November 21, 2023
The past week has been busy, and chill at the same time.
We began with a family exploration of new places in the area and we found a few treasures!
This summer, while taking a walk through our town of Yarmouth, we stopped at the Nova Scotia Visitor Information Center and gathered a bunch of brochures and maps. We decided to take the brochure of Acadian Shores and, as a family, drive around to check out some of the suggestions inside. It also included a map so Middle Born choose to be the “back seat driver” and navigate where we would go and how to get there.
We explored beautiful shoreline, found some really cool trails that took us to a wooden swing under a gazebo and a lighthouse, stopped for some photography, and found a super old cemetery dating back to the mid 1700’s.
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- The tiniest little lighthouse, which we think is actually a playstructure
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- A marker Province of Nova Scotia Historic Site marker
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- Another marker mounted on the same rock
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- This was the only stone marker, 1771
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- The oldest date we found was for 1761
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- This is a visitors site but it is closed for the season
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- The gazebo on the left has the most wonderful sturdy wooden hanging swing inside.
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- Such a cool little lighthouse
We had a lot of laughs, learned about many different things, and made some really great family memories.
We also had some stay at home days.
Two postings ago, we promised the kids that we would built them a treehouse. Our unexpected early move from Petawawa meant that the tree house didn’t happen, yet again. Our current yard doesn’t really have a tree worthy of a treehouse, so we recently built a shed, that will eventually turn into a “treehouse” on the second level.
Not only did the kids help their Dad build the first level this year, but they also helped to paint and then fill it with their things (which means their Dad has his garage back!)
When we have home days, the kids are generally able find their own things to occupy themselves.
First Born loves to work on his Lego Creations. This kid is so creative and detail oriented when it comes to Lego, he is always explaining them to us and thinking of things to do that we would never think of.
A family friend had a birthday coming up, and she is a good buddy of Middle Born as they have similar personalities and are born just 6 weeks apart. When they were born, we lived in Quebec, and then we moved to Ontario. Having my kids become friends with children whose parents I’ve been friends with since high school is so weird, but so enjoyable.
Anyway, Middle Born wanted to create something for her little friend, M: “I want to maker her a pillow that says Happy Birthday M*, and stuff it with stuffing so she can put it on her bed.”
So off we went to Frenchy’s (a secondhand bin store in the Maritimes) for fabric. We found three pillowcases that to cut up and decided to make two pillows, one with Happy Birthday on it, and another with her friend’s name. She originally wanted to just write it in marker but I had to burst that bubble, marker would wash or wear off. So we made a new plan to stitch the letters on. I drew out the big block letters for her and she cut them out of paper, and then traced them onto fabric and cut those out. As she began stitching them onto her pillowcase fabric, she started to feel overwhelmed and frustrated that it was taking too long and she wouldn’t get it done in time, and she asked for help. She decided to do the Happy Birthday pillow and I did the name for her. Then she took the stuffing out of a Dollarama pillow, stuffed it, and stitched the seam back up herself. She also gave it a ton if giant hugs to “fill it” so that if her friend is ever missing her, she can just hug it too and feel Middle Born’s hugs back.
We just happened to be in the friends town the day before her birthday, so we surprised her friend by joined her and her mom for an afternoon of bowling, followed by a playground hang out. We’re so thankful to be able to do that.
Also this week, we received a new kennel for one of our pups, which came in a ginormous box. Ginormous Boxes are a big deal and it became so many things over the week:
- a house (which also came with a family and an entire backstory)
- a car on an imaginary roller coaster
- an artists canvas
- a slide going down the stairs (yes, I allowed it)
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- A playhouse with some dolls
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- A canvas for artists
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- A slide for the stairs
We feel so fortunate to be able to spend extra time with my parents now that we live closer.
This week was a hard one as we had a Celebration of Life for my cousins spouse who passed suddenly, and our family lost an extended member as well, she was a sister in law for one of my sisters and a best friend for the other. So we took a day on the weekend to just stay home and hang out with my parents, playing games, making crafts, and watching movies. It just felt like something we needed to do after so much recent loss.
It was the first service my children have attended for a loss of life as well, so that in itself was a learning experience, not to mention the opportunity to meet some extended family like their great aunt (who is 82), and lots of cousins. They pieced together some of their family tree and were able to put some faces to their names.
My heart was so proud when Middle Child took a moment to tell my cousin who had just lost her partner that “It’s going to be ok. I’m sure he had a really great life and he’ll always live in your heart.” The empathy in this kiddo is beyond my expectations, I hope she never loses it.
Another bonus to living closer is having my Red Seal mechanic brother work on our vehicles again!
I took First Born to the garage with me because it had been a rough morning with his sisters and I didn’t want to leave them all home for my mom to deal with. I’m glad I did, it was the first time that he was really curious about learning how vehicles work, going under the hoist with Uncle Jamie, asking questions, and even helping bleed the brake lines for him.
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