we have not had our wedding photos on display in our new home. we used to have a montage of 4 photos displayed in our bedroom at our old house. these days that frame sits with the rest of the "where or do we hang these pictures now?" area.
i was 23 when we were married. i had just graduated with my B.Ed. and Kristian had a semester left before he was awarded his B.Sci. in Engineering.
my engagement ring and both of our wedding rings were purchased from the money obtained from an insurance settlement. good jobs were rare at that time. i had a degree and no contract with a school board. instead i was making $7 per hour with the YMCA child care. i also continued to work as a waitress at the University making the same wage without tips. as in, tips were not allowed to be given to us.
i still remember trying to figure out how we were going to put gas in the car to spend Christmas with my family. and that was the least of our problems. the month before Christmas we didn't even have enough money to buy presents. or food for us. it seems like so long ago. we used our wedding gift cards to buy presents that year. the rest of the money went to food and gas. Kris' brother taped a $20 bill to a big rock (old joke between the 2 of us!) so that we could go to a movie.
at the time, photos of a day etched into our memories were at the bottom of our priority list. enlargements were never done. all we had were 4x6 proofs.
i still have my dress and all the rest of the wedding outfit. the dress was purchased off the rack at a discount. the veil was handmade by me. no jewelry except earrings purchased at The Bay. my only indulgence were the hand gloves.
16 years later those details are not important.
now my outfit makes me laugh. i was the size of a toothpick when i got married, so it no longer fits. even my feet have grown! only the gloves still fit. so apparently it was worth it to splurge on something i will only wear once but never outgrow?
Kiara has been nicknamed 'Princess Tiara Kiara'. she was delighted to try on this special dress.
i hope to take photos of her in it as she grows.
she looks so regal.
we rarely see this dignified side of her.
adorable.
i told her that she is allowed to get married once she can fit into that dress. i wonder if she will remember that comment.
the kids also had fun looking through the photo album from our photographer. the wedding album i wrote in. they thought Daddy looked funny in his "big, round" glasses. Aidan reasoned that it was because they did not know how to make them smaller back then. too funny.
we chose not to videotape our wedding. if we had, it would have been on VHS. a tape we couldn't watch right now.
we were surprised to receive a cassette tape of the ceremony. which we could listen to in the car. or on one of the kids' players (and run the risk of getting wrecked!).
if my last post was nearly two months ago, it is safe to say that my priority has NOT been on this blog!
wow.
Kiara was only 16 months when i started this blog. Aidan was barely past 2 years old. my days were intense and busy. yet they were calm and relaxed. in reality day to day was exhausting. yet it was still nice to have the freedom to create our own schedule. when i think of how life has changed since then, i am really in awe.
Kristian had changed jobs and was working ridiculous hours. we thought it would be short-term and a move in the right direction for us. we couldn't have made a worse decision! now we know.
Kiara was so sweet. still is. but she certainly has had her 'moments' since then!
Aidan loved life. still does. he still has so many of the same expressions he had as a toddler.
me. where to start?! for one thing, life has not slowed down a whole lot. but my present place in life is more secure than ever before.
we. new home. new church family. some old friends. some new friends.
it has been an adventure! some parts i wish we could have avoided. other parts have been more incredible than i could have possibly envisioned
here we are today.
Kristian. still not working at his dream job. but sometimes the dream job is not always what we though it would be. however he has a high standard and his company values his work. there are still some rough edges. i am proud of him and the decisions he makes. unless it involves house cleaning....ha! the kids still race to the door when he gets home from work. definitely the hero in our home.
Aidan. our firstborn of two firstborns. the child who has parents who are too hard on themselves. it is no wonder he is the same way! he still has the same smile on his face as he did when he was a baby. eyes that are full of wonder and excitement. the only person in our family who wakes up with a smile on his face (most of the time!).
i think he has more introvert in him. although he is more outgoing and adventurous as he grows. he loves to learn. loves it like his daddy. in fact they even look more alike every day. kinda freaky at times! i am in awe over how quickly he catches on to concepts at home and school. yet he can't remember to "make his bed, brush his teeth, comb his hair" every day without being reminded.
it has been neat to watch him grow and make his own decisions. lately he has had a lot of questions about God. he is eager to learn more about faith at church and at home. we have some interesting conversations. some are challenging for me too! i love that he is not afraid to share his faith daily with his friends. he is so brave.
he - for the most part- makes some amazing decisions too. choosing friends. choosing activities. we are proud of him for this, and pray that he is always strong, brave and confident.
this year we found some jeans that actually fit! skinny jeans. he will hate me for it later...but i have to take a photo of his butt in them. adorable. the last time i said that about that body part....he was probably 18 months....wearing jeans and had diaper bum! baby bums are so cute.
here he is on the first day of school. he just found out who his teacher was. and which friends are his classmates. he has 25 kids in his class. there are still 4 classes in total. that, my friends, is the size of MY entire elementary school when i was his age. my high school graduating class only had 20 of us. i know what it is like to be on the teaching side of having 50 kids in a grade...split into 2 classes. this. this is a whole new world. i will never know what it is like for him. of course he will never know what it was like to have my school experience either.
he adores his teacher. she is very sweet. she says this is a great class and comments how smart they are and how well they listen in class. i am envious!
one of his oldest friends. they met in kindergarten. i think they met at school, then got acquainted at our local park one afternoon. they are BUDDIES.
can you tell?
as a result, i met his mom. found out we have a ton in common. lots not in common. but we hang out when we can. we are happy for our boys. and happy they introduced us too.
my sweet baby boy is now a cool and smart kid. some days it takes my breath away. i'm excited for the future. sad that the years have sped by as quickly as they did. i was warned. i did my best to enjoy that time. now i wonder if it is even possible to savour those days as much as we wish.
as he gets older, life gets more complicated with him. so many choices. the best we can do is love him, nurture his confidence and passions in life and encourage him to be who he was created to be.
he is Kristians' "mini-me".
Kiara. amazes me. she can be complicated. at times i believe that she is very intelligent and am in awe of her abilities. then other times i am frustrated at her lack of abilities! she is stubborn, like me. she is outgoing, like neither of us. she has grown up so much lately. she has matured into this nearly 5 year old body that we had hoped for!
since she was 2 years old, she has begged to go to school. cried when i dropped Aidan off and did not leave her too.
she told me this week that she wants to be a teacher when she grows up. to be honest, i have often thought that she will be a teacher. i just was not sure what she would be teaching! she loves to direct activities. she is starting to think through situations and what she needs to be prepared. like the time she was upset that she forgot her purse at home. why? because you never know when you may need it. so funny!
she is different from Aidan. Aidan clung to me on his first day of kindergarten. he wouldn't say a word. just cling. Kiara ran ahead and told me she could go to school on her own. wherever Aidan would stay silent...Kiara is vocal and loud!
i have worried about her lack of and hyper-sensitivity to details. hoping that she could find a balance. praying that she would. praying that i could help her. we continually pumped up kindergarten and the maturity that she would need to be a part of it. i think she will be fine. she is so vocal, that i fear her extrovert nature may make her stand out and she will have to take the blame for others. then i think perhaps i am shadowing her with my own struggles. then i pray that i can find the balance.
when i picked her up after her first day, the teacher had nothing but praise for her actions. "Jimmy" could not speak English and he missed his mommy. he cried the entire time. Kiara covered her ears and complained about his crying hurting her ears. then she tried to calm "Jimmy" down and cheer him up.
she may land in trouble that was not just her making. but i am thrilled that her character to be brave and help a child she never met is present. now i need to pray for wisdom for her as she makes her choices of who to help.
she is my mini-me. she is who i wish i was and also who i wish i wasn't.
then there is me. where to start? as Dr. Seuss said, "There is no one alive who is Youer than You." and that is OK. back when i first started this blog i had compared myself to the character in L.M. Montgomerys' book, "The Blue Castle." i can related to Valancy on so many levels. the background story is so sad. i remember nearly crying as i read about her life. then for awhile, it seemed that the ending would not be so victorious and wonderful. thankfully the book ended happy. the Valancy at the start of the story and the Valancy at the end....were the same person, differing only in acceptance.
so many times over this last stage of my life i have wished that i could have passed through it 20 years ago. it would have been so much easier. but i did not. instead i got to drag my husband and children along with me. some days i feel bad that they have the company in me that they have....other days i am simply happy for the company!
i had never dreamed that i would be working at my favourite little scrapbook store. sharing company with artists i admired. teaching regularly. art. getting published. making the front cover of one of my personal favourite magazines. meeting scrapbook celebrities that i never dreamed i'd be in the breathing area of. i still think of teaching. but i can't imagine teaching without continuing what i am doing now.
my valleys have never been so low. yet my mountain top experiences have never been so high.
God is good. we pray for good things. i don't know anyone - yet - who prays for bad. sometimes the answers to our prayers are not exactly what we expected. and sometimes it is better. in the long haul.
We pray for blessings We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things
'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise
We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe
'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise
When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It's not our home
'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching(s) of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise
and if we got down to it. i am very blessed. i need to get on this blog and share those things more often. such as the kindness of my babysitter to treat me to a tea latte when i picked her up at work. i know i would never have thought to do anything like that when i was her age. sometimes it is the small things in life that matter the most at the end of the day.
me. still growing. ha!
i don't think a blog is the appropriate place for me to share right now. maybe one day. but i am open to sharing my story with you personally if asked.
we. it has been a journey. one day at a time. leading us to today.
we would not trade today.
the kids hate it when i do this....but there is one song that i have to play once in a while. and sing LOUD.
it was a hit back in the '90's. it was written by Steven Curtis Chapman. before their lives took a journey they never expected. or wanted. Started out this morning in the usual way Chasing thoughts inside my head of all I had to do today Another time around the circle try to make it better than the last I opened up the Bible and I read about me Said I'd been a prisoner and God's grace had set me free And somewhere between the pages it hit me like a lightning bolt I saw a big frontier in front of me and I heard somebody say "let's go"! Saddle up your horses we've got a trail to blaze Through the wild blue yonder of God's amazing grace Let's follow our leader into the glorious unknown This is a life like no other - this is The Great Adventure Come on get ready for the ride of your life Gonna leave long faced religion in a cloud of dust behind And discover all the new horizons just waiting to be explored This is what we were created for We'll travel over, over mountains so high We'll go through valleys below Still through it all we'll find that This is the greatest journey that the human heart will ever see The love of God will take us far beyond our wildest dreams
i used to think it was about someone who never read the Bible until that point in time. now, i think that it is about those of us who do read it and think it was not written for us.
so the phase of having preschoolers and toddlers in our home is now past.
the future of having school age children is upon us.
so i remind myself that the adventure is far from over. it is still going. we just turned on to a new road! and that is a good thing. a very good thing.
i am debating on ending this particular blog. i tend to be sharing more of my art related activities on my Projects blog than i used to. i may print it out into a book format. to keep. for my kids to read one day.
i may start a new blog. fresh start.
i may keep just one blog and simplify!
for the first time in the history of this blog...i have not gone back to edit. so sorry for any mistakes you most likely encountered!
the kids started our church kids' camp on Sunday evening. it meant they did not get to bed until 9:30pm. Kiara was the only one who slept through the 5:30am Monday morning thunderstorm. unfortunately i was exhausted too and didn't take any photos. i managed to tweak my eyes open enough to be stunned by the clouds. the whole sky lit up yellow. quite an incredible site. i would have loved to have watched it move across the sky.
the early morning wake-up for Aidan made him quite exhausted by early afternoon. afternoon naps are rare and don't always make us feel better in this house. unless we are really sick. added to the humid heat of the day, it was not a great combination. i prefer to have the windows open at night in hot weather....but evening thunderstorms have not helped! if the rain sprinkled down, it would be fine. but it slams against the windows. all that to say....the entire house was hot and humid yesterday. in hindsight, i wish i had sent the kids outdoors to get wet in the sprinkler or something. a late morning and early afternoon meeting, combined with a super late lunch and a need for an early supper....it was the day of perfect disasters! ha!! Kiara seems to handle the heat fine. Aidan is more like me and overheats quickly. some days are like that. most days are not.
like Sunday....
another super hot day. so thankful that we had time to hang out in the backyard and play.
i love her pose. Kristian noticed that she started 99% of her slides like this....hands in fists...and one thumb up.
and off she goes!
they were soaked and cool. some time was spent next door in our neighbours kiddie pool. neighbours in our yard sliding away.
i sooo wanted to snap a photo yesterday.....i looked out the window when we were getting ready to leave for kids' camp and saw the funniest site ever. two grown men with beer in hand, cooling off in the kiddie pool next door. not the sight i had expected to see.
we spend some time at the local parks too. our mission is to visit as many as we can this summer.
i found this self-portrait that Aidan took with his camera. he takes the most interesting photos. using the timer-mode, he took an amazing photo of himself and Kiara a few years ago. future photography career perhaps?
well, i have to prepare for my last night of teaching the preschoolers'. wait for a phone call to pick up our car after it's scheduled maintenance....and hope that all is as it should be. i'm also thinking of ideas for my next layout class....which one to go with?! thinking ahead to what i need to do in preparation for a week away with my girlfriend at her cabin. then camping the week after that. amazing how small things can clutter up a day.
the simple things in life really are the best things.....
the paint wore off from the day already. right after the photo was taken their destination was the bathtub!
school is still in progress for Aidan, but everyone (kids, parents and teachers) is ready for summer. i am looking forward to the summer with the kids. some stuff has been planned already. we all agreed that we wanted to do things like the zoo and Fort Edmonton park more regularly. as in more than once during the entire summer! hopefully the weather will be hot so that we can visit spray parks too.
today is Kiara's orientation for kindergarten. the day she has been waiting for. for years.
her main goal - it seems, at times - is to catch up to her big brother!
i still remember her at the age of 11 months when i dropped Aidan off at playschool for the first time. her tearful babble seemed to tell me that we were forgetting someone. during Aidan's second year of playschool she hated to leave and come home. i was always thankful that his time at playschool coincided with her naptime. she sometimes whimpered herself to sleep in her frustration! the day Aidan rode off in the bus destined for kindergarten she also wanted to ride with him. it helped that she was finally at the age to be enrolled in playschool herself.
i have a suspicion that she will either end up teaching one day. or she may fall in love with being a student and always attend school. {let's just hope she gets those scholarships and well-paying summer jobs!}
the difficult part has been to explain that her time spent in kindergarten today will be super-duper-short!
another concept she hadn't quite understood is that kindergarten does not start 'for real' for nearly 3 months.
sigh. although i am thankful that she is of the mind to be excited for this new phase and know that she will most likely enjoy school.
yesterday i mixed up some cornstarch with water. added some food colouring. {ran out of red and yellow! apparently we use those alot?} gave her a paint brush. she also had a couple of friends join in.
an old muffin tin was perfect. much less spillage.
i also use less than ideal paintbrushes. the concrete/asphalt is pretty tough on the bristles!
this girl of mine is so creative. lately her art projects have had some incredible maturity in them. it has been interesting. to say the least! i do feel bad for the Costco employee who is lucky to have us pass by them when we check out our groceries. they always give the kids a 'happy face' and they have always loved it. Kiara, however, has been more specific and wanting pictures drawn with more skill. we have yet to meet a Costco employee to meet her standards in Sharpie-10 second-receipt-sketch talent. yesterday the poor woman was blasted by the 4 year old for putting a happy face on a flower....flowers don't have happy faces!! i dread those embarrassing moments....and they have to be dealt with. as soon as we have her 'on track' with one issue...there is a brand new issue to take us off guard again. one thing is for certain, Kiara definitely knows when to say "I'm sorry". if only there was a quick and easy way to teach her how to AVOID situations where she will have to use those words!!
so she comes home and paints a flower. with. a. happy. face.
seriously?
this is cute! although the number of fingers on the hands freak me out a little.
well, off to walk through the rain to school. and a whole new era for this mother.
a whole year of creative ballet celebrated. it was a great relaxed and non-competitive introduction to ballet. we are still unsure what or if she will do dance next year. i really liked that the program did not have dance recitals and expensive-wear-once costumes.
the year end costume were pajamas! i think they would have looked cute with their tutus on, but my opinion was not asked for. the girls were as thrilled with their brand new "ballet pajamas" as they were with their tutus.
the song was 'Pajama Time' based on the book by Sandra Boynton. you can listen to part of it here.
the girls took it very seriously.
i think they were supposed to be pretending to sleep. the girl on the left just turned 4, and the girl on the right is 5. by watching their motions you could totally guess their maturity level. girls!
i think she REALLY enjoyed this part.
love that smile. they practiced the dance for at least a month. each week a different teddy bear joined her. lucky bear to be picked for the recital dance.
and now she lives in these pajamas!
mommy got to dance with her again.
daddy got a turn too. another chance to show off his 80's moves!
Aidan even got a turn. how lucky can one girl be?!
it isn't unusual to hear of fires in the vicinity of Slave Lake. northern Alberta has many forests and is susceptible to fires. i believe the initial fire was small enough that it did not really make any local news here. from what i understand it didn't concern the residents of the area a whole lot either, because it was small. for the last half of the week we have all had very strong winds, 30-50 km/hr. yesterday it was even worse. apparently they were experiencing gusts of up to 100km/hr which had disastrous results.
thankfully there are no reports of injuries or death. however many families have lost their homes. there was very little warning to the residents. i could guess that everyone has a respect for forest fires and the ability to change very quickly.
{arial view of destroyed homes. photo from ctv}
i had caught some details on facebook last night, but had no idea the situation was so terrible. some reports are that 40% of Slave Lake is burned to the ground. buildings such as the library and only radio station are gone. the news reports that various highways had been closed during the weekend and residents only had a few ways to actually flee the area.
the story is that there was not even a formal evacuation order. it moved that quickly. it really is a miracle that the situation has not been worse.
i came across a blog that has phone numbers and addresses for donations or locating residents now displaced.
Slave Lake was one of our favourite places to camp with our kids.
the lake is so big and there are many campgrounds on the shoreline.
there was a section of land that had been burned by Chisholm in 2001. last summer you could see that growth of vegetation was visible while driving by enroute to our campground on Slave Lake. however you could still see how devastating it was.
sad to hear of more devastation. terribly sad for those who have lost their homes. thankful that lives have not been lost. hope that the fire is soon under control.
do i dare say that this spring, the weather seems to be more normal?!
in the past few years, we've had a few super nice days....then the weather starts to act like fall....with strong cold winds and dark clouds. sadly the weather just couldn't turn back to sunshine and get some good, long-standing warmth back! making us endure some long and yucky summers.
i've been looking at some summer photos from years past the last few weeks. talk about entering nostalgia....oh. my. realizing how much our kids have grown in the past few years. given the number of outgrown clothes....bags of new and bigger sizes coming into the house...this is no surprise. the surprise is in looking back at great memories.
i am so thankful for the number of photos we have. there are still other memories that don't have a photo to go with it. i love looking at the kids expressions. the smiles. the grumpy frowns. the ecstatic grins.
we are coming up to our 2 year anniversary of our "big move". i see it as a major landmark for the kids. Aidan's move from preschool to kindergarten. Kiara's move from being just a toddler to a preschool kid. at the time THREE years old seemed like such an old age.....now it just seems so young! one of our new neighbours had just had a baby when we moved in. she is now 25 months old. it is still shocking to all of us that Kiara was only 8 months older when we moved here.
i am a completely visual person. i really have to see it myself in order to understand. {one of the reasons i stayed far away from any scientific field!!}
to see this little girl and think of her as a baby....then to look at my big girl and think of her as a little girl. and to realize how little she was when we moved. comparing what our wee neighbour is doing and what Kiara was doing that summer. then to think of the changes in the next few years. this "baby" will be out on the walking trail with the rest of the girls and playing together happily. {well....as happy as kids can be for periods of time!} at that time it won't be as obvious of the age gap between them.
it makes me thankful for the different activities we all did together. especially when i think back to how busy the days were!
this poor blog gets so neglected these days. sigh.
there were TWO hills of snow in our backyard for the last {and final!} part of winter. hills? hmmm.... no. MOUNTAINS!
it was the best part about the winter. it's doubtful {i hope!} that we will have sled-worthy hills in our backyard again.
but then the snow melted.
the worst part about winter in the prairies....i've always said...is the kids get all excited thinking about snowmen. however the snow is so dry that putting a snowman together takes patience at the best of times. other times it is not even possible.
initially i had no idea why they had scattered the snowman hat and buttons on the pile of melting snow. then i actually looked at it from the right angle. my kids are hilarious!! this is so definitely going in their scrapbooks. {when i have the courage to scrapbook winter again.}
don't you love how there is a bike in the photo as well? only in Edmonton.
the kids are outgrowing bikes like pants these days. Kiara took a trial run to see how she would do without training wheels. if she could have focused, that would have helped. it also didn't help that she hit the brakes whenever Kris let go of her!
it is kind of interesting. Aidan totally breathes cycling. Kiara enjoys it. just not to the same level. in this way, the kids are the mirror images of their parents.
this was the nasty surprise of the season. note that we did put on a plastic bark protector. never would we have guessed that the snow level would be so high and cause some issues.
the culprit? Killer Bunny!
they didn't just rip off part of the bark. they ripped the trunk to shreds!
bunnies are no longer considered cute and funny in our home. they now get yelled at and run off the property. ha!
what is with the bunnies down here? we always found a bunny in our central city yard....never did they do any damage. it was the squirrels who caused the problems. maybe we need more squirrels?
so much for getting a few apples this year. i told Kristian that it would probably bear terrible and sour apples anyway. that stopped his tears for a few hours.
since this is just a random post. here is a total change in topic...
2 months ago i spent a day putting a scrapbook class kit together. Kiara was home. she wanted to help. actually she was a great help. i had bingo numbers and pins and brads for her to sort, then put into bags. it was awesome! for both of us. she got to practice counting. and sorting. then she had the fun to put it all into bags for me. she must have worked for an hour on it. i could have done it in less time, but i was beside her working on other parts of the kit. in reality she totally saved me some time.
it was a massive kit to assemble. Kristian and Aidan - and Kiara again - helped me a few days later with the rest of it. apparently they enjoyed it. Kristian and Kiara enjoyed it enough to help me last month. you can see the pile of filmstrip ribbon that was waiting to be cut and added.
this time around, the work for Kiara was much less. i think she knew it.
i do think she loves this embellishment as much as i do!
i thought i had created a simpler kit to assemble. sigh. so far from the truth. but it was fun to have help. it's fun to chat and let my family share in my work.
i am FINALLY taking time for myself to exercise. i find it hard to believe that i once had the strength and endurance to run a half-marathon. complete short triathlons. never fast {right, Carol!} but at least i could complete them...and manage to improve a bit. i have joined up in a Core Strength and Balance class. i should have been doing this long ago. better late than never! now to add in the running.
i was pretty good when Aidan was younger. it was Kiara who hated being squished inside the running stroller. it came to a point that i dreaded taking them out....it was not a matter of "if" there were tears....it was always "when".
my last run with the two of them had me at a poorly planned night race at Hawrelak Park. Aidan wanting to run, but totally slow. Kiara screaming. then Aidan screaming when i told him he had to be a passenger. i ran half the distance, with several runners lapping me. then discovered that all 3 tires were out of air. how i missed that earlier, i'll never know. surprising how i found that discouraging?! it was a course that involved 2 laps around the lake. i stopped halfway. i was nearly out of energy and completely out of patience!
in all the irony...it is Kiara who will point out my jiggles.
i can't believe my last post was over a month ago! i find the days seem to be speeding up as the kids are getting older. when i started this blog, the days were on the long side. Kiara had just turned one and Aidan was three years old. Aidan was in playschool two mornings a week and Kiara was not walking. Aidan was at the age where he was more independent, but still it was not a good idea for us to turn our back on him for too long! Kiara still relied on us for her entertainment during her short awake hours. many people told me how quickly those days pass, and i took their advice to enjoy them as much as i could (even those super long days).
here we are in another phase. so nice to have more time for myself with Aidan in school all day and Kiara in playschool three mornings a week. i have time to run errands without having to factor in bribes for the short attention spans of my fan crew. cleaning and laundry can sometimes get done more quickly without anyone taking advantage of mom's lack of eyesight....yes, all the big messes seemed to happen on laundry day! phone calls get made without having to be interrupted by screams or "mommy-can-i's". not to mention an hour of uninterrupted time for me to actually put more than a thought or two together!!
March had the kids busy finishing up their racing cars for the AWANA Grand Prix. a huge thrill for them. i had the incredible thrill of attending the local scrapbook retailers event. i'm still in disbelief of how amazing that weekend was. taking classes from very talented people. my idol being one of them! enjoying supper and then having them visit the store where i work. seriously had so much fun that i could barely sleep! one of those events in my life that seemed to good to be true. i find myself having to remind myself it all really happened....not just a happy dream.
we also finalized the details for a trip to heat and sunshine! which meant passports and other traveling preparations. which is a story in itself.
the bad timing of computer issues and breakdowns. which gained me a brand new computer that i really hope does not give me issues.
it was not possible for us to conveniently leave town to coordinate with the school spring break. that last week was spent packing and keeping the kids active and happy. they are good for entertaining themselves. however a week solid of mom also busy doing "boring stuff" was not on their top ten list. to keep a balance we spent a few days on the town. the local science centre was fun for a day, and the kids got to try wall climbing too. {you could say the kids are experts at wall climbing....or so i expected. apparently they were a little nervous climbing past a certain point even when they were harnessed. or perhaps it was their fear of me dropping them?! ha! not all days with them were peaceful and relaxing that week.}
then off we flew to Maui....
other beach holidays Kris and i have taken mean clear blue skies. our holiday started out on the overcast side. high clouds, but still not clear blue. despite the appearance each day was very hot! flip flops every day. sunglasses were a necessity. bathing suits rotated each day because they took a few days to dry in the humidity. we also learned that sunscreen was needed even with the clouds! i think the clouds added to the humidity levels.
there is not a bad beach to be found on Maui. each one was different and had something unique to offer.
the one outside our condo was great for finding seashells and coral.
the one in the above picture would have been fun for exploring if the tide were lower.
we found several sandy beaches. some small and with few crowds. others large and busy. some had lava rocks to explore at some point.
some were calmer for the kids, while others had waves strong enough to take Kris and i off our feet!
we realized that we should have stayed longer. Kiara was asking to go home every few days, but it was hard to know if she was serious. she seemed to have fun and enjoyed the trip. Kristian figured the island could benefit from another engineer and decided that he wanted us to move immediately. one of the flyers advertised a local scrapbook store, and he wasted no time in driving me to it. you know what he was thinking!! it was nothing like Urban Scrapbook. i don't honestly know how this store has stayed in business. if Pat and Lori ever want to start a new store.... well..... i think Maui needs them. desperately. i told Aidan one morning that when we retired, we would move here....and he and Kiara can bring their families here for vacations. he looked stunned and wasted no time to say that he would also be moving with us!!! he cried when we got home because he already missed Maui.
it was a perfect vacation. we did a few touristy and fun trips. we relaxed by the pool and the beach every day. we drove up to the volcanic crater one day. i have a fear of heights that has improved, but still lingers. the drive to the crater was tough for me....the passenger! i know for fact that i could never have safely driven myself....not when i had to close my eyes from time to time! for Aidan and Kristian it was a highlight. it is a shock to myself that i am already thinking ahead to the next trip up the crater...apparently the sunrise is spectacular {as well as the night view.} with the four hour time change, all 4 of us were awake at 4am the first morning. the exact time we would need to leave the condo to catch the sunrise. {there's a travel tip i did not read...but it should be published!}
the kids traveled well. even with the exhausting return trip. having movies and tv shows at their fingertips helped all of us. i told Kiara that she was not allowed to act "silly" on the airplane. and left it at that. there have been enough times both of the kids have been goofy while we're driving. this time i let the "i wonder what they would do if i acted silly" question get answered without my ideas. this time my strategy worked. phew! turns out they were both a delight.
the fact that truly surprised all of us was the size of the island. in a matter of 30 minutes drive, you go from beach to desert to mountain.
every day was hot. as the week progressed the clouds disappeared.
now we are home. tired from the trip home. and jet-lagged. basically we each had 2 hours of sleep last night. sleep in airports and on planes is not in our genes. it was not fun to look around at other lucky people who were happily sound asleep! a long afternoon nap and late bedtime is our present plan. fortunately we all slept the afternoon away...now if we can get a solid 8 hours sleep tonight but be awake by 9am.
