June - Pride, dancing, soccer and just having fun with Hannah and Ollie!

One weekend in June - or was it May? 

Have you ever baked a cake or made dinner and it looked like a real turd - until you worked some magic on it and made it somehow resemble something you might actually eat? Then when presented, the human beings gathered around to eat, chomp and scoff the food so quickly and happily that you know that it was actually great?

That was our weekend  - but without the food - although we DID have some food too...

Anyway, we had originally planned to go camping with friends, but due to their family stuff that got cancelled and replanned into a night at the cabin. But THAT got cancelled because out at the cabin, the mosquitoes are quite literally eating people alive and we didn't want screaming itchy kids all weekend (or being bitten to shit ourselves) So it was changed to an afternoon at our place - BBQ, kids playing in the paddling pool - all the usual stuff for a summer weekend afternoon. But that got cancelled too because our friends got ill! Now we were a bit peeved at the circumstances here, having already got ready and changed plans 3 times. So we put out a couple of last-minute invites to neighbours, to see if they wanted to save our weekend and share the food we had got for the BBQ. No one replied. 

We were by now getting very peeved. Did nobody like us? Did nobody (more specifically) like me? At least put up with me and come see Buffy! But we had no reason to worry as our neighbours actually did replay a short while later and were pleased and happy to come over with their kids and enjoy some food (that actually did not look like turds - except for the hotdogs, which are brown and sausage-shaped do actually sometimes look a bit turdish, but taste great!)  We had a wonderful afternoon as did the kids, playing together in the little pool, spraying each other with water bottles and enjoying the weather. It even cooled down a little which was nice. Our neighbours from the side and across the road brought their kids, lots of additional food and we had a wonderful afternoon! So thank you to our guests for coming and saving our Saturday!

On Sunday morning, as we had planned to be camping and then planned to have been at the cabin, but actually done neither of these, we had pretty much planned. So the first thing we did was dig out the Hotwheels stuff we had been keeping hidden in the basement for about 10 months. We had bought a few boxloads of various Hot Wheels tracks and cars and been keeping it for when the kids were ready to p[lay and for when we had no other plans and wanted to keep them amused - so out it came and it was an instant hit! The kids have been playing with it none stop and would prefer to race cars down the track rather than pretty much everything else - including eating and sleeping. Cars have been crashed, jumped through the toy Frozen castle and raced around the small piece of figure 8 track. 

Ollie loves to sit high up on the window ledge while Hannah passes him cars to release down the sloped track. So far we have given them just a small piece of track and they do not know just how much we have left in eth basement! It's a lot!!!

Anyway, this was all to keep the kids amused early morning before the real thing we had decided to do that day - Mine and the kid's first-ever visit to a PRIDE parade. 

It turned out to be a great day - It was hot and humid, but that just gave our kids the opportunity to go around and help everyone keep cool by spraying them with water! Our kids made so many friends and as you would expect from Pride, everyone was super happy to be there and having a good time - so we all had a good time too! Ollie particularly loved seeing eth Fire Truck with its rainbow flags and we even spent ages playing and Hannah swimming in the fountains and pools right on Memorial Boulevard - so much so that the parade kind of started and we didn't really see much of it as it left.  It was a lovely morning though and we all enjoyed ourselves!

The following week, as well as more soccer practice and playing in the park, it was the week of Hannah's dance recital. She has been doing 'Creative Dance' since September last year - her Christmas gift from Grandma and Grandpa. She loved going every week and the recital is the climax - dancing in front of a crowd of hundreds on stage at the 2300-seat Centennial Concert Hall. She admitted to being excited, but also a little scared - but she needn't have worried. She and her classmates did great and we were so proud to see her up on stage - dressed as an alien and dancing with her classmates. We were very proud parents!

Taking the bus to the concert hall

Paparazzi photos!

Heres the video of the dance - Hannah is 3rd from the right!

and afterwards with Grandmas flowers!

Ollie has had a great few weeks too - He isn't old enough to take soccer training yet or dance, but he steals the show everywhere he goes and often steals Hannah's friends! Quite often he starts to play with Hannah and her friends but he is so goddam cute and fun that the bigger kids flock around him and end up playing with him instead of Hannah! He says both Bowie and Astrid, Hannah's best two friends at e school are his best friends too! He comes to soccer practice and spends time playing on the play structure climbing things that 5 years olds wouldn't go near. Then he comes across and kicks a ball about with me for a bit! He is so blooming great! I love him so much - he is irresistible and when he wants a snuggle at night, I will happily lose sleep to cuddle up to him!

Climbing on our car with Hannah and friends!

His normal stance is with his hands behind his back   - He is in charge!

Surveying his domain!

Going in for a hug with Cousin Austin!

Watch these videos and tell me he isn't just the best!

Unfortunately, the last few days have been hard for Ollie - He caught some kind of bug and has had a fever for the last 3 nights. Last night was particularly hard as he wouldn't take medicine and we had to pretty much hold him down to take it - he was burning up and I ended up with him in the cool basement just holding him while he slept. I got almost no sleep and had to take the day off sick to get some rest and help look after him again today. Thankfully he seems a lot better tonight and has gone to bed with a temp of under 100  - much less than the 104 and 105 we had yesterday and early today. Hopefully, he will be back to himself tomorrow. 

Hannah meanwhile is in fine form at the moment. She is being crazy and cheeky, but the right side of both. She is growing and changing so fast. It's amazing that she is 4 years old and wakes in the middle of the night and will sit reading a book to herself. She picks up books she has never seen and just reads them - word for word. She sits at dinner and discusses her day like an adult and then calls me a poopyhead before laughing out loud and hiding under the table! She is so much fun, but also so grown up. She actually helps with shopping - paying with our credit card sometimes and using the self-scanner herself at eth supermarket. It's her 5th birthday in 10 days and as we will be out at the cabin, we are having a birthday party at home this weekend. I'll post about how that went next time! For now I think it s time for some sleep.