Weekend Camping: Quetico Provincial Park

photo c/o my instagram

This past weekend, we decided to ditch town and explore North Western Ontario.  Well known for it's abundance of lakes, wildlife, jack pines and canoe enthusiasts, this part of Northern Ontario seems to attract solitude loving tourists from the Mid-Western US (I say this because I saw license plates from Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin and of course Minnesota) as well as more local fans from neighbouring provinces (Manitoba and Alberta).  

Father's Day 2013...Experiences vs. Things

photo via Wikimedia Commons

There's nothing like Father's Day.  Except for Mother's Day...that's kinda like Father's Day.

This year we want to do it up for the Father in our lives, and since he's a minimalist who doesn't like "stuff", "junk", "knick knacks" or cards, the girls and I are planning on providing him with an experience rather than a thing (though I'm sure some "things" will be coming home from daycare and kindergarten for him...).

We are planning a picnic (we scoped out the perfect spot the other day), perhaps with a growler of this local beer, and will then present him with...sailing lessons!  He's a fan of boats, having spent most of his boyhood summers ass firmly planted in a canoe, with a small amount of sailing experience.  Fast forward 20 years, we live on a fresh water ocean, and he could probably use a refresher.  This way, he can spend one fun weekend sailing around and enjoying himself and relaxing in a way, because the guy cannot relax.  Not that I'm being completely altruistic. I hope this encourages us to one day buy a boat on which I can have dinner and cocktail parties and sunbathe (completely lathered in sunscreen and topped with a hat, who am I kidding?).  All of the things I want to do on the boat require it to be docked though, since I have terrible sea legs.  I literally have no legs at sea.  Tie me to the starboard (?) while I heave out my lunch.  Yeah, I don't boat well.

I've seen a slew of other awesome Father's Day gifts around the web, and I'm sure more will surface in the next few days, but if it wasn't sailing lessons, here's what I'd be looking at:

Jordan has a great Travel Map DIY which would be perfect for my map loving husband.  I had already found a great Asia Pacific centered National Geographic map that I wanted to get for us anyway, just to get a different perspective on the world...literally!

You can find a pile of hammocks on Etsy...I particularly like these colourful numbers from Costa Rica.

Otherwise, maybe I would make all of his favourite foods:  bacon and eggs for breakfast, a BLT for lunch, hamburgers for supper, and pecan pie for dessert.  All with butter (shudder) and accompanied by this refreshing gin bevvy from Shutterbean.

Happy Father's Month!  Way to go dads!

On being a student and a mother

Parenting is tough.  Equally tough is being a student.  Combine the two and you've got yourself a challenging time.  I started my Master's degree when my oldest daughter was 20 months old.  This year she started junior kindergarten, and I'm still. working. on. my. degree...

Granted, in that time, I've also added another daughter to our family, done a little traveling (The Bahamas! The Florida Keys!...nothing THAT exciting) and also worked full-time at an office job.

Having kids and being a student essentially means being pretty much mediocre at both roles.  There are times when I would love to be on the ground colouring with my kids, but instead I'm hunched over journal articles, highlighting and note-taking like a madwoman.  Other times, I've had to write papers in a series of late-night sessions, after a full day of primary care-giving.  When that happens, I tend to say fuck it when it comes to my editing, only to regret it when I get feedback from my instructors.  

I've had to miss group meetings because I needed to pick up my kid at school.   I've had to push an instructor to give me earlier office hours because I needed to get home and nurse my baby.  I've never apologized for being a parent/student, but I'm sure I've inconvenienced people, my classmates and instructors alike, and that's pretty crappy.

And while I'm nearly done my studies (as long as I can achieve the completion of my research by the end of June) if I could go back in time and meet past me, I would definitely have encouraged myself to complete grad school BEFORE I had kids.  I can't imagine that I will pursue any higher education, at least not until my children have achieved a higher level of independence and/or we're rich enough to hire help (which is a very pie in the sky statement).

But, at the same time, I do enjoy keeping myself busy, and keeping myself challenged.  As well, I like that my daughters see me working hard and achieving a goal.  I continue to remind them that their education is so very important.  Michelle Obama said being smart made her feel cool.  I think being smart is cool.  I hope they feel that way too.  

At this point though, I long for the end of June, when, unbelievably, all of this work should (WILL!) be done.  When I can read books with my kids, spend entire afternoons baking with them, playing with playdough, and just generally going at their speed, without the always looming deadline present in my mind.

Thirty One Things...

(photo credit: moi)

I am only vaguely going to address the nearly six month gap in my writing here. I didn't quite reach six, so there you have it.  But, you know, life has a funny way of catching up with you, and the like. (I feel like I gleaned that last sentence from a Disney princess movie, maybe?)

But what better way to start back into it by declaring on my birthday eve a grandiose to-do list for the next year?  Totally unoriginal, plenty of list-makey types do this , so I was inspired to create my own.  Plus I love a little structure in my life...it's like my own personal annual corporate strategy!

And while I have a mental list of about a million things I would like to accomplish with and for my girls this year, I tried to keep the focus more "self" relevant, so the list doesn't include "potty train D" or "make sure both girls can back float".

So without further ado, my list:

1. Finish my Master's degree (which means finish my research and write about it)
2. Get Published.  Either a story, a journal article, an essay, hell I'll take a haiku (that.won't.happen.).  I just want to see my name, on paper, preferably glossy, followed by 500-2000 words of my choosing.
3. Make donuts (or doughnuts) and macarons.  Because I like a challenge, I'm scared of hot oil, and I'm pretty good at cupcakes by this point.
4. Read two books a month. I'm not fussy about fiction vs. non-fiction.  Last month I read NW by Zadie Smith.  This month I'm thinking of finishing Makers: The New Industrial Revolution and The Conflict.  
5. Teach H how to read.  Ok, this is kid related, but only because I loved to read at her age, and she's SOOOOOOO close to reading.
6. Buy a second house.
7. Plant and maintain a veggie garden.  I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle last year, and all I wanted to do was be my own food producer.  Realistically, I'd like some squash, some lettuce, maybe some tomatoes...
8. Take better pics.  Or, learn to take better pics.  Or think more before pressing "click" on the camera.
9. Join a hiking group.  My family hiked a LOT when I was young, and then I rejected it in my rebellious stage, but I really love it, and I love sharing the experience with others.
10. Run 10 km/or a real race.  
11. Learn to swim properly.
12. Sew this t-shirt.  Sew this dress.
13. Re-finish a piece of furniture at minimal cost.
14. get a cool hair cut/colour that is relatively easy to maintain.  Nohing funky, but something less blerg than my current mop.
15. Make green smoothies a habit.  Good people do this (my dad, my sis-in-law, etc.).  I wanna do this too.
16. Get a skin care routine for my thirties.
17. Get glasses or contacts.  My eyesight is less than stellar.  I try to ignore this, but I end up squinting. A lot.
18. Find the perfect shade of red lipstick.  My bestie and I are both into achieving this totally vain goal this year.
19. Set up and keep a real budget.  I've set up a personal budget before, but more as a challenge, and I didn't really stick to it.  I'd like to actually stick to it for a period of time (3 month minimum).
20. Learn more about graphic design.  I like it, I'm interested in it, and I'd like to learn more about it.
21. Stay up to date on my industry (professional communications, marketing and PR).
22. Stay in touch with people who are important to me and to our family.  This means making an effort to schedule phone calls, write letters, send postcards, etc.
23. Make more, convenience-buy less.  Homemade meals, homemade doodads, etc.  This may prove challenging as Target moves into Canada this Spring (I've still never been to a real Target.  Only online.)
24. Get my family into broader food interests.  We're already great about limiting meat intake, but I want to try more Thai, more Korean, more Ukrainian.  Try more.
25. Get hooked on meal planning.  I get so bored having the same spaghetti once a week.  My 4 year old loves it, but it sorta kinda gets me down.
26. Get in better shape.  
27. Pursue writing as a career.
28. Continental travel!  Minnesota! Chicago! DC! Quebec! Northern Ontario! BC! I wanna see what I can see!  Without flying overseas!
29. Become more cultured.  Meaning, hit up cheap opera matinees, take in plays, leisurely stroll through art galleries and museums.  Perfect my contemplative postures.
30. Attend a film festival.  Nothing major here, I'm not talking TIFF.  Even just some local film fest.  I just love movies and used to love film festivals.
31. Be more in the "now"with my kids, husband, friends and family.  I'm starting to get it about how quickly kids grow, so I want to really savor it.

And that is it.  I mean, some of them could be easy to scratch off, others (like the last one) are way more abstract.  But it'll be nice to have some guidelines to look back on throughout the year.  So tomorrow, I'll turn 31, and I'll start on my list.  And groundhogs will determine the length of Winter.  (My forever connection to B. Murr).

Teething Delirium

Daffers via my BB

The above photo is a wonderful depiction of how terrifically tired I feel, as expressed by my infant daughter.  D is sprouting a few more teeth, and her pain happened to worsen at around 5 AM.  5 AM also happens to be my can`t-get-back-to-sleep-if-wakened time.  So, I am tired to the nth degree, Daff is napping, and H is spending an awful lot of time watching Dora today.  Although we did have a crafting picnic on the rug where we collaged and made flag banners with origami paper.  That was fun.  Also, it is pouring rain, so all of our bike riding and or strolling plans were literally dampened.  Officially, an unawesome Tuesday.  

PS I know what you`re thinking: Is Daff crawling around at some ancient Greek ruin.  Nope, those are just the ridiculously ornate support beams holding up the indoor pergola in our rental. And yes, that wall colour is essentially Mexican Tan, the bane of my existence.  Can`t wait to live in a house that we OWN!

Top 5 Grown Up Songs I Sing to my Kids*

Who doesn't love a list?  No-body!


The other day as I was prepping Daffy for her bath, I noticed the song I was singing her might have been a little...ummm, inappropriate?


You see, I was waxing lyrical to that great classic Nelly song (remember him?  Baseball and Philly?) Hot in Here**.  Because, you know what, it WAS getting hot in the bathroom, and Daff WAS getting all of her clothes off.  So I kept singing it. 


But it got me thinking, what kind of songs am I singing to my kids?!  And should I put the kaibosh on it, or just change up the lyrics?  I thought about it for, oh, about 10 minutes, and came up with this list:

1. Nelly-Hot in Here

2.Bill Withers-Lovely Day

How can you not sing this song to your kids everyday?!?  When I look at you/then the world's alright with me/just one look from you/ and I know its going to be/ a lovely day!  It is the soundtrack in my head when I wake up every morning. I find the bass at the start is kind of perfect tossing-off-the-sheets music. Plus, its just an awesome song.  Try and argue against that fact.

3. The Beatles-All My Lovin'

Ok, this one is kind of a reach, because the song is fairly tame.  But I do sing it all the time, and I'm pretty sure this isn't a Beatles song that was specifically geared towards children (although the verdict is still out on Octopus' Garden, Yellow Submarine and countless others).  I also love the version of this in the movie "Across the Universe".  Le sigh.

4. Elton John-Bennie & The Jets/Rocketman/Your Song/ Daniel

I pretty much sing the Elton John songbook whenever I get a chance.  For instance, this morning when I thought I had tuned the radio to CBC, I had actually only made it to the Eazzzzy Listening station, and they were playing Daniel, so I sang along to Daff as she ate her breaky.  Bennie & The Jets is my go-to, tried and true Karaoke classic, and Your Song is just the sweetest.  Rocketman is fun too.  Dear Elton, thanks for the hits, love, us.

5. Young, Wild and Free-Wiz Khalifa and Snoop D. O double G.

This one is probably the most kid-inappropriate, am I right?  I used to crank this while going to my 6:30 AM yoga class, to try and wake myself up, otherwise, you know, it's zombie yoga.  Clearly, this is a song about a specific lifestyle.  Considering that, I changed the lyrics to suit my lifestyle:  "So what we work out?  So what we drink tea?  We're just having fun, and we don't care who sees!  Living as a young mom-my!".  I like to imagine that if Snoop dizzle ever heard my lyrics, he would officially retire this song, and never sing it again.  A big Wah-wahnnnnn!

So, in conclusion, I guess I'll keep it up with whatever song I feel the need to sing, and can exercise my brain by trying to re-write the lyrics to make them a little more, erm...kid friendly?  

*I also sing "Hazel" by Bob Dylan because that is the song that we named Hazel after.  And, funnily enough, I change those lyrics too, from "dirty blond hair" to "pretty brown hair".


**(as a side note, way back in the day when my bestie and I both worked at a bakery that became unbearably warm as the day went on, we would sing a poorly translated version of the song in French, which went a little like this: "Sa devient chaud ici, enlever tous tes vetements...sa devient si chaud, j'enleve tous mes vetements!"  This is essentially what 13 years of French Immersion education will get you).

The Importance of Napping

(photo of NAP pillow covers: counterculturedesign etsy shop)

Napping.  What an incredibly subjective topic.  Yet so important!  I personally can't stand napping.  I'm one of those people who gets really groggy and actually feels worse following a nap than they did before.  If I'm going to snooze for any length of time, give me at least 6 hours!  On the flip side, my own father can actually lay on a couch (a couch!?!), fall asleep for 10 minutes (10 minutes?!!  WTF?!?!) and then wake up feeling like he just bathed in a cool spring full of daisies and lilacs (he's actually never described it as such, but I've seen the pep in his step following his mini siestas, which has led me to believe that my description is accurate.)

My husband, as well, is a fan of the nap.  He is actually having a 5 o'clock vacation nap as I type.  He gets it from his mother who could nap on a deck chair through a hurricane.  Ok, slight exaggeration...she could nap through a tropical storm.  

But really, to me, naps are most important for children and babies.  My eldest was always a great napper, but she is getting to the age where she wants to phase out the naps.  The problem is, she needs to nap.  When rested, she is the world's MOST PLEASANT child.  When she is in need of rest, her stubborn, sullen side comes out.  On our recent trip to the Florida Keys, we didn't keep up with naps, and there were plenty of tears and tantrums by bed time.  Today, I made sure to get back into the napping schedule.  For her sanity, and for my sanity.  For our mutual sanity.

As for the baby, she's napping about 2-3 times a day.  She'll wake up around 8 AM, then nap about 11 AM, for roughly an hour.  She'll then take a mid afternoon nap around 3:00  PM, about the same time that her sister goes down.  Another short nap around 5:30 or 6 PM will keep her in good spirits through bath and bedtime at 8:00 PM.  

Definitely my favourite nap of the day is the afternoon nap, when there's some overlapping quiet time.

When it comes to myself, not only do I feel groggy following a nap, I also feel guilty.  There's something grotesquely decadent about daytime napping to me.  But really, many studies show it is incredibly important for our health and for combating stress.  Maybe I can train myself to nap.  Or maybe I'll nap when I'm older.  

Ah, naps.

A New Sunday Tradition

Library of Congress via Flickr

Our Cinco de Mayo party was a blast, with roughly 40 people, including 12 kids.  The pinata was a real hit (required pun) and what made it even more exciting was that Hazel was the one to break it open.
Of course, prepping for the party all night Friday, and then again all day Saturday, and then partying until 11:30 PM (that's late for kids!  And for parents of kids!!), followed by a quick blitz clean up, left our whole house crawling into bed early Sunday morning, only to have to get up again (due to my internal alarm clock) at 7:30 AM.

So, after we finished the last dregs of cleaning, and made up some delicious pancakes, we decided to all go back to bed in the Big Bed, to watch Winnie the Pooh and The (Oscar Winning) Muppets Movie, while the adults read books or napped, and Daphne nursed and slept.   

And, man!  Was it awesome!  We were all still in our PJ's, drinking tea and apple juice, and chomping on raisins in bed.  I'm sure Daphne thinks we'd all lost the plot as we free-formed renditions of 'Man or Muppet' the rest of the afternoon ("I'm a manly, manly muppet!")

The rest of the day was spent reading books (SJ: Game of Thrones book 4, H and I: Charlie & the Chocolate Factory), colouring, painting wood magnets from the pinata, and playing chutes and ladders. We didn't even have to make supper since we had so many leftovers.

I decided that the best thing to from now on would be to get all household duties done on Saturday, so that we could dedicate Sundays to rest days, as a family.

I know this concept is older than the bible, but we've always sort of kept busy and started the weeks prep for Sunday, and now I've seen another way, I can't look back.  

Our family is young, so family traditions are only just beginning, but I'd love to hear a few more ideas from you.

We've a Sick House

Back in the day, I took a weekly step class with my best friend Michi, from a woman who was so completely stuck in the 80's but didn't give a shoot, and our favourite blaster was to Rick James' "Brick House"...we'd tighten our tushes to that tune any day of the week...hence the above title. 

We're starting what looks to be the 3rd week of illness in our house, with the toddler getting feverish just as the dad is getting over the flu.

(photo by Karen via sewmamasew blog)

Sometimes I want to throw surgical masks on my entire family, so their germs are contained to themselves.  I'm down with the cute ones en vogue in Asia.  Anything that is adorable and hygenic is alright by me.