A Good Cause

Yesterday, my kids got to participate in the National Terry Fox School Run.

Before they left or school we had this conversation:

Me: "Hey, you guys get to do the Terry fox run at school today, for cancer research!"
Max: "and then I will get cancer?"
Me: "No, you will get money to help doctors fix cancer."
Max: "Oh, ok then."

Well, at least he's not going on blind faith...he asks questions just to be sure.

Tyler was having a writing day for work, so I asked him if he could possibly do that from home, so i could go to the school in the afternoon to watch the kids. It was agreed.

When I got to the school, it was organized chaos. I imagine that is always how a school is. This is why I am not a teacher. Each of the classes were lined up on the school field. Max's class was lined up against the building while the teacher was organizing kids with their Grade 5-buddy.


In the morning it was pouring rain, so I had sent the kids to school with raincoats and boots on. By the afternoon it was hot and muggy, so I grabbed their runners for them. When I found Max, he was standing agains the wall, coat and boots on (seriously, it's 20 degrees...didn't someone think to tell this poor kid to leave his jacket behind?), crying. Because of the chaos of kids, he didn't see me coming. I put my hand on his shoulder and said, "Max!"

He looked up at me with his sad eyes, recognized me, and the little tears got a lot bigger. "What's wrong?"

"Lucy didn't play with me at recess today!"

"Well, bud, maybe she was playing with her friends. That's ok. You can play with your friends too."

"I know mom! But she usually tells me when she's going to play with her friends. She didn't tell me today!"

Oh wait, I forgot to mention that when I got up this morning to get the kids up for school, Max was not in his bed. Quick shot of adrenaline and panic until I get down the hallway and see him in Lucy's bed. "Max, why are you in Lucy's bed?" "I woke up, and it was light in the hallway, so i came down here." So at some point after about 6:30am, when the sun comes up, he got up and went into Lucy's bed. Did he sleep more? I don't know. But it could explain his emotional outburst at school.

I found Lucy and gave her her shoes. "Hey mom! Max and I have talked SOO many times today!" A good night's sleep puts a totally different perspective on a situation...

The classes all lined up in front of the school for a group photo, and then they were off. Class-by-class. Max held hands with his Grade-5 buddy...and me. We walked together the entire time. It was hot and muggy out, but lots of fun and the kids were all in good spirits.





As the last few classes made their way back to the school yard, the kids that were already there were chanting, "Ter-ry-Fox! Ter-ry-Fox!" It was great.

I walked into the school to drop off a form at the office and to gather up the kids coats, since I knew they wouldn't be needing them for the rest of the day. I met Lucy in the hallway and insisted she have a drink out of her water bottle before going into class.

This brings me to my next point. What is it with schools? Sometimes they drive me nuts. I mean, I love my kids school, and their teachers. And they're doing very well. But I have never understood why school focus so much on cramming information into kids heads and not on achieving a well-balanced life, which includes breaks.

At my kids school they get 2 breaks a day. Kind of like 2 lunches. 20 minutes to eat, 20 minutes to play at each one. Both of my kids come home with half-eaten lunches. This is not a surprise to me. They are slow eaters. I have had to be very creative in the things I send for lunches to ensure that they're getting good nutrition, and things they can and will eat quickly. An apple is not a quick thing. Grapes are quick.

Alright, I can consign myself to the fact that they need 3-100 minutes instructional blocks, and only 2-20 minute nutrition blocks. The teachers have got to teach. But when my kids come home and complain that they only get to go to the bathroom or get a drink if it's a break time, but not when the teacher is teaching, or during recess time, I get a little annoyed.

We drink a lot of water at our house. Each of my kids has their own water bottle that is filled every morning, and they keep it with them throughout the day. If we go downstairs, the water bottle comes with us. When we go to the park, or outside, or for a drive in the car, the water bottles come with us. It may sound like a pain, but it works. My kids drink water. We rarely have juice or pop. If they're thirsty, I refer to the water bottle.

It may seem extreme, but as a person who has had to learn in her grown-up years how to drink enough water, and some days still struggles to get the full 8 glasses every day, I want to make sure that my kids start with good habits. So this is where my frustration comes in with the schools. Let them have a drink for pity sake. Ok, I understand not interrupting teaching time every 2 minutes while one out of 30 students goes to get a drink. But, if that's the case, then insist they bring a water bottle to keep with them at their desk. I'm pretty sure teachers keep a drink or a coffee at their desk all the time, and have a drink whenever they feel the need. Umm...kid's are people too. (too extreme? I get a little bent out of shape on this topic).

Plus, I don't like that my kid's are parched when they get home and are drinking their daily share between 5 and 8pm...because we all know, what goes in must come out...and I don't like the call for those good liquids to come out at 4am.

I loved my daughter's previous school who insisted on water bottle use. Love it. And when the school is hot and the weather is muggy, all the more reason to drink. Or when your kids have been outside on a Terry Fox run, a drink afterwards is kind of necessary, is it not? Apparently it's not.

So I have told Lucy to ask her teacher if she's allowed to bring her water bottle into class with her. I figure I'll let her try having the discussion first, before I intervene. I understand that it could get crazy if kids are not careful...and keeping track of water bottles might be difficult...or spills, or more frequent bathroom breaks, but hello people...these tiny things you're teaching...people.

Anyway, I will start a water revolution...somehow.

But the Terry Fox Run was fun.

We have friends in our ward who are going through a struggle right now, as the father of their family was just diagnosed with a spinal cord tumour. It kind of rocked our ward, and our family. We've been here a short time, but we've created great friendships already. And this family is young. Our age. We fasted for their family as a ward on Sunday. We pray for them daily. And we as a family seem just a little bit closer this week as we've appreciated the fragility of life.

Where I come from

Last night, we went for a walk. My kids beg us to take them for walks. All the time. Most days we walk to the bus stop. We walk home. We walk to the bus stop at the end of the day. We walk to the park and play for an hour before dinner. We have dinner, and they're begging me to take them for a walk. We usually oblige. There's no harm in that.

So tonight we ventured to a new spot. Our street runs perpendicular to HWY 15. Across HWY 15 is a quarry. Who knew?! We did not. We were at our neighbour's house for dinner last week and they mentioned the quarry, and we were like, "Quarry? What quarry?" Yup...there's a quarry right across the street. There's no trespassing signs everywhere, but everyone goes there.

I guess it makes sense why Quarry Pond Court is called Quarry Pond Court. There's a quarry, and a pond, right at the end of our court. Funny how these things work.

We had been wondering why we had seen cars parked along HWY 15 throughout the summer and people coming up in swimming stuff, drying off. Where are they swimming? Certainly they're not walking all the way down to Lake Ontario from up here. Certainly not.

The quarry is a perfectly dug out piece of rock heaven. In the centre of rock heaven is a place where they've obviously done the most excavating of limestone. It is filled with water and looks perfectly clean, clear, and ready for swimming. That would have been an awesome discovery a little earlier in the season.

Oh well. It made for a fun adventure last night. Climbing. Throwing rocks. And a nice brisk walk.

Tyler and I also got a chance to hold hands a bit and talk while the kids crowded into the chariot for our trip home. He attended a seminar yesterday. Someone was researching happiness. How to get it. How it's measured. They did a survey to see how happy each of the participants were. He's pretty happy. (I'd say he better be!) Interesting part is, apparently sickness/health, infidelity/trusting relationship, death, divorce/marriage, financial trouble/financial gain (such as winning the lottery) does not affect happiness. It may make a person happier, or sadder, for a few months time, but the general happiness of a person is 50% genetic. Happy people are just happy. Go figure.

Well, my blood type is B+. So is my dad's. And as he has always said, "Why B negative, when you can B positive."

Guess I got good genetics. Although, winning the lottery would be nice.

What to do?

We have been racking our brains, and our bank account, to try and figure out what extra-curriculars to enrol our kids in this year. It's basically driving me nuts. (Not a far trip). I want my kids to be involved in stuff, but I don't want them to be over scheduled. Kids need time to just be kids too. But I strongly believe that team-sports, or music, or some sort of extra-curricular teaches them discipline, responsibility, accountability, and how to be a team-player. Plus the physical benefits. It's all around good.

We checked into swimming because I am mandatory on that one. Everyone should know how to swim. I could not find a time where all 3 of my kids could take a lesson at the same time. I didn't want to be driving back and forth to the pool 3 times a week and have to spend my time there entertaining two children while the other one has a lesson. Not fun. But if we could all be in the pool at the same time...great fun. So no luck on that one until January. Next.

I debated putting Lucy in dance classes but you have to sign up for a whole year. What if she doesn't like it. Then I got this brain wave...singing lessons! Of course! What does my daughter do more than anything? Sing. Her life is a musical...and she'll tell you that. So we planned to sign her up...and I still do. But the oh-so-awesome singing teacher in our ward and who is only a few blocks away just received some terrible family news. So we're waiting on that one.

And Max-o? He loves everything. For a few days. I noticed there was a Martial Arts place close to our house so we decided to check it out. Contacted them, they said to come in for 2 free lessons to see where he's at and we can go from there. Sounds great. We show up, it's just him and the instructor (mr. mcneil), and he LOVES IT! Booyah. Knew it.



He's pumped about the four laws of focus, and his magic words (I love hearing him call me ma'am...just sayin'). He's learning blocks and punches and kicks and how to do push-ups and jumping jacks. We keep asking the instructors for the schedule and the cost and they keep telling us they'll give us that info in our pamphlet on day 3.

Day 3 - booklet. Cost? Yowza! I had no idea Martial Arts was so expensive. Seriously. We're talking comparable with Hockey. So now the debate is on. Do we do it? Or don't we? I mean, we can make it work...but it's a lot of money. He's really good at it. But he always lasts a few days at something and then gets tired of it. "I don't want to go today. I want to stay home and play." Typical kid. And I hate having to say, "We spent a lot of money on this mister, so you're going." Because he doesn't need to worry about that. We've had a lot of talks about making a commitment and that if the coach is going to show up every day, then he should show up too.

That's the other thing. It's Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4pm. Tuesdays and Thursdays work great, because he doesn't have school those days, so I'm not worried about him being too tuckered out...but Lucy does. And the bus doesn't drop her off until about 4:05...which means I have to pick her up from school two days a week. Not terrible, but it is a pain. That's only for 6-10 weeks while he's in the little ninjas program. Then they think he'll be good enough to move up to the Junior program which is at 4:45pm.

So the debate is on. We have to decide before tomorrow's class. Still don't know what to do.

In an effort to help us decide, we've been checking out other options. We went to the climbing gym the other night to check out costs there and options. The kids had a great time climbing and I know it's something Tyler and I would enjoy as well. An extra-curricular we could do as a family. It's hard to decide. It's better priced, but what do you do with an 18-month-old while everyone else is trying to climb? Especially an 18-month-old that loves to climb? I'd like to do it, but it's still in 'we'll see' mode.







So that's been our life lately. Oh, and the kid's had an Open House at their school last week. We got to go and check out their classrooms and the work they've done so far. It was so fabulous. I especially enjoyed seeing Lucy's classroom. She's there 5 days a week now, all day. I feel like I get a few hours every evening and weekends and that's it (well, that's exactly what I get). But now that I've seen everything, when she talks to me about it, I get it. I know what she's talking about.

She came home from school the other day wearing her indoor shoes because she said her outdoor ones were missing when she went to catch the bus. Nice. Fortunately they were back in their spot on Open House night. That was a relief. How annoying is it to buy your kid new shoes for school and have them go missing within the first two weeks?! I'll tell you. Very annoying.

She showed us her hook. Her desk. And her work so far.

The kid's got to trace a life-sized version of themselves on paper and decorate it. Those paper people were sitting at the desks when we got there for the tour. Lucy was very proud.
All the kids had to sign a poster saying they would keep the classroom rules.

And Max got to be the official Kindergarten Tour Guide (for us).

We saw where he sits.

Where he plays. The book corner.

And his school bus that he painted. (I'm not sure why his name is backwards...we called him "Xam" for the rest of the evening).
And we got to end outside on the playground. It was a great evening. Both teachers said how great our kids are doing.

Lucy said on Sunday, "I can't wait until Monday! Then I can chase the boys again!" Really? Grade One?! She tells me she's not in love with them (apparently Jessica is), but that they are SOOO funny. Then she says, "I need to wear comfy clothes so it's easier for me to chase." Oy vey! That's all I can say. Oy vey!

HMCS Shawinigan and Summerside

Well, today was one of those days where it pays to live in Kingston. We had the great pleasure of going on a tour of a naval ship that was docked in Kingston for one day.

The Commanding Officers and ship's companies of Her Majesty's Canadian Ships (HMCS) Shawinigan and Summerside are visiting Kingston.

The ships arrived September 21 and berthed at Crawford Wharf. The ships are open to visitors Thursday, Sept. 22 from 9 a.m . - noon and 2-5 p.m and depart at 9 a.m. Friday.

The main purpose of the Great Lakes Deployment is to raise awareness among Canadians of their Navy as well as to highlight the many career opportunities in the naval service. The presence of the ship, its officers and crew will serve as a great opportunity for opening dialogue with Canadians who are unfamiliar with the Navy and would enjoy a visit to a warship.

It's not very often that you get to see a warship, let alone go on one. So we took the opportunity to take the boys for a look see. It was pretty disappointing that Lucy was in school the entire time the ship was open for tours and didn't get a chance to see.


When we got to the dock we saw the Island Queen III, which is the ship that does 3 hour tours of the Thousand Islands.

Tours were being held on the Shawinigan and we got there just in time for one to start. Fortunately, we had a lot of rain last night, which made for great puddle jumping while we waited in line.

When I told Max that there were Navy Ships in Kingston for today only he said, "You mean like Battleships?!" And he decided to bring his spotting scope to see if they thought he was a pirate.


We got to tour the Bridge and see the work-out room that they use on board to keep in shape even out at sea.


They have a flag for every letter of the alphabet, number, and symbol you could think of and the reservists have to study to learn what each flag means.

Our tour guide told us that these ships only travel at 15 knots (about 27km/hour) so they're not really fast. They're not used in battle but instead for rescue missions and to patrol fishing waters off the East Coast to ensure proper fishing procedure is being followed. No harpooning endangered animals, etc. There are 6 of these ships on the East Coast and 6 on the West Coast of Canada.

There were many cadets on board as well getting lots of training.

As we got off the boats the boys were given Navy tattoos and Key chains. It was really cool. Max loved it. What a great opportunity.



He really wanted to steer the ship, but we learned that these ships don't use a steering wheel and rudder, but instead use thrusters for more accurate control. Our tour guide told us that as the ships docked yesterday that it was quite the site to behold. They let down anchor and then did the most magnificent parallel parking job anyone has probably ever seen.

Fortunately there was an old-school steering wheel on-land that Max got to check out.


We're so proud of our Canadian Forces!