Drumheller, July 2013, a set on Flickr.
2 August 2013
31 July 2013
Hanging out in Calgary
My mom, Sophia, and I recently spent nine days visiting with my brother and his family in Calgary. We went to the Calgary Stampede, drove to Canmore and Banff, visited the dinosaur museum in Drumheller, and did a bit of shopping downtown and Chinook Centre.
At the Stampede, we ate junk food all day, watched the Superdogs, lined up to "meet" Thomas the Train, and went to see the cows, sheep, and horses. Sophia and I also spent time in the Buckaroos section, which is a kids area. There were bouncy castles, play-doh, and a stage for kids shows. As for the junk food, we had corn dogs for lunch and dinner, plus snacked on mini donuts, a humongous ice cream cone, and other fried dough food variations. I have to say that there was hardly any evidence that just two weeks prior to our visit, the Stampede grounds were under water. They did a great job cleaning up after the flood.
We enjoyed the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller. This was the first museum I have visited with Sophia and yes, visiting a museum with a toddler is a very different experience. Sophia was a little frightened of the big dinosaurs in the exhibits, so she kept pulling at my hand to walk faster and leave the room asap. She would not let me read the exhibit descriptions in peace. When I visited museums in my pre-child days, I read everything. I would even rent the audio guides, follow the audio tours and listen intently. I realize now that I will have to wait for few years before I can enjoy a museum that way again. However, I found it so fun to watch Sophia get more comfortable in the presence of the big dinosaurs and be curious about the things on exhibit. I enjoyed listening to her comments and answering her questions about the things she saw. We bought a little orange dinosaur stuffie (a triceratops) as a souvenir.
Paying 5% tax, as opposed to 12% we pay here in BC, makes shopping so much more fun! I wish we had the same sales tax in Vancouver. I'd go shopping in Vancouver more often if our sales tax were that low!
The nine days went by too quickly. We had so much fun hanging out with my mom, my brother and his family. Thanks for being such gracious hosts! Wish our visit could have been longer. We'll just have to go visit again real soon.
Check out our pics from Calgary, Banff, and Drumheller.
At the Stampede, we ate junk food all day, watched the Superdogs, lined up to "meet" Thomas the Train, and went to see the cows, sheep, and horses. Sophia and I also spent time in the Buckaroos section, which is a kids area. There were bouncy castles, play-doh, and a stage for kids shows. As for the junk food, we had corn dogs for lunch and dinner, plus snacked on mini donuts, a humongous ice cream cone, and other fried dough food variations. I have to say that there was hardly any evidence that just two weeks prior to our visit, the Stampede grounds were under water. They did a great job cleaning up after the flood.
We enjoyed the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller. This was the first museum I have visited with Sophia and yes, visiting a museum with a toddler is a very different experience. Sophia was a little frightened of the big dinosaurs in the exhibits, so she kept pulling at my hand to walk faster and leave the room asap. She would not let me read the exhibit descriptions in peace. When I visited museums in my pre-child days, I read everything. I would even rent the audio guides, follow the audio tours and listen intently. I realize now that I will have to wait for few years before I can enjoy a museum that way again. However, I found it so fun to watch Sophia get more comfortable in the presence of the big dinosaurs and be curious about the things on exhibit. I enjoyed listening to her comments and answering her questions about the things she saw. We bought a little orange dinosaur stuffie (a triceratops) as a souvenir.
Paying 5% tax, as opposed to 12% we pay here in BC, makes shopping so much more fun! I wish we had the same sales tax in Vancouver. I'd go shopping in Vancouver more often if our sales tax were that low!
The nine days went by too quickly. We had so much fun hanging out with my mom, my brother and his family. Thanks for being such gracious hosts! Wish our visit could have been longer. We'll just have to go visit again real soon.
Check out our pics from Calgary, Banff, and Drumheller.
27 June 2013
Mothers and fathers
I missed blogging about Mother's Day so I'll just combine that with Father's Day.
Two years ago, for my first Mother's Day as a mom, Ed asked me how I wanted to celebrate it. My response - just let me sleep in. I didn't want to celebrate anything. I just wanted to rest. I didn't want to be taking care of a baby that day. I wanted to be left alone.
I suppose it is a good sign that, two years later, I wanted to go out for brunch and celebrate together. We celebrated this year's Mother's Day in Portland, where we were visiting Ed's mom for a few days. I googled brunch places in Portland and decided to reserve a table at The Country Cat. I'm glad we had reservations because the line up that morning was long. I felt bad for the moms whose families left because the wait was too long. But really now, why would you not make reservations for brunch on Mother's Day???
I felt happy that there was a long line up, primarily because I had picked the restaurant and I didn't want to disappoint my mom-in-law. The food must be good if this was such a popular place, I was thinking.
Gladly, the food was fantastic and my mom-in-law liked her dish. Whew!
A few photos from our brunch:
For Father's Day, Ed was feeling under the weather so he spent most of the day in bed. I had bought tickets to a dance show for Sunday evening and had reservations at Indochine Kitchen for dinner. In late afternoon, Ed put his game face on and told me he was up for going.
This was Sophia's first time going to see a dance show and she was enthralled. She seemed to really enjoy the performances and didn't want to leave when I said it was time to go for dinner. The food at Indochine Kitchen was really delicious. Unfortunately, Sophia was not in a good dinner mood and dinner did not pass as pleasantly as I had hoped. Oh well, that is life with kids.
For Father's Day, I asked Sophia to pick out a card for Ed and, of course, she picked a princess card. I also asked her to write a greeting and her name on it. She also gave him a rock that she had painted in daycare (I think it's supposed to be a paper weight). Here is Sophia's Father's Day card for Ed:
Two years ago, for my first Mother's Day as a mom, Ed asked me how I wanted to celebrate it. My response - just let me sleep in. I didn't want to celebrate anything. I just wanted to rest. I didn't want to be taking care of a baby that day. I wanted to be left alone.
I suppose it is a good sign that, two years later, I wanted to go out for brunch and celebrate together. We celebrated this year's Mother's Day in Portland, where we were visiting Ed's mom for a few days. I googled brunch places in Portland and decided to reserve a table at The Country Cat. I'm glad we had reservations because the line up that morning was long. I felt bad for the moms whose families left because the wait was too long. But really now, why would you not make reservations for brunch on Mother's Day???
I felt happy that there was a long line up, primarily because I had picked the restaurant and I didn't want to disappoint my mom-in-law. The food must be good if this was such a popular place, I was thinking.
Gladly, the food was fantastic and my mom-in-law liked her dish. Whew!
A few photos from our brunch:
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| I think Ed looks like his mom |
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| Mom |
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| Happy Mother's Day to me |
 |
| Sophia didn't want to be in the photo and let us know it |
This was Sophia's first time going to see a dance show and she was enthralled. She seemed to really enjoy the performances and didn't want to leave when I said it was time to go for dinner. The food at Indochine Kitchen was really delicious. Unfortunately, Sophia was not in a good dinner mood and dinner did not pass as pleasantly as I had hoped. Oh well, that is life with kids.
For Father's Day, I asked Sophia to pick out a card for Ed and, of course, she picked a princess card. I also asked her to write a greeting and her name on it. She also gave him a rock that she had painted in daycare (I think it's supposed to be a paper weight). Here is Sophia's Father's Day card for Ed:
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| The princess card. I translated Sophia's "writing" for Ed. |
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