Happy 3rd Birthday Helena!

 Here are some questions Helena answered about her 3 year-old self.

1. What is your favorite color?  Orange.  Pink.  Actually I love all the colors of the world.
2.  What is your favorite toy?  The balloons.
3.  What is your favorite fruit?  Raspberries.
4. What is your favorite show to watch?  Curious George.
5.  What is your favorite lunch?  Peanut butter and jelly.
6.  What is your favorite clothes to wear?  My stripe shirt from Zoe.
7. What is your favorite game? Dominoes.
8.  What is your favorite snack?  Cheese.
9.  What is your favorite animal?  Giraffes!
10.  What is your favorite song?  Twinkle Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

 

11.  What is your favorite book?  Do I know any books Mom? (This came from the girl who LOVES to read!)

12. Who is your favorite friend?  Baby Brianna.  Actually Brianna and Holly.
13. What is your favorite cereal?  Froot Loops.
14.  What is your favorite thing to do outside?  Slide on the playground.
15.  What is your favorite thing to drink?  Orange juice, maybe milk.
16.  What is your favorite holiday?  My birthday!
17.  What do you like to sleep with?  My napping blankie and a friend.
18.  What is your favorite breakfast?  Cereal.
19.  What do you want to be when you grow up?  A fireman.
20.  What do you want to do right now?  I want to play with my baby.

Shopping as a Fam

One thing I was amazed at when I became a mom was the amount of shopping suddenly required of me.  No longer was it just grocery shopping and occasional household item shopping, with the fun clothing expedition thrown into the mix.  It still included those things, and more often, but it also includes clothes, shoes, and miscellaneous items for the kids too.

I remember talking to my mom when Helena was 9 months old, and saying I felt like I was shopping every single week for Helena!  Her response: "Get used to it, Charlotte."

Helena asked to have her photo taken here with her friends.  Can you find her?

And I have.  But over the holiday break, I was treated to a very fun shopping expedition with my family.  When it's -20 outside in the city, where do you go to help your little girl get some energy out?  We - including John! - spent a day at the mall.

Surprisingly, we all had a lot of fun.  I've learned a trick for shopping with John & kids - have lots of snacks available :)  And it wasn't really meant to be a day of shopping, but we did get some shopping done too.

Ripley's Aquarium of Canada

We recently visited Ripley's Aquarium of Canada, courtesy of my sis and bro-in-law. 

It was so much fun!

They have five huge aquariums, each focused on a different kind of fish or different region of the world.  My favorite was the Rainbow Reef, as it reminded me of all the fun days I had in Fiji, snorkeling amongst these fish, spearfishing for them late at night - and yes, eating them when they were oh so fresh.

All of this coral was handcarved from cement, then covered with rubber, then painted with aquarium-safe paint.  It took them five months to do it!

Planet Jellies was also fun - Helena enjoyed how the jellyfish changed colors, from white to orange to pink.  We're pretty sure the effect was done by the lighting but we didn't tell her that! 

The biggest tank, Dangerous Lagoon, had a moving walkway take you all around it.  A great way to manage crowd control but it also helped you feel like you were one of the fish, just slowly swimming through the water.

 Benjamin had lots of fun for the first half of the day.  He kept reaching out, trying to snag a fish, not understanding there was glass dividing us.  The second half of the day he was absolutely zonked.

There were three different touch tanks, allowing you to touch helmet crabs, tiger sharks, and sting rays.  All of them were a bit slimy.

 Helena's favorite part - the tunnel which was surrounded by sharks.  She wanted someone to go with her the first four times but then she went "by her own" over and over and over again.  

Ripley's Aquarium of Canada - if visiting Toronto with kids, it's definitely worth a stop!

Happy New Year!

With the start of a new year, came the start of a new family tradition. 

Breakfast at Starbucks - a necessity for this mom on New Year's morning, as her hubby is in Florida for the Badgers game and our coffee pot is broken.

We spent the rest of the morning & early afternoon with friends that have moved.  While their new place is less than 4 miles away, it's much much farther than the previous distance of 2 floors.