Draper ingenuity

Mark and Gabrielle were out raking up the billions of leaves that fall off our Catalpa tree each year into our side yard. I peeked out the window and noticed the toboggans were all out, with no snow in the forecast. But no, those smarty-pants Drapers weren't heading to a ski hill, they were using them to fill the leaf bags. Engineers!

A too long story about Halloween

And finally the buildup to the major event of every year... Halloween. Not just for the kids, but also for me. Parents are the purveyors of the perfect costume for the world's pickiest and most fickle clients. I always get the kids thinking about their costumes nice and early, say around July, so that they can change their mind lots of times and then hopefully settle on an idea and give me time to pull it together. I am starting to think this is not such a great strategy.

And so this year we were all on board - they were going to dress up as clowns, inspired by the Backyardigans episode "Best Clowns in Town." We had watched the show several times, I took copious, detailed notes of the various costume items needed by each character, and I prepared a shopping list for each of them. And then, one week before Halloween, when I was sure, oh so SURE that they were not going to waiver from the clown idea, Gabrielle and I hit the stores, intending to get what we need.

First stop she sees a unicorn costume and all bets are off. Mummy, I don't want to be a clown, I want to be a unicorn. Of course you do. So frantically, I start to scour the racks looking for costumes Isaac might want to wear. Race car driver? Tiger? Casper the friendly ghost? I text Mark each idea and each time Isaac quashes it. He doesn't want to be a clown if Gabrielle's not doing it but we don't have a backup plan. And so I return home, with one delighted child in a unicorn costume and no good ideas for Mr Fussy.

And so the next morning I ask him: Isaac. Dear sweet boy. If you could be ANYTHING. Anything at ALL, what would you be? A truck. A truck? How about a garbage truck? SOLD.

And so I got all my creative juices going, buying little lights and reflectors and downloading logos and I spent a glamourous Saturday night building a garbage truck costume for my boy. Oh sure, it was uncomfortable to wear and started falling apart within a few houses but he loved it and the neighbours loved it and he even got extra candy at most houses because people thought he was such a genius for coming up with that costume.

And who said my graphic design schooling was a waste?

"Baby's first haircut"

At the age of 3!!??

So as we were cruising towards the fall, we realized Isaac's hair was finally starting to get in his eyes. Hey, how about a haircut? Called our local kids' haircutters, Chiquicuts, and booked "Baby's first haircut" at a discounted rate. They were a little surprised when they saw how old he was. But still, it's his first haircut, so they honoured the discount.

I was concerned that he'd be averse to having a stranger cutting his hair. Turns out, once the TV was on, he didn't notice a thing. Below, the captivating power that is Dora.

He spent most of his time ducking from Linda and trying to see around her.

He didn't speak a word to his hairdresser, he just focused steadfastly on the TV screen.

And then, 10 minutes later, it was all over. We never made it past the previews.

Another satisfied Chiquicuts customer.

Turkey talk

Graduation day

The big day finally arrived, Isaac "graduated" from the toddler room at daycare up to the preschool room. Most of his "class" "graduated" with him. He finally gets to play with the big kid toys, including cars and trains, and go on field trips to the library on the city bus. Love the faux graduation boards they wore for their ceremony.

A sad moment, saying good-bye to Jenn, his first crush. It's OK Isaac, she's just downstairs if you ever want to snuggle...

Reaching for the top

Gabrielle finally conquers her Everest, a climbing structure at Clare Park.

All done vacation, let's go camping!

Hot on the heels of our eastern seaboard roadtrip was our annual camping trip with a big group of our friends. We basically had the time to unpack the car, wash everything, and re-pack it in time to leave. We again stayed at Bonnechere Provincial Park, which is a great campground for people who like... well... camping.

The spots are spacious and nicely located near a creek. We decided this year to share a campsite with Dan and Amanda (aka Amandan) and their kids Naya and Sawyer, as well as their dog Melanie. Their kids are very close in age to ours, so we thought it would enhance the experience if they had little buddies to share it with.

Turns out that although the sites are very spacious, so too are all our tents and camping gear. After Amandan showed up and set up camp, our site looked very much as I have always pictured Everest base camp.

Mark set up his little tent (I remember this baby from our honeymoon!) on the site, hoping the kids might decide to sleep in it. Alternatively, it could function as a play tent. Alternatively, it could function as a man nap tent. Note legs sticking out the end. Two of us, yes TWO of US slept in this little chamber of horrors for 6 weeks! Inhuman...

But I digress. So Mark got to take in some naps and Dan got to... uh, work on his knot-tying. When Dan commits to a project, he goes at it whole hog.

I got Isaac into the kayak with me - and he LOVED it! My shoulders were killing me after 20 minutes or so, but he kept egging me on "more, more!!"

Gabrielle and Naya had an awesome time together. The rest of the campsite was overrun with frog-catching boys. The girls spent an afternoon in the great outdoors drying their manicures.

Our next door neighbours were again Steph and Shannon and their son Sacha from Toronto. Steph and I decided that a great idea would be to permanently tattoo ourselves to commemorate the good times we shared at Bonnechere Provincial Park. Subtle and tasteful. 

(Translation for readers of this blog over the age of 50: BFF stands for Best Friends Forever. And no, they're not real.)

Bonjour Québec...

And so we arrived at the last stop of our road trip, Quebec City. Ahhh.... I was happy to finally breathe some city air.  I mean shop.

One of the reasons I really wanted to stop at Quebec City, other than the shopping, was because I had heard about their aquarium. I have a real soft spot for aquariums (aquaria?). I can't bear zoos, but there's something very calming for me about being surrounded by sea animals. In glass boxes, of course.

We took the free shuttle bus from our hotel that goes to the aquarium (by way of the humongous shopping mall which I did NOT get to see)... Mark and G look amazing in this shot, but why is his head eight times the size of hers? Mark must have run the shot through some crazy head shrink app.



There was a cool jellyfish exhibit at the aquarium...

A stingray pool where you could reach in and touch them as they swam by...





This guy's face was so human and he was glued up against the tank. People were photographing him like crazy, you'd have thought he was Daniel Craig.

There was a fun walrus show. Mark got this awesome shot of a big exhale.

And here's Gabrielle tiptoeing through the bullrushes...

Later that day, Mark and Isaac went exploring, checking out the canons and other war stuff that litter the old city.

While G and I went.... shopping! She loved this candy-covered bicycle. Who wouldn't? We went, of course, to Simon's - the mothership being in Quebec City. Gabrielle came into the changing room with me while I was trying on several pairs of pants. It was our first time shopping together for me but she was actually pretty helpful. I tried on a pair of jeans and asked her what she thought. She said: "how do they feel around the tummy? Are they too tight? Do you think you can sit down in them comfortably?" She basically started asking me all the questions I always ask her whenever she's the one trying on clothes. Funny hearing it all parroted back at me. Man, I'm annoying.

We really enjoyed our short, two-night stay in la belle province. Great road trip, guys! Let's do it again next year!

Hello to Nova Scotia

And so we left Maine after a wonderfully relaxing week, packed up the car, and headed north to Saint John, NB, to catch the ferry to Nova Scotia. The kids were ensconced in the back seat with portable DVD players, toys, snacks and, of course, Isaac had his susus. (This is actually the last picture ever taken of Isaac with a pacifier - he gave them up a couple of weeks after we came back from the holiday, in exchange for a couple of remote-controlled cars. It seems bribery works wonders on our kids.)

We thought we were being smart taking the ferry, as it is supposed to cut driving time by several hours. Of course, it doesn't actually cut overall travel time very much, and it definitely isn't cheaper, but we thought maybe we'd see a whale or two as we cruised through the Northumberland Strait. We didn't, of course, but we could have, and so that knowledge is worth the price of passage alone.

It was actually pretty cold and windy out there on deck, so the kids spent alot of time whining to go inside.

After doing some yoga on deck...

Nice downward-facing dog. I'd kill to get my heels on the ground like that.

And cobra - nice form.

We were thrilled to get to Halifax. The kids love their cousins and Isaac just loves being picked up.

How is it that Halifax has an H&M (with kids' department!!) and Ottawa doesn't? I'm going to write a letter to my parliamentarian. In any event, a visit to a mall wouldn't be complete without a couple of loonies being fed into these rides.

I love hanging out with these curly-haired people. They've picked up all kinds of crazy local ways, such as having campfires on rocky crags. As a former Montrealer who now lives in a government town, it baffles my mind to believe that you can just pull over on the side of the road and have a fire. Without a permit. In an undesignated zone. Just baffling.

I love the classic shot of the men making fire. Ben watches on, learning the ways of men.

Even Amelia gets into this totally non-ironic activity.

While Carolyn shows the kids the magical qualities of Nova Scotian water.

And Amelia and Gabrielle do a curl-meld.

Isaac pulled his smore apart and just ate the graham cracker. You're too darn picky, Isaac.

Lots of activities: Amos swinging the kids in a responsible manner.

And Ben has become such a cool dude.

And an amazing sportsman. He can even levitate a ball.

We went down to the wharf thing downtown for Buskerfest - a festival I used to avoid like the plague when I lived in Halifax. Now that I'm old and have kids, it doesn't seem so bad.

Here we are watching the show, not knowing that in a few moments...

...Mark will be brought up on stage! What are the chances? He ended up being up there for around 45 minutes, during which time Gabrielle had several attacks of tears, as she watched her father dance around, wear a turban, carry a woman, and even have his shirt ripped off. Not at all a traumatizing experience for a four year old.

The four of us took a day and went to Peggy's Cove, one of my favourite places in Nova Scotia...

...Except for all the bloody tourists! I guess I never went to Peggy's Cove in high season - I'm used to kind of having it all to myself. 

My men.

We had an amazing four days in Nova Scotia. Next stop: Kweeee-bek City!

OOB!

And so we arrived in Old Orchard Beach, Maine for a week of sun, amusement (parks) and waves. It didn't disappoint - we rented a cute little house on the beach that had two very important qualities: a separate bedroom for the kids and a TV in the living room so that we could catch up on Olympics at night.

Old Orchard Beach is a tacky little town with no end of junk food on offer and nary a fresh vegetable to be seen. It also has a huge sandy beach with awesome waves for boogie boarding, which Mark promptly became obsessed with. The kids' favourite part was probably Palace Playland, a huge amusement park right at the pier. Very old school - tickets for rides and even a haunted house that brought back a flood of terror from my one visit 30 years ago.

A random assortment of memories:

On the ferris wheel...

Isaac and me too!

Visiting neighbouring Ogonquit, the closest we got to a latte all week...

Gabrielle on the flying animals, FINALLY! We've been trying to get her on one of these flying rides for years but something about being in America, perhaps, that made her feel STRONG and BRAVE?

And there she is, waving like a pro...

Everyone needs fabulous sunglasses.

Tons of french Canadians on Old Orchard Beach - another interesting cultural trait is that they like to make elaborate sand sculptures. Who knew?

Behind Isaac, a sand baseball cap and a giant Budweiser can.

What would a vacation be without mini-golf? The kids loved it. And they really helped and encouraged each other...

...when they weren't whacking each other with giant noodles.

One ride the kids hated but that we forced them onto was the ferris wheel. Personally, it made me feel queasy, but I smiled through the pain.

Another new skill: tying her own hair elastics! I was in the unenviable position of trying to convince her (ever so gently) that maybe she should remove 8 or so elastics before heading out?

On the last evening - Mark surveying his beach.

And one final walk down the beach - look, I told you we would see a whale!