Category: Kids

Don’t Pick Up The Rope

Imagine that you are a child, standing on the edge of a cliff. You look up and on the other side of a deep gorge is another cliff. You look over to the side and there is a rickety looking string bridge. You aren’t certain of its ability to carry you safely across to the other side, and so you refuse to move. All your friends are on the other side and it looks like they might be having a lot of fun. But you refuse! You aren’t really sure how everyone got over there, but that bridge looks unsafe and safety wins out over fun, every time. You decide that you are not going ANYWHERE.

People suggest that you come over to the other side. You want to but……….refuse!
They tell you that you have to come over. You really aren’t sure if it’s safe…….so you continue to refuse.
They start to insist that you come over. That isn’t helping, you feel pressured and uncomfortable…
Voices get louder, more commanding and more demanding. You continue to dig your heels in and refuse to comply.

The harder they pull, the harder you pull…..just trying to remain safe.

 

All of the sudden you realize that people are pulling and forcing you towards the bridge.

You resist.
You yell.
You’re scared.
You scream.
You panic.
You start to thrash and flail.

You do anything to protect yourself from the uncertainty of what’s before you. In a blind panic, and completely incapable of rational and reasonable thought, you bolt. You run. Or conversely, you curl into a ball and cram yourself into the smallest corner available, so that no one will be able to force you into, what you are sure is, an unsafe situation.

How many times have we asked a child to do something and then been frustrated when the situation devolves into anger, defiance, rage or physicality? You don’t really understand because what you’re requesting is not something weird or terrifying. It seems a pretty simple request and yet……..the child is labelled oppositional, non compliant or defiant.

I hate those three words. Very rarely are those accurate adjectives to apply to a child.

I believe that we need to approach children from the viewpoint that they WANT to please and they WANT to succeed. If behaviours arise that appear contrary to them pleasing and succeeding, WE NEED TO PAUSE.

We, as the adults, need to question “What is at the root of the negative behaviours?”

Why this this child feeling anxious?
Why is this child feeling insecure?
Why is this child feeling less than capable?
What is feeling overwhelming to them?
What is feeling uncertain?
What is unclear?
What information are they missing or unsure of?
How can I help?

Going back to our picture at the top of the post…. Here is a different view of that situation.

You are, a child, standing alone on one side of the cliff. You are aware that you are missing out on what seems like fun on the other side. You feel alone, anxious and unsure. You are desperate to feel accepted and safe; and while you wish you could go over, safety wins over fun, every time. You realize that someone is calling your name. They crouch down beside you and ask if you’d like to join the rest of the class on the other side. You aren’t sure how to answer because you are scared. They start to explain what the rest of the kids are doing and it sounds SO fun. It’s too bad that the bridge is the only way over. They explain how the bridge was made and how many pounds it can carry; and that makes you feel a bit better but you’re still not sure you can believe them. They call another kid over, who crosses that scary bridge, and together they show you how two people can cross the bridge. You are still unsure. They tell you that it’s okay and that they will stay with you on this side. That makes you feel a bit better. They share a time when they felt scared and uncertain. You want to join your classmates but you really aren’t sure. You realize that the person isn’t going to force you but will stay with you and that makes you feel a little bit safer and a little bit stronger. You eventually agree to try to cross the bridge even though you still feel scared. It might take you longer, but with acceptance and relationship you can accomplish amazing things.
Instead of calling for the child to take action and then labeling them as non-compliant, what if we made the effort to understand and accept?

What if we stopped pulling on the children, which is only increasing their anxiety?
What if we didn’t “pick up the rope” in the first place?
What if we joined them, and validated their feelings and emotions without having to fix or change them?
What if we made sure they knew and understood the facts and information? 
What if we found out what they were fearful of?
What if we explained how the bridge was made and why it is, in fact, safe to cross?
What if we explained exactly what was happening on the other side?
What if we told the child that we would cross with them?
What if we gave them the power to make the decision and until they did, we sat with them and gave them the opportunity to feel safe and accepted?
What if we built relationship instead of building conflict, opposition and disconnection?
What if we allowed the time and space for a child to feel safe?

I believe that this scenario plays out, at some point, with all children but that it’s especially true for children with anxiety, special/high needs and neuro-diversities.

It’s important to recognize that the majority of opposition and non-compliance stems from anxiety and insecurity.; and that we have the ability to make a difference in the way we view and approach children. We need to look beyond the bravado and indignancies of anxiety and insecurities; and see the cries for help.

We need to build trust and relationship instead of building conflict and disconnection. We need to join with them, where they are at; and when we have built a solid relationship founded on trust, we will go so much further than we, or they, could dream or imagine.

Don’t pick up the rope!

A Letter to my Children

photo from 2015 (we definitely need an update)

To my Children,

I love you with all my heart and I only want the very best for you.  This world we live in, now,  is a funny place.  There was positive Peer pressure when I was growing up that I don’t see happening, now. Not that there aren’t good people out there, but it seems like some of the “common sense” life lessons don’t hold the same weight now as they did then.  Those “life lessons” are just as important now, in fact, they may be even more important but they aren’t as prevalent.  I realize that talking like this only widens and exaggerates the age gap between us but I feel that there is a limited time for me to influence and instill  these values within you.  I know that I tell you these things, ALL THE TIME (insert massive eye roll here) but I think these are too important for me to remain quiet.

1.    Work Hard

I don’t care what anyone around you is doing or how hard they are working. Your employer is paying YOU for your time. Give them your best.  Lead by example.  Set the bar high.  You will get noticed and your efforts will never be in vain.  Your best may look differently than that of others around you.  I’m not holding you to someone else’s standards……YOU do YOUR best.  And always be aware of what around you is needing to be done.  Pick up the slack. And if you don’t know…..ASK!  Communication will be your best tool, in ALL ASPECTS of life.

2.    Be Respectful

Let the virtue of Respect emanate from  every cell of your being.  Be respectful in your actions, with your words, to your employers and fellow employees, to customers…..to humanity, in general.  But also be respectful of yourself.  If you respect yourself, others will respect you.

3.    Set Boundaries

Setting boundaries is critical.  Work hard and then let it go, when you are done for the day.  It’s not your job to carry the weight of the world.  You are not responsible to do more than you can.  If you work hard, and work smart; be proud of what you’ve accomplished and don’t carry the weight of what you couldn’t do. Take care of yourself, because YOU are responsible for your well being. Setting boundaries is something that needs to be learned and exercised in ALL areas of life.

Get good at setting and enforcing YOUR boundaries.

It’s critical to know what things that you are responsible for and what things you are not responsible for. Take care of the things you are responsible for and learn to be okay with letting the things you are not responsible for, go.  As your Nana says, “Not my pig. Not my Farm.”

4.    Be okay with saying  NO.

It’s okay to say no.  If you work hard, and are respectful…..then setting and honouring your boundaries is ok.  You do not have to accept every shift or help out everytime you are asked.  Do what you can/want/need to do, but also know that too much is not a good thing. Being available is one thing but being “used” is completely different.  Practise saying “No.”  I know that sounds silly, but it’s an important skill to learn.  Unfortunately, too many people haven’t learned to say it, and then end  up burned out and resentful towards others, when it’s their own lack of ability to set and enforce personal boundaries.

5.    Know your Value, Your Worth and Your Principles

Yes, I know you are still figuring your self  out BUT……You do have value.  You do have worth.  and You do have principles.  Knowing who you are and what you stand for will make a huge difference between allowing yourself to get pushed around and being a leader.

  • Know what you want or don’t want
  • Know what you are okay with or not okay with
  • Know whats important  to you and what’s not important to you

These things require actual thought.  If you do not make a decision, you have still made a choice.  Every choice has a consequence.  Its that whole Newton’s Third Law thing……

6.    Weigh Your Choices and Be able to Live with the Consequences

When faced with a decision, look at all sides and determine the likely consequences.  Think through what you are willing to deal with and move forward confidently.  Choices have consequences, some positive and some negative.  You may need to make a decision and have to choose which negative consequence you are willing to live with.  But allowing things to happen and saying its “out of your control” isn’t respectful to yourself or others.  Own your choices and the resulting consequences.  Be Purposeful in your actions and words.

7.    Choose Your Feelings and Emotions Wisely.

You are responsible for YOUR feelings and emotions.  Choose wisely.  To say that someone else “makes you so mad or angry” is giving them the control over your emotions.  Take responsibility for your own feelings and emotions. Don’t allow the “emotional weather” of a place, person or situation dictate your emotional response.   Only you have the power and ability to dictate what you feel and how you choose to respond in any given situation.  Choose to make the best out of every situation and allow others their right to their own feelings and emotions.  Other peoples negativity should not define your life.

8.      Balance

Finding balance is so important.  Family, Friends, School, Self and Work  (Listed in Alphabetical order not in Position of Importance)  are all important.  You must work to find the balance.  It requires effort to do so.  Again, not making the effort to “find balance” is still making a choice……and probably one with negative consequences for yourself and those around you.

9.    Community

Finding your Tribe, Village, Community, or whatever you want to call it, is also important.  These days, we seem to be so caught up in the busy-ness of life.  But it is critical to have people that you can give into and draw from.  We all go through ups and downs, but having the opportunity to give and receive love, support, advice and even challenges, helps us as we navigate this crazy journey.

10.    Rest

I’m mentioning Rest, because it’s something I believe that we need to be intentional about.  Whether its a long bath, a walk along a river, journaling, art, etc……..I believe that it’s critical to disconnect from the busy-ness of the world, to do something that “feeds” your soul; and recharges us, wholly (physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually).  Your cell phone wont work without being charged and you won’t either.  It may be possible to limp along for a bit but in the long run (and life is a long run) you have to recharge, you might as well be intentional about it.

My Darlings,

You have been given an incredible gift.  Life is a gift. You have the opportunity to make it incredible or to squander it.  Be Purposeful! Be Present! Don’t stand by, passively, and allow life to carry you along.   Be intentional!  You have an incredible opportunity to create a life that you love and can be proud of, regardless of the ups and downs that life brings your way.  

I promise that I will continue to remind you of these things but know that I see you. I see  the incredible people that you are, and that you are becoming; and I am so very VERY proud of you. You are amazing.  You are incredible .  I am confident that you will grow and impact our world positively, just because of who you are.  Keep on Keeping on, My Loves! 

Momma

Good from Bad (part 2)

I’m wanting to put this down here so that I can just walk away from it over the next 2 weeks.  

It’s not that anything HORRIBLE happened but it seems to me that it’s a lack of knowledge…..or, it could be that everyone was tired and emotional.  But my responsibilities lie with the little one in my charge and I have the honor of standing up for him until he can stand for himself.  

My biggest issue with what happened yesterday is the misunderstanding of what was really going on.

I believe children want to do their best and if for some reason they are acting in a way that doesn’t fit the situation……we, as adults, should be asking ourselves “what’s going on under the surface?”

Children want to please, they want to succeed and so often their “negative” or “inappropriate” behaviours are a result of their insecurities and anxieties over a situation that they can’t figure out, control or succeed at.

If our first response was not one of frustration or assumed disrespect, I believe that so many tense situations with our kids could be dissipated before the kids got stuck in fight or flight mode.

Siah was sad and overwhelmed and running away from those feelings and emotions.  The harder people tried to force him to face those feelings, on his own…..the harder he dug his heels in.  The moment that I joined him, in his feelings, and helped him to carry and process those feelings is the very moment that his defences started to come down.  

This is not something that is solely applicable to Siah….this works for every child.  

  • Believe that children want to succeed.
  • Believe that children want to please.
  • Know that something else is going on, if they are acting contrary to those two beliefs.
  • Attempt to determine the cause of the anxiety or anger
  • Empathize with the child ( you don’t have to fix the situation, validate their feelings and check in with the child to make sure they feel understood and that you have the correct read on the situation)

I have found that this works almost 100% of the time to dissolve anger and anxiety.  

It’s almost impossible to work through anything or to teach a child when they are in fight/flight mode.  And anxiety in children often presents as anger.

Anger is usually a secondary emotion to fear or sadness and usually presents when a child is feeling out of control.  

Empathy and empowerment are two of the most critical tools when working with children, in my opinion.

As adults, it’s our responsibility to work with the children and to adjust to their needs and deficits while continuing to teach and encourage in those areas of deficit.

They are the vulnerable and needy. We need to put their needs first. 

I believe that there may have been a personal desire to be in the assembly which may have prompted personal feelings of anxiety for missing a special event.  But…..if the focus had been on why Siah was struggling and not on “just getting him back to the assembly”….the entire situation could have gone down very differently.  

Think of a tug of war over a canyon….with the child on one side and an adult on the other….the canyon is the event or idea that is causing the anxiety…..the harder the adult pulls the child,  the harder the child will pull back trying to remain in a place of safety.  They will quickly lose all ability to reason and rationalize as they struggle to find a place of safety.  If the rope is laid down and the adult crosses over to the child,  they can stand together on the edge of the cliff and talk about the issue without the fear of being pulled into it. Once the adult lays the rope down, there is nothing for the child to be struggling against.  They may be SO terrified that they don’t realize the rope has been laid down and it may take a moment to help calm them enough to see that……but it’s SO MUCH easier to do that beside them, then across the canyon. 

Siah did go in and sing “What a Wonderful World” and I’m so glad he did.  He sat with me at the back of the assembly and enjoyed the videos and the music.  At one point, he leaned over to me and said, “Something good always comes from something bad…..the good thing in this bad situation is that I’ll get to meet a new principal, right mom?”

In the middle of his stress and anxiety and internal chaos……he’s still looking for the silver linings.  I love that.  

Our children will struggle – that’s a given – and some more than others, but it’s our job to stand beside them and to help guide them through, until they are strong enough and confident enough to do it on their own.  It’s a privilege and honor to be able to be there for them, especially the more vulnerable ones.  

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this…..not necessarily Siah’s particular situation but this idea…..this idea that children inherently want to please and that we can help or hinder the situation with our actions and reactions.  Is this a foreign concept to you? 

I’d challenge you to try it then next time you come up against a child who seems defiant…..it will blow your mind!

Good from Bad

I’m SO ready for this break.  Not that it’s really a break…..what with kids home from school and then this little thing called Christmas.  But this fall has been a busy one and it’s not been easy.  I’m ready to jus step off the crazy train for a moment and just BE with my family.

Today was a tough day for Siah.  Any day that’s off schedule and out of the norm is tough, but this last week of school before winter break has been one filled with assemblies and parties and treats and crafts and singing…..

While that sounds fun, for Josiah, it’s overwhelming.  To make it even worse, his Principal is retiring and today was her last day. He LOVES her and in a lot of ways, she has been his lifeline at the school.  While teachers, friends and classrooms changed, she was always there…..caring for, championing and encouraging him.


He’s mentioned a few things that have made me wonder how much anxiety he was carrying over her retiring, but I think he’s internalized a lot more than he’s let on.  

I’ve brought it up a number of times, to remind him and to allow for opportunity to process.  He understands from a conscious level but I think that he’s been struggling to process the feelings and emotions.

There was an incident at school today and I don’t have all the facts, but I heard another student looking for “Siah’s mom” and when I left the assembly to see why I was needed.  I was informed that they were just going to try and call me because Siah was very upset.  

I found him in the stairwell, clutching the Lego creation that he associates with his Principal and acting quite belligerent.  

I was almost 100% certain that his actions were entirel because he was overwhelmed with feeling and emotion and unable to process those feelings without help. 

He was refusing to go back to the assembly and quite upset that people were “forcing him” to go back.  The part in all this that’s so tough for me, is that this is a little boy who doesn’t quite understand or speak the same social/emotional language that the rest of us Neurotyoical People do.  He looks like he should and some times, he knows enough to fake it…..but really, he’s lost and has no clue.  So here he is and he’s run headfirst into an extreme emotional scenario (a retirement assembly) but add into that, that he feels devastated that she’s leaving and terrified of what the new year/new principal will bring. 

Now demand that that child, who doesn’t understand the language, his feelings or the situation……demand that he face his fear  and do it NOw, in the language that he doesn’t understand.   

He says that someone told him they were really disappointed with him.  That is brutal for a parent to hear.  I don’t know that’s exactly what someone said or if it was inferred.  What I do know is that what Siah received and he felt shamed because of it. 

When I found him in the stairwell, he was so on edge and definitely in fight/flight mode.  He was refusing to go back to the assembly and I knew that there was a bigger issue.  He’s been walking around our house singing “what a wonderful world” for the past 2 weeks….and commenting about how it’s the principals favourite song and that they were going to sing it for her. 

I tried to see if he would come with me but no dice.  Then I asked him if he was sad and feeling upset because the principal was leaving.  At that point, tears started to run down his cheeks.  I asked if I could give him a hug and he put aside the Lego and allowed me to comfort him while the tears fell.  I tried to convince him to come back to the assembly but he was scared and refused.  I told him we could sit in the office but when we got there, it was locked.  So I suggested we sit in the hallway.  He agreed to that.  I pulled him into my lap and talked to him a bit more about how this moment would never come again and that he would be so sad if he couldn’t sing the special song.  We heard them start the song and he agreed to come inside the gym, while holding my hand, if I stood with him.

So we sang with the rest of the students.  I let him keep the Lego creation.  The main issues in my mind were calming him down, haveing him be apart of this very special celebration and recognizing & understanding his emotions while acknowledging that it was ok to feel sad and overwhelmed.  

He told me that he was told he couldn’t have the Lego as fidget and while I understand that it’s neither discrete nor small……it’s definitely tied into today’s bigger issues. 

I may come back and post some more about this more tomorrow but for tonight, I’m going to head to sleep because I’m falling asleep on my phone.

Any thoughts?  Questions? Comments???

Clinging and Hope

I cling to the edge of the cliff.  The fingers of Darkness and Despair curl around my ankles, weighing me down.  The continual  rain soaks my clothing, adding to the weight; it makes it harder to hold on. 

I dread the end of summer.  Even as the days shorten and cool, I feel myself starting to wither…..just like my garden. 

I could really use the sunshine and a beach, right about now. 

It’s hard.  I’m exhausted.  My boys are incredibly difficult right now.  We’re long beyond the October crash……this must be the November burn. Crash and Burn!

I’m sick of saying, “It’s hard.  I’m exhausted.” I want desperately to connect and yet…I have nothing.  I have zero energy to attempt connection.  But without connection, I’m alone.  So which is it…… it’s a losing battle.  

Sometimes I feel that if I could explain what my life is like that you might get it…..But I’m realizing that unless you live it, you won’t fully understand it. I share bits and pieces but never the whole….it would be too much to handle.  I know this because it’s too much to handle.

There is a certain amount of grieving.  Grieving normalcy…..But mostly there is just soul crushing exhaustion.  It’s like a cloud of nothingness with vague wisps of sadness and loneliness woven throughout.
I love my children and I hate how difficult they are.  

Autism, ADHD, Anxiety…..Even though they are labels given to two of my boys, our entire family is deeply effected.

There is so much chaos.  I feel like I’m constantly drowning.  I manage to grab small breaths of air….never enough to breathe deeply and the waves crash consistently enough that I’m left in a constant state of  panic.  

There’s only so much space for panic and my two boys seem to have the corner on that market.  Too often when I feel the panic rising, I stuff it back down with a shallow breath.  As if I could control it….

There is so much guilt and shame and yet…..that’s one good thing about exhaustion…..somehow you can’t muster the energy to hold onto the guilt and shame.  You feel it and it makes you feel dirty and worthless; but it’s too heavy to carry and there’s too much to be done….

So you drop it like most of the other balls you drop on a daily basis…..

You cling to the edge of the cliff and hope……you hope that you make it through another day.  You hope that tomorrow will be better.  You cling to the hope that seasons change and that this dark and gloomy season will once again give way to sunshine.  You pray for wisdom, strength, and patience.  

You pray for your kids to just hurry up and fall asleep so you can have a moment to breathe…..then you feel guilty….then you remember how much work there still is to do tonight and you drop the guilt as exhaustion takes over once again.

Vacation 2014 – Part 3

Ok, so life got busy and I didn’t end up finishing posting about our vacation.

I’m sure that some of you feel like you’ve just been left hanging……..HA!!!!

Ok, maybe not so much, but……continuing on….

It’s amazing how quickly the busy-ness and chaos seems to seep back into every facet of your life, once you leave the “vacation” and head back into reality. I guess that’s the beauty of vacation or holiday time….it’s a moment to relax, settle, absorb……just breathe.


There were lots of those moments, in between the bustle of life with 6/7 people. No family vacation is really a vacation for the parents…..it’s more of a break. Once I realized and accepted that, I’ve been a lot more content on our “holiday’s”.

Jon took the kids on a number of walks and this sweet boy here…..

He brought me back something from almost every walk. He is such a thoughtful little soul.

This time he brought me back some lovely flower puff things…..I have no idea what they were and they were almost dried, but I put them in a beer bottle vase and he was so thrilled to see his gift treasured.

After the first 3 days of sheer panic, this lovely fellow settled down (as long as there were no other dogs walking past) into the camping lifestyle and was almost a gentleman….almost!!!!


He has such sad eyes.

There was SO. MUCH. SWIMMING…. and Judah even sucked up his courage enough to jump off the dock TWICE!!!!

Jeremy was determined to get this rubbermaid bin to work as a boat and although it took a fair amount of figuring to work out the ballast and balance…he finally managed to tool around a little, until it dipped a little too much at one corner and then filled up and sank….

Sometime, this little one just slays me with his nerdliness…..he is such a sweet quirky treasure.

I have no idea what he was trying to show me in this picture.

Here is where you get the best peek of my little darling….ear folded over and all…and he wasn’t swimming….just wearing the goggles because he wanted to.

Oh I love him, so!

The Skagit Valley is a beautiful place with so many interesting things to look at and experience. It feels like our own little corner of heaven on earth. These puff ball mushrooms were just growing in the campsite, but it wasn’t till we got home and I could google them that I found out they were edible and not poisonous. They were just so cute, all nestled into the ground.

Read about Part 1 of our vacation here.

Read about Part 2 of our vacation here.

Part 4 coming….

Tough days

It’s been a tough day today.

I showed up at music practice tonight sobbing and barely managed to scrape myself together enough to walk in only looking like I was half falling apart……bright puffy eyes and red nose.

Parenting special needs kids is not easy and some days are tougher than others. Today was a fairly normal day as far as days go but it was still tough.

The boys wake up moving at warp speed which means lots of fights, lots of meltdowns, lots of yelling and screaming and taunting, very little listening, very little “pause and think before you act” and just generally a whole lot of frustration. And that is all in between 7-8am. Fun! By that point I feel ready to strangle someone but I have hopefully already doled out the morning meds.

It takes about an hour to an hour & a half for the meds to kick in……so however it takes to get the meds into them……it’s still another hour or so until the effect starts to kick in. Cue a repeat of the previous very little/very a lot section of actions.

Around 9-9:30am, we start school and depending on the particular mood of the day, school could be finished in 2 hours or it could take all day. Today we were still working on homework at 3pm……which is an indication of how today went.

There is so much frustration from the boys because they want to be doing anything other than school and I feel like I’m constantly fighting each one of them over different things.

Sometimes, I feel strong enough to handle it and others (like recently), I don’t feel strong enough to handle it all.

I’ve been waffling back and forth about trying Siah in public school because it would be one less thing that I would have to do and fight with him over, spend hours and hours prepping and on the admin stuff. I might actually be able to clean my house or have/create/stick to a meal plan. Wouldn’t that be incredible?

But today he had a gymnastic class that just pushed me over the edge. He was made to sit out of the first half of the class for over 20 mins. Now, in his defence…..I believe the teacher forgot about him…..but I can’t even believe I typed that sentence up. I should not be defending a teacher for forgetting about my child or even for finding it easier to not have him in the class. The class is at 5pm. Meds have started to wear off by this point and unless you really love
him or have one on one time with him……by this post in the evening Siah can be a handful.

But it broke my heart to see him “cast aside” because he couldn’t behave. It was worse in that parents on either side of me were asking me what I was found to do about this as they found the treatment as unacceptable as I did.

I ended up talking to the teacher and surprise, surprise……I started crying. Yah! Just what some twenty something guy want a to deal with an emotional mother of a bratty kid. Yay me!

I can’t fathom sending him to school to have him treated like this. He spent over half the class in total sitting off to the side. The punishment was not effective. If you know ADHD, you will know that long, isolating punishments are rarely effective. And so what? What do I do? Continue to put him in a place that could be so good for him if he would learn? Or continue to put him in a situation where he is leaning to sit in “time outs”? Cause if they continue to put him off to the side….that’s what he will be learning, not how to act appropriately. Or do I pull him out of something that could be great for him.

Well, I managed to get myself together during music practise but driving home, I started to fall apart again.

It’s so tough. Parenting difficult children is so tough and today I feel like a failure. I feel very alone and very insecure. It’s a crappy place to be in. I’m really hoping that I wake up up and feel so much more positive in the morning. I’m REALLY hoping!

Kissing Fish

This morning we woke up and had some breakfast and then I made a spur of the moment decision to take the kids and get outta the house and head to the Vancouver Aquarium.

I remember going with my parents and all five of us kids and we would walk around the Aquarium for HOURS looking at the fish and writing down the different ones that we saw and liked onto little pads of paper. Now that I think about it, it was a little bit nerdly, eh? Oh well, what we really need to bring are the older kids iPods. Jeremy was desperate to use a camera and I didn’t want him to use up all my battery. But when he did manage to snag it from me….he was in such a hurry that all his shots……BLURRY! I had 40 blurry fish photos on my camera. It was pretty fabulous!

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When Geli, Xani and Jer were little, we had a membership and I remember taking the 3 kids and heading down one of the exhibit corridors and the nicest thing was that they dead ended so as long as we were behind them….they were safe as there was no where else to go.

Things have changed SO MUCH at the Aquarium in the few years since we’ve been there but it’s still a fabulous experience for the kiddos.

We got ourselves a membership, now to just find some “down time” when there aren’t a million people flooding through the halls.

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The little boys LOVED looking at all the fish and I can’t wait to take them back to see more “fishys”.

Beach Days

On Monday morning, the kids and I decided to pack up and head out to the beach.

We threw together some food and grabbed our towels and blankets as well as the beach toys; jumped in the van and headed out to West Vancouver.

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I love Ambleside Beach. Apart from the fact that I grew up there, its so easy to navigate with a hoard of children and gear in tow. You park and then walk across the driveway and onto the beach. It’s just right there. Which is SO nice when you are schlepping children and way to much stuff.

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When we got there, it was gorgeous and sunny and EXTREMELY WINDY which made it also…..quite chilly. Which is not exactly what we were expecting.

I was SO THANKFUL that, at the last minute, I had grabbed my sweater. I would have been FREEZING without it.

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The beach wasn’t packed, but neither was it empty. There was a HUGE number of half naked kids and about half as many completely wrapped up moms.

We laid the blankets down, the two little boys kicked a bucket load of sand onto the blankets and then took off to play. It was so nice to just sit and watch them play.

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No worrying about them making noise or touching things that they shouldn’t. We are having some issues with the Strata in our complex and basically they are trying to impose a “children should be seen and not heard” policy which as you can imagine is not going over well with the parents in the complex….especially seeing as we do not live in an adult only complex. It’s made for a stressful spring/start to summer.

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I’m praying for an amazing opportunity to be able to buy a “home” not a townhouse and on a piece of acreage would be even more incredible.

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We hung out for a couple of hours and then……we decided to pack up and come home. It was just too windy to enjoy the beach. If the kids tried to play in the water they were frozen little popsicles because of the wind.

Jeremy even dug himself a huge hole/trench so that he could sit out of the wind.

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After we ate lunch, the kids got popsicles from the concession stand and then we packed everything up and came home.

It was a fun adventure and one that we will do again….although hopefully not on such a cool windy day.

Once we got home the baby crashed hard. I love it when they play so hard that they pass out. He looks so little here. Hard to believe that he turned 2 on Sunday. The time goes by so fast.

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