"I want sugar before bed"

We enjoyed a fun-filled day yesterday.
Started at the beach at Pinehurst Lake conservation area, which is a short 30 minute drive from home.  (30 minutes provided that you take the non-scenic route...)
We were going to go after lunch, but the forecast was promising thunderstorms in the afternoon (liars!) so we left earlier.  We were having so much fun we stayed until the last minute when we had to get Maxwell home.  The beach is soft and sandy.  It's small, but on a weekday during the school year it was empty.  The lake is natural and spring-fed.  The water was lovely.  The temperature outside was only 21 degrees or so and the sun was playing peekaboo behind light clouds.  Not so hot that I wanted to swim (it takes a lot to get me swimming) but I did wade in it with the kids.  The kids spend the day wading, building sand castles, catching minnows, and just generally running around.  We met up with some other homeschoolers there (how I learned of the place) and another family was there too.  At the end of the day we joined the new friends for ice-cream at the nearby convenience store accessible from the park.  It reminded me of St. Malo (back in Manitoba, where we often camped and went to the beach as kids) because for a little money you get a whole lotta ice-cream! It's an incredible deal and I don't know how they make a profit.  As an added bonus they add a gumball inside the cone (I opted out, but the kids love it!) because apparently that's how it's done where the owner is from in Nova Scotia.

As Maxwell accurately pointed out, beaches and summer and ice-cream go together well.  We played with all the variations of what makes one think of the other, leading to the third.  The ice-cream was a fitting end to the day.


Except that it really wasn't the end of the day for Abi and I. After dropping Maxwell at his home we went home to prepare for a potluck that evening. I baked perogies. Easy-peasy contribution, but oh-so-delicious and I think they were a nice compliment to the many tasty dips and the burgers. I had accidentally been left off the discussion e-mails about the group event until the final tally of who was attending when people realized I hadn't responded. Ooops. So I only learned of the potluck the night before.  Turns out it was also a birthday party, but I didn't know that until we arrived.  It just means I wasn't prepared with a "gift", but it was present-free. The birthday girl received a book of "coupons" from friends of the "will help with X" variety. So I've sent along my written "coupon".

On our way to the potluck Abi and I were talking and I mentioned how it certainly was a special day of fun for her.  She corrected me. "No, mommy, it's not a special day of fun, it's a special day of TREATS!" She was convinced there would be cookies at the potluck (there were not), and a day with cookies AND ice cream is certainly a special day of treats.  Yes, she was like the proverbial kid in a candy store, and for obvious reason.

Anyhow, there was cake. It was around 8 before we were ready to light it up. There was just so much yummy food to be eaten that it was hard to think of cake. As the cake was being cut, after singing happy birthday, I facetiously sang "I want sugar before bed" while dancing with Abi.  Silly me.  Abi began to sing - more seriously of course - "I want sugar before bed" over and over and over.  There were plenty of kids on site and they were running around in the yard - burning off sugar.  We lured them home with parting balloons. Abi and I both crashed last night. Relatively early for me and relatively late for her (10pm by the time teeth were brushed, etc).