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Archive for the ‘Pastimes’ Category
Jump! At the Cardinal KOA
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010Camping in Cardinal, part 1
Monday, June 7th, 2010As the time until Ken’s departure draws nearer, we’re looking for things that we’ve been meaning to do together or things we would do if he were here. We decided that camping at the KOA in Cardinal belonged in at least one of those categories. When I made the reservations and was able to get one with a porch swing, I took it as a good omen. The weather forecast calls for rain – making me remember all too clearly the last time we three came camping – but I’m holding on to the swing omen.
Ken and I got everything packed and then went to pick Reid up. The car was full with just a nook in the back seat where she would sit in her seat. Despite our best efforts, we’re ended up crossing Ottawa in the middle of rush hour. The drive that Google Maps said would take 1 hour and 12 minutes took much, much longer. We quickly unloaded the car and I prepared fried hot dogs and chips for supper. Nutrition isn’t my top priority when we get to a camp site. I think I learned that from Grandma Joyce.
After supper, Ken built a fire while Reid and I went over to the jumping pillow. I couldn’t face the pool but jumping isn’t so bad. Reid was excited to stay up late and I was looking forward to toasted marshmallows. Reid was looking forward to eating raw marshmallows and toasting others for me to eat. I like mine golden. Ken likes his to be on fire and then extinguished but still Reid has to cook for me. Reid was so pleased when she managed her “first-ever golden marshmallow”, after one sacrificed to the fire and another to the grass. At this point, I must pause to say, marshmallows seemed much bigger when I was a kid. The miniatures seem right but what used to be “jumbo” seem much less so than they did back then.
We finally headed to the bathroom for a final visit about 8:30. As we went out the door, one of the friendly KOA people noticed that Reid was holding a wet paper towel to her arm. Worried that she was injured, the young woman asked if we needed first aid supplies. I assured her that we could manage the bite, that the cool water helped. We really don’t need to encourage Reid’s sense of drama over mosquito bites. Another time I should probably pack insect repellent and after-bite lotion. Reid’s flesh seems to be particularly appealing to insects. And to her mama, though I only *pretend* to bite.
Favourite things
Friday, April 30th, 2010Reid and I took advantage of the warm weather of Tuesday to eat in our backyard. I’m not sure if the fresh air inspired her, but Reid chose the middle of supper to tell me about some of her favourite things:
Favourite food: chicken curry (Madras)
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite toy: basketball, which she doesn’t own but plays at daycare in the courtyard or so she said
Favourite sleepy toy: Princess
Favourite thing she likes to do: sew, also at daycare
And after sharing this with me, Reid returned to her supper.
Driveway experiments
Friday, April 16th, 2010B, the boy from 2 doors down, came to the car as I pulled into the driveway a couple of days ago. He is 3 or 4 years older than Reid and speaks only a little English but he and Reid manage to play fairly well together. Though Reid has been learning French, she doesn’t speak in front of me, though she does understand what B and I say to one another. In any case, Reid and B were playing on the driveway while I unloaded the car and started supper. Reid appeared to say that she was “making an experiment” and need a knife, “but don’t worry, a butter knife will work”, a plastic glass, strainer and a cookie tray. I talked her into an old cake pan and she went back outside to conduct her experiment. I was called out to see the results shortly thereafter. It turns out if you mix flakes of sidewalk chalk and bubble juice in a rusty cake pan, you get a grayish-brown liquid. I should have asked Reid if her hypothesis had predicted that outcome.
Something about the liquid made Reid think about how a sugar bush works. She explained to me about collecting sap from a tree (in our case, a whirly-gig flower we were imagining was a tree), putting it in a pan over a fire and boiling it down and then pouring out maple syrup. I guess that she *does* remember something from daycare or school despite daily declarations of “I don’t remember” when I ask her about her day.
Laps and flops
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010Reid’s swimming teacher is doing a great job challenging her tonight. Reid swam the length of the pool on her back unassisted and then swam back, with some help to breathe, on her front.
The teacher demonstrated the proper way to dive from one knee and Reid came thisclose to executing but, in the end, did a slight, low-altitude belly flop. The teacher showed how to do a dive from standing and Reid did an impressive belly-flop. It had altitude, a great hang time and an amazing splash. The teacher said that she’d been worried about Reid’s tummy but Reid was proud with no thought of pain. I’m wondering if Reid will go to sleep early tonight with all of the exercise. It tends not to happen that way for us, though.
Sad hockey mom
Monday, March 29th, 2010Reid has her last hockey practice/game this evening. I’m kind of sad to see her first hockey season end. We had only two 7:00am sessions and the rest were at 8:00 or 9:00 with a few later ones thrown in. For our family, earlier is better. I have enjoyed all of the time sitting close to Ken in the stands – sucking his body heat as much as possible, to be honest – and having time to speak without interruption. It’s been great, too, to watch Reid’s hockey skills improve so dramatically over time. She won’t be rivalling Hailey Wickenheiser anytime soon, especially if she doesn’t decide soon to move more quickly on the ice, but her skating and stickhandling skills are much better than they were. I’ve learned lots about hockey, myself, as the season has progressed. I think Reid has also benefited from the challenge that hockey represents to her. So much comes easy for her that it is good to see her meet a challenge on a regular basis. All this to say that I’m looking forward to September but first I need to savour one last hockey practice/game.
Things to learn
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010Reid asked me to bring my “big camera” (DSLR) camera with me to her dance recital last Friday. On the way to camp, she asked if I also had my “little camera” (point-and-shoot). Since I did, she asked to use it and was talking to me about a couple of the different settings on the dials and buttons and then said, “You’re teaching me about this camera, right?” I agreed that I was. Reid added, “Once I’ve learned it, you’ll give it to me and it will be mine, right?” I compromised with a “I’ll let you use it more,” but I think Reid might have heard, “Yes.” She smiled like I had agreed.
On the way into hockey on Saturday morning, Reid was asking why we’d put the summer tires on the car even though it was only spring. I told her that we had changed the winter tires for “all season tires”, that there were only the two kinds. Reid insisted on the existence of summer tires and, as I was explaining that the tires were for spring, summer and fall – all the seasons except winter. A couple of the parents looked at me strangely. I was tempted to say that I hadn’t started the discussion but I was too busy having the discussion.
And with talk of winter tires, I’ll take your help ensuring that Mother Nature doesn’t punish me with a winter storm for acting too hastily, especially with our Easter trip ahead of us. I think of this, especially, since Reid cried when she had to get on the school bus at noon yesterday. I’d hate to jinx myself twice in two days.
Dance camp
Sunday, March 21st, 2010Reid attended dance camp for her March Break. I almost signed her up for a sport and swim camp but, as I stood at the registration counter, the mom of one of Reid’s friends hurried over to say that A was signed up for dance camp. Reid immediately began hopping up and down, asking to go to dance camp. She’s not affected by peer pressure at all!
When I dropped Reid off the first day, I asked the very young woman who seemed to be in charge for her name since she hadn’t introduced herself and I was leaving my dear, sweet daughter in her care. She told me that her name was “Woolly Mammoth” and that the other camp counselor was “Ursula”, like in The Little Mermaid. I have two thoughts on this:
1. I imagine that they adopt funny aliases to please the kids but it doesn’t instill much confidence in me, as a parent, to leave my child with a stranger who provides only an alias.
2. If you have to choose an alias, wouldn’t you choose one with good connotations? I haven’t ever watched all of The Little Mermaid but I have the impression Ursula is “bad” from what I have seen. Side note: I’m glad Reid is not interested in Disney Princesses.
Reid’s day at camp included an hour in the swimming pool and 50 minutes on the ice. I’m super-happy with the arrangement. On Tuesday morning, I noticed a gigantic bruise on the inside of Reid’s knee. I asked what had happened. She explained that A doesn’t skate that well and had held onto Reid for support and, of course, the two of them had fallen quite dramatically. Since Reid hadn’t complained the night before, I knew she wasn’t hurt badly but as soon as I asked about it, Reid started to hobble. She found the golf club that she uses for a cane and walked carefully downstairs. Reid has obviously been watching Grandma Joyce on her sore days.
I picked up a cd from the library – They Might be Giants’ *Here Comes Science* – and we were listening on the way to camp. The first song starts with:
Science is real
From the Big Bang to DNA
Science is real
From evolution to the Milky Way
And goes on to say that the singer likes stories about angels, unicorns and elves but that for knowledge, facts are with science. I have a friend, the one who told me about the cd, who doesn’t like the message of this first song but I thought it was a good way of promoting science.
There is also a song called *Meet the Elements” and, at one point, they sing about how elephants, houses, etcetera are all made of elements. Reid asked me if that was true and I said it was. She had more questions and, frankly, on a good day I’d have trouble answering questions about elements on a good day and Tuesday morning was not a good one. I’d had only 4.5 hours of sleep. Fortunately, Reid understands that when you’re sick your brain doesn’t work very well and she didn’t press. I’m still hoping that Ken is the parent-in-charge when Reid remembers her questions.
Reid broke her glasses on Wednesday. The supervisor explained that Reid had been attempting a cartwheel and fallen mid turn. Reid’s version stated that she had been *doing* a cartwheel. Truthfully, Reid’s cartwheels are more like round-offs than cart wheels. In any case, she ended up with scrapes on the side of her face from the hinges of the glasses and a leg that didn’t attach to the rest of the glasses. I had the opportunity to be grateful for her spare glasses since the eye glass boutique at Loblaws didn’t have her frames in stock.
The kids – all girls but one – put on a dance show for their parents on Friday afternoon. The lead counselor explained that the theme was “Dance through the Ages” and that the kids were less keen on the classic music. Then, she said that they would start with the 80s and work forward. 80s music is “classic”?! The littlest girls danced to the “Move it” song – which I really don’t know but strongly doubt it was an 80s song and everyone danced together to “Beat it” and each child had a turn breakdancing in the centre of the circle. I felt ever-so-old. At the end of the performance, Reid came over to collect her flower. She’d asked if I’d be getting her something, since Ken has established a “flowers after a performance” tradition and so I sprang for a wooden whirly-gig flower at the Dollar Store. Reid’s smile was worth every penny of the $1.50 I paid for it.
At the end of the performance, Reid put on her pink-with-multi-coloured-
Mexico Getaway – Thursday to Saturday
Monday, February 22nd, 2010This installment gets us through our last days and home from Mexico. You already know the ending, I guess.
Reid and I had tickets to Xel Ha (pronounced shell ha) for Thursday. It’s a marine park with many water-based activities. Like Xcaret, there was a swim with the dolphins activity but we didn’t even consider it. The “Manatee Encounter” was tempting but only for a moment.
We tried snorkeling in the inlet when we first arrived but Reid said that the waves were too big. The waves were smaller than when we were out on Tuesday. I think that it was the absence of Jorge that made the biggest difference to Reid. She just doesn’t trust me. Le sigh. We made an attempt to cross a floating bridge at the mouth of the inlet. I couldn’t make it the full way, though, because I’m a scaredy-cat. Nothing more humbling than having to tell your kid that you’re too frightened to walk across a bridge. Next, we tried snorkeling farther from the mouth of the inlet, and I’d note here that I wasn’t getting seasick but Reid still wasn’t comfortable. We stopped at a buffet for brunch – or elevenses, as I think the Hobbits called it – since we’d eaten breakfast before we left the resort. I managed to keep myself to a snack but Reid ate pancakes, French toast, bacon and the like. It was the most she ever ate for breakfast.
We made our way to the start of the Xel Ha river for a natural lazy river ride. The park provided a double-inner tube for Reid and me to share. The first few metres in the mangrove forest were enjoyable but then the first couple passed us and Reid wanted to go faster. Not so lazy as competitive, my girl. I used my arms to “swim” to move us along more quickly but my feet were trapped under Reid to keep her from falling through. After the mangrove forest – forest seems wrong but mangrove grove seems worse – we floated past the “Cliff of Courage” where people were jumping from a cliff of about 10 feet into the water. Reid wanted to try it but I told her I thought she was probably not tall enough. She asked me if I’d do it but I confessed that I was too scared. Reid really needs a braver person with whom to hang out. We also drifted by a couple of ropes suspended above the river, one to walk on and the other to hold onto while you walk across. I thought that this activity was more our speed but Reid was content to watch others make the attempt. When we arrived at the first reasonable place to leave the river, Reid asked to do so. Floating along wasn’t providing the stimulation she wanted. We had a trek through a tract to trees to get back to the main walkways. The path was well-marked and we had to double-back a couple of times. It was an odd experience, being able to hear the people on the river and knowing the path was close but not finding it right away. I told myself I was much better at being lost in the “wilderness” than being on the bridge.
We stopped for a while at the children’s playground – not that the entire park wasn’t a place for children to play. Reid enjoyed the slide, climber and rope bridge just as much as she’d enjoyed the more exotic activities we’d tried. The familiar is fun and welcome in the midst of all the novelty, I guess. There was also a sunken fountain for splashing in and Reid played happily with the other kids, many of whom didn’t speak English.
We discovered an extra-large xylophone along the path. (Do you remember my surprise when Reid’s Kindermusik class got stir xylophones and I discovered that the iconic “xylophones” pictured in children’s alphabet books were actually glockenspiels because xylophones are wooden? I think of it every time I see an actual xylophone.) Reid was impressed; this xylophone was at least as long as she is tall. She tapped it with her hands and examined the resonating parts closely until the musicians arrived. When they started getting out mallets, Reid looked at them expectantly and one handed a pair of mallets to Reid. He showed her the different sounds she could produce and encouraged her to try a rhythm. The other musicians played a bit while Reid did her explorations. I was amazed that there were no other kids who approached to try their hand at playing or even to watch more closely. I asked what the instrument was called, expecting a particular Mexican name, but the fellow said it was a xylophone. When I said that I’d expected another name because of the resonating chambers, he offered “marimba“. With that bit of precision achieved – and with 10 minutes of Reid “accompanying” the musicians accomplished – I dragged Reid away.
After yet another no-alcohol Strawberry Daiquiri, Reid’s favourite drink for our week away and one she referred to as a Strawberry Dac by the end of the week, we returned to the floating bridge. I told Reid that I thought I could walk across if we both wore life jackets while doing so. It was important to me to show Reid that it was okay to be afraid and to find ways to face the fears. Maybe it was important for me to show myself the same thing. We were the only ones who put a couple of the ubiquitous life jackets on and then walk away from the steps to the water. Holding hands tightly, we braved the bridge. Reid took a few pictures though they don’t show the way the bridge heaved, they prove we crossed it. On the far side, there was a Mayan cave, though what made it Mayan was never made clear to me. We swam into the cave, got our picture taken through the hole in the “roof” and swam back out. I spent some time searching for my plastic carry case on a belt – like a fanny bag but hard plastic and water resistant – that was supposed to be around my waist but wasn’t. Once I’d finally reconciled myself to a call to the credit card company to cancel my card, I took off my life jacket and found the case where it had been hiding, more of less at my shoulder blades. The expression a “rush of relief” is very accurate for how I felt. Reid had picked up on my stress and similarly shared the near-euphoric relief. We almost went to see the cenotes but there weren’t bathrooms in this part of the park and Reid needed on. We put our life jackets back on and crossed the scary, I mean, floating bridge once again.
We changed back into our shorts and t-shirts and headed to the front gate. At a couple points in the day, people had taken our pictures and so we wanted to check out the results. At $12 per 8X10, the pictures were a bit expensive but we bought some anyway. My favourite is one of Reid holding a lizard of some sort while a small parrot (or some small tropical bird) sits on her head. At first, you don’t notice the bird but when you see it, it is particularly cute. There was a pretty good one of the two of us, each holding a brilliantly-coloured bird, as well.
We found our van driver waiting for us in the parking lot and we were soon safely on our way back to the resort. Despite having left the resort 8.5 earlier, it seemed like our day had been quite short when we compared it to the nearly 12 hours we spent at Xcaret. It was nice to have supper with Ken and share the stories of our day.
We walked along the beach to our sister resort. It was pretty windy and the waves were rather rough but the warmth and sun made up for these deficiencies. Being cautious, we had Reid wear her life jacket for the walk and a couple of times Ken used the loop on the back to fish her from the surf. It was definitely worth the space it took in our luggage on this day and others. Reid got hit full in the face by one sandy wave and she wasn’t impressed with the last bit of our beach walk. I love, love, love walking along the water’s edge. Ken is less enthusiastic, especially since he worried more about Reid being swept out to sea.
At the resort, we checked into Reid being allowed back up onto the trapeze but the fellow on duty said that the wind was too strong for someone Reid’s size. I think she was disappointed at not being able to show Ken her trapeze skills but maybe also relieved at not needing to climb all the way up the ladder – or maybe I’m projecting. ;+) We hung out at the pool for most of the day since the Caribbean was no longer in favour. We watched an iron man race, during which the competitors swam a length of the pool, hopped out, drank beer, swam back, pulled a girl in a life ring, walked like a chicken and then shouted like Tarzan. It was too close to call a winner and so there was a belly flop contest to break the tie. Reid found it to be bizarre and asked “why”?” more than a few times.
We made sure to leave in time for everyone to get cleaned up for our Big Night. Reid was excited to have a babysitter come to our room and Ken and I were excited to go out to one of the à la carte restaurants sans kid.
We went to the Aztec restaurant, which was situated right next to a replica of a famous calendar stone, and ate traditional fare. The linen table cloths and formal waitstaff were a nice change from the buffet, as was the adult-only conversation. We finished our dinner before the babysitter was scheduled to leave and so I begged Ken to walk to the Starbucks that was just up the street. I was missing dairy products and knew I could get a non-fat hot chocolate at Starbucks. (Reid and I both missed the skim milk, yogurt and cottage cheese we were used to having. Even 2%, which they called “light” was too creamy.) Another time, I might book a sitter for a couple of evenings, since Reid had lots of fun and so did we.
We spent a good part of Saturday at the beach, building a castle and moat with Jaden, a boy we’d befriended, and another boy who never spoke to us at all but who let is join up his pool with our moat and even helped. We decorated our castle with seashells and coral and it was lovely. Reid never fussed at all about the rule that prohibits people from taking shells and coral from Mexico. She seemed to see the logic in leaving them behind for others.
We had to vacate our room at 1:00 but simply went to the pool with a beach bag once we’d stored our luggage and eaten our lunch. The water was a bit cool for my liking – the pool water wasn’t heated – but we splashed a bit and Reid swam. Near the end of the day, Reid and I went back to the beach to check on our castle, splash in the waves and play just a bit more. Ken finally had to gather all of our stuff from the poolside and frog march us back to the bathroom, I mean remind us it was time to go back to the bathroom and change. We ate a bit at the pool bar and then, sob, it was time to go to the lobby to wait for our bus. I used my bracelet to buy Reid and me another no-alcohol Strawberry Daiquiri to share – I learned to love the strawberry slushy goodness – and then it was over.
Except for the hour or so drive to the Cancun airport (a downside to being close to Xel Ha and Xcaret), the interminable line to check in and the wait for boarding. I gave Reid her anti-motion sickness pill as soon as we got to the lounge and she was asleep before take-off, which sounds amazing but was really 1.5 hours after her usual bedtime. Sunwing gave us supper at some ungodly hour but we were hungry and so Ken and I ate it. We both napped a bit but were awake when we landed at 2:45 am. Reid stayed asleep as I staggered with her down the plane’s aisle and out to the walkway, only to find that our gate-checked stroller was missing. The smiling Sunwing cabin steward said that we’d find it in oversize baggage. He never offered to help Ken with any of the things he was carrying – a car seat, two backpacks, a coat – since I couldn’t with my arms full of a very long child who was doing her best to stay asleep despite the adverse conditions. In fact, the smiling Sunwing fellow never even apologized for the inconvenience. It’s too bad, since until that minute I’d been very pleased with Sunwing and my last, maybe lasting, impression is that their customer service was lacking. Okay, I’m done ranting but it *was* 3:00 am and we did still have to stand in line at Customs and I am weak and Reid is heavy. Even once she woke up and, of course, she did because I jostled her so much as I adjusted my hold in an attempt not to drop her. It was ever so cold when we went out to the cab stand but the cab, itself, was toasty warm and the driver was friendly. I’ll have to plan all of my trips so that Uncle Roger can drive us to airport and we can return by pre-heated cab. I can’t imagine being among those who had to take a shuttle to long-term parking to get to their cars, scrape the snow and ice and then drive home.