The Beginnings of Summer

I'm back, at least in this space. I was suffering from my "can't bare to blog" phase that I experienced last year. This time the Hubby took a European business trip which left me without my camera, and little time to dedicate to the blog. The past two weeks have been very busy and I have felt like I was living the life of a single mother while Daddy was away. I have renewed respect for all of you out there doing it alone !!

Well, Hubby is back, school is out for the summer for Chloe, and it's Father's Day. So, this post will be a little montage to all of the above...

First off, Alan came home with yummy gifts, and assortment of Swiss chocolate to last me through the summer. I'll be enjoying little pieces of them with my afternoon tea.



The Bee Sting...


Our busy days have lead us a camping trip, a talent show, a field trip to the beach, and a end of the year first grade picnic on the last day of school. This made for loads of excitement followed by exhaustion repeatedly for Chloe, Blake and I. The Bee Sting happened on the last day of school, at the picnic. I was busy photographing the salad the 3rd graders picked and ate from there garden plot, when a Mom came over holding Chloe who was really in pain. We looked at her bare foot to see that something was in it...she had stepped on a bee. I have to admit my mothering skills didn't quite kick in.. I felt kind of helpless actually, trying to pull out the stinger. What happened then was really wonderful, one mother came over and immediately got the stinger out, and brought ice to put on her foot. Then another Mother offered to run home and make a baking soda paste to draw out the poison, (you can see it on her foot in the image), by the way it works really well. Another Mother came with drops of rescue remedy which immediately calmed Chloe down, and then there were all of Chloe's classmates, who came by to rub her back, or tell there bee sting story, which all sounded way worse than what Chloe was experiencing. Then there was Aiden, who sat next to Chloe with a huge plate of cookies, waiting silently for her to take one. Poor thing, she wouldn't even eat her favorite treat, I knew she was really hurting. I have to say I felt so cared for, and so grateful for all the parents who helped us...all the way down to the Mom who carried Chloe on her back to the car to get her back to school. As I thanked one Mom, her response was, "It takes a Village"...and she is right, I knew that the best place to be at that moment was in the village of our school community. Chloe went on to school to receive her promotion certificate to Second Grade. She still was sad in the image. After getting home, and taking a well needed nap, she ended up being just fine, and we actually laughed about the whole experience later that evening. I think Chloe experienced the true feeling of gratitude that day, I know I did...


To start off our summer this week, both our Apricot and Plum tree have been bearing gifts of luscious fruits each day for us to eat. Every morning, we run outside to see what has fallen on the ground waiting for us to sink our teeth into them. This year Blake got to eat the first plum...he loved it. There is nothing like eating fruit from your own tree, I am so glad Chloe and Blake get to experience this as little people. What a delight ! Local readers of the blog, you should drop by our house this week, sit under our tree's and eat with us !! Check out the bowl that our fruits are in, that's one of two beautiful pieces of pottery that Annie gave me for my Birthday...



To all you Daddy's and Grand Daddy's out there, Happy Father's Day ! Thank includes my Father, who I hope is out catching the "Big One" back in Michigan on Drummond Island (he love's to fish), and of course to Alan, who always drums up a boat load of fun for the kids...