Don't Save Them For A Rainy Day

So, if you want to go to the beach and play in the sand but you don't like it when the sand gets in your shoes or sandals, I've found the perfect solution. Wear your boots.

Poppin' Wheelies

I was watching very closely at the PNE motorbike show on Monday and now I have a new trick for my tricycle! Here I am trying to pop a wheelie!


I don't have the fire balls behind me that the guys at the PNE had. I'll have to add that part after I can do the wheelie without putting my feet on the ground.

Last Weekend of the Summer

Mommy says this is the last weekend of the summer and we should make the most of it. PLUS, Daddy is off this weekend so there's even more reason to do something before the weather starts to turn cold and I start school.

GRANVILLE ISLAND - Saturday, August 25, 2007
Daddy found out about the Wooden Boat Festival on Granville Island and it sounded like it might be fun. I heard some sailor music, watched a man make a rope and, of course, saw lots of wooden boats. Here I am with Daddy on the docks. We saw lots and lots of boats and Daddy explained how some of them work.


After looking at boats on the docks, Daddy said we could go an a boat ride. I didn't know it would be a BUS ride too!


Here I am with Mommy on the AquaBUS! It's a small boat that scoots on the water to another dock near the bridge that takes you to Grandpa's house. We went on the cruise so it took us back to Granville Island where we started. I had fun watching the other Aquabuses on the water and the regular buses passing over us on the bridges.


LAZY DAY - Sunday, August 26, 2007
Sunday morning is always full-circle breakfast at Grandpa's house. This week Grandpa made lots of food but best of all, he made pancakes. I think I ate 100 tiny, spare-tire pancakes.

My cousin Jacob is walking now and can even run a little bit. We had fun playing Run-Run. I can run very fast. Jacob can run almost as fast as me but he gets a lot of help from his mommy, Aunty Wendy.

After breakfast, Mommy went to the Farmer's Market while Daddy and I played at the playground. I think lots of other families do the same thing because the playground was very busy. Mommy wanted to go for a forest walk after our shopping but I said no. Instead we went home to work in the garden.

There was lots to do in the garden. Mommy and Daddy spent a lot of time pulling weeds while I helped them move some dirt around. I helped Mommy pick some green chili peppers from the veggie patch and she also taught me how to pick the red tomatoes off the vine without having all the little green ones fall off. Here I am in the garden. See my sunflowers behind me. They're making seeds that I can plant next year.



PNE - Monday, August 27, 2007
What a busy day this was! In the morning, I met my friend Marissa for a playdate. We haven't seen each other all summer. We played at the Fire Engine Playground then had a hot chocolate party at the coffee shop.

After lunch, Daddy came home from his golf game and our family went to the PNE. There was so much to see! First we saw the jumping motorbikes and quad-cycles. That was very exciting and noisy. Then we went to the SuperDogs show. Mommy really cheered for our "Bow Wow" team. On our way to Farm Country we saw the Canadian Forces and I got to sit in a real jeep and jet!



That was one of my favourite parts. After the jet, we finally made it to Farm Country where I saw a gigantic bull, lots of cows and some horses. I petted a goat and I really liked the small animals like the bunnies and the baby ducks and chicks. Then, we spotted something that looked really fun...tractor races. I went three times!


We ended our day at the PNE by sharing a bag of mini-donuts. They were pretty tasty.

I didn't know what the PNE was before we got there, while we were there I wasn't sure that I wanted to stay, but after we left, I sure wanted to go back for more.

I'm Back!

Hi Everyone! I'm back. It's been a long time since my last blog and there is so much to tell you. I've been really busy. Our city has a strike so I haven't been able to go to any of my at the community centre classes. That's OK. Mommy's been keeping me busy with all sorts of other stuff. I'll try to fill you in on everything...

A VISIT WITH LISA - July 26, 2007
Mommy's cousin Lisa visited from San Francisco and we spent the afternoon with her at Granville Island. It was very relaxing. I fell asleep while listening to some guitar music and Mommy and Lisa just kept on talking. When I woke up, we all went for some ice cream. I had one of my favourite flavours (mint chocolate chip) and for the very first time, I had it in a cone that I ate all by myself. It was hard to coordinate the licking but I finally go the hang of it.



After Granville Island Lisa came home with Mommy and me. Daddy had a chance to visit with her while we waited for Uncle Wasson and Aunty Sandy to come pick her up.

It was nice to see Uncle Wasson and Aunty Sandy. I don't get to see them too much anymore. I showed them how I can ride a tricycle all by myself now and pointed out how tall my sunflowers have grown.



SUNFLOWERS - July 27, 2007
Speaking of sunflowers. Here's a new picture of my sunflowers. They're taller than me now.


JUNIOR ARTIST - July 27, 2007
Ba (my Grandma) is coming from Nairobi along with my cousins Kush and Neel and their Mommy and Daddy, Aunty Meeta and Uncle Jai. There isn't enough room in the downstairs guest room for five people so I have to share my bedroom. At first I didn't like it but Mommy and Daddy made a small room for me in their bedroom. After we moved all my books and bedtime friends, it was much better. Now I really like my new, small room. I have a little bed on the floor and all my favourite things. The walls are very plain though so Mommy bought me some paints to make some art to decorate the walls.



KITSILANO FIRE STATION - July 29, 2007
Mommy, Daddy and I visited the fire station near my house. All the fire fighters were there and the city's Fire Chief even stopped by to show us his special truck. Everyone was very friendly and they showed me all the fire fighting equipment. I tried on a mask and a big coat. They were very heavy. I really liked their big flashlights and driving the big steering wheel was lots of fun.



They let me push all the buttons in the front of the truck. When nobody was looking I scared everyone when I pushed the air horn button. I even scared myself. It was very loud!

After checking out both the fire trucks and the Fire Chief's truck, they gave me some juice and cookies. Mommy and I sat in the back of the truck to eat our snack. It was a really fun day and at the end they made me a Junior Fire Chief.


OKANAGAN - August 10 to 13, 2007
Daddy's family is visiting from Kenya so we took them on a four-day driving trip to the Okanagan.

On the second day, we went to the Kelowna Orchard Company where a man taught us all about apples and a little about peaches and plums. Ba loved seeing all the fruit on the trees and everyone was very excited when the tour man let them pick some fresh plums.



For me, the fruit wasn't very interesting. Instead, I liked the part where I got to drive a tractor, for real!



After the apple orchard tour, Daddy thought Kush, Neel and I would like to race cars so he took us to the go-cart track in Westbank. I was too small to go on the same track with Kush and Neel so Mommy took me to the kiddy section. She was surprised to find out that I would get to drive my own race car.


Here I am driving a car for the first time without any help. I'm in the blue car (my favourite colour).



Boy! That was a lot of fun! I think I can drive Mommy's car now but I'm not sure she'll let me.

After the go-carts we had to do something fun for the grown-ups. Mommy suggested the Mission Hill Family Estates winery. I have to admit that it was very pretty there. There were a lot of people so we had to wait a long time before Aunty Meeta, Uncle Jai, Ba, Kush and Neel could go on their tour. That's okay. Neel and I had a lot of fun playing on the grassy hills.




While everyone else was on a winery tour, Mommy, Daddy and I went down the road to Quail's Gate winery. They let us walk through the grape vines and guess what! I saw lots of quails. They were very small.


Here's the whole family just before we headed out for dinner then back to the hotel.


The next morning we went to a lavender farm. It smelled wonderful but there were a lot of bees. I really had fun running along the paths through the lavender.


After the lavender farm, we drove on the highway to visit with Uncle Brian in Kamloops. We stopped along the way to pick peaches and I found another tractor to drive.



At the orchard, there were lots of peaches and apricots to pick. Ba went crazy! She was so excited she just couldn't stop picking! Kush and Aunty Meeta found a huge peach and when we went to pay for our buckets of fruit, the orchard man told them it was the biggest peach he's seen this year.





For the rest of the trip there was a lot of driving and stopping. We had a couple of picnics outside, saw lots of mountains and I threw rocks into most of the rivers and lakes we stopped at along the way.



THE REST OF AUGUST
The rest of August was lots of fun. Kush, Neel and I spent a lot of time playing with my toys, watching movies, riding my tricycle and laughing. Mommy took Neel and I to a bunch of playgrounds and one afternoon we went to the train park in Burnaby and to the place that has 218 kinds of ice cream. I also got to spend some time with Ba and now that I know her a little bit better, I hope we can visit with her again soon.