Photo(s) of the Day April 11th

A super-cool swing in Ivy Park

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Walking by the river on a beautiful day

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Our walk took us past the Jet D'eau, sparkling in the sun

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Sunday... perfect, lovely Sunday. Can I please have a day just like this one every single weekend? We started the day with a little sleep-in, and when I got up feeling well rested for the first time in a few days I made pancakes, diced apples and smoked bacon for our breakfast and enjoyed it with freshly brewed coffee with a dash of Cinnamon Dolce syrup. Heaven. After breakfast we drove down to Ivy Park, where we enjoyed some time in the playground before heading out on a big family walk. We searched for geochaches in Harris Park (unsuccessfully), picked flowers and did some bird watching while we walked past the forks of the Thames, up to Blackfriar's bridge, and back down to Ivy park on the west side of the river. I remember from participating in the 24 hour relay that the route we took is approximately 2.5km which may not seem like a lot unless you consider that we were walking with a 4-year-old... in which case it's one heck of a long journey. After stops at the Jet D'eau and back in Ivy Park for one more swing we headed for home, where we fired up the barbecue and sat on the porch with a glass of wine enjoying the days end. Cheers to more days like this one!

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Photo of the Day April 10th

I've been thinking a lot about Sophie's 5th birthday party over the last couple of days, which may strike you as silly since it's still a couple of months away - but I've always been the type to plan ahead, and when it comes to my little girl I want to make sure everything is just right. Last year we had her party at the London Children's Museum, and while it was good I was left a bit disappointed by the state of the party room (poor, and used both for the party and for storage) and the program (which didn't include any time in the museum exhibits, which struck me as very odd). So I've been researching locations, and with Sophie's help have narrowed it down to Storybook Gardens, The Little Gym, KidScape, or a new place in London called Once Upon a Teacup. I won't bore you with the exact details, but after comparing prices and amenities I found the front-runner to be Once Upon a Teacup, so we went there this afternoon to check it out (the fancy logo is shown above). It's so cute - it has a restaurant in front and a great big closet full of dress-up clothes for any child guests to wear, two gorgeous party rooms and tea services that are just the right size for kids. The snacks come out in tiered trays and feature such goodies as PB&J fondue and gourmet grilled cheese - if the dressing up, face painting and tea party isn't a big enough hit I'm sure the food will push any party there over the edge. Super cute, and Sophie's definitely sold... now I just have to start looking at dates.

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Photo of the Day April 9th

Our friend Rowan was with us today, and with spring upon us it seemed like the perfect opportunity to start some planting. Chris picked up some cool little pots that you can use to sprout seeds and then plant right into the ground, and about a week ago he took Sophie to the garden centre to pick out seeds. She selected two colours of morning glory (blue like last year, and bright pink), azaleas, and cat grass for Georgie and Gabby - we figured the cat grass could wait until we picked up a bigger pot and the proper "growing medium", but those little pots just called out for soil and seeds today. Planting is such a fun (if kinda messy) activity to do with the kids - they absolutely love it and it's great to know that it's a project that will last... I know that Rowan will be watering his little plants at home in the weeks to come, and our little green thumb will certainly keep on top of caring for her plants here. Next step: little green sprouts - can't wait!

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Photo of the Day April 8th

After Sophie's very busy day at school (she was the "VIP" today) we decided to have some quite time in the afternoon drawing pictures and making up stories about them. Sophie drew a dragon who was frightened of a mouse, and an alien named Zazoot (a creature that she and Chris made up quite a while ago and tell stories about at bedtime), Chris drew a rocket ship for Sophie to fly to other planets in (which looks remarkably like her wardrobe), and I drew two: a picture of our family all together, and a rather exaggerated-looking cat. I sent Chris to work with the picture of our family, and Sophie decided to name my cat for me - I think she looks like a "Lucy", don't you?

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Photo of the Day April 7th

Turns out there actually ARE some Rogers employees that will fix things - who knew?

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I'm going to tell you a story... it's a frustrating one, but one with a happy ending. Two years ago, construction on our street caused a whole lot of wires to be dug up from the road and reburied, including many Rogers Cable wires. For some unknown reason, they didn't finish the job and as a result they left a wire running from a beat-up cable box in the corner of our yard, across our front path, up into our tree, and across the road to another cable box. It looked ridiculous (want to see it? Look up our address on Google Street View!), and worse was a tripping hazard for anyone coming up our front walk. I called and called to have someone look at it, and at first was told that they couldn't fix it because construction was still going on - it would have to wait. Then when our section of the street was done I was told they'd "get right on it", but nothing was done. Last summer I started flagging down Rogers trucks when I saw them in the neighbourhood, and when they stopped I would bring the driver over to my front lawn, show them the wire and ask if they could do anything about it. I got reactions ranging from "I don't understand why that's even there?" to much writing down of information and promises of service that went absolutely nowhere. My patience is shot, and I've been saying out loud that if they don't do something about the wire soon I think I aught to just cut the darned thing down - I bet they would do something about it then. Someone who will remain nameless (and therefore can't possibly be liable for what happened next) overheard my comments and decided to take action... a pair of wire snips, a few sparks and some shocked laughter later the wire was in two in my yard. About 25 minutes after that, even more shocking, the Rogers van shows up to fix it. We figured we might as well mention how long that wire had been down while the technician was here, and at first he didn't believe us - but after looking up a bunch of information he realized we were telling the truth. The result? The final, very long overdue result? The wire is gone (hallelujah!), the delapitated box has been replaced, and I am thrilled. I was asked by both the technician who arrived after the "accidental wire-cutting" and the two shown above who finally fixed the mess whether I was a Rogers customer or not... I did my best to be polite, but really... if it takes 2 years to fix a wire do you really think this is a company I want to give my money to? I think not.

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P.S. The wire-snipping culprit is now on the run - they've left town, and I hear they may have even left the province! Boy, next thing you know they'll flee the country and end up in Mexico or something...

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Photo of the Day April 6th

This is my Dad's last day visiting - he has to leave tomorrow morning - so we're making the most of it. We spent much of the day together hanging out visiting and playing cards... I think it's so cool that Sophie's gotten to the age that we can start introducing different card games to her and she picks them up quite quickly. She took turns being both my partner and Grandpa's partner for several hands of "Silly Eights" and managed to help both of us win - she was our lucky charm! In the late afternoon we all went together to Sophie's gymnastics class at The Little Gym. Dad was kind enough to give Sophie her current semester of classes as a Christmas present, so it was really nice that he got to see her in the class to get a better understanding of what she was doing. After Sophie headed off to bed we shared a great Thai meal and a bottle (or two?) of wine... it's been a real "hit & run" visit that I wish didn't have to end so soon!

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Photo of the Day April 5th

Happy Easter from Courtney and Sophie!

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While Easter Sunday was technically yesterday, today was the day for our holiday get-together with Chris's side of the family. It can be challenging when two members of the family work for the 24/7/365 environment of Police Services, and it turned out that today was the only day that both Chris and Mary weren't working over the Easter weekend. We spent the afternoon enjoying each other's company and sharing a meal in the back yard before Sophie asked to pull out Courtney's old Barbie collection for some play time. We discovered that the Barbies hadn't aged well, and that many of their clothes had somehow gotten lost along the way, so I whipped up a new wardrobe of fashionable little dresses and chic gowns out of printed napkins and hockey tape. It completely entertained both Courtney and Sophie, but to be honest it thrilled me most... I had a real "Project Runway" moment while I was creating those little dresses - the challenges where they make the designers create outfits out of stuff found in a hardware store, or grocery store, or some other wacky non-traditional location have always been my favourite. I think I would have won the hockey-tape-and-napkin-challenge for sure!

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