Our European Vacation in Numbers : A la Randy Gangbar!

 # of Hours it took to reach destination : 20

# of Hours Mia slept on the 7 hour plane ride : 6.5

# Hours Daddy slept on 7 hour plane ride : 6

# Hours Toby slept on 7 hour plane ride : 0.4

# Hours Mommy slept on 7 hour plane ride : 0  (too excited)

# of minutes we had to get from the airplane, through customs, pick up our luggage and board the train to Aix-En-Provence : 75

# on Mommy’s anxiety scale out of 10 : 9.5

# of Espresso coffee’s Mommy mistakenly ordered before boarding the train : 3

# of Pain au Chocolat consumed on train ride : 3

# of days Mia went without Pain au Chocolat for breakfast while in France : 0

Mia quickly adapted to the French Breakfast

# of bedrooms in the Villa we rented : 4

# of different activities for kids : 6

# of Guests we had visit us in the South of France : 5

# of bottles of wine Belinda brought :  12

# of Hours it took Rob and Toby to get to the Semi Final game of the Euro 2016 : 4

# of goals by Griezeman they witnessed : 2

# of terrorist attacks that occurred at the game : 0 (PHEW!)

Time Toby got home that night : 2am (!!)

# of times we held “the Olympics” in the South of France : 2

# of times Toby made it to the  finals of Ping Pong : 2

# of Times Toby won the finals : 0

# of times Sav engaged in Ping Pong : 0

# of events other than ping pong : 8

Toby : slightly obsessed and quite good at Ping Pong

# of items on our “Scavenger Hunt” Through the surrounding small towns : 11

# of actual cats spied on the hunt :  5

# of one eyed cats spotted  : 1

# of hours Rob spent rummaging through the pool shed : 1

# of inflatable pool toys Rob discovered :  10

# of inflatable pool toys Rob discovered that did NOT have a hole in them : 0

# of Rainbow flutterboards found in the pool shed : 2

Jeremy, participating in the High Jump at Olympics #2

# of Rats that jumped out of the pool shed and scared the shit out of Rob : 1

# of times Rob approached the pool shed again after the rat incident : 0

# of hours Doug spent working : >14

# of hours Doug spent sleeping : >36

# of times Doug spoke with a German Accent : 29

# of  people Doug shared his bed with : 2
# of times Doug has read my blog and probability of him getting upset with me for posting this : 0

Mia, going to wake Doug up one day at NOON when she got TIRED of waiting for him!

# of bug bites on Savita’s left leg : 12

# of Naps Savita was allowed to take : 0

# of times Toby cried after our friends left : 2

                                                                                      

# of daytrips taken to surrounding towns : 3

            (Aix en Provence, Cassis and St Croix)

# of different hats Mia sported on the trip  :4

Mia, in Cassis, sporting one of her many hats (this one being MINE!)

PARIS :

# of full days we spent in Paris  :1 (but we were there over 3!)

# of times the kids had crepes : 2

# of sites/monuments we saw : 9

# of steps we walked  : 26,000

# of flights of stairs we climbed  :63

Someone pooched out on the train after a LOOONG day on her feet!

# of stairs we climbed at the Arch de Triomphe : 187

Family Selfie atop the Arch de Triomphe

# of strollers we used : 0

# of strollers we decided to leave behind : 1

Good Bye Stroller!  You are not needed by this family anymore :)

LONDON:

# of hours we spent waiting to get on the Double Decker Bus Tour I talked Rob into going on : 1

# of times I was frustrated by GRIDLOCK TRAFFIC while riding the double decker bus Tour : 9

# of times we aborted the tour and decided just to walk : 1

# of times we had trouble then finding the bus stop to get back on it :2

# of times we almost missed the very last bus : 1

# of times we were in a bus accident on the double decker bus : 1

# of pints consumed (read : CHUGGED) while waiting for replacement bus : 2 (plus one Fanta by Toby who didn’t understand that when I said CHUG YOUR BEER! I did NOT mean CHUG YOUR FANTA!)

# of bus tours in our future : 0

# of University reunions attended :1

# of hours the reunion lasted : 12

# of friends who attended : 11

# of friends from Canada : 8

# of UK friends : 3

# of awkward Brexit debates : 1

# of discussions around The Babysitter’s Club : 8 (not quite as awkward as the Brexit discussion but POSSIBLY not as intellectually stimulating…)

Doug : Enjoying his first crack at The Babysitters Club

# of times James spilled red wine on himself : 1

# of photos taken at the photo booth : 24

# of secret notes left between Keira/Madison and Mia/Toby : 3

# of  times I have smiled thinking about how amazing it is to see the instantaneous friendship my good friend’s children and mine : hundreds

Mia, Keira and Madison : "Just how" we predicted they would turn out many years ago over a drink at Perfect House :) (??)

IN SUMMARY :

# of consecutive days Mia had chocolate and bread for breakfast : 10

# of countries visited : 2

# of friends we reunited with  : 16

# of pictures taken : 950

# of hours spentwaiting for our suitcases at Good Old Pearson Airport : 1.5

# of times I have felt gratitude and love for my 3 traveling and life companions : millions

Thankful.

Life changing moments

Rob and the Kids on the Last Day of School

This past week was a crazy one with the end of school.  Amidst the chaos of end of school gifts, last minute trip planning, hosting a surprise wedding in our backyard (true story) and wrapping things up at work, I noticed a small note on my calendar this past Friday: “Kindergarten Celebration of Learning: 1:45pm”.  Not quite early enough to be lunch time, not quite late enough to squeak in an afternoon office.  Yup.  My whole Friday afternoon was going to revolve around said celebration of learning.

Mia awoke on Friday morning her usual bossy self.   My eyes had not yet greeted daylight when they were loudly being instructed to LOOK DOES THIS DRESS WORK???? I was under the impression that they were all supposed to wear red and suggested that perhaps her neon yellow and purple attire wouldn’t exactly fit.  YES BUT HOW DO YOU KNOW WE HAVE TO WEAR RED.  Well, I got a text message from some system that her teacher uses to contact me with last minute instructions and the one last night said they were supposed to wear red.  And WHERE WAS HER RED DRESS THEN IF THE TEXT CAME LAST NIGHT.  Well, I supposed it was in the wash.  WHY HADNT I WASHED IT.  I think because the text just came last night and I am not superman.  I am not even super mom.  It was now 7:04 and I still hadn’t opened my eyes.

Mia was already storming off in a huff.

And so started the day that needed to be compressed all into the span of time that lies between getting miss Bossy-pants on the bus and arriving in enough time to the school concert that I could still get a seat.

Even my medical student, whose last day it was with me, knew on Friday morning that all goals of the day pointed towards ME arriving ON TIME to the St Mary’s Elementary school so I could celebrate the learning that was done in play based kindergarten.

We made it with 4 minutes to spare.

I was still feeling jittery and frantic when all of a sudden the lights dimmed and a song came on.  I don’t know who sang this song but they couldn’t have picked a better one.  I don’t even remember the words, but the cheerful tune with the right amount of twang and sentimentality sent me right out of work mode.

I watched my little girl in her red dress (10 points for me!) walk down the aisle, smiling proudly at all she had accomplished so far in her 5 years of life.

And all of a sudden, as she stood meekly on that stage, hiding behind the friend beside her and concentrating oh so hard on singing the right words while using the right actions, my big little red-dressed, bossy pants was suddenly not so big anymore.

Those legs – that boldly step onto the school bus every morning without a second glance looked suddenly so tiny up on that big stage.

Her impish smile from this morning was gone and I saw instead the roundness of her face from the baby fat that is still there in her cheeks.

I saw the dimples in her arms as she waved them around with the actions.

I saw how tiny her little toes are peeking out from her (clearly overused) indoor shoes.

Instead of her usual boisterous confidence that so terrorizes her older brother, I saw instead the innocence in her smile that has seen nothing bad yet in life.

And her all knowing self-assured aura dissolved as I saw the wonder in her eyes as she watched us clap and clap and clap for her.

As I watched my baby standing there on stage I saw her again, for the first time in eons, as just that:  my baby.

Sometimes life affords us pure, unaltered moments of clarity.

As I clapped for Mia and her class, I longed for this moment to go on for longer.   I longed suddenly for this stage of life to go on for longer.  Next year this celebration would be a “graduation”.  I knew I was a LONG way off from being able to handle that.

I am pleased to report that I have spent the last few months finagling my job in such a way that I can now be home more for the kids.  Not only do I now have the time to get them on the bus in the morning, I will also be there to greet them off the bus and accompany them on their after school activities.  It’s a juggle and a big change, but after seeing Rob do it so well this past year, I want nothing more than to “have my turn”.  As moments like this teach us, and as that crazy nosy stranger at Walmart has warned us "they grow up so quickly".  

And so next year is my year to embrace it all.  I don’t know how it’s going to go…but at the very least I suspect it will lead to more blogging opportunities...I’ll keep you “posted” :)