Weekend in Vancouver

Heather and her Brownie group had a sleepover at the Aquarium. Because of a late drop off and an early morning pickup, mt friend Nicole and I decided to stay at the Wall Centre. The view was incredible and very high. A little scary with floor to ceiling windows.

Heather and her best friend Piper

They liked the girls symbol for the washroom

We browsed some of the shi shi poo poo stores like Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Tiffany's. A girl can dream. Gucci gave the girls a souvenir catalogue and bag.

The girls and the moms got a manicure. This was Heather's first time.

The finished look.
At pick up, we got to go in the aquarium for the day. Todd and vanessa joined us Saturday morning and we spent the day there.

Mr. Ray
Oh No! Nemo was caught again!

Heather practicing her parsal tongue (Harry Potter term for someone who can talk to snakes)

4D Presentation. The eels poked you in the back. Creepy!

We decided to take this opportunity to give Heather her birthday gift. She chose to do an animal encounter with a friend instead of having a friend birthday party. We got a tour of the behind the scenes area for taking care of the otters. We then had the opportunity to feed them.

Meal Board for the Otters.
Getting ready to feed.

Saturday night is snowed. It was so peaceful
I keep forgetting that the video can not be vertical. Grrr. Oh well, you will have to turn your head.

Christmas Lights in the Park

We went to Van Duesen Gardens to see their display of lights. Beautiful and imaginative. Nothing beats the old lights for brightness but they had some really neat ideas. Flowers out of pop bottles!

Skating

We took the girls skating for the first time this year. We let Vanessa zip around with the support. She had fun doing that. Heahter was interested in going fast but not interested in remembering how to stop. It was so much easier teaching other people's kids to skate. These ones just don't listen!

Heather's 7th Birthday Party

Heather had a Polar Express themed party. We had the kids come in their pajamas and they watched the movie Polar Express on the big screen. They had hot chocolate and popcorn, did some crafts and had ice cream cake that I made for the first time. It was yummy! A great time by all. The kids liked their goodie bag of hot chocolate, mug and a homemade snowflake marshmallow.

Dolls for Christmas

The girls got Maplelea Dolls from us this Christmas. They are so cute. They are a Canadian company that make dolls that promote appropriate age interests. We hope the girls enjoy playing with them. You all might get a visit from them sometime.

Christmas Bugs

Wow! We sure suffered over the Christmas holiday here with a very active stomach bug. Vanessa got it first but recovered quite quickly, then Heather and Todd got it the night before Heather's birthday. We had to frantically call every invitee and postpone Heather's party because we didn't want to spread the bug. Mom and Dave were delayed three days as we didn't want them to get the bug either. I got it Christmas morning and Todd had to take over the Christmas dinner duties for 13 people. He did a great job. I got to stay in bed all day and miss the festivities. It took a couple days but we are all recovering. The girls got a visit from Santa and both got things they wanted. Vanessa really wanted an orange truck and Heather wanted a pony. She got a whole lot of little ones instead as Santa can't afford a real pony in this recession.