Kite Flying

And some summer days are for hanging out in the park ...

The few times Sam's tried kite flying in the past, the wind had played peek-a-boo and the anemic take-offs and listless crashes had not been that impressive. "What's so great about a kite?" he wondered. Then, on a breezy Canada Day morning, Sam took his large pterodactyl kite—a gift from Lori and Greg—out for a test flight. Success! The bird worked perfectly (even drew a crowd for a while!), and Sam had a blast flying him.

I love this little video. I'd taken so many photos of the Sam getting the kite up and figuring out the wing flapping manouevre that he began to ignore the camera—so I could catch a little of his unaffected conversation, even though he'd asked me to make a movie.

Sam at 7. Flying a kite in the neighbourhood park with his mom, his dad, and his dog. And the wind.

East meets West

Thomas Hardy once wrote that "east is east, and west is west, and never the twain shall meet." Sam had other ideas. Knowing that he'd be flying from coast to coast during this holiday, he scooped a flat red rock from the Big Red Mud of the Minas Basin on the Atlantic side and squirrelled it away for throwing into the Pacific ocean at White Rock a few days later. Which he did. East, meet West.

The pan-Canadian trip was smooth sailing, from the early morning ride to the airport in Halifax to the late aft (evening for us) ride home from the airport in Abbotsford. Sam couldn't be a better traveller, and he was excited enough upon arrival that he was ready to get the visiting going right away. So happy were we all to see each other that we walked out to the car in animated conversation and didn't realize until we got there that we hadn't stuck around for the luggage!

We spent the next eight days enjoying Grandma & Grandpa's company. Now something of a tradition, Sam and Grandma spent an afternoon co-creating a new watercolour masterpiece—a mountain scene, complete with lakes, trees and a train cutting through the valley. Sam takes the painting very seriously and gets a kick out of sharing this talent with Grandma. He was delighted with the gift of a new set of paints and paper.

Sam's new talent, however, was unveiled for Grandpa, who sat most of the way through the Where's the Dragon? story thinking Sam had the book memorized. The look of astonishment at learning that Sam was reading it to him was priceless. Sam would read another three or four books to Grandpa and Grandma that week. He loves a good story and really likes sharing books with his family (and I learned this afternoon that he volunteers to read to the kids in Child Care, too).

Sam played chess and cards, watched the Jays games (sort of) with the boys, helped the girls chop veggies for dinner, and rolled thousands of times up and down the living room on a yoga ball (nutty kid). We enjoyed a lovely early afternoon at White Rock, strolling the waterfront, exploring the beach, watching sandcastle artists, and enjoying some delicious ice cream. We topped off a great day with a massive order of Greek delivery—opa! And we all went out for dinner a few days later at a fave local spot, La Masia, which serves authentic Portuguese fare. Very, very good. Best lamb Sam's ever had, he reports.

On the last full day of our stay, Uncle Malcolm drove (all the way!) out from Edmonton with Carolyn, Amanda and Marissa to enjoy an afternoon visit and a Sunday dinner, Ashe-style. Roast beef with all the fixin's, including Yorkshire pudding, Grandpa Ashe's famous gravy and "The Green Stuff" (jello-cream cheese-pineapple dessert, served with the main course. Dessert was peach cobbler! :) Sam loved meeting two new cousins for the first time and (as always), he enjoyed a good tussle with The Claw.

We spent the later evenings and early mornings through the week playing in the hotel pool and goofing around in the room. The week flew by, but on the very last morning Sam declared that he missed his house and he missed his dog and he wanted to go home. Excellent timing. Our coast-to-coast family vacation was over....

18 Days

For the first time in five years of working for the GoC, I booked off a big chunk of vacation time—July 15 to August 3—freeing us up for a coast-to-coast summer holiday extravaganza to see Grandma and Grandpa Arnold and Grandma and Grandpa Ashe. We marked those 18 days on the calendar in picture art depicting plane rides and swimming and BBQs and seashell hunts and smiles (even though Sam can spell now, he still sketches pictures on the calendar squares to represent special events). Then we counted down to the big holiday.

Sam and I flew out to Nova Scotia on July 15, arriving along with James and Charlie and meeting up the next day with Trace, Carter, Anabel, Janey, Savannah and Jasmyn. Throw in Jacquie, Brent and Rosalie for frequent visits, and it was a full house and cottage up on the hilltop. We spent most of our 11-day east coast vacation enjoying the scenery, the fresh air, the sunshine, the pool, the great food…but most of all each other’s company.

Sam loved the freedom and flexibility that comes with wide open spaces that feature an out-of-site dome tent that doubles as a spy base, a forest full of trails, and grown-ups who stay put on the deck while he and his cousins are off exploring. And he also loved choosing to come back and lay on a warm towel amongst the larger group to play with Rosalie in her kiddie pool or to read a stack of books (Davy Crockett was his fave. Killed him a “bar” when he was only three…).

We made our traditional pilgrimmage to That Dutchman’s Farm and had just as much fun spotting hidden gnomes (and now fairies) on the nature walk as we did when Sam was four years old. Funny how compelling that real live “look & find” is for the kids. Having bought a tasty range of gouda flavours in the cheese shop, the refrain for the rest of the week—no matter what the menu—was, “Does that have gouda on it?” Speaking of good-ah, Grandma & Grandpa also took us to Diane’s (twice) for fresh flounder off the weir and handcut fries. The best.

This year, we also made it to Five Islands, to walk along the terra cotta cliff faces that are exposed at low tide. Sam and the cousins drank from fresh water streams flowing from the cliff face, collected rocks and shells, and scrambled up several piles of huge fallen stones (though I was leary of a sudden slide that would add to the pile — those things had to have fallen at some point!). It was a beautiful day, but quite hot in the sunshine: time to head back to the pool!

It was nice to spend an extra long time with Grandpa and Grandpa Arnold (making pizzas! hunting coyotes!), but Sam sure missed Daddy—this was the longest he’s spent away from him. So he was doubly excited for the reunion that would kick off the west coast portion of our vacation. It began with a surprisingly pleasant 14 hour trip from Economy to Langley. A story for another day…