Where Are All The Kids?

Last Sunday, Margot and I had some time to spare and we went for a walk to do some geocaching (if you don't know what that is, I'll save it for another blog post!). We wandered over to EV Tremblay park, which is near little Italy.

The park has a huge wading pool and we stopped to dip our toes.

But as we did so, something occurred to me: there were no other children in the pool. On a  sunny, beautiful Sunday, in the middle of the afternoon, there were no kids in this glorious wading pool except Margot! (Well, at one point, a mother and toddler showed up for a few moments, but most of the time it was just Margot, me and three life guards.*)

One is the loneliest number...

I've read articles about how the future of affluent cities, like Ottawa, is increasingly childless but seeing it firsthand is kindof unsettling. Kind of odd considering the population of the world continues to sky rocket.  Hmmm makes one think.
 
Fortunately, Margot is such a handful by herself that I'm sure her mere presence kept those three lifeguards on their toes - you earned your wages today my friends!

*three life guards for a 18-inch deep wading pool with two customers. There's a sad joke about bureaucracy in there somewhere.

Up and Down with My Girl

Lately, it's been tough with Margot sometimes. One moment she is happy as a lark, the next she is rolling her eyes and pushing back. I've definitely noticed a new willingness by her to stand her ground!

In the bigger picture, I suppose this is all just part of growing up. Kids aren't robots and it's not fair for me to expect Margot to do whatever I want without question. Questioning is good!

But I must admit that when she and I just have a chatterbox talk where she tells me what's on her mind and then we go play together - those are good days! This past Sunday Margot and I were supposed to do a little bike/jog combo (she bikes, I jog) but I foolishly forgot to bring her bike helmet. Although she was looking forward to going cycling, she rolled with the punches and decided to jog alongside me. We went far - 5 km, all told! I was definitely impressed.

Face of an Angel! What a tough cookie!

OK ok, I'll admit I bribed her a little bit with some Pokemon Go on the jog back. But no parenting technique is perfect!

Sunday was a great day. Today (Monday) was nice too. She's helping me put together a photo album of our recent trip. It's a whirlwind living with a nine year old, believe you me.

Hmmm why do I get the sense that parents with teenagers chuckling at my naivete?  :)

Back to School Shopping

When I was a kid, if somebody was to ask me, what month do you start school, I would answer "September" (and then cry). Now that I'm an adult, I know the real answer is "August".

That's because all the back-to-school shopping has to be done several weeks before school actually begins or the keener parents will have drained the store shelves of all the stationary, supplies and other back-to-school goodies.

So today Margot, Glosette Girl and I trodded off to start knocking things off the to-buy list. First up, get Margot a new backpack! She's had her current backpack for a couple of years and it's getting a bit sad to be honest. I'm surprised she hasn't revolted against it. I'm not snobby about buying back to school stuff at any particular store, but we've had good luck with buying backpacks at Mountain Equipment Co-op ("MEC") so that's where we headed to.

MEC, in all its get-fit-outdoorsy-glory, is very Westboro, which is an upper middle class neighbourhood just west of here. But they do sell good backpacks (and camping stuff - let's be honest, MEC is like candy for middle-aged dudes like me).

So we searched and searched for a backpack and...what do you think? Mission accomplished? You tell me:

Hmmm.... Walmart it is then! At least we had some ice cream after.

Hintonburg Porter Boy

Did you recently see a gangly porter struggling to carry a splashy farmhouse buffet this past weekend? If so, your eyes did not deceive you! That was me heaving the latest addition from Maker House, a neighbourhood store specializing in Canadian-made furniture and eclectic items, for five blocks away to my maison.

Huff puff...

OK OK, Glosette Girl helped a bit* too.  But I think the photos look more impressive with just me carrying the buffet!

The little engine that could

* i.e. a lot.