THE POLAROID BIRTHDAY
Most Recent / June 23rd, 2023
Hudsons 9th birthday.
Although this post is about a birthday celebration, we have been sitting with what we want our time together to look like, not just holidays or special occasions, but all the time. We kicked off our plan with Hudsons birthday. We wanted to do something that would be memorable, but wasn't extravagant. Shorter on time these days, but wanting to be an active part of the day. We came up with the play all day birthday weekend.
The necessities of which are simple and easy.
A weekend of just the 4 of us living like kids.
Simple enough, but still requires some set up because thats how these things work. The purchase of a fresh sleeve of tennis balls and badminton birdies. We spent some of the week cleaning our house so we could shove all our cleaning supplies away and focus on play all day. We prepped food, sandwiches, dessert, purchased easy to grab fruits and veggies with hummus. Filled our fridge with pink lemonade and A&W rootbeer. Bags of ketchup chips and cool ranch doritos.
A happy birthday sign waiting at the top of our driveway greeting Hudson home after an early pick up from school.
We wanted to document our weekend, but not have our phones everywhere we went. So, we borrowed Hudson's Polaroid Camera which was a Christmas present he received last year. We put in a new roll of film and we think the result of which speak to the weekend. Somehow the selfies felt less intrusive and more genuine to our time. Each time amazed and dumbfounded by the almost instant photos.
The sight of our slight sunburns a reminder of the in and out of our pool, the countless rounds of badminton. The remnants of bright red chip crumbs that remained in our bed from the tv watching and book reading.
Hudson remarked at the end of the weekend that this had been his favourite birthday.
The sting of Monday morning a reminder of the fun that we shared, but that in just 3 short days the end of school would arrive and we would be able to return to the play all day summer.
The summer of Connors paternity leave that creates the opportunity for the long "boring" summer we crave.
Emma-Lee Harrison-Hill
We are the Harrison-Hills: Connor, Emma-Lee, Hudson and Forrest. We are the third generation of Harrison's to live and work on these beautiful 137 acres just outside of Lakefield, Ontario and we are so excited to share our farm with you.
xx Emma
Happy Birthday Hudson!!!!