Saturday 31 August 2013

Happy Birthday Jacob

Yesterday was Jacob's 9th birthday and for each of those years I have aged approximately 5, I'm not going to do the maths.  As an illustration of how big he's getting this is one of his new shoes next to my foot.
Jacob is blogging his birthday but as I'm never sure what will be first and foremost in his mind I shall give you a brief account.  He got lots of gifts, inc the bike that we bought a couple of weeks ago, Tom and I bought him a tablet for digital drawing and graphics so he has no excuses for not getting on with the video game he says he's building.  Bizarrely, the most played with item yesterday was the Buddhist Mandala that Tam bought him although I suspect it was not designed to be a flying saucer or an escape pod.

We went out for breakfast as he specifically wanted chocolate chip pancakes from Aunt Gussies.  After lunch we went to Grandpa's house where he and Gary went on a bike ride on his new bike (while they were out on bikes Rose made me play hop scotch on the street, embarrassing enough but worse with her cheer leading which went "Go Mummy, Go Mummy, You're the Best, You know more than the Kids and You're the Oldest of them All, Go Mummy, Yayyyyyyy").  On the way home the kids had ice cream (third one this week) and Gary came over for Jacob's requested BBQ dinner and the bone collecting cake.
I wonder how much his version will differ from this one.

Footnote:
I was kicked off the iPad and the laptop before I had time to finish and Jacob has already blogged, it seems his day was not dissimilar to mine which was a bit of a surprise.  As he mentioned them, here are Roses gifts.

Jacob Post: 9th birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HI! It was my birthday yesterday. It was fun. First, we all woke up and I opened my presents. I got a card that sings hallelujah it's you're birthday! Open presents! Open presents!  Eat some cake! Eat some ice cream! Enjoy you're balloons! Just let the kid in you come out to play! hallelujah!, I got posh-English-house-brochure-style paper called business 4200. I also got some mandalas and a bamboo touch mouse that comes with artrage studio.  I can do this with it:







I also got a slime making experiment, a book called itch, italics pens, italics pens book, a book called Bone that is actually a GIANT comic book, and a book called Why is Snot Green?. Rose made a card with a really nice and a picture of me and her. She made me giant because i'm nine. later, we went to Aunt Gussies for brunch and I had chocolate chip pancakes. It was absolutely delicious! Next, we went to Grandpa's house and I went around the block with him on my bike. After that I installed artrage and played with it a bit. Later, I had BBQ for tea/ dinner/ supper  and had my Bone Collecting cake for treats. Don't forget I had ice cream as well!!!

Sunday 25 August 2013

Back to School Prep

Not much Camp Kirstin stuff has been happening over the past couple of days as I've been trying to get all our school stuff ready so we don't have to think about it next week.

On Thursday we went to Sarnia for clothes, shoes, stationary and non-leaking drink bottles (yeah right) and while we were there we went to see Smurfs 2.  It was a very productive day and we managed to get almost everything we need.  Here is Rose wearing just about all the new stuff she bought.
Don't let anyone tell you being a fashion princess is easy
On Friday we went to Exeter to try and get Jacob fitted for 'indoor' shoes (both the kids need to have a pair of shoes they keep at school, presumably to avoid snow boots being trampled throughout the place for 5 months in the winter), as usual we have had to order some extra narrow ones to avoid him having to wear girls shoes.

We also had a quick peek in the quilting shop where Jacob chose some fabric for a 'bone collecting' pencil case (I know that's a lame excuse for a visit and I didn't leave without a fat quarter or 2 for me), partly because he needs to take some of his own pencils etc to school but mainly because I'm always making stuff for Rose and it is his turn.  Yesterday morning I fashioned this.

I have to say that I'm pretty pleased with it even if the subject matter is slightly bizarre.

Wednesday 21 August 2013

Reading Prize

This holiday the children have been taking part in a reading challenge at the local library.  Every time they read a book they got a sticker and for every five stickers they were entered into a prize draw.

Rose read 11 books and today she was picked out of the hat for the age 3-5 category, she won 2 books and a very loud travel bingo game that has already been banned when Tom is driving.  Tomorrow we are going to Sarnia for some back to school stuff and the flicks so we'll try it out with me driving and see how we go.



Monday 19 August 2013

Birthday Bike

Yesterday we went on an expedition to Sarnia so Grandpa (and Aunty Sandy and Uncle Tim) could buy Jacob a bike for his birthday.  Unfortunately we only just got home in time for tea and didn't get chance to test drive it so this afternoon we took it to Timberwood Trail where it is nice and flat for a proper test drive.

He was a bit wobbly at first but soon got the hang of it and we ended up doing a circuit of the neighbourhood (about 2km) with J and R on Bikes and me on foot, not quite what I'd had in mind as it was about 30 degrees with humid X, a bit warm for a route march.  By the time we got back to Grandpa's house Jacob was very confident, I was very hot and Rose had pedaled several million revolutions on her tiny bike trying in vain to keep up with J.  She looked like a very cross, red-faced clockwork monkey.

Anyhow, the bike is a hit and that's what counts.


Wednesday 14 August 2013

Treasure Hunting

I wasn't sure where to blog this so as treasure hunting was not in the activity list for this week I decided to ditch Camp Kirstin for a day and spend some time here.  It really feels like September in Grand Bend right now so this morning we took our sweaters and a packed lunch on a car-less adventure down to the beach for some "50 things" treasure hunting and ABSOLUTELY NO SWIMMING.

It was blowing a hoolie when we got there so we took shelter on a Pinery board walk while we ate lunch and waited for Jacob's earache to subside.
After lunch and a walk in the woods we spent about 5 minutes back on the beach looking for treasure, here they are and here it is, not sure we'll make our fortune doing this.

Then they got distracted by this neat den, very handily constructed next to a large and quite comfortable piece of driftwood so I could sit and gaze moodily out across the lake for an hour while Jacob and Rose ran about like loonies.

By the time we got home I think we'd walked about 4 miles, I'm cream crackered, I hope the kids are too.