Fun Fairs and Bike Parks

 I didn't realize that some of the schools around here have these fundraising Fairs that they put on in their playing fields.  We were first invited to the one at Laronde Elementary, the school Callum will be attending for Kindergarten next year.  There were bouncy castles, pony rides, all sorts of games and food.  I was proud of Max as he is generally not particularly fond of animals, but he was brave and got on a pony.

 Their favorite thing, however, was the human hamsterball!

 My friend Emily told me about another Fair at her kids school last Friday, so we found real carnival rides there - a mini ferris wheel and that things that swings kids around and a spinning teacup ride (which I didn't let Callum go on since I knew he would throw up!). 

 Callum's friend, Spencer, came with us.

 My little Lion and Alligator.

 Of course they were completely spoiled and I bought them cotton candy and a snocone.

 Callum and Max currently go to the Rec Centre at least 3 times a week for various activities (Floor Hockey, Multi-sport, indoor soccer) and Callum always asks if we can go to the skate/bike park that he sees beside it.  We finally went on Saturday and he and Max had so much fun, they asked Jeff to take them again yesterday and they asked me as soon as they woke up again this morning.  There is both a dirt-bike area and a concrete skate/bike area (but I didn't get any photos at the concrete area).

 Other than Fair's and Bike Parks, we had Callum's kindergarten orientation at Laronde.  For some reason, he was previously complaining about having to go in french immersion, but a few of his friends were at the orientation and the playgrounds there were cool, so he is now pretty excited.

And other than that, well, Simon fell down the stairs yesterday.  Ah!  I know, I know.  Bad Mom.  Needless to say, his crawling skills have significantly improved and I won't be leaving him alone while I go to the bathroom!

In the meantime, the kids.

 Other than all the gardening we've been doing (see previous post that was posted an hour ago), the kids and I have been rather enjoying ourselves.  Simon is getting HUGE, my 25lb baby, and is a truly happy kid, most of the time.  He loves hanging out with his big brothers, just watching them play seems to be his favorite entertainment, and they love to oblige him. (I apologize if the formatting is all messed up, but blogger.com has changed the way they do things and I can't figure it out right now...)

 

 

 Callum started league Soccer with the Peace Arch Soccer club in April.  Jeff and I wouldn't say he's the most aggressive player, as he usually prefers to cover the goal, but it's amazing to see how quickly he progresses and how much fun he has with his friends.

 Callum's school had a Bug Hunt that Max, Simon and I were able to join in at Crescent Park.  I can't say enough awesome things about Mountain View Preschool as Callum has just been enjoying every single day of it, soaking it all in.  And he has only ever missed one day of school this year, the day that Simon was born, actually.

 (And here's Callum with Sophie, the girl that I've decided should be Callum's first girlfriend because she is so adorable!)

 My niece Lorelei spent a few nights with us while her parents got some much-needed alone-time, and I have to say that having a 4th kid didn't really add any additional stress.

 Max is making a bit of a slower transition to a pedal bike than Callum, but here was his first attempt.

 

Constant Gardening

 I have been meaning to take some pictures of all the yard work we've been doing before I published a new blog entry and I finally got the camera out this morning.  It feels like Jeff and I have just been working in the yards non-stop for the past month and a half because, well, that is all we have been doing!  Honestly, I felt like 90% of my brain power was being used to continually think about plants - I have learned a lot over the last few months!  Now that we have nearly finished planting the front yard (I planted over 200 hundred plants!) and we have done a big hunk of work in the back yard (all that we can afford for this season), plus we bought some outdoor furniture for the deck, maybe we can take a little break.  Oh no, wait, we still have to finish the form work for the back concrete patio.  Then we can take a break.  Mmhmm.  Ya.

First, we cut down a whole lotta trees and re-stacked a whole lotta firewood. I enlisted the help of family, again, but I think Scott and Lorelei win the prize for best team work!

Then we had Nick, our excavator guy, come back to scrape out everything left behind, except for the Holly tree and my Raspberry bushes in the back.  I think Callum spent at least several hours in the machine with him, and Nick even let him do some of the work.  Callum LOVED it.

 And Max got a turn too, of course.

This is what the back yard looks like today,  You can see the area in the back prepared for future raised vegetable beds and a potting/storage shed.  Where you see all the trailer-trash toys is where we will build a playhouse for the boys.  The funny rectangles on the ground will be our future patio and a bike shed on top of all that to-be-buried pile of concrete.

  

Here is my now rather pleasant deck.  We are still missing a few corner pieces for the sofa, but they were out of stock for a few weeks. 

 I started a little deck garden since I couldn't get my raised vegetable beds built this year.  I've got herbs on the railing, a couple tomato plants that share pots with various lettuces, a couple strawberry plants and my dahlias.

 I love my dahlias.

And I love all the Echeveria I planted in the front yard. (I have a new obsession with Succulents, actually, but more on that later).

 So, here is the front yard.  If you can't remember what it looked like before we bought it, I got this image off Google Streetview: