Edmonton, BC vs. Momar - Take 2

Well I want to start by saying I am really impressed that I am typing this as my forearms are broken... When I say broken I mean "I couldn't hold my beer last night at the after party broken." Typing hurts...

So where do I begin.. Friday night maybe? The check-in at the Riding Fool was just as I remembered it, super friendly and sauna hot in the registration room. They did have meatballs and licorice for us to eat though so we quickly forgot the sweat dripping down our backs. We heard from our super top secret friends that there was a flagged trekking trail after the kayak leg so we thought it might be a good idea to take a drive down to Comox Lake.

We walked into the kayak companies setting up the kayaks and chatted them up a bit. We don't kayak... I did get on a quick little ride this summer once for like 15 minutes between our team mates and the kids. A dude named Mike was there from the Alberni Outpost and we asked him for some quick tips to help our chances a little. Not only did Mike give us some tips he pulled out the paddles and gave us newbies a lesson on paddling. It was so awesome and greatly appreciated. Consider this a shout out to you!! You rock!

We seen the pink flagging and went to sleep thinking we had a bit of a competitive advantage tomorrow.... Stupid Edmontonians....

We woke up painfully early and packed our bags. The weather was supposed to be all over the place... Typical BC island weather. We shoved our bagels in our mouths and made the drive down the mountain to Cumberland. 

The bike drop area was pretty cool. Tons of bikes and again super friendly volunteers volunteering to take pictures and wish us well. It was pretty chilly so we made the drive to the lake and start line. We were a little unorganized to say the least. We couldn't remember who we rented our kayaks from and walked aimlessly around trying to find ours.

Amanda: "What's the name of the company Boris?"
Boris: "Sea Legs or something like that."
Amanda: "Are you sure it's not Seaward?... They have a lot of kayaks...."
Boris: "Umm. I think that's the brand name of the kayaks,"
Amanda: "Oh...."

We found our Sea Legs kayaks. Then kayak man eye-balled Justin and Boris and gave us our kayaks. There are very few occasions in life where I want a mini-man... This was one of them. He gave us the ginormous kayak. Stupid husband. It was like a tug boat for crying out loud. We got our paddles... Which didn't have the ability to off-set like Mike had showed us, and they cinched us up in our life jackets. Here we go...

We parked our bags and shoes on shore and carried our tug boats to the water. Boris and Elise had a smaller kayak but it certainly wasn't no Nacho Libre kayak like last time... Maybe we had a fighting chance at keeping up with them...

It was so windy on the lake! Our kayak kept going sideways and I kept getting splashed by the waves. We lost Elise and Boris before the race even started. Ready! Set, GO! We were off! I paddled my butt off and tried really hard not to coach or comment to my dear husband on his technique. I finally kindly asked him to move inland a bit as I was getting drenched by the giant waves. Well that was it, by the time we made it to the first buoy we were debating heatedly why we were paddling and going nowhere fast... People started staring at us awkwardly. At one point Justin offered kindly to switch places with me and let me drive... That was when I came to the conclusion:

1. I buy my own bloody kayak and take some bloody lessons or 
2. Never race a kayak again.

We defeatedly watched our friends get further and further away and just trudged on. 1-2-3-4 trying to keep a rythym. When the person manning the first buoy said we deserved a heroes medal for the the kayak we were racing I knew we were doomed. We just trudged along and with every paddle and blister made it closer to the finish. I knew this would be a hard section for us but like child birth, I forgot just how painful it would be.

I thought we were the only ones who "loved" the kayak section this much but apparently our team mates had discussions on why his wife was paddling like a princess :) He even wondered out loud if she was fake paddling.... But he said it with a happy tone and a big loving smile.... Apparently our team name next year is going to be The Beast, The Machine, and the Princess Paddlers... Not sure if I'm a fan of that one.

Ok... Sand off the feet shoes on, and "Checkpoint 1" complete. We were off and running. Thank God because that was my favourite part.. Until I wiped out hard core on a wet log and had random strangers turn around asking me if I was OK. I jumped up and ordered my team to laugh at me if I'm going to wipe out that stupidly. We left the beach with "Checkpoint 2" complete and followed the pink flagged trail. One word... WOW. It was the most beautiful trail I have ever run. It was tough, and steep, and unreal. We climbed and climbed and climbed some more.... We found "Checkpoint 3" in the crazy Ewok forest and made some friends. We saw two Ewok tribes, one with clown hair and the other with tinfoil helmets. From that point on we were on our own navigation skills. No more pink flags. I'm not sure if it was the beer from the Check-In the night before or if I was just drunk on the excitement of it all but I randomly bailed a few more times before making it out of that forest.

We popped out of the Ewok forest and onto a logging road to hang a larry and find "Checkpoint 4"!! We were on fire. It took us 3.5 hours to find Checkpoint 4 2 years ago!! We had a little cheer, took some photos and started booking it to Checkpoint 5. We were running so fast we blew right by the trail head to Miners trail. Thankfully a super helpful couple "Team 205" yelled at us to come back... THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!. We headed up Miners at Mach 1... Then we slowed to a fast walk... Then we started crawlking up the trail. During this time Team 205 shared with us the super motivating stories of where she dry heaved on the trail last year, where she puked, and the final point of a full on cry while she Hiked-A-Bike up that trail the year before.

Miners is where the first member of our team had a bit of a melt down. Justin started his "I hate running" pout. I should know better than to encourage... It didn't end well and I just let him have his moment. The unfortunate thing about the moment this time was that we lost the other two members of our team...

I should back pedal a little bit here and let you know about our team check. To make sure we were all together we would yell Marco Polo... Well after we finished "Checkpoint 1" they announced us as the team from Edmonton, BC. We decided to change our team call from Marco Polo to EDMONTON!!..... ALBERTA!! just in case those BCers got confused about what province Edmonton's in.

After Justin's moment we continued up the hill and tried our team call. After 10 Edmonton calls we heard no Alberta reply.. WTF!?!? We lost half our team!!... and our map!! We figured they'd notice soon enough we were missing and wait for us. Well we made it out of Miners and BAM! There was Checkpoint 5 and a smiling Boris and Elise. It was a beautiful lake and I gave the hubby a big hug, so proud that he made it through that climb... and his moment.

Well he was full of renewed ambition and started booking it down to Checkpoint 6. Boris kept trying to take pictures of buckets of blood and crap and Justin was running down the mountain like a cheetah chasing his dinner... AKA... headed towards his mountain bike. I was doing everything to keep up with Justin and he ran across the bridge that had so much give that he was nearly catapulted off. Of course Justin and I had to stop and have some fun with that.

Justin: "Hey Boris!"
Boris: "What?"
Justin: "You gotta run across that bridge as FAAAAAST as you can!!"

Weren't lucky enough to see him fly off the bridge but Elise and Boris tried to get some funny bouncy pictures on it.... That is definitely why we didn't get 1st place.... I am sure of it.

We got Checkpoint 6 and ran down the Off Broadway trail... I must say I really do love running downhill. I'm happy, my team mates are happy, and its easy. We got Checkpoint 7 and busted it down the logging road to Checkpoint 8. The men were so busy stopping and analyzing every trailhead along the road... So annoying... Us ladies at one point just stopped to turn around and wait for Sherlock Holmes and Watson to figure it out. The most ironic thing was we must have looked ultra pathetic because everyone who ran/rode by us felt the need to tell us where the trailhead was. So when the men finally caught up we were able to say look geniuses lets go!!

Yay!! We made it to Checkpoint 8 and then into town at Checkpoint 9, the bike transition. Let the fun begin... for some of us anyways. We had a quick snack and headed back to the great outdoor wilderness.... And to the beginning of modern day hell............

We pedalled hard and smack into team mate meltdown #2. Elise is more subtle than us Fex's. She just made a quiet comment about not being able to keep up and having to walk the hill. There was something said about our 29" wheels being faster I think. Either way soon after Checkpoint 10 we were all on even ground.... Let the HIKE-A-BIKE begin.

We really did start the stretch between Checkpoint 10 and Checkpoint 11 ON our bikes but quite quickly ended up walking beside the bloody things. We walked... and walked... and walked and OH we can pedal... 25' later we walked again... and walked... and every corner we turned it was more uphill. I had a bit of a meltdown somewhere on this road... By road I mean crazy overgrown creek bed with plenty of fallen logs and other crap on it. I started cursing randomly something along the lines of:

"YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME!!!"

Then we made it to the Wookie's arsehole... oops I mean the Wookie Toothpick trail. I felt like I was in the Northern Alberta muskeg. That bloody trail was unrideable. Not for lack of trying. I wiped out I don't know how many times on this trail. I got stabbed in the kidney by an old stump and 2 minutes later went flying over the handlebars as my front tire droped in some sloppy hole. Luckily I am well trained and was able to do the classic suspend in mid air Matrix move and land on my feet. That was the only graceful wipeout of the day. We at least had the company of Team 205 and the Amish Circus up there. They made the torture a bit more bearable.

We finally... after hours of climbing made it to Checkpoint 11. I'm sure I wasn't the only to feel the need to comment on that stretch of the race... I can only imagine the looks on all the racers faces coming up to that Checkpoint. Poor volunteers... It was longest HIKE-A-BIKE stretch I have ever done. When the race said there was mountain biking I assumed it meant that it involved riding the bike and not walking it. But all was well we made it through the hard stuff right?! It was going to be some fun riding now!!

Down the road we went to CheckPoint 12.... and BAM!! We hung a right to........ ANOTHER CUSSING CLIMB?!?!? I think at this point I was ready to murder someone. I felt better knowing that some teams weren't even going up the hill. They claimed defeat... Not us though!! We trucked up there one foot in front of the other. Ride - Walk - Ride - Walk... and after walking past all the parked bikes on the road made it to Checkpoint 12!!! My husband didn't get off his bike. He was hell bent on pedalling right to the Checkpoint. What makes this so awesome is that he had a classic "Forget to unclip his shoes from his bike" wipeout in front of absolutely everyone. I think it was because he was so distracted by the case of beer he saw up there. Our Euphoria was short lived as we missed the cutoff and were unable to do the second trekking stage. We all had a moment of silent grief... and silently wondered what the volunteers would do if we just took off up there. Then with resignation hopped back on our bikes and carried on. We are all serious sore losers...

I think the fastest point of our race was getting to Checkpoint 18... We did have to laugh at Checkpoint 18 being the buffet Checkpoint. The pathetic thing was we were so bloody exhausted that we had trouble enjoying this final part of the race. We did enjoy the snacks and water as we had run dry before Checkpoint 12 and were pretty thirsty. The chocolate bars were really yummy too.

Then we got on our bikes and started riding again. Say What?!? We finally got to ride the "EPIC TRAILS"? We were so bloody tired by then that it was not nearly as EPIC as it should have been. We got Checkpoint 19, and 20 without issue but we did have to stop a few times. Once Boris's leg was seizing. I'm sure he had a moment... He'll never admit it though ;) Us girls meanwhile, were riding down the hills kami kaze hoping not to Endo because our legs were spasming trying to get our arses back behind the seat. I'm not a strong rider by any means and was falling over on pebbles and twigs on the Crafty Butcher... yes the Crafty Butcher. I had a little cry there because my riding performance was so pathetic and I was soooo sick of eating dirt. We were just all so done. Except Boris... He was still super happy.... I think he is an alien from another planet like the movie "The Host" or something. We reached Checkpoint 21 and rode the final stretch back into Cumberland.

We hit Main St, parked our bikes and ran together through the finish line. Yes ran. It's hard to believe we still had it in us. I loved having the finish line in town this year. It was super cool to see all the people watching the finishers run though. I had to choke back a few tears once we crossed... I was not going to be the weak one on the team. I'm way to hardcore for that but I was so happy it was done.

We hung out at the finish line for awhile and got to listen to other people's tales... And we started feeling better about ourselves. I don't know if it was because other people struggled as much as we did, or if it was because we were eating Nutella sandwiches and licorice. Either way life started looking up again. We eventually waddled our way to the car to get to the hot tub and soak or pains away.

I don't think I had ever been challenged quite like that (from what I read the MTB climb was 12 km with an elevation gain of 500m). I will hang that bloody medal on my mantle to remind me of the HIKE-A-BIKE event that Momar hosts on Vancouver Island in September. In all seriousness I just have to say though that Momar is one of the best and most challenging races I have done. The volunteers are amazing, the participants are so encouraging, and the scenery is gorgeous. Thanks to everyone who puts in all the effort to make it the stellar event that it is.

I also have to give a shout out to my team. You guys make the experience. I had so much fun this year and know it was because of the team mates I got to share it with. We make quite the gang!! Thanks for doing this with me.

Momar Take 3... Here we come!

Big Sister Verity

I can't get over how special the relationship between Verity and Elijah is. She loves that little guy so immensely it makes me teary eyed. She never loses her patience and never gets sick of him. She goes to him when he first wakes up to say Good Morning. She is always greeted with an adoring smile. He just loves her. She comes home from school and her first question is "Where is Eli?" She plays with him throughout the day. She is a in-tune with him as I am. She is certainly his second mother. They truly have a magical relationship. She feeds him, she holds him when he cries, she makes him giggle. She was actually the first one to do that. She changes his diapers (not the poopy ones). And plays games with him. It is an amazing thing to see, this special bond the two of them have. I cannot wait to see how it grows. I love you Verity.

Seb's Kindergarten Christmas Party

So I drug Eli to Seb's Christmas party this morning. We made teddy bear pastries. All I can say is WOW!! 16 boys in that class is intense! They are all little leaders too. I have to give kudos to the teachers. It was also a pyjama party. Made sure Seb wasn't wearing his rear end hanging out pyjamas. He also had to bring his biggest teddy bear. Kids get so excited when Mommy or Daddy come to school with them. Verity even poked her head in to see Eli. It is so amazing how much she loves that little boy. It was a fun day...

Eli's Tooth and Other Things

Elijah has a tooth. It's the tooth that when facing him is on the bottom and on the right. I know it seems silly but those darn baby books want all the deets. He is sitting now.... Mostly. He topples over into a face first belly flop often requiring the need for a pillow fence. He is a quiet little guy. Doesn't say to much. Strange... It's like he doesn't know he's a Fex. He does wake up at the crack of dawn so he has that figured out early. He's sleeping from 7:00 pm to 5:00 am. It's hit or miss whether I can get him back down after that... Today was success. He went back to sleep until 7:00!! Yahoo! He's quite roly poly. Cutest leg rolls and chubby cheeks. I have to squeeze him into some fashion jeans. He's scooching backwards now... Is that a term. He use his hands to push himself backwards while on his tummy. It is actually silly because he continually pushes himself away from the toys I have put in front of him. Still bald with a little whiff of hair out in front!

My Crazy Child Sebastian

I am sitting here listening to my 5 month old Eli yell (not cry) at me to just look at him. He is in the need interaction at all times phase. Love hate thing I think. Today though is not about Eli as much as it is about Sebastian. He is one dense crazy little dude. I feel like I am yelling at him all the time because he suffers from the in one ear out the other syndrome. I have resorted to taking every possible thing away from him. Toys, TV, iPad, Dino, and friends... Still I struggle. Verity was easy because she had a currency. It was the end of the world to lose an item. Well with Seb.... he really could care less. As I am packing away his toys he makes a point of helping and reminding me of where other toys are that aren't in the immediate area. "Mom don't forget to take away my hot wheels toys that are in the bath tub. I think the garbage man will really like those..." Seriously!! I was driving down the freeway with him the other day and he is reaching over dangerously trying to shove Eli's soother in his mouth. I say, "Sebastian honey, don't do that because it is dangerous. It's ok for Eli to cry." Seb, "Mom... It's too late. I'm doing it because Eli is irritating me." Couldn't believe it. Made me giggle. I have turned into the Mom that has the child 10 ft behind her while walking through the grocery store because he won't keep up. I hated parents like that when I was kidless. He is just so bloody slow and distracted by every little thing. I love that he is so inquisitive but he is impossible!! We were leaving Superstore yesterday and he asked me if it cost $1000 bucks. I said no not quite and told him it was about $300. He was like... " Oh that's cheap!" I said "No Seb that is still quite a bit of money." Very matter of factly Sebastian tells me: "Mom you should shop at Wal-Mart because it's WAAAAAYYYYY cheaper there. The TV said so" All the customers in Superstore got a good chuckle out of that one. Every day is a new adventure with him. I love him to pieces!

Momar Cumberland 2011

One crazy day about 8 months ago, a couple friends, Boris and Elise, decided it would be super fun to do this race in the mountains, down on the island. It was called Momar, and of no the 30 km Sport course wouldn't do... we definitely had to do the 50 km Enduro course.

The race included kayaking (never done before), running (right up my alley), and mountain biking (never mountain biked in the mountains). Oh yeah I was ready.

Here We Go...

I was so nervous. It was awesome as I haven't been nervous like that in a long time. We drove down to drop our bikes off at the bike drop and there were sooooo many bikes (remember this sentence). After some test rides we were off to the race start at Comox Lake.

The Kayak was the first leg. I was so jealous cause the kayak Boris and Elise got was named the Libra XT and it was neon pink. It was definitely a faster kayak than ours... Their exceptional kayaking skills had nothing to do with it, it was all about the libra...

We got our map about 45 minutes before the race and it looked not to bad.... maybe...

"OK we can do this no problem" we thought.

With 10 minutes to go we hopped into our kayaks and headed out to the start line on the lake. I smacked one of the sponsored team players in the head with my paddle by accident on the way out. I joked about it being to help my competitive advantage... He didn't find it very funny.

The horn went and we were off. For the first 5 km I felt like a snake on the water. Our 5 km was more like 7 km with Justin's stellar steering ability. It's easy to lay blame about why you are sucking until one of race marshal's at the first buoy yelled at me to flip my paddle around because it was upside down... That was embarrassing. I'm sure Justin was gloating in the back but he was nice enough to keep his mouth shut about it.

We made some ground after the paddle correction and felt like a rocket on the water... Again, we were crushed when a fellow kayaker made a comment about how well were doing considering how brutal we looked!! He must have ruined our mojo because at that moment Elise and Boris took off. Apparently Boris wanted to beat some dude up ahead and he is VERY goal orientated. Well they might as well have been reading magazines and drinking coffee waiting for us to finally glide up on shore. 9KM and Checkpoint 1 done. Who'd a thought we could kayak 9 km!

Oh yeah, as we headed out the announcer made a point of saying "Oh you're from Edmonton?!?! You're going to get your a$$es kicked!!"

The run was now on. We switched into our running shoes and were off! We ended up following a group to some new trail created for the 1st checkpoint and it was a 2 km climb up to the summit of one of the mountains. It was a lucky shot as we got the lead on a bunch of teams with this little shortcut. We followed the Kootenay Chaos team as they were bright red and hard to lose. All I was thinking while we climbed was oh my, what the cuss have we got ourselves into. We got to the top and Wuhoo!! CheckPoint 2!! On we continued. We were doing awesome!

Again, more up... and down... and up... and lots of single track trail... but again luck was on our side. We found CheckPoint 3 no problem. Still following the wonderful Kootenay Chaos team.

We were on a role! We jumped out onto a gravel road and followed it to a T where we went left.. That is what the map said... That is what the map said... Well the road ended. It was supposed to be a long road and it just ended. All we saw was a huge wide open pit of old fallen lumber. We had two choices. Run back, or push through and hopefully the road picked up further down. The race instructions did say there would be bushwhacking involved. IN WE WENT.... Along with many many other teams. That is when the race took a turn for the worst.

Well it was pretty exciting at first. It was pretty thick bush but there were lots of teams in the there to enjoy the bushwhacking experience with. There was no road, no trail, nothing that resembled anything civilized. By the time we realized that we were hopelessly lost there was no turning back. And well all those teams that went in were no where to be found. Out came the trustee compasses. Thank God we "You Tubed" How to Read a Compass Without a Map. We were so incredibly lost. We were stuck in the bushes for 3 crazy hours!! 3 Hours!! It was getting a bit desperate. I'm not going to lie. I was starting to panic a little, wondering how warm those emergency blankets would truly be late at night. The bush was so thick, all our shins were bleeding from plodding through. I started randomly plowing though bush because I wanted out SO BAD!! Elise said a prayer thank goodness because not seconds later we heard voices from heaven...

"Hello!!" said too friendly voices calling for help. (Thank you so much Lynn and Kathy!!)

It was another team just as lost as we were. And amazingly it was a local team who knew the trails in Cumberland like the back of their hands... you must be asking how they were as hopelessly lost as we were. Well we weren't on trails. And ultimately they made a mistake on the map, which led to all of us to get lost... And just as a shout out, this team won Momar Burnaby too, so they were the best help we could have asked for.

With some investigation, and emergency compassing, we quickly realized we were not at all where we thought we were. We were at least 2 km off the course. We were barely on the map! Well we headed north finally and after a tense 3 hours WE WERE OUT!! I can say with certainty I have never been so happy to see a trail. I wooped with joy and almost kissed the dirt. And with amazing luck we popped out on the trail not even 30 metres from the trail head to CheckPoint 4.

Now this is where running into our new found friends was great luck. Now that we were on the trails, they knew exactly where to go. We ran through the trails and got CheckPoint 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9. (They eliminated 8 because surprisingly, all the teams were behind due to getting lost). I managed an epic wipe out during this stage. I accomplished the face plant, feet over head, dirt eating wipe out of epic proportions. So bad that no one had the balls to even laugh at me. The only thing hurt was my pride thankfully and off we continued.

We finally made it to the bike check with seconds to spare. There were no longer lots of bikes, there were 2 bikes besides ours... That might help gain an appreciation for how long we were lost. We spent 22 km in the BC bush and trails.

We hopped on our bikes and raced to CheckPoint 11 hoping to make it before the cut-off time. We so badly did not want to miss any checkpoints. Of course it was all up hill. Of course the the checkpoint was up, up, up. Of course Justin decided to take a shortcut and head up a trail as opposed to continuing on the log road. About 5 minutes into the climb, walking my bike up, I wanted to kill him. It was so steep I could barely get my bike up. We were all dripping sweat and cursing under our breaths, except of course Boris, who's positive encouragement was spewing out to keep us all going. I wanted to throttle him... The trail was so ridiculous that even the checkpoint volunteers were laughing at us for trekking our bikes up it. They commented on the interesting choice we made to get there.

We unfortunately didn't make it and were forced to skip CheckPoint 12. It was disappointing but we didn't have time to pout because we needed to make it to 13 before we got cut-off again. The mountain biking was amazing. It was everything Justin and Elise dreamed of. I was crapping my pants. There were crazy bridges, huge logs, jumps, and we even rode through a hollowed out log. It was awesome. The only person who didn't wipe out was Justin. I wiped out over a hundred times I swear. I need to share a few epic wipe outs before I continue on.

3rd place - Of course me. I went to hop up on my bike after falling down, forgot to take my hands off the brakes and toppled over face first into the bush. That takes the super embarrassing wipe out award. Keep in mind we were all super exhausted by this point.

2nd place - I was trying to pedal through a tree, literally. and got stuck coming to an abrupt stop. I'm not sure what the heck Boris was doing but he came in from behind screaming like a school girl, rear ended me and both of us toppled over in a heap of bike medal.

1st place - Elise had a near death experience, I must say. There was this crazy descent, and I honestly think Elise must be missing some brain cells because I said to her before she attempted it,

"Please don't die...."

She starts down the huge descent and makes it about halfway down with no problems. Then all of a sudden the rear tire starts lifting and Elise, like a cheetah jumps over the front end of her handle bars lands on her feet and then proceeds to turn around preventing her bike from rolling down the hill. It was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen. She deserves some special award for that recovery I think. I am forever in awe.

We made it to Checkpoint 13, 14, 15, and got to 16. Again, they told us we had to skip 17 and 18. By this time we were doing this on principle. We were completing this bloody race if it killed us. We raced our bikes to 17 and managed to get it. We had to skip 18 because we had 20 minutes to finish and needed to do the orienteering stage.

Orienteering Stage Details:

Got to orienteering start, received the map, looked at eachother, said Fu@k it, and crossed the finish line with 17 minutes left to spare. We had done more than our share of unplanned orienteering for the day.

We had no idea how we placed or whether we had even completed properly but we had 7 hours and 42 minutes of solid, crazy, BC adventure including a lifetime of memories and fun I will never forget.

P.S WE GOT 3RD PLACE!! Take that "We're going to get our a$$es kicked!" We rocked it.

Thanks Elise, Boris, and of course my amazing husband Justin for an amazing experience!

Verity's Adventures in Grade 1

Grade One is three months in and Verity is in full swing. She has had many adventures in her exciting new class. I thought I might share a few hair greying moments.

She has already been a visitor to the office... I picked her up from school that day and not two steps outside she looks up at me and says. "Mom, I have to tell you something and it's very bad..." I looked at her and she said "I got sent to the Principal's office Mommy, DON'T BE MAD!"

Apparently there is a 4 strikes rule in her classroom and she felt the need to test it. In reality there was no big offense, just an accumulation of little ones. Lost her toys for a week though.

We've had tp make several trips back to the school for forgotten coats, mitts, hats, shoes... The list goes on.

I had a letter from the teacher telling me this little story.

Verity has been asking the teachers during recess to go to the bathroom. Once inside Verity decides to spend the rest of the recess in there. She is disrespecting the teachers by not returning outside, having them worry about what happened to her. Please discuss with her the subject of respecting authority.

Well when I asked Verity about this I found it hard to be mad at my crafty little 6 year old. "Well Mom, it is really cold outside, and my hands were freezing. I go inside to stay warm. Why can't I do that?"

As much as I can appreciate that we took her bathroom privileges away at recess and before school. Damn parenting.

There was also the bus incident. Stacey phoned me one day asking me if Verity was on the bus. I was worried because the bus was quite late and Stacey wanted to verify that she was on the bus that day. It turns out, the bus driver, Shelley, had to stop several times because Verity wouldn't listen or stay in her seat. My god, does it end. Lost her TV privileges for that one.

And most recently was yet another note from her teacher:

Verity only received 2/5 on her latest spelling test because she looked at her agenda to spell the first 2 words.

Of course Verity's response to that one was "Mom, I didn't know we were allowed to peak..."

After a deatly look in her direction I got "What if I forgot that she said we couldn't look?" Well, we are running out of things to take away.

On the bright side, Verity is reading in front of some fellow students and parents in the library at lunch today. When I reminded her this morning, she started to cry...

"Mom I can't read very well. I am really nervous." Tears rolling her down her face.

I asked her how she was picked for this task because only 2 Grade One students were chosen, "The teacher asked us and I put up my hand." I just didn't know what she was asking because she said it in french." Oh lordy, that's my girl, act first, think later.

I love that girl with all my heart because it's this adventure that keeps me young. Let's see what the next three months brings.