More reflections on Nelson

Nelson is a "go with the flow" type of place. If you can't go with the flow of Nelson, it's a struggle and not the place for some. I've been reflecting on this lately, because some people come here and right away fall in love with it. Others come and say "what's the big deal?" or "It's not my groove". At any rate, it's definitely our place and after the amazing summer I was thinking fall or winter couldn't possibly hold a candle to it.
I did remember however, after last winter thinking "how on earth could summer be as fun?" But then summer came, and in Nelson it's a celebratory time for being outdoors, camping, playing on sandy beaches in the warm sunshine, being together as a community, parades, going to the many festivals there are, listening to, or participating in the music scene both for children and adults.
Winter is a time for incredible classes, workshops, performances, arts and crafts faires, swimming at the aquatic center, more outdoor playing: in the snow, tobogganing, skiing, ice skating.

As the summer is coming to an end, we've started gravitating towards many different types of classes.
Aloka is now enrolled in gymnastics, and she is having a blast!! I had know idea how much fun it would be. The children go around in a circuit or obstacle course type of thing, doing different fun activities one after the next. She is beside herself with excitement about it!
Josh is also getting into gymnastics (who would've thought??)! He went to an adults open gym night at the gymnastics club and got an informal private coaching lesson for an hour or so. He learned some of the fundamentals and came back home totally hyped about it.
I'm starting a tribal belly dancing class this Monday that I’m so excited for, and I can bring Aloka. What fun!
On Friday night and we found ourselves staying up till the wee hours with friends. Josh went to our friends' Dallas and Kelly's house, and I went to an "Mbira night" with Aloka and 3 other Mbira players plus kids. We had a nice lasagna dinner and then played Mbira for a couple hours while the children played rambunctiously.
Last night, we went to a surprise birthday party for Nick, which Melissa (his wife) organized. They've become good friends of ours, and we had so much fun! I'm posting some videos from the party. Melissa made delicious Cupcakes (vanilla with a chocolate center, yum!), and there was a great Klezmer band called "Heavy Schmetle" HA! Lots of delicious food and fun company. Aloka and I had stayed up late the night before, and she was also fighting a cold so she wasn't in top notch, but even so, she had so much fun.
It's been clear blue skies, Fall is crisp in the air with leaves turning colour, chilly nights, but the temperature was 75 today (24C).
It's supposed to be warm and beautiful all next week; I'm going to savor these sunshiny days of fall, and when the time comes, embrace the snowy winter.