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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Is there anything more fun than receiving a surprise package with your name on it? Probably not. 
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.
This morning I was beckoned by the usual “Mama, Mama – bum wiiiipe!” call from the bathroom, and arrived to find this. My little lady, perched up on the toilet, sporting self-drawn Papa eyebrows just as I had drawn on her yesterday during our 
Unlike 
An indoor picnic! It was special enough that Miss G wasn’t completely crushed about not making it out the door to play gym, but kept our daily routine moving along and neared us to nap time, which was desperately needed. We laid a blanket out in the living room, gathered a few cushions, and turned on some happy music in hopes of a reset.
Miss G requested a “special picnic lunch” and chose a random assortment of foods cut into small pieces, in true toddler fashion. Her lunch included orange pepper slices, baby carrots, grilled chicken cubes, chunks of aged cheddar, a multigrain mini bun with hummus, kiwi slices and some fruit water.
This mama, on the other hand, needed something more meal-ish, especially after the morning we’d had. For me, baby kale and baby spinach topped with fresh veggies, feta, cilantro dressing, and a few mini 
Grae thought the entire set up was very special and went back to being my happy little sidekick almost as soon as we began putting it together.
And thank goodness for that. 
Super excited.
‘I thought we were just having a leisurely swing, Papa?’
‘Everyone hold on!’
Mama and G.
Slide race!
The perfect hiding spot.
Moccasin feet.
‘Uh, Papa? What are you doing?’
Wheeeee!
Today Gracen and I were lucky enough to be invited to check out Family Day at the 
Where we spent most of our time was in the Kid Zone, set up especially for Family Day. Gracen had a wonderful time roaming around visiting all of the booths and was thrilled to see her favourite ever photographer, 
One of the highlights was definitely having Miss G’s face painted by 
One of the most anticipated events in the life of Miss G? Visiting Papa’s school. And I mean it’s right up there with going for bicycle rides, having friends over to play, and special baking projects. Swing by the school to quickly pick-up Papa and continue along the way? You’ll very likely have a slightly insulted little lady on your hands. 
Needless to say, today’s visit to watch a game of basketball and have a few minutes of Kid Pix time was a total hit. Gracen made some big friends during the game, she was oohed and ahhed over by all of the girls, and she got to march around the school like she was a full-time student.
Gracen’s been interested in letters, their names, their sounds, and words that begin with them for quite some time now. She’s also known how to verbally spell her name for just as long (longer actually), but the two had never really come together. While she’s asked me to print her name quite a lot, she’s never attempted to ‘make’ her name using her foam bathtub letters, her letter magnets, or any of the other alphabet manipulatives we have around the house. 
Who says you can’t spend gloomy, cold days at the beach?
