june!

Where to start? It's JUNE. What's happening this month? Hendrik's getting glasses, I head to Vancouver for a long weekend to see family and celebrate my dad's retirement, Hendrik "graduates" preschool (if it were college he'd have flunked out due to his tendency to skip class), I turn 36, we'll go cottaging for the first time this year (more skipping school), and the Ottawa Summer Festival season kicks off with plenty of events and things-to-do on the other side of the bridge.

If you're into the weird and wonderful, June is also Aquarium Month, Dairy Month, Gay Pride Month, Turkey Lovers Month and more; it's also home to World Environment Day, National Donut Day, Father's Day and World Sauntering Day. I could get lost in links and strange days and interesting people (avec interesting purpose), but I'll just cut to the chase and get on with things...

I'll number this post up, since there's a high probability that I'll be all all all over the map. Plus, when I hit the wall in 20 minutes or so, I can just pick up where I left off tomorrow.

the Fusion/Ottawa crew at The Art of Coaching Volleyball conference

1. I spent the weekend in Toronto immersed in all things volleyball, and it was awesome - for several reasons. It isn't often that I get to fully immerse myself into an interest or activity that has everything to do with me and what I want... for more than 20 minutes at a time; and even then I have 20%+ of my brain thinking kids or dinner or to-do lists or laundry or remember-this/don't-forget-that and how long do I have and is she awake etc etc. I spent all day Saturday in the gym, listening to a host of well-respected coaches (Penn State's Russ Rose, Stanford's John Dunning, Oregon's Terry Liskevych, U of T's Kristine Drakich and more) talk about and share their experience and expertise... I loved it. Throw some networking and time with friends in there and satellite radio and a newspaper and a trashy goss mag (right before bed) - it was solid gold. Sunday was more of the same - volleyball volleyball volleyball and then from there... it was back to normal - but good normal! I drove back to Bowmanville where there was much family love, and then after a dinner chez les grandparents, we made the post-dinner drive back to Gatineau - with overloaded hopes that the kids would sleep for the majority of the four-hour trip. (They barely slept at all.) Weekend = amazing and exhausting.

2. If I could have been in any other place at any other conference this past weekend, it would have been in New York at Book Expo America. I joined Instagram not too long ago, and found a small slew of people to follow that post pics of kidlit and favourite books and book design on a daily basis, many of whom were posting/tagging/linking to BEA14. It looks colossal... and amazing. If you have time or interest, check it out here. Book conferences? Volleyball conferences? Yes please!

3. Hendrik had his follow-up appointment on Monday morning, and all went well: healing is happening as it should and the doc was happy with how things were looking. That being said, he still wants us to give it a go with the glasses; pulling out all the stops to get and keep his eyes aligned is his motivation, and I'm on board. He suggested Costco, but I found the selection a little disappointing, and more geared towards girls. So... Lenscrafters? I'm not sure where to look next, but it might involve asking an Ottawa parent (with kids with glasses) for some advice. Anyone?

Really? Just three blurbs? Here are some pictures. More soon...

fun in the b-ville sun