Downhill is not always faster

Today William wanted to mail a postcard to his friend.  After I had printed out the address, William made a few half-hearted marks on the paper then asked me to put on a movie. I wasn't about to waste a stamp on his short attention span so I encouraged him to draw some more.  He traced his hotwheels car. "Can we watch the movie now?"

In hindsight, I should have just put on his choice of DVD, ignoring the sunshine outside and hoping I wouldn't lose his creation before the next time I happened by a mailbox. Instead I insisted we mail the card, immediately.  I offered him the choice of riding his bicycle, or sitting in the stroller hitched to my bicycle.  "I want to ride my bicycle," Jadzia immediately chimed in and William agreed.  The nearest mailbox that I know of is about a kilometre away.

The way there is uphill.  My son insists on getting off his bike and pushing it up every slight incline.  Every time William gets off his bike, Jadzia gets off her tricycle and bolts.  She gleefully sprints down the sidewalk at speeds greater than any Mom lugging a fully-loaded diaper bag and a tricycle can achieve.  Other legitimate reasons for dismounting: picking dandelions, watching ants.  William also stops dead at each slightly elevated crack in the sidewalk and groans until I help him over it.

We stop at the library after we mail the postcard. This is William's idea. I have my netbook with me and try to write, but instead end up reading the most inane boardbooks imaginable for slightly longer than I can stand. After we pick out our books I give each kid an apple, more to lighten my load than because they are hungry. As we cross the library parking lot, the plastic bag holding my books breaks.

William roars (yes, roars) at each bird we pass, scaring them onto the rooftops. Jadzia joins in by belting out screams that are ear-piercing, blood-curdling and whatever other cliche you can think of to describe an unbearably high-pitched squeal.


William doesn't want to go to fast on the downhill so he compensates by braking every two feet. Jadzia is tired and drags her feet along the ground as I push her tricycle.  I tell her she will wreck her shoes and hurt her feet if she continues.  She continues.  I threaten to take her shoes.  She continues.  I take her shoes. She doesn't care.  She steers the trike in a zigzag pattern on the sidewalk. I tilt the tricycle onto its back wheels so she can no longer steer.  She attempts to get off the trike.  I carry her (along with the diaper bag, netbook, Jadzia's sandals and six library books in a broken grocery bag). 

Yes, that's chocolate cake.



While William and Adam went off camping at the cayuga dragstrip, I offer proof that Jadzia and I had much more fun.  We attended a lovely party for my friend Natalie, mother of two of my daughter's handsome suitors (including the icing monster pictured above).  We picniced on the grounds of Dundurn Castle, then took a tour of the lavish mansion.

Jadzia's favourite phrase of the day: "I want to go that way!" She would then dash off in the opposite direction of the tour, ducking under any rope barriers that were in her way. She wanted to go downstairs when we were upstairs and upstairs when we were downstairs.

Dundurn Castle is significantly larger than my house, even though it was a family of four who lived there.  As the gentleman in 1850s attire lead us around, I felt a bit envious of the previous inhabitants.  I have a family of four.  I should therefore have an 18,000 square foot mansion with twelve servants, and a view of the lake, and cannons.  But then I remembered that they didn't have television or internet access.  I would trade all those servants and that big old mansion to be living here in the information age.  It's also pretty cool having cholera-free water.

Anyway, I really must use the magical powers of the internet to figure out how to make olden times sour dough bread.  The stuff they made there was hella good.

The end is near.

Well I finally did it.  I asked Lil' Monkeys staff for their WiFi password.  I finished today's wordcount and I wanted to message my husband to see if he would be late.  I just wanted to know if I had to rush home to make dinner.  Now I have opened a pandoras box that can never be closed.  Pretty soon, I'll be getting the WiFi passwords for all the play places, and then my writing productivity will take a dive.  I'll be facebooking, blogging, and online gaming instead of working on the great sci fi novel that would have one day made me a gazillion dollars. 

On the plus side, this means you, my blog readers, will probably be hearing more from me.  If any of you happen to have a gazillion dollars, please click the donate button in the side bar and share it with me.  Or give me the whole thing.  The world is ending on Saturday anyway.

Renewed love

I love Karaoke.  Love it.  Before the offspring I used to play a lot of Karaoke Revolution, a wickedly awesome video game that scores you as you sing.  Once in a while, when the moon was full, I even got my Karaoke-hating husband to sing a duet with me.  In recent years, however, I've mainly played games that either don't require reading (so they can be played with kids) or are very quiet (so they can be played after bedtime).  As you might have guessed, this game is neither.

Well tonight I had some friends over, and I roped them into playing my karaoke games with me.  Apparently, the version of Karaoke Revolution I have is for GameCube, which just goes to show you how long it's been since I've played it.  So anyway, we had to play SingStar instead, similar but inferior to Karaoke Revolution.  Despite the limited song selection, and incomprehensible scoring system, we had a blast playing the game.  Even the kids were grabbing the mic and singing.  They couldn't care less that they couldn't read the lyrics and just enjoyed the sound of their own voices.

So now I have a renewed love for Karaoke video games, so I need to stock up.  I need to download more songs for my SingStar, and maybe look for a newer version of Karaoke Revolution.  Yes, that's right, I said 'need', not want, NEED. 

I went to the zoo today.

I went to the zoo today.

Here is a video of a peacock dancing for a peahen:

Here is a picture of my family on the zoomobile:

Here's a picture of my daughter flashing a zebra:

The end.

When I have fun, I get tired

So on Thursday my inlaws came over.  I made lasagna and banana bread.  After enjoying the delicious meal and my mother-in-law raving about the banana bread, we all walked to the park together (the kids biked) because it was perfect weather to be outside.  It was a very pleasant evening, and afterwards I was very tired.

On Friday was our five-year-old friend Annaliese's birthday party.  We went to Amazing Adventures, a play centre complete with a bouncy castle, free-to-play arcade games, pink Harleys, and an intricate network of plastic tubeslides, all within a surprisingly confined area.   I of course had to try the slides and the bouncy castle in the name of supervising young ones. There were several birthday parties going on at once and I'm pretty sure there were some fire codes violated.  We had an amazing time.  Afterwards I was very very tired.

On Saturday we drove to Etobicoke to visit the Fantasy Fair for my friend Columbia's birthday.  We rode all the rides, many of them twice.  My favourite were the bumper cars, which are especially fun with friends. We also spent a fair amount of time chasing our kids through a giant play structure, vaguely reminiscent of the one we had spent hours in the day before.  After one last ride on the Fantasy Fair Express, we went out to dinner even though it was past the kids bedtime.  We ate cake.  It was a fabulous day. Afterwards I was exhausted.

On Sunday, which was Mother's Day, my husband and kids made me a wonderful card and an odd breakfast in bed.  Then we hitched up the trailer and biked all the way to Bronte Creek, a distance of 9.8 km (one way) and had a picnic.  The kids played in the park and in the play barn, and then we visited all the animals including a litter of piglets.  It was the best day ever.  Afterwards I was extremely exhausted.

On Monday, I was still in biking mode, so I biked with the kids down to Central Library, a distance of 7.3 km, (one way).  We met some friends there and William went to story hour.  We picked some books and the kids went on the computer. After some convincing by the Mommies we lured our offspring outside and played in the park a while.  Then I biked home, uphill, and (after a quick stop at home to grab some birthday presents) continued biking to my Mom's house.  We celebrated my Dad and my nephew's birthdays (which were actually on Saturday).  We ate pulled pork, potato pancakes, mashed potatoes and cake.  It was an awesome day.  Afterwards I was extremely exhausted (and a little sunburned). 

Today I'm trying to keep it low key and not have so much fun.  Of course I've already played Star Wars Lego with William on the Xbox and looked through the Halloween I Spy book we got from the library.  I also put Jadzia down for a nap because she threw my ipod accross the room.  I was going to catch up on some laundry today, my dryer is in pieces.  It wasn't drying so my husband is fixing it using the magic of internet knowledge.  Instead of watching youtube videos, or playing plants vs zombies, I've decided to take a moment to tell you how my week is going.

Done.  Now what should I make for dinner?

Jadzia's accomplishments

Yesterday, while we were at the Early Years Centre, my daughter coloured this picture:

This is a fine example of how Jadzia's artistic skill far exceeds the norm for a child of two and a half.  See how she chose appropriate colours for the flowers and stem, and kept those colours to the right general area! The real joy is to see the concentration on her face as she creates.  She would never choose a marker at random, and instead takes the utmost care with every colour selection.

And that's not all!  Jadzia is in full potty-training mode (she has trained me to give her an M&M every time she pees on the toilet).  After Jadzia had completed her masterpiece at the Early Years, we went next door to Ikea for a little lunch and some fun.  While we were in the front entrance of the store, Jadzia exclaimed "I go potty now!"  then immediately dropped her pants, showing a naked bottom half to amused furniture shoppers.  My friend Columbia, who had been watching Jadzia while I wrote on my netbook, quickly grabbed her and rushed her to the nearest toilet.  Since my daughter had peed on the toilet only minutes before, my expectations were low.  Miraculously, she pooed on the toilet!  I gave her two M&M's.

 

The Party that really deserves my vote

For those of you who are disappointed in the election results, here's some photos of the party that really deserves a majority.  I'm talking of course about my friend Columbia's outdoor fairy party which took place on Saturday.  There were fairy costumes, face painting, swords, an Easter egg hunt, potluck food and a giant Earth ball.  Just look at how much fun we are had:

Vote

If you haven't already, go and

VOTE

Here's some info to help you:

The English language section of the Bloc Quebecois website
The Conservative Party website
The Green Party website
The Liberal Party website
The NDP website

Elections Canada website
CBC election coverage

Please don't leave it in the hands of others to decide who gets to run this country.  I guarantee that they will not vote the way you or I would.  If you are over 18 and live in Canada, get your butt to a polling station now.