First time driving on a real street!

5,946 steps

When kids are little, there are so many firsts: first smile, first laugh, first crawl, first steps...

Then those firsts start to space out...first lost tooth, first time swimming solo, first time riding a bike...

Zari hit a BIG first today: she drove a car on a real street! (She had driven a car once before in a parking lot...in first gear only). It took some convincing and one slightly scary false start. But then it went great!

Fortunately, she was in Eric's hometown, which has ridiculously wide streets and almost no traffic at all. Best place to learn how to drive. And she got to drive an automatic (her grandma's car) instead of a stick shift, which we have at home.

Eric and I woke up too early (7 am) after getting to bed after 2 am. The kids slept another for another hour.

We took it easy this morning and just enjoyed being with grandparents. Eric walked to Canadian Tire to get a few camping supplies, passing a Tim Horton's on the way. So Canadian.

After lunch, we drove 20 minutes to the town where Eric grew up in to see some cousins and swim in the community pool, which has a few small water slides. The air is dry here, and it's definitely cooler than France (high of maybe 24 C). This means that we're feeling cold a lot, compared to what we're used to! Zari and I were shivering in their air-conditioned apartment (set at 76F / 24.5 C), while one of Eric's sisters walked in and declared, "It's so HOT in here!"

Seriously, I HATE being too cold in the summer. I shouldn't need to put on any extra layers if I'm indoors with air conditioning. There's something really messed up about that. I finally put on long pants and a t-shirt with sleeves because I was just too cold.

Anyway, after swimming was Zari's first drive, then dinner, then playing games and pool with cousins. We are exhausted and ready for an early bedtime.