Vance Kids = Potash Miners, plus Grand Pere Rocks Jesse's Socks Off

To science or not to science? That is the question.

Every time the Vance household has a chance to visit one of the three museums included in our membership (Science and Tech, Aviation, or Agriculture) we really have a toss up between a great general experience (Science and Tech) or a cool, more specialized experience (Aviation and Agriculture). At $120 per year for unlimited admission and parking, we still say that this is the best deal in town for ongoing entertainment and education for our kids.

We opted for the Science and Tech Museum this morning, treating Grand Pere to an early Father's Day experience. It's hard to narrow the whole thing down to one or two photos, but here are some highlights.

The children prepare for a mining expedition into the heart of the Canadian potash industry. Canada is currently the world leader in producing potash, which is a key ingredient in most fertilizers. Here, Jesse is reflecting on the importance of developing Canada's economy while maintaining an environmentally responsible approach to resource exploitation.

Grand Pere and Robyn spend some quality time together. Robbie is fascinated by the big ship engine and wants to climb into it.

As if the museum wasn't cool enough on its own, Grand Pere made Jesse's day by giving him a genuine motorcycle experience (just around the parking lot). Afterwards, Jesse pulled up a seat and asked if he could just sit and look at the motorcycle. Later, he solemnly requested that he be allowed to store his bike helmet on the motorcycle's seat, and he has already made arrangements for a repeat experience tomorrow. 

It has been great having Grand Pere over for an early Father's Day. Family is definitely one of the greatest gifts God has given us, and we want to instil this idea in our children from day one. Here's to many more days chilling with our parents/grandparents!

Until next time...

Grand Pere Visits and Candid Bedtime Moments

My father-in-law is an amazing man. He has embarked on a cross-Canadian motorcycle tour, with the intention of spending time with each chapter of his increasingly large family as he travels. He spent thirteen hours on the road yesterday, arriving at about nine last night, just beating a looming rainstorm.

I'm looking forward to capturing some sweet motorcycle shots tomorrow, and I have to admit, his whole idea of travelling the country on the motorcycle is incredibly appealing to me. For now, however, I'll have to content myself with travelling the country in a minivan, which has nearly the same aura of coolness.

The children react with excitement upon first seeing their "Grand Pere" early this morning. The kiddies certainly love their grandparents; a visit from one of them is a little like a visit from Santa.

While Grand Pere teaches Jesse how to play Minesweeper, the other two children attempt to smother Chrissy with their sheer bodily presence. Significantly, Janna is at her most energetic right before bedtime. She runs and jumps, laughs easily, and sings joyfully... and then we put her to bed. 

A pre-bedtime wrestling match. Janna drives me crazy sometimes. We'll be in the middle of a mad wrestling match, alternating between pins on her side, pins on my side, frequent tears and injuries, and then, right when I reach the point of mind-numbing exhaustion, she'll pause and remark, "Daddy, let's wrestle!" as though for the past ten minutes we had been having casual conversation over tea.

Bed time, Janna. Daddy wins.
:)

Until next time...

Friends and Foes in the Common Areas

Every town-house complex has them: swaths of picturesque shared property that have seen their share of joys and sorrows throughout the years. These legendary locations, also known as "common areas," are the fertile grounds for neighbourhood controversy.

At Minto's Centrepoint South complex (Court 3), our children are pleased to supply this controversy, and a good measure of laughter as well, at regular intervals. 

I figure that since we will be moving out of the neighbourhood at the end of June, we need to savour the remaining moments that have been given to us in this beautiful (if slightly litter-contaminated) piece of land.

Jesse entertains Robbie during one of their daily wagon rides. Of all the people that can get Robyn to smile, Jesse does so with by far the greatest proficiency and joy. Chrissy and I think that these two have a pretty special little bond (though Chrissy notes that lately Robyn has seemed much more impressed with herself than with him, referring to her uncanny ability to crack herself up).

While Jesse has a gift for bringing joy to Robyn, Robyn has a gift for reducing Janna to indignant tears. For instance, seconds earlier, the two were sitting together in blissful harmony. Then, in a flash, Robyn yoinked off Janna's glasses. Then she did it again.

(It's hard to have a baby sister who is pretty much the same size as you.)

Thankfully, our neighbourhood is greatly enriched by some fantastic neighbours. This is Jeff, who works as an artist in the storyboard business. He is certainly one of the most creative and kind people that we have ever met.

And of course, every Christian family needs a good neighbour with whom to have deep spiritual talks. We've been trying to convince Jeff to join us in following Jesus, but so far he hasn't bitten. Maybe some day we'll be able to find some "common ground" on this point? (Sorry.)

Clearly, this place has treated us well, and we will miss the neighbourhood that has kept us grounded for the past three years. God blesses us in many ways, and we're thankful for that.

Until next time...

(Nearly) The Most Important Moment of a Young Boy's Life

Indisputably, apart from moments of essential spiritual decisions, the most important moment in a young boy's life is the very second his parents let go of his bicycle and let him ride down the road without training wheels.

By chance, today, a friend of Chrissy and mine remarked that Jesse wasn't even using his training wheels as he sped around with gleeful abandon on his bike. I had to admit that he looked quite competent on his vehicle of choice, but I pointed out that every time I had pushed him to drop the training wheels, he had looked at me with panic in his eyes and pleaded for me to leave them on.

Not wanting to push him too far too soon, I had acquiesced. Today, however, I felt that familiar urge to liberate him from the shackles of security and launch him into true, honest boyhood. Chrissy seemed to be reading my mind as she remarked that Jesse had also become proficient in using Janna's trainer bike (like a regular, tiny bike but without pedals or dignity). I asked him to show me, and to my amazement, he picked it up and coasted around our little common area with no trouble at all.

I bent down and looked him in the eye. "Jesse," I asked him, "do you want to take your training wheels off?"

He nodded, with a little smile on his face, and the rest is history.

(Make sure to watch until the very end!)

Proudly yours,
Until next time...

Who Needs Sleep, Anyway?

Last night was one of those nights in which your daughter wakes up every hour or so weeping about the spiders she thinks are in her room. The unfortunate result of her deep-rooted agitation was that the entire Vance household was significantly sleep deprived by the time the early-morning alarm summoned us to reluctant consciousness.

The alarm, as usual, wakened Robyn, who serenaded us with all manner of enthusiastic syllables for the next hour as we attempted to pry ourselves from the bed. Our breakfast together was a dark foreshadowing of the day to come, and I think that's all I'll say about today.

Poor Jesse just stared at the same point across the room for most of the meal.

It was hard to read Janna's emotions, as she distractedly stirred her Shreddies. Looking back, I wonder how clearly young children understand their tremendous power to throw their families into chaos by waking and crying all night. Do they feel a sense of satisfaction in wielding this power?

(Was Janna smiling as she stirred her Shreddies? This is the real question, and I just don't have the answer.)

I think her facial expression says it all. 

Until next time... (pillow... is calling...!)

Monday Night, Let's Go!

Monday-evening posts will not be a landmark of literary or photographic brilliance.

As this is Monday night, the Vances are currently rushing to get ready for our Monday-night small groups. This is an enjoyable time of the week for us, but very rushed as well.

Fortunately, we had time for a special dessert, since all the kids ate their suppers. "Sundays à la Daddy": ie., Vanilla ice cream topped with strawberries, melted chocolate, and crushed up gluten-free quinoa  chocolate chip cookies (naturally). I have a deal with Chrissy that I'll make half the meals this summer, so I'm getting warmed up. Stay tuned for more excellent "dad-style" dishes...

Small group was a special guys night out. We don't do this that often, so we were at a bit of a loss as to what to do with ourselves. We settled on eating tremendous amounts of hamburgers and throwing frisbees at each other.

"Bang!" is our official small group game. Nothing brings a group of guys together better than a Western-style showdown. In the words of Stevie Andrews, "I... want... violence!" 

All around, a great evening. Now to get some sleep.

Until next time...

One Introductory Rant, One Trip to the Agricultural Museum

Greetings, dear blog readers.

Chrissy, Jesse, Janna, Robyn, Cooper, "Mystery Vance #4," and myself would like to welcome you back to Apartment 1004, a place of light-hearted, genuine, and slightly incredulous musings on faith and family life as we grow older together.

If you've tuned in for the past few years, you have now grown older with us, and we're glad to have you on this transformational journey.

The blog this year will be different for four key reasons:

1. It will be a daily affair, except for Sundays, during which we will rest and recover emotionally, spiritually, and physically. But every other day should have at least some kind of post, which will make it more consistent. 
2. It will be shorter. The mantra for this year is "three photos per day." This should help to stave off any emotional breakdowns that the intense pressure of writing a family blog might provoke.
3. It will begin in May. This may not seem like a big deal at first, but consider the fact that I am a teacher, and teachers often refer to May and June as the "lost months" - months in which we cease to shave, lose our ability to speak coherent sentences, and disappear under endless mounds of marking. I'm looking forward to sharing these moments with you. (This may also help me to be a little more intentional about my family in the midst of a busy teaching time.)
4. It will feature less exclamation marks. To my profound and utter horror, I have caught myself falling into the uncouth, vulgar habit of ending many sentences with exclamation marks to seem "cheerful," and "not angry." (For example, it is quite popular to end sentences such as this one with an exclamation mark to implicitly acknowledge that I'm not in a bad mood while writing this!) As they say, "the exclamation mark is the new period." But honestly, we all know deep within the depths of our beings that to end our sentences with exclamation marks and smiley faces without prejudice is to raise the white flag before the impending onslaught of illiteracy. I will have no part in the disintegration of the language and culture over which we have been granted a profound responsibility to redeem and protect...

Ahem. So our had a really good time at the Canadian Agricultural Museum today. We're making good use of a family membership granted to us by our friends the Grootenboers - we get to visit the Agricultural Museum, the Science and Tech Museum and the Aviation Museum as much as we'd like for the next year. Good times for all, especially when the kiddies are getting antsy, as they sometimes do after a long, long winter.

Here are three highlights:

The Vances are impressed by the sheer power and majesty of "Merrill" the horse. All children have been warned not to touch the animals. Jesse is concerned with making sure Janna follows this rule. Janna, meanwhile, is only concerned with how she will ever get off the step on which she is currently standing without grievous injury to her person.
(No injuries were incurred in the watching of the horse, thanks to Chrissy's watchful and timely interventions.)

Robyn made a new friend, whom she greeted with frantic waves and high-pitched barks. We're pretty sure she would have climbed right into the cage had we not pulled her back, to her great dismay and indignation.

All of us had a great time on the agricultural playground. At the end of the day, parks are still one of our great family joys. Here, Janna claims the cottage area as her own (but I think she would have been willing to share it if asked). Please note that Janna has hair this year.

Alas, the museum closed at 5pm, and so our visit was cut short. However, I'm sure there will be plenty more visits in the days and weeks to come.

So, for the first post of 2014, I'm signing off. Looking forward to corresponding with any and all of you. Maybe we'll see you in our travels.

Until next time...