Update...Summer Fun

So...time for an update. And another attempt to catch up, and keep running.

October already. Still relatively warm here and the trees are beginning to display their Fall shades. This has always been my favourite time of year, though in later years summer has become a close contender for 'favourite season'.

Here's a recap of the last few months in pictures.

June and Bronwyn turned 11, quickly followed by July, in which Nicky turned 11. Now River anxiously awaits November; when he will turn 9. He is waiting to grow taller than Nicky. "Will I be as tall as Nicky when I'm 10?" We patiently explain, again, that when he is 10, Nicky will be 12 and still most probably, infuriatingly, taller than River. "Can you measure me again?" he asks, while examining the door frame at the entrance to the kitchen. We have measured the kids over the past couple of years and there are lines; pencilled and faint, along with Sharpie lines, black and thick, that measure our height. Well, mostly the kids.  "You probably haven't grown much since last week", I caution. Explaining things over and over has become a sort of pastime with River. I will try to contain my exasperation and carefully explain, "River, you already asked that question, and I have already answered it...many times". "But that's not the right answer," he replies. His strategy; to keep repeating the question in the hope that eventually he will get the answer that he wants to hear.

September: the crazy month. Let's put everything into September! says... I don't know...The World. Let's scramble and rush around and gather a  myriad of those never-ending 'school supplies'. Last year's un-used school supplies get shoved in a box. Perfectly usable...but not new. I had to work more hours than I anticipated the first couple of weeks of September. I felt as if I was in a mad race; busy, busy, and I am glad to get back to some kind of normality. (ha!)

Going to try to maintain this thing and will mostly just post updates of what we're doing and journalish meanderings.

Will post this just so that I can actually get started. I hope the posts will be more up-to-date and refined from this point. I hope.

Back again....new chapters

Bronwyn in the sunset - by Mike

Dear Blog...it has been months since you last heard anything from me...

Months of stuff happening that I have not blogged about. The other day Bronwyn said, "You don't write your blog anymore, do you?" She's never read it to my knowledge. I don't know where the thought came from. Perhaps noticing I hadn't talked about it. My sitting-at-the-computer time has become very short...and I haven't been taking pictures 'for the blog' as I used to all the time. But she reminded me of why I started it in the first place. Or at least one of the reasons; so that she would have something to look back on and read later on. I mentioned that reasoning to her and she replied, "That would be very sad."
"Bittersweet", I corrected her. But surely a wonderful gift?

So it is the beginning of September...the end of a long and warm summer. We have been routinely sweeping sand from the floor of the apartment and emptying it from our backpacks and towels, after multiple trips to the beach. Labour Day weekend. It has been nearly a year since I last updated. A year full of events, happenings and emotions that it would be laborious for me to list here. It is easier if I just recap a little and then continue on. Of course, it is the nature of break-ups that I can only show and tell my part of the story.

We moved house last November, just a few blocks from our old place. Older, cheaper, but in a great location.  A simple 2 bedroom place in part of an old Kits house; a little ramshackle apartment. We have the original living room and kitchen; wood floor, high ceilings and big windows. The converted basement for bedrooms - low ceilings, sort of haphazardly strung together. An incredibly small bathroom with a low ceiling that means that anyone taller than 5'5" must stoop. But this is a great neighbourhood and we are only a few blocks from our last place and only a few blocks from Mark's apartment.

I began a new full-time job in March; teacher at a language development preschool. It's an intense, but rewarding job. The hardest thing about working full-time is being disconnected from the kid's school life. This is especially true for River. With resources for special needs education being reduced all the time, I fear he does not get the support that he needs. His anxiety level at school is  high (as it is for many kids with autism) and he has begun to dread going. He was staggering, teary-eyed, towards the end of grade 1, and I am worried about grade 2. As yet the school has not given me any information that would enable me to prepare him. So I am preparing myself for another year of school visits and letter-writing.

Bronwyn turned 9 in June. A smart, funny, quasi-tomboy; expert tree-climber. River learned to ride a bike (something we thought we'd never see), and he's also mostly poo-ing in the toilet (again, something we wondered if he'd ever do!). His communication has come on in leaps and bounds. Wonderful and positive, changes. His rigidity and OCD tendencies are also more pronounced now that he is older - something we work on daily.

The children spend almost half their week with Mark, and the rest of the time with with Mike and I. To be brief, Mike and I became lovers and we now live together. Mike's son, Nicky, lives with us every other weekend and some weeks during school vacation. He is also 9 years old and he is great friends with Bronwyn and a real live-wire, full of boyish drive and energy and great fun. River looks up to him like a big brother. He is one of the very few kids who have patience to play with River and talk to him, show him things. All in all things are usually quite busy around here.

Things are settling into some kind of routine.  We have had a full summer - taking the kids on adventures and biking around the city. But this is it for another year. I ride my motorbike to work every day to work and I love it. I got my license in October. Passed first time! We decided against buying a car as neither of us gets paid very much and funds are low. We have to be creative - but we acknowledge that we make sacrifices on 'stuff' so that we can live in this neighbourhood.

I feel like I need a new name for this blog. Must begin to think of one... In the meantime, here's some pictures from the past year...

Cypress in the snow

Calgary

Keeping up the branches

Stealth camping and hiking on the north shore

Catching jellyfish at the beach

Mike and his sister Kennan

Mask Bronwyn discovered lying at the bottom of a tree stump

River at the mud flats

Mud pie target practise

Superbike

 

Weaver Lake

Weaver Lake

 As part of Bronwyn's birthday celebrations I took her camping the weekend after her birthday to Weaver Lake. Weaver lake is a very picturesque forestry campground just east of Harrison. I had taken a trip there a week or so before (Mark initially spent a weekend there in April, we have quickly become regulars!) and enjoyed some solitary rest and relaxation. It really does feel like an out-of-the-way place and is relatively small and quiet. A bit on the rustic side, but that (and the steep hill to get to the lake) helps to keep out the hordes. It is a relatively short drive from Vancouver (about 2 and half hours). You take Hwy 7 to Harrison Mills and turn left on Morris Valley Rd. Then you drive about 11kms and turn left at the entrance to Weaver Lake. The recreational area, as it is called, is about 2kms from the turn off up a steeply inclined forest service road. (Yeah, I know, I'm going all 'travel guide' in my descriptions!). The steep incline is actually very steep, quite a long slow climb. I had my foot to the floor and the van was barely going 15km/hr. I began to fear that I'd soon start to go backwards and not get to the top. Mark had already warned me about this hill and I'd experienced it on my previous trip. It's do-able, but it definitely heats up the engine.

Beautiful cedar on lakeside trail

We got our favourite campsite. This site is  not adjacent to any other campsite and backs onto a wooded, marshy area. There is even a trail leading from the campsite that takes you through the forest into a fast-running creek. The campground is relatively cut off but I could get cell reception if I walked 5 minutes or so and climbed a  hill. That is one of the other nice things about this campground, you are not cut off and yet you are not available all the time either.

Some photos? Okay then...

Weaver Lake

Trusty camper van at the entrance to our campsite

Hunting for frogs

Lakeside trail

Bronwyn and I experienced rain for most of our trip. It began falling on Friday evening and did not stop until just before we left (typical!). At some points it was really coming down hard, bouncing of the roof of the van and turning the campsite into a muddy swamp. Our hair and clothes got soaked through and we remained that way for much of the trip. But at least we could mostly dry out in the van. The good thing is that we are rainy day people and so we had fun despite the downpours. It is great to have one-on-one time with Bronwyn without the distraction of computer/TV or anything else. She is such good company and we shared quite a few laughs. We had a running joke about my obsession with sandwiches. It's not an obsession, but it is true that I usually mention sandwiches; making them or eating them, when I talk of any outing. She constantly pointed this out, "I think you just like saying the word sandwich!" she exclaimed. She also told me that I was an awesome mum, "Because you are making all these great memories for me." There an additional reward for me, if I needed one.

Fishing for water striders

Did I mention it rained?

On my previous trip I did the 5.5km hike that goes all the way around the lake. Named Denham's Trail, it is a beautiful and varied hike. It took me around 3 hours and I didn't come across another person all along the route. I wasn't able to do the lake walk with Bronwyn because it was just raining too hard. It's not a difficult walk and it is quite beautiful, offering some great views of the lake when you get higher up. There were some interesting bridge constructions all along the way and I think I counted at least 5 different styles of wooden bridge. The forest floor was a sea of ferns and the trail was lined with ripening salmon berries and other bushes and low level trees. I came across small clearings on the route where wild flowers grew: seablush, blue-eyed grass, and white trilliums and other wild flowers. (See link below). The middle of the trail was quite overgrown and appeared to be seldom used. I began to feel a little uneasy during this part of the hike: on my own, I couldn't see much of the path through the thick bushes. The path appeared to follow through sort of clearing that allowed the forest understory to grow thick and close. Or maybe it was a previously logged area? I was essentially 3km in and out and the trail was barely visible. I worried there might be bears around on the hunt for berries and began to worry myself with thoughts of being hunted by some careful (and hungry) predator. But then I worried that said predator might sense my fear and being even more predatory. Told myself to calm down, and I did.

A bridge construction over the swampy ground

Another wooden bridge

The trail at the middle section, barely visible.

Last weekend Mark took River to Weaver Lake for his first camping trip of the year. River was so excited to go. He had a fabulous trip and is constantly asking to go back. Mark took the kayak and they spent some time on the lake. They didn't quite get completely washed out like Bronwyn and I! Children are made for the outdoors and it is so wonderful to see how much fun they have.

Mark and River's campsite

Ready for the kayak

This is a useful site if you are looking for the names/pictures of wildflowers in British Columbia Wildflowers of BC

I've back dated this post for the sake of chronology because I haven't been updating as regularly as I should. One of the problems with journaling (or blogging/journaling) is trying to keep up with events and keep them chronological!

Mother's Weekend

Sunrise at Deer Lake

I had a fabulous and relaxing weekend away camping. It was short notice, but I'm glad I decided to go. The weather recently has been just gorgeous and the weekend was no exception. I headed back to Sasquatch (yes, I know, I go there ALL the time). But it's close and blah blah. Next time I will try somewhere different. I spent the weekend reading and knitting and doing a bit of writing. Just perfect. I even ventured to get up at 5:00am and go for a walk as the sun was rising over the mountains. I felt spoiled, as a mother and just as a person, to be able to enjoy such beautiful surroundings. I just wish I could have stayed longer.

Mossy trail

Hate to see beer cans disposed of this way!

Fallen log

Small brook on the trail.

The lake through the trees.

Morning sun on the trail.

Home for a couple of days!

Back to reality, but at least I got a bit of time away. And finished "Cousin Bette" by Balzac; another great fabulous novel from nineteenth century France!