Category: Katrine

Too much excitement for a competition

The best part of the weekend was watching Katrine skate at Summer sizzle.  She landed her axels, met her goal of finishing ontime and walked off the ice with a smile on her face.  To make that better, my parents and brother and his family were there to watch her.  I must say that the dress also looked okay.  To top it off she placed 6th (had a slip up in the final seconds of her performance on the loop jump).  Not bad considering the morning we had had before making it to the arena.

Glenn and I decided that we should stay over night at a hotel to avoid leaving home early.  That way Katrine could have maximum sleep as well as time for a hot breakfast.  Help her to be at her best.  Sounds like a great plan.  Unfortunately it didn’t work that way.

At 5 am we were awoken to a ponding on the door…well it was actually the door of the hotel room that ajoined out room.  “Police, open the door.”  In my groggy state I am like what the hell.  So I go to open the door where I saw a police officer standing shaking her head at me like “Nope lady, wrong door.”  Pounding continues as I close the door.  “Come out now with your hands up.” (The actual dialogue might be off due to tiredness)  I am walking back to the bed when it dawns on me that there are cops outside our room with guns and a guy refusing to open a door next to us as well as a set of doors between our two rooms.  Elspeth is scooped up from her sleeping bag at the foot of our bed near said door and into bed with Glenn she goes while I head to Katrine.

By this point the canine unit is joining in.  Now that was cool to hear.  I mean, the dog was sooo well trained.  He barked on a simple command and it had Katrine shaking in her bed.  Anyways, more yelling, call for back up, some guys voice next door.  Aparrently, he had to put his pants on before he could open the door.  Door opening.  More calls for lady to exit room.  Yelling between lady and guy in hall over who had called the cops.  We hear robbery, drugs, adbudtion and are left wondering who the hell we had been sleeping beside all night.

Anyways, it was all over between 5:30 and 6:00.  The yelling stopped.  Barking stopped.  Then we had one girl confused as to where the dog had gone and why she had to go back to sleep when the sun was coming up to play while the other one was working on stopping crying in the other bed.  Glenn was trying to convince Elspeth that it was most certainly not time to sleep while I was trying to neither cry nor laugh.  No one was truly rested when we headed down for breakfast at 7:00 am.  On our way back from breakfast the cops were still there carrying bags from the room.

We were suppose to spend the day with the family but not one of us has the energy.  So, we packed up the car after lunch and headed home.  And that was the excitement of Katrine’s first competition of the season.

A Gotchaversary and Summer Fun

Two years ago today our little sweetie met us in the lobby of a hotel and began to cry.  Those cries were a wonderful sound to us.  Two years later here is how she has spent the last three days.

Today:

Cuddling

Painting

Tuesday:

Science experiment with slime.

Monday

Science experiment with water.  “Hey mom, it makes ice!”  Yes Elspeth it certainly does.

My favourite – homemade waterslide!!!  Girls thought this one up themselves.

The Next Skating Dress

It is done.  My back is aching.  Neck sore.  Almost cried a few times but eventually got the hang of it…more or less.  But before I show you the dress, let me tantilize you with photos of the blinged up jean jackets I also did for the girls with the extra crystals which came in the muli colour packets.

Elspeth’s.  I wonder if I should add more?  But my back is really sore from bending over.

Katrine’s is sufficiently sparkly I think.

 

Okay, do you recall what Katrine’s dress looked like before?  No?  Here is a reminder.

 

Here is the process.  Plan out design.  Buy crystals.  Curse self for not buying enough.  Buy more (as well as dinosaur feet for Elspeth which are like buckets you walk on).  Set up workspace.  Cut out design to ensure accuracy for gluing.  Throw out design once it begins to fall apart and recreate design.  Sigh, why did we opt for me to do this?  Oh ya, a cross between saving money and making a contribution to Katrine’s skating.

What is was suppose to look like.

Now for the After.  After two nights of work, countless crystals going flinging across the floor in various stages of gluiness, multiple swear words and a great big headache. Voila!

 

And let me finish with some random skating cuteness.

A little Prince and a weekend adventure

Okay, I had a hat for the royal wedding so why would the birth of our newest prince be any different?  Well, a little different in that I got them for the girls too!  Tomorrow I will do our nails blue in honour of it being a boy.  Hey, if you don’t make a celebration out of the small things it will all get lost in translation.  Besides, aren’t they adorable in their fascinators?

We all look a bit tired as we had just gotten home from quite the girls’ weekend in Ottawa.  Had tons of fun but missed Baba like crazy. (Everything is just that bit more fun with him around.)  Where was he?  Taking some needed time alone to recharge and simultaneously finishing a to-do list from me.  🙂

We started the weekend with an ice show at skating camp.  It was a bit beyond Elspeth this year so she had the day off and got to watch the show.  Katrine was beyond excited to perform and Elspeth was equally excited for two reasons: 1. She got to frantically wave at Katrine and 2. Santa was out on the ice skating because the show’s theme was Christmas in July (She was very surprised that he knew how to skate and kept trying to get him to wave at her.).    After the show we drove way too long through the rain before arriving safe and sound at our hotel.

Saturday was spent with some of Katrine’s China family.  Katrine got to spend time with three of her “sisters” while Elspeth met her birthday twin and twin’s younger brother.  There was swimming, swinging, toad finding, sparklers and the stuff that summer memories are made of.  Katrine even slept over that night and she left wearing a huge smile the next morning declaring “I have the best China family EVER!”  Everytime that we get together with her extended family I am reminded of how blessed we are to have been bound to them by the invisible red thread of adoption.

Sunday I braved driving in to downtown Ottawa to take the girls to the Museum of Civilization in the morning.  We only did the Children’s Museum section, on purpose.  I figured that two kids and one of me would equal all of us being done sooner rather than later and I was correct.  By the time we were finished exploring just the one section of the museum they were DONE and so was I.  That said, it was awesome.  They played with shadow puppets and a theater style sound system.  The created potatoe sack puppets and ran a clothing store.  Play, play, play.  There can never be too much of that.

Next we headed back across the river to Byward Market where we met Glenn’s uncle and cousin for lunch.  Poor duo were covered in Hello Kitty stickers by the end of lunch but they were really good sports (thanks).  After lunch it was time to explore downtown on foot.  A highlight was walking along the Ottawa River and the lock system.  Elspeth really enjoyed the simple pleasure of throwing stones into the river.  She would grin each time one actually hit the water.  Katrine was absolutely fascinated by the loch system.  Thank goodnes Uncle Darren was there to explain how it worked.  His explanations cleared alot up whereas mine would have left many gaps in understanding.

Of course it was a hot day so we had to get some refreshments as we walked.  This fresh squeezed lemonade with ice did the trick and we were able to climb up to the top of the hill to the parliment buildings.  Our pair love fountains and the eternal flame was no different.  Katrine once again had her uncle explaining how it worked while her sister was staring at the various coins in the fountain.

After a much needed quiet evening at the hotel, we spent our final day in Ottawa with a university chum of mine and her daughter.  I was able to spend quality time getting caught up while the girls drew, played and ate giant ice cream cones.

The icing on the cake was the arrival of our little prince and the cherry was coming back home to Baba hugs.  The one thing we missed doing was visiting Glenn’s cousin and their new baby boy.  This didn’t happen because I got lost too many times this weekend.  I think that fate was trying to tell me that it is time I get a phone with GPS.  Maybe next time though…when I have my phone!

 

A Rainy Summer’s Day

Well, what is a family to do on a rainy summer’s day?  Why go out for a walk of course.  Luckily for us it was only drizzling.

 

The girls had a lot of fun watching the various types of birds swimming on the lake.  They also watched snails Those you see in the hand were actually picked up by one of my girl friend’s sons.  Neither girl is particularly fond of bugs.  Katrine enjoys reading books about them and Elspeth is no longer totally terrified but that said, they could easily do without seeing them…with the exception of snails apparently.  They also had fun getting dirty climbing the tree.

Me?  Well, I got the chance to get some fresh air while getting caught up with an old friend.  A great morning outing topped off with a slushie on the way to skating camp.

Another weekend, Another Reunion

This seems to be the summer of reunions.  Thankfully, both have been a lot of fun and neither was rained on.  The reunion this past weekend was for Elspeth’s China family.  Both girls have been blessed with families who want to try and foster strong connections between the children.  They have also been blessed with truly great China sisters and brothers.  These kids are so much fun to be around and we are honoured to watch them grow up.  Luckily the grownups that go along with said children are equally as fun.

Altogether this made for a Saturday full of smiles and laughter….oh and a slew of balloons being taken to my backyard for the heck of it.

Canada Day and a Family Reunion

What a weekend! We began by driving up to my parents bright and early on Saturday morning so that we could get things set up before the parade.  We got done just in time and enjoyed the parade with family.  My dad and his group the Loyal Order of the Pumpkin were back in the parade.  The girls were super pleased to cheer on their grandpa.  And as you can see in the photo, he was thrilled to have so much family support for his efforts.  Oh, and did you notice my nails?

This is the second time that Elspeth has celebrated Canada Day but the first time that she has done so as a citizen.  We went all out to celebrate these two occassions at once.

As the parade and community barbeque were over, we headed back to my parents’ house to welcome even more family.  The last time that we got together as a group was about 7 years ago and that was without our family from Florida.  This weekend, however, saw all of us (minus 3 second cousins and spouses and their 4 children) together.  I love my family.  We are an entertaining bunch.  When I think back on my childhood, Christmas eve comes to mind.  Driving in a car squished between my Nana and brother driving to a family party.  As soon as we walked in there was my great aunt and uncle to greet us along with the rest of the family.  I remember visiting another great uncle and dancing for him while being scared of his yapping dog.  I remember funerals, weddings, birthdays and showers.  At each one I felt safe, loved and happy.  I wanted that to gift that sense of belonging to my two so when my cousin suggested a reunion I jumped on the band wagon (Thank you Gil).  I am so very glad I did.

While I visited and organized (because no reunion is without it’s hiccups), the girls ran around with family.  They played fight the zombies, tag, frisbie, bury our cousin in the sand…pretty much, you name it and it was played.  Most importantly they smiled and laughed.  This afternoon after we got home and had unpacked Elspeth asked where her friends were.

Elspeth was lucky enough to find people who were willing to let her “tie” their shoes.  She never got it quite right but boy was she focused.   

Today? Actual Canada Day? After a bit more playtime and some clean up we headed home amidst the traffic. Neither girl wanted to leave. However, their sadness was short lived as once we had unpacked there was a knock on the door. The girls were invited to go just down the street to a friend’s house to pick cherries. Even though we didn’t make it to the fireworks tonight, cherry picking ended the day on a high note.

How we marked the end of school

It was a half day today so after dropping the girls off and then running errands it was back to their schools to pick them up.  I started with Katrine.  When she first saw me she looked like she was about to cry over leaving her friends and teacher.  “Schools over”  :(  Then she saw the park.  After five minutes of free play she came to the realisation that summer vacation had begun.  Which to her means….nope not swimming (although that begins Tuesday morning), nope not picnics (although we will likely have some)….come on you can guess…SKATING!  Seven weeks of full or half days of skating with no pesky school or homework distractions.  That was when this face came out.

Next stop, nursery school.  Now I must admit that I am not sure Elspeth understands that there will be no more nursery school.  We have tried to explain it to her but I am still not sure.  She did pick up on Katrine’s excitement over summer vacation and left with a smile on her face as well.

Well, there is a bit of a skating dress fiasco going on right now but that is another post.  The effect of said fiasco is that we needed to drive into the city to return a dress and begin the straightening out process.  This meant stopping for lunch.  The pair of them were thrilled to get a special order meal to share from Thai Express — beef fried rice, no veggies with egg and soysauce no spice.  They almost finished their heaping plate.

After our errand it was off to….guess…skating!  Both girls were on ice today so I got a break and some photos.

Elspeth doing a two foot spin (kinda) with “pretty hands”

The spread eagle is my favourite of the two.

 

Strawberries!

Yup, that time of year again, so off we headed to the berry patch for some picking.  We tried a new patch this year.  Well, not really new because we picked at a patch on the farm where we go to pick apples each fall.  They had a lovely large field that is close enough to home that Katrine was able to bring a friend with her.  That was really nice as the pair of them went off by themselves down one row while I was able to focus on helping Elspeth fill up our basket.  Even though they were off by themselves picking and giggling in the sweltering sun, I was able to keep an eye on them.  Not sure how much ‘quality control’ they carried out but I know that Elspeth ate about as many berries as she picked.

After a short tractor ride back in from the field, the older two went to play with a water pump (“Hey look mom, just like pioneers!”) while Elspeth prefered the swings and slide.  The morning drew to a close with a snack of fresh made strawberrry rhubarb cruellers.  These left all three in a sticky mess and led to another visit to the pump.  All in all a very fun morning made all the better by a return home to air conditioning.

Oh!  Check out the baby apples.  It looks like it should be a better crop than last year.  Already looking forward to that fall outing.