was having a hard time deciding who was funnier to watch; Scott on ice like a deer on a frozen lake, Rob in his crammed on helmet with six year old boys skating circles around him while he "played hockey with them," or Lucas' valiant attempts that each ended in a harder fall than the last.

Password Failure

It's been so long since my last post that I almost forgot my password... hahaha... that's awful news.

Last night my mom and I watched Julie and Julia, which, if you haven't seen it, is about a chef who decides to cook all of Julia Child's recipes (524) from "Mastering the art of French Cooking" within a year and blog about it. Her blog ends up being incredibly successful, leading to her book and eventual movie deal. Harumph. It just made me feel unworthy. Not because I can't cook up a mean dinner 9which I most certainly can) but because I can't get my ass in gear to write this blog more often. And I truly love writing. I also read recently about the virtues of blogging in terms of honing one's writing skills. I agree, but it also made me feel pangs of remorse and a little bit of panic because it was a blogger I enjoy who has decided to take a break from blogging. I need to find a way to make this a quicker, easier and more delightful experience.

I could lay down every excuse there is from kids and marking to reality tv and waxing my legs, but the truth is, it can be a chore. (As can waxing my legs...really.)

So now that I'm on a break and approaching a term with a little less work, I will start to re-assess this blog and what I'm doing with it. Any suggestions as to how I can get back on a role would be appreciated!