Rowena...

I have always always ALWAYS wanted a dress from Rowena on Whyte Ave......they are sooooo GORGEOUS...50's style classic dresses...so beautiful and sexy!!  Today Ki called to say she was going there to try some on and asked Laurence and I to meet her there and give her our opinion...so we headed there to meet her....while we were there I started looking round and saw one of the ones I love.....and I gave in and tried it on....I fell in love with it and ended up buying it:

A stroll along the Art Walk....

Laurence and I spent the afternoon strolling along Whyte Avenue today, enjoying the art displays at the Art Walk.  We met up with my friend Ki for a while, and helped her choose a dress - although she ended up not buying one, and I ended up walking out with a new one instead!!!  

We also spent time taking notes on how to display art and what kind of thing to display, how to price art etc - as next year I plan to be a part of the Art Walk - hopefully with Ki!! 

Laurence and I also went to Irie foods for lunch and he tried Caribbean food for the first time :)  Too funny - he isn't keen on spicy food but still chose Jerk chicken!!  Hahaha!!  I had chicken roti YUM!!!  

We took Ki to Coney Island Candy Store to get Zoltar to read her fortune too....sooo VERY important ;)

Dinner with friends...

Nigel, my first husband, came to stay for 10 days recently.  We had a lovely visit with him and he had a chance to really get to know Susannah and Laurence again.  

While he was here, we went out for dinner with my good friends, JoAnne and JP.  We went to Sorrentinos in downtown Edmonton.  It was a lovely evening.  

Unfortunately I ended up with food poisoning and was ill for the next day or so :(  but the evening was definitely worth it :)

Wednesday tag :)

1. What is the most useful book in your house?   

We have a few books we turn to again and again.  I'd say the one we use the most is 'The Wild Birds of Alberta' book....we use this often to find out about the birds that visit our yard.  

2. What's worse-being too hot or too cold?
Being cold - I can't stand being too cold and not being able to warm up....I sometimes end up having to climb in to a hot bath to get warm because I get so cold it's like my insides are cold :(  

3. Share something that made you smile this past weekend.
Watching Susannah and Laurence playing at the Midway...Laurence won a giant pencil and that was IT, game ON....Susannah, who had already won the bouncy ball she wanted, now HAD to win a giant pencil too :)  she tried on 'spill the milk' and the fishing pond, and eventually DID win a giant pencil just like Laurences :)  I guess sometimes it's good to be a little kid again :)  Even Nigel and I had goes on some of the games :)


4. How do you like your hamburgers? Or don't you?
I like good quality sirloin burgers that don't shrink much when cooked.  I like them well cooked and served with hamburger relish in a bun with sesame seeds :)  


5. What's your summer beach read? If it's not summer in your part of the world then tell us what book you're reading in front of the fire while sipping hot cocoa.
I love  Jane Green novels in the Summer - something fun and maybe a little romantic....with a beach or Cape Cod/ atmosphere....nothing too heavy...although right now I'm reading The Help for book club which isn't anything like I've just described!!


6. How was your birthday celebrated when you were a kid?
I would always have a birthday party at home with a few school friends.  party games and party tea....and a lovely birthday cake decorated by my Mom - she was a cake decorator so my cakes were very fancy - one year I had a pink fairy castle with turrets and another year I had a gypsy caravan.

7. What's something that is totally uncool that you love anyway?
knitting and crochet :)

8. Insert your own random thought here.
I am very behind with my blog  and need to catch up - people are starting to nag me about it (yes YOU Sharon!!!!)

Owl pellets....

On Monday at the science centre I bought a pack of owl pellets, thinking they were exactly like the pack of 'owl puke' that we did a few years back...unfortunately I didn't read the pack properly, and these were in fact synthetic owl pellets and were balls of dryer lint with plastic bones in them....not very good at all - but Sam still had fun discovering the bones inside and then sorting through them using the enclosed diagram, to work out which animal we had, and which bone was which, to form the skeleton!!  

Worth doing if you've never looked at owl pellets before, but to be honest the 'owl puke' kit with the REAL pellets is MUCH better than this useless kit!!!  ;)

Our day at Birch Bay....

Being talked through how to prepare for the obstacle course:

Sam on part of the obstacle course leading up to the mini zipline:

Sam waiting for his turn on the zipline - it was very slippery everywhere because we had had so much rain!! :

Sam on the zipline:

As part of the obstacle course the whole junior group had to climb on to the tyre together and balance:

This log slowly goes higher and higher - one team went in one direction and the other team went in the other - and they had to cross each other half way along without falling off - not easy when it was very slippery!!:

They had to climb up on these huge tyres then climb across the rope bridge to the other tyre:

horse and trailer ride which took us for a lovely long ride around the grounds of Birch Bay Ranch, by the lake.  Unfortunately a little earlier in the afternoon, this trailer had slipped in the wet mud and had a collision with my truck - smashing the back brake light/ indicator light and bumper....luckily no one was hurt and the horses were fine.  They gave me all their insurance info so it should be sorted out quickly.   :)

Sam enjoying the trailer ride:

My friend Sandy was with the older group all afternoon and was kind enough to take some pictures of Abigail for me.  I will post those when I get them.  

Catching up with old friends :)

On Monday evening we headed to Jackie Parker park with Rosie to take her to the off leash dog park there - the girls have been going on and on for AGES that they wanted to see Owen again, so I arranged with Darren to swing by and pick him up for the evening :)  

We had a fun walk around the park and a bit of an adventure in the woods fighting off man eating GIANT mosquitoes.....and then we headed over towards the splashpark and playground for a while.  

Before heading home we stopped in at Tim Hortons....

When we got back to Darrens house we said we would just go in and say a quick hello - which turned in to a LONG sit down and chat...and it ended up being a late night, but the kids NEVER want to leave that place!!  Sam asked if he could stay for the week....sigh....wish they felt that way about their Dads place....

Friday Fill-ins....

And...here we go! 

1. One of my favorite birthday presents was Swallows and Amazons, and a butterfly bookmark from my Aunty Doreen and Uncle John when I was a child..

2. It was just an accident, caused by too much rain and slippery mud, it was as simple as that.

3. The moon is what is left over of Theia after she crashed into Earth millions of years ago....part of her mixed with Earth and became part of Earth and the other part broke away and became our moon.

4. My family includes 5 children and 2 Dads for now....but that could always change. 

5. I was tempted by the possibility of being with the one person I was MEANT to be with.

6. swimming, walking, reading and relaxing are some of the things I like to do on vacation.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to relaxing, journaling and maybe watching a movie, tomorrow my plans include having a really lazy day to recover from a very busy week and Sunday, I want to take the children to the art gallery to see the Andy Warhol Exhibit!

Hanging out at Birch Bay Ranch.....

We spent this afternoon hanging out with the SHINE homeschoolers (Society for Homeschooling In Edmonton) at Birch Bay Ranch.  Abigail got to go trail riding on the horses, go on the ziplines and go wall climbing....while Sam got to go on pony rides, a long hay ride/ trailer ride and have fun on the obstacle course/ mini zipline with the younger group!!!  We know Birch Bay well so it's always fun to be there :)  I have more pictures to add but will do that tomorrow :)  

The comb....

Sam has a new comb :)  His friend Owen gave it to him :)  And now Sam is obsessed with combing his hair :)  This picture was taken on Tuesday afternoon at the swimming pool :)  I just thought it was cute :) Sam took his new comb with him to the pool and was sure to comb his hair properly after his swim :)  

My boy :)  so funny :)

Craft day/ play date with friends...

Yesterday we spent the day at my friend Joannes house - she had invited us Moms over to make mini albums that she had learned how to make...really cute ones that unfold cleverly!!  Of course Sam and Abby  had a great day there with their friends - Sam was in his element with his bestest friend EVER who just happens to own the biggest collection of Nerf guns in the WORLD!!!!  :)  We were there for 5 hours and they still complained when it was time to leave!!

And as much as I loved getting together with friends to chat and craft and relax, I have to say that the highlight for me was getting to spend much of the day cuddling and snuggling with THIS little beauty:

Awwww  bliss :)