Muddin'

Mike, Shae and I spent the weekend in Flinton, celebrating 3 birthdays (me, Mike, Mom)... it was crazy hot, but we took the canoe out a couple times and did a couple walkabouts.  Mike got to meet Jett, my parent's 6 year old Lab - and we brought him home to live at the soon to be Salmond/Bennie household.  Shae is spending a week in Flinton, as daycare is closed... I know she'll have a blast - just look at her Sunday with Dylan!

WAY easier than trying to keep track of her.

Dirty!

More dirty!

Mud bath

Shae's holding her skirt up - to avoid getting it wet.  Dirty?  A-OK.

This and Also That

I'm a terrible summer blogger!  We've been up to piles though!

First of all, right after we returned from Nova Scotia, Shae went to see Beauty and the Beast on stage.  Gramma had bought us tickets for Mother's Day.  It was a great day - Shae rode the subway, we had Starbucks, saw a show and rode the train home.  Mike picked his girls up... and made sure to beep the horn A LOT to get our attention.  Even after he had our attention.  Clown.
Here's Shae on the train in her fancy theater dress:

The following week was Mike's 36th birthday.  I was REALLY excited to bake him a carrot cake, since apparently, there's this thing where he gets carrot cake on his birthday, then doesn't eat it for fear there are raisins.  This was a VERY CLOSE TO BEING A DISASTER.  I mean, seriously - look:

However with the brainstorming help of my friend Candy, I turned THAT carrot cake mess into this:

(We have a thing for Barbie cakes in this house.  A melding of traditions here.)

AND, Shae got Mike a card that showed pirate butt cheek - smiles here:

We spent a weekend at home - Shae doing thug like things... graffiti and beheading dolls and giving them a tea party:

Nothing creepy about this...

Shae started gymnastics, which after a slow start - wherein I actually participated...

(See how I'm too old for that shit?  I am.  I'm too old for that shit.)

... she eventually didn't need me, and a love affair with gymnastics was born.  She loves it - she asks about it every single day that she's not there, and it's a pretty effective thing to wield over her head, *ahem* bargaining tool.

And finally, my two animals at the zoo.

Nova Scotia

Sigh.  I can't even really post about Nova Scotia.  Every time I do, I get all teary and missing the EmMcDs and the Sarah_Ns and I say, "Another night".

I met Em and Sarah online, almost 5 years ago, at the beginning of my pregnancy with Shae.  A new pregnancy is a bewildering time, with questions like, "What can I take for my head cold" to "Why can't I poop" to "What the hell can I do about my toenails?  I can't reach."

In that way, with billions of mundane questions posted on an internet forum, we ended up forging an incredibly strong bond, one that has truly helped me face my day to day struggles without a partner.  Parenting is hard.  Parenting without someone to cry on is SO much harder, and in the absence of a support system, I found support in these women.

Now that we're old hats at parenting, with nary a concern about what the heck these spawn will turn out like, we mostly just talk about ourselves again.  You know, first time moms tend to disappear into the mom void... and we're emerging as people again.  It seemed like a great time to actually meet these women in person.  You see, Em is in Nova Scotia.  Sarah is another single mom in Calgary.  We just happened to have found each other on the great wide interweb, having our first babies, due in October 2008.  Here's my gals:

Sarah (R) Emily(L)

Em and Mike were gracious enough to host Sarah and Talulah, and Shae and I in Glen Margaret for 4 nights in the amazing totally off grid home they built last summer, essentially with their own sweat and blood.  Here's the Em clan in Halifax, on Canada Day:

From top: Phinn, Mike, Emily, Seamus

I think it's probably really hard for someone that hasn't lived it, to believe that true friendship and a deep bond can form via virtual means, but I felt immediately at ease.  We've talked about EVERYTHING.  Things you don't talk about in person with most people, because you just can't, you DO on the internet.  And the weird thing is - there was no weird thing because of it.   I love these people.  And I feel SO blessed to have spent a week with them.

Sarah and our 2 girls and I moved to a cottage at Oceanstone in Indian Harbour for the last 3 nights, thinking that doubling the size of Emily's family for a WEEK was sort of extreme.  It was a gorgeous cottage made better by playing house with a great friend. 

SO great a friend is she, that despite the first night of utterly wretched food poisoning, where I monopolized the one tiny bathroom in that cottage with HORRID THINGS HAPPENING TO MY BODY, Sarah did not evict me.  That, my friends, is love and friendship.  She didn't even complain of the noises... or the smells... hahahahaha!

I can't explain the whole week, but I've chosen some of my favorite photos from the week to post here. 

First flight

These two are her first day at the ocean (Queensland Beach).  She just loved the waves.  These joy faces make my heart swell.

Glee

Talulah and Shae's airport goodbye hug.