A new school year

Of course, after a big move comes the beginning of the school year  :0

Alexia began kindergarten this year so it was really a big back to school.  She was so ready and did not even flinch when it came time to going into her class.  We, the parents, got to meet the teacher.  Well, in our case, we met her privately since we missed the actual parent-teacher meeting!  We got the letter during the packing process and somehow thought it was at 2PM when in reality it was at 11AM.  Imagine my shock when I found out we missed it!  Anyweay, the school was very understanding and they were very accomodating.  A few days later, Cara-Li also started school, the 4th grade.  My Lord, where has the time gone!  And something new to manage this year... car-pooling.  Yup.  No more school bus.  Yikes!  Hope it goes well!

Alexia, first day of Kindergarten.

Cara-Li, first day of 4th grade.

The 3 car-poolers acting completely silly!  It's going to be rough year!

Pals!

End of School Pool Party

Why is it that when I was a kid, we didn't do fun things like this?  A girl in Cara-Li's class invited the entire class to her house on the last day of school for a pool party.  Boy, did they ever have fun!  Swimming, pizza and cake with all your friends.  It doesn't get any better!  Hope this girl is in Cara-Li's class again next year  ;) 

Alexia is going to school!

Alexia is born in late October so technically she is not eligible to go to kindergarten this coming September.  But the girl is ready.  So ready that I cannot see us keeping her back for another year.  So we decided to get her tested by a psychologist (which is required by our province) to see if she would be capable to start a year earlier without being detrimental to her.  So today was the big day and she scored quite high in fact.  In some tests she proved to be the age of a 5 year 1 month old (Alexia is 4 1/2), which is just enough to get her derogation but she also scored as high in other tests as a 6 year 10 month old!  So with this, Alixia is off to kindergarten this coming September!

Alexia's Is growing up!

It was a big day today for Alexia.  In the morning, we took apart her toddler bed and introduced the big girl bed.  Nothing exciting for her as she has been in a big girl bed at the cottage for quite some time.  What was exciting was building the Ikea bed!  She loved using that little tool they give you to build almost everything!

Here she is hard at work.

And now showing us the final results.

Today was also Alexia's first day at school, her second year at pre-school.  She just loves going there and is thrilled to finally be back.  Hope you have a good year Alexia!

August in Review

What can I say?  August is already over and not one blog entry.  Pathetic!  So, for posterity purposes, I will resume the month in bullet form (with pictures of course!).

• 
  
  Every year, we have what we call Fun Day at the cottage.  This year's theme was 'Toga Party'.  So, off came the white sheets from the bed bright and early on that Saturday morning and 4 togs were created.  We paraded around the lake for about an hour and then a hot dog lunch was served at a Director's cottage.

• 
  
  And then there's 'Pep Day'.  Don't ask how this day got it's name.  Our dear friends invite their entire family for a day at the lake followed by a lovely dinner.  Not sure why we are invited.  Guess we are considered family!

• 
  
  Then we attended my annual Italian Picnic that I help organize feeding app. 200 people spaghetti in the park!  Yup... that's always fun!

• 
  
  We also managed to squeeze in a week's vacation at the cottage for some serious R & R.  Time spent at the cottage really does recharge those batteries!

• 
  
  And then some of those quiet days are followed by some pretty eventful evenings.  This one particular evening, 'The Pizza Party'.  Basically, the entire lake is invited to this shindig where we all make our pizzas and bake them in the outdoor pizza oven.  Yummy!

• 
  
  And with cottaging comes lots of arts and crafts.  Can you guess which one is Cara-Li's and which one is Alexia's?

• 
  
  August also always brings our annual Chinese Reunion, this time Alexia's third.  And what a spot!  Wonderful place!  We rented 2 condos with 5 bedrooms each so space was not an issue.  It was on a beautiful lake with an semi-olympic size indoor pool complete with saunas etc.  A little bit for everyone.

Large living area to accomadate all 28 of us!

No trip would be complete without a repair of sorts.

The boys' version of the story...

... and the girl's version of the story!

Fishing tales.

How many men doews it take to BBQ? 

Answer:  All of them!

The Big Girls' table.

The Little Girls' table.

And the Big People table.

Come on guys!  It's time to have some marshmellows!

The traditional family picture.

And no trip would be complete without a picture of all the wonderful little girls! 

See you all next year!

• 
  
  Summer also brings camp.  Cara-Li did 5 weeks at the Montreal-West Day Camp but then decided to run away and join the circus!  That's right... she and her friend SQ went to Circus Camp for 2 weeks.  They had a fab time together!

• 
  
  For a change, we decided to have our friends V & J with their daughters SQ & NJ along with N & S with their daughter M and new son T for a summer visit at the cottage.  Unfortunately, the weather sucked and no fun was had outside.  Lots of fun was had inside though!

Despite the cold, the kids did play by the lake a little.

A little coffee-table dance never did hurt anyone, right?

• 
  
  There is always one day of the summer that somehow sticks in your head.  For me, it was the last Sunday before the start of school.  It was the most stupendous day, not a cloud in the sky and it just seemed that life could not get any better that this!

• 
  
  Inevitably, the first day of school does come around.  But Cara-Li seemed to fall right into the groove of things.

So there you have it.  See you in September!