This afternoon we made the trip up to the Okanagan to spend time with our families for Easter. Upon our arrival to Grandma Charlotte and Poppop’s house, Grae discovered this MASSIVE toy horse in the living room. I should really be {at least a little bit} surprised, but I must say, I’m not… Icing on the cake? There are cowgirl boots and a hat to go with it. ☺
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Yesterday I shared 5 things you may not have known about my pint-sized sidekick. And while I know that this little blog of mine is centred around my girl, today I’m teaming up with 7 other wonderful mamas from around the Lower Mainland and sharing a little bit about me, a.k.a. ‘Gracen’s Mama’. Here they are…
Hah! Well there they are… 5 random facts about me. Any surprises in there?
Now the fun part… Click on the links below to learn more about the fabulous Vancouver mamas I met through blogging and am now very proud to call my friends. Enjoy!
Amy of The Connection We Share | Melissa of The Thirties Grind | Natalia of Nat Nanton | Yours Truly
Tairalyn of Little Miss Mama | Eschelle of Mumfection | Jessica of North Shore Mama | Lori of The Write Mama
I set up this little creative table for Miss G this morning and she was so over the top excited about it that she could barely contain herself.
It was very simple to set up, but still took too long for Miss G’s likes. All I had to do is cut out a few large egg shapes out of construction paper…
Then cut smaller ones inside, leaving an outline a couple of centimetres thick.
Next I stuck the egg outlines onto some clear contact paper, and trimmed off the excess.
I quickly filled up some little containers with our homemade coloured rice, paper confetti, tissue paper circles, and strips of spring-themed ribbon, and set my impatient little lady loose.
She got started immediately, diving into the pastel ribbons first.
And the messy stuff afterwards. ☺
She immediately completed two of the eggs, and left the third one to a complete a little later. As of now, Miss G’s eggs remain as they were when she finished decorating them, but we may cover her designs with a second sheet of contact paper in order to make them a little easier to store.
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For some reason, Gracen’s taken to calling her Uncle Brett ‘Huncle Pet’ recently and it’s quickly become one of those weird things you catch yourself saying as though it’s become the norm all of a sudden. I have no idea how or why it came about, but they do make a pretty adorable pair, don’t they?
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Today I’m switching things up a little and sharing 5 things you may not know about Miss G… I always love learning more about my favourite bloggers and I’m sharing 5 things about myself tomorrow, so I figured I’d include my righthand lady in the fun too. Okay, here are a few things you may not know about my girl…
So what do you think? Any surprises in there?
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This is an extremely simple felt board game that takes no more than 10 minutes to whip up, start to finish. All you have to do is cut out several egg shapes (you can always print one off or draw one on paper first to use as a pattern), then chop them up into puzzle-like pieces. The nice part is that you can make them as simple or as complicated as you like, depending on the age of your child(ren). And when complete, the set of Easter egg felt board puzzles makes a great sugar-free addition to an Easter basket.
To learn how to make you own {simple and inexpensive} felt board, click here.
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After a lovely week on the island, today we headed back home to the mainland which meant another ferry boat ride and an excited Miss G (the person who decided to put a playground in at the terminal line-up and kids’ play areas on the boats deserves a hug.) Now to round out our spring break with a visit from Grandma Charlotte and a trip up to the Okanagan. ☺
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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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Last night we finally went out to ReBar. Been waiting for a long time to go there, but since we are underage our ID cards would not let us buy drinks. After conducting much research online we found a very helpful website for where to buy a fake id that would be scannable. Was a great time last night at the bar thanks to the fake ids we bought online. We enjoyed some great flavored cocktails.
The restaurant, which prides itself on carefully and conscientiously preparing food that is local and nutritious, had an awesome {mostly veggie} menu and a fun kids menu to boot. After going through the options, Miss G confidently selected the ‘Curious George’, a peanut butter and banana sandwich with a honey drizzle on delicious bread with an almond milk to drink.
During the wait for her meal, she was given paper and crayons to use, but they weren’t needed for long as her food arrived before we’d even put in our orders. Though our food wasn’t quite as timely (there was a large group ahead of us), it was absolutely delicious when it arrived (even Brad loved his vegetarian meal!) and the servers were all very friendly.
Yummy food, local ingredients, and lovely servers in a munchkin-friendly joint? Now that’s my kind of place.
ReBar Modern Food is located at 50 Bastion Square in Victoria, BC and is open 7 days a week.
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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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Parenting fail of the day…
Grae comes back from the kitchen where she was changing her clothes (she’s all about having “privacy” these days) and says, “I had some of my milk!” We’d stopped by a coffee shop earlier and she still had some of her steamed milk left when we arrived back to the apartment, but I knew it had been put in the fridge. What hadn’t been put into the fridge though? My leftover skim latte that was in the exact same kind of cup. Ugh.
At 2 and half, the girl hasn’t had sugar or fast food and eats very few things that are processed, but she’s had her first swig of coffee. Super.
This morning after our visit to Beacon Hill Children’s Farm, we headed downtown to walk around and see the sights. We took photos in front of all the ultra-touristy spots (we’re cheesy like that) and it took me back to my first ever trip to Victoria with my friend Laura when we were 12 years old. We both flew in an airplane for the first time that trip (how different things are for Miss G!), we stayed with Laura’s grandparents, and we visited all of the most touristy spots, film cameras in hand. It’s funny to think that both Grae and I have the same photos, only twenty years {and many technological leaps} apart.
The only difference is the photos with the killer whales… Those certainly weren’t around during my first Victoria trip. Gracen adored them and wanted to visit and touch each one we saw. Perhaps I have a new photo project on my hands? ☺
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While I’ve spent a ton of time in Victoria {and even lived there for a summer}, that was back in my university days… The days where clubs with the best DJs and the restaurants with the best 11 a.m. brunches was important. But great spots in Victoria with kids? I had no idea. So last week, I asked my Facebook friends for some recommendations. They came back with all kinds of great ideas, including one of the most popular ones – Beacon Hill Children’s Farm.
I did a little online research and learned that the farm is found right inside Beacon Hill Park and is home to all kinds of animals, some of which roam the grounds freely. The combination of the outdoors, animals, and a park sounded perfect for our little lady, so we made it our first stop of the trip.
Here is our visit in photos…
Beacon Hill Children’s Farm was such a fun place to visit. Heck, I’d love visiting even if I didn’t have a munchkin in tow. The admission was by donation, the animals were very accessible, they seemed well taken care of and happy, and the staff members were very friendly and informative. We loved it so much in fact, that we’re already planning to go back before the end of our time in Victoria. ☺
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Gracen’s been talking about ‘riding a ferry boat’ everyday since we told her we’d be taking one over to Victoria for part of spring break, and today it was nonstop. While we were getting ready, while we were packing up the vehicle, while we were driving to Tsawwassen, and while were were waiting for our scheduled departure, it was constant ferry boat talk. Mostly of the ‘I want to go on the ferry boat riiiiight now’ variety.
When we were finally aboard the boat, it was all about exploring. The restaurants, the arcade, the kids’ play area, the viewing decks – she wanted to see them all. So that’s just what we did. 
The trip flew by quickly and before we knew it we were off to find the apartment we’ll be staying at for the next few days. Here’s to spending the week in Victoria. I’m hoping that there is plenty of exploring, relaxing, and outdoors in our near future. ☺
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