Busy June weekend #3

Friday evening we took an impromptu trip to the park.  There, the girls hit it off with a bunch of girls immediately.  When the time came to leave, there was the usual exchange of addresses with the hope of meeting up again.  On our way home, we actually passed them outside their house and stopped for another longer exchange of promises to meet for play.  As this has happened with out much success a number of times before, Mommy wasn't very hopeful.  But, Saturday morning came knocking at the door, and out the girls went to play.  And again after lunch. And again on Sunday.  It was precious to see a varying gaggle of kids on our front lawn!  And now that school has finished... the spoken out loud dreams are for this to happen every day!

Also on Sunday was our last birthday of the season.  We met two of Jasmin's friends from church for a public swim at a local pool and a party in the adjacent park.  It's a good thing that this was super near the friends' houses as Mommy actually managed to forget a knife to cut the cake and watermelon! (Other things were also forgotten, but we could get along without.) Perhaps Mommy was getting too casual in packing after three other birthdays? Or mixed up with the upcoming camping packing?  No matter, we got the cake eaten and the birthday celebrated, and all had a good time.

Busy June Weekend #2 (plus some)

The kids had a busy weekend, but Mom and Dad didn't!

Friday night - Saturday they spent with NiNi and YeaYea...

and got to go swimming! Something they have missed from Penang...

 

They came home Saturday night, because Sunday afternoon was Jasmin's violin recital. She did a beautiful duet with her teacher.  The whole recital was really enjoyable, with good music and an extra fun performance by a brother and sister including fiddling and tap dancing!

 Having whetted the appetite for wet, sprinkler play was a good Monday afternoon. Only, with all the rain we've been having as well, the interest soon turned to mud bath making...

...and we finally made it into the woods! There were lots of berries to be picked later and plenty of evidence of woodpeckers.  Grace could have done with her glasses on as the skunk she saw turned out to be a stump :)  It turned out to be quite the walk as we exited the woods fairly near the river and continued on to do some rock throwing and collecting before heading home!

Busy June Weekend #1

Friday was a local day off school. Some friends of ours invited us to spend some time with them.  Despite a rainy forecast, we set off from home for a picnic lunch and some play time in a park near their house.  We ended up staying for 4 hours as the rain held off and it didn't get sunny either.
 

We chose the park based on shade and the splash pad, but neither actually got used all that much.   After a good explore of the playground equipment, the #1 attraction was playing in the sand of the volleyball court?/pit?.  They had a whole bakery set up, and kept after the adults to tryout their creations and tour the bakery.  There certainly were some innovative creations :o)

Saturday we spent at church washing cars.  Various services, fun activities, and a free yard sale were given away to the community as part of the Big Give (churches all across Ottawa doing the same thing).  The car wash was more popular than expected - we washed over 100 cars!  Aiden really enjoyed himself, working with enthusiasm and constantly telling everyone "I love washing cars!" He was actually not the youngest car washer though - another little boy had him beat by a few months. You can see the whole video here if you want to see more.

Of course, Aiden didn't stick with car washing the whole 5 hours we were there! Neither did Grace and Jasmin.  So we took turns exploring the other parts of the give away.  Here Aiden is being wheeled around a short bike course that was set up to give kids free fun tips & tricks on safe bike riding.  And of course, there was face painting.  The paintings didn't survive long what with being on the car wash team, but Jasmin carefully guarded her dolphin.

Sunday was Aiden's 3rd birthday!  (The pictures are still on the way.)  We had a short party in the park with a few friends.  Again there was splashing in water - although this time it was too cold for long play.  What took the day was the big trucks he got for presents!

We got to Monday feeling like we'd had no weekend rest, so we put off "back to work" and had a mostly rest day. A definite perk of schooling and working at home!

Random Bites

1. Mommy discovered a whole wall of shelves filled with audio books at our library. And with a few good choices, the family is hooked.  Too bad Mommy's computer is the main one for listening on - makes it harder than ever to get any computer time to herself...

2. The wet fun of Ottawa's splash pad parks has been opened to us.  We've discovered two very close by our house, and have unformed ideas about visiting as many as we can this summer.  Not sure we'll be that mobile or free of housework, school work, and plain tiredness to attempt it officially. But this weekend we are planning to check off another two (a playdate and Aiden's birthday) .

3. Our bikes have already been to the shop for fixing!  I tried to replace Michael's derailleur but couldn't manage to get the gears to actually change... turns out I was sold the wrong derailleur so it wasn't simply that I attempted more than I knew how.  And Jasmin's bike: the front wheel stopped turning so it was like biking with her breaks on.  Rather a mystery what actually happened as the front fork needed taking to pieces and putting back together.  But we are back on the road (sidewalks) again.

4. We have decent strawberries in the back yard!  Aiden is adamant that they are watermelons, but, hey, time will tell :o)

5. We've also seen a skunk in our yard - out from under our tiny deck, stalking the perimeter with its tail well up.  I don't think he enjoyed being watched.  Thankfully we've only seen him once.

6. We started our summer school. Mommy felt great because she'd actually managed to have the week planned out. In keeping with our normal, we more or less did none of it as planned!  Maybe next week will be smoother? One can always hope...