I knew this day was coming

I knew it was coming, I denied it for weeks still claiming it wasn't true. Until this weekend when my husband made Kyle and I stand back to back to check for himself so I couldn't deny it any longer.  Kyle is taller than me.  This child of mine who was once so cute and tiny is now adult-sized.  He wears adult sized shoes.  He is rapidly outgrowing the very biggest clothes I can find in the children's department (although that's driven by economical reasons - kids clothes are cheaper).

We've had some new independence this school year with Kyle.  He has his own phone now, and on days he has clubs after school he takes the activities bus home which drops him off at a school near our house.  He walks home, gets himself a snack, gets started on homework - all while I'm out taking the girls to gymnastics and horseback riding.  It hasn't all been perfectly smooth - an incident of Kyle not texting me to let me know he arrived and then not paying attention to his phone so he wasn't responding to my texts.  But that only happened once (because I may have freaked out just a tad and told him he needs to let me know he got home okay!). Kyle's also been showing some great initiative at school this year - getting himself to the bus on time every day, resolving issues with his teachers directly (missed classwork, needing to make up a test).

When Kyle was in grades 1 through 5 I struggled with this kid, I'm not going to lie.  He was amazingly smart but struggled with many every day skills and I sometimes wondered what lay ahead.  I was lucky to have a great support system at Kyle's school - the principal, teachers, special education teacher - a whole team of people who would tell me regularly that Kyle is smart and nice and funny and they loved having him in their class and they were determined to help him be successful.  I really believe all of the work they did at school and we did at home has paid off now when I see this amazing teenager Kyle has turned into...independent, responsible, strong initiative at school...I did not see these traits coming out in Kyle's younger years but I knew they were in there, it's so nice to see them coming out now!

One year later

It's been a whole year since we picked up and moved to the other side of the continent.  A year since we had the entire house packed and loaded onto a truck.  A year since Kyle, Jillian, Leah and I got onto an airplane with a one-way ticket to Seattle to see Jeff and see this new city where we would be living.  A year since the kids walked into new schools not knowing anyone.

I was looking back at a blog post I wrote last October - it made me realize how far we've come in just one year.  Of course there are still some boxes around the house so not everything has changed. But for the most part things are very different around here now.

A year ago when we were making this move, there was a song that was playing on the radio often - Home by Phillip Phillips.  I remember listening to that song and the lyrics really spoke to me.

Hold on to me as we go

As we roll down this unfamiliar road

And although this wave is stringing us along

Just know you're not alone

'Cause I'm gonna make this place your home

Settle down, it'll all be clear

Don't pay no mind to the demons

They fill you with fear

The trouble - it might drag you down

If you get lost, you can always be found

Just know you're not along

'Cause I'm gonna make this place your home

This feels like home.  As much as we still miss many things on a regular basis...family, friends, schools, Tim Horton's...we have gained so much with this move.  I feel like instead of losing our home we gained a second home.  We have met amazing people here who have made us feel welcome and loved.  We have settled into life here with some similar elements like work, school and activities.  Plus there's all the new stuff!  Living near a beach where the girls collect seashells and we see ferries and cruise ships go by, enjoying some cool vacations to the mountains and along the west coast, being able to walk outside in January without spending 10 minutes bundling up in full snow gear.  I watched my kids make friends easily and walk right into a life here as if they've always lived in this place.  Yes, there are still tears and sadness about missing people back home in Toronto, but our visit home in the summer was incredible, and I know we will always keep those connections.  And as sad as we were to leave everyone at the end of our trip to Toronto, there were also smiles once we got back to Seattle and the kids were able to see their friends here.

It wasn't an easy decision for Jeff and I to uproot our family and move somewhere completely new where we didn't know anyone.  I can't explain it but I knew in my heart this was the right thing for our family at this time.  And now to see how well everything has gone in our first year and the friends we have made here, well I just feel like this is where we are meant to be right now.  I always tell people it's like a puzzle came together perfectly once we decided to make this move...this house, the schools, our church, the people we have met. 

I don't know what our future plans are, we don't know where we will be living in 2 years.  But I do know that no matter where we are, we will be fine.  And that's something this move has taught me.

courage...it comes in all sizes

I started to write this blog post to brag about how proud I am of my girls.  After only a few weeks of piano lessons, both Jillian and Leah performed at a piano recital to play what they had learned.  Jillian even played and sang a song she had composed herself.  My first thought was to talk about how they showed courage in getting up there to do this in front of a group of about 25 people, most of them strangers, and other students who would be playing with far more experience.

As I wrote about what they did I realized while it was pretty awesome, it pales in comparison to what so many other children face every day.  I have a friend who has a son fighting for his life against leukemia.  I think about Joey facing this horrible disease and the chemo treatments that go along with what must seem like endless hospital stays. Compared to my kids and their average day it seems incredibly unfair.  Then there's the courage of people around us who make a huge difference...police officers and firemen who put their lives on the line to save others, missionaries and doctors who travel to the other side of the world to make life better for others.  When I was talking about a piano recital, all of a sudden courage didn't seem like quite the right word to use in describing their accomplishment in comparison to others.

Then I realized it isn't a competition about who can be the most courageous or face the biggest obstacle.  We are all called to be courageous in our every day lives, whether the things we are up against are big or small.  I'm thankful my kids have an easy life, I appreciate that right now we don't have big things that we are up against.  But that doesn't diminish their day to day accomplishments.  The little acts of courage are important too.  I think it's important my kids are able to show courage in the face of these minor hurdles to prepare them for life when they may have big hurdles to jump.  That's our job as their parents, to eventually send them off into the world prepared with a full toolbox...faith, love, kindness, courage, smarts, honesty, persistence, happiness, gratefulness, tolerance.  Showing these traits in the face of day to day life now will  help them to go onto bigger things as adults, to show courage and kindness and faith in ways I can't even imagine.

Right now I see my kids showing these character traits on a daily basis.  Making new friends, trying new things, learning from their mistakes.  That's what makes me feel like we are doing some things right on this parenting journey.  So it turns out I am going to brag about my girls.  They started playing piano just a few weeks ago.  They've jumped into their lessons with joy and excitement.  And they got up at a recital in front of friends and strangers and played what they had learned so far.  Way to go Jillian and Leah, keep it up!

Leah played two short pieces at the recital

Jillian played a piece she composed herself titled "Thunder"

successful first week of school!

The first week of school is finished.  We started school here one day later than we would have in Ontario.  Which meant on facebook I got to see all of my favorite kids from back home on their first day before we started.  It's bittersweet seeing all of those pictures - great to see the smiling faces but sad to know we aren't starting school together.  Even though it was only for one month, it was great to start school last September back home and see everyone on the first day.  That being said, it's nice this year to be starting the school year here from the beginning, a lot of information comes home in the first few weeks of school so I felt like I was playing catch up when we started school Oct 1 last year.  Also last year I had some anxiety about the kids starting at new schools.  Much easier this year to send them off to school knowing they have friends and know their way around the schools.

Here are some highlights from the first few days of school...

*Jillian has two of her best friends in her class and is excited to start playing an instrument this year
* Kyle didn't start until 12:45pm on the first day so he had a relaxing morning then we went out for pizza and menchies as a pre-grade 8 lunch
* Leah loves her teacher and class although her two best friends are in different classes (but they see each other at recess)

this kid was super excited to start grade 1!

* I was worried Leah would feel a bit sad or left out because she knows in grade 1 both Kyle and Jillian started learning French...I was wrong - she's actually quite happy to not have to learn French, go figure.
* we had beautiful weather all week for walking to and from school
* I met a few new moms while hanging around at drop off and pickup - always great to meet some new people
* this year Kyle is taking the bus to school which makes my mornings much easier than last year (with the move last September he was stressed about taking the bus so I offered to drive him at first and that turned into me driving him for the whole school year...this year we decided to give the bus another try and it's working out so far)
* at the beginning of the school year I have much more energy for fun lunches so the girls lunches have been looking like this...yes, I sometimes am that annoying pinterest mom, but seriously it doesn't last long...by the third day I was already losing steam.  I figured I may as well take pictures now while the lunches look cute and color coordinated - no need to have photographic evidence later in the school year when I'm throwing them together last minute.

Here's to another successful school year for Kyle, Jillian and Leah!

last weekend of the summer

Jeff took a couple of vacation days around the long weekend so we could get away for a nice 5 day family vacation to enjoy the very last bit of summer vacation.  We took advantage of living here in the PNW (that's Pacific Northwest for all of you non-PNWers...), we visited the Columbia River Gorge, Mt St Helens and Mt Rainier.  There was plenty of driving but listening to the Frozen soundtrack and watching Harry Potter movies helped the kids pass the time.  At one point I turned off the dvd player in the van and made the kids look at the amazing scenery.  They all looked up, said "yeah that looks nice", and promptly asked when the movie would be starting up again.  Ah well, at least I tried.

The only thing I didn't enjoy about this trip was some of the driving in the mountains.  The curvy roads that lead up the mountains are narrow, and the sheer cliffs on one side with massive drop offs are terrifying (no guard rails, no large buffer zone, NOTHING).  I may have used the phrase "don't drive over the cliff and make us plunge to our deaths!" once or twice or twenty-five times to Jeff.  Having loud sing-a-longs to "Let it go" and "Love is an open door" over and over again did make things less stressful.


First up on our list of fun outdoor adventures was hiking around the Columbia River Gorge.  Day one was spent driving 3 hours south to Vancouver, WA (yes, there's another Vancouver - who knew?).  Then it was on to Multnomah Falls.  What a beautiful spot to visit - the falls are a big tourist attraction with a shop and food around the bottom.  The promise of ice cream after climbing to the top of the falls and back down again helped the kids with the steep hike of switchback after switchback to get to the top.

looking up at the falls

view from the top of the falls...if you look closely you can see the bridge and walking path on the right

    ice cream - they earned it!

The next day we stopped at a different set of waterfalls - Horsetail falls.  This was a much easier climb to the top and included a cool cavern where we walked behind the falls.  We also visited Bonneville Dam and drove into Mt Hood which has a beautiful waterfront park and we saw kite surfers out on the water.

    family picture at the foot of Horsetail Falls in Oregon

    cool cavern behind the falls

    taking a break on the hike

shadow puppets...this is what happens when we go in to watch the Bonneville Dam informational movie and we are the only people in the theater

we found a nice park near Bonneville Dam so we stopped for lunch and play

Next up was visiting Mt St. Helens.  After the 1980 eruption, the area around the volcano was designated as a national monument with several visitors centers and viewing points.  We stopped at two different visitors centers where we learned a lot about the days leading up to May 18, 1980 when the eruption occurred.  It's amazing to see exactly what happened, to see how the landscape changed and how much scientists learned about volcanic eruptions from this one.  Something I didn't know, Mt St Helens erupted in what they call a lateral blast.  That means the side blew off the volcano and stone was hurled sideways at tremendous speeds, destroying a large area of lakes and forests.  We weren't able to see the top of Mt St. Helens because of clouds, but they told us it's only visible about 100 days of the year.  Even without seeing the top of the volcano it's a spectacular view looking around at the valley and mountains.

    listening to the Park Ranger tell the story of eruption

    Mt St Helens...we couldn't see the summit but the rest of the view was still spectacular (when you get this high up the mountain, even at the end of August it's cold!)

    sitting on the edge of the world (just kidding - there was nice, big, safe ledge behind them)

what kind of playground did they have at the visitor center?  One with a big, grey volcano slide of course

We saved the best for last...Mt Rainier...14,410 feet high, an integral part of the Washington landscape.  We see it from a distance almost every day.  Jeff really wanted to see the summit, he had gone hiking here in July and wasn't able to see it then.  But after having a cloudy day for Mt St Helens we weren't getting our hopes up about seeing the summit.  We spent our first day hiking around the Sunrise visitors center and sure enough, clouds were covering most of Mt. Rainier.  The next day started out bight and clear so we took the gondola up to the top of Crystal Mountain.  This is what we saw when we arrived at the top.  Here we were at 6,856 ft elevation.  We learned they often have snow available for skiing here until late June and sometimes even early July.

our view of the summit when we reached the top of Crystal Mountain

riding down on the gondola to the bottom of the hill...the kids enjoyed waving at everyone going up past us

Junior Park Ranger Jillian at your service!  Jillian and Leah both enjoyed the Junior Ranger programs at the visitors centers, they each earned two different badges at Mt St Helens and another one in Sunrise at Mt Rainier.

pretty wildflowers at the top of Crystal Mountain

on our hike at Sunrise - Jillian did an excellent job of keeping track of everything we saw for the scavenger hunt part of earning their Junior Ranger badges

that's Mt Rainier off in the distance, the white snowy part is one of the biggest glaciers on Mt Rainer, Emmons Glacier

this hiking trail was nice and easy with an amazing view of the glaciers and valley

eating s'mores and playing games in the condo we rented on Crystal Mountain.  We were going to do a campfire but it was just too darn cold so I cheated and used the oven to make s'mores...they were just as gooey and delicious.  We did however go for a swim in the outdoor pool despite the chilly temps.  The pool was heated so being in there was very nice (getting out though was very, very cold!).

This was such a great family vacation - plenty of time spent together, lots of outdoor hiking and exercise, amazing views and we even learned a lot about volcanos (which is good since we now live near one!).  I'm thankful we are getting the opportunity to explore a new part of North America we had never seen before we moved here.

froyo, science, water and pizza on the beach

Still enjoying the last bit of summer vacation.  This past week has been quite relaxing and we've had a chance to enjoy some local fun.

Sometimes you need to have dessert before dinner, especially when you just rode your bike up a big hill.

Science center - there were some engineering exhibits on for a short time so the kids had fun building, creating a safe landing pod for an egg, and making mini helicopters.

Success!  Three eggs dropped from the second floor and they all survived the fall without a crack

I love it when all 3 kids cooperate and work together

Water - Leah has wanted to visit the fountains at South Lake Union park but last time we were there and prepared with bathing suits, the fountains weren't working.  Since we were heading downtown to the science center, I threw a bag with extra clothes in the trunk just in case and sure enough we had time to go to the fountains.  You know what is even more fun than running through a fountain?  Running through a fountain in your clothes!  The kids had a blast getting wet and running back and forth.

We went to a local park for outdoor movie night to watch Finding Nemo with Jillian and Leah (Kyle was at his own outdoor movie night with the church youth group).  The girls even got to make a jellyfish craft.  I love free neighbourhood events.

And here it is...when summer meets lazy...I picked up pizza and we headed to the beach for dinner.

not ready for summer to end

I feel like this summer has flown by.  I'm not ready to give up lazy mornings, I'm not ready to start packing lunches and getting kids ready to get out the door on time.  Seriously.  I highly suspected I wasn't ready but today I got some hard proof.  This morning I had a meeting for the school fall fundraiser...casual meeting, 9am at the local Starbucks just a few minutes away from my house.  I literally only had to get the girls and I out the door - no need for breakfast, lunches made, homework checked, backpacks packed...just walking out the door at 8:55 am.  We threw on sundresses and flip flops and we only *just* barely made it there on time.   See?  I'm not ready!

Lazy summer fun...the girls are getting along so nicely and have been hanging out in this fort for the past few days reading books and playing on the ipad.  It really is nice when they are getting along, aka it's nice when Jillian decides hanging out with Leah isn't the worst thing in the world

The only redeeming thing about school starting soon is the shopping.  I love shopping for school supplies.  New pens and pencils, all sharpened and ready to go.  New highlighters and markers that aren't dried out.  Backpacks, lunch bags, binders, composition books, spiral notebooks...I like it all.  And I get to label everything!  I'm not being sarcastic, this really is my kind of fun.  We made a good dent in the school lists (3 school lists this year!) the other day after Kyle's back to business day at school where I was able to get all the forms signed and pick up his school hoodie and gym shirt.  While I may not be ready to get everyone dressed, fed and out the door with healthy lunches and snacks in a timely manner, they do have new clothes and full backpacks all ready to go.