whirlwind sink and flow

i know we're often busy, busy, busy and the past few weeks have been no exception! Sasha has been very busy mastering new words every day. She can count to 3 perfectly, 5 she gets most often...and she blew our minds the other night by counting to 10! Letters, numbers, colours, songs, and she even expressed a 4 word sentence to me "pakapaka upupup mommy puper" which translates into "Pat a cake upstairs mommys computer" as she is a fan of some of the kids vids on youtube. It was a well reasoned thought actually, as I had just told her she couldn't watch it on daddy's computer. She didn't hear that as a no, and just problem solved her way to get what she wanted. Told me what she wanted in 4 words, climbed all the way up to our room, and then yelled "MOM! pakapaka. MOM upupup" - LOL! I figured she earned that 10 min of youtube time while I changed, as she clearly communicated so well, and outwitted me...how many times is that gonna happen over the years? ;)

Primarily the bustle of life has found a new rhythm in our new home. one that revolves around the new found stability of my work schedule, Mark's work, Sasha's child care at Tina's, Che's school and those pesky weekly chores and shopping. Then we squeeze in meetings, events, time with friends and family...hard to make sure everyone has time to do what they need to do and want to do. Think we're doing pretty well at the juggle...for the moment. teehee

Our busiest weekend as a family was the long Easter weekend. Mark and I had a date one evening for dinner and to attend the 10th anniversary of one of our favorite organizations Check Your Head. Super hugs and catching up with friends (found out one my best buds is also going to be at the conference in LA as a translator - yay!), great company, a chance to honour the work of 2 of my favorite organizers and mentors - Kevin Millsip and Lyndsay Poaps! They have been a big inspiration to me on my own journey, so we were happy to celebrate with everyone else who has been positively influenced by their work. Also had quality alone time that evening too :)

Mark and I walked the seawall to Granville Island with Sasha one day. Nuts how much development is going on around the upcoming Olympic Village, which will become housing for Vancouver afterwards. I have mixed feelings about the missed opportunity for this development which could have provided more affordable housing (and all the other potential that was wasted), but I am now intrigued by what it will all look like when it is done.

anyways, we had a wonderful day playing and strolling around with Sasha once we got to Granville Island. This is a day trip I could see us doing regularly now that we know it is just over an hours walk along the meandering seawall route - nice. A quick and easy bus ride home as well.




We had more fun on the long weekend with a Whittam family gathering which provided us with another feast for the belly and heart. Sasha is finally fitting into some of the dresses which were presents last year. As most of her hand-me-downs in the first couple of years were not very girly, we are still not used to seeing her in frilly stuff. This little flapper outfit is a cute one :)



Since that long weekend my life has been a whirl of education stuff. First and foremost I'm super excited that Tanya and I have finally begun filming for "Educate Me!?" - the work on the trailer has officially begun and we were thrilled with the quality of the footage we got from the HD camera that Tanya lined up for us. We spent one day filming 'People on the Street' interviews, and then last monday we took an early ferry to Victoria with my friends Dave and Allan who came to help as crew for the day while we got footage from a rally at the Legislature.

We've learned some important things and gotten some great footage already - I know, just the beginning of an abundance! who knows what will make it into the full length doc in a couple of years? Though I overcame my anxiety about being the interviewer on camera (still not comfortable looking at the images of me...that will come) it turns out it is also hard to find people who want to open up in front of the camera. It is helpful to me to know this now firsthand, and we were thrilled to have actually obtained some stellar footage on our first day despite the challenges!

"Welcome to the world of film" is what Dave said to me when I had us on the road to Victoria by 5:30 am on monday. (do you see why I'm always soooo full of gratitude for the folks in my life?! these people got up at 5am just 'cuz I asked them too...I am such a lucky ladyl!!) We learned many little tidbits of wisdom from him over the day, and his previous experience in the industry lent a calm to the day that I appreciated very much. The rally was a great one organized by LANDS (Lets Agree Not to Dispose of Schools), and not only did we get some passionate images we also made many new contacts...especially once the MC announced my name and told everyone we were working on a documentary on public education! wow! the positive feedback and support was amazing. the whole day was a fabu experience for me...tiring as it was :)

Between the 2 days of filming, I spent a full day at a Think Schools conference. As the producer, writer and interviewer I want to make sure we are covering the most topical and important aspects of public education in the documentary. So, I am ensuring I continue to attend as many public education events as I can to stay in the loop with the network of people I have met who are involved, know the issues at a deeper level, and have some influence. There are many things in the works right now with a municipal election on the horizon later this year.

This weekend I went to 2 very different gatherings. A wine & cheese social with the COPE education committee, and an afternoon round table forum with the Vision public education committee. Quite frankly my head is just full up on perspectives right now, and I'm still in the 'processing the info' stage. I do feel hopeful about the potential of a progressive slate of school board candidates...as for the rest of the municipal slates...hmmmmmm...not sure yet...

Back to some friend and family time this weekend too. During a family shopping trip on Main st yesterday we bumped into a woman who recognized Sasha from the family place drop-in that Tina takes her to. She turned to her husband and said 'this is the awesome baby I was telling you about! she is my favorite' and she gushed about the things she has done with her when she's volunteering there. bit of a strange feeling to hear a stranger say they adore your kid...

Last night we ended the day with a fabulous bbq dinner with our friends Shannon and Ryan who I have missed! Sasha has grown a fair bit since they've seen her last, and she kept them highly entertained by boogeying to the music for them and just being silly. So much fun! And we also broke out the patio lanterns finally, to provide that much needed ambiance for our first bbq meal on the patio - SWEET! Becomes more and more our home every time we share it with the special peeps :)

Today is a chore day for our family. Time to do our share of work we've signed on for at the co-op and regular putter around home. And after ideas from our friends last night on what we can do with our tiers of garden space, along with advice garnered by other green thumbs in our life who have visited our new pad...we'll soon be calling for your help to transform the patio into the ultimate space! we'll feed you...promise!




okey doke...now i gotta spend the next few days gettin ready for my trip to LA!!! can't believe I'm leaving on thursday morning...back next tuesday night. insane.

hey, did I mention we got a new bathroom sink? alrighty then. i've updated on the whirlwind of life, the sink and now it's time to get back to goin with the flow...