In our house Anthony is the video editor. He puts in an incredible amount of work to make Aidan’s videos look and sound good. Thank you for staying up way too late Anthony, Aidan and I really appreciate it.

 

Six years ago I remember getting a game for Anthony and some chocolate for the both of us to make the most of our last free weekend. When my water broke that evening I knew that perhaps my plans for a quiet Easter weekend were not going to happen. That 24th March evening was a little uncomfortable, and while he had decided to come early, Aidan wasn’t really in a total hurry.

***

Aidan you are still like that, you do things in your own time. You are an incredibly curious boy, and I love the questions that you come up with. Your father and I are always challenged to find ways to answer your questions so that you understand, because you ask such complex questions. I love your use of language and vocabulary. You constantly amaze me with the things you say.

Aidan I love that you have found your niche in theatre this year. Your acting skills have improved so much over the last year and your comedic timing is beautiful. You make your Dad and I laugh out loud. I think you are made for entertainment and I hope you continue to enjoy acting.

Aidan, I love that you are so willing to try new things and work to improve your skills. This year you have conquered your fear of putting your head in the water and you are well on your way to becoming a fish. You also wanted to try skiing and had a great time learning. I can’t wait to try again with you soon. You also are getting much better at skating. I love that you are so willing to learn to fall and you are getting much better. By this time next year you will be skating circles around me.

This year you have gone from reading only books with pictures to reading small novels and now Harry Potter and some really cool books on whatever you want to learn. This has fueled you imagination and I love to watch you play wizards, or whatever comes to your mind.

Aidan, I love that you have so many inventions and plans for the future. The Aidan Company will be a great success. I love hearing about everything you think that the Aidan Company will do in the future. I love that you want to take care of your parents when you grow up.

Aidan I love how much you care about other people. You are mostly very sweet to your brother and there are times when you are the best brother in the whole world. I love that you think about things that make other people uncomfortable and want to figure out how to fix things for them. I love that are not afraid to ask about death and how babies are made even though I find it hard to know what to tell you.

Aidan, I am so glad that you are mine, or should I say, Aidan I am so glad that I am yours. I love you baby boy, Happy Birthday! I can not believe you are 6!

On the weekend, Aidan and I went to see Carousel Theatre’s musical “Munscha Mia”. Aidan has started doing video reviews of the plays he sees, so here’s his review of “Munscha Mia” for you to enjoy.

You can also see his review of Bird Brain.

It’s been a while, I know. Perhaps you’ve been following along at LeftCoastMama. Perhaps you’d given up on ever seeing anything new here and are surprised to see this pop up in your feed reader. At any rate, sorry about that. I’m going to dust off the cobwebs and start posting more to this blog again.

But first, a bit of a photo essay showing what we’ve been up to over the past umpteen months.

We had some professional photos taken. This photo was taken by Bopomo Pictures:

The LeftCoastFloyds

After getting back from my mother’s funeral, Gwen left for the East Coast again to attend the BlogHer conference in New York City!

Gwen and Tracey in NYC, August 2010

Times Square, NYC, August 2010

Radio City Music Hall, NYC, August 2010

Later in August my grandmother Muriel Forwood passed and I returned to Nova Scotia for another funeral. My grandmother lived with us from 1986 until she moved into a long term care facility in the early 2000s.

Remembering Muriel, August 2010

Back in Vancouver, Aidan went on longer and longer bike rides with me on the Trail-A-Bike. This was taken down near the Olympic Oval, halfway through a 50km ride.

Public art in Richmond, August 2010

We don’t get out for as many hikes as we used to, but I did manage to get up to Joffre Lakes again this year. This time, I went with a bunch of people I met on Twitter!

Joffre Lakes, August 2010

Aidan started school this year! He’s in a half-day French-immersion kindergarten at Lord Tennyson Elementary.

Aidan on the first day of school, September 2010

Aidan got a bigger bike for his birthday, but was having trouble with it. One of the best things I’ve done was to remove the pedals from his old Tigger bike so that it became a push bike. We lowered the seat and let him push it around. This was a great way for him to learn to balance the bike. Training wheels were too much of a crutch. By February 2011 he was riding his two wheeler, no problems at all.

Aidan freewheeling, October 2010

Aidan pedalling on two wheels, February 2011

Of course, at the end of October Quinlan turned 2! We went to a pumpkin patch with some friends for his birthday “party”.

Picking the perfect pumpkin. Or two. October 2010

Chilly birthday cupcakes. October 2010

Happy Birthday Quinlan! October 2010

Hallowe’en was fun this year. Quinlan wore a monkey costume, and Aidan had a great fire fighter’s costume (with an authentic Delta Fire Services patch given to him by an authentic fireman.)

Quinlan is a monkey, October 2010

Aidan in his fireman costume, October 2010

All set for Hallowe'en, October 2010

We had quite an early snowfall in November, and the boys had a great time playing in it.

Aidan catching snowflakes, November 2010

Quinlan enjoying some early snow with some friends, November 2010

Yes, it was that cold. November 2010

Aidan looks sharp, and loves wearing his hat and tie.

Aidan, November 2010

We did lots of Christmassy things this year.

Gwen and the boys had the very special opportunity to join other kids and Air Transat on the Flight in Search of Santa.

Flight in Search of Santa, November 2010

The Flight in Search of Santa, November 2010

Gwen took the kids to Oakridge Centre for their annual photo with the best Santa in Vancouver:

Santa Claus, November 2010

Bright Nights in Stanley Park is an annual fundraiser in which the Vancouver Fire and Rescue Service decorates a portion of Stanley Park. The kids love it.

Quinlan at Bright Nights in Stanley Park, December 2010

Aidan at Bright Nights in Stanley Park, December 2010

And then there was the Santa Claus parade.

Vancouver Santa Claus parade, 2010

Aidan and Gwen took skiing lessons this year at Mount Seymour. I don’t have any action shots of them, but while they were learning to ski, Quinlan and I played on the toboggan hill.

Quinlan on the toboggan hill at Mount Seymour, December 2010

In the midst of all this, we discovered that Aidan needed glasses. He looks pretty sharp in them and doesn’t mind them in the least.

Aidan and his new glasses, December 2010

Grandpa came to join us for Christmas. This was wonderful, and we did lots of things.

Gwen, the boys, and Grandpa went to the VanDusen Festival of Lights on the first day he was here.

Grandpa, Quinlan, and Aidan at the Festival of Lights in VanDusen Gardens, December 2010

Christmas Day and the days that followed were awesome.

Grandpa and Aidan put together some Lego, December 2010

More Lego Airport assembly, December 2010

On New Year’s Eve Day, we all went snowshoeing at Mount Seymour.

Grandpa and Quinlan snowshoeing at Mount Seymour, December 2010

Grandpa and Quinlan snowshoeing at Mount Seymour, December 2010

Aidan snowshoeing at My Seymour, December 2010

Snowshoeing at Mount Seymour, December 2010

Since the Olympics, the plaza in front of UBC Robson Square has been turned into an “outdoor” skating rink, open to the public. We took the kids there in January. The zamboni was as exciting as the skating, I suspect.

Skating at Robson Square, January 2011

Even in the depths of winter, we keep up with the geocaching. :) 2010 was our best year yet in terms of our number of finds, and we hope to eclipse it this year!

We did some geocaching with grandpa while he was here.

Geocaching in Pacific Spirit Park, January 2011

And we continue to do some winter geocaching.

Geocaching at Kits Beach, February 2011

So that’s been our past 6 months in a nutshell. It won’t been 6 months until the next update.