Happy Birthday ... Me!

It started the night before, teehee. Saucy had us over for some treats and a visit. (Sassy, I picked up that cheese and it is already 1/2 gone!! CJ loves it!) I only planned on staying a little while BUT we had so much fun and laughed so hard!! (Ask KAGS she'll tell you!) Next thing I knew it was 1:45 AM!! Yikes! So much fun, thanks Saucy!!


My family treated me to a very special day!
Moto-Moto asked what I wanted for my birthday ~ Michael Buble to sing me Happy Birthday and a salad from Moxies. First thing in the morning (after I was woken by my princesses) I heard that incredible voice singing to me... well to someone names "Emily" but close enough. (Michael did sing to my cousin while she worked at the Auditorium. She is so lucky!)



Then breakfast of fresh carrot muffins, fruit salad, cheeses and
oj with LOTS of pulp was waiting for me.

Moto-Moto thought it funny to give me this card...


I'm not THAT old! If you notice he cut it in half!!! Very clever!

My dear friend Viki (aka my wife) made me my favourite soup,
her potatoe dill! SO GOOD!



We spent the day visiting and playing, receiving my birthday wishes from near and far.
More food! Supper was a delicious medium rare steak, butternut squash,
fresh multigrain bread and a fancy salad.



The girls were waiting for dessert, chocolate brownie with Turtle ice cream. MMMM

OH, the gifts. The girls got me memory cards for my camera
and a clip on light for the craft room.
Moto-Moto wants to spoil me with this mixer



or this HP netbook.


I don't know... I think it's way too much!!! Any suggestions??

Good Clean Fun

My friend who teaches kindergarten gave me this idea...


spread a whole bunch of shaving cream on the table and let the kids go wild.
We used the cheapest yet most unscented stuff we could find.
HINT: make sure you smell the stuff first ~ there is some really terrible "old-man-cologne" stuff out there.

It is such a great activity for the girls outside in the summer.
They can make words in it on the picnic table, little soft sculptures OR

use it as lotion which CD does a lot of.

It is super easy to clean up with the garden hose and the table always comes out super clean afterwards.

Family Holiday

We spent a weekend enjoying a little bit of Alberta.
We took the girls to Drumheller to the dinosaur museum since CJ learned all about them. CD didn't really enjoy it so much, "Mama, 'saur tare(scare) me! Roar." It was a lot to take in! We also stopped to see the World's Largest Dinosaur in downtown and had a look at the Hoodoos.






In Calgary we spent a day at the zoo. It was incredible!! I love the eyelashes on the giraffes! And being from the Canadian Prairies I had no idea how big hippos were... they are HUGE!
We saw a baby gorilla ~ C.U.T.E!!!!


The next morning before heading home we went to Telus World of Science. It was amazing! The girls had so much fun! They had some digital pond that would make ripples when you walked on it, a floor you could walk on and make musical sounds, a virtual plane to fly, a theatre where you could put on a play, change your costumes, control the lighting, change the set ~ it was great. Moto-Moto and I had lots of fun there.
Lots of science experiments. Physics problems and experiments. A toddler room with busy-beavers water play, a climbing structure, a store to play in.
An interactive Robert Munsch diplay.
That place was SO much fun!! We went right in the morning when it opened and had the whole place to ourselves!! It was super! OH, Moto-Moto and I even tried to lay on a bed of nails!! Too cool!

Bubble Tea

Thanks to Mae and Edna we went to Bubble Mania in Calgary.
Mmmmm, it was so good! CJ ordered the Shooting Star Blended Drink & Moto-Moto had a Mint Chocolate Milkshake, both with pearls. CD really enjoyed them and asked "more, more chewies!"
What I wasn't told was how energizing they were! The cafe is only open 5pm-1am so we enjoyed them later in the evening. The girls were jacked-up and didn't go to bed until 11pm!! (They are usually in bed by 8:30!)


A must have if you are in Calgary.
Auntie Viki and I are going to try Bubble Tea here though Mae said the best ones are in Calgary at Bubble Mania

Gap 30% off - Four Day Sale

I just came across this email and thought you'd all be interested.

http://dealcetera.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/give_get_30_off_canada.pdf

It is good for The Gap and Old Navy.
I printed one off for myself and we'll see if it works!
Happy Long Weekend (Shopping)!

Waskesiu

Waskesiu

We enjoyed a week at the lake, well the city around a lake! We didn't really "rough-it" though we did spend a week in a VERY small trailer. Fortunately the weather was good and we only spent time inside sleeping and seeking safety from a bear in our campsite one evening.

There was hiking...

playing on the beach ...

and in the lake ...

enjoying the sun... (really, she's only 6!)

evening camp fires...

smores !!

checking out the scenery ...

relaxing ...

time with Daddy ...

"our" family day.


We did an average of the month and dates of our birthdays and found out that it was July 16th. Moto-Moto and I decided that every year on that day we will have ice cream for supper!! CJ didn't believe us until we had ice cream in hand from Big Olafs. It was SO good! The girls decided to have fresh cookies from the bakery for dessert too!!

It was nice to get away but I was really happy to get home to my own bed and away from the BUGS!! (Thanks to AV for taking care of Mac.)

A Treasured Farewell

It occurred to me that CJ has been out of school for a month already!

Her end of year farewell was a pirate theme which she was thrilled with, she and Moto-Moto play pirates regularly. She had the perfect outfit to wear ~ her pink glitter skull & crossbones shirt, jean skirt
& white with black heart-crossbone leggings.


Our teacher gifts were treasure boxes filled with sand, gold coins, jewels, a special treasure map thank-you from CJ and a gift card for Starbucks. (Hope you all enjoyed a cool beverage on us!)




For the snack table we made pirate ship & skull-crossbones cookies.


After a trip to the spray park CJ came home to a surprise
"Welcome Summer" banner
(wish I could remember who to give credit to.)


It's hard to believe that summer holidays are nearly 1/2 over!!!
Off for a splash tomorrow with The Sprout & Sassy!

Beaver Creek Hike

We went for a trial hike with the baby backpack for CD.
We were welcomed to Beaver Creek with fresh out of the Solar Oven chocolate chip cookies!! They were delish!

CJ educated us on what she knew about solar energy
and learned a few new facts.

Of course CD was happy because there was food!

I must say that the baby backpack is the way to go when walking on nature trails, last time we tried carrying CD and switching off. This was much easier... well for me anyway! I got to take lots of pictures!

See, I was there too!

We even got to see a beaver taking a break from his den building.

Back up at the interpretive center, the girls stopped to make fish prints!

Disclaimer:
No real, live fish were harmed in the making of this craft,
they used rubber replicas!
(Though I must confess in my Playground Leader
days we did this craft with some from the grocery store fish department! It was when the Spice Girls were popular and all the girls at the park glammed up their fish like their favorite Spice Girl.)

It was quick trip but a fun one!

Back in town we had "fish and chips" for supper.
Tee hee.