It’s hard to believe we are both halfway through July and only two weeks out from finishing school. It’s been a full and busy time already.
While Peter and Pearl were off on their epic hike , Rose and I got to spend some time just the two of us at home. She got her hair cut, we went out for lunch together, we had an impromptu playdate, we spent a day at a local lake with friends, and we had a movie night, among other things.
It’s really special to be able to spend this one-on-one time with our girls. This year Rose will do her first overnight hike with Peter so I’ll get that time with Pearl as well. Initially, Peter and I thought this might be the only year he does solo hikes like this with the kids since it can be hard to fit in the time. But I’m quickly seeing the value in having this time with just one kid at a time and we may work to make this happen as a regular occurrence. It also doesn’t hurt to let the girls miss each other a bit!
Last week the girls spent Monday to Friday in a local day camp. They had a lot of fun and Peter and I mostly worked while they were there. We did both take one day off though and spent the whole day on a date. After dropping the girls off at camp, we took our tandem kayak out to Sechelt Inlet and paddled to a nearby beach. There we hung out for a bit and went swimming. We had lunch together at a local cafe, did a little thrift store shopping, and then I went and got my haircut. We spent the afternoon at home, enjoying a drink on our sunny back deck before heading out for dinner together. Peter’s parents kindly picked the kids up and took them back to their house for a swim, dinner, and a movie. It was so lovely to spend the whole day together. Peter and I realized that if we had spent that kind of day out on a holiday, we would be raving about whatever place we had visited. It was a nice reminder that we live in a pretty amazing spot.
Karissa Reads Books 
What movie did you and Pearl watch?
My mom used to bring all four of my brother’s kids to visit us (they live 200 miles away) for a weekend. It got to the point where it felt like we weren’t doing anything different from what they would have done at home because they’re so different in ages. Now they are 15, 14, 9, and 6. Each kid’s personality is so different, their ages permit them different abilities, etc. We never really bonded with any one kid, and now when we go back to visit, only the youngest says hello. I think there is a good deal of value in having individual time with children.
We watched Cars 2! Neither of the girls wanted to watch a movie that the other one hadn’t seen.
That individual time is so worthwhile, even though it can be hard to prioritize. I sometimes feel like I bonded the most with my oldest niece -probably because when she was born I was single and spent so much more time with her. My youngest niece is more bonded with my girls. That age range for your brothers’ kids is hard – there’s not a lot you can do with 4 kids with that kind of spread.