Almost Over

The two week marathon Spring Break is drawing to a close.  I have stuffy heads to thank for getting through it mostly unscathed.  Adam and I were horribly sick the first week and the girls weren’t much better.  It made for calmer moods and kids happy to watch movies and hang on the couch.

I was so grateful that they let me rest without any major shenanigans, I bought them toys of their choice.  SUCKER!!!! I do envy those that could flit their families away for the holiday….the weather here has not been spring like at all.

I do love my children dearly and I love having them all around me.  It just isn’t conducive to being very productive.   I love that they love to hang with their old mum too.  Adam has wandered farther afield, though his friends prefer to hang here too, making for a loud little house.  We seem to be sleepover central despite moving the Xbox out of Adam’s room.  That had to be done.  Adam gets too wound up when playing all those war games that little boys aren’t supposed to play.   We have had to pull him back and carefully monitor how much he plays.    I realize the studies have all warned us about the effect of video games, but it is scary to see how much it can affect behaviour.

Action packed video games don’t give the kids an outlet for actually running of all the energy and excitement that builds up.    I will be interested to see how the Kinect changes things.  The kids are keen on the new Star Wars game for Kinect, and being that you actually have to move around, it could at least help with the energy = aggression thing.   Basically the key to video games is watch what your kids are playing, who they are playing with and for how long.

We did manage a few outings, and will finish up with a special blogger trip to Harrison Hot Springs tomorrow. I haven’t been up there in years, not since before kids. Hopefully it isn’t too snowy on the way up there.  The mountains looked a tad threatening today.

We also managed to hit Steveston so Caity could see them filming Once Upon A Time, her favorite television show at the moment. It was a tad chilly for fish n chips on the pier.

Yesterday, we braved the crowds and hit the Aquarium with our adopted third son, Adam’s friend. It was a tad nuts but thank goodness for having the membership…truly the only way to make it affordable. We didn’t make it to Science World as that would have been a $60 day.

Entertaining a family in Vancouver is not for the budget minded. This city is not cheap. We are constantly on the search for coupons and try to bring food instead of buying it wherever we are. This does not make for happy kids who would prefer fries to carrot sticks.

I am glad we are all feeling better, and I hope the teachers don’t strike as I am really looking forward to a bit of quiet next week.