an update

Wow! The weather has been just gorgeous!! So warm that the girls filled the bathtub with cold water and went "swimming" in it the other day! I've been soaking up some sun, trying to rest and get over this nasty cold I caught from Lydia, who caught it from Robyn, who caught it on her first day of school (someone was so desperate to get their kids out of the house they sent them to school sick, I guess!)

Robyn had a wonderful weekend with Melanie. We all enjoyed her company, actually! It's so fun to see kids grow up and change. We took Melanie for a walk at White Rock Beach...she claimed to have never been there before! She didn't believe us that the real ocean was there. In Ontario, when you stand on the shores of the Great Lakes, the expanse of water is very similar...could almost be an ocean! So I guess she just thought it was a big lake.
She was thrilled to watch the via rail train go by, and even more thrilled to get a ride in a stroller when she got tired (doesn't get that luxury at home, Chandra?) (;

On Saturday my sister Rachel and I went to a baby fair (yay! lots of free samples!) and Nick and our brother in law took the girls and our nephews and niece to a trout farm to catch some fish. They didn't count on catching 12 of them, though! Melanie caught her first fish and was so proud...she wanted to take it home to show her Dad, but accepted the fact that it would be a rather smelly mess after a 5 hour flight!
Here they are with their bamboo poles. Since those were not very successful, the owner came and gave them all real rods with spinners...that's when they really started to get some bites!





Robyn has had a difficult time adjusting to grade one and her new school up until today. Every night I had to give a "pep talk" just to calm her down enough to go to sleep, but in the morning the worrying and crying would start again. Her teacher gave me a call yesterday, and suggested that she do the same thing she did last year, which was pair up the kids at recess with a "play buddy". This will hopefully help Robyn get to know more classmates so she won't feel so "lonely" and shy.
She came home today with all good things to say about school, and said that a girl named Charity told her she would play with her every day until she got to know more kids. Sweet, hey?

It's so hard to see your child unhappy and feel helpless. But I think this too shall pass and she will end up loving it in grade 1. I'll just have to keep up the encouraging pep talks, I guess!

Last night I went to a tour of the birthing center at the hospital. I really just wanted to register, but they wouldn't give me the papers without the tour! I felt like an old pro amongst the first timers.... they looked at me for nods of confirmation whenever the nurse explained something, like how little sleep you get when the baby is born. During the tour we were standing outside a room in which someone was actually giving birth! The looks on the faces of the husbands was hilarious, as we could hear all the noises quite clearly.

Well, I meant to go to bed early, but as usual that didn't happen...
Sorry for all the writing and no photos, but I'll try to add some tomorrow.
Goodnight!