The Rest of April - Walks, A Puppy, and Parks

April 9 - Walk

I wanted to walk and walk and walk and see how far we could get. Kate and I made it to Veteran's Point Gardens, at the bottom of Harwood. I loved the walk so much. Ken came and picked us up so we didn't have to walk home. Kate was excited to discover that some of the things along the waterfront that seem really far away by car, aren't actually that far on foot. 

Apr 18 - Park

Fiona is determined to go to every park in the area and do the monkey bars! I love how strong she is and how she loves to build her strength and push herself. It inspires me! This was a park we'd never been to before behind the Ajax Community Centre.

Apr 21 - I didn't really get a great picture of Milo in the snow, I took a funny video. There's always one funny snow day in April - the 21st is late this year!

April 23 - Being on a laptop or chrome book makes it easy to have class outside with the puppy! And of course school at home means playing with the puppy at recess. We finished off the day with a visit back to Miles Park.

April 24 - Rotary Park - three sets of monkey bars, two of which were a little too challenging. But the sky, the sunset! Goodness, I love where I live!

April 25 - I think it was this fun website I found that talked in depth about parks in Durham that led us to this neighbourhood at Westney and Rossland. Alice and Fiona had lots of fun at both parks. We saw a third that we want to visit another time.

April 26 - Scientist in the Schools - Fiona was SO happy! It was great. And then back to the same neighbourhood we were in yesterday, this time with Kate.

April 27 - Fiona and her pumpkin hat and our adorable little pumpkin Milo! After dinner we went to Mullen Park and the girls had sort of fun. They are funny and like parks to themselves sometimes.

April 28 - Fiona and I went to deliver a parcel to Carmen and McKenzie Pistritto to deliver to Suzanne and family on their mother/daughter trip to Utah. After the delivery we found a park around the corner with a crazy high set of monkey bars that was a little beyond Fiona's comfort zone.

April 30 - It's been seventeen days of Milo, and we are ALL in love!

A Spring Break Vaccine

Last week I found out that I was eligible to get vaccinated because I work in the community class at my school with special needs kids that don't wear masks. It was really confusing at first looking at the vaccine booking sites. I had no idea where I was supposed to book. Then slowly more information came out, that booking would open up next week and and that I just needed to wait. 

At 8:30 on April 13th booking opened up for York Region teachers that work with the community class. I was able to book a time for this morning at 9:50 a.m. in Markham. Ken came with me just in case.

The vaccination site was at a community centre at Markham Road and 14th Ave in Markham. It was so incredibly well organized. I had to show my documentation to a few different people, and answer questions and then I was sitting in a chair with a doctor. I had to sit for 15 minutes for observation after the vaccine was done. As I sat waiting it was hard to hold back tears. I just feel so grateful that I was able to get vaccinated. I can't wait until the vaccines are more readily available and this covid nightmare is over!

My arm was sore afterwards but I felt fine and I was determined to be fine! I drank lots of water and Fiona and I went for a bike ride.

I was allowed to leave at 10:12. I found the paper in my pocket when we were out for our bike ride. You weren't allowed to take pictures in the vaccination centre, or I would have. 

Ken mostly made dinner tonight. It wasn't long after dinner that I just didn't feel quite right. I texted my friend Jodi who had her vaccine on Tuesday. Jodi said by the evening she was incredibly exhausted and had chills and a headache. So I'm taking two tylenol, going to bed and hoping that I feel better in the morning.

**Friday morning - I feel fine!**

A Spring Break Meltdown

Fiona was excited about the dog. Alice and Kate were over the moon today. Milo had a great first night. He didn't wake us up crying and he didn't have any accidents inside the house. Fiona seemed to be okay, she was super excited yesterday.

Milo sure does love his dog bed which is good!

This is Milo's Dad - 100% Dalmatian

This is Milo's Mom Eva. She's a Dachsador, which is a mix between a Dachshund and a Labrador. We met Milo's Mom. She is a sweet pup herself.

At some point Fiona asked to go to the park, but just with me. I told her I'd take her to a park that she'd been to before but that she might not remember. I took her to Duffin's Bay Park. It's just south of Duffin's Bay Public School. We looked at a house on Bolland Cres. when we were buying a house, and if it weren't for that, I don't know if we would have discovered the park. We when came home I looked it up on my phone and realized the last time we were at the park was summer of 2017 when Fiona was four - hence, she did not in fact remember the park. Fiona had fun having me all to herself and she had fun playing and jumping and trying out the equipment.

After she'd played for a bit I asked her if she wanted to walk down the path to the lake. It's a really quick walk to the lake from the park, so we went to say hi to the lake. Along the way Fiona told me her secret - or at least, said she had secrets but wasn't sure if she wanted to tell me. 

After the park Ken and I went and picked up the Fit - no more snow tires! I made dinner and then it was YW for Kate and Toast Masters for Ken.

Fiona was in an increasingly bad temper and didn't want to talk about it. Alice wanted a blizzard from DQ and we needed a few things from the grocery store, so Alice, Fiona and I went to do some errands. I ran into Sobey's with the two girls in the car. Fiona tried to escape and set off of the car alarm. They figured out how to make it stop - I didn't know any of this until I came back. 

When we got to DQ there was a big mess of cars in the parking lot. We finally figured out how to get in the drive-thru line - after a confusing exchange with a Subaru. The Subaru driver ended up paying for our blizzards - which was so super nice of him. I wish there was some way to say thank you!

Fiona was getting more and more upset - in part because I made the decision for her at the drive-thru because she just said "I don't know" over and over again. By the time we got home she was not in a good state at all. Fiona and I sat in the car and she rage cried about Milo. About how she didn't want a dog, that she didn't like dogs, that she was afraid of the dog and that she didn't want to see the dog again, and she wanted it to go away. She cried with me in the car and then cried some more with Ken. She's not only upset about the dog because she is afraid, but also because she's jealous. She's jealous of all the love and attention that Kate and Alice are lavishing on the dog. It was good that she was finally releasing all of the feelings she had stored all day but goodness it made me sad. 

I reassured Fiona that she is more important than the puppy. I gave her lots of love and told her that she needed to give the puppy a fair trial, but I did tell her that ultimately her happiness is more important than the puppy. Then I told Alice and Kate that if they want to keep the puppy they need to pay attention to their little sister and help her not to feel jealous. 

Oh and the puppy peed in the house tonight for the first time. He peed at the back door where he goes out. So that's something, but also not good. Ah well. At least I didn't have a meltdown too!

A Spring Break Puppy

I honestly can't say what made me hop on Kijiji on the weekend and look for dogs. But I did. And then there were cute puppies available in Creemore, and I messaged the seller and she messaged back. And then today, the girls and I drove to Creemore to go see about a pup.

I prayed a lot to know what to do, and even had Ken give me a blessing. I haven't ever wanted a dog, but the girls, Kate especially have wanted one so very badly. I think feeling like we might stay off school after the break, and having a spring break with next to nothing to do kind of put me over the edge. (Oh and they announced yesterday that we are not going back after the break, we're going virtual again - indefinitely...)

I kept telling the girls before we went up and on the way up that we weren't going to get a dog for sure. However, picking out a name the night before, might not have been the best move lol. Once we got there the girls were in puppy heaven and decided that yes, we'd found our Milo.

Meet Milo Blue McCartney, born January 25, 2021. He's 1/4 Dachshund, 1/4 Labrador and 1/2 Dalmatian. He and his two brothers were available and I chose him because he seemed the most timid and reserved. 

It turned out to be a beautiful day. The drive back and forth to Creemore was pretty but long (two hours each way). The girls watched a movie on the way there, and part of a movie on the way back. The drive home was a bit of an adventure. He barfed three times - the girls were prepared for this because of an article I made them read, and had plastic bags at the ready. We stopped both ways at an Enroute on the 400. Little Milo was pretty terrified of all the transport trucks - and of course his first real car drive didn't help either!

So far so good. The girls are over the moon, and little Milo is pretty cute. Hopefully this all goes well. I couldn't sleep last night because I was so nervous at the thought of getting a dog, but I did feel some moments of calm and some quiet reassurance that it would all be okay. (I still feel a little nervous, but thankfully the quiet reassurance of the spirit is still there too!)

A Spring Break Birthday

When they started talking about cancelling/postponing March Break lots of people (teachers and parents) were upset. I was fairly certain that it wasn't going to be cancelled, and I didn't think it was too much of a big deal if it was postponed - I just hoped it wouldn't be postponed until the end of June - which it wasn't! When they announced that March Break would be from April 12-16, I was so excited - a lovely birthday present for me!! And the two weeks before the break were four day work weeks because of Easter, so all in all, I was just fine with that.

Ken and the girls let me sleep in (something the let me do pretty much every day - I'm usually always the last one up) and then when I came downstairs the table was filled with presents and flowers and eggs on gluten free toast.

I took a birthday selfie before I came downstairs, but I didn't take a pic of the table, which makes me a little sad!

The girls were so excited. They gave me candy and they all made me cute cards and coupons! I think Ken picked out my favourites and then they all picked which one to give me. I had told the girls I wanted a back massager, and Ken ordered one - yay! And Ken also ordered me socks. Not just any socks, but these awesome hiking socks. He ordered two pairs, I immediately put them on when they came in the mail today, these socks are divine!

I woke up with a headache which was a bit of a stinker and I didn't feel great. It was the girls first day of break so they were happy to just screen out and do whatever, so they left me and I binge watched Kim's Convenience on CBC Gem which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Later in the afternoon Ken and I went out to Scarborough. We popped in at Bluffers Park. It was windy and rainy and cold today, so we said a very brief hello to the lake.

And then we continued on to Jatujak to pick up Thai food for dinner. We also picked up McDonald's for the girls. After dinner we kind of hemmed and hawed about what to do. I wanted to watch a movie, but no one else wanted to, so we didn't. Then just before the daylight was completely gone (and it had brightened considerably, I told everyone I wanted to go to the beach and take some pictures. So we did. I'm so, so grateful for how compliant the girls are about taking pictures. They know how much it means to me, and they do it. I love taking silly selfies at the beach - anywhere really! I love my family so much.

We got back home at 8:30 and remembered that we hadn't sung happy birthday or had treats! So even though it was kind of late, birthday treats were had. Ken made chocolate mousse and it was so delicious. Ken and the girls did an awesome job making my birthday lovely. It was relaxing and good, with yummy food and good company. Happy 48th Birthday to me!