The Pottier Family

The Last days of Summer photoset

September 1st already .. this summer has really flown.  I am back to full time work now and the kids start school this week.  Today it is wet and drizzly.  Yes, summer is really ending. You wouldn't have guessed it this past Saturday.  We had a gorgeous sunny day and temperatures reached a balmy 28 degrees! We took the kids (along with the rest of Sussex and Kent) to Camber beach near Rye.  The kids just loved frolicking in the water and sand -- it's one of the few sandy beaches around here. 

The weekend before, the kids and I spent an overnighter in Brighton while Peter took his father on a European jaunt.  Even though it was rainy and cool, it was great to get some ocean air.  The kids pigged out on sushi and back in the hotel room we played "tent" with the duvet cover.  Happy kids = happy mum.

So great to have the kids back at home. The quiet was great; having a tidy house great; the significantly reduced weekly laundry load was great -- but I really missed them!

By all accounts, they had a superb time in Nova Scotia with their Dad and visiting all their many cousins. Difficult to extract any details from them but I gather they did lots of biking, swimming and ... roasting marshmallows.  Well .. that was Pascale's account anyway.  One of the big highlights I missed was watching Jasper learn how to ride a pedal bike for the first time.  After a few falls, he really got the hang of it and without stabilizers! 

I miss my kids.

I had a birthday pass last week. I wouldn't say I usually get excited about birthdays but this year, I was happy to see forty-one. When I got home from my last round of Avastin, I came home to these beautiful flowers sent by my parents. I was all too pleased to mark the fresh beginning with the fresh roses.  Thanks mom and dad!

The kids are going with Peter to Nova Scotia this week. Sadly, I won't be joining them as the thrombosis risk is still high so soon after treatment.  It's going to be the first time I'll be away from the kids for so long ... and apart for that kind of distance. I'm not sure what I am going to do with myself (though I have an idea it may have to do with "sleep"!).

I do know I am really going to miss my daily fix of cuddles, huggles and kissies.

Yesterday, Jasper went to the nurse's office for his pre-school immunizations.  He had three jabs: MMR; diptheria, tetanus, whooping cough; and Hib Men C.  I was really worried about how he would react this time -- all his previous injections were when he was a baby. But I needn't have -- he was one brave little boy!  I just explained to him what was going on and he sat on my knee nicely and didn't even flinch.  He had a jab in each arm and on his thigh.  And that was it.  He got a sticker for bravery at the doctor's office and he's good for another ten years.

Another upcoming milestone this week as I go in for my last round of Avastin this Thursday.  Then I will truly be "done" with cancer treatments. Like Jasper, I hope I am good for at least another ten years.  Suffice to say, I won't miss the IV needles.

When asked what he wants to be when he grows up, Jasper has recently been answering "a diver". Not sure where that comes from but I think it is due to recency effect as the topic of the week during the last week of school was all things "Under the Sea".  There's a slight problem, however.  He absolutely hates getting his face wet in the pool -- he hates it, he hates it, he hates it! When swimming, he can scream like a banshee should his face and eyes get wet.

So on the weekend, I took him to town to look for some goggles.  I didn't find the Zoggs we were looking for but I did find this cute kiddie size snorkling kit!  Jasper was so excited he needed to try the kit right away.  So here he is at bath time.  He's given us a whole new meaning to "free diving" and "free Willy"!

This past week was Pascale's last at school for the summer ... and it was the last for her at pre-school, Top Banana.  In September, she will be joining her brother at her