Category: Heather

Elspeth’s Reunion

Can you believe that this time last year we were collecting the last of our paperwork and packing our suitcases for China?  In honour of that event, we spent the past weekend with some of Elspeth’s China family bounding.  We were blessed with great weather, ample food, a whole farm full of activities and wonderful company.  Our family has truly been blessed.  Not only has China given us two precious daughter’s but also two more branches for our family tree full of caring and warm families.  It is a delight to spend time with them.

Highlights of the weekend?  On Saturday morning the group went to a local zoo/playground/minature village.  The kids spent a lot of time in the playground section and had an absolute blast!  Along with traditional playground equipment there were also trampolines and a splash zone.  Peer pressure is a wonderful thing when it encourages your nervous child to actually venture into the water at the splash park.  That’s right, Elspeth actually went into the water at a splashpark!!!  We have not had a chance to visit another one since then so it might just be a one time thing but still a step in the right direction.  As you can see from the photos, both girls had quite a bit of fun bouncing on the trampolines.  Can you believe that in April Elspeth couldn’t jump?

 

Once we were back at the farm the fun continued.  The kids played on the swings, splashed in the wading pool and mixed up “cement” under the direction of Katrine (mud, water, stones and a toy dump truck – in case you want to make your own).  The parents managed to secure a few minutes for our own refreshments and relaxation.

After a scrumptious dinner, it was time to give the kids pony rides.  They were thrilled.  I think that if they had not been promised dessert and loot bags we may not have been able to get them away from the ponies quite as easily.

We are already looking forward to more reunions.  It is always great to see how the kids are growing and to share the successes and challenges of the previous year. Soon we will be able to wish each other a happy one year anniversary…about two more weeks.

First weekend in July

Not a very interesting title but it has been a long and fun weekend so that is the best I can do!

My two girls chilling on our boat ride with friends around the harbour in Midland.  I thought that they may not enjoy themselves but I was surprised that both had fun.

Afterwards we went fishing.  Katrine caught the fish while Elspeth caught only worms and weeds.  She was disappointed but she will never catch anything if she keeps reeling in her line 20 miles an hour while singing Baa baa black sheep at the top of her lungs.

Then it was off to Saint Marie among the Hurons.  Here is Katrine pretending to be the doctor whipping up herbal medicine.

Don’t you just love the pure joy on this face?  All because Grandma was emptying the sand from her shoes.  Absolutely love this photo.

Here is a photo that Katrine took of me.  Don’t usually get that many flattering photos of me so I simply had to post this exception to the rule.


Just some photos

Random cuteness:

Looking cute after having their animals checked out at the zoo yesterday.

Ever wondered how small Elspeth is?  Fits into a bankers box along with a shoe box, play food and two stuffies with room to spare.  This is her “choo-choo”.  I love watching little kids play in boxes.

Finally built up enough courage to let go of the railing when she jumps down.  Let the games begin.

Just a cute photo.

Wild Toy Animal Clinic

Before the rain began this morning, we were able to squeeze in a trip to the zoo.  Today was their animal clinic day.

Katrine really enjoys it and gets into it playing the role of concerned mother hen.  We were not sure how Elspeth would react to it but took a chance that she would at the very least not cry there.  Luck was on our side and she seemed to enjoy it also.  Especially chosing the colour of vaccine that her Aleigh (a rare flat sheep) should be given and happily selecting bandages for her “boo boo leg”.  This year Katrine chose to take Chimpy.  Chimpy is also a rare breed – a chimp with a tail.  Think that there may have been some interbreeding there.

First you have to check in and explain why the animal is there today. In our case, a sheep with a sore leg and a chimp with a sprained wrist.
Next it is off to the initial exam. Katrine got to check out the chimps eyes with a real magnifier before he had his ears cleaned out with the huge swab.
After vaccines, micro chipping, a weigh in and xrays, it was off to have heart rate and blood pressure checked. The vet actually let Elspeth try it out when she looked interested.
Cap it all off with bandages and a visit with a ferret. Definetely a good adventure.

Just thought that I would add one photo of the zoo’s newest project.  This is right beside the gorillas at the African pavillion.  It is going to be a rope course and I think that I will need to give it a pass. (I have a thing about falling from heights.  Don’t mind the heights themselves only the potential of falling from them.)

 

 

 

We went, she danced, she trophied!

Another weekend, another dance competition.  LOVE them!  The sun, the pipes, the dancing and this time even sheep (much to Elspeth’s delight).  Then throw in some dance friends and a picnic lunch and it makes for an enjoyable day.

Katrine danced well today.  As a result, she took home a first, second, third and the trophy for her group.  If you look closely at the photo of her with her trophy you will notice that it looks like she is in tears.  Well, she is.  If we go to another comptetion this summer, it will likely be her last as a Beginner.  The next time she will have moved up to the next level and the thought of moving scares her.  Why? Because she is scared that she is not good enough to win a trophy there.  Made for an interesting heart to heart talk tonight at bed time about how winning is not the be-all end-all but merely the icing on the cake.  The real prize is in trying your best and doing a good job.  Did it sink in?  Who knows, it is not like this is the first version of this conversation that we have had.  We were proud of her though because she actually danced well today.

Elspeth?  Well, as you can see she made a new friend and they played iphone together.  Later she broke out the stickers. 🙂

And now what you have all been dying to see…my hair.  It did not turn out as pink as I had hoped but here it is in it’s new pinkness.  I know, out of character for me but it is only semi-permanent and I just wanted to do something fun that was only for me.

 

 

 

Rainy Tuesday

We have a very happy garden again today.  I am looking forward to great things from it.  Particularly roasted potatoes with butter and chives.

Because of the rain, the girls insisted that they needed their umbrellas to walk to the bus.  It worked fine in the morning as it was a light mist.  Our trip post nap was not met with such enthusiasm by Elspeth once the rain began to pick up – didn’t even try to splash in the puddles.  Poor baby.  I think that some more walking in the rain is in order to help desensitize her.

This morning was Elspeth’s last play group.  She has really enjoyed them, as have I.  I can’t say that she has made any actual friends there but she is sharing and more aware that there are other kids around.  She has also learned to turn to stand up for herself a bit by turning to me for help when another kid does something she doesn’t like.  In honour of the last day, there was a sundae party at the end of class.  We are on a break now until the fall.

Of course Katrine had an extra curricular today (free time…who needs it?) in the form of a dance class in Markham.  Each time we go we drive past a restaurant advertising that they sell only noodles.  Ever since noticing it, Katrine has been bothering me to stop at “her restaurant”.  Boy does she love her noodles.  Today I decided to surprise them by stopping.  Even I got to eat.  Someone was thinking when they opened the place.  They carry rice noodles and clearly advertise in their menu that they can accomodate gluten free requests.  A nice and unexpected surprise (I was planning on eating when we got home).

Elspeth had some apple juice with her dinner (another treat).  I think that was the highlight of the meal for her.  I should have known better.  We get home, chat with Baba and then go upstairs to get ready for bed.  Standing in the middle of the bathroom she pees all over the floor. So in exchange for my dinner of pasta and lack of dishes to be washed coupled with my ill advised choice to allow Elspeth to have juice, I had to wash the floor and do a load of laundry.  Sigh.  I really should have known not to give her juice. 😆

 

Down on the farm

Decided that today was the perfect day an outing to the farm. It was awesome!

We started out at the upick section in the midst of a strawberry patch.  I was expecting to be nagging the girls to pick and not eat the berries but that was not the case.  Instead, each of the girls was totally in to picking.  Katrine actually filled one of our baskets all by herself.  She walked up and down the rows searching for “the biggest, juicest berries for my lunches”.  Elspeth tried to pick a few of the berries.  They were big but most were more of a white colour than red so she got put on hide and seek duty.  “Okay sweetie can you find the big, red berry?  It has to be hiding in this plant.”  Who knew that her new found interest in hide and seek could come in handy in the middle of a field?  We have a few small berry plants in our garden and the berries are small but pretty darn sweet.  However, they are sour in comparison to how sweet and juicy the ones we picked this morning are.  Delicious.

The farm that we were at had a stay and play section as well so once we had our fill of berry picking we headed there.  What a play yard!  They had this bounce pillow.  I had never seen one before today but it was awesome. (It alone might warrant the drive back to Mount Albert sometime this summer)  It is like a roof less and side less bouncy castle whose base is buried in the ground.  You scamper up and then jump.  It was funny being able to climb on and jump right along with the girls.  Katrine got some serious air while Elspeth was happy to hold my hand and run from one end to the other until someone bounced her off her feet.

Then there were the animals to visit and haystacks to jump from.  Crazy horse swings that moved in every direction.  I know because I literally spun Katrine around in a circle.  😀   We also had to visit the playhouse, slides and spray zone before taking a ride on their train (actually a converted tractor).  The ride started out well enough but I thought that it was only going to be a quick spin but it turned out to be an actual tour of their farm.  Sounds interesting right?  Not when you can feel your youngest begin to break down halfway through the ride.  As we got off the train, I carried the screaming kicking toddler directly to the cool farm market for a slushy.  Between the slushy, some fries and a sing-song show of animatronic chickens a la Muppets, peace was restored to her world.  Elspeth’s ability to over heat is pretty amazing considering the daily temperatures that we encountered in Jiangxi last summer.  She must take after me. 😆

We capped the day off by heading to our local splashpad to cool off.  Katrine ran right in and was happily soaked in seconds.  Elspeth is still puzzling the attraction of jets shooting water into the air while buckets dump it on the ground.  I did manage to talk her into splashing in a puddle for about 5 minutes before she, miss “the water in my bath, while only tepid, is tooooo hot! Please add more cold.”, declared it cold.  What a girl.  She also refused a cooling wrap (that is the thing that looks like a balloon wrapped around my head – heavenly).  She did seem to appreciate my huge hat whether it was because of the shade it offered or the fact that she could hide underneath it I don’t know. Fun.

 

Long Weekend

And what a long weekend it was!

We had a wonderful time at Katrine’s China family reunion and then finished it off by working on the garden.  Throw in the great weather and who could ask for more….well, maybe a working bbq (but that is another post).

I love reunion weekend almost as much as Katrine.  She says that it is one of her favourite holidays.  Who can blame her?  A weekend with your China sisters and brothers (we missed a few this year. 😥   ) Throw in candy, games, a ton of swimming, giggles, teasing and even loot bags and what kid wouldn’t like it.  For us adults it is about reconnecting and seeing how everyone is doing.  These are some amazing kids I have to tell you.  Even Elspeth had a great time.  She tried hard to keep up with the big kids (who were really good with her) and was quite the ham around the adults.  Can’t wait for our next reunion with Elspeth’s China family in July!

Our garden is looking good.  Glenn and I have been talking about digging in a border for years and this year he did it.  It looks great and might even help to keep the grass at bay.  This year we are growing, well trying to, sunflowers (hoping to dry the seeds this year…unlike last year), pumpkins, white patipan squash, banana potatoes, shallots, beets, radishes, cucumbers and two types of heirloom tomatoes (too bad that I am still reacting to tomatoes or else I could make a killer salsa).  Katrine also brought home a strawberry plant last year and then we bought a few more.  They all survived the winter and a few even have some berries starting to grow.

As you know, Katrine is a big fan of gardening.  She enjoys it so much that she was thrilled when the Easter bunny brought her gardening gloves to replace her Dora pair.  This was Elspeth’s first experience in gardening.  She seemed pretty interested and helped to throw the seed potatoes into the holes, dig random holes and then move all of our row markers about.  And she did it all with a smile.  Next spring will certainly be easier when it comes to planting but nothing beats that first time spent introducing her to a new experience.

Let me finish with a request that anyone with suggestions on how to dry sunflower seeds or grow large pumpkins post them.  Those are two things that Katrine is hoping will happen with our garden this year are both are currently beyond our area of expertise.

We also have ducklings at the marsh near our house!

 

A Mother’s Day Christening

When we were in Nanchang, one of the things that we did was arranged to have articles of clothing sewn specifically for the christening.  Katrine got to chose the material for each item with the one stipulation that it all had to be red (the colour of celebration and good luck).  She did a bang up job and we ended up looking quite smashing for the christening.  So eye catching that a little girl in the pew infront of us turned around, eyed us all and ernestly asked “Are you Chinese?” Hmmmm, well let’s see two of us are blonde.  Hmmm, she must be thinking that we had to be Chinese to wear those clothes.  She is about 7, how to answer, how to answer. Katrine pipes up, “Only me and my sister are.” Little girl nods as if that has cleared the matter up and then turns back around.  Almost as funny as the time that my mom and I picked Katrine up at Chinese class and the kids looked at the pair of us in confusion before turning to her and asking if her grandmother spoke Chinese.  “Nope, just Scottish.”  Isn’t it interesting how they try to make sense of their world?

Anyways, back to the christening.  We usually sit upstairs at our church where there are less people but yesterday that was out and we sat right up at the front.  Man did Elspeth’s eyes get big like saucers when she looked over her shoulder at the rows of people.  You could tell that she was already getting a bit stressed.

When we met with the minister in April, we had warned her that Elspeth doesn’t really like getting water put on her head and she should be prepared for some noise.  Well, up we go to the front with Karen, Glenn’s sister aka Godmother, and Scott, my brother aka Godfather (thanks guys).  Katrine is super excited that she can pour the water into the baptismal font.  We repeat our promises to guide Elspeth in the path of Christ and approach the minister who takes Elspeth and begins the placing the water on her head.  HOWL!!!! TEARS!!!  Okay, return said child to mom as soon as possible.  I think the passion of Elspeth’s howls surprised the minister.  She was really protesting.

Once back in my arms she wimpered and then went into shut down which lasted until we could escape the sanctuary and go into the nursery which is her normal routine.  Poor baby.  At least once she was okay, she was okay.  She was happy to pose for photos once the service was complete. Thrilled to eat the cupcakes made by Auntie Heather (thank you) and open all of her gifts.  It was actually a nice way to spend a Mother’s Day morning….aside from the howling and shut down portions.

Our girls before the service:

The prayer shawl that was given to Elspeth in honour of her christening:

The scrumptious looking cupcakes:

 

Doesn’t Elspeth look even more angelic now?