Apartment 1004: Pre-"Summer" Goings On

In terms of narrating the life of the Vance family, there's really no topping Chrissy's epic blog Vance Palace Tales. However, what I can provide is the DAD'S PERSPECTIVE, which is indescribably and alarmingly different. Here goes!

First of all, it's important to note that in the Vance household, it is not yet summer. Summer only happens when I'm all finished with work and can thus be a more present (and useful) member of our household. As it turns out, I'm scheduled to take a course all next week in Hamilton, ON, leaving Chrissy to fend for herself with three kids for the next week. Summer for all of us starts when I get back.

NEVERTHELESS, we decided to make the last three days as "summery" as possibly before my unfortunate absence. Here follows a LONG, LONG account of the last three days.

FRIDAY

Friday was my first day without school, and Chrissy had made plans with a cousin of mine, Genevieve, to catch up. Now, this was a pretty big deal, since it had been literally fifteen years since I'd seen her, she usually lives in Scotland with her husband, John, and they just happened to be vacationing at her dad's cottage at Meech Lake (site of the tragic Meech Lake Accord). In many ways, this was a cool and relatively rare opportunity.

But first we had to get there! It was a dark and stormy day....

And unnaturally quiet. You see, every day we wake up and desperately try to get our devotions in before the kids wake up and destroy any sense of sanctity we may have established in our home. Well, today they were just eerily quiet.

Sneaking up to the kids rooms, I was able to take a rare photograph of a peacefully sleeping Janna. Here it is:

Unfortunately, my photojournalism actually woke the sleeping angel, who began angrily swatting at my camera. Whoops!

Meanwhile, Jesse has a much more chipper morning routine: he is a hugger. He has this amazing way of seeing you in the morning as though he hasn't seen you for months. "HI DAD!!" followed by a big hug. "HI MOM!" and then a morning cuddle.

He's definitely our morning kid.

Unfortunately, we quickly noticed that this was not the idyllic beach day that we had imagined for hanging around the dock at Meech Lake. We decided that this was a "pensive, reflective" kind of day, and that it would still be fun to see Gen and John.

But wait! We weren't scheduled to leave until 9:30 and it was only 8:00! What to do??? Luckily, Jesse is a puzzle fanatic. We just pulled one off the shelf and let him at it.

The puzzle finished, Jesse had just enough time to pin his (immobile) baby sister to the floor before we left. (Actually, I am particularly grateful for how well the kids have been getting along lately. Jesse and Janna still have their tiffs, but they both seem to get along really well with the baby - except for when she gets Jesse's hair, which is scary and hilarious!)

After braving the intense weather, we actually had a pretty incredible drive out to Meech Lake. Quebec feels like a different world, and despite the scariness of not being able to read ANYTHING (can anyone tell us what a "cul du sac" is?), it's BEAUTIFUL! And windy. No photos of the road - we were too worried about literally falling into Meech Lake.

In the end, we had a great time with Gen and John. It kind of made me think, why did we wait fifteen years to get together with such cool family? Here's to a Vance family reunion, and soon!

Chrissy: "Awwww, you guys look alike!" Awesome to see these guys. Sorry to have no photos of John, but he's one cool guy! We learned that he ran twenty miles, and then fifty (or sixty?) miles, all UPHILL, in some kind of crazy competition. Made me feel a little silly for complaining about being tired after my 5km bike home from work!

Chrissy and I after returning home. Tired, but happy. (I think this can be our life motto for a while.)

The rest of the day was rainy and "broody" - the perfect kind of day for coffee and a book!

SATURDAY

We really only had two goals for Saturday: we would go to Canadian Tire to buy a pump for Jesse's soccer ball, and then go to the park and play soccer.

More easily said than done. Upon entering Canadian Tire, Robyn invented a new method of being devastated and overjoyed at the same time. Hence, tears and smiles (see below). Nevertheless, we survived the experience of purchasing the ball pump (plus a sprinkler!) and set off to go to the park.

Janna was pretty great at the park. She quickly decided that she would be responsible for Robyn, and tried (impressively) to push her little sister all over the soccer field.

Jesse led us in various soccer drills. Here, he patiently awaits for me to assume my role as "mud monster," which is apparently an important position in four-year-old soccer!

Next he decided that he and Mom needed to run to the other side of the field. Poor Janna was devastated!

I thought we should get a cool bird's-eye shot. This involved me climbing on top of the soccer net, which I thought would be easy, but actually took me about five long, painful minutes of hanging from the bar in progressively more awkward positions until I managed to somehow flail over the top. My body (my pride? my sense of youthful invincibility?) still hasn't recovered.

After soccer, we invaded the park. Here, Jesse is emotionally overcome after realizing the slide has been covered in wet, gross sand.

Thankfully, the swing set comes to the rescue! We're still working on the whole pumping of the legs bit, but since Jesse is so impressed with the simple back and forth motion, we're not rushing him. :)

Another successful day, I think. I'm still trying to read Chrissy's expression here.... any ideas????

SUNDAY: "Canada Day"

We know it wasn't really Canada Day today, but since I'll be traveling to Hamilton tomorrow, we tried to make the most of it. It has been painfully difficult to explain to Jesse that Canada is not a person, and that we can't have Canada Day again next week. When he grasped that he'd have to wait a whole year for Canada Day to return, he actually got kind of upset. The trials of childhood!

At any rate, we decided to go to a fair in Barrhaven, which ended up being loads of pretty affordable fun. Last year, we were so excited to see Jesse try out his first rides. This year, he was unstoppable! Here he is reassuring us as he lifts off on the helicopter ride.

Chrissy was practicing her photography skills. Here she captures my ridiculous enthusiasm and Jesse's not-quite-concealed joy over the whole situation.

Janna, on the other hand, was less than impressed. "Yawn... dozens of helicopters spinning in a circle.... I've seen this all before."

It was always fun to look back into the second compartment of the stroller and see Robyn beaming at us (or someone else). She's a cutie!

Janna perked up a little bit at the merry-go-round. She loves horses, but she hates loud noises, so we weren't sure what she'd think. Turns out, she wanted to try, and so she went on her very first ride, holding on to her plastic horse with a steel grip!

Chrissy and Janna, waving to Jesse as he passes us in his manly blue truck.

Definitely the scariest ride was the dragon roller coaster, which Jesse had to ride by himself. He had this madly intense look in his eyes the whole time, and he was saying something out loud that we couldn't hear. Chrissy thought he was just making random noises (as he is known to do), but I thought he was saying "STOP. STOP. STOP."

(In the end though, he said it was one of his favourite rides!)

Mom and Dad, barely keeping it together.

Next was the great Ferris Wheel, king of all amusement park rides. Chrissy took this shot of Janna and I on the ground below (Janna was trying to push Robyn away in the stroller, to the amusement of all onlookers.)

This was definitely Jesse's favourite ride. He'd like to go on it again next week, please.

Nice shot of the suburban landscape.

Chrissy feels completely dispassionate about Ferris Wheels.

Somewhat anticlimactically, Jesse wanted to end with a little wooden car ride. By now he has shed his cool demeanor and allows himself to grin at us as he passes by.