what we did on our summer vacation:

Someone asked recently what we did over the summer. That's a good question; what have we done? We've been around, mostly. My father has been in the hospital since the beginning of June, so that's been a bit distracting (he's doing far better now).

A weekend in Picton with father-in-law, a weekend on the farm etc [which I wrote about here]. Mostly, the same. The children were in three mornings a week up the street (the preschool ran a summer program which included slightly older children as well), so I could continue my attempts at work (which seemed to be mostly reviews and other housekeeping things, and not nearly as much writing as I might have preferred, but there you go).

The fall, at least, begins Aoife in five mornings a week of preschool, and Rose begins full-time school again, entering Senior Kindergarten. I want to get back into fiction. I have a poetry manuscript or two rolling around in my head (including one that I think I started last week).

About a month ago, I somehow realized that if we drove Christine to work, we could use the car for the day, thus making museums in the city some five minutes after opening, which meant the kids could run around near-empty spaces for an hour or so, able to watch the onset of crowds entering just as we were preparing to leave. We went to the Museum of Nature, Science and Technology (nearly next-door to where Christine works), including their Lego Exhibit (where Aoife refused to enter the Crazy Kitchen), the Aviation Museum and the Agricultural Museum, which we visited along with Monty Reid and his daughter.

Until this summer, I wasn't even sure where the Aviation Museum was. Although, until Christine and I had kids, I'd never actually been to the Agricultural Museum either (I mean, I grew up on a farm; why would I be going to an Agricultural Museum to learn about farming?).

We baked. We spent the occasional afternoon at Christine's cousin's place (they have a pool). They even watched the girls for an afternoon, so I could get a bit more work done. Rose, of course, spent five straight hours in their pool (getting out only once, apparently, to use the washroom). Once she has her lifejacket on, she can do anything.

Rose did a week of forest school (afternoons), a week of Science Camp at Science and Technology (full days), two different weeks of bike camp (afternoons: and she can now ride her bike like a pro).

We went to parks. We went downtown (so I could make chapbook covers). We went for ice cream. We redid our bathroom. We had a new shed built in our backyard. The children played in the wading pool. We went for walks. We baked. We saw my father in the hospital (taking children finally, once he was out of ICU and in one of the proper wards). Aoife has begun standing on tables and doing singing performances. Rose perfects her own ongoing performance as princess.

Currently we're making plans for the UK. Christine doing a bit of writing-research for a couple of days, so we're turning it into a bit of a trip. Child-free, naturally. I'm thinking about my two fall poetry collections (my Spuyten Duyvil book is already out; my Salmon book still forthcoming); I should probably launch those in Ottawa, right? I didn't even get around to launching my New Star title...