A few snapshots from a morning spent at Granville Island with my little Vancouver girl…



♥
A few snapshots from a morning spent at Granville Island with my little Vancouver girl…



♥
Miss G has been a fan of Taylor Swift’s ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together‘ for a long while now, but just recently she’s taken her sing-a-longs to a whole new level. If you’ve ever seen the video, you know that it starts and ends with Taylor sitting in front of a window and for part of it, she talks into an old-school cordless phone.

Well now, when this little monkey wants to sing one of her very favourite tunes, she must be standing looking out a window, and she must have her ‘never ever phone’ in hand.

Here she is singing away…
Perhaps we have a little musician in the making?
♥
I’ve long been a lover of summers, so I’m not sure if I’m just feeling especially appreciative of autumn in Vancouver, or if our 4 years spent in the scorching, sweat-dripping-down-your-back-the-instant-you-step-outside desert has skewed my preferences, but man, I’m loving fall this year. Crisp air, overcast days… The crunch of leaves beneath your feet… Puddles to splash in. Cozy sweaters paired with boots. And the colours… The amazing, AMAZING colours!
So when Grae and I passed by Queen Elizabeth park {filled with rainbow-coloured trees} this morning, we had to pull over. And I’m so glad we did. Watching our little one frolic amongst the leaves while declaring “Deez trees soooo beautiful!” is like nothing else.












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Today we woke up to the first dry morning we’ve had in days… So though we already had plans for a lovely indoor day, we put them on hold, layered up, and headed down to the beach for a morning of fresh ocean air. It’s been quite a while since our last beach day, but our routine little lady didn’t skip a beat. Our visit went as all of them do – playground time, a walk to Starbucks for a hot drink, actual beach time to collect treasures in the sand and dip our toes in the ocean, and then back to the playground for a second round of play before heading home for lunch and a nap.
Here is our morning in photos…
Uncovering treasures in the sand pit.
Cashews and a steamed milk while making friends through the window.
Driftwood collector.
“Mama takes a picture of Grae!”
“A little bit farther?”
Running from waves.
“Here birdie. Have dis green leaf.”
Sand drawings.
Water watching.
Admiring our autumn-coloured city.
Hand wash.
“No almost time for home. Grae Grae naps on the log!”
“It’s cooooooomforble, Mama.”
Suddenly she can do this.
“Spin it, Mama! Spin it!”
Little adventurer. (She climbed to the very top of this play structure and went down the giant tube slide all by herself. THREE times.)
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This morning Grae and I woke up and decided on pancakes for breakfast. We were just about to gather our ingredients as the phone rang. As I snuck in a very quick conversation with my sister-in-law, Miss G got started without me apparently… Anyone up for cornmeal-cocoa-double-salt-tomato pancakes?
You don’t want to know how much salt was already poured into the bowl…
♥
Though we were hopeful, the rain didn’t let up in the least for Gracen’s very first time trick-or-treating… In fact, come dark, it was pouring down so hard that the rain was hitting the asphalt and then bouncing back up at us. While not ideal for trick-or-treating, what are you going to do? We layered up our little fox, grabbed our umbrellas, and headed out with the goal of visiting at least a handful of houses.
After stopping by Uncle Brett’s house for a quick visit, we made our way down his street. Grae was so excited, and within a couple of houses, she had the knock, “trick-or-treat”, and “thank you!” down pat.
After carefully making her way down the steps, she’d squeal, “Different house! Different house! Yook for yights… Yook for punkins!!!”
Then she’d quickly find another and shout, “Go to dis house!” The girl was into it.
After looping around, visiting the houses on the other side of the street, and making our way back to our car, we headed back to our neighbourhood. By then, the rain had lightened up quite a lot, so we headed into the backyard to light some sparklers.
I’m not sure where I originally saw it, but I remember seeing someone using a plastic cup as a sparkler shield during 4th of July festivities with their kiddos. Brilliant, really. Before heading out I had cut a tiny ‘x’ on the bottom of an extra party cup we had from Gracen’s birthday party, so all we had to do was poke our extra long sparklers through just a bit, and light them.
It worked like a charm.
And since I only poked them through a little bit, the part Gracen was hanging onto didn’t get hot at all.
Gracen happily held on until the sparklers were about half way down, then she’d pass them to one of us, and ask for a new one.
Before heading in, we quickly snapped a couple of shots of Gracen and I, because although we always have a ton of photos of Grae and Bradley together, pictures of Mama and Grae are few and far between. (Sadly, by this point I was soaking wet falling apart mess, but hey, I’ll take what I can get.)
Inside, Gracen dumped out all of the treats she’d collected. Can you tell we had infused them with an equal amount of healthier “treats”? Haha! Who says people don’t hand out stamps, stickers, pretzels, seeds, crackers, organic fruit leather, and organic yogurt-covered raisins (a HUGE treat in our house)? ☺
Grae then sorted the piles into a “Gracen pile” and a “Mama/Papa pile”, giving us all of the delicious, but terrible for you chocolate and candy, and happily giving herself all of the ‘Mama approved’ treats (that’s our girl!)
Have you ever seen a child so excited for freeze-dried strawberries when there’s a plethora of chocolate bars, chips, and cheezies in front of her?
The night ended with a treat feast, a glow-in-the-dark bubble bath, and a tired little lady falling asleep to the sound of fireworks filling our neighbourhood.
♥
It’s been a busy day for us so far… After an early morning visit to SweetSalt Baked Goods & Playscapes for coffee, fresh bread, and ghost cookies made with organic flour and pumpkin, and a Halloween celebration at Strong Start, we headed to Bradley’s school for a little visit.
Gracen was so excited to visit her Papa and show him the treat bag she’d made at school and even more excited to go from one classroom to the next, popping in to say hello to all of the lovely teachers.
What she wasn’t excited about, however, was leaving without Papa in tow. Poor little lady cried her most pitiful cry and ran back to Papa twice after already saying goodbye and escaping Mama’s grasp. ☹
♥

This morning my little brown fox and I headed out to our first official Halloween event – ‘Howl-O-Ween Play Gym’ at our local community centre. Gracen was super excited and happily announced different costumes as she saw them. Her favourite? An ridiculously cute broccoli costume worn by the baby brother of two little girls in her Ballet with Billie class.
Here’s our morning in photos…
Gracen the fox.
Making music.
Jack-o-lantern (quite possibly the trickiest craft ever for wee ones 4 and under!)
Foxes teeter totter too.


Decorating a cookie for Papa.
So spooky.
Costume model.
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Weeks and weeks ago, I asked Gracen what she wanted to be for Halloween. Without hesitation, she exclaimed, “Fox! A BROWWWN fox!” Her response kind of surprised me because we haven’t really spent much time talking or reading or learning about foxes. And at the time, I wasn’t convinced she’d have the same answer a week down the road. But was I ever wrong. Although she wavered a tiny bit between a being a brown fox and an orange fox, never once did she change her mind about the fox part itself. So, Gracen the fox it was.
I knew I wanted to make her little costume (making her Halloween costumes is just one of those things, like making her birthday cakes, that I want to do until she’ll no longer let me), but I had no clue how I’d do it. So while I’d been collecting materials, I hadn’t actually started putting anything together until last night when I realized that our Howl-o-ween Play Gym had crept up on me and was the very next morning. Oops. So I kept it super simple (I highly recommend starting costumes with a hoodie) and just added ears, a tail, and tummy fur to a little brown hoodie, and made a mask to go along with it. Here’s Gracen the fox…

I’m still hoping to make little clawed mittens and clawed black boot covers before Halloween night, but we’ll see what happens… All that matters right now is that Grae absolutely adores the costume and is already asking about when she can wear it next. Soon, Baby Girl, soon.
♥

This afternoon, Gracen and I had the absolute pleasure of attending a launch event at the Robson Street location of Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics.
When we first got the invite, I was really excited for two reasons. First off, because I’ve been a longtime Lush fan and seeing, touching, and trying a brand new product before the general public is always fun, and second, because the event was munchkin-friendly and Gracen was more than welcome to come along!

When we arrived, the Lush team was extremely helpful, sweet, and friendly. They helped us find a spot to park our stroller, offered us all kinds of delicious treats and beverages, and invited Gracen to play with the newest Lush innovation, ‘Fun’. Of course she had already spotted the play table on the way in and was more than ready to sink her little hands into the mouldable material.




As she played, I learned all about Fun. What it is basically, is a mouldable {delicious smelling} soap that can be used in four different ways. First off (and most importantly ☺), it can be played with. It has a texture between play dough and plastercine and can easily be cut, shaped, and rolled. The best part is that since it’s a soap, clean up is a breeze – both when it comes to cleaning your table and cleaning your kid. When used in the bathroom, it can be rubbed and used as a soap (we’ve already used it at the sink for washing hands and in the bathtub as a body bar), lathered and used as a shampoo, or placed under some running water as a bubble bath. So cool, right? I’m pretty sure some pre-bath time “play dough” sessions are in our very near future…


After playing with Fun for a good, long time, Miss G decided it would be a good time to have her face painted. Having seen {and immediately fallen in love with} a stack of pumpkin-shaped soap on the way by, a little jack-o-lantern on her cheek it was.


With a freshly-painted cheek, it was off to explore the rest of the store. There were all kinds of goodies out and Gracen very happily chose a bag of popcorn to munch on while I helped myself to a little bag of goodies at the candy bar. We explored the products, learning about them and trying them out along the way, which was a lot of fun. These were two of our favourites. I really loved the slightly shimmery Bubblebeard bubble wand because it made incredible bubbles with just small swishes in a bowlful of water, and Grae really loved the Calacas shower jelly, mostly because it was really fun to poke and squish.


We stopped to see a few other things, mingle with some other mamas and kiddos, and snack on our goodies, but more than anything, Grae wanted to get back to the Fun table to play.




Before heading home for dinner, bath, and bed time, we got to watch a fresh batch of Fun being made, and then play with it immediately afterwards. When fresh made like this, Fun is still pretty soft and sticky compared to the finished product, but Gracen didn’t mind one bit. It made for a great mess and lots of fun swishing it all of in a bowl of warm water afterwards.

To top off a fun-filled afternoon, Lush very generously sent us home with a bag full of goodies that Grae immediately called her ‘present’ and insisted on carrying on her own despite the fact that it was heavy and bulky.

When we got home and opened it, she was thrilled to find several rolls of Fun inside, but even more thrilled to see a Jacko bath fizzer. We chopped him up to spread the excitement up over a few nights, and before long, our pumpkin pie scented little lady was tucked into bed.
♥
Five minutes of quiet in our house, and this is the result…
A nearly naked toddler covered in pirate stickers. The best part is that she was absolutely tickled pink with herself about it all and exclaimed “Grae Grae stickery!” again and again.
Then she retrieved her ‘That’s Not My Gracen’ book to show me just where her inspiration had come from.
Monkey.
♥
To say that Brad is a Patriots fan would be an understatement. A huge understatement. So when they come from New England to play in Seattle once every four years, we go. Simple as that. Last time, we were living in Kuwait and managed to swing a stop in Seattle on the way home for Christmas vacation… And this time we got to take our little girl to her first ever football game.


Being that the game started at 1:00 and we needed to arrive at noon, I knew it wouldn’t be an easy outing for Miss G. With her normal lunch time being just before noon and her usual nap time being between noon and 1:00, we were pushing it to say the least. Since Grae was born, we’ve always put her sleep ahead of outings and events, so skipping a nap or sleeping while out and about just aren’t things she’s used to. But…. If you can’t delay nap time for a live Patriots game, then what can you delay one for then, right? ☺

We came armed with the Ergo, a yummy lunch, tons of special treats (roasted cashews, apple chips, just fruit fruit snacks, and wholewheat bunny crackers), a pair of Baby Banz Earmuffs, and a few little activities to keep her busy and hoped for the best.



It was an awesome game, and despite the fact that the Pats were ahead by quite a bit for most of it, it was one of those games where you just knew anything could happen.

Despite the great game, Grae was more interested in eating, climbing on and off chairs, watching the neighbouring fans, and the ‘dancing pink ladies’ (the cheerleaders with pink boots) than anything else. She did fairly well considering the circumstances, but I’d be lying if I said it was easy to wrangle an overtired, squirmy two year old without a seat of her own for a three hour game during her normal nap time. All I have to say is thank goodness for Grandma Charlotte’s purse full of goodies during the last quarter… A package of Band-Aids quickly became our best friend.
Sadly, the Patriots weren’t playing their best, and in the {crazy} last minute and a half of play, the Seahawks got control of the ball, scored a touchdown, and won the game by one point. Ugh. Not what we were hoping for, but what can you do?
On the plus side, Grae fell asleep almost immediately once we started walking out of the stadium and caught up on a few much needed moments of sleep.
Next time we attend a Patriots game, Gracen will be in Grade One… How crazy is that?!
Until next time, Patriots…
♥
This morning we headed downtown to the quintessential Seattle destination… Pike Place Market. I’ve always loved strolling slowly through the market and out onto the nearby streets, and I knew Gracen would too. Live music, flowers, fresh treats, and flying fish… What’s not to love?
Here’s our morning in photos…















Topping the favourites list? Watching fresh fish fly through the air to slippery-handed market visitors was without a doubt her favourite, and coming in a close second? Devouring the roasted nuts she was more than willing to be strapped into her stroller in order to eat.
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Zoos are one of those things I love and really dislike all at the same time. (Well, unless we’re talking about the Kuwait zoo, that is… Sadly, that one would have to fall into the category of ‘really dislike’ more than anything else… Animals from all over the world all kept in dry, desert-esque habitats with school children harassing them and visitors feeding them ice cream and popcorn is just not my idea of animal-friendly.) So when I found out that we were staying outside of downtown Seattle this weekend, very close to the Woodland Park Zoo, I had mixed emotions about going. On one hand, I knew Gracen would love visiting. She’s a true animal lover and it would be a chance to see many of the animals in person for the very first time. On the other hand, I knew that leaving feeling terribly for animals kept in small, non-natural confines was a real possibility (I obviously hadn’t done much looking into the Woodland Park Zoo beforehand).
I have to say, I was very pleasantly surprised. The Woodland Park Zoo is the least zoo-ish zoo I’ve ever visited. And I mean that in the very best way possible.
Because it spans 92 acres, its {more than} 1000 animals have tons of space to live and roam as they would in their true habitats. And the best part? There are no tiny plexiglass confines or cages in sight. In fact, most of the animals live in fields and forests so giant that visitors can only see small parts of them (though many can be accessed from several sides and have designated viewing areas). It’s hard to describe, but it felt as though we were visitors to the animals’ environment, rather than them being the visitors in our environment. It was peaceful. And beautiful.
And we had a wonderful time.
Here’s our morning in {a ridiculous number of} photos (try to ignore the fog and smudgy fingerprinted glass)…






















