Summer has come and gone, and it seems like an instant when you are buying and renovating a house for a move. It also seems like an eternity when you are feeling guilty about not doing the summer things you might normally do, like get away at some point to take the kids somewhere. July was all about Camp for Curie. This year Curie did Congo Camp the entire summer with two rounds of pony camp. Someone told us that we would be sucked into the pony thing the moment we bought pony toys. We likely won’t be able to afford riding lessons, much less a pony, but we are glad we are able to let Curie do things like pony camp. It was in 2016 that we first let the kids ride ponies in Toronto and it has definitely been something that they have loved.
In addition to pony camp, Curie has done drone camp (which ended up not being the most exciting of the camps), dessert camp, weather camp, space camp, taco camp and others in August. Dessert camp may have been the best in July, because Curie loves cooking and baking shows (America’s Test Kitchen is a show she loves to watch because she associates it with Albert), so the opportunity to make desserts and bring them home for the family, especially Elia was really wonderful. Weather camp may have been the least interesting followed closely by space camp. Next year Curie wants pony camp all the time. She rode Oreo and Charley for her ponies, and wanted to ride Lola.
Curie continues to be sensitive and caring and works to help and take care of Elia, sometimes to Elia’s chagrin. because of the new house, we spent a lot of time at Floor and Decor and Home Depot. We would bore the kids as we picked out tile and paint, though they did like looking at paint samples. We let the kids choose quite a bit with yellow walls and pink curtains, though the first time we saw the yellow walls, Curie cried because it was all Elia’s color, we reminded her of the pink curtains but she wanted to paint. She thought that picking out colors meant that she got to paint. The compromise was that Albert told her that she could put up a lot of paper along the bottom and paint pink dots and blue snowflakes.
While at Floor and Decor, there were bowl sinks on display and Curie gravitated to an elaborate blue sink. After a few visits we decided to buy the sink and let it be the center piece of the main floor bathroom, which we learned is the powder room. From there we let her design the bathroom (with our opinion of course). The walls are darker blue, marble white floor with a white ceiling. The bowl rests on a granite top on a white vanity and she picked out a princess/magic mirror for the wall. We plan to put frames all over the sides and the kids want to put wedding pictures in all the silver frames. We went so far as to get specific plates for the light switches and plugs. The kids love the crazy lights and did not have as much sadness about leaving the old house as we might have thought.
Blog posts have been shorter this summer because of the move and all the things associated with it, and we mostly recount what has happened, more than what was said, but we did have a great time. We went to see fireworks at the Iwo Jima memorial, we went to Lake Accotink, and Lake Bancroft. We had a lot of dance parties, and bought the kids ballet slippers for our new bamboo hardwood floors. The kids have been great and if it weren’t for them, the challenges of the move would have been much harder. We are one neighborhood over, in the same school district, at the same school. We own, instead of rent, and while we still owe until April on the rental, we are hopeful that it rents soon, so that we don’t double pay.
Curie starts second grade soon and did reading over the summer, but she also played and drew, and watched TV and shows and movies. It may not have been the big summer vacation, but we had a good time. Curie has been doing the double mic drop, saying “best _____ ever!” Dancing, posing, singing, finding her place as she grows. There are ups and downs, joys and sadness, laughter and tears – childhood at its best. Kids you are loved and safe, and we are trying our best to do what is best for you. Love, Mommy and Dada.