oBLOGation

I remember the days when I could update the blog at least weekly despite the kids being young and work taking up the lions share of my day.  At that time, some fool told me that it would get easier as the kids got older - I would have more free time and the girls would negotiate through life sans parenting.  Sure.  Now my blog is that nagging thought at the back of my mind while I try to balance my time with everyone's schedules.
We began this year with a long awaited move to our new office, with a new partner and except for chronic IT problems, it has been terrific so retirement seems to have been pushed back into the "we'll see what happens" procrastination department.  Now and then we take a few days off at home with the teen and pre-teen, and try to get through our long list of chores to catch up on.  By the end of  that experience, we need to go back to work to recover.

While Tony and I are at work, the kids are busy with their school work (well Grace is anyway) and earning various athletic awards.  Lily remains active in track and swimming and Grace is now diving at a National Level.  Lil enters grade 11 this year and seems to be heading for the restaurant business following a co-op experience at her local Chinese restaurant this year.  Grace continues to love the idea of pathology (why?) but has a great artistic streak and we have been gently nudging her towards architecture.  She and I are addicted to the Home and Garden channel and isn't it just a little odd that her star heroes are Courtney and Dave from Masters of Flip.

We do manage to sneak in a holiday now and then and enjoy our annual March break in Orlando with as many family members that want to brave spending a week with us.  This year Mandy and Robin joined us for a week of mostly relaxation and catching up.

In July and boy and I took a work holiday to San Diego California - a place that was definitely on my bucket list.  Unfortunately the trip was the week after I had spent in Regina with Grace at nationals and I spent a lot of our week feeling homesick and missing the dogs.  However, it was a good conference, we learned that everything old is new again (lucky for us) and we spent a great afternoon on Coronado's dog beach to ease my dog mother loneliness.

Constructions projects around the house have not been as glamorous this year.  The flood from a couple of years ago rotted our garage wall, and that had to be rebuilt this winter.  The interlock driveway had also sunk a couple of inches allowing a convenient place for the road to drain during rainstorms so a new concrete driveway that drains away from the house is now in place.  Our city officials have been having panic attacks about the rising river across the road from us, so our lower level is now sandbagged and we now have a total of 5 pumps to counter Mother Natures  attempts to drown us.  Of course we have also invested in lifejackets for the dogs (the kids can swim).

Despite all the work that we've done on our house, and how much of a home it is for us all, I think I would miss my garden the most.  It is the most neglected of my responsibilities (except for the blog) and yet it never ceases to make me stop and stare in awe.  We have a little garden at our new office building and now and then I pick up the loppers between clinics just to terrorize the landscapers a little.

Aunti Anne came for a flying visit this summer to get a little spoiling time in.  The girls have such a blast with her that the kids have requested that she marry Dad if something happens to Mom. Not sure if there is a plot in the works but I always make sure someone else takes the first sip from the milk carton.

And guess who turned 16 this year and how did that all happen so fast?  We had a fairly sedate get together with long time friends and welcomed Lily's friend-who-is-a-boy, and his parents to join us.  She and her friend-boy are training to do their first triathelon this month with the help of his Mom Kelly who was an Olympian cyclist.  Lil has the honour of riding the same bike for this event that Kelly rode in the Olympics so we are hoping that it brings her luck.

In the months ahead, we will spend time getting Grace to Dive Canada's training facilities and helping Lily with grown up skills like driving, completing her lifeguard course, getting through high school with a sense of direction.  So the blog may go silent for a bit while I manage the circus, because they all really are my monkeys.