Today was Family Day. We were all very excited. I had looked at all the free activities that Orangeville had to offer and we decided on the following itinerary:
Pancake breakfast at the chapel
Cross-country skiing
A swim or a skate
Dinner with friends
Soccer or floor hockey at the chapel
It was going to be a fun day!!!!!
First up...pancake breakfast! I don't think I've ranted about wheat yet on this blog. The short of it...we're not eating wheat right now, or processed sugar. It's a blog post all on its own. The girls are adjusting okay, relatively speaking (if you count desperately clutching a box of cereal and begging to have just one bowl as adjusting). Rene is being forced to come around because I'm not buying bread or cereal and we're pretty much out (he's still eating crackers though so we'll see how things pan out when those suckers are all gone). Anyway, I told them not to worry, I would be making our own potato pancakes that we would cook up and serve with sour cream instead of syrup. The girls' faces dropped (it is bad I thought their crestfallen faces were humorous?) and Rene said, "Are we turning into "that" kind of family?" Gosh, what kind of Mom do they think I am? They were so excited to gorge out on processed wheat based circles of deliciousness topped with a sugaring, syrupy touch of heaven. I made sure to stuff them with fruit and yogurt before we left so at least they wouldn't be filling up on a completely empty stomach.
Next stop, cross-country skiing. This was the most exciting part of the day. The local ski club was offering free trail access and free ski rentals. And when things just couldn't get any better for this already fantastic adventure we unexpectedly arrived at the same time as the family of Amelia's best friend from school. The sun was shining, there was no wind and it was the perfect temperature. We all got boots and skis and poles without having to wait and we were off. It only took them about 2 minutes to realize that it's not as easy as walking and Amelia was in tears in about 5. With Lucienne strapped to his back, Rene patiently tried to teach Amelia how to get up while I dealt with Audree. Evelyn, being the somewhat natural athlete that she is, managed to pick it up fairly quickly and was down the path in a jiffy.
After about 15 minutes, and 20 metres, Audree gave up. She wouldn't budge and there was nothing I could say to change her mind. She was done and in no mood to negotiate. Grudgingly (not one of my most notable parenting moments) I took her skis off, then mine, and trudged back to the chalet, only longingly glancing back once at the rest of my family as they disappeared around the bend of the trail. I guess Rene eventually realized I wasn't with the group and came back to hand off Lucienne. If I was going back what was the sense of him holding onto her? And away he went. I now had a load of a toddler, two sets of skis and poles, a hiking backpack carrier and a crying 4 year old.
We got back to the chalet (not a lovely picturesque chalet in the mountains of Switzerland...more like an overcrowded multipurpose room with a view of a ski rack). We situated ourselves by a window and I then sat for 2.5 hours while Audree napped on the floor and Lucienne napped on me. To say I wish I had a book would be an understatement. At one point I saw one person I knew and she chatted long enough to tell me that she had seen Rene and the girls eating some hotdogs at the outdoor fire pit they had along the trail and that she was sure they wouldn't be too much longer.
With nothing else to do other than feel sorry for myself, by the time they got back I was ready to explode with self pity and had little patience for their tales of frolicking in the snow with hot chocolate and roasted marshmallows and hotdogs. I was hungry, and tired, and had a numb butt and a numb arm and just wanted to get out of there.
I kind of ruined the rest of the afternoon. I wasn't in a mood for swimming or skating, instead I went grocery shipping while Rene watched a movie with the girls. I came home to make dinner for friends who showed up at four.
I got over myself and had a lovely dinner. We then went to the chapel to play a game. Her 4 and 9 year olds were super excited to play floor hockey, her 14 and 15 year olds had very important business to attend to on their phones, my girls were less than enthused to play but hit the ball every now and then. The game dissolved and I found myself out in the hallway nursing Lucienne with the teens and my girls lazing around on the couch. I told Amelia and Evelyn to go and slap Rene on the butt and tell him he was it. The most fun and energetic hour and a half game of tag ensued. We even managed to get the 14-year-old off the couch and that's saying a lot.
I realized something integral about Amelia today. She really doesn't like team sports. She has no desire to chase something that already has 5 people chasing it. When push comes to shove, she will walk away. She's all about individual sports though. She LOVED the skiing...once she got the hang of not falling, she loves playing tag, she loves swimming (when her class isn't filled with just boys), she loves tobogganing. She would probably love track and field if her school offered it. She loves biking and yoga and skating. These are the classes I need to be on the look out to sign her up for.
I love when I finally figure out a little piece of the puzzle of what makes up my children!
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