Happy Birthday to John!!!!

John turns six today! How crazy is that!? I don't remember turning six as a kid, but as a parent, it really feels like a milestone year. He starts grade school in the fall. He can add, and almost read. He prefers Nova to Sesame Street. He knows who Bob McDonald is. I can trust him with adult scissors. He's just so...grown up!


We were trying to pull a fast one on him this year, by holding his party on a separate day, and just not telling him. But he's been keeping a hand-made calendar to keep track of the days since Canada Day. It was more accurate than I thought, so he knows it's today. He had wanted a pinata, which we haven't had a chance to make yet, which is why we were trying to hold off - that, and we wanted it on Mike's day off, considering the number of late nights lately. So we talked it over with John, and we're again going to try doing two birthdays. We did it last year, with horrible results. He wound up freaking out, because he thought he was 55. (long story). But hey - he's 6 now, so it should be fine, right? He's calling today "a celebration of the day I was born", whereas the day of his party will be his birthday. Today, he wants hot dogs, and official Walchuk ice cream sundaes, which start with a bowel of ice cream, and about 12 toppings, and everyone gets to make their own. We haven't done it in at least a year - maybe two - so I'm surprised he remembered enough to ask for it. But it will give us time to make the pinata. He wants to make it look like Earth. I just can't wait to watch my kids smash the Earth with sticks. Maybe we should make it our new Earth Day tradition. We should fill it with florescent bulbs.

We're having a heat wave here in the Okanogan. Or maybe this is just the norm. I sure hope not! It's supposed to be in the mid-30's range until next Wednesday. It's actually not too bad, now that it's dried out. With all the rain, it felt like Southern Ontario around here, with it's sauna weather. It was so humid, we had mushrooms growing all through our yard. But it's dried out fast. I can see why people here live in fear of forest fires - it dried up almost overnight, transforming our yard from plush and green to brown and dry in just a matter of days. Now they're REALLY worried about wildfires, because the rain let the grass and underbrush get much longer that normal, and now all that fuel is drying out. So if there is a big fire this summer, it could get ugly. But for now, our big concern is keeping the kids cool. So we got out the little pool Auntie Vicki got for the kids, and set it up!

The first step was clearing the dirt pile that had collected over the patio stones. John had been building an ant empire. Sorry to the ants for destroying the hotel John had built for them.

It was a dirty job, but somebody had to do it.

But we managed to get all the dirt turned to mud and shovelled off, for a nice clean, clear patio. Our landlords would be pleased - and the kids liked the new pool!

It provided hours of fun! I think we better get a case of sunscreen for the summer. The bottles are turning out to be way, way too small for a family of redheads.