1st Pedal Ride

Thanks to Allan for the sharing of the bike, Sav is still saving up stickers to buy a new one with her own pedals and brakes - 6 more to go.

Only 1 or 2 tries and she was off on her own.

Monday Adventures

Pics from last monday round loch cockburn - brown, wet and fun.
This week, white from April snow and lovely despite the chill.
We made it round the loch even without the lollie bribe!

Ya Just Gotta Write This Stuff Down...

Wake up early. Look for Savvy. She's on the couch. Hands over ears.

Mom: What'cha doing?

Sav: Sitting here.

Mom: Yes, but with the hands?

Sav: Covering ears.

Mom: Why?

Sav: So I don't hear in case you say something I don't like.

Thus setting the tone for the day...

Epic Trail Building

More dry weather=more biking and more trail building. Dob and Sav had a good 5 hour run yesterday, thanks to entertainment from the crew and Harvey sharing his lunch. As for the last pic, I think the garden gnome was afraid about losing her banana.

Ps - Nana and Nonna - you don't want to hear about the kind of trails Glen is riding with your granddaughter. Black diamond stuff, I tell you.

Almost 3

Savvy turns three soon. Before the cake and the balloons, we thought we’d share her latest.

· Savvy can hold a pencil like a big girl and loves to write in her own language, usually signing her name on her art work with a special squiggle.

· Through the month of February, everything was stinky. Stinky toothpaste. Stinky toastie. Stinky teddy. And when being collected at nursery, she would tell her friends a joke: “Guys! Guys! Look! Look! My mommy’s stiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinky!” (followed by six toddlers rolling about on the ground in hysterics.)

· She knows the important stuff – Tilt your hands down when washing them so you don’t get your sleeves wet; hoist up your backpack to take off the weight so that you can zip it up more easily; Pour a heavy jug of milk differently than a light one, etc. It’s pretty amazing.

· Pink is out. Purple is in.

· She cannot keep a secret under any circumstances. But when she does blab that which she was suppose to keep shhhhhhh ("Want me show you where Daddy hide your presents?"), the pure joy and delight on her face is lovely.

· Favourite foods: mac&cheese (two years running), blueberries, and pistachio nuts

· Savvy is very into role play and applies rather detailed plot lines. It is important not to come out of character unless given special permission. Or, face a major Savage tantrum.

· She will often ask a question to which she has her own specific answer already prepared:

o Sav: What’s that on top of the roof?

o Mom: It’s a chimney with smoke.

o Sav: No. It’s a little boy sitting at the table at school eating lunch and playing with a jigsaw.

· Sav has a punishing memory. But it’s all about the time mom forgot her wallet and had to be rescued at the train platform (6 months ago?), the time dad let go of her blue helium balloon and now it's in the sky dancing with the birds and the stars, and the time nonno and nonna blocked the toilet with baby wipes. Never the stuff we got right!

· She still calls her blanket a "wanket".

· She persists with the wildest sense of style. She will come out of her bedroom in outfits that can still shock even me and Glen. She’ll emerge with pink pajama bottoms, sandals (forget the snow), an inside out and backwards silky party shirt, and a rainbow of hoodies. Then at the door, just as we’re about to go to school, she’ll look down: “Oh no!” – looks up at you with a concerned frown - “I forgot my skirt.” (Brown skirt gets duly pulled over the lot).

· Savvy has figured out that we need to pay some of her babysitters to look after her. The look of horror when the penny dropped that all people wouldn't simply be delighted to play tea party and swing and shop keeper with her sans payment. That one hurt.

· I am told by all that she remains a MegaDob replica. She still adores her Dad more than words can say and I dread that moment when their special bond might face change. Once in a while, I am told that she has facial expressions that are match with me. I think I can see them sometimes and when I do, they also remind me of my brother and my dad. Like when she’s pretty sure she’s convinced you to go her way, and the eyebrows are up and eyes are shiny, the smile a bit mischievous and victorious all in one.

· When she really wants something, and she has tried her usual powers of persuasion and is still making no progress, she leans right in, lips on ear, and whispers her wish. The whisper isn’t really that quiet but the small drop in volume and raspy sound that she associates with a whisper is done with all the strain in her might. So so charming and effective: "Please I have more yoghurt now". "Please 5 more minutes before bed". "Please you buy me new computer". "Please no school tomorrow".

Happy Almost Birthday Savvy – we love you!

Glentress with Johnathon and Lizzie

We stayed at our local for the weekend and had some great riding. Sav made it out for a hard core loop on both days - a bit of the jump park included. Next time the boys will put on their BBPs and catch some bigger air, Lizzie will ride Inners, and I will finally master table top mountain.

A [Castle] Room with a View

I am posting pictures of our new office space for our learn to swim and education teams - still on campus but a wee walk up the road. A crazy time to be expanding but the new room was needed even after we shrank desk sizes and asked everyone to inhale.
Although I've been in Scotland almost 10 years (gasp), and I know I am a bit of a canadian dork, I still think it's still pretty cool to be working in a castle, Dumyat (Daddy's Silly Mountain) in prime view.

Higher than it looks

Camon' Number Seven! Preparation for Peebles this coming weekend.

The one about the eagle, the horse, the sheep and the deer...

...they were all out on our ride today, up close and personal.

Savvy working the engineering genes