Spanish Banks @ low tide to watch the skim boarders, dig more holes and dip our toes;

Littlest bean is a mellow fellow but he startles easily. i felt his little body tense at the sound of each wave rolling at our feet. Sometimes Little A’s quick enthusiasm sends Little M’s arms up over his head before his lower lip turns upside down trembling. It’s so very dear and we’re quick to reassure that all is well with the world.

Little A was really proud of his baby brother for grabbing hold of the umbrella - he requested i take this photo.

Post beach take out. There was no getting around it. Sweetbean M was excited seeing his big brother so excited;

Himalayan High.  i’m really trying to minimize our waste but i’m exhausted trying to explain it in a creative way to my 6 year old.  He says “yes, but can we still get one?” and so we did and it was good. on my list of things to acquire and carry on us are our own cups and some stainless steel straws.

I think tomorrow will have to be a day without sand. The beach is a love hate experience for me.

It took us till near 4 to leave home today… part of the delay was M’s long nap and part of it was A’s meltdown and part of it was my own state of lethargy in this heat, but we finally left the inferno that is our home and went seaside for a while. The water was not at all cold as i expected and though we only dipped our toes it was the sort of refreshing one needs on a day like today.

Leaving the beach and getting into a hot car hardly makes one excited to return to a hot home. Little A had the idea to go for Modern Burger. He mostly went for the shake. Vanilla of course.

“Please can you stop taking photos?”

He really enjoyed that shake.

with such a delayed start i feel myself holding fast to summer before it is too soon over. little bits that make me smile;

it seems i haven’t much time for words these days.

There have been so many playful days lately. i love seeing the imagination and games unfold. So often the little one comes to me saying “i don’t know what to do” and if i just give him time to be in those moments of unknowing or boredom he ends up coming up with these brilliantly creative ideas and he’s off playing for hours. i love it. it makes me feel even more sure about our lifestyle and decisions to limit or eliminate television from our days ( i admit that during my 3 o’clock crash time i have given into the tv about once a week).  i’m inspired by Kim John Payne. i was lucky to attend his lecture a couple weeks ago on Simplicity Parenting. i thought the lecture would save me having to read his book but now i want to devour it more than ever.

At the beach and in proper attire (especially those mitts!) he could play for hours. Grandma P collected stones (even found a crystal) and i knit (i’m so addicted);

The teepee is getting some great use these past weeks.  i hear him chatting away in there with his stuffed friends and there’s almost always some mess to tidy away at the end of the day.

The request for play dates is near daily and you have no idea how this thrills me. Seriously, i waited years for this time to come. He does well one on one or in small groups. We had such a fantastic afternoon with these guys the other day. i couldn’t help giggling along. i was so curious to watch them play together;

School can be challenging. There are rhythms that flow and then there are not. Little A told me, ” School could be really good if there were only 5 kids”. i get it. 14 kids during some of the transitions can be loud, overwhelming and sometimes disturbing. Outside is quite a different experience. There is a new water pump at the Waldorf school this year which gets used by most of the kids every single day.  Between that and the “cupcake shop” (sand box) it’s becoming increasingly difficult to end the day with his school buds.

We’re establishing a fine balance of active outdoor element play with the more quiet and thoughtful indoor play. While Willie was meant to be a special puppet brought to life by me only, the little one is smitten and so very curious to have a turn and so i let him sometimes. Grandma P is an attentive audience;

i’m trying to love this little guy up in our last few months before newbie arrives. i’m also happy to see him grow a little more independent leaving me with my own time and space. Things are pretty great right now.

if there couldn’t be snow then we had the best other option - thick, magical fog. i love that. so much.

papa’s back to work. the little one and i are into leftover ginger cookies and plan to bus out to the bookstore later to spend gift certificates.  the sun is shining. we’ll see where the day takes us. i hope you all continue to enjoy some cozy down time.

so far it’s blue skies, sunshine and jack frost mornings. loving the colors.

Twice a week we drive through Stanley park to and from preschool.  it’s the part of the commute that makes it all worthwhile. Of course the Waldorf school is worth it but i’ve never commuted so far for a job even. The first day to school i drove the typical route bumper to bumper from one bridge through downtown to another bridge. Little A asked if there was a festival that there were so many people awake in the morning? There damn well should have been. Traffic and commuting is soooo not my world and i was quite ready to let Waldorf go and commit entirely to homeschooling but then i discovered the park route. i think it must be longer in distance but it knocked 20mins off our time to miss all the traffic and lights. Now it is a beautiful and relaxing morning drive. Anyhoot, it was gorgeus out yesterday; blue skies and the forest steamy with sunshine drying dew. We made a stop at the beach and lost track of time. it was the day’s highlight writing letters and playing games in the sand.

Happy is for Birthday Grandma D (she’s a beach gal herself).

Emily and Molly have invited me to join them for the month of February at Habit. i am both flattered and delighted to contribute to this project where we aim to capture and share some moments  of our daily lives by way of photographs and  a few words. i won’t be in the “habit” of double posting photos both here and there but since this is the first and it fits in amongst others (and it’s my favorite) i will. i know it’s not February yet but i’m excited…

it was mostly a gloomy day but the clouds parted just as the sun was setting so we detoured from the route home to follow the sun and see it’s colors painted on the boats.

already. i’m excited for it….the light and the colors are amazing and each day there are more showers of leaves in the streets. i’m super excited to head out to the pumpkin patch… maybe next sunny day.

This day we met up with some friends for a play date at the park and ocean. good fun. That snuggled monkey is growing so big, as are the other little bean sprouts.

The sun has been bright but as soon as it fades the air is cold and brisk. i think the clouds are coming and perhaps the rain too. i’m ready. i got boots! They’re not included in the photo below but i couldn’t resist this group shot of our family campers after we picked up little A’s new boots - our autumn foot apparel;

me oh my the sun did shine all weekend. We hit 2 farmer’s markets. Just because. i’m sad to say that the strawberries came and went all too quickly this year and the peas are soon to follow though we do have some of our own growing in the yard. i hold a sweet childhood memory of my mama sending us off to the garden to pick lunch into our skirts. Peas were my absolute favorite garden delight. The fields are ripening now with raspberries & blueberries. Okanagan cherries seem abundant despite odd Spring frosts…Alistair found some sweet wee zucchinis and well, the market is just getting exciting now. Petunia and the Loons put a big fat smile on my face . i’d like to hire them to play at my porch party (tba-ha!).

Though i usually save ocean adventures for week days when other beach combers are at a minimum (i am a super beach hog. i want it all for myself) we wanted to go on some sort of exploration with out committing to a big drive out of the city so we hit trail #3 out at UBC with our good friend S. The stairs to and from are as exciting as the rocks we long to bring home.

Hope you all had a swell weekend.