Not a bad start to summer holidays for the first week. We spent a few days just lazing around, staying up late, sleeping in - then started to lose our minds and had to nail down a summer schedule. Otherwise, we have kids who think they get to play with their friends and watch t.v. 24/7. It's been good for all of us. We try to get out somewhere everyday, and that keeps us sane when we are in such a small space. This week, due to the heat, we spent a lot of time at the spray parks and went up to Belcarra (the provincial park by the ocean) to wander the low tide beach and play on the park.
I even got up the energy to ride the bike with the trailer down to Rocky Point. It was a lot of fun. The little boys ride in the trailer and the older two take their bikes as well. It wasn't even too bad - until the way home. Living on a hill is a double edged sword. If you go out to exercise you are ensured that you get a hill climb at least once in order to just get home. Unfortunately, when you are pulling a trailer that weighs almost 100 lbs (both kids, all their stuff, and the trailer itself) and the temperature soars to around 30 degress plus the humidity, being on a hill is a curse. I tried so hard to ride the whole way, but I only made it a few pedals before I gave up and walked. Of course, that's not much better. This week we have been talking about the pioneers. I decided since I never got to do trek this could be my way of sympathizing with those who had to pull handcarts over the mountains.
Speaking of bikes, the other day the kids came running in to tell me that Malcolm was riding a bike - without any training wheels. He just picked it up and away he went. Now he's a biking machine. He's gone with Dan and the older kids to the beach park twice, and yesterday he even rode all the way up the hill on his way home! He loves it, and, needless to say, he wants to be outside riding all day.
Today is very windy so I have had a biking reprieve and managed to "encourage" everyone to help me clean the house. We were getting a fairly good layer of grime on everything, so they each got to choose a cupboard and a wall to scrub down, as well as their rooms. Surprisingly, no one has complained too much yet about not being out with their friends. I guess sometime spending time with each other is fun too. They made a "mop day" tent in the living room with Dad's help, and that kept them busy for a while.
I'm not sure you can tell, but Dan's latest garage sale find also makes a terrific corner post for a living room tent.
Here it is in all of its gigantic glory. Actually it's been kinda fun. The kids think it's awesome. He got it for $10 and it is his dream come true. Providential in a way, because our other tv was starting to go. Our neighbor came to help him move the thing down the stairs to our house and he joked to Dan that they have these things now called flat screens. We know we're technologically behind, but it's the biggest screen we could ever afford right now. I tell him we'll have to sit on the patio to watch it. Surprisingly, no matter how big a tv is, you still can't see through kids standing in front...
Well, here's the weekly entries for you:
Seven on Sunday
1. Being home together all summer with no real obligations outside of work. Lots of parks and swimming and movies and laughter.
2. Having kids around that love to play with our kids.
3. The drop in temperature so we can sleep at night.
4. Having a pool right here. It's never so good as when the temperature soars and we can run over just to wash the sweat off. Ha ha. Dan and Clay are determined to break their record from last year of 3 times at the pool in one day. They want to go 5.
5. Everyone else's blogs. I love to see your pictures and hear about your lives!
6. The fact that the lower mainland has embraced spray parks. There's one in almost every park so we never get bored.
7. Kids who are at the age to play on the park pretty much without assistance. Dan and I find a nice quiet spot and talk or read and they just run around and wear off energy...Ah! So sweet.
Dan's Funny for the Week
Maybe this is funny because we live by the ocean (not that we've ever found a conch shell), or maybe because we've had to take our toilet off countless times after boys have flushed just about everything, or maybe because almost all of our kids have put the plunger on their head as a hat at one point in time. Who knows? Anyway, Madi couldn't stop laughing...
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