Back to Real Life - September 2015

We entered a draw for a You and Me Kids CBC art kit and won!  It had all kinds of craft supplies in it and was a great welcome back from vacation.

One thing we wanted to do this year was to visit the Bowden Sun Maze.  It was ruined by hail last year, but this year the last weekend before school happened to line up with prime blooming time.

It was a little shorter than last time but was still tall enough to get lost.

The haze above the sunflowers is smoke from forest fires in Washington.  It was stunting the growth of some of the plants on the farm, especially in the U-Pick.  The haze was visible even as we landed after our vacation, and some days were quite stinky.

There's always a few of these sentient sunflowers in the maze.  They are mostly friendly.

Still some new buds coming amongst the flowers.

Gwen posing.

Everyone took turns being the leader through the maze.  It took a while but we made it through.

Lovebirds.   Photo by Cara.

Cara was not quite tall enough to cheat yet.

They moved the maze this year and are planning a bunch of different mazes for the future.  We hit the U-Pick for some potatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, carrots and beans.  They were delicious.

Soon after it was the first day of school.  And the first day of kindergarten for Gwen!  The first two days were just half days, and since she only goes half a day anyway, that makes for a very short day.  By Thursday, she was full half day (2 hours 45 minutes) and loves it.

School is old news for our Grade 2er.  Cara was excited and got the teacher she was hoping for.

She is growing up pretty fast.

They are great sisters and are always excited when they spot each other during the day.

We got to school and found Cara's teacher.  A few kids in her class she knew, but mostly new friends.

On the first day, we got to go in with Gwen.  She handled the transition to kindergarten with ease.

Gwen putting on her indoor sneakers in the classroom before we had to leave her.

She had a great day!

Walking to school means being able to handle a bit of rain.  Gwen has to walk to and from school twice a day, but is handling it well.

Our heirloom tomato plants survived the cold weather while we were away.  We brought some in for further ripening.

It was Cosmo's birthday on September 3, or at least that's the shelter's best guess.  We got him some new toys and this scratching post.  He is responding to catnip a bit but is very particular about scratching posts.   This one doesn't get used much.

Grandpa Howie came by for supper before heading to NB for a few weeks.  The kids were excited to see him since it had been a few months.  They thought his new beard was cool.

That night, it snowed!  Mary rushed out and picked all the tomatoes she could find in the dark and brought them inside.  Cosmo thought he was a tomato too.

One of the local ice cream trucks likes to park outside the school at dismissal.  Luckily, one day Mommy had some money to get a treat for the walk home.

Rainy days bring out all the worms on the paths.  The girls have fun rescuing them by throwing them back in the grass.

We still love backyard s'mores!

Gwen is more of a fan now, but still prefers them "raw".

In the middle of September, we found out one of our favourite places had reopened: The Inglewood Bird Sanctuary!  It had been closed since the flood because the pathways and habitats were wrecked.  But it was partly rebuilt so we went to check it out.

The kids enjoy the nature and trying to spot animals.

And of course wandering along the paths.

We spotted one of the owls who live there.  He was sound asleep until Gwen started talking.  She can be pretty loud.  He glared at us but dozed off again soon.

Both kids like to help in the kitchen.  Cara made supper one night and it was delicious.  Gwen's specialty is cookies.

We had a Meet the Teacher night and spotted some of Cara's artwork.  This says "Kindness is helping a sister, friend or a younger kid."

And a repeating pattern of her name.

Gwen's self portrait outside her classroom.

Our go to babysitter lives 5 minutes away so the kids went to his new place.  It just happens to be across the street from a great playground.

Thanks again, Uncle Jamie!

We went to McDonald's for lunch on a day off school.  They like the food but they love the play area!

We were excited to see the blood moon/supermoon but it was pretty cloudy.  Just when we were about to give up and put the kids to bed, it peeked through the clouds.

The kids were non-plussed, but were happy to stay up late.

Of course, the weather cleared just as the eclipse was ending.

We had our 9th wedding anniversary this month.  We celebrated with a nice dinner and a trip down memory lane with the kids.

The kindergarten classes got to do their own Terry Fox Run this year.  Gwen was successful in completing the course.

We went to the Terry Fox/Welcome Back BBQ at the school and had a picnic in field.

And with that, September was over, which can only mean Birthday Season is just around the corner.  October is up next: Thanksgiving, Halloween, and Cara and Mommy's birthdays!

California Adventures - August 21-24

After an exhausting four days at Disneyland, what better than a trip to another theme park!  SeaWorld was included in the passes we got so we figured we'd put them to use.

We got to SeaWorld around 10:00 AM and were pleasantly surprised by the light crowds.  Thanks, Blackfish!

 The kids got to pet some creatures, including real sharks!

 The girls saw these guys perform last time we were here.  Today we just watched them frolicking.

 The whales were zipping by along the glass behind them.  Pretty cool.

 The girls have gotten much bigger since the last time they were compared to dolphins!

 Mommy and Cara headed to the big roller coaster The Manta but Gwen was still too short.  So Daddy and Gwen headed to the Sesame Street area.  Gwen liked spinning in the Abby jellyfish ride.

 And got to meet Abby and Elmo!

 She played in the playground area while we waited for Mom and Cara.  Cara was unimpressed by the intensity of The Manta...she's a roller coaster aficionado now, I guess.

The girls bounced on this huge air cushion.

 We stopped for lunch.  Gwen had some fish sticks.  Maybe from an underperforming creature?

 We stopped by some of the aquarium displays.

 And saw some pufferfish!

 And a weird crocodile fish left over from the dinosaurs.

 The flamingos had just had some babies.  They were adorable.

 They were still fluffy and not yet pink.

 We went back to the Shark Encounter.  The ominous music wasn't so bad this time.

 We decided to catch the dolphin show since we didn't get to see it last time.  Sitting on the metal bleachers waiting for the show to start was probably one of the hottest moments of our lives.

 But it was worth it!  The dolphins were cool.

 A trainer surfing on her dolphin friend.

 A few porpoises joined the show and did some tricks.

People in the splash zone of course got wet.  We sat a few seats further up.

 Posing with the cast.

 We went back to the Sesame Street area since Cara didn't get a lot of time there.  The kids were enthralled by the fun house mirrors.

 The McGinns have been feeding us too well?

 Gwen thought this mirror made her look like a lithe ballerina.

 Abby was taking a break but Cara got to meet Elmo!

 Family shot!

 We went on this crazy ride called Journey to Atlantis.  The first flume ride/roller coaster we've ever been on and it included an elevator for the car you ride in.

 Our ride photo from the big drop.

 The ride also had some wildlife built into it.

 Nothing like flying to SoCal to visit the Arctic.  The polar bears did not look like they were enjoying the August heat.

 Cara thought the ice wall was fake and almost wiped out when she pushed on it jokingly.

 Gwen cooling off.  Feels like home - it snowed while we were away!

 A not-so-baby beluga in the deep blue sea (tank).

 Before heading back to the McGinns' for supper, we decided to try the last big ride we hadn't done: Shipwreck Rapids.  How wet could we get?

 Apparently, very wet!  We were soaked to the bone.  People can pay money to spray water at passing riders and we happened to catch a kid with some change and a water cannon.

 

A lot of these tsunami warning signs are around the coastal areas.  Scary stuff but for us landlocked Calgarians it was a novelty.

 A California sunset on our way back to the McGinns.

 The next day, we thought we'd hit the beach again.  This time we went to a different beach Carlsbad Beach.

 The waves were pretty intense here, but Cara still got some boogie boarding in.

 The McGinns teaching our kids about the power of the ocean.  Only a few dunks.

Cara and Aunt Jill!

 Gwen enjoying some Ringalos.

 Gwen wasn't a fan of the sand.  She got tossed in the waves and ended up with a head full of it.

 Gwen had a little cat nap.  Could all the fun finally be catching up with her?

 She woke up in time for some Pirate Booty on the way back to the McGinns' place.

 One of the perks of having a cousin who works at Legoland: free admission for Charlotte's guests.  So we headed back to pick up the few things we'd missed the first time around.

 A giant Lego Batman.

 Charlotte works in the XBox area sometimes and showed the girls how to use the games.

 Charlotte and Gwen saving their owlets from the magpies.

 Uncle Mark and Cara played some Lego Jurassic Park.

 Cara with her best Dark Knight impression.

 Bat-family.

 Charlotte brought Jacob along for some fun with her cousins.

 We rode through some storybook scenes.  Here's Lego Red Riding Hood off to Lego Grandma's place.

 The Big Bad Lego Wolf had some dinner plans.

 Hansel and Gretel were filling up on Lego treats.

 Lego Cinderella and the Fairy Legomother.

 One of the seven Dwarfs having a snooze.

 Lego Snow White had seen better days...her hand is on the ground in the lower left!

 But we didn't mind, it was still cool.

 Lego Red Riding Hood made it to Grandma's place.

 And in the end, made friends with the Wolf and had a dance.

The Three Little Pigs rockin' out.

 The rider restrictions on this ride forced Riley to sit in front with an adult because he was a "child" ... a "child" who weighed enough to almost tip the boat!

 Legoland is maintained by Lego workers when Charlotte has a day off.

Mary and Riley went back on the insane Knight's Tournament.  Level 5 was intense.  Someone screamed the entire ride (again).

This is the ride (video from our first time at Legoland)
Mary and Riley are on the left - on level 4.
Cara and Aunt Jill are on the right - on level 2.
Level 4 was crazy!  Mary was screaming but had fun - enough fun that when we came back to Legoland she agreed to do level 5 (which was way too crazy and she screamed even more but had some fun and would probably do it again - she is a nice Aunt to Riley like that :)

 We met some princesses in the Medieval area.

What a wonderful world it would be if these two were in charge: no bedtimes and candy for all!

 We all went on the Lego Friends carousel.

 And saw the Lego Friends stage show!

 Gwen was rockin' out to the music....

 And joined in the dancing too!

 The girls practiced driving again.  Cara avoided traffic jams this time.

 Who says California traffic is bad?

 Cara rode on the helicopter ride with Charlotte.

 While Gwen took a Lego car for a spin.

 Next we met Emmet from the Lego Movie!

 Everyone was excited to meet such a big star.

Group shot!

 The kids took the Friends car for a spin.

 Gwen is growing up so fast.

 The girls went on this drop ride and loved it despite being a "little kid" ride.

 And then the younguns had a spin on this crazy ride again.

 We also got admission to the aquarium in the park.  Gwen got a fish eye view of the creatures.

 A lot of low light for the deep sea animals.

 Daddy looking sparkly.

 There were lots of jellyfish to see.  They were very cool and the lights made them glow.

 The girls met a mermaid too!

Some surreal Man'o'Wars.

 They seemed content.

 We spotted some familiar looking fish on the other side of a display.

 Looking up at a sting ray.

 A shark on patrol.

 He looked a little hungry.

 "What'r'you lookin at?"

 There were some Lego displays scattered throughout the aquarium.

 Gwen's dream come true: real seahorses!

 They were bigger than we imagined!

 So long LegoLand (again!)

 

Summer 2004...

We haven't changed a bit!

 Sadly, the next day it was time to head back to Calgary.  Jill and Riley drove us to the airport and posed for one last photo.

 Riley is a great cousin to these girls!  He played Blitzkrieg Bop about a thousand times in Rock Band and carried our band every time.

 The girls had one last American treat at the airport:  some Jack in the Box.

 It was a hit.

We had a nice flight home and Uncle Jamie picked us up at the airport.  We couldn't have done this trip without the McGinns' and Jamie's help.  Thanks so much!  We'll be back soon, especially once Star Wars Land opens at Disneyland!