first camping trip of the season

We've been pretty eager to get the camping season started and even though the weather forecast didn't look all that great and even though I was still struggling through a terrible cold - we packed up on Friday afternoon and headed out for a couple nights. 

It was about a two hour drive and the entire way Kale repeated, "I want to go camping! I want to go camping! I want to go caaaaaaaamp-ing!" Finally, about 90 minutes in, Kris asked him, "Kale, what is camping?" and Kale shrugged and said matter of factly, "I don't know." Oh, three year olds....

As I've mentioned before, Kale is the best version of himself when he's outdoors. That means that he's in his element when he's camping. Even though the weather was cool and the mosquito's were horrible, Kale still had the best time going for hikes, looking for bugs, playing at the beach, and roasting marshmallows. 

The water of Lake Huron was absolutely FREEZING - but this didn't stop Kale from jumping in. He loved pretending the waves were chasing him and begged us to walk in with him, holding his hand while he shrieked. While Kris and I tried to rub away our goosebumps and change Kale out of his swimsuit, he tore down the beach in his birthday suit, laughing hysterically, and attracting the attention of everyone around us. 

 

On Sunday night, the rain began to fall. We knew they were calling for 1-3mm, but it was more like a MONSOON. Of course, Kale woke up at 5:30am and was literally bouncing off the walls of the tent. We tried to entertain him with the iPad, distract with promises that snuggling would make the rain stop, but he wasn't having any of it. At 7am we all put on our rain suits and started to pack up the last of our things (luckily we had the foresight to pack the majority the night before). We got completely drenched and covered in mud pulling the tent stakes out. Meanwhile, Kale was having the time of his life wandering around in the rain..... We finally got everything into the car, peeled off our wet clothes, got Kale in his seat and then Kris asked "Where's the iPad?" The last place either of us had seen it was in the tent...... So - we put our wet rain suits back on, unpacked the tent, and looked for the iPad. Oh, joy. 

When we finally did get on the road, Kale fell asleep within 15 minutes and by the time we got home, the sun was shining. It wasn't the best camping adventure for our family, but we still had a good time. It was nice to get away, even for two nights. I can't wait for more camping this summer - hopefully with nicer weather :) 

Currently {link up}

THE DEAL: 

Use our themes or use your own - just let us know what you're "currently" up to! 

Be sure to visit the other blogger's that are linking up and say hello - especially to my amazing co-host Lindsey at Ot & Et. 

THIS WEEKS THEMES:

BUILDING, FORMING, SHARING, DREADING, SINGING

Kale is currently....

Building some major excitement up about our first camping trip of the season this weekend. I'm so amazed at how much he remembers from last year - about the tent, and the tarp that needs to go over it when it rains, about s'mores and hot dogs, and how we can eat them from the stick. Hopefully he forgets the part where he wakes up at 5:30am and wakes everyone on the campsite up. 

Dreading rain storms! I am terrified of thunder (I know - I'm a wimp), so of course Kale is too. When he hears thunder he runs to me and curls up on my lap and tells me he's going to protect me. I wish I could tell him that thunder isn't scary, but (1) it is, and (2) nothing gets this kid inside faster when he's lollygagging than telling him I hear thunder or that a rain storm is coming. 

Singing Old McDonald has a ....COLONY! Haha....there are caterpillars that wiggle, butterflies that fly, and spiders that crawl at the colony. 

I am currently.....

Forming a plan for this summer. Kale's last week of school is next week, so you know, it's probably time to figure out what I'm going to to do with him for two and a half months. Luckily there were enough kids in his class for his school to decide to hold a summer program in July, so at least we have one month covered. In August, it looks like I'll be taking a week of vacation and then spreading out some additional time off to work some shorter weeks. The rest of the time he'll be spending at "Camp Nana." 

Sharing this song with you guys (your welcome). 

Dreading one more day with this cold. For reals. I'm living off lemon throat drops, Tylenol sinus, and tea, and all I want to do is stop sweating and attempt to stay awake past 8pm. Tell me you have a magic trick to rid myself of this cold and then build myself an immunity of STEEL. 

NEXT WEEKS THEMES: 

CAPTURING, RELEASING, SENDING, MENDING, RECOMMENDING (we'd love for you to recommend some of your favourite blogs for us to read!) 

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the weekends to by so fast.

"The weekends go by so fast." 

I hear a lot of people say this. It's part of the typical Monday morning conversation while we're all crowded around the coffee machine at work. You hear snippets of the seemingly endless number of chores people did. At this time of year it tends to be all about yard work. The raking, the planting, the weeding (Last week the woman that just started in the cubicle next to mine, who just moved here, leaned over the wall separating our desks and whispered, "what is it with people in this city and their yards?). The back and forth tends to end with deep sighs from both parties and then, almost simultaneously  they say, "the weekends go by so fast." 

Never have I felt the depth of those sighs until recently. Of course, two days of a weekend never seemed enough, but I wasn't overwhelmed with the sensation that a Saturday went by any faster than a Tuesday. But lately? Lately the weekends have gone by so fast. 

It seems as though Kale has developed quite the little social life. There were two play dates and a birthday party this weekend and while Kale can simply grab his bucket of snails and announce he's ready, there are gifts to buy and salads to make, cameras to charge and snacks to pack. And while we have a good time too, meeting new parent friends and hanging out with pre-kid friends, it does make the days go by just a little bit faster. 

And so when Saturday morning came along and Kris was working, I was so grateful to have some time alone with Kale, away from everyone else. A true introvert, I am. 

By 7:30am we were exploring a construction site, pretending to ride the machines and waking the security guard. We fed dogs treats, ran through the mud, and searched a pond for tadpoles. Two hours later, we came back home, covered in dirt and mosquito bites. And now, as I sit here on a Sunday night, wishing we could wake up and do it all again tomorrow, I can't help but sigh deeply and mutter, "the weekends go by so fast." 

Currently {link up}

THE DEAL: 

Use our themes or use your own - just let us know what you're "currently" up to! 

Be sure to visit the other blogger's that are linking up and say hello - especially to my amazing co-host Lindsey at Ot & Et. 

THIS WEEKS THEMES:

COVETING, IMAGINING, ASKING, SAVING OR SAVING FOR, FEARING

Kale is currently.....

Coveting ..... I cannot even begin to think about how I would use this in a sentence. How about - Kale wants all of the things. 

Imagining that he's a dog. Cute, right? Except when he demands you tie a leash around his neck and take him for a walk around the neighbourhood while he crawls on all fours and every car slows down to shoot me a dirty look...... 

Asking his nana, the neighbours, and random passerby's if they have a snack for him. I'm sure that others assume we either starve our child or deprive him of any snack-related foods. But Kale is a child of routine and if you give him a snack one day, he expects you'll have one for every time he see's you after that. 

Fearing being left alone in the dark. I'm not sure he's actually afraid of the dark or if he heard this on a tv show or in a book. It seems to be more of an excuse for us to say with him at night, rather than stemming from any kind of real fear. A night light would be the obvious solution - but god forbid Kale wake up in the middle of the night and have his retina's burned from the soft glow on the other side of the room. The screams this omits from him is not something I care to wake up to at 2am. 

I am currently.....

Imagining how our bedroom might look at the end of the summer. While every other room in our house is slowly coming together, our bedroom is a downright embarrassment. I didn't care too much about it because our room was in the attic and we were the only ones to ever see it. But this past weekend we moved it down to the second floor, next to our only bathroom, and so now there's a chance that others might see it. I'm not one to care too much what others think, but I'm pretty sure our friends would look at our pathetic excuse for a bedroom and confuse it with a crack den. Anyway, I've committed to pulling our room together over the course of the summer (it's much too big for a project of the month!). 

Asking for every last detail of Kris and Kale's trip to the fire station. Kris was lucky enough to be a parent chaperone on Kale's class trip to the fire station and I was BEYOND jealous. I demanded all the fine details at least 18 times - "Who did Kale sit with? Did they talk? What were they saying? No, like what are the exact words they said to one another? What do you mean they were babbling about trucks and stuff? Did they see a truck? What colour was it?" It's sometimes so weird to think that Kale has this whole life at school that doesn't involve us and while I'd like to ask his teachers these questions on a daily basis, I usually stick with "how was his day?" 

Saving for the bedroom reno. I'd love this to be a project of the month and spend my summer in a beautiful new bedroom, but my porch makeover and Kale's summer camp fees have taken a big bite out of the nearly non-existant bank balance. 

Fearing that I may never be healthy for more than two weeks in a row ever again. That's right - I am sick AGAIN. This time it is a lovely sore throat which has caused my voice to go all low, husky, phone-sex operator (but more like, low, husky, smoke three packs a day). This year has been ROUGH for illnesses. 

NEXT WEEKS THEMES: 

BUILDING, FORMING, SHARING, DREADING, SINGING

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life with snails.

With the onset of spring this year, came Kale's obsession with bugs. I've never seen him so excited or interested in something before and we've been doing everything we can to feed his enthusiasm. We've spent hours looking for bugs, watching videos about bugs, and reading about bugs. While I've never been "into" bugs per se, I'm not grossed out by them either and have no qualms about holding an earthworm or catching a spider. This is probably a good thing considering we now live with four snails. 

One day Kale found three snails at his grandparents house and he brought them home and put them in his bug catcher. I have to admit, we all became enthralled with watching them peek out of their shells and slink across our hands. Kale and I looked up snails in one of his favourite bug books to learn about their different parts and what kind of environment they like to live in. For the next two weeks, our snails, named Simon, Hudson & Flash, lived in a bug catcher on our kitchen counter. Every week we took them out, baked some soil (to avoid introducing pathogens), and cleaned their home. Every night we would take them out and let them explore and then I would dutifully spray the bug catcher to keep it moist. And every few days I would wonder why in the world there were three snails living in our kitchen.....

This past weekend, Kale and I took a walk after a rainfall and found many, many more snails. We took our time to clear them from the path after finding one shell crushed. Along the way, Kale found a special snail, called him Flashlight, and brought him home. Which is how we ended up with four snails living in our kitchen. 

Last night we decided that the bug catcher was a pretty tight space for four snails, and so Kris drilled some holes in the lid of a large plastic bowl and we made them a bigger, better home. 

For weeks we had been feeding them random leaves from outside, along with the odd piece of spinach or cabbage and an egg shell. While we found little evidence they were eating any of it, their poop told a different story. Then I read that snails like iceberg lettuce and so this weekend I bought some. Before we went to bed, I placed three big pieces of lettuce in the bowl. By 7am, there were only shreds of the lettuce left. By 5pm, their bowl was full of green-coloured poop. And then I googled "can snails die from overeating?" (apparently no - but I'll get back to you on that one). 

Clearly, the snails are here to stay. If you haven't figured it out, I've become a little invested in our four slimy friends. At a birthday party last weekend, I was able to blow the mind of a seven year old by laying down all my snail knowledge. I also think I caught a few strange looks from some adults. 

The thing is, I like the snails and I like that Kale likes the snails. But I know that one day he is going to become fascinated with something new, and I'll be stuck spraying the bowl with moisture and cleaning up their green poop because I can't bear to let them go. Add to this the fact that snails can life 15-20 years and I'm suddenly faced with the possibility of "life with snails" long after Kale moves out......