living like a local: summer is here!

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

summer is here!

wanted: grade two!

School is over and summer is here! Hendrik's class had an end of the year talent show, and I'll have to see if I can upload some videos of our guy. Each student showcased two talents: an outside-the-classroom talent (Hendrik played soccer with friends) and an in-the-classroom talent, which involved taking to the stage in front of a small audience of parents and classmates. Hendrik isn't too comfortable doing much of anything in front of other people, so I was proud to see him get up there without too much weirdness. His self-professed strength of choice was math, and despite the longer than usual computing time he found the answer and was honest enough to decline a second question from his teacher. There was no talent show for the kindergarteners but Alana was asked over to her friend Camila's house for a sleepover (!!!) on the last day of school and she made it through the night! She probably would have stayed for the entire weekend if she could have - she had so much fun. And the latest news with Jordan is that he's down to one big nap a day, and he's getting stronger and better at walking and cruising around on his own. He loves pointing and eating cheese, and is babbling a little more since he had the tubes in, but hasn't formed many words (yet).

We had an awesome Canada Day weekend with friends that came up from Michigan, and took it easy in our 'hood with a trip to the park, and a water fight in the back yard followed by a BBQ here at home. There were lots of festivities downtown but the weather was a bit iffy (afternoon showers) and we were happy to just take it easy and avoid crowds. Steve worked yesterday so I took the kids to Thames pool where Alana, who passed the swim test last week, was happy to roam independently. I definitely kept her on my radar, but whenever I'd come by to watch her on the diving boards in the deep deep end, she'd kindly ask me to leave... !! She also did the monkey bars by herself for the first time (ten times), so I wasn't surprised that she was asleep before her head hit the pillow last night. Hendrik is in a Pokemon-themed camp this week, and I can't wait to hear about it! It's one of those funny things - when the kids are home and everything is busy busy you want some space, but when they're gone you want them home. Funny! A few random thoughts to leave you with: The Wine Rack sells these little Sangria kits and they are delicious! I haven't tried the red one and don't need to... the white one is delish (recipe here). It's our 8th anniversary today and we're planning on FINALLY drinking a bottle of champagne that someone gave us when we got married. I thought I had one more random thing but I'm drawing a blank. I need to take more photos! This is all we've got for now...