Culture

Last Thursday afternoon (yikes), the boys and I decided to get some culture and visit an antique car museum in our area.  It is housed in the home of the original (as in first ever) GM dealership showroom. It was a lot of fun and we got to see some really cool cars.

A Bugatti - one of Kaedo's favourite car makers and the one car he says he'll spend his first million on (not this model of course - a new one that drifts and goes 0-60 in 2.1 secs)

They decided their favourite car was the Delorean (sp?) (a la Back to the Future) and they only wished it had the flux capacitor all Deloreans should come stock with.

I personally thought this was the coolest. It is an amphibian car and there were only about 70 ever made by this company. Our guide told us that the owner/manufacturer had never even ridden in one of his creations as he was scared to drive and never had a license. He just liked to build. Go figure.

We walked around the downtown area, visited our local art museum, which was beautiful, took a look at our clam shell ampitheater and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Who says you have to travel far to get a bit of culture?

hmmm

no car = no social life

car = social life

go figure

p.s. please be home before dawn

Because there is nothing better than a cute dog...

Rollin'

Yesterday Craig and the boys spent the day at the Toronto.Indy Fan Day. They had a blast. Kaedo saw a Lamborghini hit the wall, they saw great trials, got awesome swag, saw cute girls in short shorts, ate Churos and swigged Dr.Pepper shots. Sterling having gotten his license, was able to participate in some of the activities offered, and they entered tons of draws which will no doubt flood our inbox with spam.  

Kaedo's love for motorbikes made this picture a must. More ideas in his head - plotting to one day ride a motorbike. Lookin' Good! 

Not to be outdone, Sterling had to give it a go, although he wouldn't be caught dead driving one!

It took them over two hours to get home and I still have piles of swag on my kitchen table that will eventually make its way into the garbage, but for now they are dreaming of driving fast cars, with fancy paint jobs, stereos blaring.

Born to Drive!

From this: (March 23, 2003)

To this: (July 17, 2014)

This morning Sterling took his driver's exam and passed with 96%! He had only two mistakes (2 marks each) and when his driving instructor dropped him off after the test, he told us that Sterling was one of the best drivers he had trained.

We are so very proud of him. He has always wanted to drive. And has always done it well. Just ask his Amma. He drove the jeep like it was a real car and 11 years later he is out with Kaedo (as I write this) picking up chicks in the van.  The jeep was definitely cooler, but what can you do. He is officially one step closer to having his own car, and with the hopes of getting a job shortly, he won't have to share with dear old mom for too much longer.

We are very proud. And scared. And proud. And scared. Not sure which I'm most - proud or scared. I do know that this is the biggest day of his life so far, and he has worked very hard to be an exceptional driver. He has hundreds of hours experience already. Still, stay off the roads. Just sayin'!

Did I mention, I've only called once to check up on them?

Happy Birthday Grover!

Although Grover came into our lives on December 1st, July 15th is the day he was born.  He has brought a lot of joy into our lives and has been a great addition to our family.

Happy Birthday Grover!

Wabbit Season

Not sure if it was mentioned in a previous blog post but this spring we had some rabbits take up residence in our back yard.  Well to be accurate they actually lived somewhere in the next door neighbours yard and visited frequently.  It's been cute to watch them zip through a small space in the fence, so much so that Kaedo got to leaving them small garden offerings (lettuce) in the opening.  Well it would seem as though our cute cuddly Grover has a bit of a killer instinct as the other night he must have caught the rabbit off guard and pounced.  When I went outside to check on Grover he was hunched over something that looked like one of his stuffed animals but when I got closer he thought I wanted to play a game and picked it up and ran away.  At that point I knew it was one of the poor rabbits and by the time I caught up to him and pulled him aside the rabbit had expired.  Needless to say Kaedo was a bit upset by the turn of events and we were shocked that Grover could move that fast.  In his defence I would like to believe that he was just trying to play with it but regardless we have started referring to him as Elmer, the difference being he actually caught the rabbit.

Here is the aftermath:

+

=

10 minutes in his kennel and the cold shoulder from his best friend.

Dear Sterling,

To my sweet boy who changed my life forever. You recently told me that you read the blog every day and that you love that I write it. Well, I have a confession for you - until you told me that, I had planned to stop. I'm not sure why. I guess I wasn't sure it was important anymore. But knowing that you read it and that it is important to you, makes it important to me.

The day you were born, my life changed. It was like the flick of a switch. This little 'potato looking thing' (haha inside joke) was mine and I knew from that moment on I would do everything I could to give you the life you deserve. You are my reason for being and there is nothing I wouldn't do to make you safe and happy and keep you healthy. You taught me the true meaning of love, of life of living. I will thank you until the end of my days for coming into my life and blessing me with your wit and wonderfulness. You my love are one in a million.

And so I will continue to write this blog, if for no one else than for you, as I want you to know how much I cherish the things you do, that we as a family do, the memories we create and the life we have together.

I can never thank you enough for being my son. But this I can do.

I love you,
Mom

Here's What I've Realized....

After talking to my sister on the phone last week I got to thinking that my family and I (the four of us, not the whole clan), do not celebrate traditional holidays traditionally. Now don't get me wrong, we do celebrate Christmas (in our way - more on that later), and birthdays are big for us, but aside from that we pretty much don't.

I am continually amazed at how involved my sister is in her community and the things that go on there. She's got the girls out to every activity and event going on. So awesome and what a wonderful set of memories she is creating for her girls.

We on the other hand, are not really like that. Case in point - never been to a Santa Clause Parade, have only been to the Canada Day festivities once, have never celebrated St. Patrick's Day (aside from the obligatory pinch) and don't celebrate a traditional Thanksgiving, Easter or Christmas dinner.

Why, you may ask? Well, to be honest - those things don't matter to us. I don't know why but they really don't. You see, we have our own traditions. Ones we have introduced to our families over the years and ones that we have participated in just the four of us.

Easter - Monkey Bread for breakfast (Craig's favorite). That's about the extent of it. And the movies, of course. We always go to the movies.

Canada Day - no fireworks for us, unless you count the ones people set off in the street as fireworks are legal where we live so every schmo around lights them up. No thought about burning houses down. No sirreee.

Thanksgiving - we take our annual family photos - we don't hire a photographer, just do them ourselves. And we probably go to the movies.

Christmas Eve - FUNDUE, baby! Secret Santa and pjs from Gramma and Grampa.

Christmas Day - Monkey Bread for breakfast, gift opening and the movies. Popcorn for supper.

New Years - Nothin' honey.

So what do we celebrate, you may ask?

Measuring Day is a big one in our family. What is Measuring Day, you may ask? When we moved here I asked Craig to put up a removable growth chart in the doorway of our kitchen. One each of the boy's birthdays they both get measured. So in November and June we take the measurements to see how much they've grown in the last 7 months/5 months. It is so very cool and a favorite part of our traditions. Sterling is still about an inch taller than Kaedo but Kaedo is definitely going to surpass him.

As we have never (well, once) had a babysitter for the boys, Craig and I didn't go on a date (when the boys weren't travelling) for almost 10 years. Last year we remedied that and almost every Sunday morning we head to a local restaurant and have breakfast. That's a tradition for us.

Friday night is pizza night. As I make my own pizza from scratch (well, my breadmaker does the dough - thanks Jessica), pizza night is always big because the pizza is so damn good. That's a tradition for us. No one likes to miss it.

Valentine's day = heart shaped pizzas. My mom took us when we were kids and I have always done it with the boys. I think this year both my sis and my B-I-L's family did this too. The kids weren't thrilled with the service or food we had last time we went so this year I made the pizzas myself and we celebrated at home.

Birthdays are pretty big - For the boys they get to go out for breakfast before school, choose what they want for supper, have chocolate sour cream cake and get to choose an activity they really want to do. Along with all their gifts and phone calls, and Measuring Day, of course, it is pretty special. On their 16th birthday they get to miss school (should they choose), and go for their driver's permit. Sterling took us up on that, we'll see about Kaedo. While we don't do parties any more (ours were the best, let me tell you), they can each invite a friend to an activity, have a sleepover, or go out.

To be honest, I can't really think of anything else we might do. A lot of people are surprised when we say we don't have Easter/Thanksgiving/Christmas Dinner, and one person even commented that she thought that all the time we spent at the movies wasn't really quality time and maybe we should find other interests.

Here's what I say to that. First off, I cannot make mashed potatoes. I just can't. There is a mental block in this area that does not allow me to make them. Therefore, I don't make traditional dinners. Craig understands and waits patiently for my mom to come to make them. This Thanksgiving we will be having mashed potatoes.

As to the movies - Craig and I have always been big movie goers. Our first date was to the movies, and the kids first movie was way back when we lived in Alberta (it was a disaster, but I digress). We love the entertainment value, the losing ourselves in the story, the falling in love with and hating the characters. We love loving a movie and hating it. we love to compare notes and decide if we want it wiped from our memories forever or if we will definitely see it again. Over the years we have gone from cartoons to PG to 14A and love that we all like the same movies (action with a bit of humor please). So to those who think we see too many movies, take a look at how much time we spend together, how much talking we do, how involved we are with each other then cut us some slack on some mindless entertainment.

Lastly, here is a picture of the boys next to the measuring stick. How far they have come. Kaedo was 3'8 and Sterling was 4'1 when we started this in 2004. They are now 6' (K) and 6'1 (S).

I would love to hear about some of your traditions and the things you do with your family. Who knows, I might just steal one! And to my sister - it really is amazing to me what you do with the girls. You rock, babe!

A Week In

So, we are a week in on this thing called Summer Vacation. So far, so good. As a long term proponent of year-round schooling, I don't like the idea of the boys having 2 months off. It is easy for them and me to become complacent with late nights and late mornings, a screw up in our routine and the seeming never ending flow of money out the door to keep them occupied. Even if it is only fries and a drink from Mc.Donalds it adds up.

Gone are the days of swim lessons and splash parks and to be frank, at $125 a trip to the zoo is not in our budget. With teenagers it is about seeing their friends - which I am totally cool with - but along with that comes working around a lot of different schedules and commitments. It is my goal to have one adventure a week with them and some sort of small outing on a couple of other days, but I must admit it is daunting. The things that thrill an 8 year old, don't do much for my 15 and 16 year olds.

So back to the school thing. My guess is that if you have young children and need child care, year-round school is not the solution as the week here and week there that kids are off make childcare a bitch. However when you have children that are working towards their future and that still don't quite know what they want to do, I think having a system that would allow for more learning would be fantastic.

I've looked into age appropriate camps for them and at the end of the day it comes down to the almighty dollar. When you take $400 a week x 2 kids it just can't be done. I'm not saying I need school as a babysitter - I don't, what I like about the idea of them being in school, is the continued learning, the continued deciding, the continued opportunity to try something different.  The maintaining of the routine, the contact with the adults that are teaching them and the students that make up their "school social circle". My boys are being asked to decide their future now and they haven't tried enough or learned enough to know what they want and what they don't want.

Yes, I could get them up early and keep them on a routine, but really, why? So they can say "I'm bored" all that much sooner?