Leaving on a jet plane!

At 4:45 AST today Liam and I will be winging our way to Ontario for 10 glorious days of being spoiled by Grandma and Great-Grandma and Aunt Hilary and Grandpa and probably a few other people too. The weather is supposed to be HOT which will be a lovely change from the damp and dreary that we have been experiencing in the Maritimes.

Our trip is going to include a day at African Lion Safari, the Lego store, the Children's Museum and lots of other fun stuff in between. There will likely be a marshmallow roast on an open fire at the cabin where Liam first learned this art form.

We will also celebrate Canada Day while we are away. Canada Day is Liam's second favorite holiday. It usually involves bouncy castles, rides, snow cones and fireworks. What's not to love?

I will however be without computer access for the whole time! My parents don't even have cable so the idea of internet access is laughable! But the break will be great. Time to read and relax and enjoy some of my parents homemade wine!

I'm sure I will take a gazillion pictures and have lots of stories to share when I get back! Till then, have fun!!!

Father's Day

I pretty much had forgotten that today was Father's day. I haven't been to the mall in a while, so I've missed the splash of ads and cards for sale.

And our immediate family doesn't have a father. Something that Liam has been talking about more in the past few weeks. (Coincidence...maybe?) He doesn't seem distressed about not having a father in his life. He thinks it's a great joke to call me Dad, so I call him William (his "official" name and one that he denies belongs to him!)

Hilary and I, however, do have fathers. Hilary has 2~ her father, and her step-father. He step-father has been in her life since she was 3 and is the main father figure that she grew up with.

So Liam has 3 grandfathers (2 that he calls Grandpa and 1 he calls Grandad, it's all very confusing). They all live very far away from us and we don't see them often. But when we do we try to make sure that Liam gets lots of quality time with them. You know, the stuff that memories (and great pictures) are made of. Here are 3 of my favorite moments of Liam with his grandfathers:

Grandpa (Hilary's step-dad) and Liam play checkers.

Liam plays air-hockey with my father.

Liam and Grandad have some quiet time together.

And the wall came tumbling down Part 2

Photo Credits: Liam!

And the wall came tumbling down

Our house has a retaining wall all around the front yard. It's not structurally needed except for the side where the driveway is.

When we bought the house three years ago, this piece by the steps was leaning out about a 1/4 of an inch. Now, it's closer to 2 inches. I'm pretty sure that if I sat on the grass and pushed with my feet I could knock the whole thing over.










The rest of the wall isn't in great shape either. So we called around and got some quotes. I was floored to find out that the range between having it taken out and having it replaced was over $5000. We've decided to go with the much cheaper option of having it removed and a nice slope put in.





Now if it could just stop raining for a few days, we might actually be able to get the work done.

A one-man band

One of the many things that we love about Liam's school is their focus on music. The music teacher Maggie is AMAZING! She nurtures a love for music in all the kids and finds ways to get them involved and interested. This year alone Liam has come home with at least 5 musical instruments that they have studied, made and learned songs to play them to.

A maraca, guitar, harp, rain stick and a 'can guitar'

Next year he will join the band, starting with a recorder and will have the opportunity to try out a variety of instruments. Liam is torn between guitar, full size concert harp and bag pipes (we live in the Maritimes, they are hard to avoid!) It will be interesting to see where his interests take him!

School's Out for Summer!

Liam's last day of school is today! He has finished what his school calls "Youngs" (otherwise known as kindergarten, or locally 'Primary' *side rant* [what is up with calling it Primary? They don't have a secondary or a tertiary. And how can you go from Primary to grade one? Doesn't Primary mean one?] *end of rant*

Next year Liam will be in a class called "Middles". Since they are split-year classes, he will be referred to as a "Young Middle" as opposed to an "Old Middle". It only gets more confusing as time goes on. Eventually he will be an "Old Old". This is what happens when an experimental school in '60s lets the kids name the classes!

Summer will be a variety of lazy days at home, trips to the beach or museums, summer camp and a vacation at Grandma's house. The scheduling got so complicated that we now have an excel spread sheet taped to the cupboard door next to the calendar! I just hope we have some nice weather soon so that we can enjoy it!

The Royal Touch

Princess Anne with a copy of my Father-In-Law's book Blue Heaven.