But we will cling to the belief that we are still on vacation and therefore must find something to do today that does not include work, house renos, or chores.

Finally after a few hours of tossing suggestions around we decided to go to Value Village.

Now going to a second-hand, used goods store might not sound like a tremendously vacation-y thing to do. However, when you are on tight budget like ours, when you choose to shop only when necessary (use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without), and when you limit your spending to ethically sourced items, then recreational shopping is not a common occurrence. And so giving each person $10 cash and telling them they can buy whatever they want, within reason, of course, (I know I said anything, but that toy is broken!) makes for five happy children and a great last vacation day.

Bananaberry got a wonderful hoodie. She’s been looking for a few months for the perfect one. Doviegirl found a pretty rose coloured, plaid shirt to match one her older sister already owns. The boys both got some small messenger bags for toting their stuff around and Superchick bought a housecoat like her sister’s. Kirby found some fun t-shirts (“Gimme a Timmies and no one gets hurt!”) and me, well, by the time I helped everyone find something I was just too tired to look for anything else. So we came home and I still have ten dollars in my pocket.

We ended our vacation by making sushi, or more specifically vegetarian California rolls. We bought all the ingredients last week at the Chinatown Street Festival, but this week we discovered that we can buy everything we need at our local Superstore. Kirby and Doviegirl basically followed these instructions.

They used carrot, avocado, mushrooms, green onions, and pickled ginger for the centers.

They just used a tea towel to roll the nori and it didn’t take much longer than some of our other meals. Everyone loved them, including Superchick, who has some definite likes and dislikes. I think we have a new recipe to add to the dinner rotation.

And so ends our vacation.

And it really has been a vacation, even though we didn’t go away. In fact, I think it’s actually been a little less stressful, since we got to sleep in our own beds. Of course, the house is a mess, since we didn’t do most of the chores, the kids are dog tired, since we didn’t follow bedtimes, and we all have to go back to work tomorrow, but that just makes the whole thing more real.

Find what brings you joy and go there. ~Jan Phillips

Today we headed down to The Forks, a major tourist attraction in Winnipeg. There are lots of things to see and do, and we make it down for a visit every couple of months of so.

We started our afternoon with lupper – that weird meal between lunch and supper. We went to The Old Spaghetti Factory, for nostalgia, cost and quality. Kirby and I both remember going as kids with our families when the restaurant was in the Exchange District and you could wait on the barber chair and dine in the old train car. My kids sat in the same barber chair, but instead of the train car, we dined in the Grotto.

All the meals include sourdough bread, minestrone soup (which you must not miss) or salad, your entrée, spumoni ice cream and tea and coffee. And best of all the food is fresh and mostly made from scratch, which is important to a health-nut like me (I really can tell the difference – the spinach in the vegetarian lasagna was fresh only a few hours before it was served to me).

Afterward we spent time in the Johnston Terminal.

The Punch Studio Gallery was exhibiting a fine selection of local artists – photography, oils, watercolour, weavings, collages. I loved that the children loved looking through the selections and really spending some time to admire and understand the pieces they were drawn to.

Then we had a quick walk through the Christmas Traditions Store and went on up to Kite and Kaboodle to peruse the wonderful assortment of toys, puzzles, games, and other leisure type fun. Then it was down to the basement for a lovely amble through the Antique Mall.

After our traditional walk over the suspension bridge in the Explore Manitoba display, we headed over to the The Forks Market. We rode the elevator to the top of the tower for a wet view of the misty skyline, and then walked through the crafts and knickknack area. By then everyone was starting to walk very slowly and it seemed time to head for home.

We had a smörgåsbord for supper – I pulled all the leftovers out of the fridge and let everyone eat whatever they wanted however they wanted without comment. I believe some of the creations included cold cream of wheat with syrup, yogurt and applesauce with bread, reheated chili on naan bread and cold spaghetti salad.

The we headed downstairs for yet more TV. At this point I was beginning to get a little tired of the traditional family fair and I was poking around in our movie collection when I spied a copy of The Taming of the Shrew from 1967 starring Elizabeth Taylor.

We read the play last year and I had meant to watch the film with the kids as a windup but somehow it never happened. I put it on, just to see what it was like, not really meaning to watch it, when all the children excitedly came running and plopped themselves down to watch. And so we did. And they really seemed to get it. And they loved it. And now they are asking if there is a movie version of the Comedy of Errors, which is the play we read this year.

And so this vacation day became My Day – because I didn’t have to cook but still got a fantastic fresh vegetarian meal, I got to spend time with art, old books and antiques, I didn’t have to listen to anyone whine about what part of supper they didn’t like, and my children wanted to watch Shakespeare with me! What more could a health-nut, history loving, homeschooling mama desire for her vacation!

So today we decided we would go catch a movie at the cheap theatre. There were only a few choices and at one point we thought we might have to split up until everyone agreed that staying together and seeing Shrek Forever After would be best.

We caught the 3:45 pm matinée and the theatre was almost empty (which didn’t stop that one annoying person from sitting right in front of my nine year old forcing us to shift down a couple of seats). It only cost us $3/person, so Kirby thought he might spring for some popcorn and drinks. It’s been awhile since we bought junkfood at the theatre (the popcorn might kill you) but it’s a vacation. The $5 price tag for the smallest bag of popcorn, stopped us cold though. We watch movies at home all the time without drinks or snacks, so this movie wasn’t any different. (Except for the gummis I smuggled inside my purse. Shhhh! Don’t tell management.)

It was an enjoyable movie, although Superchick had a little trouble with the timeline, and I was impressed that they once again pulled off a unique and yet familiar twist to the fairytale story.

My eldest had put dinner in the slow cooker and so we went home and then spent the evening watching old TV shows: Addams Family, Mork and Mindy, and Home Improvement.

Even with rain, it was still a great day.

Today we decided to head out for some bowling. We found a fantastic deal online at Kids Bowl Free. For $25 US, our entire family will be able to bowl two games every day for the rest of the summer. All we need to pay for is the shoe rental, $2 per person. This is actually cheaper for us than just paying for a single visit, and we’ll be able to go bowling a few more times before the end of the summer.

We put the bumpers up thinking that Superchick would have more fun that way. It is amazing how slow a bowling ball can move down the alley when thrown by a rather hesitant five year old.

Tiggerific threw some amazing balls using the bumpers to bounce around the floor and take out difficult pins. The rest of us kept a close chase behind.

We even ordered a large pizza and a pitcher of Sprite for about $22. (When you get up and eat breakfast at 11am it’s hard to know when the kids will become whiny for lunch. It seemed best to fill their tummies and get on with the game.)

Then we rushed home to grab our casserole and raced over to friends to see how much their twins had grown. (We wanted to see our friends too!) After dinner the kids fought about what movie they should watch to keep them from fighting because they’re tired and over stimulated.

We called it an early evening by comparison to our other nights and turned out the lights just before ten. Why is it that sometimes when children are exhausted the removal of light somehow invigorates them?

“Go to sleep.”

“But I’m not tired.”

“But I am. Now go to sleep or this will be the end of our vacation.”

So now our staycation really is a vacation, because I just threatened to go home if the kids didn’t smarten up.

Now go to sleep.

We snagged coupons from friends’ phonebooks again and the total price worked out to $10/person. Unbeknownst to us, the park now charges $4 per person to bring outside food into the park. Apparently they want keep prices low by forcing people to buy food from the concessions. We opted to get wrist bracelets so we could leave the park about 1pm, have our picnic lunch at the car, and then return to the park for the rest of the afternoon.

One parent stayed at the Kiddie Slides with Superchick while the other joined the rest of the children on the big slides. We spent the afternoon tag-teaming – one slide for Mom, one slide for Dad. It took Superchick a while to get comfortable. For the first hour or so she just sat and watched the action, but after lunch she braved the smallest slide with Dad. After a few more she wanted to go down without any help at all, and we could just sit on the side and watch her go round and round. She made two little friends and the three of them had fun riding the waves together.

The older four started at one end of the park and took a turn on each of the seven slides. Having scoped the entire field, they spent the rest of the afternoon riding their favourites. The Bonzai and the Dragon seemed to be the big winners.

We used Ombrelle 45 sunblock before we left, and reapplied at lunch, but even so the fairest among us still managed to turn a little pink. The only other injuries were bruised shoulder blades from the seams on the slides – something about lessening contact with the slide so that you go faster.

We left shortly after five and headed home for a late night dinner and a movie. Superchick and I snuggled up in bed and watched The Adventures of Ociee Nash on the laptop. The others took in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets now that they have all finished reading the book.

It was almost eleven before the weary souls dropped into bed, but it was a perfect vacation day.

Each of us received a coupon card with 19 coupons. Each activity at Grand Prix costs a certain number of coupons. Almost everyone spent most of their coupons racing around the Grand Prix Track in the Wildcat Karts. We were all too busy racing to make a photographic recording of the event.

Superchick took a turn on the kiddie track,

and a few of us played a fun game of mini-golf.

We ended our short stay by combining all the leftover tickets and letting the kids and Kirby enjoy a round of Bumper Boats.

The afternoon was enjoyable and the kids loved racing around the track, but it seemed a fair amount of money for only a few hours return. Tinkertown was definitely a better deal and perhaps even more fun, but then again I’m not nine and already drive a car on a pretty regular basis.

In the evening we tried to get into the Greek Pavilion at Folklorama. We’ve always tried to get to a pavilion or two every year, but this year the line was already very long and it began to rain while we looking for a parking spot, so we went to Superstore instead, bought a tub of ice cream and then let everyone pick a topping from the bulk candy section. Then we went home and scarfed homemade sundaes.

Speed and sugar – two great ingredients for family fun!

We bought wristbands for everyone, and by using the coupons in the phone book (we called around for extra ones) we ended up paying about $9 per person. The wristbands mean unlimited rides on everything, except the mini-golf and a few carnival type games. We arrived at noon when the park opened and and stayed until closing at 5pm. We brought a lovely little picnic of our own and even found a picnic table in the shade, some small respite from the 35C weather.

There is a nice mix of kiddie rides and faster regular rides. The older ones loved the roller coaster and bumper cars.

Whereas Superchick rode the kiddie swings four times and the Rolling Whales twice. She even tried the Tilt-a-Whirl and the Spinning Apples.

Everyone loved the Merry Go Round and I even picked a favourite horse and took a turn. I felt like Mary Poppins ready to leap off into the English fox hunt!

No one got sick, everyone had a blast, and we will be sure to return next year!

However, this summer we all felt like we needed a getaway, but to where and what would we do?

We began tossing around ideas in May, but still we couldn’t decide on a plan. Travelling would steal days from an already short vacation (one maybe two weeks). Camping sounded fun, but we haven’t done much over the years and didn’t really relish camping in inclement weather. If we travelled, we would need to pay for two hotel rooms. There’s some silly fire regulation law that limits hotel rooms to six people, and it seems unkind to make one of the children sleep in the car. (I’m just kidding!) We thought a week long family camp would be great, but there aren’t any in Canada, and a few of us don’t have passports yet. (The idea of arranging for five children to get photographs that conform to passport standards makes me lie down until the feeling goes away.)

And when it came down it, the children kept saying they just wanted to show their Dad some of the fun things we’ve done with Event Horizon Planning over the years.

And so Staycation 2010 was born.

Everyone will pick an activity and we will spend the next week enjoying ourselves around our city. We will sleep in our own beds, eat off paper plates, not worry about the cost of things, leave chores somewhat undone, and just try to enjoy ourselves.

Bon Voyage!

Apparently our mayor wants to add an LRT. He says that its a way to make the city more attractive to investors. It sort of feels like he wants us to be some sort of miniature Calgary. It’s like being in high school again where we’re supposed to try and be like the popular people. The problem with wanting to be someone we’re not, is that we lose sight of who we really are.

Winnipeg is a great place to live. Seriously. I have homeschool friends who moved here from out west after researching the best place on the country to raise their children. They looked at all sorts of statistics and chose Winnipeg because it was a great place to raise a family.

Why can’t that be our tag line? Why do we have to focus on gambling and power stations in the over-priced Spirited Energy campaign. I heard a radio show about how the government is trying to lure more young people here by increasing our night life, how we need to compete with Montreal. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Why can’t we admit that we’re a small town with all the quaint charm that goes with that. Why can’t we focus on creating a safe urban oasis that offers all that a growing family could want.

My hubby thinks I’m naive and optimistic. He says that marketing for families doesn’t bring in money or jobs. Maybe he’s right. I took educational theory not economics at university. But somehow I can’t help thinking that spending time, effort and money to create a safe place with strong community outreach, excellent educational opportunities, and a vibrant artistic and recreational life that includes children would be a good thing – a thing that families would want to be a part of.

If we build it, wouldn’t they come?

I read Getting Things Done a few years ago and loved the concept. I followed the plan laid out in the book and tried desperately to organize my self. I definitely made things easier, but still felt that I wasn’t completely working the system.

Over the last few days of focusing on my meditation/mindfulness challenge I realized that I needed to really work the GTD system in order to help slow down the “wild dog” in my head.

So these last few days I’ve been purging my mind and writing down all the “projects” that I have on the go. GTD defines a project as any outcome that requires two or more actions. I stopped when I reached over twenty active projects. These are things like finish renovating the basement and plan school for five children for the next ten months.

Experts recommend that top project managers should carry no more than 4 work projects. GTD fans say that when adding in home projects, your list should hover around 6-8.

I apparently have too many projects on the go. Which might explain why I’m having trouble keeping track of what needs to be done and feel like I’m never get anything finished.

Because I’m not.

So I called my friend Ash. She’s my organizing hero. She is currently raising three month old twins and still finds time to sew. She apparently has two projects on the go and won’t add more until one is done. It always feels to me like Ash is getting things done.

Because she is.

So I need to pair down my active projects lists and move all the rest to the Someday/Maybe list. This way they will still be around, but they will be out of my mind.

And how, you are probably not asking, does all this fit in with my meditation challenge? Jan says on day six, in response to a question about, “Is it enough?” that only I personally can tell if it is enough. I have been working very hard at trying to slow down and find myself. So for me, while I haven’t been finding/making time to just sit, I have been breathing and slowing down and trying to clear out the clutter in my head.

If I can pare down my projects that will, hopefully, lessen the buzzing in my brain which in turn will allow more room for keeping track of what I’m working on and hopefully more success at getting things done.

At dinner I was feeling slightly sorry for how little work I got done today and my children cheerfully pointed out that we had fertilized the garden with two types of organic fertilizer, made lunch, researched summer swimming lessons (but who wants to sit at the pool for four hours and still have one child not take lessons?), shaved the dog, cut six people’s hair, put up the tent, watched a PBS special on Ancient Greece and an old Mork and Mindy episode and spent a few minutes trying to uncover the sewing room.

I have a terrible time trying to remember moments in my life and I wonder if it’s because I’m not really present. I wonder if I’m so busy following other thoughts and tangents while I’m working that I can’t recall what I was doing because the noise in my mind obscures it?

How we spend our days, of course, is how we spend our lives. ~Annie Dillard

May I spend each day mindfully.