Chris's space

A couple of months ago my friend Steve told me about Thomas the Tank Engine coming to town.  Now my kids still love playing with their wooden trains, although they have never been so caught up in it that they know all the characters and all the story lines etc.  Now that they are getting a bit older they do not play with them as much, however still enough that I thought they would enjoy the show.  Basically it's described as a day out with Thomas, you get to ride Thomas and there are a variety of other things for the family to do.  Our kids did have fun that day, although I found the event to be somewhat of a disappointment. 

 

We did stay there for the best part of the afternoon, but only because we really took our time and we ran into some friends there.  We took the Thomas train ride, which was just a 15 minute ride on a VIA train, then it reversed and we headed back - no turns, no coupling, and no switching of tracks.  They played Thomas music on the intercom, but I expected that they would have had a skit of sorts for the kids.  My kids just coloured during the trian ride - now granted my children have had a number of train, plane and automobile rides so the thrill is obviously not as great for them as it would be for others, but still...  Other than that all there was for the kids was one bouncy castle and a bouncy slide, two photo ops, a stand to colour, a place to watch Thomas DVDs, an over priced food stand and a huge store.  Not exactly the grand, spectacular event I envisioned. 

 

I think I'm done with these manufactured events for the time being as they always seem to be a disappointment and a huge money grab.  We can more fun at a beach, spend way less money and make memories that aren't centred around the "must see" character of the day.

I cannot honestly believe that it is nearing the end of August.  My Expat friends have left thier Western worlds and have returned to Taiwan or moved onto thier new host cities.  A large group of my friends here in Ottawa are preparing to return to work after thier year long maternity leaves and the children are starting to prepare to go to school in a couple of weeks.  We've had a fairly cold and rainy summer this year which is in contrast to our usual hot humid summers, so it hasn't really felt like we've had summer yet.  In addition to that we've been pretty busy this summer so the time has just flewn by.

 

Two evenings a week Meredith and I have spent on a blanket at our local park watching Aidan play soccer. It really is adorable watching this age play. The coaches only try to enforce that the kids run in the right direction and rarely call them up on the ball being out of bounds - that is unless it ends up in another field and interferes with another game.  Besides that both kids have been taking Mandarin lessons one evening a week and they both took part in Mandarin Summer Camps, where they learnt how to make dumplings as well as a host of crafts, spin traditional Chinese tops and practice some of the language.  You know I think Meredith thinks that she is Chinese - I know she thinks that her baby dolls are Chinese, but I suppose that she's spent 25% of her life there and about 1/2 of her speaking life there - that's a large percentage of your experiences.

 

In addition to that both children took part in swimming lessons as well as sports and swimming camps.  Both children are getting more comfortable in the water.  Aidan can now swim a fair distance and does not mid going under water without goggles - although he still won't open his eyes under water.  He also still needs to learn how to float, unfortunately that is a pre-requisite for all of the swimming levels here in Canada, so he still hasn't acheived any of his badges.  Meredith should have passed her Pre-school B swimming class however she refused to put her face in the water during her front crawl.  It's hard to believe that both of my children were afraid of the water one year ago - they've really come a long way.

 

We went up to Millbrook this past weekend for a family reunion on the Chaplin side, which was actually kind of nice.  Jim's relatives seem like a nice bunch of people and there were even a few other children for our kids to play with.  It absolutely amazed me at how much information one of the family members, Judy, had collected about the family - she has volumes of information dating back into the 1800's.  I wouldn't even know where to start if I were to try and do a geneology of my family.  Ed and I returned to Ottawa on Sunday night and the kids are staying with Jim and Donna for the remainder of the week.  Much as I miss them I am also enjoying having the freedom to go out and do things by myself - I even went to a movie (The Dark Knight) yesterday afternoon by myself - I don't actually remember the last adult movie I saw at the theatres.  Later today I am heading up to the cottage for some R&R, then picking up the kids on Friday.  They are very excited about thier week long visit, especially since one day Rich and Trish are planning on taking them to Ontario Place (which the kids just saw on tv last week). 

 

When the children get back from Millbrook, Ed and I are taking them to see Thomas the Tank Engine on Sunday, which will be a surprise for them. Next week they will be attending a church summer camp, then the following week my half sister Ashley will be in town, as will Jim and Donna and a friend of Ed's from Taiwan.  We were planning on just having a low key week at the cottage, but now I'm not so sure that is what will transpire.  Then <poof> the summer is done and we're back into the school routine.  Funny when I was a child the summer felt like it went on forever, now that I am older I find that it has just raced past us.  I hope the children enjoyed thier first summer back in Canada and I hope yours was filled with fun and adventures.

 

I wonder what my children's favourite memories of summer will be?  Here are some of mine from when I was younger:

 

Ed and I got a wonderful surprise last week, one of our friends, Doug, who lived in Taiwan (originally from Atlanta) was going to be in Ottawa for business.  Fortunately the three of us were able to get together for a great evening out.   The sad thing was that other than the wedding we attended in April, Ed and I have not had an evening out without the children since we returned in March.  We really have to get out more, especially since when we mentioned this fact, Doug told us how he might be coming every 3 to 4 months and we cannot possibly only get out when he comes to town.

 

We went out to The Empire Grill in the Market, and had a wonderful dinner.  It was so great to get caught up and compare crazy Taiwan stories.  The absolute best was his telling us about how his head office in the US has reacted to some of the idiosyncrasies of the Taiwan office - like hiring a Feng Shui expert to redecorate the office in order to combat bad "karma" or having to put off a major International launch for a month due to it occurring during Ghost Month.  What's funnier is that he had to be the one to justify how important these things are to the US partners.  It's really hard for anyone who has never been to the East to fully understand how traditions and superstitions (for lack of a better word) can really impact the people and hence the business. 

 

After dinner we headed over to Grace O'Malley's - a local Irish Pub that is always super crowded.  We actually got carded and they would not let us in without seeing our ID - now bear in mind that we are all around 40  - give or take a few years.  Our guest was very good about it, merely asking "um what exactly is the drinking age here?" We all concluded that he should have gotten a t-shirt that read "I came to Ottawa and all I got was carded".  They had a two person East Coast band that played for a while which was great however hard to have a chat over.  Hey perhaps that's why we got ID'd, if we were over a certain age then we would not be permitted because our hearing would have degenerated to such an extent that we could not hear one another.  Well if that's the case, then they shouldn't have allowed me in after too many years of listening to my walkman too loudly.

 

It  was pretty cool getting together, since he is the first person we knew from Taiwan who has gotten a glimpse into our lives here in Ottawa.  It was also great listening to his reactions to our home  city.  Like the fact that we in Ottawa always complain about the traffic when in fact we really don't ever experience traffic (it's one I personally find funny too).   It was also wonderful to have a bit of a reminder of what wonderful times we had in Taiwan and the amazing friends we made there.  I sure hope that any others of you who find yourselves in this neck of the woods contact us, as we'd love to get together and show you our part of the world.

As some of you know we resumed hosting our annual Canada Day Party with a slight change in venue, we had it up at the cottage this year.  Unfortunately Canada Day is always on July 1^st, irrespective of if that date falls on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday, which makes it a bit more difficult to host an out of town party when it inconveniently falls on a Tuesday.  But to my surprise we still ended up with a pretty good turn-out.  I think we had around 2 dozen people show up throughout the day (children included)!  We also had a few guests come throughout the weekend and some stayed overnight which was great.  Those who stayed over on Monday got to share in another special event for us - Aidan lost his very first tooth that night!  He was pretty excited to show everyone his gap compliments of a rather firm pear. 

The weather was hit and miss throughout the weekend, however Canada Day was completely awesome.  Honestly we could not have expected a better day – the sun was shining, it was around 25 degrees Celsius with no humidity and there was a nice breeze coming off the lake.  Absolutely heavenly!!!

I was a little worried earlier in the week that we might get rained out, since the weather has been very finicky throughout all of June, but the God’s were definitely smiling on us.  Of course that wasn’t my only fear, I woke up panicky early on Canada Day with the sweats.  I shook Ed awake and told him that I didn’t think we had enough food.  He of course thinks I’m obsessed and promptly rolled over saying don’t worry we’ll make due.  It must be the Accountant in him that doesn’t panic.  Well luckily enough we did in fact have sufficient rations, in part due to everyone’s wonderful culinary contributions. 

Many of the people who were able to make it were friends and family that we had seen since arriving back, but it was a nice opportunity to get caught up on what everyone had been up to.   We had two really nice surprises, our friends Andrea and Eric along with their children managed to make it even though they were flying out to Victoria the next morning, and our friends Jen and Richard made it with their 3 week year old daughter (who is now just over 5 lbs!).  It’s amazing how much smaller 5 lbs is over 7 lbs (the weight of my two children at birth).

I was so glad to see everyone enjoying a lazy cottage day and that we could share that with them.  Many of us hung out in the shade of the trees and sun umbrellas (thank you again Tanya and Trevor) and had great catch up conversations.  Some of us took lazy peddle boat, canoe and Kayak rides around the lake.  And although many tried to fish, it was Aidan that took home the winning fish – a 2 lb bass which he and Meredith devoured for dinner.  A few of us even braved being seen in our post wedding, and/or post baby bodies and hit the water for a cool down.  I must say though that I’m glad I went swimming, insecurities aside, the water felt great!  BTW Jen how on earth did you manage to keep abs of steel after having 2 babies???  I’m also impressed that Tom made it about halfway across the lake and back – I think I might have drowned if I tried that! 

It was also wonderful to see the kids all playing together so well – Meredith told me that Zoe was her new best friend since they sat on the chair together.  And I just love how Cara looks up to Aidan (hmm…perhaps a future between those two???)    ;)    Being a weekday and all most everyone left to get their little ones to bed at a decent hour, however thankfully Tom and Linda were able to stay after dinner and join us for a camp fire, s’mores and our little fireworks competition with the neighbours down the lake – I still say that we definitely took the prize!!!  It was no shopping cart full of commercial grade fireworks (see Taiwan Chinese New Year) but Ed put on a pretty good show by individual Canadian standards. 

I hope everyone who attended enjoyed the day/evening as much as we did.  I am so truly blessed to have such a wonderful group of friends and family and the party wouldn’t have been a success without each and every one of your contributions and presence.  Thank you and I hope to see you all next year – same time same place.  And for those of you who were unable to make it mark your calendar now for next year’s event – the more the merrier!!!  Please take a moment to share your comments and special memories of the day.

For the kids and I the party continued over the rest of the week, as we decided to spend the first full week of summer at the cottage.  Unfortunately Ed spent it in Ottawa at work – but that’s another story!  We ended up meeting another family on the lake who are really super.  Kelly and Scott have three children similar in age to ours and they just bought their cottage at the same time we bought ours.  BTW their cottage is absolutely stunning!!!  We ended up hanging out with them with a good part of the rest of the week and they ended up saving me the one day.  You see Meredith got really sick on July 3.  She was throwing up every 2 hours, and I ended up having to put the poor kid into a diaper because she had no control out the other end either.  She hurled all over the car, went through 2 outfits, and every set of sheets in the house!  All she basically did for four and a half days was sleep and run to the toilet for one reason or another.  Well my new friend Kelly brought me some Gatorade on the second day to help fend off M’s dehydration and took Aidan for the best part of the day, since the poor kid was going stir crazy. 

Up until last night, I had figured that Meredith maybe got a touch of food poisoning or something, well now I’m pretty convinced that it was in fact stomach flu, because Aidan woke up in the middle of the night having thrown up all over his bed.  Like every other parent out there, I feel so helpless when my babies are sick.  But I must say that I’m pretty sure by the last day that Meredith was starting to milk being a sick.  And I must admit that after nearly a week and onto child no. 2 I am getting really tired of cleaning up puke and s&*#$%!!!

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am not one of those “granola, tree hugger” type of people.  I really like my conveniences and I don’t usually think about the harm that I might be doing to the environment or to myself.  But it’s interesting how since I’ve come back I have gotten a tiny bit more aware of how I can be doing things better for my children, husband, pets, the environment and myself.  Not that I am about to burn my bra and join some cult, raise free range chickens and turn vegan.  (not that there is anything wrong with that, it’s just not me – hey I like my consumable goods and I like meat!)  I suspect that part of my perspective change is a backlash to all of the disposable cleaning products that have hit the market recently – I mean really flushable toilet brushes or disposable window cleaning cloths.  Come on you have to be in complete denial to know that these sorts of products are not good for the environment and will leak to some degree into our drinking water.. 

 

As for environmentally safer products, I’ve swapped out our dryer sheets for these 2 spikey rubber balls, which for the most part is working ok, except when you have any nylon items in your dryer – then everything becomes really staticy.  I am replacing my harsh cleaning products as they run out with more environmentally friendly alternatives – like these cleaning cloths from Norwax that contain silver so you just use water with them.  The only thing that I know is really bad but I just cannot give up is my Swiffer Wetjet – we all need our luxuries right?  

 

Oh I’ve also cut out the weed killers on the grass and invested in this do dad that grabs and pulls the weeds out apparently by the root.  Well I’ve spent two back breaking days pulling these things out of the front yard (I’m not even going to bother with the back) and it looks better, although Ed says that I haven’t been getting the entire root so in a few weeks we’ll get them all back.  ARGH!!!  Ok some things that are bad for us are definitely easier.  The good thing is that by next year everyone else’s yard in Ottawa will look as cruddy as mine since the city is banning pesticides, weed killers and the like.

 

In regards to our food choices I am also trying to be more health conscious.  For a gal who will seek any excuse to avoid cooking and deep down really likes junk food, this has been a pretty tough task.  It’s been made even more difficult when you factor in that my grandfather who lives with us only likes fried food or beef and potatoes and my husband doesn’t really like salads.  Fortunately the kids aren’t too difficult, after all Meredith’s favourite snack is seaweed and Aidan will try almost anything.  For the most part we’ve been eating out a lot less and I’ve been trying to stay away from prepared foods – kind of ironic given the fact that prepared foods was one of the things that I missed most in Taiwan.  I’ve also been trying to buy organic fruits and vegetables, which is also tough since usually they are more expensive and looks nicer.  I’ve switched our family to whole wheat breads; since white bread was so sweet in Taiwan we only ate brown bread there, so we are pretty much accustomed to it now.   I have not cut out desserts from our repertoire though (this is one of my vices that would be just too radical to eliminate, and I find solace in the fact that at least I don’t  drink coffee, smoke or drink much).  I am even considering buying the GI (Glycimic Index) cookbook and giving those recipes a whirl.  One thing at a time though.

 

I might not be making radical changes but I do feel better about the changes we are making and hey anything is better than nothing right?