Birthday #3

We recently celebrated Sophia's third birthday.  The celebration lasted throughout her birthday week, first with a family BBQ at the park, then a cookie treat at her daycare, and finally a birthday party at our local community centre.  She was quite delighted by all the attention and, of course, the presents from everybody.

The Low's and the Lorico's do not get together very often.  In fact, the last time Ed's dad and my mom saw each other was at our wedding ten years ago.  So it was such a treat to have both families present for Sophia's birthday picnic at the park.  We held it at a park in Richmond that had a water spray park, a playground and a picnic area.  The day started out cloudy but by noon, the sun was out in full force.  Our close friends the VanDops also joined us for the picnic.  Sophia loved having her friends Aves and Joshie with her at the park.

With Nanay and Gong Gong

Candles out

A week later, we had a party at our local community centre and the invitees were mainly Sophia's friends from daycare.  The gym was transformed into a play area with a bouncy castle, ride-on toys, hockey nets, and an assortment of toys. The kids had so much fun playing and running around the gym.  After the play time, we headed to a party room for some lunch and cake.  Sophia asked for a chocolate Mickey Mouse cake and was quite excited about it.  Not sure if she didn't like how it tasted because she hardly ate it.  Oh well.  And thanks to our friend, Josh, for being the photographer during the party.

This was the first time for us organizing a kids' party and it was a lot of work!  I found the loot bag the most stressful, just because I didn't know what to put in it.  I didn't want to fill it with junk but I didn't want to overspend, either.  Then all the work on the day of the picnic and party, transporting the food, drinks, and other stuff we needed.  It was pretty exhausting.  But, of course, seeing how happy Sophia was made it all worth it.

Happy third birthday, our darling baby girl.  Mommy and Daddy love you very much!

Pics from Drumheller

Drumheller, July 2013, a set on Flickr.

Pics from Calgary

Calgary, July 2013, a set on Flickr.

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.