Two sides of a weekend.

It was a great start to my weekend - a pumpkin spice latte (decaf!) for the train ride home:

On the other hand, guess what Peter is going to do for the rest of his weekend?

Tackling this:

Run for Terry Fox

The kids each had their Terry Fox runs at the school this week.

Sheldon's run involved a toonie and a high school slip and slide for after the run.  He forgot his running clothes so he spent the afternoon wet...

Juliana's class collected donations and she was keen to take a large amount.  We told her that she could decide how much of her own money she would like to donate and we would match it - she ended up with a generous donation.  At school, she ran 12 laps and came home tired but happy.

As a family, we ran the 5k route a couple of weeks ago.  Well, we 'wogged' really.  Part walk, part jog, but all fun.  It was a beautiful fall day and it was nice to see so many familiar faces on the route.

Calling home.

Juliana has a new BFF.

Its the phone in the office at school.

For the first two weeks of school she'd call us at the end of the day to ask how she should get home.  "Um, walk" we would tell her.

She's called a couple of times to see if she could bring a friend over to play.

However, today takes the cake.

Today she called at 11:30 a.m. to tell me that she didn't have a lunch.

Considering that I packed my I-don't-like-sandwich-girl's lunch and then put it in her backpack, I knew she was mistaken. But according to Juliana - it only contained snacks.  I packed cheese and crackers for lunch (it's been her lunch staple for years) so today's phone call was really only about two things:

1.  She doesn't like cheese.  (This must have happened sometime post 8:05 a.m. when she took a slice of the cheese that I was cutting up for her lunch.)

2.  Can I bring her something else.

You can add my response to another thing in the long list of "I have the worst mother ever" conversations.

My poor, poor starving child.

The last kiss.

Peter reminded me the other day of something that I told him when Juliana was born: he should enjoy the first 10 years of hero worship because, just like that, it would end.

Poof.

We're done.

Not quite 10 and Juliana has decided that it is uncool to kiss us goodbye.  The dogs and I walked to school with her this morning and before she headed down the path to meet her friends she turned the other cheek.

"Seriously?"  I said.

"I can't.  There is [insert boy's name here]".

And Peter reports the same thing happening last week.

Sigh.

Having parents can be sooo embarrassing.

On a completely unrelated note - is this the time to tell you that this morning, as Sheldon took the school bus for the first time, I hid behind the car in the driveway and took a picture?

Just for the record, I wasn't the only one out there.  My neighbour was out watching her kids head off too.....  I was, however, the only one with a camera :)

School's Eve.

I can feel the chill in the air and the energy in the house.

Our summer is officially over.

Lunches need to be made and backpacks need to be filled.
Tomorrow it's back to school.
Grade 5 and grade 9.
Sigh.

Face painting.

The fun thing about going to a Folk Festival that runs for two days is that you get twice the face painting:

Keep your feet on the ground.

One of the other things that we did while we were in Lake Placid was to visit the Olympic Ski Jumping Complex.  We watched the freestyle skiers training at the freestyle pool and had a chance to stand on the podiums.

And then came the ski jumps.  Last year, at the Calgary Olympic Park, I found myself on a chair lift with my mom and my sister, going up to the jumps.  It wasn't until my butt hit the seat that I realized how terrifying the ride was going to be.  I. Hate. Heights.

This year was no different.

I figured that I'd model good parenting - you know - the 'don't let fear stop you' kind of parenting.  So up we went.  Eyes closed, gripping the bar, and holding my breath for the three minute ride.  Once at the top it was a beautiful view.

But what goes up must come down.  And this was my trip:

It's hard to tell but I didn't move.  Not a muscle.  I white knuckled that bar all the way down.

Two Olympic parks.  Two chairlifts.

That's it.  I'm done.

Next time I will parent differently.  Next time I will parent with honesty.

And I'll keep my feet on the ground.

Camping cold.

It's amazing the difference that a month can make.

Not too long ago, we were camping during the heat wave.  Sweating from places that we've never sweat before.  Then, just last week, we were camping in the mountains and wearing layers upon layers to stay warm and dry.

We found a beautiful private site on Heart Lake near Lake Placid where we were able set up our tent and relax.

Peter spent his mornings in the canoe.  He taught Juliana how to 'steer' and then the next morning they ferried Sheldon around the lake.  

The beauty of staying behind was that we got to spend time reading - lakeside or at the site.

One afternoon we found a place to mini-golf.  We had so much fun that we returned the next day for a "revenge round".  Peter won, wore his prize hat in the car, and then threatened to wear it in to the grocery store...

We chose a clear day to head out on our mountain climbing adventure where we tackled Mt. Joe.  It was only a mile up but the elevation was 750 feet and the challenge of the rocks on the trail were met with excitement the entire way up.  

Although both kids were keen to try another mountain the next day, the weather wasn't great so we hiked ("this is so boring compared to yesterday" complained Sheldon endlessly) around the lake discovering all sorts of eco-treasures.

The nights were chilly but Peter's campfires were awesome (as always!) and we slept in layers and under layers.  

It was totally worth the day long drive to get there and we'll definitely head back to Lake Placid - it was gorgeous, it was quiet, and the family hiking is almost unbeatable.

Such great memories and a great holiday to wind down our summer.