Odds and Ens

Though Chris went into work on June 30th, having Canada Day off on Tuesday still made things feel like a long weekend.  In the morning we packed ourselves up and headed downtown to Riverside Park where we try and beat the crowds. 

Every year, the park is the site for a variety of things: games for kids, a climbing wall, face painting (or henna - the adult's version!), a variety of ethnic and "Canadian" (read: hot dogs and hamburgers) foods, live music, dozens of booths, in particular, dozens and dozens of artisans and craft vendors.  That last bit is my favourite part - pottery, prints, clothing, carvings, jewelry, wooden toys, foodstuffs and on and on.  The selection is impressive in part because this particular market attracts not just Kamloops folks, but small companies and artisans from the whole region and as far away as Vancouver Island.  I guess the 25,000-30,000 average attendees spend money.  I know we do: it's often where we get a start on birthday and sometimes even Christmas presents if we really have our act together.  These last two years we've also started keeping a close eye on some art work for our house.  We're quite fond of some glasswork for the front window made by a woman here in town.  This year there was a woman from the Okanagan who was selling some beautifully framed pressed flowers that was sorely tempting.  We keep telling ourselves one of these days we'll get around to it!
Jonas was a bit crabby that morning and though we tried to get out early, we still didn't beat the crowds.  We didn't take any photos, but it was just as well as Chris later realized that I had forgotten to return the picture card to the camera after uploading the last set. 

We came home, napped and prepared for some guests we had invited for a barbecue.  Again, we didn't get the camera out until after we had to move everyone inside: a huge storm blew up, complete with lightning, incredible gusts and even knocking out the power briefly.  Fortunately by then, everyone had eaten and the kids had already spent plenty of time splashing in the kiddie pool; we spent the remainder of our time watching the wind wage war around us.

Around that time, some friends from our university/childhood days arrived in town, as planned.  Tyler and Leah had ended up purchasing a vehicle while in Manitoba for a wedding and so they had an impromptu road trip home to Delta and we were quite happy to host them along the way.  Their son, Asher, is about 5 months younger than Jonas and is was interesting to see them interact. 

I am very thankful that Asher is a laid back kid since I caught Jonas taking toys from him more than once ("Mine!") and so I imagine it happened when my back was turned, too.   We had to do a lot of talking to Jonas about sharing and taking turns and also just had to take him for some time outs, too!  He sure didn't like the 'threat' to his 'turf.'  (Makes me really wonder about this baby coming... oh well, at least a newborn won't want to play with his cars, but we will need to work out seating arrangements!) 

By the end the boys actually played quite well together. I got these two shots of the boys when we were at Tim Horton's for lunch; they were giggling at their cars (which they had traded and then traded back without incident!) which they would drive up the window and then let fall.
Our time with them felt too short, but they had places to go and we had my parents en route so it was just as well.  What doesn't hurt is that Tyler and Leah live only about 10 minutes from Chris's parent's place so visiting them isn't usually so tricky when we're down south.  It was great to spend time with you guys!

As I mentioned, my folks arrived that day and many, many more extended family members over the next few days for a family reunion here in town.  But that's another post and since we're off for the weekend, you'll have to catch it next week!

This morning Jonas discovered dust, those fine motes that float about in the air.

I was changing the sheets in our guest room and the shaking out naturally caused a flurry of dust and the morning sun was at just the right angle to create a shaft of light that highlighted it.  Jonas was quite curious, asking what it was, reaching out try and touch or grab at it.  It was lovely seeing his amusement at these pieces he could obviously see but couldn't touch.
However, I think my response to his question may have confused him a bit: He has an Uncle Dustin and it isn't unusual for Jonas to shorten the name to Dust.  No, no uncle floating in the room!

Hey.

Yesterday, for the first time since he was an infant, Jonas threw up.  Just after dinner.  Our best guess is that the milk was a little off.  It upset him at first; I think he was mostly a bit shocked that that mess came from him.  "Uh ohhhh!" he said, pointing to it, trying not to cry.  Fortunately, he got over it pretty quickly.

The trouble is, he managed to get it all on our area rug.  We cleaned up as best we could and I then I put baking soda on it to soak up both any remaining moisture and, hopefully, odour.  This morning I vacuumed it up and it looked fine.  My grandparents stopped by for a visiting and their noses didn't notice anything when they came in.  I don't notice a smell either, but I thought my nose wasn't too reliable, being accustomed to my own house.  However, at the end of the day you can see the lovely splash pattern on the rug anyway.  I'm really hoping the baking soda didn't exactly 'bleach' things, though if that was the case it would be discoloured where the baking soda was (all over) instead of in the exact pattern of the vomit.

So, any ideas?

What question do you hate being asked?

Q: How are you [at 7 months pregnant] handling the heat?

A: The heat bothers me no matter what.  I don't find that it matters either way.  That was my one 'issue' with moving to Kamloops.  I remember getting headaches in California when I was a teenager when visiting there.

Okay, so maybe I don't exactly 'hate' being asked it, but I counted 5 questions to that effect on Sunday alone.  Chris said people ask him, too!  It just gets wearing after awhile, almost like it's a reminder of how much difficult a pregnancy in the summer should be.  I know people generally care about me, which is why they are asking in the first place, but like I said, it gets wearing after awhile. 

Oh, and for those who want to ask but won't now (!) I'm doing ok.  Like I said, I don't like heat at the best of times.  However, we are actually using our air conditioner now (40 degree heat drives you to it!) so that makes things infinitely better.   And I spend time in the basement when I can, too.  Thanks for caring! :)

Since we've moved to Kamloops, we've enjoyed the geographical position of being at a sort of 'crossroads' and have been quite happy to have family and friends stop by, whether it's for the weekend or just a cup of coffee before continuing down the road.  Having moved to a larger house last summer, we are quite happy that we can now offer more comfortable accommodations - a double futon in your own room and your own bathroom! - than we had before.  And we love it when we can host.

So these last couple of months have allowed us to do some hosting - primarily of family.  This is something we've also felt quite blessed by.  I had the privilege of growing up with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins all in the same town.  Family gatherings were commonplace.  And I've missed that, even more so as Jonas gets older, so visits from family are more than welcome.

Jonas is starting to realize the benefit of visitors, too.  In the days leading up to a visit, we'll start talking to him about how "Auntie" or "Uncle" is coming and usually be the time they arrive, he has their name down which thrills all of us.  And he's now begun to realize that the arrival of said family means plenty of attention is showered upon him and he relishes it! "[Uncle] Dust sit here."  "Becky downstairs" [where all his toys are].

Back in May, Dustin and Belle stopped by for the weekend en route from their honeymoon on the Shuswap.  We were glad for the time with them, especially as they left for the Philippines a month later.  The weather was cool but we did manage an outing or two.  Much of our time was spent relaxing at the house, helping Belle study for her citizenship test and experimenting with our new webcam. 

For the May long weekend, my brother, Morgan, and his girlfriend Christina, came down to Kamloops for a weekend away from Prince George.  The weather was sunny and warm - just what they wanted - even if it meant a bit of a sunburn!  We had them over for the day which was marked my lounging in the backyard, getting Jonas to play in the pool and enjoying the barbequed burgers on the patio.

This last month, my other brother, JT, and his girlfriend Becky, drove out from Calgary to spend the weekend with us.

They babysat Jonas for us while Chris and I went to work on Friday and JT changed his first diaper.  Congratulations, JT! ;)  Jonas learned early on that he could get a great reaction by referring to Becky's car as "JT's car" and did it all weekend. 

Becky and JT were also relaxed guests and stayed in on Saturday night so Chris and I could get out for a few hours to my year end staff party.  Besides spending time with Jonas (of course!), I think a highlight for them was golfing at Tobiano, a new course just west of Kamloops that JT (who works at a golf club in Calgary) has heard praised high and low.  And, for those who are interested, he thinks it is indeed that fantastic.  Oh, and thanks to Becky and JT for those pictures used here from their trip.  The oddsandens fan club and I are much obliged.

As all have noticed, I have to play catch up now to get little slices of our lives in the last while. 

Spring sprung slowly around here (as it did in many places) but we've still managed to begin making the most of the backyard.  Jonas loves to spend time there - riding his car or moving pea gravel around.  I'm very, very glad that we have an enclosed space so I can even get a start on dinner while he plays with his balls or trucks.  He's understood very early that he's not to go in the garden and fortunately that hasn't been a problem.

We got out the kiddie pool from last year and have been trying to get Jonas more and more comfortable around water.  For example, he'll stand in the pool, but won't sit in it.  (And no, I don't think it's just because it could be really cold! :)  Lately, he's been even more hesitant to move about in the bath!  Today we went to the local pool that has a lot of shallow space for the kids to play in and Jonas found himself far more comfortable at the water's edge than actually in the pool.  We have a family membership at the Y and are planning on enrolling Jonas and Chris in a parent and tot class in the fall, hoping that may help him be more comfortable with the water.