This was bittersweet

 As you might recall, Isaac turned four at the end of August.  I was determined that he wouldn't start school until next fall when he turned five.  However, when you are fifth on the totem pole and you have watched your siblings traipse off to your father's place of work for four years already, you might just be desperate to join them.  Also, Isaac was getting bored here at home and I am getting old and unable to entertain for endless hours in a bid not to turn on the TV.  So, we decided that Isaac would start JK on a part-time basis, three days a week.  Isaac is incredibly social and I knew that he would have absolutely no trouble finding his place in the classroom.  A full two weeks after school had already started, I walked him to school mid-morning and plunked him down in the middle of 23 perplexed 4 and 5 year olds.  For exactly 45 minutes he held my hand until he looked me squarely in the eye and said, "You can go now, Mom, my cry is gone."  But mine isn't.

 We've shelved this backpack until he grows a little taller!  I instructed Joe and Ben to watch Isaac on the playground at recess and lunch time.  On Isaac's first day, I stayed until recess time and then rushed down to Dave's classroom where I could spy on the junior playground.  Dave and I stood at the window and laughed as we watched Isaac playing with trucks while being shadowed by his two older brothers.  He looked like the youngest member of the royal family attending public school along with his security detail.  I half-expected Joe and Ben to be wearing ear pieces and packing weapons.  They take their brotherly roles very seriously.

 Can you see them?  Those five little figures are 5/6 of my children traipsing off to school on their five minute commute down the road, through a wooded trail which emerges on a wonderful school playground entirely shaded by 40 foot pines.  It is not hard to send my kids to school when I know that their father is just down the hall and I am welcome at any time and in any classroom.  I am very thankful for this life of ours.

 And what did I do with only one child?  I got another one!  No, this little god-daughter of ours came over with her mother who helped me can the many, many tomatoes that my mother-in-law continues to drop off at our door.  It is so nice to have adult company.  Last year I came to a a full realization of how extroverted I am.  There is definitely an introverted part to me, but this is more than fed by being a stay-at-home mom.  In fact, it took me 11 years to realize that many of my struggles and anxieties stem from so many hours spent at home with only the kids.  Thus, I have taken the bull by the horn and tried to be much more pro-active about seeking adult companionship during the school week.

 Having only one child at home also allows me to help out some of my friends when they need childcare.  Well, in this case Isaac was home on one of his days off.  He is so enamoured by school that I had to convince him that I needed him to stay at home in order to babysit his god-sister.

Here they are enjoying standard childhood fare, cheese and crackers.  I went briefly inside the house only to find that they found it much more fun to feed the snack to the dog.  Such is life.

Isaac turns four (two weeks ago)

 Isaac turned four on August 30th.  This particular birthday really does make me wonder where time goes; and why we don't buckle down, get a camera and stop using the grainy old iPhone.  A very end of the summer birthday isn't especially good timing for a snorkel set as a birthday gift.  It was used a total of two times and will now be dispersed throughout the house never to be found again.

A little glimpse of our blondie's character.  How I love this little guy.

 A laser gun is always a good birthday gift for a little boy, not so much for the parents.  My mother loves to buy gifts that have lights and make noises.  Consequently, the kids love my mother.  Dave says that he is sending Grandma Julie a laser gun for her birthday.  And a cap gun.

 Oops, how did Sarah get in here?  I couldn't resist the humidity-induced curls framing that adorable little face.  I asked Dave if it is only me who looks at Sarah and thinks that she has the cutest little face around.  Dave, who thinks that Sarah looks most like me, replied that saying that was sort of like me looking in the mirror and declaring my face the cutest little face around.  Truthfully, I don't see the resemblance.

Back to the birthday boy who really did deserve a cake that looked better than that one.  Dave consoles me that I am a great cook, and proceeds to give everybody an extra scoop of ice cream.

Vacation at Malagash, NS

 After the vigil mass in Rigaud, we quickly ate a supper that I had packed, changed the kids into their pjs and prepared to drive through the night to NS.  Normally driving through the night means that Dave drives and drives and drives until he can drive no more.  The driving-no-more part usually hits around 3am when he pulls into a side road and falls asleep.  At this point I usually need to use the bathroom and try my darndest to open the van door as quietly and as quickly as possible so as to keep everyone asleep.  My efforts are usually pointless as the door opening triggers the inside lights and at least one of the kids wakes up with a, "Are we there?!"  However, this time, Dave drove and drove and drove until we arrived at our destination.  At 6am.  With a whole day stretching before us.

Our destination proved to be much more than a cottage.  Actually, it was called The Lodge and lodge it was.  It was a cape cod with four bedrooms up and a bedroom suite on the main floor (see below).  The bedrooms were huge, the staircase was a spiral, and there were two dining rooms and two living rooms.  The laundry room was bigger than our dining room back home.  Thank God Hannah toured the house with the iPad taking pictures, or we would have no evidence to prove just how big this place really was.

My parents, as the guests of honour (and also the chief financiers), got the bedroom suite.   The very first photo, of the kids dancing in the rain, was actually a twirling contest organized by Jacob.  I have no idea who won, but they did get very, very wet.

 The details on the rental lodge told us that we had access to 800 feet of private beach.  Our access turned out to be a 500 metre walk followed by a 30 foot drop (with staircase) to the rocky beach below.  It was a wonderful place to find fossils and glean some of Grandpa's geological wisdom.  However, swimming was a little treacherous.

 My mother, always up for an adventure, checked a map and found a provincial beach only 5km away.  The five minute drive paid off in a huge sandy beach complete with tidal pools, hermit crabs and 25 degree Celsius water temperatures.  It was paradise.  I even wore a bathing suit - of which I will not provide you with photographic evidence.

Ben spent hours digging moats and dams in the sand.

 Isaac joined in when he wasn't challenging a little girl whom he had just met as to who was the bigger child.  When she stood up and proved that she did indeed have a few inches on him, he simply jumped as high as he could and declared that he was, in fact, the bigger child.  Perhaps this only serves to demonstrate that his ego was the larger of the two.

 This is as close as you will get to me in a bathing suit - Sarah 34 years younger than her prototype.

 Ben playing in the beautifully rippled sand of the Northumberland Strait.

 Dave relaxing, yet remaining ever-vigilant.

 The wildest members of our crew.  In confined spaces they are each other's worst enemies.

In large open areas they reluctantly admit to being peas in a pod.

 Our two youngest.

 Dave, Ben, Sarah, Jacob and I went for a drive one morning and found a tiny provincial park where Ben and Dave attempted to fish.

 So far, seaweed is still the only catch.

Sarah and Jacob played in the tidal pool while the seaweed was caught.  And, in other breaking news, that diaper you see on the little girl?  Gone!  She is toilet-trained.  I had an epiphany that she was more than ready when she started bringing me wipes and a diaper so that I could change her bum.  Life has a way of moving on.

Rigaud - a brief stop on our way to Nova Scotia

On our way out to visit my parents we stopped at a shrine half way between Montreal and Ottawa, Rigaud, QC.  It is modelled after the Marian shrine at Lourdes, France.  We were travelling on a Saturday afternoon with the intention of driving through the night to NS.  We stopped at Rigaud in time to catch the Saturday vigil mass at 4:30pm.  One of Rigaud's claims to fame (According to Dave's father) is this field of rocks.  The story/legend is that this field of rocks was once a farmer's field.  The farmer apparently ploughed his field on a Sunday and when he came back the next day the field had turned to rocks:  remember to keep holy the Sabbath day!  It looked more like a dried out riverbed to me.  Nevertheless, it is a good reminder to not miss Sunday mass (or the Saturday night vigil, in our case).

It was a hot day and, like all of our children, Isaac turns beet-red after exerting himself in the heat.  Why he was exerting himself during mass is beyond me.

 I love when I catch moments like this of Hannah:  on the cusp of young womanhood.

 To the right of the grotto is a building where priests sit and hear confessions.  The priest pictured, Pere Clement, is an 84-year old priest whose fitness belied his age.  He spotted us the minute we arrived and gave us his blessing as well as beautiful stories of how the Virgin Mary has protected him throughout his life:  from his youth as the fourth of 18 children to his 40 years spent in the Amazon.  These meetings are truly moments of grace.

 Here is the outdoor mass site where we sat under the trees and participated in the Eucharist.  Poor Ben was terrified that someone would spot that he wasn't French and was determined to assimilate himself as much as possible.  His efforts extended to his reception of Communion where he attempted to receive on the hand (never having done so before) and ended up a bit of a spectacle as the priest asked him in french over and over again if he had made his First Communion.  Ben has vowed never to stop in Quebec ever again!

 Can you see the francophobia in his eyes?  Rest assured that, despite the other children's looks of piety, the bark on that tree was picked and the stones on that ground were almost swallowed.

Big and small - my nesting dolls.

Finally, a bit of time

 Here we are:  Labour Day, the day before school and Dave's 38th birthday.  And I am finally finding a bit of time to post photos from the summer.  For a few years, Ben has been after Dave to teach him how to fish.  This was the first summer in which Dave was able to find a moment's rest in which to purchase a fishing license, root the fishing rods out from his parents' basement and bring the boys down to the lake where they, in Joe's words, caught a whole lot of seaweed.  It was good father-son bonding time, though.

 And this was the summer of a whole lot of travel, maybe a bit too much.   This particular photo was taken on the way to Nazareth Family Camp, a six-hour drive and a short one by travelling-out-east standards.  The week was wonderful and quite tiring.  We came back home for a total of five days (enough time to do 12 loads of laundry and re-pack) and then we headed out east for a 19 hour drive. (Photos will come in the next post.)

 One of the highlights of our time at family camp was that we got to spend a week with Isaac's godparents and their four girls.  Isaac has a fabulous set of godparents whose four blond and blue-eyed daughters look more like Isaac's siblings than do his own.  (We always take genetics into consideration when choosing godparents!)  The week was a bit more of a pilgrimage than a vacation; but, like all spiritually/physically arduous journeys, it has already born great fruit in our family life.

 Here is Isaac's godparents' fourth daughter, Lucia; she is our goddaughter and, unlike Isaac, looks nothing like her godparents.  It was a joy to spend a week with her and get a few more glimpses into her growing character - beautiful girl.

This poor lady, Dave's sister Julie, gave birth to twin girls the day we arrived back from our vacation in Nova Scotia.  She kept those girls in till the bitter end (38 weeks and change) and produced a 7 lb 10 oz girl and a 6 lb 9 oz girl, Chelsea and Clara.  We have yet to meet our new nieces as we are keeping our distance as the new parents adjust to life with twins.  Ahh, the memories...