Animal Rescue Division

Be my light, Be my guide (L&L 2007 Flashback)

Can there be any greater source for that deep rush of familial love and energy than what a gathering™ such as an unschooling conference offers?

No.

Pre-teens scurrying up rock walls… a teenager doing battle with the evil Nightbane in WOW… teens guiding 6 year olds/ teens hugging their parents/ teens hugging each other/ teens hugging themselves… a four year old throwing Wii bowling strike upon strike…

There was also the joy achieved in standing back as your wife tosses arm length upon arm length (a futile attempt as it turned out) of raffle tickets into the draw for the “I am exactly where I need to be” t-shirt!

Beyond that, here are five key first hand experiences from L&L 2007:

Fergus the peripatetic puker: we introduced ourselves to the conference by informing the Centre’s staff that there was a rather large trail of fresh vomit on their carpet and oh, by the way, could they please lend us a few face cloths?

The Flash: we watched Diana attempt to take action photos of a posing Fergus that did not include accidentally exposed genitalia.

Uke Hero: we witnessed Martin and his wee Ukulele croon “The song of the temperance union” in a private concert (negotiations for future official talent show offerings are ongoing).

Dine n’ Dash: I participated in the hottest new game of the century… thieving cereal, yogurt, strangely-filled crepe-like thingys and other breakfast items for fellow conference goers sane enough to stay in bed - all completed with stealth precision, mere yards away from the legion of tray monitoring staffers.

The Hoverer: I laughed as “Lifeguard #4” did his little pectoral dance while standing at the ready, life-saving device in hand, a couple of feet away from two well-chaperoned 7 year-olds playing on the steps of the pool.

Slideshow (manual scroll variety)...

Meanwhile, on another planet

Fergus has inadvertently gotten himself into hardcore rock via this cool light saber montage which he has currently stuck on repeat... Stars Wars.

Rapid wardrobe change

Someone stole summer out from under us while we were away. Back to soaked butts of the traditional, west coast variety.

We're home now!

Yeah for cool, crisp non-humid air! Yeah, no more butt-sweat-soaked shorts (this is a common thing right?). Internet acccess has been spotty at best. The blogs have suffered. My Mario Kart for Nintendo DS prowess has benefited. This picture aptly sums up our two week holiday... shopping for toys in Target:

Columbia and Charlotte

The best part of the Riverbanks zoo in Columbia was feeding the dive-bombing Lorikeets and the massive goat-like beasts (or just simply "goats"!). Otherwise, yes, zoos continue to depress us. In Charlotte, we escaped the muggy-aired downpour by spending an afternoon in Discovery Place - a so-so entertaining child science discovery centre (I mean c'mon, "rat basketball"?... sheeple actually sit there with pom-poms cheering on their rat to score hoops!?!). A better time was had riding the glass elevator at the hotel.







Elevator Vid

South Carolina

We had a wonderful couple of days in Columbia, SC staying with the Lovejoys. Now there's a pretty darn amazing family for you. In a multitude of ways. Not least of which the fact that they welcomed us into there home immediately following their hosting of the Live and Learn conference (when they should have been sleeping for two weeks straight). Fine southern hospitality from people who "get" our little familial quirks (though I was secretly really hoping that Fergus would hug Ben goodbye when Ben extended his arms to Ferg... instead of kicking him, playfully, in the shins as he did).

Effie at the pool...


Fergus turned four while we were away. A birthday on the road - just like last year. This time we were better prepared.


The Lovejoys threw Ferg a birthday party complete with a Fergus favorite - breakfast for dinner. The b'day cake laden with worker vehicles was a massive hit as well.


Yes, Ferg did get some Max n' Otto-inspired star wars light sabre thingys for his birthday. Duncan graciously offered to sacrifice his body and test them out with a determined Fergus. Ferg has never seen Star Wars but his moves are pretty authentic -though perhaps more middle ages than whenever in the future that Star Wars takes place.

Asheville, NC

We spent a day last week checking out progressive, gay-lesbian friendly, vegan-filled, hippie Asheville (once again, just like home!). We made it as far as the lobby of the museum but opted to go have food instead... mmm Carolina bbq! The rest of our time was divided between the toy store, the candy/clothing store and the bus/cafe. Oh, and the kiddos ran around in circles in the inner city park - the one every city has where the winos hang out.

"Put on my boots and going down to Walters - get me some barbecue" (and grits!)...


We haven't been out to a restaurant back home for near about, oh, 4 years...


Fergus found us a double decker bus cafe...


Old fashioned candy store complete with Little House on the Prairie hats...

Jujyfruit

Soon we may just need to get on a more conventional schedule, but for now late night swims, 10:30 dinners at the local Waffle House (who can refuse a place with "waffle" in its title), and trips to the 24 hour grocery store to get all that American candy we can't find back home... suits us perfectly.

More Live and Learn

We're currently sequestered in the Quality Inn, Asheville, NC having family-wide, post-conference-stimulus meltdown. This is achieved rather easily... simply wake up the kiddos at the ungodly hour of 9:30 am (after a 1:30 am bedtime), drive around the conference facility (Effie walked - she was having seatbelt sensitivity), then drive through the village of Black Mountain but don't stop for any food for the kids cause the driver and navigator can't agree on what to do, where to park, or what we're doing in Black Mountain in the first place. After an eventful spin through the Asheville mall, by 4:30 pm three quarters of us are asleep. We knew this was coming. When you are surrounded by a hundred joyful, like-minded families you don't want to miss one second of it.

Effie saying "see ya - don't follow me". For a five day stretch we saw her while she slept, waved to her at meals and bumped into her once in a while.


Eff with kidnapping buddies Emma and Jayne


Fergus with one of Max and Otto's zipzap remote control cars. Fergus' on-the-road-birthday in three days will most likely feature some variation of this as well as light sabres thanks to the strong influence of our Chicagonian friends. We tried, with moderate success, to return the favour by getting them hooked on Nintendo DS.


More RC car chasing...

Live and Learn

Some photos from Live and Learn 2007...

This pic proudly displays my first attempt at tie-dying... hmmm:

Fergus and Max with some late night sabre action...

Effie's been busy selling her cards...

Ferg in one of his many instances of showing off for girlfriend Diana...

Effie danced on stage to the Bratz song with a gaggle of girls during the talent show. A first!

Blue Ridge Mtns

We arrived at the woodsy and secluded (hey, just like home!) YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly in the Blue Ridge Mountains, North Carolina last night. Actually, not like home at all - until we spring up a couple massive colonial buildings that is. We came the long way up from Charlotte as Effie's quest for just the right doll led us to a couple Target stores. In the end, she purchased a lovely horsey girl named Katie (on her grannie Kate's birthday to boot!). As of last night we had yet to move much further than the gaming lobby...

Travel day; three cities

Vancouver airport hotel


No more 3 hour Chicago layover... there goes the nice, leisurely meal at O'Hare's Wolfgang Puck's




Chicago


Authentic Chicago deep dish pizza and hot dog (erm... fast food variety!)


Charlotte, NC

Eastward ho

Itinerary for the next few days:
Ferry; Hotel; Wake up REALLY early; Fly; Hang out in Chicago for 3 hours; Fly; Hotel; Drive; SHINE.

Somewhere in all that there may be a whole lot of screaming. Fergus has a reputation as an airplane screamer and he may have more reason than ever to test people's patience. For starters, the lovely folks at Air Canada lost our eleven-months-booked-in-advance flights and we're now "officially" sitting in four different locations on our flight to Chicago. This obviously will not happen, but I do dream that the soon-to-be four year old Ferg will be seated between a businessman and a some sort of stodgy, aged gentleman. Secondly, he may be suitably grumpy and well-rested enough to exercise his in-flight lung capacity since he and Hamish managed to finds a wasp nest today in the forest and the minimum six stings Fergus received (and the resulting antihistamines) has at the very least given him one good night's sleep.