Saturday, July 18, 2009
Family Fun
Today our agency had their annual family fun day out in Port Moody. It was a beautiful day and lots of fun. I had never been to Rocky Point Park but it is really nice. They had a BBQ, a lady who made balloon animals. She made Alex a dog out of a balloon, literally his two favourite things. He was so excited, until he loved it to death and it popped. They also had a big tub with bubble sollution and big bubble wands which were fun. The best part was that our facillitator from Russia has moved to Vancouver and she was there. It was really good to see her. She took pictures of Alex to send back to the orphanage to show how big he has gotten already.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Point Roberts
Yesterday a friend from work invited Alex and me out to her place in Point Roberts. I had never been there before so it was really neat. Kind of weird though to have to cross the border just to go into the tip of tswassen. Another co-worker and her four year old son met us there and we all had lunch. Alex had fun running around in the grass and pointing at their pet bunny. After lunch we went down to the beach and played with rocks and boats on strings.
I had forgotten to bring a bathing suit or change of clothes for him, so Alex got stipped down to play. It wouldn't have mattered too much if he got soaking though because Kim had just given me a cute outfit for Alex, plus a whole bag of hand-me-down clothes from her son. The hand me downs will be too big for perhaps a couple of years, but I am just going to box them up and put them in the basement until they fit. As well, Margot (my friend, not sister) gave us a little tykes slide that her kids grew out of a long time ago and a plastic wading pool. The pool was too big to get in the car, and the Prius doesn't have a roof rack, so the pool is still in Point Roberts. I think it is even a bit to big for him until perhaps next year, so we are going to go back and pick up the pool later.
I was a little worried about crossing the border again, after the last time. But I got Andrew to write a letter. I forgot to write about the last crossing. Coming back into Canada I was asked if I had a letter from his father, I said no because I didn't know I needed one. He then gave me a hard time about it. I didn't say anything because you don't want to be a smart ass with a border guard, but I was thinking a) we were coming back into Canada and US border guard didn't ask anything b) what if I was a single parent 3) what if Siobhan (who was in the car) was the "father" . I could have driven all the way to Newfoundland with out being asked for any letter from his father, which we could have written ourselves at a gas station just before crossing the border anyway. I was just really annoyed about the whole thing.
This time I got a hard time about the free slide, he was asking where did my friends buy it, what was the original cost, etc. I had no idea and I did not want to pay duty on a free 5 year old slide that was probably purchased in Canada. Luckily because the guessed original purchase price was low enough I didn't have to pay anything.
I had forgotten to bring a bathing suit or change of clothes for him, so Alex got stipped down to play. It wouldn't have mattered too much if he got soaking though because Kim had just given me a cute outfit for Alex, plus a whole bag of hand-me-down clothes from her son. The hand me downs will be too big for perhaps a couple of years, but I am just going to box them up and put them in the basement until they fit. As well, Margot (my friend, not sister) gave us a little tykes slide that her kids grew out of a long time ago and a plastic wading pool. The pool was too big to get in the car, and the Prius doesn't have a roof rack, so the pool is still in Point Roberts. I think it is even a bit to big for him until perhaps next year, so we are going to go back and pick up the pool later.
I was a little worried about crossing the border again, after the last time. But I got Andrew to write a letter. I forgot to write about the last crossing. Coming back into Canada I was asked if I had a letter from his father, I said no because I didn't know I needed one. He then gave me a hard time about it. I didn't say anything because you don't want to be a smart ass with a border guard, but I was thinking a) we were coming back into Canada and US border guard didn't ask anything b) what if I was a single parent 3) what if Siobhan (who was in the car) was the "father" . I could have driven all the way to Newfoundland with out being asked for any letter from his father, which we could have written ourselves at a gas station just before crossing the border anyway. I was just really annoyed about the whole thing.
This time I got a hard time about the free slide, he was asking where did my friends buy it, what was the original cost, etc. I had no idea and I did not want to pay duty on a free 5 year old slide that was probably purchased in Canada. Luckily because the guessed original purchase price was low enough I didn't have to pay anything.
Monday, July 13, 2009
ReDesign
After 5 and a half years, I figure it is time for a new look for my blog. I had a little bit of a freakout though because i had kept my blog with the template function rather than layout so when I had to switch it over to add the new background all my links disappeared from the sidebar. I used this page for the links everyday, but luckily i saved a copy in html and it wasn't too hard to get it looking the way I wanted with a little tinkering. The hardest part was choosing a background that I liked. Because i always manually chose the text colour with every post, looking at the archive will not always produce an attractive colour mix, but I have set it up so new posts are in maroon and it will match nicely. The other cool thing is that it is easy enough to change backgrounds that if I feel like it, I can change the background to match the season. Considering though that I had the same design for the past 5 years, it probably won't happen.
Nanoose Bay
We spent this weekend with Andrew's Aunt and Uncle up at their place in Nanoose Bay on Vacouver Island. We had great weather and it was lots of fun. We went swimming at the beach in Parksville and Alex went on is first boat ride. The water was a little rough and even though he didn't mind being on the boat or the waves, I tried my best to seem happy and cheery as not to impart my fear of boats on him. The only part which he didn't really like was the fact that I had to hold him on my lap for the whole trip. He didn't like sitting still for so long. I guess he has been on a ferry and then the house boat too, but this is the one we are counting as "first boat ride". He will have to get used to them too because in 2 weeks we are going up to Pasley.
We had put the dogs in a kennel on Vancouver Island just near the place we were staying. We try to do that as much as possible because then the dogs get a bit of the trip with you. Plus 9 times out of 10 a kennel outside of Vancouver is about 1/2 the price. So on Sunday we picked up the dogs and drove to Coombs to see the famous goats on the roof. They were there. We got pics, and I will post them later. The roof of the market is all covered in grass and goats just seem to hang out nibbling on the roof. I have driven by the sign pointing to where they are a bunch of times but have never gone before, there has always been a ferry to catch or some time line that needs to be kept.
Unfortunately, when we got our car on the ferry home and were having "did you lock the car?" "do I need to we are on a ferry and the windows are down for the dogs?" "but your computer is in there" conversation. Andrew realized that his computer was not in the car, but infact back in our room in Nanoose Bay. This was also probably the most annoying time to figure this out too, just as the ferry pulled away from shore. So Andrew ended up spending over 5 hours on ferries yesterday because he needed his computer and no one we knew was coming home yesterday or today.
We really seem to be all over the place with Alex. I don't know if our lives were like this before and I am just noticing it because now we have him or one day we will go back to a more staying at home lifestyle that will totally shock him. My guess is that when I go back to work it will be much calmer. Work really puts a damper on travel plans.
We had put the dogs in a kennel on Vancouver Island just near the place we were staying. We try to do that as much as possible because then the dogs get a bit of the trip with you. Plus 9 times out of 10 a kennel outside of Vancouver is about 1/2 the price. So on Sunday we picked up the dogs and drove to Coombs to see the famous goats on the roof. They were there. We got pics, and I will post them later. The roof of the market is all covered in grass and goats just seem to hang out nibbling on the roof. I have driven by the sign pointing to where they are a bunch of times but have never gone before, there has always been a ferry to catch or some time line that needs to be kept.
Unfortunately, when we got our car on the ferry home and were having "did you lock the car?" "do I need to we are on a ferry and the windows are down for the dogs?" "but your computer is in there" conversation. Andrew realized that his computer was not in the car, but infact back in our room in Nanoose Bay. This was also probably the most annoying time to figure this out too, just as the ferry pulled away from shore. So Andrew ended up spending over 5 hours on ferries yesterday because he needed his computer and no one we knew was coming home yesterday or today.
We really seem to be all over the place with Alex. I don't know if our lives were like this before and I am just noticing it because now we have him or one day we will go back to a more staying at home lifestyle that will totally shock him. My guess is that when I go back to work it will be much calmer. Work really puts a damper on travel plans.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
The Omnivore's Dilmena
by Michael Pollan
It took me a while to read this book, but mainly because I just haven't been reading lately, because when I sat down and gave my self a chance to read I would usually read about a hundred pages at a time. This book is split into three parts, each following a meal. The first is the industrial food system, the second is the organic-sustainable food movement, and the third is going back to hunter-gathering roots to create a meal.
I was kind of feeling lately that I had been spending too much money to buy non-factory farm meats, but after this book I am very glad that I have been. Of course, every so often our new eatting well goal goes out the window and we will order a pizza, but I think it is nice to try. Other than the new list of about 12 books that were used as references to write this book that I now want to read, the biggest point that I took away was that it is easy to try not to think about how meat gets wrapped in a nice little package in the grocery store, but once you open your eyes to how much suffering an animal has to go through to get there (the slaughtering is often the most humane part of their lives) then you either have defend your choices or stop eating meat.
Another favourite line of mine is "Eat your view". Eat what is local and in season when every possible and the planet will thank you. Eating local fresh vegetables and fruits is especially easy in the summer. I am not going to go back to being a vegetarian, but I am definately going to continue on towards finding sources for humane meats.
18
It took me a while to read this book, but mainly because I just haven't been reading lately, because when I sat down and gave my self a chance to read I would usually read about a hundred pages at a time. This book is split into three parts, each following a meal. The first is the industrial food system, the second is the organic-sustainable food movement, and the third is going back to hunter-gathering roots to create a meal.
I was kind of feeling lately that I had been spending too much money to buy non-factory farm meats, but after this book I am very glad that I have been. Of course, every so often our new eatting well goal goes out the window and we will order a pizza, but I think it is nice to try. Other than the new list of about 12 books that were used as references to write this book that I now want to read, the biggest point that I took away was that it is easy to try not to think about how meat gets wrapped in a nice little package in the grocery store, but once you open your eyes to how much suffering an animal has to go through to get there (the slaughtering is often the most humane part of their lives) then you either have defend your choices or stop eating meat.
Another favourite line of mine is "Eat your view". Eat what is local and in season when every possible and the planet will thank you. Eating local fresh vegetables and fruits is especially easy in the summer. I am not going to go back to being a vegetarian, but I am definately going to continue on towards finding sources for humane meats.
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Forks in the Road
In the Olympic Peninsula of northwest Washington State, a small town named Forks exists under a near-constant cover of clouds. It rains on this inconsequential town more than any other place in the United States of America.
Click to see more pics
Not including the stop at the border, an hour and a half ferry line up wait and a half hour linner break, it took us about five and a half hours to get to Forks, Washington. Alex was such a trooper. He was in such a good mood all day, and slept for part of the drive. I am not sure if I am going to be able to take him on these kind of road trips when he can talk but he seemed happy for most of it. The weather was totally perfect, drizzly rain and very misty. It would have been weird if it was a bright sunny day.
We didn't stay in Forks for too long, we snapped a couple of pics and drove down to the beautiful LaPush beach. (where I saw a perigrine falcon - a new one for my life list) But we figured that we would be paying more to actually spend the night in Forks rather than in a less touristy town. We also thought that since it was still only 7pm that we could get a little closer for the drive home if we turned around and back tracked. We ended up staying in Sequim, Washington, which is having a lavender festival next weekend. We also thought that if we just drove, rather than waiting in a ferry line up again then it would be faster and cheaper to get home.
Unfortunately, we miscalculated a little bit because we had driven all the way up to the top of the Olympic pennisula, which meant that we had to drive all the way down and around Hood Canal to Olympia and back up the I-5 to Vancouver. If we had looked at a map the night before, we should have driven south past Forks, towards Aberdeen, which is directly west of Olympia. So our back tracking to save time last night actually caused our drive to be about 31/2 hours longer that it needed to be. So I am super tired today. We all found that on the first day we were fine sitting in the car all day, but got stiff and achy very quickly on day 2. Plus, we could have stayed in this town ...
Alex did find a new game last night as we were driving to our hotel (this game lasted about an hour) - Scream like something is wrong and when we look back to see what is wrong, giggle. It was fun
Click to see more pics
We didn't stay in Forks for too long, we snapped a couple of pics and drove down to the beautiful LaPush beach. (where I saw a perigrine falcon - a new one for my life list) But we figured that we would be paying more to actually spend the night in Forks rather than in a less touristy town. We also thought that since it was still only 7pm that we could get a little closer for the drive home if we turned around and back tracked. We ended up staying in Sequim, Washington, which is having a lavender festival next weekend. We also thought that if we just drove, rather than waiting in a ferry line up again then it would be faster and cheaper to get home.
Unfortunately, we miscalculated a little bit because we had driven all the way up to the top of the Olympic pennisula, which meant that we had to drive all the way down and around Hood Canal to Olympia and back up the I-5 to Vancouver. If we had looked at a map the night before, we should have driven south past Forks, towards Aberdeen, which is directly west of Olympia. So our back tracking to save time last night actually caused our drive to be about 31/2 hours longer that it needed to be. So I am super tired today. We all found that on the first day we were fine sitting in the car all day, but got stiff and achy very quickly on day 2. Plus, we could have stayed in this town ...
Alex did find a new game last night as we were driving to our hotel (this game lasted about an hour) - Scream like something is wrong and when we look back to see what is wrong, giggle. It was fun
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Nerd Alert
Tonight I am packing up for a big adventure for Sacha, Siobhan and me. We are leaving early tomorrow and driving down to Forks, Wa. I would not call myself a "Twihard" but Andrew does. I don't see that driving 5 1/2 hours just to go check out a town in the middle of no where and spend the night there just because a book written for teenagers is set there is really too unreasonable. Not really. Besides, Andrew is working all day tomorrow (9am-9pm) and Colin is away for work right now and neither Siobhan or I have to work. Really, it would be a waste not to go.
Besides, it is going to be Alex's fifth country that he has been in. Of course Andrew doesn't count our stop in Japan, because we didn't leave the plane, but it is certainly up for debate. And it will be the fourth country that he will have cleared customs to get into anyway.
Alex has already almost grown out of the little pair of Holey Sole shoes that we bought him when he first got here and they are his favourite. But for some reason, the store we bought the first pair from does not sell them anymore so Mum and I have been on a bit of a trek to find a new pair. Today we drove all over Richmond, trying to find a store that sells them. We were told that their main outlet was out there by Ikea, but we couldn't find it. We ended up finding one store in Steveston that sold them, so I bought the next two sizes up. Just in case we can't find them again in the future. I think he will now be covered until well into next summer.
Holey Soles are like Crocs, but I think are cuter. His old pair is sky blue with green strap, his current pair is red with a yellow strap and this future pair is just like the green one above.
Besides, it is going to be Alex's fifth country that he has been in. Of course Andrew doesn't count our stop in Japan, because we didn't leave the plane, but it is certainly up for debate. And it will be the fourth country that he will have cleared customs to get into anyway.
Alex has already almost grown out of the little pair of Holey Sole shoes that we bought him when he first got here and they are his favourite. But for some reason, the store we bought the first pair from does not sell them anymore so Mum and I have been on a bit of a trek to find a new pair. Today we drove all over Richmond, trying to find a store that sells them. We were told that their main outlet was out there by Ikea, but we couldn't find it. We ended up finding one store in Steveston that sold them, so I bought the next two sizes up. Just in case we can't find them again in the future. I think he will now be covered until well into next summer.
Holey Soles are like Crocs, but I think are cuter. His old pair is sky blue with green strap, his current pair is red with a yellow strap and this future pair is just like the green one above.
Sunday, July 05, 2009
A Pox
Had a little bit of a freak out just now. Sitting down to lunch with Alex I noticed a spot on his arm. We have had a bit of trouble getting an MSP number for him, so we have only taken him to see the doctor once when he got home and once when he smashed his mouth on the coffee table. When we were there, she asked us to find out if he had his 12-15 month Measles-Mumps-Rubella shots. We have a vacine record, but it is in hand-written Russian and we haven't had a chance to see our Russian friend since we got back, who we were going to ask about this.
So back to the spot... he had another spot on his face about 3 weeks ago that has pretty well faded away to nothing, that we thought was a pimple but then this new spot showed up on his arm today. We were pretty ready to jump in the car and take him to the doctor, especially since we are going to a BBQ this afternoon with Andrew's 3 year old brother and 8 month old cousin. But I have now looked up the symptoms of Measles, Chicken Pox, Rubella, Cat Scratch Fever, Rocky Mountain Rash, Foot and Mouth Disease and Fifth's Disease. I think the spot is an insect bite. It doesn't look like any of the above diseases and he has no other symptoms. And we had a picnic in the park yesterday - an easy way to get an insect bite. So panic dissapated.
And Andrew is on the phone right now getting our Vacine record translated. I think this is something that will get done this week, to prevent future freakouts. I know for sure he has not had the chicken pox vacine anyway.
So back to the spot... he had another spot on his face about 3 weeks ago that has pretty well faded away to nothing, that we thought was a pimple but then this new spot showed up on his arm today. We were pretty ready to jump in the car and take him to the doctor, especially since we are going to a BBQ this afternoon with Andrew's 3 year old brother and 8 month old cousin. But I have now looked up the symptoms of Measles, Chicken Pox, Rubella, Cat Scratch Fever, Rocky Mountain Rash, Foot and Mouth Disease and Fifth's Disease. I think the spot is an insect bite. It doesn't look like any of the above diseases and he has no other symptoms. And we had a picnic in the park yesterday - an easy way to get an insect bite. So panic dissapated.
And Andrew is on the phone right now getting our Vacine record translated. I think this is something that will get done this week, to prevent future freakouts. I know for sure he has not had the chicken pox vacine anyway.
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