So much to say...so little time!

I feel as though the last week has been a whirlwind around here. March is nearly over and I've barely had the time to sit at the computer to write anything! I'm hoping to remedy that this week and steal away some time for me! One thing I can say right away though...it snowed last night. It was really coming down around 1:00am, with the wind whipping it around. I hadn't been able to get to sleep and neither had Adrian. He came downstairs around midnight and I turned the light on to read for a bit. I finished my book then headed for the kitchen to make some toast. I was wide awake!!! While I was waiting for the toast to finish I noticed the snow. Ick. It's not like there is a huge amount of it on the ground; there is perhaps close to 2cm on our deck and it will likely disappear in the next day or two. It's more the fact that I am beyond ready for sunshine and warmer temps. Spring, where are you???

Memory Lapse

I must be getting old. Or not getting enough sleep. Or I have too much on my mind. Last Saturday before heading to have dinner with some friends we stopped to pick up a few items from the store to bring with us. I gave the cashier my debit card to swipe, went to enter my PIN and couldn't remember it! I got it wrong twice before apologising to her and running out to Adrian waiting in the van right outside. He had to come in and pay for the items, chuckling about my memory lapse.

Fine. I thought it was weird that I would forget the number that I have used for years, but chalked it up to just having an off day with lots on my mind. No big deal.

Yesterday Matthew and I walked to the grocery store, with me confident I remembered the PIN (I was even repeating it silently to myself on the way, just in case). Well, didn't it happen again!!! Apparently the number I was so sure of on the way there was not the right one! I ended up having to use a credit card at the grocery store. Ugh!

When I got home I called up the bank service number to ask for some help. The man I spoke to was very sympathetic and said they would reset my PIN for me, but I'd have to get to a bank machine within two hours to choose a new one for myself. Great. Except that the closest branch to us is a twenty minute drive away and Adrian has the van this week for carpooling to work.

I'll have to wait until I'm sure I'd be able to get to the bank machine before calling for them to reset the PIN for me, which probably won't be until tomorrow.

So, here I am completely stumped as to the original PIN and a little concerned about how I could forget a number I've had memorised for years. Yep, I must be getting old. Sigh.

Rural Living

My chat with the other mom at the park yesterday has made me think a little longer on what it is I like about where we live. Originally we had thought that we'd live just outside the town, but we actually live right in town in a century home on a larger than normal piece of property. The backyards are not fenced in and our kids run through the yards playing with their friends. We are walking distance to everything in town. Some of the shops are a longer walk than others and we used our wagon quite a bit when Matthew was younger because he couldn't manage a long way. Now that the kids are older they love the longer walks we go on. I'd guess the longest we'd have to walk to something within the town limits is perhaps just over two kilometres.


There are several parks we can visit. There are walking/biking trails along the river. There is an outdoor pool open all summer and the kids are looking forward to being part of the swim team there again this summer. For $55 per kid you get three hours of swimming a week starting mid-June and running until about the third week in August plus four optional swim meets on Saturdays through the summer. The coaches concentrate on stroke correction and the kids are continuously active in the water which makes this a much better experience than swimming lessons. There is a track nearby where the kids can bike while Adrian and I walk Panda on nice evenings.


We love our local library. The librarians are wonderful ladies!!! They are very friendly and helpful, calling the kids' attention to new additions to the library which they think will be of interest. They will even call us up to mention programs being offered that they think our boys will be interested in to give us a chance to register before the program fills up. They are very homeschooling friendly, too, offering to bring in whatever materials we would like to complement whatever it is we are learning about. Our library is not huge, but I love the old, squeaky wood floors, the high ceilings and large windows that make this place very warm and inviting.


When we first moved here the stores pretty much all closed at 5:00pm which was a bit of a shock for us, having lived two minutes from a 24-hour grocery store. Both of the stores now offer extended hours, one of them even became a 24-hour store last year. It is common for us to recognise and say hello to a number of people while out shopping or even just walking along the main road. The main road itself is pretty, maintaining the look of a small town. I think I may have to do a little walking tour of the town this summer and post some pics.


Some friends wonder how we ever got used to not having three malls within a short drive, numerous box stores for our convenience and the choice of a dozen or so community centres for a variety of programs for the family to be involved in. Honestly? It was easy.


If there are items we cannot get in town, we make a list and pick them up during one out of town shopping trip. We combine errands so that we are not constantly driving half an hour or more to the nearest larger shopping areas. We may make these trips twice a month or even just once, depending on what we really need. Need being the deciding factor. Instead of piling everyone into the van to go to a mall for something to do, we head out the door and go for a walk or bike ride or just to play in our own yard. This doesn't cost us a thing and it's making for much nicer memories!

Spring-like Weather

We've had a lovely few days of spring-like weather with sunshine and temperatures into the double digits. Adrian pruned the fruit trees and the kids picked up the branches, stacking them somewhat neatly at the back of the yard near the shed. We opened windows to air out the house and enjoyed hearing the birds who are finally flitting about the yard again. The snow is melting, revealing the huge amount of yardwork to be done, but that is okay because the snow is melting!!!! The kids have spent a lot of time racing around outside, shedding winter gear along the way. Yesterday we walked to one of the parks, soaking up sunshine and just feeling the promise of spring. I read, wrote in my journal, took some photos, smiled at my active boys running around in rubber boots with no coats on. It was lovely.

I also met a mom who was there with her daughter and we discovered that we grew up and lived in similar areas in the GTA. We knew the same places and remembered when Brampton and Mississauga were surrounded by farmland. Their family moved north about three years ago. It's been almost six since we made the move. We agreed the pace of life in rural Ontario is so much nicer than in the cities. We laughed when we agreed that neither of us would want to go back!

Backyard Skating

The serendipitous discovery of a large patch of ice in our next door neighbour's yard resulted in a lot of smiles for the neighbourhood kids. They all worked at shovelling or sweeping the ice surface to keep it nice for skating on. Although Andrew and Nicholas are not keen on playing hockey, Matthew enjoyed the 'training' sessions some of the older boys gave him on stick-handling and shooting the puck. He probably spent the most time out there of all the kids! Of course, our boys had a slight advantage being able to use the ice through the day as well as with their friends after the other kids came home from school!

The day I was taking these photos my neighbour was out there with her camera, too. They are kind people who don't mind all these boys traipsing through their yard year round. Their children are all grown, but they do have three small grandchildren who visit on a regular basis. I imagine they will one day join the group of kids running through the yards!

Family Day

For the second year Ontario had a Family Day holiday on the third Monday of February. It's a stat holiday, but there is much confusion as to what should be open and closed. Adrian had to work. I guess manufacturing doesn't count under the closed portion! It was either work this holiday or not have the August Civic Holiday off. They all decided they'd much rather have the summer holiday off.

This was the third year that we've planned an open day at the camp for families to come in and enjoy the grounds in the winter time. The first year it was held on a Saturday in February, then we decided to move it to coincide with the new Family Day holiday. Last year, however, we had to cancel the open day due to freezing rain. The roads were a mess!!!

This year we wondered how the day would turn out since we'd had some thawing and plenty of rain a couple of weeks before. I know in our own yard we had lots of water to go along with the snow and the snow itself was just not very nice to play in. With a cold snap and a bit of fresh snow though the grounds were perfect for sledding, skiing and snowshoeing! The photo above was taken of the river beyond the pond. It was just beautiful!

We had a wonderful time and there were many who came to enjoy the day, some even from out of town! There were several new visitors to camp who commented what a beautiful place it is. I took a LOT of photos, hoping to get a few good ones. I even remembered to take some video footage as well, at the request of my kids.

Grandpa G and Grandma K enjoyed a run down the hill, too! This was taken just after a little spill at the end of the run.

Matthew was thrilled to make it all the way down the hill on his snowboard. He has incredible balance!

Yes, you can take five kids from 8 to 14 yrs and fit them all on one sled! The girls belong to C & C who make the trek each week to help out with The Book Club.

We weren't sure that the ice on the pond would be thick enough for skating with all the thawing and rain so nobody brought skates and we hadn't bothered shovelling snow off the pond or pumping water onto the surface to make a nice smooth skating area. It turned out the ice was definitely thick enough and there was a lovely area swept clear by the wind in the shallow end that was perfect for sliding along on boots or knees. The adults had just as much fun as the kids and much time was spent here. The only problem was getting back to shore...the ice followed the shoreline up on a slope and it was incredibly difficult to get the right momentum to slide right up onto the ground from the ice!


We shared lunch in the dining hall, warmed by a lovely fire in the fireplace and were soon back out to enjoy the rest of the afternoon. It was a tired bunch that headed home at the end of the day!

Monopoly Musings

We've had our Monopoly game for years now. It has been well-used over that time, as is evident in the shape of the board itself and the ring, used in The Lord of the Rings version to play a shortened game, has been lost for some time, having been replaced by a key ring.

The kids pulled it out yesterday afternoon and we spent about an hour and a half trading properties and cash. Nicholas amassed the most in property and cash combined. I think I had more cash than he did, but my number of properties was few.

Since they hadn't played it for quite some time, it was interesting to note the changes in how they play. Andrew still loves to make deals to trade properties in order to get a set. He then almost bankrupts himself putting strongholds and fortresses on those properties. He loves to be the first to put up any buildings on the board. He also is a lot more relaxed about the game in general. It no longer bothers him whether he has the most of anything. He has discovered the joy of playing the game just for the sake of playing the game.

Nicholas is very suspicious of any deal Andrew puts forth and usually demands an exorbitant amount of cash before parting with one of his cards. Funny, though, Andrew sometimes wants the matching card so much that he'll part with almost any amount of cash. Nicholas also hoards his money, is careful about his purchases and very selective in putting strongholds and fortresses up. He's very much like this in real life. He considers any purchases very carefully, weighing the choices, the pros and cons, before parting with his money. He has a good deal of restraint when shopping, even with birthday money or gift cards in hand. The others? It's gone before you even get to the shops with all their imaginings of what they are going to buy. And spend it all they generally do!

Matthew now approaches the game in a different way than previously. Before, he would buy whatever he landed on, didn't care how much money it cost and whether it was a good buy. He'd trade with anyone for anything (Nicholas would usually stick up for him when Andrew was trying to make a deal) and he didn't care whether he ever got to put strongholds on a property. He'd get upset about having to pay rent out though. Now, he asks questions about how much rent he would receive, how much it costs to put strongholds on the property and is a little more thoughtful before making a purchase. He has no trouble figuring out rent payments to others, although he still loves the idea of getting change back!

This morning, when I finally came downstairs (I admit, I stayed in bed for a while after I was awake - I have had a terrible headache for a few days now and I just couldn't face getting up it hurt so much), the boys were all set up in the family room, happily playing another game of Monopoly. When they put it away (just moments ago), there was no counting of all cash and properties to determine who was the true winner. This in itself is a huge change. Andrew used to be almost upset if everything wasn't tallied up to be able to declare a winner. Now? No big deal. They all agreed it was a good game and they had fun.

Now they are on to practicing cartwheels. Yes, cartwheels in the family room this morning. It was something their TKD instructor introduced last night and so my obsessive bunch has decided it's a priority to be able to do these with ease. Matthew already can and has been able to for a long time, but he's small and rubbery! Andrew and Nicholas, weighing a fair bit more and with longer limbs than Matthew are finding this to be a bit of a challenge. I'm looking forward to nicer weather where they can practice this outside!!!