March 2009 Blog

Monday March 30th, 2009

I almost forgot to mention the fun time the girls had at the Doodlebops concert. We went right before our flight out west so I kind of forgot about it until now. Rain was a bit apprehensive at first but lossened up in the second half and even did a little dancing. Piper was rocking for most of the concert but got tired towards the end. They are still talking about the concert today. You can see Rain telling us all about the Doodlebops at dinner one night in this video

We went to the Syrup Festival at one of the local Conservation Parks. Nana and Opa came too. We got to see all the maple trees tapped and feed some animals at a petting zoo and even got to ride on a pony. Rain loved the pony rides and it was really hard to convince her to leave.

The next day we took the girls to see a Quartet at the Civic Centre. Rain thought it was too loud but she liked taling about all the instruments she saw. Both girls do great impressions playing different instruments. They can imitate playing a trombone, drums, cymbals, trumpet, violin, flute and piano. They've really taken an interest in all the different instruments in an orchestra. Afterwards they girls had a tea party at Nana's.

The Doodlebops concert



The Doodlebops concert



The Doodlebops concert - Intermission



Rain having an afternoon tea at Nana's



Rain's first ponyride



Piper's first ponyride



Maple Syrup making...the old fashioned way.



Yum...sap.



Going to the Civic Centre to watch the Quartet.

Wednesday March 25th, 2009

Where to begin. There is so much to retell so here goes....

Rain has learned to draw happy and mad faces on paper or on her magnadoodle. She is quite pleased with drawing many faces all over the page. She also barfed for the first time ever (and I mean ever - this kid didn' even throw up as a baby). We had just had lunch and then went to the Market ball pit where she went crazy for about 30min. One the way home she was red faced and wiped out...and subsequently too worked up to keep her lunch down. Poor kid.

Piper had a really funny meltdown one day when she came running to me screaming "Uncle Scott hit me in the head with a cow!!" The kids had all been in a bath (Jack, Rain and Piper) and Piper had asked for one of the toys animals. Uncle Scott tossed it to her but she missed and it bounced off her head. Oh the indiginity!

The girls had super fun on the airplane and were good both ways. Mommy did not do so well and passsed out on the descent down to Vancouver...paramedics and everything. Nice and embarrasing but what can you do.

We took a trip over to the aquarium withg Auntie Mags and Auntie Manda. We met up with Jack, Julia, Aunti Mimi and Uncle Scott. We got to ride on both the Vancouver seabus and a city bus too. So in this one trip we've been on big and small planes, cars, ferries (we took one over from Vacouver Island to Vancouver), sea buses and city buses. The kids like the aquarium but it was really busy (being March break) so we didn't get to see and do as much as we had liked. The kids did get to have tattos painted on their arms though. We all went out for lunch afterwards where Jack fell asleep as soon as the food arrived (Mimi was shoveling food into him right up until his eyes closed) and remained motionless in the corner of the bench for the rest of the meal. Rain started talking about mid-meal and never stopped. Manda was almost in tears laughing at her endless stories about the Doodlebops, Hallowe'en, the airplane, Christmas and so on.....Auntie Manda also taught Piper a magic trick which she performed again and again for us while we waited for the food to arrive. You can see the trick here.

We alos manage a visit up to a Nanaimo playgym that was like the play structures they have in the McDonalds but about 10 times as big. Bieng march break the place was a madhouse of kids but it was still fun and both Rain and Jack went into overdrive, climbing, sliding and running. Julia was not content to be confined to the under 2 area and took ever opportunity to take off after her brother into the giant play structures.

The kids had just as much fun at home where they played a game which entailed hiding in the closet, then coming out, running and jumping onto the bed, only to run back into the closet again and start the game over. The first time they payed it Jack mangled one finger in the closet door. And even after many warnings about the dangers of the door Piper soon after managed to get two of her fingers mangled in the same door. Much howling and bandging followed. Di they stop them from playing that game...no of course not.

The days were all quite crazy, either with the four kids playing at Auntie Mimi and Uncles Scott's house or on one of our many outings with Auntie Mags and Auntie Manda. Once the kids were down for the night the parents stayed up for as long as possible passing the time playing Rock Band or indulging in a screening of Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog.

Lastly just because Auntie Mags "boy" deserves a mention for being true to his nature...while we were out oen day Southpaw managed to escapee bedroom and then ransack the garbage all over the condo eating everything thing that he considered edible, including some sticks of gum he found in our luggage and a chocolate cake mix he got off the counter. A visit to Auntie Mags wouldn't be complete without a good Southpaw story. My crime scene photo below.



Holding hands while shopping



YAAAAAY! (Julia)



The girls watching some TV



Looking for Africa and Heed (Auntie Mags' cats)



The girls with Auntie Mags and Auntie Manda



What a good Aunt will do for their neice!



Checking out her butt in the mirror



Mommy, Daddy, Rain and Piper outside the Aquarium



Crossing the suspension bridge



Climbing on logs



The family! (from left to right) Auntie Mimi holding Julia, Uncle Scott holding Jack, Piper behind Auntie Mags, Daddy and Rain behind Auntie Manda and Southpaw, Mommy



Sleeping like angels

Tuesday March 13th, 2009

Hello from Duncan BC. First off, the flight went well...in fact excellent. The girls were perfect...excited to be on a plane and they amused themselves with the seat TV's the entire way.

We had a beautiful drive up from the Victoria airport to Duncan to visit Auntie Mimi and Uncles Scott, cousins Jack and Julia. The kids have all been having a blast together as expected. Piper is quite taken with Julia (as she is with most kids that she thinks of as babies). Jack is a wild man still, just as we remembered him the last time we saw him (about a year ago). We haven't been out to do much but have logged in lots of playtime hours with the kids. It's fun having them all around...constant motion. The mommies and daddies have been taking in the evenings playing Rockband and watching Dr Horrible.

Some pictures to sum it up so far.

Sweet Neice baby Julia..."Hi!"



Crazy Nephew Jack



The kids watching TV



The Uncles/Daddy's being goofy.



Sand Angels



The beach and mountains



The kid crew

Friday March 13th, 2009

We went on a fun trip to the Science Centre this week with Mommy, Nana and Opa. Both the girls had a blast! Rain was a buddle of energy running from activity to activity. Her favourite thing seemed to be the huge ball track they had just out front of the kids area. It was just like the marble track we play with at Sasha's house but on a massive scale. She was completely fascinated bring the balls up into the track and watching them follow their different tracks through the maze of metal. She also liked the section that had the air cannons which allow her to launch beach balls up into the air.

Piper seemed to really enjoy the redwall. I don't know how to describe the redwall other than to say that you can leave your imprint in it. See the photos below for a better idea of what it is. Here's Video ONE and Video TWO showing the wall in action. Piper and Mommy also got to try out moving around in a lunar rover. It was really hard to steer something with only air jets.

A couple more funny things Piper has said in the last week worth blogging. Rain was complaining of having a tummy ache and Piper was trying to get my attention to play while I was soothing Rain. I explained to her that I was comforting Rain because she had a tummy ache and Piper gave me a concerned look and then said sympathetically said "Oh...she ate a puzzle piece." Now to most, this would be the time to freak out, except one of the girls favourite books right now is Curious George goes to the Hospital, a story where George eats a puzzle piece, thinking it is candy. He then gets a tummy ache, goes to the doctor, get's x-rayed and the has to go to the hospital to have surgery to remove the puzzle piece. SO...Piper naturally assumed that because Rain had a tummy ache it must have been because she had swallowed a puzzle piece.

Another funny story....Piper asked where Daddy was going and he said to work. She asked him not to go and he replied "I have to go to work to make money to put food on the table". Piper replied "But Daddy I don't want to eat money."

The Ball Track



Woooooosh! Beach Ball Air Cannon



The Red Wall. You can leave an imprint of youself in the wall, then push it alklk back through and do it again.



Rain having a break to contemplate



Piper getting to see what it would look like to be tall (haha...as if she isn't already)



The Great Grandma Blakey "look"

Monday March 9th, 2009

Piper zoomed into the room and said "Mommy I'm going into outer space to catch the sun." What do you reply to a statement like that....she zoomed back out of the room before I had a chance to answer anyways.

We have a new puzzle (yes another one) of the solar system. The girls love putting it together and then taking turns standing on all the planets. They are learning the names of all the planets too although pronouciation is off ("Moranus"...you know the planet that's before to Neptune). Nana bought them a puzzle map of Canada so they get to learn the provinces too (although getting them to say "Saskatchewan" is pretty funny). Yes education CAN be FUN!!

Having the girls beds pushed together hasn't made a difference in Rain's nightly visits to our room. However I get better sleep because with the beds together there is WAY more room for me and he girls to sleep all together. So I start my night in my bed and get brought to their bed by Rain where I continue my sleep until morning. Any sleep is good sleep so I can't be that picky.

We have one more week until our trip out west to visit family. We have a calendar almost full of stars counting down the days. It should be a grand adventure.

The girls twin times two bed.



Kicking a snowman when he's down...and melted.



Graaahhhhhh!



Waaahooooo!!

Tuesday March 3rd, 2009

I picked up a new Dr. Seuss book the other day about a pair of pants that has nobody inside but can walk around. After the girls bath Piper commented that her PJ pants had no one in them...then she put them on and told me that she was in them.

We went to a new playgym last week. It is full of inflatable jumping equipment. There is a jumpy castle, an inflatable ball pit, a two story inflatable slide, an inflatable maze and tons of coin operated rides similar to the ones you'd find at a fair or in the malls. The girls had a ton of fun...exhausting fun.

We also had the first of 2 workshops at the zoo. The topic was eggs and nests and they girls got to do some crafts, play some games, have a story read to them and then they got to pet a skunk named Calvin (Calvin Klein). Well...Piper petted the skunk. When we aksed Rain if she wanted to pet the skunk she replied..."No YOU pet the skunk!"

The girls have started jumping off their beds (not bouncing off, not sommersaulting off but leaping as far as they can off the bed). Piper told me they were trying to jump right over onto the other bed. Crazy kids.

Rain, who visits us nightly for a cuddle, always asks Piper if she can sleep with her in her bed. Piper always says no. The other night I put Hades (one of our cats) in bed with her and she fell asleep with he arm on him. It was pretty damn cute. Tonight Rain asked Piper her nightly question and Piper again said no. I asked Piper if it was ok if I moved Rain's bed next to hers and Piper was quite enthusiastic so I shoved both beds together and they went to sleep. Go figure. Is this the cure for Rain getting up at night wanting to snuggle in with mom and dad? Will Piper accept the new sleeing arrangement? I'll get back to you on that.