So I've been thinking lately that I need to write a post about what life is like here. Just the random things and what we do in a week. So here goes:
MONDAY - Hazel school, Mom and Dekker play group and keep house. Kyle Work.
After school Hazel has soccer. Then there is the nightly make supper, eat, FHE and bedtime rush. Kyle could play floor Hockey on Monday nights, but it seems like he has to work in the evenings a lot.
TUESDAY - Hazel school. Dekker and I play (biking, swimming, walks, soccer, baseball, toys)
do errands and normal at home stuff. Kyle Work. Most days we pick up Hazel at school at 3 and then we come back to our condo and play with 5-10 of the neighbor kids on the path along the golf course. Riding bikes, scootering, playing with sticks, rocks, haing races, playing soccer, swimming, building forts etc. The canadian guidline for amount of physical activity kids are supposed to have is 1 hr a day. In Canada I found this imposible about 7 months of the year. I'm not a "lets go play in the -20 snow and wind" type person. So my kids didn't get much physical activity unless you count walking around ikea or the mall randomly. Here it has been the opposite. My kids get AT LEAST 2 hrs of physical activity a day. Hazel even started the "after school club" with the nighbor kids and they have scheduled activities like "do summersaults, and play with the big bouncy balls" So ya I guess this is one of my favorite things here.
WEDNESDAY - Hazel school. Dekker and I more of the same at home. Kyle Work. Hazel had Glee club after school on Wednesdays and she really liked it. It just ended. More of the backyard gang. Kyle or I could go play indoor soccer, but i didn't bring my shoes (who knew indoor soccer would be available here?) and once again kyle is often busy with work.
THURSDAY - Hazel school. Dekker school until noon. My favorite day of the week! I usually go for a run on the beach, read a book on the beach, go snorkling, etc. Kyle and I have gone on an earlys lunch date a few times and are trying to do this 1-2x per month. After school is more playing with the neighbor kids. The second reason I love thursdays is because I get to go play Rugby. It's co-ed and its flag rugby, but I LOVE IT. I don't know if it's because it's a totally new sport to me, or what. I guess it's always great to learn something new. They have Rugby for kids on Saturday's that I'm hoping to get Hazel into if we are here next year. I'm already plotting Hazel and Dekkers rugby superstardom.
FRIDAY - I try to go do a big bike ride with Dekker to the beach on friday mornings. We are also making having Dekkers friend Jack over on Friday afternoons a habit. After school on fridays Hazel has Ballet (she's only gone 4 times and she is already not sure if it's for her - I'm not gonna lie, that doesn't make me sad at all! I would way rather have her excited about something else than ballet. It does seem pretty boring. Now that she has had a chance with ballet I'm hoping to have her try jazz or hip hop or something.
SATURDAY - I coach the 3 yr olds soccer on Saturday mornings here. It is a blast! Dekker really likes it and we mostly play shark/ pirate/ go score/ treasure hunt/ monster themed games that just so happen to involve kicking around a ball while your playing or hitting someone's legs with the ball (the monsters) or scoring on the coach etc. It's amazing how good their ball handling skills get so quick even when they are so young. Hazel used to go to soccer at the same time with kyle, but most of the girls her age dropped out and so she doesn't want to go on saturdays because it's too competitive and all boys. Mondays it is a different coach who does games like I do and she is my friend and so she lets Hazel go in her group (5 yr olds) because there aren't any 6 yr old girls besides hazel. Lame.
After soccer we go to the church once a month to clean (how I miss the days when you got assigned to go clena the church once a year!). Every week we try to do saturdays work, for the kids it involves spraying and wiping our big sliding doors and the mirrors and taking out the trash and cleaning their rooms. It's usually a struggle, but we try to hurry them along by reminding them that we get to go swim or to the beach after. We always try to get the kids to go to the beach (saturday is the only day kyle gets the chance to go) but for some reason our kids would way rather go to the pool. But if we do "make" them go to the beach they love it and never want to leave!
SUNDAY - Church is at 10. I'm the 1st councillor in Primary and its just me and Sonya, the President running the whole thing. It's goes pretty good most weeks, I love working with Sonya and we are both pretty laid back about the whole thing. I try to take the younger ones to nursery the first hour and then I bring them in to the primary room the second hour and do sharing and singing time. We have anywhere from 5-13 kids every week. Kyle just got called to the Branch Presidency (can't remember which councillor he is?) He doesn't find much has chanced in what he was doing before I don't think. His first week of conducting was this week and besides almost skipping sacrament he did a great job! We love our branch and although we do miss the well oiled machine of a large ward, we really enjoy all the experiences that come along with an almost brand new branch (the church has officially been in the country for 3 yrs).
Sunday afternoons we go to the back yard and play, or watch a movie as a family or spend at church and the beach for a baptism (we have at least one a month).
So there you have it. Probably quite boring for most of you, but I know for me looking back I will wonder what we did when we lived in TCI.
Although I love it here and I am not ready to leave, I do miss some things about civilization. Of course topping that list is our Family and Friends. A few other things like Shopping (mainly value village (tear)and H&M) Having nice hair, Having my own house with my own stuff, Having disposable income, Sewing, Decorating, hmm I guess thats it!
What I don't miss is the hectic life. At the time I didn't think it was a rat race, but now that I look back it sort of was. I don't think i was living any differently then any one else. I spent a lot of time wanting and buying things I didn't really need. I think I wasted a lot of time doing things that were basically distractions. I LOVE some of those distractions and miss them, but it's nice to have a break. I don't wear makeup here, except sundays. Sometimes I miss looking cute, but no-one else wears makeup here so I almost feel over dressed if I even have mascara on! Hair? Oh I gave up on that a LONG time ago. I either wear it down for that "bad perm" look or up in a bun. or in a braided pony tail. Yucky, but I just avoid looking in the mirror. I don't shop. a. I can't afford it b. everyone else i know has been wearing the same 7 outfits for the last yr so why bother? I'm not gonna lie, I miss having new cute clothes though! I DO read, a lot. I've read more books since moving here, then I probably did the whole rest of my life combined. One week I read 3. yup 3!!!
Ok now I am done. I need to do posts about our visitors we've had and christmas etc. one day.
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