Dear family,

As Gramma and I are about to begin on our adventure of many potential surprises and endless unknowns, I find myself feeling very fortunate to be able to spend this time, this road trip, with my mom. We will have a whole month of moments to reminisce about, reflect upon and recall over the coming years.

I know that I will miss you all terribly over the days and weeks to come. And I will be absent from your lives for a month. I think about all of the nuances and moments for which I will not be present. Instead, during the month I'm away, I will be creating and experiencing moments in my own life and sharing many of those with my own mother. I am truly thankful.


With much love, gratitude and appreciation.

The 6th of the 6th

I've been double tagged to find the sixth picture, in the sixth picture file,

and write about it.

This is my little Hanna, four years ago, she's eight in this picture. I have to laugh because there she is with a camera in her hand, she's always with a camera. She looks sad, maybe Poppa said something sour, as he looks kind of smiley, but she appears quite glum.

I see she's wearing her cute "ladybug" pants - the little pink circles on her jeans are ladybugs.

Shawn took each of the three older kids for a one-on-one trip to his dad's house, Poppa's house, in North Vancouver. Here they are walking through Shawn's favourite park. As a kid, Cates Park, was one of his favourite places to spend lots of time.

Wishing

They've been wishing ~

Mackenzie for a piano and lessons again,

Hanna for a guitar with which to sing,

Owen wishes to go fishing everyday,

their mom is wishing too,

for all the above,

plus a camera.

Friday's Fanciful Frolickings

At the end of Singing Sands Road,

is a good place to fish, we've been told.







Wind
in her hair,




she feels the salt water and sand,

and he scoops crabs

by hand.

Bull kelp, mosses and weeds,

skipping stones,

and a sand dollar, all found by the sea.

This sand is ours,

and theirs.....

how splendid to just, be.

Growing up

With their breakfast of English muffins and tea, they settle in to watch "What Not to Wear". When all the breakfast breaks end, we begin to read. Hanna looks up the word haughty, haughtily in the dictionary and then informs us of its meaning. We discuss Celts, Anglo-Saxons, the pope and Britain. While I read, they get creative.




Owen made more Geomag creations.

Mackenzie finished her swirly picture.

Owen drew this guy with a green Mohawk poking through his black bandanna.




Hanna made herself a hideout and later brought her lamp into it so she could read.



While waiting for his sisters to get ready, Owen shot some hoops.




The girls' personal hygiene took over an hour today. The two of them sat side-by-side on the edge of the bathtub shaving their legs. Once we'd all eaten and were finally ready for the day we went to homeschool skating and

I forgot the camera.

When we got home they rode off to the candy store, each with a dollar in their pocket. They want five cent candies, but there's tax to pay. "How many can we get?" I suggested they check with the storekeeper once they get there.

They got nineteen candies for a dollar.

They get caught in a

sudden and heavy down pouring of hail!

After dinner, Hoop Girls.






On the way there, they ask when they can start to wear make-up!

"Our friend just turned thirteen today and she's allowed to wear make-up now because she's thirteen and she had make-up on today, at skating. On 'What Not to Wear' they use liquid eyeliner, it works good for upper eye lids. If you make a mistake then you can just blend in some eye shadow and it'll look great. Can we wear make-up when we turn thirteen? I want to buy some liquid eye liner because it looks really good. The lady on the show looked so pretty after they did her make-up."


Hmmmm......make-up, shaving legs, over an hour for personal hygiene......ohhh...my little girls!

TV again

The news is on and a university in Vancouver is talking about constructing a gondola for its students to get to classes quicker and easier. Owen pipes up to say, "I thought a gondola was a boat with a guy in it with a long pole to push the boat along on the water?"

Again, I ask, "How do you know that?"

"It was on TV on George Shrinks", says he.

Being the last child of four, he watches way more TV than the others did.

Because I was going to be a mom that "picked" not to have cable in my house so my kids would be more creative and imaginative without TV....that....that...."time waster!".

Survivor Man has informed him of much, just as Dirty Jobs, How It's Made, cooking shows AND George Shrinks.

Of course its American Idol night tonight......what will go on in their individual brains while watching that show?

Dreaming

After breakfast, pet jobs and lounging in PJ's until 10ish, some reading aloud was done. I read a chapter from Family Under the Bridge and a chapter of Story of the World 2.

While reading, Mackenzie continued with her swirly picture, colouring it in with Sharpies. She likes their vibrancy and strength.

Owen worked in his drawing book, he's been dreaming of fishing.



Hanna worked on her drawing/sketching pad for a while.

After Owen finished his picture, he played with Geomags. When Hanna finished her drawing, she joined him. They made shapes which turned into a race tracks with a car.

During the reading, many discussions flowed as per usual. In Family Under the Bridge the word francs posed questions which led to listing off all the different currencies they could think of. They want to know more about world currencies so we'll try and find a good book that has pictures too. Other topics discussed: bards, Britain, France, England, Celts, Beowulf, Seine River, "where would homeless Armand have collected his 'scraps of food'?".



Once the reading was over, Owen's dream to go fishing came true.



Before Owen went to get his filling done at the dentist, they went fishing with their dad.



Mackenzie caught a big one and they marked its length on the net.



Since they do "catch and release type" fishing they wanted to take pictures, make markings on the net to

record the size, and then get out the measuring tape ~ 16.5 inches!

The fishers were hungry for a snack and then it was time to video game with Dad. After dinner tonight, it's American Idol.