folk fest friends
At 11 o'clock at night when I am taking down my tent in the dark, at least one of my children is having a meltdown of epic proportions and you see me trudging back up to the South Gate at the top of the Edmonton Folk Festival hill with all of our day's paraphernelia, you may wonder to yourself, why does she DO this? I was quite late to the Folk Fest game for an Edmontonian. I did not discover the amazing joy of this weekend until my early 30's. And then I was HOOKED! The music, the hill, the LOVE and yes, the beer tent. It's all just so good.
It is not an event that Natural Urban Dad enjoys (he likes to call it the Hippy-Gypsy festival and likes toilets that flush way too much to even step on the hill), but it is something that I love and that I wanted my children to love.
Why?
Because yesterday, we were sitting in front of a group of twenty-somethings at Stage 6 and one of them started helping L make a grass tower. He told me how he took his first steps on this particular hill and has been coming ever since, first with his family and now with his friends.
So don't look at me trudging up the hill and think, why not just leave the kids at home? Think WOW, what incredible memories and life experiences and MUSIC that mom is sharing with her babies! Expereinces that one day they will share with their own babies, or with someone else's little one building a grass castle on the hill!
Feeling the hippy-gypsy love of Folk Fest!
Natasha~
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This is my Day 11 post for the Summer Blog Challenge. I say it counts because I totally wrote it all in my head last night.
Check out the other posts from these fine folks too!
Zita at The Dulock Diaries.
Meaghan at MagzD Life
April at This Mom’s Got Something to Say
Aramelle at One Wheeler’s World
Jessica at 2plus2X2
and Liam at In the Now
what I did on my summer vacation-part one
This year we had a HUGE family trip planned. The in-laws have been on us to join them for a trip to Singapore for a few years now. We figured that the kids were old enough to remember such a trip and we did not have any major projects (ie, the Natural Urban Home) on the go. The flights and hotels were booked, travel vaccines done, and our days all planned with the amazing and wonderful sights to see and places to visit in and around Singapore and our planned side trip to Kuala Lumpur and Penang.
And due to circumstances WAY beyond our control (suffice it to say that CANCER can SUCK IT!) we had to cancel our trip. The day before we were supposed to leave.
I had to break this to the kids on the Friday before our planned departure. Yeah, that was not fun. They cried, they asked why so many times I stopped counting. And they were so, so disappointed.
I felt that we could not just cancel outright any chance of us taking a family vacation this summer and so I hit the interwebs to find a suitable (and relatively close-by) alternative.
Maui? No, the flights were just too much.
Mexico? The Carribean? Nope, surprisingly most all-inclusives are rather costly in the summer months.
So I started to look closer to home.
And then it hit me.
Vancouver Island.
My parents have been yammering on for years about this place on Vancouver Island that they love and visit as often as they can. In my mind, I somehow pictured tit as the Canadian version of Boca Raton and just dismissed it as a retirees haven of golf and well... more golf. And more imporantly, neither I nor the kids have ever been to the Island, so it just made sense.
It looked like the perfect spot for us to get away for a week and just chill.
I am talking about the lovely little town of Parksville, British Columbia.
I headed over to VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner) and started to look for a nice cottage to rent for the week.
And two hours later I had our flights booked (on Westjet of course) and I found and reserved a great fully-equipped vacation rental just minutes from the beach.
We had a plan.
When the kids woke up on Saturday morning, we told them all about our NEW holiday plans. And because they are kids, they were just as excited about this trip as they were about the one to Singapore (which is still on the books for sometime in the next six months or so)!
We left on the following Monday and flew into Comox airport. We rented a ridiculously small, yet surprisingly roomy and EXTREMELY fuel efficient car (the Mazda 2) and headed to our final destination.
Parksville is this little wonderfully tourist-y kind of town on the east coast of Vancouver Island, 25-40 minutes from the airports in either Nanaimo or Comox and it is the perfect family vacation spot.
On our first day we headed to Cathedral Grove. A forest of ancient Douglas Firs that my kids (and my husband) loved. It was magical walking through the trees and watching L look for 'fairy houses' {giant mushrooms} and C trying to figure out how high the trees were. I personally loved all the moss-covered everything, it made me feel like I was in a Rivendell forest scene from Lord of the Rings.
On our way back from the forest we stopped for a picnic at the Little Qualicum Falls park and inadvertently took our kids on what turned out to be a 2.5 hour strenuous hike on some pretty rocky terrain (which we learned later is also bear country!). We got lost {twice} and eventually made it back to our car. All I have to say about this is THANK GAWD I had my toddler carrier. Now if only I had brought more water with us...
Day Two was filled with more tourist-y sights and we headed out to the famous Goats on the Roof Old Country Market in nearby Coombs. It is an eclectic little place to visit, with lots of cute shops, a fabulous {and very crowded} market filled with all kinds of imported and local foods and gifts and yes, there really are goats munching away at the living roof of the main building. We also found the giant limestone statues and carvings a block over, while completely odd and out of place, rather awe-inspiring. And for some reason, my kids were particularly drawn to these ones.
We visited the Butterfly World and Gardens on the way back and although the kids thoroughly enjoyed it and I got to fool around with my new macro lens for my iPhone, the price to get it was rather steep and the kids were quite obviously DONE!
Day Three was declared a beach day and we headed out in the morning to stake our spot on Rathtrevor Beach. With the tide out in the mornings at least a kilometre, small pools of water get warmed by the sun and you can spend your whole day exploring the ocean floor and finding lots of great treasures. The kids dug a huge trench and just sat in it for the longest time. We tried to walk to the ocean's edge, but a kilometre trek at the end of a day in the sun was too much for everyone and so we headed back home for a nap instead!
After our much needed nap and discovering that when you offer to put sunscreen on your husband's back and he says "Don't worry, just do my shoulders." you SHOULD NEVER LISTEN TO HIM (um, hello sunburn!), we headed to Parksville Beach to check out the sand sculptures created for the Canadian Open Sand Sculpting Competition and Exhibition. The sculptors get a truckload of sand and 24 hours to create their masterpieces and then they are on display for the next 4 weeks. We all got to vote for our favourite one and the competition was tough and provided some awesome inspiration for our next beach day!
There really is so much to do in and around the Parksville area on Vancouver Island that you can't go wrong with a family vacation there. Check out this great website for a lot more information about what to do, where to stay and more while in the area. I have 4 more days of fun to share with you, but this post is getting quite picture heavy. I will post Part Two later this week and I leave you tonight with this.
My little monkey man climbing around at the COOLEST playground ever!!
What about you? Have you vacationed or explored a new part of Canada for the first time this year? Where should we go next?
Natasha~
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Today is Day 10 of the 31 Days of Summer Blog Challenge.
Please visit the posts from my fellow bloggers and encourage them to keep going by commenting and sharing!
Zita at The Dulock Diaries.
Meaghan at MagzD Life
April at This Mom’s Got Something to Say
Aramelle at One Wheeler’s World
Jessica at 2plus2X2
and Liam at In the Now
Testing, testing
Just a quick little post to see if this is working properly. I just enabled Wordpress on my iPhone so that I can write my posts all weekend from the hill at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. And I also downloaded the free Folk Fest app (just search for it in the App store) for the weekend. I am gonna be one connected folkie!
I will have both my little folkies with me too! Dancing and playing and living our weekend of music!
This is my "I am getting excited" face! And see? I can even do this all one-handed with a sleeping child on my lap!
See you on {or from} the hill!
Natasha~
Learning to ride and learning to let go
After your first day of cycling, one dream is inevitable.A memory of motion lingers in the muscles of your legs, and round and round they seem to go. You ride through Dreamland on wonderful dream bicycles that change and grow. ~ H.G. Wells The Wheels of Chance
My son learned to ride his bike a few weeks ago.
And neither his father nor I had very much to do with it.
I enrolled Little C in the Pedalheads Bike Camp and after seeing the results of this week long, 2.5 hours a day camp program, I know that it was the best thing for all of us.
For one thing, they took the training wheels of his bike on the first day! (I know for a fact that I wouldn't have done that for a long time because I would have been the one afraid to, not him!)
By the second day, he was riding about 10-15 feet on his own and at the end of the week, all he needed was a little bit of a push and off he went riding at least a block.
Every day he would come home and was just so proud of himself and also a bit "Meh, no biggie mom, just ridin' my bike."
And every day, I wondered if I was missing out somehow on this milestone in my child's life. Wondering if it should be me or his dad doing the teaching.
Then I would remember myself and my son and our personalities and know that there is no way that I would have been able to have the patience to do it and that we would have just ended up frustrated with each other and someone would very likely be in tears at the end of it (me!).
I think this is simply one more lesson I am learning as a parent.
Know thy limits.
I could have spent hours all summer trying to teach my son to ride and I know that it would not have been fun for either of us. Instead I chose to send him to bike camp, to learn with his peers, to be pushed without the pressure of Mommy or Daddy hovering over him and to be so proud of something that he accomplished on his own!
In fact, he had so much fun and I was so impressed by the program, that I am enrolling both him and his sister in one more week before the summer is out!
Every single day I learn more and more about this parenting gig. I see around me the kind of parent I want to be and I also see the kind of parent I don't want to be.
I don't want to be that parent that pushes my kid so hard that every lesson ends in tears. I want him to want to do the activities that make him happy (not me) and I want him to feel a sense of accomplishment doing them. I also don't want to be the parent that is overly present and always there to pick up the pieces. And this may be a lesson for further on down the road, but I don't want to raise an entitled little shit who knows that mommy and daddy are always gonna bail him out of whatever mess or mistake or hiccup he faces in life. I want him to learn to pick himself up and learn from his mistakes and do better the next time around.
I DO want to be the kind of parent that instills a sense of work ethic in my children. And by work ethic, I mean, you get what you give. Give something your best shot, try your hardest and you will get the rewards. Often that reward is just the smug self-satisfaction of knowing that you did that something... ALL. BY. YOURSELF! Trust me, for a five and a half year old, this is BIG! And for my little perfectionist (sheesh is he ever his father's kid!) this is GINORMOUS!!
So next week, there I will be once again, the mom on the sidelines, drinking my grande soy latte and watching someone else teach my kids the finer points of balance, brakes and biking like a pro! And I am good with that.
I am learning what it is that I am good at as a parent and THIS, is just not one of those things.
It's called delegating people! Don't hesitate to do it... even as a parent!
See you on the bike trails!
Natasha~
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This post is Day TWO of the Summer Blog Challenge.
Check out these other posts from my friends joining in on the fun.
Zita gets very personal and has some news over at The Dulock Diaries
Meaghan has a confession and a colourful addiction at MagzD Life
April gives us the low down on her "new" parenting method at This Mom's Got Something to Say.
and Liam's BS meter went off the charts over at In the Now.
Getting my groove back...
After almost two weeks of being blacklisted by the Googles, and not being able to post anything, I made a decision to switch hosting companies. Good-bye old host, hello BlueHost! Everything seems to be running smoothly and again I have to give props and a big THANK YOU to the awesome Karen Parker, @jkparker for those of you on the TweetyBox, for helping me get everything moved over smoothly and without any major blips throughout the process. Now, I have to regain the love and confidence of the Google gods and of you my dear readers!
So this is a short post to let you know that I just got back yesterday from my first time ever on Vancouver Island. I have downloaded the almost 700 pictures from our trip and will write my "what I did on my summer vacation" post very, very soon! Seriously, I am pretty sure Travel BC is gonna love me for this one!
And along with that post will be at least 30 more...
Yes, you heard me.
I am doing it again.
A Thirty {One} Day Summer Blog Challenge.
I am going to start on August 1st and post once a day until the end of the month (yes, I know that part should be pretty self-explanatory).
Now... if any of my blogging buddies want in on the action, we can make this an official challenge and link up all our posts. You just let me know if you are in and we'll figure out the rest from there.
(And PS everyone, let's not tell Natural Urban Dad about this just yet OK? For some reason he gets all antsy when I do these challenges.)
I leave you tonight with a little teaser from our holidays...
...while I go off to catch up on some So You Think You Can Dance and True Blood.
And make a list of blog post topics. OY!
{Suggestions will be accepted and are MUCH appreciated!}
Ciao bellas and bambinos,
Natasha~
We are home.
Two full weeks in and it is official.
We made cookies.
Click here for the awesome recipe we used and yes, I have Appletini colored countertops!
We organized the new Play Room!
STUVA system from IKEA.
We christened the new appliances! (Not like THAT! Minds out of the gutters Mamas!)
Little C has taken it upon himself to be my official laundry sorter. (I win!!) AND I may be slightly in love with both my new washer/dryer and also having my laundry room on the main floor!
We walk the dog HERE every day!
This is literally steps from our front door. Ravine living FTW!!
And we flipped the switch and had our first evening by the very modern fireplace.
THIS is our home!
Our beautiful, dream come true, Natural Urban Home!
Natasha~
Alberta votes. What are the issues that affect you and your family?
Last year during the Canadian federal election I really wanted to explore the different political parties and their platforms and find out where I stood, you know... politically speaking. This is often a tough thing to do during an election with 'propaganda' and agendas coming at you from all angles.
And then a Canadian blogger that I hold in very high regard did something wonderful. She took a good hard look at all the parties, read their platforms extensively and posted a synopsis of each on her blog. I can honestly say that I ended up making my decision based a lot on the information that Annie at Phd in Parenting posted on her site about the parties and their platforms as they related to families, parenting and women's issues.
And so, in an effort to suss out again where I stand at a provincial political level, I am going to attempt to do something that is way out of my comfort zone, but that I think is vitally important right now. I am going to try to be 'Annie' for the 2012 Alberta Elections and for all of you!
As you know, on March 26th, the provincial election was called in Alberta and we are now less than three weeks away from the April 23rd Election Day.
If you have been keeping up with some of the election coverage then you will no doubt be aware that so far, this election campaign has been quite a contentious one. And I don't know about you, but all of it is leaving me feeling confused, disillusioned and at this point rather indecisive.
For the next two weeks I am going to be scouring through the platforms of each political party (and probably dropping in to a few of my local campaign offices too) and like Annie did, I will be reporting here on the parenting and family related policies and promises that each of them are making.
So as you follow the #abvote Twitter stream or read and watch the news and try to decide which party to support, what questions do you have? What are the things that are most important for you and your family and what would you like to see me address in these posts?
Diving into the {political} deep end!
Natasha~
(photo credit: Elections Alberta)
48 hours
In less than 48 hours we will be moving into the Natural Urban Home. Yes, yes, I know, it's all I am talking about lately, but I am getting excited.
Kinda.
I am also THE BIGGEST ball of stress and anxiety, that it is not even funny!
Over the last few weeks I have managed to put myself into a full-fledged RA flare AND give myself what I think are the beginnings of a stomach ulcer. TUMS and my anti-inflammatory medications are my very good friends this week.
The last time we moved, Little C was 6 months old. He didn't care what was going on and was content to just be worn in a carrier while I packed up our little house. And it was June.
Today I woke up to this....
Mother Nature is playing a cruel, cruel, four days late, April Fool's joke on me! I am not impressed lady!
And my poor children.
This time around, at 5 and 3.5 years old, they DO care about what is going on and are a lot more sensitive to the whole process. Now, this is not to say that they are not excited, they really are, but they are also feeling a fair amount of stress about the move too.
Our routines are all messed up. We haven't sat down at a table for dinner in over a week (it is covered in boxes and missing chairs). Naps have been very hit and miss. Three quarters of their toys and games have been packed up and well, Mama is a big stress ball!
And my kids are the sensitive kind. And also the vocal kind, especially about their feelings. (FYI- I am kind of proud of BOTH of these things!)
All of this makes for some very trying moments in our days as of late. Their needs are not getting met to the best of my ability because of all of the other tasks and to do lists and to be perfectly honest, the needs of the house(s) and this move.
I know it is a temporary situation, but it still doesn't make all those ugly guilty-mom feelings go away. And this is adding to my stress level too.
This morning started out rocky for all of us and not only because of the crappy drive in all that snow. We had to have a little three person huddle before we left the house to talk it all out and I explained to the kids how I am feeling right now and that I am nervous about moving and making sure we are all ready and packed and good to go.
My kids... They really are amazing little people. They both gave me huge "love" hugs (in our house these are the super-duper tight squeeze-y ones), told me it was all going to be OK and that they can't wait to be in the new house, gave me kisses and then we went on our way to playschool.
And then I went to my favourite cafe for a HUGE latte and some time to just be...
Ahhhhhh.....
48 hours people.
I just have to get through the next 48 hours and then it will all be OK...
Why is it that the unpacking is always so much better than the packing?
Deep breathes,
Natasha~