Here comes the rain again....

Well Annie Lennox is originally from Scotland, land of mist and midges (thats like a mini mosquito if you didn't know) and most of all, rain!  Actually, anywhere in the UK is pretty much a land of rain.  If you get a dry day back there it is cause for celebration, 2 in a row and people start complaining about a heatwave!

So, it was actually with some enthusiasm that I greeted the rain just over a week ago, on the sunday of our long weekend.  I kept up the enthusiasm, to some degree, for a few days, but looking at the clouds outside now, after having endured a week of rain and only 2 days of sun following it, I will happily say "rain, rain, go away".

Being British, you get used to doing "stuff" in the rain.  Shopping, Dog walking, Hiking, Camping, Outdoor sports and any places you visit are almost always accompanied by a 'drizzle', 'spitting' 'shower' or more often than not 'downpour'.  The words "It's pissing down again" are not uncommon in the Island Nation of Brittania, believe me.

In the stalwart British manner therefore, on Thursday Freyja and I set off for Downtown Calgary and the Children`s Festival in the pouring rain - possibly the worst rain of the whole week.  She was away at Sparks camp at the weekend, and the school was taking her to the festival on the Friday, so I decided to make a long weekend of fun for her, kept her off school, took the baby to the dayhome as normal and off we went.  It was a lovely day for both of us.  It is so rare to have any time for just us two.  She gets time with her dad every weekend when he takes her to her dance class, but I almost always have a baby attached, limpet like, to some part of my body, and poor daughter #1 gets left out a bit.

It was fun.  We had icecream, we made clay art, we had our faces painted and made a comic book together, she narrated, I drew it (I use the term drew very loosely) and then she coloured it in.  We were rained on constantly and the ground beneath our feet splashed and slurped with each step (anyone who has been to a music festival or camping in the UK will be very familiar with this).  We went for McDonalds and 'sat-in' (we always get it take out and she always wants to sit in).  It was great!!  Then in the car on the way home, it started.... the arguing, the whining, the generally being a turd!!  At bed time, when it escalated again, I asked her why she was acting that way after such a lovely day out (cue face like Puss in Boots off Shrek) "I wanted it to be just us all the way to bed time but you went and got Rosie back!"  Awww!  It's hard to be angry when given that as a reason.

So, now the baby is a bit happier being left with her dad, dayhome etc, maybe Freyja and I can schedule in some more girl time outside the house, just the two of us, and maybe that will help bring my smiley girl back.