Escaping Our Lovely Life

Well, hello strangers. It's been awhile but here I am barely meeting my editor's deadline of one post a month.  The last time I wrote we were playing in the spring snow.  A lot of things have happened since then.  Our beach vacation being just one of them...

There's always a lot of advice going around on the internet.  One that I've read lately said, "maybe you should set up a life that you don't need to escape from." That sounds all fine and dandy but I'm going to argue that you can set yourself up a very lovely life but taking a break from it to have new experiences is a big part of that sustaining that lovely life.  I'm also going to assume that whoever it was dispensing that advice has never endured a Canadian winter!

So we hit the Mexican beach for ten glorious, sun filled days with family and friends.  And yes, it was awesome, in case you were wondering!  I'm always glad that I have my photos to look at as proof of our great adventures because when you get back home and back to the lovely life that you have set up, sometimes the vacation feels like it was all a dream.  You can actually start to question yourself as to whether it actually happened when you're knee deep in laundry or negotiating piano practice for the millionth time.  But atlas, I look back at my proof.  All the happy, smiling, relaxed faces in my vacation photos and I look down at my dry, peeling sunburned skin and I can conclude that yes it did really happen!

One of the great adventures the girls had was zip-lining.  This has been on their bucket list for a while.  I'm not sure if a six and nine year old can technically have a bucket list or not but if they can, zip-lining was on it since their early days when they used to watch Dora and Diego and more recently from watching the Kate plus Eight kids experience it.  Our hotel had the perfect little intro to zip-lining kinda zip-line. The girls were brave and I think they may be ready to try some more thrilling zip lines the next time we take a vacation from our lovely life.

In addition to zip-lining adventures, we also had a pirate ship adventure and Mexican market adventures.  If we had never taken this escape from our lovey, daily life, Callie may never have experienced what it was like to try a new hair style.  That's right.  My girl was super adventurous and had her hair partially braided by the ladies at the Mexican market. This is the first time in many years that we have seen her without her standard two hair ponies.  Amazing things can happen on vacation!

Our adventure to the local zoo was definitely an experience!  Remember that we live with a girl who loves reptiles.  Well that girl was smiling ear to ear as we walked among the crocodiles and held snakes around our necks.

I asked Lexi if she liked holding the snakes and crocodiles and she happily replied, "no, not really. I liked the deer and the monkeys the best." I guess little sister prefers her animals to have a bit of fur.

We all walked along this little path past thirty or so living, breathing crocodiles.  It was one of those moments when after we were done we questioned, "did we actually just let our children walk next to thirty real, live crocodiles?" The answer was, "yes we did!"  We all nervously laughed at ourselves as we made up newspaper headlines such as, Six Year Old Eaten by Crocodile Due to Stupid Parents! Fortunately for us, only Jon was semi-attacked by a crocodile. And by attacked I mean after we were safely out of the croc pit, a croc that Jon wasn't aware of moved and rustled some leaves beside him and nearly caused him to have a heart attack.  He survived the semi-attack but he may have had to throw his underwear out! Just Sayin.  

I have to say though, the best thing about going on vacation was getting to hang out with our family and friends for ten straight days.  Because although we all in the same town, the lovely lives that we have set up for ourselves can get busy.  Sometimes you just need to carve out some time far away from your lovely life to narrow your focus onto life's most important things... your family and your friends and making memories.

Easter dinner, endless slushie drinks, building sandcastles, collecting sea shells, hours of pool fun and beach selfies.  All these things are better with family and friends.  And they were all a part of our lovely lives that we have set up...if only for ten days.  

We have been back from our escape for a month now and many things have been happening in our lovely, daily lives.  I will try my best to get caught up here in blog world.  No promises though. I don't actually have an editor so I don't think I can get fired for my lack of blogging:)

Till next time.

Spring

I'm just going to post a few pictures in honor of the first week of Spring.  Around here, spring looks and feels a lot like winter but we moved our clocks ahead an hour so that's how we know it's really spring.  The thing about spring snow is that it makes the best snow people!

As much as we like to hang out in the snow banks, it's time to say good bye to the white stuff for a while.  When the girls got dressed for school this morning we all hoped that it would be the last day for snowsuits.  We have big plans to turn those snowsuits into swimsuits.  Spring Break....here we come!

Lions, Lambs and all that Jazz

March came roaring in with minus forty mornings for a week and then, just for good measure, gave us a huge dump of fresh powder.  Snow in December is magical, snow is March is basically just tolerated.  I caught Callie trying to wear her spring jacket to school the other day when it was somewhere around minus 36.  She responded with, "but mom, I'm just so tired of wearing my boots and ski pants and winter jacket."  I hear ya, sista.

But still, when life hands you snow, you gotta jump...

What else has being roaring in March you ask?  Just your regular everyday things for a family of four.  You know...work and school and lessons and sports and hanging out.  Let me break down all the excitement for you...

1. This has to have been the the worst winter for colds, and sore throats, fevers and coughs.  Lexi always seems to get the worst of it as she fought off another case of hand and foot virus. Ugh.  

2. You can never have too many warm baths when your fighting off bugs. They offer a few minutes of relief and comfort.    

3.  It is a very rare moment to find Callie without two ponies in her hair.  She was trying out my flat iron, curious what it's like to have straight hair.  It didn't last long.  She decided she didn't like it and put her hat back on.
4. Snap Circuits on an evening when we didn't have to go anywhere.  Love those evenings.

5. Since school is where we spend much of our time, its safe to say we spend a lot of time preparing for it.  Little sister works so hard on her words and her reading.  Grade one is intense.  She gives a little fist pump when she gets all her spelling words right.

As for big sister, she's just been making her mama proud left right and center these days.  Her and her partner took on a very challenging science project for a couple of grade three students.  They decided they wanted to know if listening to Baroque music made a difference on math test scores.  They tested out their hypothesis on three different classes and found that the music only slightly improved the test scores.  Of course they wrote and presented their findings in both English and French.  And all this just because they wanted to.  Actual science fair judging doesn't start until grade 4.
   

6. We spent an evening at the rink for the junior hockey game.  Callie and he class sang O Canada to start the game and the hometown team came through with a win and a spot in the playoffs. 

7.  The Day of Pink is a day for bullying awareness at school.  I had ordered an official Day of Pink shirt for all of us to wear but Lexi begged not to wear it stating, "it's just not my style." So she decked herself out in her own unique pink style and we headed to school for the assembly.  In Callie's hand is the speech she read at the assembly about Random Acts of Kindness. She also agreed to read her words at the local school board meeting last week and she volunteered to be in the bullying awareness video we made to show the at the assembly and to the school board.  Like I said, proud mama freak flag waving high.

The best thing about March roaring in like a lion is the fact that it is going to go out like a lamb.  And I can guarantee that! Can hardly wait.  Baaaa!

Nine

Thankfully there are 29 days in February this year, giving me a chance to get a second post in this month!  What happened to February?  It disappeared as we were busy celebrating the world's newest nine year old.  Callie asked if she could forgo a big birthday bash in exchange for a trip to her favorite hotel in the city again this year for her champagne birthday.  So a small, quiet celebration at home with her sister and a couple of her BFF's is what we had.  No games.  No decorations.  "Mom, can I just have my friends over to play for a bit on my birthday and then my real party is going to the hotel?"she asked.  So that's exactly what happened...a pizza and cake playdate with friends and a trip to the city to swim for hours in the hotel pool, shop for treasures at Claire's, a new adventure to a trampoline park and Valentine's Day milkshakes at Fuddruckers.  How's that for a birthday bash!

On being nine...

You are growing braver and braver everyday.  You are trying new things.  You're doing things on your own.  You spoke about kindness at the school assembly in front of 400 students. Who is this girl, I ask?  The girl who just a few years ago would hide behind me and not respond when someone said hello.  

You like to jump around the house on your pogo stick or stomp around on your stilts.  You are a gymnast and a swimmer and a piano player.  You have accepted the fact that everything takes practice whether it be spelling, diving, or piano scales.  You know how to cook scrambled eggs and macaroni. You eat a peanut butter and jam sandwich every morning for breakfast.  You are fast at getting ready and always want to be the first for everything...bath, hair comb, and out the door.  

You love to learn about everything.  Especially reptiles.  You dream about going to the Steve Irwin zoo.  You watch old episodes of the Crocodile Hunter.  You take care of Jorge the gecko. The Little House on the Prairie books your first pick these days.  You are always making something, writing in a notebook, drawing pictures and asking questions.  You know all about common, rare, and ultra rare Shopkins.  

You only wear your hair in one style.  You only wear loose, comfortable clothes.  You always wear a hat.  You have an addiction to Vaseline.  You never leave home without it and your lips are never chapped.  You sleep with a bed full of stuffies and with your little sister.  You listen to One Direction and are always telling me to turn up Hits 1 in the truck.  

You have such a kind heart.  You are always thinking.  You are piecing together your own unique view of the world.  You don't like to hear about the world's sadness.  You always wish the best for people.  You take care of your sister when she's sick.  You make sure she gets on the school bus. You love her and she drives you crazy.  You love your dad.  You stop in to see him at work before you leave for school and you stop in to see him when you get home.  You love your mama.  You snuggle me, tell me stories, you make me laugh and smile and fill my bucket right to the top.  You are my Mae  Mae.  You are nine.