We made it! The school year is finished, report cards are in (the girls both did fabulously), we’re finding spots for all the end of the year artwork. We’re officially on summer holidays!
Pearl and Rose finished on Thursday but Friday was still a work day for Peter so the girls and I decided to make a day of it by going out for lunch to a local favourite restaurant.
We poked around a few shops, did some thrifting downtown, and ended up buying a desk for their room at secondhand shop. That evening, describing our day to Peter, I realized that we are in a new stage with our kids. I can take them to a restaurant and eat my own meal. They can sit in a booth and wait for their food. Nobody cried. They said please and thank you to our server. They were well-behaved in an antique shop. We talked and discussed things and they asked interesting questions. I’ve always enjoyed spending time with my girls but it is easier now than ever.
On our way home we picked up our first farm box of the season. Here are the goodies we got:
We spent some time in our yard and the girls weeded in their garden patch.
Saturday was Canada Day and of course we attended our local parade. This is the big community event of the year and we always enjoy it. This year’s was the first return to what the parade was like pre-covid. In 2020, there were neighbourhood parades. In 2021, after the awful news of bodies found at residential school sites, the parade was cancelled and we participated in an Orange Shirt solidarity walk with our local Indigenous band. Last year there was a parade led by an Orange Shirt walk. This year, many in the parade and watching wore orange and the Shishalh Nation had a prominent position. There was maybe less red and white than previous years but the atmosphere was overall celebratory and happy. I feel grateful to live in a country where there is space for both, where we are influenced and made better by so many different cultures and histories.
Karissa Reads Books 
Lovely! It must be such a strange but pleasing experience to realise that your kids are now at the stage where you can spend a day with them just chatting and hanging out, instead of being permanently on wrangling duty. (I don’t have kids so I don’t really know, but I’m imagining!)
It is very much like that! It’s very strange to suddenly notice when they make these big jumps into a new stage but it also feels very rewarding!
It sounds like you’re having a lovely start to the summer break! That must be nice for your kids to be getting to that stage. It’s not the same thing at all, but both my godchildren are now old enough to remember who I am between visits and to include me into their games etc, and it’s such a pleasure to spend get to know them better.
That’s a fun stage too – I remember that with my nieces and nephew when they were little. How old are your godchildren?
They are five and three. I don’t see them very often as they both live quite a way away (in different directions), so I’m glad they are big enough to remember me now!
Those are fun ages!
I’m going to be so sad if she ever outgrows Justin Beaver.
Maybe you can’t see it because you’re always with them, but I can tell your girls are big girls from the photos.
I fully expect her to move out with Justin in tow. She may not sleep with him every night but I can’t imagine him not having a place of honour in your adult home!
I see it sometimes. When we are around littler kids and my girls are the ones explaining things to them and helping out, I realize, “Oh, I have big kids!”