September update

Well another month has flown by, here’s what we've been up to.

Back to School/Starting school

Austin started Grade 1 on September 4. He likes his teacher and he's thrilled that his two best friends – Evan and Rachael are both in his class this year. So far, he seems to be doing well and is enjoying it and picking up a lot of French every day.

His school also offers lunch-time extra-curricular activities (brought in by outside sources) and Austin is taking a Claymation class once a week. It just started this week, but so far he seems to like it.

Alexandra started Junior Kindergarten on September 6. (Her school starts the Kindergarten kids slowly, hence her late-week start). It was a rough start for her, because even though she was excited to be going, there were many days with a lot of tears (by both her and mommy, although I never let her see my tears). It went on for about a week before she finally managed to through the doors without crying (thanks to daddy for whipping her into shape on a drop off day!). 

Now that the tears have passed, she's very much enjoying school. She comes home every day chatty about what she learned, songs she sang and with pictures for us. But she's pretty exhausted as well. Unlike Austin, who was in half-day Kindergarten for two years, Alex is in full-day Kindergarten (thanks to the government's new Kindergarten system). Six plus hours are long day for her -- especially since she never went to daycare so the longest she's ever been in a 'program' is two hours (preschool). I try to bring her home for lunch once a week or so to give her a little break, and to give me some company!

 Actually, I've been picking each of them up once a week and it's been really nice because it's given me some alone time with each of them For so long, it's always been the three of us wherever we went so it's nice to spend an hour with just one child. They seem to enjoy the mommy time too.


Western Fair
On Sat. Sept. 8, we drove to London to go to the Western Fair with Nana and Gramps. We had a great time. The kids rode the rides for hours (we got them each a play-all-day pass) -- to the point that they'd get off a ride and without looking over at us, would promptly get back in the entrance line to go again! We saw a magic show, which mommy got picked as a volunteer for, and the RCMP Musical Ride. In all, a fun day.

After spending the night at Nana and Gramps', we headed over to Grandpa's for lunch the next day for a short visit before heading home.

 Duathlon
On Sept. 22, both Austin and Alex participated in a duathlon. Alex had to run 50 metres, bike 1km, and then run 100 metres. Because she was in the youngest age group (3-5) she had to have a parent run alongside her. Well, she was so fast on the bike, that Ryan could barely keep up! And none of the other kids in her heat could either!

But she went out so hard and so fast, that about 25 metres from the finish line, she came to a dead stop -- complaining of stomach cramps. But she's such a trooper, that after a 30 second or so break and some encouragement from daddy, she soldiered on -- finishing first in her heat with a time of 9:54. The next kid in her heat (our friend Isla, actually) finished over a minute behind her. In all, she placed 14th out of 35 racers.

 Austin's race came next. He had to run 250 metres, bike 1 km and then run 500 metres. He did awesome -- going out hard and finishing strong with a time of 9:07. In all he placed 14th out of 24 racers.

Ummm....what else

Other than that, we've just been keeping busy. Ryan has been working a lot of hours. Ironically for me, work was extremely busy in August but slowed down considerably in September. I say ironically because in August, I had children with me every day and in September, I had a lot of time to myself. But I'm sure it will pick up again soon -- that's the nature of contract work. I'm also focusing on training for my half marathon on Oct. 14. So, expect updates on that soon!

Alex also started ballet earlier this month and seems to be having fun. Austin starts hockey next week.

I guess that's it for now. As always, here's the latest slideshow of pictures.