Chihuly Glass Garden

TRAVELS WITH KID  |  SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

Spud's birthday request was to drive down to Seattle to have dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Sounds a little crazy but we did it! We wrapped it all up with a visit to the EMP, which was amazing, and to the Chihuly Glass Garden, which was jaw dropping, and called it an "experiential" birthday present. The cherry on the cake was going with good friends. Here's a sample of what we enjoyed at the garden.

Makes Me Happy: Puppy's Poophaus

Also known as la casa de caca. No matter what you call it ... poop in predictable places makes me happy ... well, happier than poopy surprises throughout our yard, anyway.

>>Welcome to Makes Me Happy Wednesdays. A photo. A caption. Just a little something for which I am grateful.

Cherry Blossoms: Nitobe Gardens

Nitobe Memorial Gardens, UBC   |   Vancouver, BC

Every year is different, it's near impossible to predict exactly the best time and place for viewing the spring spectacular of cherry blossoms in full bloom. This year we thought we'd check them out at the Nitobe Gardens, a place we've been meaning to visit for some time anyway. While we may have been a smidge early for the full blooming glory, we were nonetheless treated with a gorgeous, peaceful place to stroll and appreciate a myriad of vistas.

Our Summer Day Camp Shortlist 2014

SUMMER DAY CAMP 2014 |  VANCOUVER, BC

• Bike Camp  —  Pedalheads
• Cooking Science and Urban Design  —  Pear Tree Education
• Dog Agility Training Camp  —  DogSmart
• Fencing  —  UBC Summer Camp
• Golf Camp  —  The First Tee, YMCA
• Minecraft Camp  —  MineCampKids

Others we've participated in the past with a thumbs up:
Arts Umbrella  —  Fine, Performing, and Media Arts
Christianne's Lyceum — Book Clubs, Writing Clubs, Creativity and Imagination
Dizzy Whisk  —  Cooking
Eliot Creative Arts Camp — Multi-generational Overnight Camp
MacSailing — Sailing, Kayaking and Stand-up Paddleboarding
Seymour Eco-Adventure Camp  — Hiking, Survival Skills, Wilderness Appreciation
Science World  —  Science
YMCA  —  Swimming, Group Games and Activities, Field Trips, Themes

Others that we want to check out next year:
Mozart School of Music
Archery! If we can find something close by ...

Today's Lunch: Gluten-Free Pancake Sandwich is the Star

I'm always on  the hunt for grain-free or at least gluten-free ideas for lunches that are still satisfying for our gluten-worshipping boy (he really LOVES his bread ... and pasta ... and all things wheat-y). I was happy that Hubs made extra gluten-free pancakes on the weekend; for lunch I made a jam sandwich from a couple of them. My preference would be to add some almond butter to the mix but that has to be reserved for after school snacks since our school is religiously nut-free.

Makes Me Happy: Tree Hugger

>>Welcome to Makes Me Happy Wednesdays. Just a little photo of something for which I am grateful.

Today's Lunch: Greek Pasta Salad

Greek Pasta Salad: Gluten-free rotini, Chicken, Feta, Olives, Green Pepper, Strawberry Tomato, Grapeseed oil, S + P, and Oregano.

Easter Eggs: Food Colouring, Rubber Bands and Sharpies

I had a lot of fun with the white and especially the silver metallic Sharpie.

Here are Spud's creations, including a football!

You can always expect Hubs' creations to go in an unexpected direction ... national eggs!

Easter Peeps Fruit Skewers

Apple pear, pineapple, grapes, watermelon and Peeps skewers to share with friends on Easter Friday!

Makes Me Happy: Spring Surprises

Our first spring in our new house has been full of surprises, including glorious tulips and bunches and bunches of grape hyacinth popping up everywhere! We happily added those daisy-like flowers into the mix ... the colour combination is making me very happy.

>>Welcome to Makes Me Happy Wednesdays. A photo. A caption. Just a little something for which I am grateful.

Today's Lunch: Teddy Bear Sanny

Celebrating our new acquisition of these long-coveted lunch containers by Easy Lunch Boxes with a  little Teddy Bear's Picnic today. Love the separate compartments!

Ripley's Aquarium of Canada and Sawfish Love

A recent trip to Toronto was mainly about being with family but we did manage to squeeze in some touristing too. The largest aquarium in Canada had opened since we last visited there and it was getting some good reviews. So Spud and I checked it out.

There are no whales or dolphins or seals; that didn't bother Spud one bit; he's more of a non-mammal guy anyway. But there was an amazingly long underwater tunnel through a 2.5 million litre tank! If you can believe it. It includes a ride on a slow moving sidewalk which is a genius method for dealing with crowds — every spot is a front row seat to beautiful vistas including colourful fish, rays, sharks, turtles and sawfish.

Spud was really excited to see the endangered green sawfish up close, in person. He's had a fascination with sawfish since his grade 2 project on endangered animals. This was his rendition of the sawfish reproductive cycle. The two in love kill me every time.

Makes Me Happy: The Long Awaited Sun

A recent trip to Toronto meant a couple of days of harrowing walks in -12 °C including the kind of forceful wind that takes your breath away, literally. Made us love the sun that much more when it finally made an appearance.


>>Welcome to Makes Me Happy Wednesdays. A photo. A caption. Just a little something for which I am grateful.

Someone's a Whole Decade Old!

Makes Me Happy: Little Breakfast Maker

This morning I woke up to this ... Spud made be breakfast! The highlight had to be the toasted butter sandwich, with a smiley face carved (subtly) in the top slice.

Makes Me Happy: Our Little Bunny

>>Welcome to Makes Me Happy Wednesdays. A photo. A caption. Just a little something for which I am grateful.

Makes Me Happy: Having a Field Day

>>Welcome to Makes Me Happy Wednesdays. A photo. A caption. Just a little something for which I am grateful.

Makes Me Happy: Love Notes

>>Welcome to Makes Me Happy Wednesdays. A photo. A caption. Just a little something for which I am grateful.

Play Date Treats

Chocolate Milk — served in sprinkle-rimmed glass (honey makes the sprinkles stick)

Simple Fruit Salad — served in a glass pedestal bowl.

Sandwich Cookie — stuffed with fresh raspberries and maple cream cheese spread

LEGO Wall!

A LEGO wall of our very own. This project has been on my mind since I posted about one like it on Apartment Therapy a couple of years ago. It wasn't hard to get the kid or the Hubs on side. We did a little research and this is the way we decided to go about it.

We picked the colour. With much debate. I wanted grey. But those panels are bigger and more expensive per square inch. But I REALLY didn't want the green. I couldn't bear the green. So, we went with blue.

We picked the wall with the least amount of surface area. Because LEGO is expensive! We ordered our 60 panels online as it turns out that our local LEGO store has a policy of selling a maximum of 5 pieces at any one time.

Hubs screwed in hardboard into the studs. Then he unscrewed them all. Because he realized that gluing them onto the wall before screwing them in would give them that extra bit of stability that would be so important when you are pulling LEGO pieces off the wall. Nobody wants the wall to give way when you tug at it. So he added some adhesive and screwed them back in. There were a couple of heavy sighs and an eye roll or two but in the end it was deemed well worth it.

Since each plate has rounded corners you can see a tiny gap where they join up. We decided to paint in behind where the base plates would meet up. We got some matched paint that worked great. And then we practiced by putting up the base plates temporarily with masking tape.

We also painted a frame around the wall as we weren't sure if we wanted to have to cut a whack of base plates to make them reach from wall to wall. In the end, it's very easy to cut them it turns out, with just a standard industrial cutter and a metal straight edge. We may end up buying a few more base plates to finish off around the edges of the wall.

Next, it was time for tiling. Spud was very helpful in getting each base plate out of its package. Hubs cut the few tiles we had to. Hubs and Spud took turns sanding the backside of each one.

Then it was glueing time.

Note that LEGO pieces themselves work brilliantly at holding it all in place for the 24 hour curing time required for the glue to dry.

Here are some close ups of the little collaborative mosaic-like project we worked on as a family this weekend. It was inspired by a little friend who thoughtfully brought Spud a "room warming" present full of little, unique LEGO bricks. It was a really fun project to work on together. It's terribly addictive in fact — my fingers are SO sore from prying apart so many little pieces. But we enjoyed the process and we are all a little proud of the way it came out.

2014. Let's Do This.

This may seem a little late for resolutions ... but I figure we are still in January, and, well, is it ever too late to take time to reflect and put some thought into what you want your future to look like? Last year had plenty to be grateful for. But it sure had its ups and downs too. And there are some things that will naturally spill over to this year. But nonetheless I'm looking forward to a new, fresh year full of hope and possibility.

Meet my log book. I started this ritual last year and it worked really well. In bullet points, for each day, I enter all those important things that happened. Workouts. Creative pursuits. Completed To Do list items. For items that have predetermined goals I keep track of my weekly progress on a chart on the front page.

And this year I will keep track of my progress on my resolutions as well. So, here are the 6 things I'm resolving to do this year.

KEEP IN TOUCH
I resolve to keep in touch with the ones I love, that are near and dear to me, even if I can't do face to face. That means more "just because emails" to those I can't get to see very often. Sending personal updates to family that live far away. Having more coffee dates with the people that inspire me and make my heart happy. I'm so blessed to have a quality group of great people in my life and it's stupid to be too busy to stay connected to them.

TAKE CARE
· Time to deal with those overdue doctor appointments!
· Do Yoga 3 days per week
· Gym or Fitness class 2 days per week
· Family Fitness Fun at least 1 day per week such as long hike or bike

SLOW DOWN
As much for the kid's sake as mine. His pace is naturally (waaaaay) slower than mine, and we will all be so much happier if I find a way to plan for it, accommodate it and just generally accept it.

BE USEFUL
While Hubs is going to be the VP of our giant reno project this year, I want to figure out where my strengths are and contribute meaningfully to the process. I'm hoping it doesn't include heavy lifting or brute force though. Let that be noted.

BE FRUGAL
We just bought a house. Need I say more.

CREATE!
Everyday. Set mini goals and track them. No excuses.

Spud's resolution, "to send notes and artwork to family throughout the year".

Hubs resolution is definitely revolving around a million home reno projects.

Well, we have a busy and exciting year ahead. Let's do this.

Activity Advent 2013 Roundup

This marks the end of our first time doing the Activity Advent and it was SO much fun. I hope the kid wants to do it again next year!

1. Write Santa a Letter

2. Go Branch Hunting

3. Read a Christmas Story

4. Attend a Christmas Lighting Ceremony

5. Make Chenille Snowflakes

6. String Cranberries

7. Go Ice Skating

8. Make Cinnamon Ornaments

9. Make Wassail

10. Wear Christmas Socks

11. Make Mini-Presents

12. Make a Holiday Pillow Case

13. Play Holiday Charades

14. Bake Cookies for Friends

15. Make Christmas Cards

16. Do an Act of Service

17. Buy a Toy for a Child in Need

18. Choose your favourite Restaurant

19. Make Orange Ornaments

20. Go on a Cafe Crawl with Friends

21. Make Star Wars Paper Snowflakes

22. Have a Christmas Camp-out

23. Go to the German Christmas Market

24. Open a Present!

So what would I do differently next year? There would be way less ornament-making days; it served us well this year because we did not have our tree or ornaments out of storage (we are moving!) but next year many/all of them will be replaced with other activities. One thing we missed was a snow activity. Maybe snowshoeing or tubing or tobogganing? If you have any ideas I hope you will share them below.

Activity Advent Day #24: Open a Present!

Guess what we are doing right now ... it's game-time!

Check out all the Activity Advent entries so far here.

Activity Advent Day #23: Go to the German Christmas Market

Check out all our other Activity Advent entries here.

Activity Advent Day #22: Christmas Camp-out

This will be the 3rd year running on this tradition ... we set up a mattress on the living room floor for a family evening of Christmas movies, popcorn, and falling asleep by the tree lights (well this year, that would be a branch of a tree).

Check out all our other Activity Advent entries here.

Activity Advent Day #21: Make Star Wars Paper Snowflakes

Get your own downloadable templates here. And check out our other Activity Advent entries here.

Activity Advent Day #20: Cafe Crawl

Think Pub Crawl ... for 9 year olds. Meet up with friends. Hit the first cafe. Check out the Christmas tree display at the Fours Seasons Hotel downtown. Hit another cafe. Run around the Gingerbread House display at the Hyatt downtown and sing Christmas carols along the way. Then a 3rd cafe. If we'd planned it right we would have also taken in the vintage Christmas window displays at Canada Place too, but it was closed by the time we got there. Do over, next year.

Check out all our other Activity Advent entries here.

Activity Advent Day #19: Make Orange Ornaments

The easiest ornaments we've made yet. We popped the orange slices in the oven at the lowest setting for 4 hours, flipping them once half way through. They aren't completely dry which is likely why the colour is still so delicious. I got this tip from here.

These are the last to go on our Christmas Branch; we are finally ready for Santa. Check out all our other Activity Advent entries here.

Activity Advent Day #18: Choose your Favourite Restaurant

"A Legendary Burger with Triple-O Sauce ... and a chocolate milkshake" ... coming right up!

Check out all our other Activity Advent entries here.

Ottawa 2013: The Museum Tour

I've been SO busy that it's taken me this long to post photos but last month the family met up with the Ontario grandparents in our nation's capital, for 9 great days. We stayed in a beautiful rental, just across the river, which meant many shared home cooked meals and much time just hanging out and visiting. 

I also worked a lot but I'm trying to forget about that. For touristy fun we hit as many museums as we could. Starting with the Royal Canadian Mint.

Wow, $750,000 worth of gold is HEAVY!

This is a really interesting tour. Worth booking ahead of time.

Then there was the Canadian War Museum on Remembrance Day. This photo goes against every peace-loving bone in my body but it's also kind of adorable. 

Best part ... the flash mob choir performance especially for November 11th.

Then there was the Aviation and Space Museum. Spud made a family connection here; his great grandpa was on the team building this plane during the WWII.

Spud also went into space.

Wow. This is Canadian.

And then there are the Parliament Buildings, of course. 

Why does my 9 year old look like he's the same height as me?

Here we are enjoying the first snow of the year.

Here's the Senate ...

And the library ...

And the view from the Peace Tower.

Feels like Hogwarts.

Other highlights include The National Gallery.

The telephone poles outside the gallery are adorned with the entrance stickers you get when you pay to get in. An art installation in the making.

The Museum of Civilization has been on my list since it opened in the 80s. Naturally this was a big tick. Every province and territory is covered and here are some stunners representing our home province ... two Bill Reid sculptures ...

... oh and happy-cute grandparent alert ...

The kids section was fantastic too.

And one of my tops was the Nature Museum. We don't seem to have any photos of that. But that one is at the top of my list for a re-visit if/when we find ourselves back in Ottawa.

Photo Credits: Ed Boucher, Adrian Mandy and myself.