Tag Archives: Family Time

Hello, Heidelberg!

After dropping off our bags at our lovely little flat, filling our fridge with groceries, having some lunch, and a taking a family nap, we headed out to explore our home for the next week… Heidelberg.  There’s no doubt that we absolutely love it here.  We were here for Christmas 2013, we came back last Christmas, and this time around we figured we’d break up our long trip home to Canada’s west coast and spend some time seeing the city in the summertime.  Grae spent most of our walk pushing her face into flowers and soaking in their smell, filling her pockets with rocks and leaves, watching bees work, and collecting clover.  She’s just so thrilled to be surrounded by nature.  It’s going to be a good week.

Here are a few iPhone snaps from our day…

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Christmas Day {2014}

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Ahhh… Such a great day.  There’s nothing quite like seeing Christmas through the eyes of your child.  Everything is just so exciting and wonderful.  And though I’ve come to the conclusion that Christmas away from Canada and our families will always be a touch strange, I think we’ve settled into a nice little holiday routine with just our family of 3.

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Mini Apple Pies Kids Can Make

Mini Apple Pies Kids Can Make | Mama Papa Bubba

Grae and I are very lucky to be part of a fabulous little play school co-op here in Kuwait.  The whole thing is very low key.  We meet at someone’s house every Sunday morning to partake in a few fun activities that go with our weekly theme, and then we meet on again on Thursday mornings for a less structured outdoor outing or ‘field trip’ of some sort.  Since this week’s theme was apples, I helped to set up an apple pie making station for our little ones {ages 1 to 4} to enjoy.

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At Baba’s House

With the weather forecast calling for a whole lot of rain today, we decided to pack up the crew and head to our Baba’s house a couple of days early today.  Turns out that the weather was pretty awesome and we probably could have had another lovely day out on Sylvan Lake, but there’s truly no better place than Baba’s house.  Here, you’re given little glass bowls of honey to dip your popcorn into.  Here, picking beautiful flowers from the gardens is allowed.  Here, latex gloves are rounded up and distributed in hopes of making bubble catching missions more successful.  Here, everyone drinks from fancy glass goblets and there’s not a bat of an eye when one breaks in two.  Here, you’re welcomed with open arms, even on the shortest of notice…

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Boating at Sylvan Lake

Growing up, we spent a lot of time out on the lake.  My dad barefooted, my mom slalomed, and my brother and I loved to tube, kneeboard, and spend time ‘swimming’ in the middle of the lake.  I can’t count the number of times Gary and I cocooned ourselves in dry towels and spent the bumpy ride back to the marina tucked right under the dash after a long day of sunshine, wind, and water.  Oh, the days… Some of my favourite childhood memories, without a doubt.

Well today, we got to begin creating those same with our own little ones.  After wanting one for many, many years, my brother finally bought himself a boat a few days ago.  A beautiful one.  A big wakeboard boat with a great sound system and room for plenty of munchkins and friends.  And though the weather forecast looked terrible last night, we decided to stick with our original plan of heading to Slyvan Lake for the weekend and I’m so glad we did.  We spent our afternoon and evening on the water soaking in the sunshine, blue skies, and fresh air {yay for inaccurate weather reports!} and paused only for a moment to pick up some dinner from shore.

The highlight of the day?  My very cautious, very sensitive water-loving little lady went tubing for her very first time ever.  I was a wee bit surprised when Uncle Gary asked who would like to try tubing and Miss G immediately responded with a loud, ‘ME!!’, but after hearing about the possible outcomes and watching her cousins try it first, she was still raring to go, so she did.  And she loved it too.  She loved it so much, in fact, that she spent a good part of her time behind the boat singing ‘Let it Go’, complete with the dramatic arm movements. Hah!  The day ended with a very proud Captain Grae taking us home for a very late bedtime, but it was absolutely worth the tired grumpiness that will undoubtedly ensue tomorrow morning.

Here’s our day in {a ridiculous number of} photos…

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Rugby Day

This morning we packed up all four kids, piled into the vehicle, and headed out Red Deer first thing in the morning for a rugby tournament.  Both of Grae’s boy cousins play and it was so much fun to watch their games.  The little girls kept busy on the sidelines with activities, bouncy castles, and for Grae, countless performances of ‘Let It Go’ {complete with dramatic arm motions and day dreamy facial expressions}.

Here is our day in photos…

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iPhoneography // Friday Family Day

This week’s been sort of rough.  Miss G’s been extra needy and I’ve been staying up extra late in order to finish up a big project I’ve been working on.  Needless to say,  the tired mama / whiny 3 year old is not the best of combinations.  We made it through the week and my hope was that the weekend would serve as a reset.

Luckily, so far so good {thank goodness}.

Our morning started with Gracen experimenting with drinking water like a lion – something she’s been asking to do for days. {Have I mentioned that she is totally Lion King obsessed?! Oy.  It’s out.of.control.}  When I asked if she was ready to go to the Hilton, her response was, ‘Yup, Queen Sarabi.  I just have to finish drinking my pond water.’  The girl didn’t skip a beat.  The bulk of our morning was spent split between swimming in a waterfront pool and playing on the beach of the Arabian Gulf, which was lovely.  Then, after coming home for lunch and a nap, we met some friends down in the courtyard and gave the concrete a little makeover using squeeze bottles filled with our favourite sidewalk chalk paint recipe.  Later in the evening, our very good friends dropped off a very unnecessary thank you gift – Ladurée macarons and special homemade, wholewheat, sugar-free cookies for Miss G {sweetest thing ever}.

As far as days go, I’d say this is pretty much as good as it gets.  And the best part?  Gracen is back to her happy little self.  Ahhhh…

Family Friday

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Repeat

IMG 8664IMG 8668Another skipped nap for Grae. Another busy day for Mama.  Another late night at work for Brad…

Another picnic in the park, more zip lining, and a little girl fast asleep at 6:30 p.m. once again. ☺

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An Evening Picnic

IMG 8646IMG 8644IMG 8650IMG 8658With Brad working on the school’s yearend production until 9 or 10 p.m. most nights this week and me preparing for an upcoming craft market each night into the wee hours, it’s bound to be one heck of a week. Unfortunately, Miss G didn’t help me out any today when she decided to not nap either. (Yesterday we got stuck in a huge traffic mess on the way home from a play date out in the burbs and by the time we arrived home, we’d already missed the nap window by quite a lot.  Sadly, one missed nap throws our very routine little lady way off sometimes.)  My solution to a potentially chaotic and grumpy afternoon?  Stealing Papa away from work for an hour and a half, picking up dinner at a local deli, and pairing an evening picnic with loads of fresh air and playground time.  And I’m happy to report that it worked like a gem.  Brad was back at school in plenty of time, the outdoors prevented our little lady from slipping into a case of the overtired crazies, and this mama got a teeny bit of afternoon downtime, something I desperately need.

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Family Day at Collage Collage

After a morning spent at Granville Island with friends, we headed to Collage Collage, a local art studio and shop that specializes in creative experiences for children.  Since it was BC’s first ever Family Day, Collage Collage was hosting a special event where families were invited to come in and work on decorating a family of wooden nesting dolls together.

IMG 5441We arrived to find everything set up for us and ready to go.  Miss G was given a large paint smock, and together  we painted all of the pieces according to Grae’s colour selections.  While the paint dried, Gracen got washed up and played with the felt boards in the little nook, and then we drew the faces on with pencil and markers afterwards. 

IMG 5442The project was difficult enough to absolutely require our involvement, but easy enough to allow Gracen to participate in the process fully. In the end, we left for home with a very happy bubba and our new nesting dolls in a box.

IMG 5443And judging by its popularity already, I just know that this colourful wooden family is going to quickly become a favourite.

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Santa Visits Family Time

IMG 3045Today was our last Family Place session of the year, and lucky for most kids, Santa stopped in for a surprise visit.  Grae, on the other hand, was not nearly as excited as the other munchkins.  This was her third encounter with the jolly old man this year, and she was less than impressed.  And by less than impressed, I mean that she shook her head at him and even tried to give back the present he had just given to her.

IMG 3047She was much happier once Santa had left the room and snack time and our gym visit were next.  Hopefully this was our last Santa encounter of 2011…