A Busy Weekend

It was a busy weekend around here!

On Saturday, Amy and Daddy headed off to a birthday party at an aviation museum. This was a thrill for both as Robin's Dad was a test pilot that flew the Avro Arrow and Amy just loves a good party. Then it was a quick change into a different type of party dress to head to the Princesses on Ice with both Mommy and Daddy. She loved it, but spent the first part of the show like this . . .
She really doesn't like loud noises! During the intermission, after buying the obligatory bag of cotton candy and the flashy light thing (it was so handy of Disney to have that remortgaging booth there too!), I was able to get a picture of her with her hands no longer attached to her head.
Finally, it was off to the Winter Festival to meet our friends. Amy and Thomas spent the entire time sliding down the hill, running through the ice maze, climbing the snow mountain, and tobogganing down the huge slide. She had a blast . . . and somehow managed to stay awake on the drive home!
On Sunday, Daddy took Amy to the local arena to work on her Olympic training. Amy found a skate training thingy and gave it a try.
She soon, however, ditched it to just zip around the ice on her own.
And now it`s Monday morning and we`re off and running for another busy week!

Skating

There are just some things we feel every Canadian must do and one of them is to skate.


Amy has been pestering us for some time about wanting to skate. Yesterday, opportunity finally presented itself and she and I went out to purchase skates and a helmet. On the way to the rink, I called Robin, who was still working, and said something along the lines of "I'm taking Amy to the rink. Would you like us to come and pick you up so you can witness her first time on skates? I'm sure she'll fall down a bunch of times, hate it and then we'll leave. We can have you back at the office in fifteen minutes".


Based on that logic, we picked up Daddy-O and we headed to the rink. All the way there, all we heard from the back was, "you and Daddy sit on the bench and I'm gonna skate all around by myself". We looked at one another and smiled. Yeah right.


Once on the ice, Robin took one hand and I held the other and we began making our way around the circumference of the rink. Within approximately five minutes we were being pushed away and informed she could do this herself. We cautiously stepped back, waiting for her to fall down . . . and . . . she didn't!!!!!!!!!!!!!


We were told, in no uncertain terms, to go sit on the bench. So, like all obedient parents, we did. And we watched in awe as our little girl, first time on skates, began to make her way around the rink. Yes there was shuffling at first, but then she began to lift a foot off the ice. Yes she fell, but wanted no part in the assistance offered; she simply got up herself. I still haven't mastered that!


Forty-five minutes later, we were getting cold from sitting on the bench and someone was getting antsy about all the work he wasn't getting done, so we left, but not without first promising we'd come back tomorrow . . .

. . . which brings us to today. After school, we were back at the rink. Only this time I had located and sharpened my skates I hadn't had on in fifteen years. And yes, they still hurt. And yes, I still can't get up when I fall. And yes, I still strongly dislike skating! But my little girl loved the idea that she could skate circles around me, literally.


Today she practiced her skating moves, which involves gliding on one foot with your hands in the air (can you tell we've been watching the Olympics?) and then pushing only with one foot while gliding with another. The maneuvers are not tremendously smooth, but much better that I can do and I've been skating for forty years (I may have taken the odd season off)!

I don't think Robin slept last night as he was so giddy with visions of hockey pucks slamming around in his head. 2022 Olympics, here we come!

Happy Chinese New Year

We celebrated Chinese New Year this weekend. Amy and I had fun decorating the house with all of the lanterns and decorations we bought this spring in China. Then on Saturday, we had family and friends over for dinner ordered in from our local Chinese restaurant. Who knew our small town would have one? And the food was actually quite good.

This afternoon, Amy got her red envelopes ready to take to school tomorrow. I'm not sure what happened here. Amy suddenly struck a pose. She looks a little like a model for Vogue . . . or something else. Let's hope it's not a sign of things to come. I personally think it was the Christmas basket on her head that pushed her over the edge . . . I hope.

That's a little better.

Happy New Year!

Valentine's Pancakes

There is nothing I love more than a great kitchen gadget. On Saturday, we opened a package from Sean and Kristin with some cute Valentine's gifts for Amy and a birthday present for me. Can you guess what it is? It's a pancake pen! And we had lots of fun with it this morning making our Valentine's pancakes.

Of course, Amy went rogue and did a freestyle pancake. It's little things like that that make me crazy. Yes, I am far too anal.

It was still tasty.

Then we sat down in our far too sunny eating area to enjoy our pancakes.

Thank you Sean and Kristin. I love my new writing utensil.

Happy Valentine's Day

Wow. It's February! How did that happen? We've been busy and somehow time has just slid by.

This week we've been getting ready for Valentine's, Chinese New Year and the Olympics - it looks like it will be a busy weekend.
Thursday morning, Amy was busy finishing her valentines to take to her Valentine's party at school. Robin phoned me after he had dropped off Amy to tell me about one poor Daddy who was kneeling in front of the mail cubbies when they got there and was still in the same position when Robin left, only now he was muttering to himself. Robin had to laugh at the rookie mistake of actually putting the recipient's name on the valentines which then necessitates putting the card in the correct mailbox.

Not that that wasn't Robin last year!

This year, we just had Amy sign her name and then the card can be filed into anyone's box. Pure genius.