Farm boys

This weekend we went to the Circle Pond Farm as part of the "Open Farm" event in Nova Scotia. All 3 boys were excited as soon as we arrived to a chorus of rooster crows. They saw geese, chickens, pheasants, turkeys, ducks, emus, sheep, baby kittens, and a few rabbits. Circle Pond Farm prides itself on having a wide variety of heritage breeds. The different breeds of bird were very interesting, but a heritage poultry farm smells just as appetizing as a regular poultry farm. Nuff said. There was a petting zoo. Petting zoo is a generous description. It was a 2 metre square pen with half a dozen animals within. The boys enjoyed petting the sheep. Chris showed Michael how to properly hold a bird and Michael spent the rest of the time chasing chickens and ducks. After a short while he was pretty good at being able to catch various fowl. Not to be outdone, Lucas showed his prowess by catching the rabbit. All in all, I think all three boys really enjoyed being on a real farm while Chris and I appreciated learning about the heritage breeds of poultry. A success.

A dinosaur named Sue

Santa Claus brought the boys dinosaur bones encased in clay. Lucas received this last Christmas as well and the boys really enjoy the excavation. Except for the massive amount of dust and mess it makes, I also enjoy the relative peace I get when my budding paleontologists are at work. Lucas has decided that once they have completed their digs they will watch Jurassic Park. In the meantime, I took them to the Museum of Natural History in Halifax to see Sue, the Tyrannosaurus rex. Sue (named for the woman who discovered the bones while waiting beside her broken down car), is the most complete T. rex skeleton discovered so far. The exhibit was very good, on loan from somewhere in the states (I'll update the post when I figure out where she is from). The rest of the museum was somewhat lacking, at least in our expectations after being regulars at the Natural History Museum in Geneva. I really hope there are some really great exhibits on hiatus during Sue's visit, because what is there right now does not even come close to justifying the entrance fee (Geneva's was free...). The basement was a bit of a treasure though, as there were a bunch of amphibians and reptiles in aquariums. David was quite taken with the bullfrogs.

A well deserved treat

The second time I have left work early is the second time that I have been stuck in crazy massive traffic. We still managed to make it out to Bayer's Lake to pick up some shirts for Lucas. I hadn't wanted to buy clothes for the kids at the beginning of the season since we would be moving. Lucas has been confined to a couple of shirts since moving to Halifax. I am sure we have more buried in a box or a pile of belongings somewhere.... Coupled with the limited supply was the breakdown of our washing machine last weekend. Time for new clothes indeed.
Lucas spotted the tell-tale signs of fast food restaurants nearby. By the time we were finished shopping, I was rather receptive to the idea. Lucas was pushing for McDonalds, but I knew better. I happened to know that the Burger King was a) within walking distance from where we were, b) had a t.v. showing Treehouse, their favourite, if somewhat juvenile for their age, station and c) there was a playroom. I decided to forgo the struggle with a high chair and plunked David down on the bench for the first time. The boys had a blast burning off much of those excess calories in the play room with some other little kids. Aside from the other tired looking parents of kids in the playroom, the place was deserted. It felt like we were all taking refuge. Letting our kids play and interact with other kids despite the -20 degrees outside.
A rather long and boring for anyone other than his parents movie of David eating his breakfast is here. Anyone interested in what kind of mess a toddler can make of Shreddies can stop by and watch as much or as little as you care too!

The Swiss make me smile

So after I picked up my new running shoes bought off of eBay (and paid about half their value again in import duty, but that is another post) I noticed my postal code had been written in ink beside the address label. Strange. I am sure I put the right one down and looked at the crossed out postal code. Sure enough, it was identical to the handwritten one. It was just incorrectly positioned you see. In Switzerland Suisse, the postal code is written BEFORE the city. Apparently some postal workers like to correct the mail passing through the system. This is not the first time. I have had Geneva Geneve and Switzerland Suisse. Actually, I think it was Switzerland Suisse!!!! It makes me smile each time. It is just so....Swiss Suisse.

Toilet humour

Ok, so I have been a very, very, very bad blogger to my few loyal readers. I have almost a full year of little stories to tell you that of course I have forgotten most of, so in the interest of just getting "pen to paper" I will relate this priceless anecdote from our recent vacation. We were staying at a backpackers paradise, with young 20-25year olds finding themselves in Europe. Lucas made many friends. He certainly follows his Popeye's philosophy that a stranger is just a friend you haven't met yet. So my little social butterfly goes into the mens room to do his business in a stall. One of his new friends is in another stall and a random gentleman comes in to also use the facilities. The distinct sound of bodily gas being expelled reverberates through the room. Lucas, still in his own stall, giggles and demands "Who tooted?"

Story related to Chris by the "new friend" who also remarked "Your kids are awesome!" I humbly agree.

Summer Hike

So today we went on a hike that I have been wanting to do ever since I bought my first hiking guide for the Lac Leman region. It is a hike through the forest of Jussy, briefly crossing the border with France, and then returning to Switzerland and forests once more. I have to write this post now before the rose-coloured glasses of time kick in.

Ach! Bad idea. OK. We started with over an hour of tram and bus to get there. Not such a big deal especially since the boys love riding public transit. The problem was that we couldn't get started on the hike until after 11, and the sun was already high in the sky. I had tied David to me for the hike, and his chubby little arms and legs were about all you could see of the little guy. Unfortunately, that meant that while the wrap was covering his and my bodies and causing us both to sweat like animals, his little appendages were unprotected from the sun. I spent the entire hike trying to position my own sunhat to best provide coverage to the baby. I was terrified that I was going to give a 2 month old baby a sunburn. This leads to my third complaint. For a hike through forests, there was suprisingly little shade. The heat and the stress of protecting the baby did not give me much patience to deal with the final little point. The estimated time for the hike was 2.5 hours. After deducting time for lunch and nursing, we did the hike in 4.5 hours. Michael started off slow and only got slower. He started getting very needy half way through and wanted to hold my hand all the time. I tried very hard to be the good mom and help him along. I was hot and tired and had a fussy baby strapped to me that I was worried about getting too much sun and anchored to a slow-moving little boy when I really just wanted to run from shady retreat to shady retreat.

Okay, on the plus side. I finally got to do the hike I had been wanting to do for years. We were out of the house ALL day on a beautiful, if a little too hot, day. Lucas was suprisingly great. Sure he complained and kept asking "How much longer?" but he also kept walking and keeping up pretty mucht he whole day. The boys got lots of excercise. I got lots of excercise. Baby David has had his first hike and the wrap worked great. My back started to ache only near the end of having carried him for the better part of 7 hours (I did have a reprieve during lunch and Chris carried him for about an hour after that). I am positive that after a couple days have passed we will look fondly at all the photos we took (I will add some at a later date, once they are off the camera). I am sure by morning the boys will have changed from complaining about "How much longer?" to "When can we do another hike?"

I've already picked the next one I want to do...

I think too much

I think too much.

That's what my husband says. That's what my rather direct German friend Monica says. My waffling extends beyond leaving comments on blog posts and threatens to paralyze my entire decision making ability. In a Spring issue of Today's Parent I read an editor's column about overthinking activities when it comes to our kids. At the same time I had been mulling over whether or not to sign my boys up for summer camp. The editor had decided to quit trying to cajole her kids into cross country skiing. She just signed the whole family up and said that was that. So I filled in the registration form and got my kids in for one whole week of summer camp.

I was so worried. It runs from 8:20am to 5:15pm. The kids travel by bus to the location in a village outside of Geneva. I still don't know where exactly this location is! The program is in French. Michael still refuses to speak French and if his swimming lessons (in french) earlier this month are any indication, I have serious doubts about how much he comprehends. Lucas hates new things unless he is experiencing them from the safety of being firmly attached to the side of my leg.

On the other hand, this is CAMP. The location, wherever it may be, has a nice pool for the kids. It is in a forested area. There would be plenty of crafts, games, leisure time. It would be outside with no admonitions to stop yelling, running, jumping. It would be a low pressure environment to get Michael used to hearing French all day every day before he starts school full time this fall.

You can see how successful I was at reining in my need to overanalyze things! There was nothing to do but cross my fingers and hope for the best. Telling the boys about the camp Michael was instinctively excited, Lucas was instinctively against any such notion. I conquered Lucas by telling tales of the swimming pool and the availability of water wings (he has been obsessed with water wings). Michael skipped on our way to the drop off point. Lucas clung tightly to my arm. The time to board the bus came and amazingly there were no tears. In fact by the time the two had found a seat and were waving out the window they were both beaming.

Still, I was a nervous wreck the whole day. Are they having fun? Does Michael know what is going on? Will they eat anything (a hot!! lunch is provided)? At 5:15 we went to pick them up. "Mommy I LOVED camp" says Lucas on the way home. Phew. Michael concurs. Double phew.

Now I just wish I'd signed them up for 2 weeks...