Re-Entry

June is a wonderful and horrible month at our house. Re-entry into full-time family life at the end of the school year is a big change. This year LK and I have both been using adrenaline and determination for the past six weeks of school to get everything done each day. So the past week has been a big adjustment.

I am pretty amazed with how well it has gone. While we would both love the Sprouts to sleep in until 8:30 and play nicely together without bickering for hours, that just isn't going to happen. And that's okay.

What we do have is days like yesterday. And they are really good days.

We puttered around in the morning and packed a picnic with peanut butter sandwiches - if you are a teacher or have kids in school, you know that peanut butter sandwiches are now extinct in schools - which are a weekend or holiday treat. We loaded everyone up with hats and sunscreen and moseyed into town.

We started with our picnic down at the harbour front. That was filled with watching float-planes take off and land and people-watching as summer folk wandered around. Enjoyable for all.

Keewatin was the next stop for some time at the travelling carnival that was here this weekend. It wasn't quiet as enjoyable as lunch. The Sprouts are really too small for most of the rides, and we have adjusted to a lot less ambient noise in life, so the music was really loud. But several rides were enjoyed (and one stopped for Jo, who was too scared to stay on).

Then we had ice cream together. Ice cream is always good. No matter where, when or with whom.

The Railway Museum was open, and so we went in and had a look around. It was a model railroader's dream. The downstairs was a model railway that had pieces of the CN line from across Canada set up throughout. The kids loved watching the trains go around. We got a personal tour guided by a retired CN railroader and his wife. The upstairs was filled with relics of the railway experience in Canada over the past hundred years.

Last we returned to the harbour front for a celebration of multiculturalism that brought back good memories of similar festivals in Toronto. This was Fi's favourite part of the day; filled with music and dancing from Thailand, Spain, the Ukraine, and Metis jigging. Plus, there were perogie and kielbasa for supper! It felt like being in my grandmother's kitchen.

Exhausted, but with big smiles, we all piled into the car hours after Jo's bedtime and rolled home.

Today we recover inside watching the rain pour down outside.

Days like yesterday are the epitome of summertime for me. Moments of serendipitous discovery in the world around us and yummy food. I hope the rest of the summer is just as enjoyable.