Month: May 2014

Oh what a sunny weekend!

It has been a beautiful weekend with ample time spent outside in the sunshine.  The girls spent the whole weekend with smiles plastered to their faces.  Each had a date with their Baba which was the icing on the cake so to speak.  They each gave him a date for his birthday.  Katrine and Glenn went out for pho while Elspeth took her daddy to Tim Hortons for a muffin and iced lemonade.  Glenn also had a great time on his dates.  I will let the photos speak for themselves.  I hope that you have all enjoyed the sunshine.

Mama, I like the sand.

Time for some bubbles.

My crazy pair

A moment of calm before she sprang back into action.

Just in case you think that we dared to spend time away from an arena, here she is just before hitting the ice as a demonstrator for a COS coaching seminar. 

Yup, it is the perfect time to break out the ice cream cones.

Our Garden & a cake

Let me begin by saying that Glenn finally got to have his birthday cake!  Everyone was well and in good spirits so it was time to break it out…once the girls had added their personal touch that is!

This morning was spent planting the garden.  We are using seeds this year (long story but basically we could not find the seedlings that we wanted at reasoable prices).  We planted turnips, beets, radishes, peas, beans, cukes and sunflowers in the main garden and then pumpkins were planted beside our strawberry plants.  Fingers crossed that something grows!

Reunion – Part 2

After more time spent in the water park (where we reconnected with an old friend and his family all too briefly I might add).  We decided to stop and get some fresh air.  Our first stop was the floral clock.  It was lovely. I have fond memories of stopping at the clock with my parents on our trips to Niagara.

From there we drove to Niagara on the Lake.  We window shopped and enjoyed the spring flowers in bloom.  Both girls were quite taken by the variety of tulip colours.

Katrine’s favourite window find.  These are almost too cute to eat.

Of course, we had to make a few stops.  No, not the Irish Tea Room this time (don’t worry, I am saving that one for a future trip) but the hat shop and gelatto (yup, the place with the GF cones).

Pear in a GF sugar cone….mmm, love it when Glenn decides that I need a treat.

Katrine thought that this watermelon hat was rather cute.  Unfortunately they did not have it in an adult size.


 

Great Wolf Reunion & Gluten Free-ness – Part 1

This past weekend was the 9th reunion of Katrine’s China family.  These weekends are always fun because they involve lots of kids, laughter and getting caught up.  Watching all of these kids grow has been a blessng, what a great group of kids and parents.

Not too big for storytime….well, for a few minutes at least.

We came back to Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara again this year.  It is a favourite of the kids. I was a bit worried about what Elspeth might think given how she is not a big fan of splashpads but she rather enjoyed herself.  By the end of the day she had gone down two slides, jumped waves and actually put a foot and hand into a splashy fountan.  She was also a big fan of the story time and Friday night dance party although she danced more for me than Baba.

Some of her moves.

 

Katrine spent her time divided between two activities – playing in the water and running around on quests. (Thank you again to her China sisters and brother for sharing their wands and quests so willingly)  This year was a big deal because she really went on the waterslides.  In years past she has spent vast quantities of time in the warm tub but this time round she was here to have fun with family and she did just that.

I managed to catch her in the midst of a quest.  Unfortunately all of the other photos of Katrine have other kids in them so you will need to be content with just this one.

Aside from bonding, there was even a few special surprises for me in the form of gluten free goodness!  The restaurant beside the entrance to the waterpark carries gluten free pizza.  It was so tasty that the girls did not even notice the difference and ate my pizza instead of the regular when I wasn’t looking (which is one way to eat less).  Then for dessert there was gluten free flourless cake or cupcakes.  Decadent!  They were the cherry on my sundae! And then today for lunch it was a peameal and cheddar melt prepared in an oven not the panini press.(The counter server changed gloves, laid down new wax paper, the whole deal!)  And it was DELICIOUS!  Gave me enough energy to go on another tube slide and stand for half an hour in the wave pool watching Elspeth dance around.

Mmmmm, cake!  It looked pretty, tasted great and was GF!

Doesn’t it look good?

Katrine’s Castle Project

One of Katrine’s recent school project (with a friend) was to create a castle.  They did a great job and I am really proud of them.   Anyways, here is the finished product.  Now we just need to decide what to do with it after we can’t keep it any longer (it is pretty big).  I am leaning towards having Glenn and the girls build some sort of catapult and then we can lay siege to it one weekend.  Doesn’t that sound fun?

Here is the outside of their castle.  The drawbridge actual goes up and down.  Oh, and like the girls they are, they added crystals to the moat to make it look sparkly.

This is the keep.  They added little playdough trees and royals to the front courtyard.

This is the main courtyard with bakery, stable, armory and then residency of someone (sorry, don’t know the French word).

Anyways, there it is Chateau A&K!

Another One Turns 40!!

It was Glenn’s turn to celebrate on Monday…well celebrate somewhat.  With Katrine being sick and Glenn wanting ice cream cake (really a block of ice cream coated in delicious toppings…oh and candles of course).  He did manage to mikl the day for tons of hugs and Baba love.  Then the girls just had to give him their gifts.

Our Primary Star

Today was yet another day spent at an arena…well two in fact, because it was Katrine’s ice show.  Her number was really fun.  All of the Primary Star girls got to perform with umbrellas.  I was a bit worried when I first saw the boxes of umbrellas.  I saw poking and tripping but they handled them like pros and the number was really fun to watch.  Really proud of Katrine.

The evening ended earlier than anticipated.  I went to get her at intermission to discover that she had a fever and was feeling unwell.  I am hoping that it is nothing.  An unanticipated end to a nice show.