Happy Birthday Olivia

Our angel turned 2 today. 

bro and sis

Ashley took half a day off to celebrate our girl's 2nd birthday. We headed to the newly discovered (new to us) Cresent Beach (South Surrey), and had a nice lunch at the Harbourside Restaurant (thoroughly recommend it) and then let the kids play on the beach in the ever increasing B.C sunshine.
Alex learnt, while it seemed that that birthday girl got all the attention, actually, you can sneak away with the cool new gifts and play with them while she was distracted with something else, and you get to go out for lunch and have ice cream, and you get to do something fun afterward and you get to eat cake a sing happy birthday - and it wasn't even his birthday. So he learnt that it did indeed pay to keep sweet on the birthday girl - at least some of the time.

Bob saves the day

When we got back from our afternoon out we gathered the dogs and headed out for a walk. No sooner had we made our way outside had Olivia fallen front down in a sticky puddle of mud on the newly fertilised sport field next door. She was covered from neck to knee in the disgusting smelling black goop and was carried home at arms length, screaming her poor lungs out in shock, and taken immediatly to the bathroom to be washed and disinfected.
I fell into my Grandparents drain when I was, maybe, not much older, and I remember I suffered the same fate - like Mother, like daughter I guess.
Anyway, all was not lost. We had one last surprise for Olivia- a Bob the Builder ice cream cake (ok the ice cream bit was for Ashley, but the Bob part was 100% dedicated to Olivia). She loves Bob (and Dora the Explorer, as already mentioned). Olivia is not much of a talker, but she is quite the singer and strangely enough, 6 months ago, her first word(s) were "Bob the Builder" sung with perfect rhythmn.
She gets very excited to see anything Bob related, although UK originated Bob is not as commonplace as the culturally relevant Spanish speaking Dora is, to the North American market. Either way she loves them both, and Bob certainly made up for the earlier blight on the day. 

when life is tough

Alex had a bad day today. All month he had been looking forward to his pre-school excursion on the school bus to the farm to see the baby animals. But he had been battling the flu all week and was too sick to go today. He was so upset and disappointed. He tried really hard to get better and put up a brave front, but it was no good. Thursday morning he was pale and looked exhausted; had a nasty cough and runny nose and a fever. He even lost his appetite. It pained me to make the call to his teacher, knowing how excited he was about the trip. But it was the right thing to do. His fever broke last night at long last, so it looks like he may make it to pre-school on Tuesday.

boots

Olivia is a shoe lover from way back. But she began not wanting to wear even her favourite shoes the other day, so I suspected that they might be getting too small. Sure enough they were; A WHOLE TWO SIZES TOO SMALL. I felt really bad about that. Anyway we got her two new pairs and a pair of "Dora the Explorer" blue boots. She just loves these boots and doesn't want to take them off EVER. After jumping in the puddles and trapsing through duck poo yesterday at the bird sanctuary, we had a good excuse to leave them outside, which has certainly uncomplicated things concerning the separation of her, to her beloved blue rubber boots. 

a smashing time

While away at scrap booking Ashley was sitting in the office, just minding his own business, when the glass sliding door exploded and shattered into a million little pieces; apparently for no apparent reason - very bizarre! He was lucky he wasn't injured really.
Anyway it took him 4 hours to clean up the debris and fit our side screen door for security. Then the bad news - the replacement cost. Well after getting over the shock of that little expense, we thought we would check the secondhand pages, and were happy to find a door about 20 minutes away, in Cresent Beach, for $100. The only trouble was getting it back to the house and getting it properly fitted.
We rang our reliable fix-it man "Super Ron" and he said he'd fit it for $70 (we had been quoted $250+petrol money by one joker). Then Ashley asked around his work for a solution in getting it back to the house. Our friend Bruce, who we had stayed with, in July/August, lent us his vehicle, so we picked it up today.
We had the fixed glass piece and entire frame strapped to the van's roof, held on by a dozen octopus clips, the rest was inside. It took us 2 hours to secure it to the vehicle, but got home alright. Hopefully Super Ron will fit it on the weekend.
The surprises with this bloomin' house just keep on coming! 

scrap-booking

I was invited to a scrap booking get together on the weekend. It was fun and I even managed to string two words together and make a conversation with the otherwomen there, which is an accomplishment in itself, for me.
What to create - what to create is yet another dilemma, but I decided to capture Alex's love of trains, and this was the final result -a bit of an Australian/Canadian mish-mash, with the Victor Harbor Cockle train and the Stanley Park and Bear Creek Park mini railways being included, along with the train set, of course. I thought the overall effect turned out alright. Now...I wonder what I should do next time? Mmmm.... 

the swings

Alex has just started liking teh swings again after being petrified of them for about two years. As a baby he loved them and we could swing him as high as we could, much to his delight and his Gran's horror, but then for no real reason he wouldn't even sit in the swing. But they have once again returned to favour.

Don't stare at me coz I'm different.

I took the kids to playgroup today and had a bit of an unfortunate moment.
I have only gone to this group in Ladner about 3 times and have barely spoken to a soul. In fact when ever I do start up a conversation with someone Alex attempts to drag me away and is quite rude.
At the end of the play period they threw on "circle time". Circle time basically involves getting in a circle to sing songs. The organisers were running a bit ahead of time, so they started a long winded round of Old McDonald's farm, giving each child had a chance to say an animal on Old McDonalds Farm to be included in the song (I am sure you can imagine).
Alex and I were second to last in the very large circle. By this time we have heard about 4 cows, 3 dogs, 2 cats and 5 pigs and quite frankly I was sick of it - SOMEONE SAY SOMETHING DIFFERENT!
Well, it was our turn now and ...um.....have you ever had the experience of saying something and the whole room goes silent? Well we didn't want to interrupt the rythmn of the song, so at the appropriate time (and after prior consultation with Alex) I said, "....he had a MOUSE".
The room sat confused and silent for a moment, while a dose of panic started to seep into my veins ("you must be bloody joking", I thought). So I said it again only slightly aggitated, "mouse....", everyone looked at each other like I had spoken a foreign language, before hesitantly singing "he...um... had a.... moose(?), ....with a .....um....?".
"SQUEAK SQUEAK HERE AND A SQUEAK SQUEAK THERE!!!!!!!", I tried to encourage.
Oh, what's the use? I give up....

spring at last

The flowers, leaves and blossoms are coming out now, heralding the first signs of spring. Over here spring does not start on the 1st of March as you might expect, it started last week, which I find to be a little odd, but I guess nature knows best, because that is when the new signs of life began to emerge, just like magic.
This is a flower from our garden, I don't know what it is, may be a camelia?????
Anyway Alex's pre-school went on a "spring neighbourhood walk" with his class last week and everytime we go out he points and marvels at "all the spring stuff". 

A foreign place

You know that place behind the back door? Yes I know it has been a long time, but that is called the backyard and you can play there now that it has stopped raining. No, it is not just there for decoration, you CAN actually play there now - Have fun! 

3 to 35 degrees in one day

Hi, long time no hear.
Well I have just returned from a great trip back to OZ for my friend's wedding, and I must say, I had a damn fine time. I saw most of the people I really wanted to see and I did alot of things I haven't done in a really really LLLLLOOOONNNNNNGGGGGG while.
The flight over was uneventful (just how I like it) and so luch less stressful by myself. Yes, for those who don't know, I took to trip alone, leaving Ashley for two weeks to take care of the kids. I think it was an enlightening experience for him, but he did do a good job all the same.
I landed on Australian soil at 7:20am and had a 5 hour wait until the flight to Adelaide. While most people might sit sighing and looking wearing out their watch by looking at it too frequently, or attempting to sleep in the departure lounge like a bum in the park - I took the opportunity to take in my favourite city in the world - Sydney. First stop QVB - Queen Victoria Building. This is a picture of the inside of this lovely building. It is filled with great shops and excellent cafes and posh tearooms. My main quest was to get something simple yet sylish to wear to Tonya's hen's party. I have mentioned descreetly to friends about my anguish over teh lack of tasteful clothing in Canada, everything that was half decent was a fortune so due to lack of funds and also lack of choice I had added virtually nothing to my wardrobe since the move 1o months ago.
After my success at the shops I settled down in one of the QVB's cafe's for a light brunch. I also took the opportunity to take in my moments of quiet reflection by writing a few pages in my journal, which I won't share in this forum, as they are likely to translate as mere rantings of a crazy woman.
Then I took the train back to the airport, but stopped into Circular Quay to salute the quintessentially Australian harbour. It never fails to disappoint me, the water, the ferries, the Opera House, "The Coathanger" (bridge). Eveytime I have visited Sydney, and it is my 4th time now, I have always had a good time. The first time was with Ashley for our Honeymoon.
But in no time it was time to say farewell and prepare for my flight to Adelaide.
I had left Vancouver after a particularly cold week; it was 3 degrees on the day I left and had snowed the weekend before. It was a breezy 27 in Sydney, but it was quite comfortable really, although my feet were blistered after a very hort time from not being used to my summer sandles. But soon after our take off to Adelaide the captain informed us that is was 35 degrees in Adelaide and I wondered if I might evaporate upon entry - only time would tell.....

Balmy Glenelg

My friend picked me up from the airport and we went out for a meal and catch up to Glenelg. I love Glenelg in South Australia. It has a gorgeous white sandy beach and there are loads of things to do/see/experience; and it also has a great atmosphere. My hankering for a nice beach has been releaved at last. AHHHHH!

walking with a wedgy bearing bare-breasted pregnant model

Yep, conjures up all sorts of disturbing images doesn't it?
On the first Monday of my trip to Oz, I helped my good friend Heather with her new business venture. While she has had a maternity and baby merchandise store in Alice Spring for a couple of years now, she has just taken on the Australian/New Zealand distributorship for Bravado maternity bras. So after a successful weekend at the Adelaide Baby Expo, I was asked to help her at the breast feeding association convention, which was being held at the Playford Hotel off North Terrace in the city.
We had to be at the venue at the crack of dawn to set up, but due to the peak hour traffic we had to park miles away and lug all sorts of goods through the city. Boy I wish I had a camera, it really was quite a comical sight. Understandably I refused to carry the bare breasted wedgey bearing pregnant mannequin through the city, but both Heather and I laughed the whole way to the hotel, as we dodged several surprised business people, herds of congregating, bus waiting school kids, all sniggering and whispering while pointing our way, and also a priest who I refrained from making eye contact with. Ahhh, all in a days work - God it was fun.

Groovy baby

Finally Adelaide has a world class airport. No longer do visitor have to cross the tarmack to board or disembark the aircraft. Gone are the dingy terminals, dodgy carpet and darkness. The new terminal is light, white , tiled with warm wood trim. There is space and elegantly curved lines. I was impressed, although I did have to listen to some guy whinging about the cost of the facililty on the trip over... "who cares whether we have to cross the tarmack in the weather?" he says - "the Queen does, the Pope does, Rock stars do. I used to feel like a rockstar when I got off the plane in Adelaide. It was unique. Now I just feel like everyone else"... "Oh shut up". I wish I had said, instead of smiling and nodding like I cared. There is always someone who can't be pleased.

Cold enough for yer?

Well I was due to leave Australia at 6am Tuesay morning and was sweating that I might miss the connecting flight to Honoloulou. There were only 9o minutes between the flight landing in Sydney and the next flight leaving. Understandably I was a bit annoyed to see that the flight to Sydney was going to be delayed in its departure by 30 minutes, but I hoped I might still make it.
When the plane was then delayed an extra 15 minute due to air traffic around Sydney, I figured that I may as well kiss my connecting flight goodbye. But as luck would have it, my flight to the USA was also delayed 30 minutes- if I hurried I might still make it.
I ran to catch the bus to the international terminal and hurried all the way to the check out counter to get my boarding pass, only to find the longest of lines. And from the conversations being put about, the people I was in line with were checking in for the 1pm flight, and were concerned they might be bumped off it. WhenI mentioned that I was there for the 10am a lady encouraged me to jump the queue and state my needs, so I did.
I was informed that I was too late for the 10am flight and would have to take the 1pm. "Great, the long way home via San Fransisco", I thought, shuddering at the memory of that dreaded first trip with the kids, the baggage and the vomit. I went to the next counter to arrange the change when the Lord took pity on me, and a kind man behind the counter said that they had been wiating for one more passenger coming on the delayed flight from Adelaide. He handed me my boarding ticket , which I took in an unblinking shocked state. Had something actually gone my way for once? Then the man told the woman at the ticket counter that the flight was now closed. I had actaully made it. Phew!
As I settled into my seat on the plane, a woman about my age approached. Her name was Amy. She was from Brisbane and we were going to be seated next to each other the entire way to Vancouver.
During the course of the flight we chatted and I learnt much about her. She was heading to Calgary on a one year work visa. She didn't realy care what type of work she would end up with, she was just looking for a change after 10 years in the same job in the same place. She had nothing at all lined up; she was just gong to get a bus into town and check it out first. She only had one bag, so she thought she would be alright.
Just before the movie was due to commence the inflight news came on, along with the Canadian national weather report. Amy was dressed in a tank top and jeans, so I elbowed her to attention and laughed when the report showed Calgary to be having a high of -7 degrees. But she assured me that she did in fact have a very thick jacket in her carry on bag. "Oh good" I said, "you are going to need it".
Much later as we were preparing ourselves to descend in to Vancouver. Amy gets down her bag from the overhead compartment. We could see the seascape below, it looked cold and wet, and we weren't anywhere near Calgary, this was approaching British Columbia, the relative tropics of Canada! Anyway I didn't take much notice of what Amy was doing. I was getting my own self sorted. But once I had finished and had sat back to enjoy the final 20 minutes or so of the flight I noticed Amy putting on a DEMIN JACKET!!!!!!! Ok, it did have a flannel lining, but COME ON- MINUS 7 degrees. I said to her, "Oh, is this your jacket?" "Yep", she said, "If this doesn't keep me warm, nothing will", she assured me confidently. "Ya might be surprised", was my response!
I dare say an overcoat at the Calgary airport gift shop might have been her first purchase.