Now before you all come for me, I knooooow that Summer is still in swing until September 22nd. But I’ll be real with you, once September hits, it’s Autumn for me. Plus, it’s also Labour Day weekend and the last weekend before kids return to school here in Canada. So why not embrace the last bit of summer freedom with some family fun?!
Friday was the start of our long weekend, with a quiet day spent at home for the most part. Only a few errands to run. We were suppose to head over to my parents for dinner, but we opted to push it over to Saturday so Valeria could spend more time with them.
Saturday morning was fairly mellow with our usual routine at play; breakfast, colouring, reading, a little Romanian kids music, general play and a nap to follow. In the afternoon we went over to my parents place around 3 PM. My middle brother, Marco, lives with them now and took over our old haunting grounds – the basement. Valeria was very excited to hang out down there, explore her Zio’s room and watch Bluey on his massive television.
We went for a walk around the block after we had dinner (mom cooked – YAY I didn’t have to!) and it was really nice. My stomach sadly didn’t like the food (damn teriyaki sauce!), but hey it was delicious going down. The walk helped though….and the peppermint tea. After that it was basically all of us hanging out and Valeria playing with everyone. It was nice, she didn’t want to leave. However it was WAY passed her bedtime and she was beginning to sputter cry. We knew right then and there that we only had minimal time to get her home.
Why is it that kids are like little volcanoes – quiet one moment, then erupting the next?
Regardless, we got her home in time and off to bed quickly. The rest of the evening was pretty much relaxing for the most part. I worked on a bit of my wood burning and watched some movies. Anthony was working on some things too, a passion project if you will. I’ll keep it under wraps for now, but keep an eye out in a future post! I definitely did the exaggerated wink at the end of that sentence when I typed it by the way.
Sunday was a jumbled mess….
I had to roast up 2 bushels of Sheppard Peppers, which my mom purchased at the beginning of the week and decided to give me too late. They were starting to rot AND I had also mentioned that they would be an all day process. We had to go for a picnic with the whole family that afternoon. Needless to say, the peppers ended up in the trash and I (and Anthony)….wasted a lot of time roasting them. I’m extremely annoyed but in the end they were unsafe to eat. That is the end of that story, onto the picnic.
The family picnic was great! We ended up going to a park called Pinafore Park and it was beautiful. There was so many different covered picnic areas, a splash pad, multiple playgrounds and a little amphitheater. My whole family arrived before we did, Valeria was tired and had a long nap that day. But they found this little covered picnic area behind the amphitheater and it had a little open area by the treeline for the kids to run around. Not to mention a trail entry into the forest – which just walked you either in a straight line or a circle back to the entrance. We had a wonderful picnic all together, each of us bringing something. I opted to bring my own food for fear of my darn stomach. After we all ate, we blew up a giant beach ball, we all kicked it around and were playing with it. Valeria had an absolute blast chasing that ball from one person to another. Picking it up, kicking and throwing it. I got some incredible photos of everyone. The boys were playing catch and they even got in a game of Bocce.
If you don’t know what Bocce is I’ll explain it. It’s an Italian lawn bowling game in the most simple form. Basically two teams roll larger coloured balls as close as possible to a small white target ball (it’s called a pallino) to score points. The more balls you have closest to the pallino for your team than the more points you accumulate. So you need to be strategic and try to knock the other opponents balls away from the pallino. It’s also underhand rolling or throwing. Really, reeeeally fun and if your in my family, can get competitive. Absolutely love it!
When Valeria started to get a bit restless, we opted to all pack up and walk over to the playground and swings. She was so excited and she spent the whole time pretty much just swinging away. Her favourite thing to do at the playground to be honest. Not surprising though, I was like that too as a kid. She crashed pretty fast though and by 6:30 PM, we were heading home. We had a bit of a drive, but again made it home just in time before a full on meltdown happened due to exhaustion. Let’s just say, she slept pretty good, which some tossing an turning from being exhausted.
Now for today, well that one was pretty easy. Valeria came RACING into our bedroom with daddy in toe, all while she yelled ‘Mommy, Mommy” over and over again. My eyes were closed, but I heard her making noise in her room as she played. As she stood at the side of my bed, I popped my eyes open and said “Morning baby!” She jumps up and down excited with a smile on her face and says “Morning baby.” I leaned over and picked her up, putting her in bed for morning cuddles. She was snacky this morning, but she ate a good amount for breakfast before we got her ready to head to the park and splash pad by our house.
We were there for at least 45 minutes to an hour. She played on the slide, banged on some drums and then once a swing was free….LOOK OUT. She ran to that swing so fast and stayed there for a while. A little boy was being pushed on the swing next to her and he was singing – Oh Mister Sun (which she DOES NOT like at all) and she kept saying “No….Noooo…” as Anthony and I just looked at each other and laughed. At one point, someone pressed the button in the splash pad which got her attention and she says “Apă…” and well the swing was over.
We took her over to the splash pad and she was having a ball as she watched the water at a safe distance and put her hands in only when she felt it was necessary. Then a little boy came and they started to play together, he wanted her to go and run through the water with him (which she skirted the edge of the water instead), but she kept telling the little boy “Boy….in.” It was pretty funny to be honest, but his attention span turned to his bike and the playground we had just left. We played a little longer, running along the edge of the water with Valeria before it was time to head home for a nap.
Once her nap was done, my mom called and asked if we wanted to head over to hang out and spend some time. I made dinner for everyone and we hung around playing with Valeria. The time passed quickly though because before we knew it, it was time to head home. She did not want to leave grandma’s house, but she was super exhausted when we got home.
She fell asleep fast. However, it seems like she is having a bit of a rough sleep, so I’m going to call it here. Next wake-up will be mine.
I hope you had a wonderful long week (if you had one that is) and have a wonderful day or night wherever you are in the world!
Ciao!!
Mama on the Move 