Autumn in Vancouver

For some reason I am having a really hard time adjusting to our new life in Vancouver.

I don't like the traffic both in vehicles and pedestrians or the extremely busy schedule we have had since our arrival.

I have been trying to find some peace, quiet and tranquility.

It has been very difficult. 

The one thing I have been enjoying is the beautiful fall colours and mild weather...

 

I have been struggling with the question...what do you do when you spend years working towards something and when you arrive it is not quite what you were expecting. I may be experiencing a little of the "be careful what you wish for" blessing/curse. 

For now, I am practicing patience, perseverance and tolerance.

I am trying to appreciate the beauty that is around me and I have been focusing on my studies. As I am reminded daily by signs all around campus, I am living in a "Place of Mind"...

I have experienced many changes to my lifestyle since I have been here both good and bad all of which take some getting used to...

I'm not sure what the next few years will bring, but I find myself repeatedly thinking about the saying: that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger...

I am hoping for the latter.

Looking East

This week our family has been feeling a little nostalgic.

 Maybe it's the craziness of my hubby's hours (he had a few days that lasted until 2am in the studio)...

maybe it's the beautiful September weather that still feels like summer...

it could be that we were stuck in the house for a day and the boys were getting restless and I may have mentioned once or twice how nice it was to have a large house with room to run around...

perhaps it was visiting the local beach and the only sealife we found was 20 or 30 tiny crabs and they were all dead (no hermit crab racing here)...

or maybe it's the fact that Lobster season is over and we didn't have any this year (all but one of us thoroughly enjoyed lobster seasons for three years).

 But, everyone in the family has been missing the Maritimes.

All of us.

 Every day for a week.

 I can't seem to get away from it.

 I pull a random book off the shelf and it is "Above Atlantic Canada", I grab another and it is Anne of Green Gables.

I turn on the TV and Chef Michael Smith is cooking "at home" in Prince Edward Island.

I apologize for the lousy phone photo, but that is me and my daughter and chef Michael Smith in PEI.

 I walk into the kitchen and my daughter is looking at photos on the labtop, scrolling through the past few years...

sigh...

and to top it off, just for fun I pulled up the MLS listings for our current location with homes starting around 1.5 million for a fixer upper...switch to the Maritimes and a similar house will set you back less then 100 thousand. With 1.5 million you can buy your own island or hundreds of acres, or an estate. I do love Vancouver and think the next few years will be a great adventure for our family. But, I am still dreaming of my farm...

and maybe some lobster.

Vancouver

It feels so good to be reconnected. I have a new internet connection that works and is fast AND a new computer that has more than half a screen!!! I am a happy girl. I have missed my blog.

The family and I have had a crazy busy month!

Two and a half weeks ago we arrived at our new home in Vancouver and spent a week exploring...the beach, the aquarium, the science centre, the hiking trails in Pacific Spirit Regional Park, Granville Island Market...and we have been unpacking and I have been working furiously away on my courses - one month to go and A LOT of work to do! I didn't get pictures of anything except our visit to the UBC rose garden

 which was beautiful by the way.

The hubby started school a week ago and is enjoying it but the hours have been CRAZY!

I am a little nervous about what the next three and half years will be like. But, as we always say the time will go by anyway and working hard will bring us closer to our dreams.

 At times we wonder if we are doing the right thing, our dreams are expensive, time consuming and often exhausting...but you know what, they are so worth it. Eight years ago we stopped and re-evaluated and decided to live a fuller life. Instead of just working to pay the mortgage and living for the week-ends we wanted to live our dreams and in the process we have learned and experienced so much! We are learning a lot about ourselves and what our priorities are and what we really want out of life. We have traded in security and stability but nobody said following dreams would be easy, if they were everybody would be doing it! I know that if we continue to work hard and move towards our goals we will get there...we just have to have patience. I have been making plans for my future this week and working out details on what I will be doing. Although it will still be about a year and a half before I finish my degree...all else on hold until I can get that done. (except I do want to get a new camera sometime soon and practice and play with that. We will see.)

I read somewhere once that the species that survive are the ones that are most adaptable to change...I like to keep that in mind and often repeat it to my kids...I have had a bit of a mutiny around here and two of the three want to go to school this year and have convinced the third to go along with them. So, no homeschool for me this year. It will be a good change. They want to meet some kids in our new area and I will have some one on one time with the four year old which we have never had. So, I just keep rolling with the waves as they come.

For me a life of change brings challenges but also keeps it fresh and exciting! I never know what is around the next bend in the road...

but so far, things keep working out for the best.

Summer has been great and full of memories; fall is just around the corner and I can't wait to see what it brings!

Pacific Spirit Regional Park

While we were in Vancouver this past week-end the family and I decided to do a little exploring in the Pacific Spirit Regional Park. There are trails that begin literally steps from our new home. We LOVED it and are really excited to have such a large (763 hectares) park just outside our door.

We loved walking through the lush woods feeling like we were out in the middle of nowhere...even though we were in the city.

We spent over an hour walking through the trails, enjoying the wildflowers...

It was a beautiful sunny day; but it was nice and cool in the park.

Parts of the park are dark and lush while parts of the trails are out in the sun.

We walked and talked and laughed...

and spent the day enjoying each others company. I love when we find an activity that we all enjoy!

In addition to hiking we did something we have never done before...

We foraged for food!

There were a few different edible berries in season that we ate as we walked.

The four year old loved the huckleberries. I was also really excited to share huckleberries with my kids. I remember eating them when I was very young. One of my earliest memories is from when I was about four and I was in the backyard sharing huckleberries with my pet goat. This week-end I enjoyed the first huckleberry I have had in over twenty years!

The boys were so excited to be eating "like bears" and we were all pretty happy about getting such a great snack for free!

We were also really happy about all the blossoms...future berries that will be waiting for us on our next visit...

and I am particularly excited about the blackberries! I used to eat them by the ice cream pail full when they were in season. This week-end I saw thousands of blackberry blossoms...I think we will be doing a little more foraging in August.

Old dreams...

Another week-end spent in our "new" house in Vancouver. We brought down a load of boxes (mainly heavy books). We are hoping to move down enough to leave us with a small uhaul trailer load for our final move next month. It is amazing how much we have accumulated over the past year.

I find that this summer I am looking forward to so many things...

I am finally getting a new computer! This one is so close to death...the screen has been slowly disappearing this year and trying to choose photos (or read words) when I can only see three quarters of a screen is sometimes quite challenging. I am also hoping (crossing fingers with eyes closed tight) that I can get a new camera this year. My little fuji point and shoot is not working for me...I have been trying to take more close ups and it does not want to focus, not on the macro setting or the manual setting and I have tried everything. It is getting to be almost impossible to get the clear shot that I want...and I keep mising all the kids smiles with the superfast speed of 1 photo per 5 seconds that I have been getting....ugh! Yes, a little frustrated with technology (or lack of it around here) lately. Soon...

I also have been surprised by how at home I feel in Vancouver. I have been wanting a farm for so long that I have forgotten how much I used to love going into the city.

A (very) brief look into my past...

I grew up just outside of White Rock on a small hobby farm...about an hour's bus ride from Vancouver. I hated the farm. I loved the city. Then my family moved to the Okanagan three weeks before my 15th birthday...to a larger hobby farm...about an eight hour bus ride from the city. I REALLY hated the farm, and I not so patiently awaited my eighteenth birthday so I could leave the country and head to the city. I dreamed of travelling, a corner office, a penthouse suite, power suits. But...that didn't happen. I had no money to move and other opportunities came my way. I became a travel agent hoping to travel and I did a bit. I thought that I had lots of time for the city, the penthouse, the corner office, the power suits...I had plans. But, then I unexpectedly fell in love and plans changed. I got married, kids came and what I wanted or thought I wanted began to change as well. Eventually, I forgot all about the penthouse suite, the travelling, the power suits, the corner office.

I love being a wife and mother. I love that I have had the opportunity to stay at home with my kids. I feel so grateful that I haven't had to put my kids in daycare. I have loved homeschooling the kids and having them home with me.

But...

I find the more I go to Vancouver, the more I remember...and it is a little bit scary.  I am finding that I love both the country and the city. My wants are currently a little confused.

 I love UBC. I love that my hubby is going to Architecture school. I love that the kids and I will have so much to explore and discover.

 My eleven year old has decided that she doesn't want to do homeschool this year, she wants to go back to "regular" school (which she did for her first six years of school). I have agreed (being home all day with three brothers has sometimes been a challenge for her and I understand her wish to be with other kids her age). The boys still want to homeschool. I have agreed to this as well. I think we will have so much fun this year and it actually may be a little easier to find things to do that everyone will enjoy with just the boys at home. However, I am a little sad and will miss my girl at home with me and a little nervous for my girl who has spent VERY little time in a city or with city kids and because I know how difficult it can be living on student wages (nonexistent) in an area where many of the kids live in some of the most expensive real estate in the country; especially as she approaches high school and is new and wants to fit in. I also worry a little about the wanting to fit in bit.  But, I guess that is all part of being a parent.

Aside from worrying about my children's schooling I have been worrying about my own. As usual I am getting a little behind this semester (I always seem to be doing something major while doing classes). Moving is a recurring theme. And to top it off I am re-evaluating everything...

asking myself what is it that I REALLY want. Where do I want to be in five years...ten? Going into the city has really brought up a lot of old stuff for me. And as wife of a future architect (one who is really getting excited about all the possibilities in front of him) I am realizing that the farm dream may not be compatible with the architect dream. It is still a possibility for the future but probably not while the kids are still at home.

 So...this summer I am re-evaluating, making major changes and trying to figure out who I am and where I want to be...

oh and I am taking a bit of time to make some strawberry ice cream because I haven't forgotten about the important stuff!

Here's what's new in my corner...

This past week-end my hubby and I were able to sneak in a quick week-end away at our "week-end retreat"/rental townhouse in Vancouver. We emptied the Yukon of back seats and loaded her up with some of our things that have been in storage this year.
I had so much fun unpacking things I haven't seen in almost a year.
It was also one of the few times we have been away without the kids. We had a great time strolling around campus getting to know our new neighbourhood. (and I went without my camera...just to pay a little more attention to my amazing hubby instead of things like buttercups on the side of the road...although I still noticed them). We also did a bit of window shopping at the local Williams Sonoma and Anthropologie and Chapters and the MAC store and...I am getting a little antsy...the house is there...my things are being unpacked into it...now I just want to go and get settled in. A couple more months to wait...I am learning patience (just in case I haven't had enough opportunity to learn it yet).

Aside from a glorious week-end with no deadlines, no phones and nowhere I had to be, I have been acting as chief chauffeur...swimming lessons, soccer, triathlon training, fencing...(one of the reasons I was able to get a bit extra reading in this month). I always have a book in my purse.

We have also been trying to complete the kids schoolwork for the year (I am really looking forward to next year and the new selfdesign program we are trying). The six year old finished the required work at Christmas and we have been doing a few fun workbooks and sitting in on the eight year old's science lessons. The eight year old is a little behind so we are working extra hard to get everything finished which we should be able to do by mid-June. The eleven year old is done except for a science project on deserts and she is finishing up French 9. Our first full year of homeschool has been a great project and we have all learned so much. I think that next year will be even better as we find what works best for our family.

And our big news this week...

the eight (and a half) year old finally lost his first tooth! and I have a very happy boy...

the week-end

Back from our little road trip to Vancouver...

It was really nice to get away for a few days and spend some quantity time together as a family! I always love a few uninterrupted days with all of us together.

We picked up our keys to our "new" townhouse and tried to navigate our way around the city. While I do love visiting the city...I am not a city girl. I think it is going to take me awhile to figure out where everything is and how to get there as well as how to park our yukon in little tiny parking spaces. We did a lot of missing exits and backtracking but we did manage to find what we needed. I found the local natural foods market not far from where we live as well as a grocery store right on campus that also carries a lot of organics which was really nice. We found the local IKEA to pick up a few inexpensive necessities and also visited the Vancouver Aquarium...which was the highlight for our boys.

they loved the jellies...

and listening to the sea lions talking to each other...

and everyone loved watching the belugas.

We were all happy to find that our new home will be larger than our current home and my 11 year old is really excited to not only have a bedroom to herself but her own bathroom as well...and she is on a seperate floor from the boys. The layout is great...there is one little problem. It is really ugly.

these photos do not do the colours justice...the walls are (throughout the entire house) a lovely peachy/pinky/beige colour and we have dusty rose counter tops. But...at least I have a dishwasher...

All the trim is purplish/beige.

Now, normally, ugly wouldn't be a problem. My husband is a painter/interior designer/finishing carpenter/artist/soon to be architecture student. I love reading magazines and am very good at picking out what I do and do not like. We can renovate (even on a tight budget) when required.

The problem is...we are not allowed to paint. In fact, we can not change anything (light fixtures, trim, appliances...). what is worse, we can not put a single hole on any surface to hang paintings (a little bit of torture for an artist) or shelves or anything that would cover up the walls.

HELP!!! How am I ever going to make this place pretty? I am hoping that once all of our furniture (etc) gets put into place it will improve. But...I do not know how I am going to improve the colours or the lovely living room light fixtures!

I am trying to think of some kind of paper lattern/lamp shade or something that will be able to sit over and cover the fake brass...oh and note the lovely turquoise trim on all the windows. AH...venting.

ANYWAY...I really am grateful to have a place on campus and I just have to keep in mind that we ARE students and this is what student accommodations are...and be grateful that I have not had to look at this kind of decorating for my husband's first two degrees! I also now have a really big challenge to work on...which is good, keeps my brain functioning and Alzheimers does run in my family so it is important to keep that brain functioning...I knew there was a bright side in there somewhere!

We had a great week-end and are all excited to move, which is still a few months away while my husband finishes up working.

 I think spring is finally here to stay...my classes are starting up again in three weeks, I am finishing up the school year with the kids, making sure everything gets done...and I am really looking forward to another Okanagan summer with lots of fresh local fruits and berries...and canning!

I have a LOT to do!

Here's to a busy spring!