Vigid, more formally known as Vigid Milkman, is Gracen’s beloved butterfly kite she received in her Easter basket last month. I have no idea where Vigid (pronounced vee-gid) came from, but Milkman is after Melky Cabrera, a Toronto Bluejays player Miss G and her Papa watch together. Crazy name aside, Grae is absolutely smitten with Vigid Milkman. She watches out our big front window, and the moment she sees the slightest rustle of the tree leaves across the street, she asks if there is enough wind for Vigid to fly. Much to her happiness, today was an oddly windy day (our yard is littered with trash to prove it) and the moment her Papa returned from home from work, he asked if she’d like to fly Vigid. Did she ever!
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Growing up, my brother and I used to stay at my Baba’s (grandmother’s) house for a week or two or three each summer. Being the phenomenal lady she is, she’d bring us into the forest, chop down what seemed like huge trees, and have us help her haul them out to create outdoor teepees worthy of side tables and mattresses. Our summer teepees are one of my very favourite childhood memories now as an adult, and definitely something that I’d like Gracen to experience. While not nearly as grand, today we threw together a very quick little teepee after stumbling across some bamboo sticks. Gracen was in awe of our new structure and immediately went in the house to retrieve her pillow and a couple of blankets. It’s amazing how special a sheet and some sticks can be when put together isn’t it? There’s no doubt that there will be many more of these in the weeks ahead (tutorial to come, for those who asked) and I can’t wait.
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I swear, I’m not a hoarder. In fact, with something like 49 moves under my belt in my 31 years, it’s quite the opposite. I’d much rather toss/recycle/give something away than have to lug it to a new location. Buuuuuuut, the other day after juicing a bunch of citrus fruit, I couldn’t help but think that there might be something we could do will all of the empty rinds (please tell me some of you do this too). Not knowing what it was at the moment, I tossed them all into a container in the fridge and decided I’d figure it out later. Sure enough, a couple of days later as I was grabbing something from the fridge, I remembered the very unique bird feeders I’d seen on Happy Hooligans a few months back. Gracen loves birds and we love to keep our backyard feather friends well fed, so I decided we’d make our own version of the project.
First, we gathered a few things from around the house… The rinds, some baker’s twine (Greenmunch is a great place to buy it, plus everything party, mason jar, and crafting related!), an large embroidery needle, and a pushpin.
After threading our needle and tying a knot at the end, we pushed our embroidery needle through one side of our citrus cup, straight through the other side. I thought we may need the tack to start our holes, but we totally didn’t (though you might if you had a particularly tough rind). I did the poking, and Miss G did the pulling through part.
With the twine pulled all the way through, we pulled up the centre to create a long loop for hanging.
Next, we did a quarter turn and fed the needle straight through the rind again, this time perpendicular to the first set of holes.
Then we pulled the second centre string up to meet the first and tied a knot on the outside of the citrus cup in order to secure everything.
While she helped me ‘sew’ the first couple of rinds, Gracen discovered that she could make some pretty interesting creations with the extra citrus cups and pushpins, so that’s what she did.
This little lemon went from having ‘pokey hair’ to being an octopus, to being a porcupine, and many other things along the way.
When our citrus rind cups were complete, we focused on the food portion of the process.
All we did was take some bird seed (we used a wild bird variety), and mixed in a tablespoon of all-natural peanut butter for every half cup of seed in order to give it some ‘stick’.
Then Grae carefully filled the cups with the sticky seed mixture one scoop at a time.
We used 1 1/2 cups of seed with 3 tablespoons of peanut butter and it filled 2 grapefruit cups and 2 lemon cups until heaping.
With that, it was off to hang the new feeders in the backyard.
Gracen was very specific and knew she wanted one in our apple-pear tree, one in our fig tree, and one in our plum tree… And the other one got hung in our rose bush.
This morning, on the final day of Grandma Charlotte’s visit, we headed down to Stanley Park to soak in the sunshine and crisp ocean air… The photos say it themselves, but it was lovely.
File all of these lovely things – cool sunshiny mornings, layers and boots, days with grandmas – under things we’ll miss once back in Kuwait.
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Though our little miss is normally a rockstar sleeper, Grandma Charlotte is staying with us right now and sleep is difficult when excitement levels are running this high. After a tough time getting to sleep last night, today’s nap didn’t happen. And a skipped nap in this house is not just an ‘oh well’… This little lady needs her naps. Desperately. Our coping mechanism to get through the afternoon as gracefully as possible? Getting outside and soaking in some fresh air and sunshine. It just so happens that today it was in the {yet to be planted} garden in pajamas. White ones.
A filthy toddler and dirt-stained jammies? Totally worth a happy afternoon. Because in the words of Miss G, “It’s okay to dirty.”
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This morning was my favourite kind. Gracen woke up just past 7, we snuggled in bed until we were good and ready to start the day, and we made our way to the kitchen. She sat on her toddler bench gobbling up wholewheat pancakes with peanut butter, and I threw a mix of green veggies and frozen fruit into the blender with a splash of cold water. After breakfast, we gathered a blanket, a book, our smoothies and headed off for an adventure in the wagon. I snuck in some exercise by choosing the hilliest routes and made sure to pass by a park so Grae could have a good long play. Afterwards we made our way to a local coffee shop where Grae slurped up a warm milk and I enjoyed my first iced coffee of the year. Before heading home, I pulled the wagon {and my little love} through our local market and we filled it up with fresh fruits and veggies. She helped herself to bananas and clementines on the way home, and I enjoyed the sunshine, cool wind, and cherry blossoms overhead. It was a good day.
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While our morning consisting of a drizzly visit to Granville Island, our afternoon was all about enjoying a little bit of sunshine and soaking in the sights of spring scattered about our yard…
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This morning Miss G and I walked over to Cook Street where we met up with my good friend Laura, her adorable little lady, Avey, and their teeny tiny dog, Cocoa. Before walking along Dallas Road, we started off our visit at the newly updated Cook Street Playground, which is honestly one of the best playgrounds we’ve been to. It was such a huge hit with Gracen that we stayed longer than planned the first time around, then went back after nap time and spent another couple of hours there.
The park boasts several different play structures, a rope climbing apparatus, a couple of different swing sets, a giant slide, and an open-mouthed dinosaur-esque creature which is perfect for climbing on.
But the one thing all of the kiddos were after? This green chair swing. Grae seriously stood next to it for over 15 minutes patiently waiting for her first turn. Luckily when we came back later, the park was less busy and Miss G got several turns in.
The other amazing thing about this playground is it’s huge zip line. Grae was all for testing it out at first, became a little anxious when she got to the front of the line, and then loved it once she gave it a shot. She enjoyed the ride several times, and Papa may have snuck in a turn too. ☺
Of course there are features to please the love-to-spin crowd too (barf – how do kids do it?) Plus there are bathrooms nearby, park benches to relax on, picnic tables to eat at, a water fountain, and an adult fitness circuit too.
This playground is such a great find and a must-visit if you’re in Victoria with little ones… Not to mention that it’s conveniently tucked between the Cook Street Village (coffee!) and the beautiful seaside walking path along Dallas Road. I’m just sad that it’s not in Vancouver!
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We are so, so lucky to have such a great place to stay while here in Victoria. Brad’s cousin, “Auntie ‘Cole”, generously offered to let us stay in her apartment while she was out of town (thanks Nicole!) and the location couldn’t be more perfect. We’re directly across from Beacon Hill Park, which is amazing in itself, and we’re also an easy walk to downtown. Since we arrived a couple of days ago, we’ve barely used our vehicle at all.
One of Grae’s favourites, and a spot we’ve visited multiple times already, is the playground in Beacon Hill Park. As I’ve mentioned before, Gracen and I love checking out new parks and playgrounds, and this one definitely gets the ‘Gracen seal of approval’.
The slides, climbing structures, and bouncing bridge are all favourites, as is the red car/truck/fire engine and the usual swings.
But what really makes this park a hit for Miss G is its two big, blue “microphones”. Our little lady’s become quite the singer recently and can most often be found belting out Adele, Alicia Keys, Fun, and Taylor Swift songs into a makeshift microphone of some sort. Make it GIANT and echoey, and it’s even better.
The other lovely thing about this playground is because it’s located within Beacon Hill Park, there’s tons of cool stuff around it too… flowers to smell, ducks to watch, and trees to climb all included. ☺
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Last weekend, while tidying up the backyard a little bit, I came across a random 2×4 shoved in a corner along the fence. I don’t know if everyone thinks this way, but when I come across an item, the first place my mind goes is how could we use this for play? Of course a long flat wooden board almost begs to be used as a balance beam, so why complicate things, right?
Before we got to using it too much, we pulled out our sidewalk chalk and decorated it a bit. And by ‘we’ I basically mean that I drew while Miss G gave instructions. ☺
To start off, we placed it flat on the ground and Grae carefully walked back and forth a few times.
Then I thought it would be fun to add a little incline. I brought out a thin cement block and propped up one side of the 2×4, but Miss G automatically said, “No – TWO blocks! Then we can make a bridge!” So a bridge it was.
This little set-up is so, so simple, but it’s a lot of fun and it’s great for balance and motor skill development too.
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There are few things I love more than spending the day outside, throwing together a couple of salads, and finishing the day off with a barbecue in the backyard. And thanks to our gorgeous Vancouver weather and Miss G’s request to eat dinner outside, today was the first of the season.
Dinner for three.
Spinach and baby kale salad, barbecued chicken, parmesan cauliflower mash, Israeli couscous and avocado salad.
Filthy, hungry, and happy.
Backyard barbecue season is on its way back. Yay for that.
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While we have many favourite playgrounds around Vancouver (like this one, this one, this one, and this one), both Gracen and I love discovering new ones to add to our list. Especially since come spring, we spend most mornings out at a park or playground of some sort.
So after a quick peek around the web, the three of us (yay for weekends!) packed up some lunch and headed out to West Point Grey Park, which was spoken of very highly by fellow Vancouver parents.
Upon arriving, I realized that although the park was new to us, I’d been there countless times before with the children I nannied throughout my university (and beginning teaching) days. I guess I should have made the realization based on the area and park address, but whole ‘West Point Grey Park’ title threw me off. I, and everyone I’ve ever heard speak of the park, have always called it Trimble Park. Who knew its actual name was something different?!
Name confusion aside, this park was a lot of fun back in the day, and is even better due to some recent (or at least semi-recent) additions.
Included are three separate play structures (2 big ones and a teeny tiny one for very little ones), 6 slides, 2 sets of swings (baby, toddler, and regular included), a tire swing, hanging bars, a teeter-totter, and lots of space for playing in the sand and rocks.
A fun addition since my last visit is this rock climbing wall. Though still needing a tiny bit of assistance, Gracen loved climbing up and liked hanging out on top with all of the big kids even more.
The other thing I love about this park is the natural play areas. This little cove of trees was a favourite of the kids I nannied, and Grae loves it too. She’s hiding here. Can’t you tell?
To top it all off, the park has basketball courts, soccer fields, and baseball diamonds, plus public washrooms (warm water and soap included!)
Another great park to add to our favourites list. ☺
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After this morning’s mud soup fun down at the beach, I decided it would be fun to set up a little mud kitchen for Miss G to play with in the backyard. Now I don’t know if you too have seen the beautiful and elaborate mud kitchens that often pass through my Pinterest feed, but ours was nothing like those. A few items from the kitchen, some dirt from the garden, and a water source all squished onto a second hand plastic table and Miss G was pleased as punch. After all, playing with mud is supposed to be simple, right?
Gracen poured water, added greens, and gently stirred hot soup. She scooped soil, packed it down, and added pebble sprinkles to dirt cupcakes. She tended to gooey mud pancakes, flipping them every now and again.
And lucky for me, I was the chosen taste tester.
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We woke up to an absolutely gorgeous sunny day today and immediately packed up a lunch and headed down to our favourite beach-front playground. As always, Grae spent tons of time climbing ladders, sliding through tunnels, riding the swings, and spinning on the merry-go-round, but during this visit, she spent just as much time climbing on and off this log, adding bits and pieces, and tending to her delicious-looking mud soup.
It makes my heart happy that dirt, sticks, and water can still inspire just as much play as it did when I was little.
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