Rampaging Weekend

School
Tali went to school with his Opa on Thursday, which was apparently wonderful. He very much enjoyed himself, and got to share one of his favourite activities with his grandfather. I can't very much report on what happened there, but am happy to be sharing this schooling with my parents.

Camp
There was no school on Friday, because the rest of the kids were off at camp doing team-building excercises, etc. It was just too expensive for us, and I knew we'd spend the whole time on the sidelines anyway, because Tali simply does not participate in group activities like that, especially at a camp, where he'd feel out of place and uncertain about many of the new children.

Every year the Learning Centre families (and distance education families, etc) go to a local camp for the night, near the beginning of the year. We attended one of the two days, this year (not overnight), and found it quite enjoyable, although not worth the 96$ it cost us to attend. I think we're not really camp people.

The itinerary consisted of an assortment of stations (archery, clay-building, kayaking, bottle-rocket-making, etc, mixed up with a game of spy-catcher, breakfast, lunch, and even a camp-singalong during lunch. Most parents didn't even bother to sing along. I did my best, dancing around and being silly, while my own husband and children refused. It's really just not our thing, and they knew I wasn't sincere. Oh well.

The individual stations were fun, and it was nice to do things as a group with the other families, but all in all I'm certainly glad we didn't pay more to stay overnight in our cold wet tent. Although we wouldn't have had to pay as much as others, since we would have had to bring our own gluten-free dinner.

Of course we'll go again next year. It's a part of the whole experience, and to be fair, our kids had their first ever kayaking and bottle-rocket-making experiences, and that was wonderful!

Mama's Menstruating Week
Well, this is too much information for most people, I know, but we're trying to live our lives naturally, here, so I'm going to be up front about it!

I decided a month ago already that our weekly swimming trip will not happen on the weeks I'm menstruating, because I simply don't want to do it, then. Instead we'll probably go on another adventure in town, like a gallery, Chinatown, little India, etc. before circus school.

So today I woke up to the rain feeling miserable, crampy, tired, and plain annoyed that I had two-point-five hours in which to prepare for the presentation I'm giving to the older Learning Centre kids this afternoon (on family histories), and also go pick wild food with the kids. Mondays were supposed to be all about wild food and enjoying the cycle of life, together! We had breakfast, and then Tali said to me, "Mama, I just want to stay around the house and be quiet and have people do stuff for me, today." Well, um... yes I'd like that too, but there isn't anybody following me around doing stuff for me, so... well... OK. Let's just stay home this morning. Wild Food Day will have to wait until after the Learning Centre... or maybe even tomorrow. It will still happen, but we can't get stressed about all the projects we've given ourselves, or the benefit won't outweigh the cost anymore.

I'm not saying we just let things slide once a month when Mama feels miserable, but after 3 weeks of the hectic schedule, it's OK to give ourselves a bit of a break, too. The kids are learning about self-care, healing, and rest, today. And that's certainly important, too.