Vancouver sunshine plus an impromptu dinner picnic at the beach and ocean-dipped toes makes for a very happy mama and babe.
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For the last 19 months that we’ve lived in our little old house, we’ve collected mail for the previous tenants and messaged them each time there’s been enough to warrant them making the trip into the city to pick it up. Because there were 6 adults {plus a baby} living where the 3 of us do now, the mail stacks up quite quickly. I honestly don’t mind one bit, but every month they apologize profusely for inconveniencing us. A couple of weeks ago, when the father/grandfather of the family popped by for a pick up, he handed me a pretty red envelope and said, “For the kid”. I smiled, thanked him, and set it aside for when Gracen woke up from her nap.
Later in the afternoon, she opened it up to find two crisp 5 dollar bills. I explained that it was money (poor girl can operate a debit machine like nobody’s business, but has barely seen dollar bills in her lifetime) and asked her what she’d like to do with it. We brainstormed ideas and came up with these options: put it in her piggybank, keep it in her purse, deposit it in her bank account, give it to someone, or use it to buy something. In the end, she decided that she wanted to buy something with her money (“a bath bomb would be nice”, she told me) and Superstore was the place to go. So off we went.
When we arrived, I explained that she had $10, so whatever she wanted to purchase would have to be less than that. She carefully browsed the aisles, inspecting items while asking “Is dis one 10?”
When she announced that she was ready to make her decision, she had 6 options to choose from… A Hello Kitty Easter book, a small collection of bath toys, 3 bottles of glittery paint, a group of squishy dinosaur toys, a bracelet making kit, and a ride-on bouncing ball. We lined the choices up down the middle of an aisle and she slowly started ruling things out. “Not dis one…”, then she’d go and put it away. When she’d cut the selection down to just 3 items, she confidently shouted “I pick the bouncy ball!!!” With that, we tidied up the rest of the stuff, and headed to the self-serve checkout where she scanned her item, deposited her money in the slot, and collected her receipt.
With my little lady having completed her first ever shopping purchase, we headed home to blow up her new bouncer and play in the backyard. She’s bounced around the yard every time we’ve been outside since, so I’d say she’s pretty pleased with her decision. ☺
a pretty little envelope // headed to the store (panda hat required)
happy with her choice // bouncing bubba
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One of the fun little things I’ve tried to keep up is having Gracen pick a new fruit or vegetable to take home and investigate during our weekly shopping trips. Though she seriously contemplated a papaya, she ended up selecting this particular dragon fruit today. This is the conversation that ensued while browsing the other aisles…
Gracen: What’s dis one called again, Mama?
Mama: It’s a dragon fuit. We’ll cut it open when we get home and see what’s inside.
Gracen: NOT a DRAGON though, right Mama?!
Hah! Silly little goose.
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We’ve spent the last couple of days furiously reorganizing our garage and paring down while Grandma Charlotte’s been here to take Gracen for walks and visits to the park. One of the treasures I came across while going through years worth of boxed up goods were these wooden nesting dolls. My dad brought them home from Russia for me after one of his work stints there when I was a girl, and though I knew they were special then, I didn’t understand how much they’d mean to me one day down the road. What’s even better is now being able to share them with my little girl…
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‘hello?’ // cousin Kinslee
girl talk // funny faces with Uncle Gary
Tonight Uncle Gary called and after not so successfully talking to Grae on the phone (he couldn’t hear a thing), he suggested a FaceTime chat. It was so adorable to watch Miss G and her cousin Kins chat, sing songs, and show each other things through the magic of technology. And though it will take some planning with the huge time difference, I’m so thankful we have this with our impending move.
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Gracen and I went skating for the second time today (see our first try here) and it was pretty great. We still rotated rounds of skating with the support with the extra fun chair rides, but Grae was a lot more confident today and skated for most of the time without me holding the support behind her.
Here she is in all of her skating glory…
That little clippity clop of her skates on the ice makes my heart melt.
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While on Christmas vacation in the Okanagan, I finally came across something I’d been on the lookout for for a while now… Old-school double-bladed skates. ☺
And though we didn’t get around to a family skate session while on vacation, today my little lady and I stopped by Hillcrest Centre for their weekly preschooler skate.
Gracen was really excited about trying skating, so we got suited up and hit the ice. At first, we skated hand in hand, her taking quick small steps on the slippery surface and I doing my best to balance the both of us. After a few minutes, I realized we’d both be better off starting with one of the plastic support apparatuses (thank heavens for them!) It was so much easier, especially with my rusty skating skills involved. Grae stood in front with me behind her and all was good. In fact, we happily made it all the way down the ice and halfway back again before she took her first spill. That’s when things started going downhill a wee bit. While she’d been confident and happy for the first bit, after the fall she was anxious and much more cautious. Though I got her up and having fun again, she told me several times ‘Dis ice is soooooo slippery. Too slippery, Mama!’
In an effort to turn things around, I offered to push her on a chair for a bit like many of the other parents were doing with their kids. Needless to say, with the risk of falling removed and the fact that she could glide across the ice at super speed without really having to put forth any effort added in, she loved it.
With spirits boosted from a good long chair ride, we hit the ice again and tried holding hands and using a cone for support.
It was short, but overall I’d say our first ever skating session was a success. Gracen left happy and she says she’s excited to go again next time. Can’t ask for much more than that. ☺
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Us.
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.until next time, Okanagan.
.a practice in patience.
.nearly home.
.celebrating with sushi.
Today we left the lovely Okanagan eager to get home, unpack our suitcases, and get back to life as usual… This final leg of our Christmas holiday adventures made up hours 32 to 39.5 of our trek, and let me tell you, we were ready to be home. While the first half of our trip was uneventful (other than the fact that the Connector was a skating rink), not long after passing the old toll booth centre, the traffic came to a standstill. I find it easy to get impatient in these situations… Gracen had just fallen asleep moments before and it would have been incredibly lovely to gain some distance while enjoying an hour of silence, but that wasn’t in the cards for today. An hour and a half later(long after she’d awoken from her slumber), we were still sitting in the middle of nowhere, now attempting to entertain a toddler strapped into her rear-facing seat. Of course, we got through it. When we did get moving again, we eventually passed an accident scene where an SUV had been crushed between the meridian and a semi truck. And then it struck… That mixed feeling of absolute sickness and pure gratefulness all at once.
How lucky we are to have had the opportunity to wait. How lucky we’re home safely after 3 weeks of winter road tripping. We’re home safe and sound, and that’s all that matters.
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Whew. It was a whirlwind, but GREAT day today. This morning, we packed up the vehicle and made the trip up to St. Paul, the teeny tiny town that my mom, dad, brother, and I were all born in. The roads were good, our little traveller was patient as ever, and the town was virtually unchanged. In fact, the street lamps were still lined with the exact shooting star decorations that hung every holiday season of my childhood {which I kind of love}.
First, we stopped off at my Gido’s place (my dad’s dad and Gracen’s ‘big Gido’) for a visit… It had been quite a while since we last saw him, and we had a lovely visit. He was absolutely amazed by all of the things Miss G can now do and together, they sang possibly the most heartwarming rendition of Rudloph the Red-Nosed Reindeer I’ve ever heard.
Afterwards, we popped by my Grandma and Grandpa’s house (my mom’s parents) to see both them and my Auntie Lou. By this time, we had long passed Grae’s nap time and the crazy overtired energy had kicked in, but it was wonderful to visit anyways. Grandma and Grandpa had put together a big spread of food, Auntie Lou spoiled G with a bag full of clothes and activities (just like she did for me when I was little), and we chatted until it was time to hit the road back to Edmonton again.
Lucky for us, Gracen was sound asleep before we even turned out onto the highway and we enjoyed a big portion of our ride amidst a gorgeous sunset.
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We are so, so lucky to have good weather and an awesome little traveller. Today we’re back on the road and headed to Edmonton to visit my Baba and Opa, as well as sneak in a quick trip to St. Paul to visit my other grandparents. Fingers crossed it all goes well!
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packed up and ready to go // on the road
potty pitstop // Cochrane with cousins
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puppy love // Bella’s twin
dress-up day // Christmas {round 2} at Grandma Sue’s
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