Weekend Recap

On Friday we went to E's classroom in the afternoon for a little graduation party.  They kids sang a  song, the parents gave the teachers a little gift, there were snacks, we got a tour of the grade one classrooms and entrance, and we played graduation bingo (complete different activities around the classroom to make a line and then choose a small prize).  A hot afternoon in the school, but nice to see the kids and parents after a successful year. 

The teacher had this cute little photo booth set up.

E's name on the wall. The bottom paper shows he has three syllables in his name.

Q had fallen asleep at the party so Dave walked home with him and E, and I drove home. We had some leftovers for supper and then walked up to Bake Sale for an ice cream cone, with a detour to the park to play some baseball. 

On Saturday morning we had big plans to head to Rouge Park in the East End.  This is a huge national urban park but we had never been there.  We had read that Chirp (of magazine and CBC Kids show fame) was having a birthday party there, and it was all part of Bioblitz which included some games, interactive booths, animal shows, and music.  Well, what we had envisioned didn't exactly turn out as planned.  It started with the parking.  We pulled up, and the volunteers asked us if we were there for Bioblitz, and we said yes, so they directed us into the big field to park.  Another volunteer was stopping cars on the way in and he asked if we were scientists.  Our answer: no but we're here for Chirp's birthday.  He didn't really know what we were talking about and then said the parking lot was for scientists.  Confusion ensued, we left the parking lot, talked to the first volunteers, and then decided to park in the parking lot anyway.  Apparently the main event of Bioblitz is for scientists and other volunteers to survey the park and catalogue the various plants and animals living there, but the activities we were there for were still open to the public, hence the confusion. 

So anyway, we got parked, packed up the stroller and headed in.  We knew the festivities didn't get underway until 11:00 and so we had an hour to kill. It was our plan to walk on the trails, but we had no idea where to go, and the Bioblitz volunteers also didn't know what was going on or where the trails started.  We finally found the Parks Canada tent and they pointed us in the right direction.  We asked if the trail was suitable for a stroller.  The answer should have been no, but she said it was wet but probably fine.  Wet was an understatement, as in some parts of the trail, it was impossible to go through without getting our feet wet and taking the stroller on a long detour through the bushes to get around the water.  But we persevered.

This was from the lookout tower on the Vista Trail.

A beautiful day and view

Despite Dave and I losing our minds, E was having a great time.  We must remember to bring the baby carrier next time so we can go for an actual hike.

We started down this path but decided to go back, too many roots and rocks to take the stroller.

The rest of the day was fine, although there was really no shade, there were too many opening speeches, and the main things we wanted to see, Parka and Chirp, were kind of elusive.  They came out for about five minutes at 11:30 so we could sing Happy Birthday to Chirp, and they didn't come back until 12:30 for some singing on stage.  

There were lots of fun activities for the kids, and everyone at the booths were so nice.  Smart move on their part, each booth was giving out nature cards to collect, so you were encouraged to visit every booth.  The booths were all great, no duds.  That part of the day was fantastic.  They also had a free bouncy castle and rock climbing wall.

First time rock climbing and he did really well, made it all the way to the top.  I missed it because I was searching for shade in which to feed Q, but Dave got a video. 

Checking out the beaver skull with large teeth and explaining why its teeth look different from ours.

Large snapping turtle.  The lady at this booth told us that if we see a turtle trying to cross the road, it is legal to stop and help them across.  Stay clear of the mouth, just grab their tail and scoop under their belly from behind and take them across in the same direction they were headed.

A break from the booths to see the main event, Chirp and Parka!

Checking out the toad and turtles.

Sleeping Q

We may have stopped at McDonalds on our way home for some fries and McFlurries.  The day required it!  When we got home, we all had some quiet time, and then we did some of the activity books that E got earlier.  You'll see he talked us into buying a Parka stuffy.

Hamburgers on the grill and then time for bed.

We watched Moonlight, and I've got to say, I don't really get its appeal.  It's a good movie but I'm not sure it was Best Picture worthy.  That being said, the only other nominee I've seen is La La Land and I don't think it should have won either. 

On Sunday, we spent a few minutes on the couch before getting ready for the day. 

Then it was the last day of Sunday school for the year so the kids ran the service.  We all wore red and white and the whole congregation got their photo taken and we sang O Canada in English and French.  Happy 150 Canada!

We had lunch at home and watched Trolls/napped.  We then went out to the mini putt course at Centennial Park.  I feel like this outing went about as well as our trip to Rouge Park on Saturday.  

We stopped at the grocery store to get a couple of things.  Usually E walks by the cart but he wanted to ride with Q this time. Shenanigans.

We made some pizzas and had ice cream drumsticks. 

Q had his first bath in the big tub, soon joined by E.  After they went to bed, we rewarded ourselves for surviving the weekend with some drinks and TV.  Phew, one more week of school and then summer holidays!

Friday Favourites

Linking up with Andrea, Erika, and Narci for Friday Favourites.

When we were in Jamaica I read A Man Called Ove and I really enjoyed it.  It was made into a movie, set in Sweden, in Swedish with English subtitles, and it is on Netflix (at least in Canada, not sure about the US).  I watched it this week and it was really good.  It is rare that the movie is as good as the book so I urge you to check them out!

Dave's aunt is in town visiting this week and she went to E's soccer game on Wednesday.  She snapped a few photos and here are some of them.  E scored a couple of goals and had a great time. 

On Monday and Wednesday of this week E rode his bike to and from school and Q and I ran with him.  The weather was beautiful, we were down by the river, and it was good exercise too.  Can you spot E on the play structure and Q in the running stroller?

Keeping with my recommendations of rosé, here are two more good ones if you're interested in ones that aren't too sweet.   If you live in Ontario, get them know before the LCBO goes on strike.

That's it for this week!  Enjoy your weekend, summer is here!

  

Bulk Barn Favourites

We have often visited the Bulk Barn for various things but now that there is one within walking distance of our house, we make a few more trips.  The Bulk Barn is like Costco in a way, there are a lot of choices and some at cheaper prices, the challenge is to not get carried away buying everything.  I don't buy everything that we use there, I still get my flour, sugar, pasta, coffee beans, and cereal at the grocery store, but here are some of the things that I do buy there:

Trail Mix - there are several varieties but my favourite is Hungry Hungry Hippie.  I also buy chocolate chips and shredded coconut to add to it.

Toppings for my yoghurt - I like to eat plain yoghurt with berries for breakfast and lately I've been topping it with ground chia seeds, hemp hearts, coconut, and cocao nibs, all of which I get at Bulk Barn.

Spices - I have the large Club House brand bottles of spices, but when they get empty I can buy replacements at Bulk Barn to fill up the bottles I already have.

Ingredients for our granola - We make this a couple of times a year and we can get everything in one place in the amounts we need them.

Popcorn - We make our popcorn on the stove so we need the kernels rather than buying the microwave bags.  There are also several flavours of popcorn seasoning that Dave likes to add to his popcorn.

Candy - This is more Dave's and E's purchase, but I will pick up some of my favourites occasionally (red nibs, chocolate covered pretzels)

Ringolos - For some reason I feel better buying a few of these at a time rather than buying a full bag of them at the store.

Nuts for snacking or for recipes - They have almost every kind of nut there, some roasted and salted and others raw.  It is nice to buy only what I need rather than buying a whole bag of them that will go to waste.

School Days - SK Edition

Another school year has come and (is almost) gone.  The last day of school is next Thursday and most of the school days left are field trips, parties, and outdoor activities.  E had another great year at school with some challenges. (Senior Kindergarten is equivalent to Grade Primary.)

His teacher was great, a huge improvement over his first year, and we were impressed with her level of communication with us.  She actually sent us emails (group and individual) that let us know what was going on, she set up the Seesaw App where she posted photos and videos throughout the week for parents to see, and they did a lot more activities outside of the school.  E knew about half of the kids in his class when he started and then fairly quickly learned the rest of their names.

Even though we kept E enrolled in the before and after school care (otherwise we would be forfeiting our spot for September 2017) I tried to pick him up at dismissal twice a week.  Since I was in the school yard at pick up time, I got to meet a few more of the parents.  I also tried to walk him to school more often when we had the time and the weather was fine.  Maternity leave is great for spending time with the baby, but also a good opportunity to spend more time with your older kids if you've got them.

The Kindergarten curriculum is play based, which I'm sure you're all familiar with.  I have no problem with it in theory but for E, it meant that he did not spend time in school practicing his reading and writing.  For some kids, they will intuitively work on these things and catch onto these concepts in the play based environment.  We could see other kids' school work up on the walls in the classroom or through the teacher's posts on the Seesaw App, and that they were well ahead of E in terms of their reading level and writing ability.  It wasn't until the parent teacher interviews in February did we finally find out that parents are responsible for the fundamentals like writing letters and numbers and reading; the teacher is responsible for socialization and overarching concepts.  I felt like this was something that we should have been told when we started the year.  As I said, some kids will just figure this out on their own but for other kids, like E, with no one making him correctly practice his writing and introducing him to reading on a constant basis, then he wasn't doing it on his own.  The teacher said (and fair enough) that her curriculum does not allow time for her to give out pages of letters/numbers for kids to copy out and practice.  She did provide us with some good links for worksheets and we printed these off and E does them on an almost daily basis (full disclosure, and no shame, we totally bribe him with iPad games or TV shows if he does a sheet or two of writing practice).  We also started working on his reading, although not as much as we should be.  I wish we had started this last year or certainly at the beginning of this year but it had been my (wrong) assumption that he would be taught this stuff in school.

Although there are some tasks that everyone in his class has to do, it seems like there is a lot of the day where the kids get to choose what they want to do.  We were constantly seeing pictures of E building with blocks and other materials, but we didn't see participation in other areas.  There would be different artwork up on the wall but rarely any from E.  He didn't seem upset by it, but we thought he was missing out because he always had the choice of playing with blocks instead.  We would have preferred the teacher to direct him to certain activities.  I remember asking him why he didn't try out the sewing station when it was set up, and he said "because I'm not good at sewing".  I said, "but have you ever tried it?" and of course the answer was "no".  So that concerned me because he was choosing to only do the things he thought he was good at rather than being encouraged to try new things.  I know there are 30 students in his class, and the one teacher and one ECE can't work individually with every child, but I think this is a downside of the play based learning environment.  I'm hoping that next year there will be more streamlined activities and E can see that he is capable of doing a lot of things, not just playing with blocks ;)

This was E's first year taking French Immersion and he has definitely caught onto a lot of French vocabulary.  I was able to dust off my French and have basic conversations with him that he understands, even if he isn't always able to answer in French.  He really seemed to enjoy the language, which is good.  One of my concerns with French Immersion at such an early age was that he would get frustrated with not understanding, but he did really well with it.  I have heard from other parents that the expectation is for the kids to start putting together simple sentences by Grade 3 so we shall see how that goes.

Many people say the transition to Grade 1 is tough, even for the kids that can read and write well, so I will try to remember that next year and just try to stay on top of what's going on in the class so there are no surprises at the February meeting when the year is half over.

Overall, E loves going to school and being happy about school is more than enough for now!

You can read my post about our JK experience here.