Aroosha's Birthday Party (video)

We celebrated Aroosha's 1st birthday today at their apartment. We were one of the first few to arrive at the party and had access to the balloon pool first. Jas and Jules loved it. They practically hung out in that corner all night long, of course walking out once in a while to get a drink or bite to eat. But they literally went in the pool, out of the pool , in and out, all night long. They absolutely loved the balloons. Note to self - for the next birthday party we do, make sure we have a pool of balloons!

Happy birthday Aroosha. Hopefully we can play again soon.

Mommy's Birthday (video)

A special day for Mommy today, and seeing that my girls LOVE eating cake, we went and bought 2 cakes to celebrate. A chocolate one and a chestnut one. As you can see, both girls were too busy grabbing the cakes that they could not even take a picture with me. Gotta love my angels.

Christmas in Victoria

We spent Christmas eve with the Wong family and travelled to Victoria to spend Christmas with the Leung family. We managed to catch the 11am ferry without too much trouble (arrived at the terminal an hour early). The kiddies were excited to be travelling and in a good mood. They especially liked the fries and playing on the small playground while on the ferries.

We arrived at Winnnie's place around 2pm and finally met our new nephew, Kyle. He slept most of the time and didn't fuss much, even with people handling him back and forth. What an angel.


Because we are having dinner at Winnie's place and she has a newborn, we decided early on that we will have pre-made food for dinner which Lisa drove over from Vancouver. Dinner was served at 6:30pm and everyone had a fabulous meal together. Even the kids enjoyed sitting around the table (they usually do not sit well). Momo was sitting under the table, enjoying the scraps that Julia dropped on the floor. Haha, just kidding. Momo was actually scared of the kids and tried to stay as far away as possible... The kiddies were chasing him all over the house, under the table, over the couches, from the living room to the kitchen and back around again. There's just no place to hide! HELP, says Momo. Here, you can see Momo trapped in Jas' arms.

As with every year, the family had a great time together, spending time with each other and catching up with all the stories. Thanks Win and YJ for lending us your home for this special occassion. Merry Christmas everyone!

Xmas Party at the Mark's place

We were invited to a potluck dinner at John and Cheryl's place on Christmas eve. We brought our kids so they can all play together. The kids had alot of fun, running around and throwing all the toys around. The kids were pulling all the baskets of toys off the shelves, all over the floor. Poor parents who have to clean up after them... that's me by the way. Oh, and there is this bouncy horse that the kids were jumping on, and they went crazy on it. Too bad I couldn't get a good video of Muimui on it, but here's a pic:



We took the kids home to put them to bed and then returned to the party after. There was a secret santa gift exchange and we ended up with a tea set. No one in our house drinks tea. Oh well. It was a fun party nevertheless. Thanks for having us over.

Emma's Birthday

We celebrated Little Emma's 2nd birthday today at Creekside Community Rec Centre. There were tons of kids there. Both Jas and Jules were anticipating this party all day so they were both really excited. This is the first party we've been to that allowed the food area and the play area to be combined in one area.

Because the party started at 2:30pm, we managed to feed the kids before heading to the party. The kids wanted to play anyways which worked out well for us (so the adults could eat and chat). I really like the idea of having the play area where the food is too, so we can watch the kids from across the room, while being able to mingle. Most of the time, it's looking after your child and you don't get to do much else.

Thanks Emma for inviting us to your fun party.

Jasmine Daycare Christmas Party (video)

Jasmine has been at daycare for 1.5 months now and for the holidays coming up, the daycare has arranged a potluck dinner. We were surprised to see a show performed by all the little kiddies there. There was story-telling, singing songs, lots of food. Here's a short clip of what we saw that night:

Julia Da Da Da (video)

Julia was in one of her funny, cheery, singing, running around moods today. She was running around and around in circles in the living room, singing Da-da-da Da-da-da, half naked as she wouldn't put on her pants after her shower.

I think I lost some weight just watching her going around and around. Kids have so much energy...

Adyson's birthday

We had a fabulous time today, celebrating Adyson's 4th birthday at the Kerrisdale community center. Lunch was served first and then it was crafts time. All the kids made neat crown hats that had their names on it, as well as jewels. Then there was the pull-the-string piniata and finally Adyson cut the her birthday coconut cake. Boy, was that cake good! So yummy.


After all the activities, we got to tire the kids out more at the gym. So many toys: play cars, bouncy horse, slide, hockey, basketball... even the adults got to play! The kids even managed to get a parade going, lining up all the cars and wagons. Pretty cool. Thanks Adyson for a wonderful time!

In Motion Christmas party

Rich's company had a Christmas dinner party this year. This is the first year I was able to attend, as his previous company usually had a Christmas luncheon on a weekday. It was great meeting all his coworkers and chatting with some friends who he used to work with at his other company.

It was a fabulous evening with a dinner buffet, lots of prizes and games (singing and hoola hoops seemed to be big that night) and with a theme of Casino Royale, the company had casino dealers at the party! Everyone received $10k in poker chips to play with and at the end of the night, you used your leftover chips to purchase prizes. Unfortunately both Rich and I didn't have much luck and walked away empty handed.

Thanks In Motion for an awesome night out (no kids, yay!).

Stacking Paper (video)

We noticed that Julia liked to stack things, with whatever she can get her hands on. Just the other morning, I had to add toilet paper into the washroom cabinet and while I left the toilet paper on the side of my room, Julia came in and grabbed them from me. She then started stacking them up in the kitchen. Too bad she liked knocking them down more than piling them up. I'll need to get a better video of her doing this.

Wong Family Portraits

It's been a long time since the Wong family had professional family photos taken. We finally arranged some time for everyone to get together to do this. The photographer spent an hour with us at the Delta Burnaby hotel taking pictures at different spots inside the hotel. We were quite happy with the pictures. I've labeled this posting under "House" as I wasn't sure where to put it.

Here are some of them:

Night Wakings

For some unknown reason, Julia has been waking alot at night this week. Is she hungry? (sometimes she eats a small dinner) Is she cold? (it is the start of freezing temperatures) Does she miss Mommy? Hahaha. I wish she could say that to me. That will totally make my week.

She woke at 1am, screamed and screamed. The first couple of times this happened, I would go in and pick her up. As soon as I picked her up, she'd stop crying. She tells me to "cho cho", sit on the chair and read a book. Bad sign - don't want her to get used to that. So I spent an hour in her room, trying to get her sleepy again, which didn't work. So then I put her back into her crib and she screamed for 30 minutes before konking out. And then she wwoke again at 5am...Aiya!

Long night - sigh.

Jasmine's 4th Birthday (video)

Jasmine turns 4 today. What a big girl. She's grown so much over the past year (potty training, going to preschool, going to daycare...) I'm so proud of her. Here's Jasmine enjoying her minute of birthday fame.



As much as we wanted to have a large gathering to celebrate, we didn't have a birthday party this year. I did, however, make special eggless cupcakes for this special occassion and they turned out quite good. Julia even enjoyed her first chocolate cake experience, and she loved every bit of it.

Logan 4th Birthday Party

We celebrated Logan's 4th birthday today, at his new house. There were lots of food, pasta, fruit and cake. The theme this year was.... ANGRY BIRDS! They had both chocolate and vanilla cake, with angry birds on them. All the kids were so excited. Of course, since all the kids played that game, they were all screaming "angry birds, angry birds!"

In one area of the house, there were balloons all over the floor and hanging off of chairs. Julia kept on pulling on the helium balloons and letting go, the balloon bouncing away. Jasmine was running all over the place, kids everywhere. After we left the party, both girls would not let go of the balloon strings.

Thanks Logan for having us over again. We loved playing with all your toys and balloons. Hope we'll be invited over to play again.

Baby Shower for Win

I am expecting a nephew in the next 4 weeks. So exciting. Lisa and I went over to Victoria, to host Win's baby shower. It was a quick 1-day trip so we left on the 9am ferry, walked on as foot passenger and arrived at Win's place at 11:30am. The party started at noon so we had 30 minutes to prep the house (which we did nicely by the way).

People arrived promptly at noon and home-cooked food was served. I can't believe how much food Win and YJ had made! Around this time, my skin started acting up, getting all itchy and rashy. I suspect it was from the kitties they had. Didn't matter, a party was taking place!

We played lots of baby games like pin the sperm (that was a funny one), drawing a baby on your head, guessing how large Win's belly was and baby rhymes... Thanks Lisa for organizing all the games! It was very fun. After all the prizes were handed out, Win opened all the baby gifts. She has such awesome friends. Everyone gave such wonderful, generous presents. After that, we went back to the food (yes, we eat alot) and just chilled. By this time, my face and neck were practically swollen so I had to take a Benadryl. Within 20 minutes, the meds took effect, which calmed my skin but it also knocked me out. Literally. I fell asleep at the table! Must have been a funny sight but I just couldn't keep my eyes open.

I then moved over to the couch and took a snooze. When I woke up, the party was over. Everyone said their goodbyes and grabbed goody bags. YJ tore all the decorations down in - like - 2 minutes. I guess he really didn't like how the house looked with all the balloons and ruffly stuff.

All in all, it was a fun day. Thanks again Lisa for organizing everything!

Naturopath Allergy Sensitivity

We saw the naturopath today for Julia's food issues. He did a touch testing? which doesn't cause any pain. He had all these food items in tiny vials. This is the est up: Julia is sitting on my lap. My arm is pointed straight out, used as a lever to test the strength of Julia's body. So the doctor would put the vial (food to test) on Jules cheeks and then the doctor pushes down on my arm. From the way my arm reacts (stays up or pushes down), he can find out how Julia's body is reacting to the food.

He found several food items that Julia is senstive to: milk, soy, wheat/gluten, fish and apples. The ones that I was pretty sure she was sensitive to did not show up: egg, potato and corn. Very strange. I guess she can now safely eat these foods. Yay! We'll be back at the naturopath in about a month's time.

Peanut Allergy for Julia

We've been waiting to see the allergist for about 6 months and finally, the appointment date is today! It was an early morning appointment so we gave Julia her morning milk and then got her ready to leave the house.

We got to the doctor's office at 8:20am. This is usually when Julia has her breakfast so we brought lots of cereal snacks and rice cakes for her to munch on when she's hungry. Julia started asking for food around 8:30am so we gave her the container of snacks. Before we even saw the doctor, the container was empty! Julia ate everything in there.

When the doctor walked in, Jules did her usual scared don't-look-at-me face when she sees a stranger. She just freezes on the spot and looks down. It's as if she is thinking, ok if I can't see this person, this person will go away... Haha, kids. They are so funny.

We chatted with the doctor for a while and decided to do prick tests on a few food items, just to see whether the food sensitivities are correct. We tested for peanut, nuts, egg white, egg, yolk, soy, fish, coconut, corn. We should have tested for milk and wheat as well but forgot. The doctor drew little circles on Jules forearms and a little head on top, so it looks like a worm (see photo). Julia had no idea what was going on until the doctor pricked her arm 10 times (2 pricks were control pricks) and she burst into tears. Poor Julia.



As it turns out, all tests came back negative except for peanut. So now, we have to carry two epipens everywhere we go. I'm very skeptical about the results though because I know for sure that Jules reacts to some of the foods we tested. We will be seeing the naturopath tomorrow so we'll see what he has to say about the allergies.

Rice Bread - SUCCESS!

I recently found a recipe for rice bread and had to give it a try. With Julia's food allergies, I am constantly looking for good ones. It took 10 minutes to prep all the ingredients, another 3 hours in the breadmaker and ... voila, it turned out ok! Not like the breads we get at bakeries, but very decent, moist bread with a crunchie crust. Just hope that Julia can eat it without getting a rash. I guess we'll find out tomorrow morning. Here's the recipe:

Rice Muffin (米麵包食譜)

Ingredients (成份)
1 cup rice milk (米奶)
1 banana (香蕉)
1 TB lemon juice (柠檬汁)
4 TB oil (油)
4 TB sugar (糖)
1 tsp salt (鹽)
1 cup white rice flour (白米麵粉)
1 cup brown rice flour (糙米麵粉)
1 tsp baking soda (发面苏打)

Bake at 425 for about 17 minutes. Makes 12 muffins

Tantrums Galore (video)

Unfortunately, Julia is nearing her terrible two's (she's 20 months) and I guess she's found a way to get our attention. She cries LOUDLY! Whenever she wants something, she'll cry to get her way. Take a look at how she can turn on you (pun intended).

Halloween Haunted House

This year, Halloween lands on a Monday and we decided to visit a friend's neighborhood to trick or treat and see the haunted house.

Immediately after work, I picked up Jas from daycare, fed her quickly and got ready for the big night. As we get ready to go, I took out a beautiful butterfly costume for Jas and a spider costume for Jules. Jules had no idea what was going on but really liked all the legs hanging around her body. However, Jas refused to put the butterfly costume on. She wanted her green dragon outfit more (she already wore it all day at daycare). No matter how much I pleaded and convinced her, she absolutely refused. Oh well. At the least, she is in a costume. Above, is our family photo.



We met up with Alyssa, Michael and Connor (l'il tiger) and got some candy in Renfrew Heights. Both kiddies really enjoyed walking from house to house, ringing the doorbell and screaming "trick or treat!" In fact, Jas started enjoying her treats well before she got home. (we have to go thru all her treats to screen out all the ones with peanuts in it). Even Julia caught on that the packets in the bag is for eating, but she's not allowed to have any treats. Poor Julia. Maybe next year.

We also toured a haunted house on the block, which was really well done. It felt like a real haunted house, with several rooms to walk through, flashing lights, scary objects moving inside, people hiding around corners and jumping out, and even a pitch black maze at the very end. Pretty creative and impressive. We had a terrific evening and we'll be sure to do this again next year.

Indoor Exercise (video)

When it is raining outside, the girls get cooped up inside and have to find ways to burn off their energy. Indoor exercise is what they like to do. Running and screaming, all day long. Can you imagine hearing this all day long?

By the way, Julia loves wearing her safety hat.

Potty at Daycare, Finally!

Today is Jas' second day at daycare. She actually used the potty at school today. Yay! Not until after she held in her pee for so long that she wet her pull-ups first though.

I was in meetings all day and the teacher left a voice message on my cell, to see if I could pick Jas up from school. Apparently, Jas looked like she was in pain and still refused to go pee. By the time I called the teacher back, Jas already peepee in the pull-ups, so it was fine.

I guess Jas felt embarrassed by it so by the time I went to pick her up after school, Jas already used the potty. Wow, what a sudden improvement. I'm so proud of you Jasmine!

First Day in Daycare

Today is Jas' first day at daycare. We had to wake her at 6:45am (her normal wake time is 8:30am!) so it was quite a challenge to get her up that early in the morning. We packed all of her things the night before so all we had to add into her bag is her lunch. The daycare provides 2 snacks a day.

Rich dropped Jas off at the daycare at 7:45am and I picked her up at 5:30pm. Apparently they went on a field trip to the Richmond pumpkin patch today. What a fun first day!

Because Jas does not use the bathroom outside of the house (she is fully toilet trained, only using the house washroom), we put on a pull-up diaper instead of undies. When I picked her up from daycare, I was expecting a full wet diaper... but her diaper was completely dry! And she didn't pee at daycare. Uh, bad sign. She held in her pee for 10 hours. I can the trouble ahead - in a couple of days, Jas will be constipated (not drinking fluids) and will get a bladder infection (from holding her pee in all day). Let's see how tomorrow goes.

Hitting in School

I stayed home this week to take care of the kiddies. It's been a hectic week, with LoYe in hospital and both kids being sick. Jas still had to go to preschool on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays so I took her to school.

On the Friday, when I picked Jas up after class, the teacher pulled me aside to tell me bad news. Jas took a toy from one of the boys in class. This angered the boy, who then went and smacked Jas in the face. Poor beeps!!! They put ice on her face and separated the two kids for the rest of the class.

Jas seemed normal. Didn't look hurt or upset. She was fine so I left it at that. Maybe she'll learn from this and not take anyone else's toys anymore.

LoYe Back at Home

Great news! LoYe is back at home today, after spending 5 days in the Burnaby hospital. He seems to be recovering well, although a little weak. He needs assistance going up the stairs and he's not allowed to lift anything over 5 pounds. It is recommended that he stays on bedrest for the next few weeks so no cooking, no chores, no looking after kids. After a few weeks, LoYe will be able to build up strength slowly, and should be able to do all the things he used to do. In his current condition, LoYe will need to be on medication daily, to control the blood flow and prevent clots. We hope that the meds will be all that he needs.

In the meantime, we are trying to find fulltime daycare for Jas, since LaiLai can't look after both Jas and Juls at the same time. LaiLai doesn't drive either so no one can take Jas to school. The search is on!

LoYe in Hospital

We had quite a scare yesterday. Lo Ye was rushed to the hospital at midnight last night. He had chest pains that didn't go away; he had difficulty breathing. He actually informed that he's had these chest pains the past 7 days, but the pain would go away after a couple of minutes. But on Friday night, the pain continued even after 20 minutes. Very painful. We drove LoYe to emergency.

LoYe had a major heart attack. His front coronary artery was 90% blocked. This type of heart attack is termed the widow maker (most people don't survive this). He had immediate surgery and a stent was put into the blocked artery. We are lucky that LoYe is alive today.

He also found out that two of the other arteries were blocked as well. One is 80% blocked, the other is 30% blocked. LoYe is recovering in the hospital now. Please please hope that LoYe will fully recover from this.

It's Roseola - Hives!!!

When Julia's fever went away two days ago, I thought that we were on our way to recovery. But nope. She got hives all over her body now! Eeek. I vaguely remembered that Jasmine caught this type of sickness when she was about 1.5 years old as well. Fever for 3 days, then as soon as the fever went down, the body broke into hives. It's called Roseola.

We took Julia to the doctor's office, just to be sure, in case she caught something else. We were told that the hives will go away on its own, no medications needed. It's roseola.

Both Kids Sick

It's that time of year again. Cold season. Unfortunately, Julia caught the cold first (I don't know how that happened) and then passed it to Jasmine. Now both kids are sick.

Julia has had a fever since Sunday (3 days ago) and the temperature just went down today. Jasmine's fever just started today. Ick. Let's hope the kiddies will recover soon.

Auntie Melissa Visits Vancouver

Today we took a visit to the airport to visit an auntie, Auntie Melissa from Calgary. She is stopping by for a quick visit so we met with her and the family (they are on their way to HK). The airpot is H-U-G-E. I ran off (this is Julia by the way) and Mommy quickly chased after me but I got trapped by these two big luggages and Mommy picked me up. Boo.

Then Mommy, Daddy, uncles and aunties all sat around (boring) and ate food while they trapped me under the table between chairs. They didn't want me to run off again... It got near my sleepy time so I made a scene and they took me home really fast. Yay!

Meika's 1st Birthday Party

Jasmine is so proud to show off her rainbow on her face. Today is Meika's 1st birthday and the celebration was held at Renfrew Community center. Due to the timing of the party, Julia had to go down for her nap so she didn't go to the party. Yay for Jasmine. She had Mommy all to herself.

At the party, there were lots of toys, play cars, slide with brick builder, face painting and activities. It was so fun. Too bad Mommy forgot to bring a camera, and her cellphone ran out of batteries! So no pics of Meika with Jasmine together at the party (bad Mommy!) Happy Birthday Meika!

Great News! Well Behaved.

What terrific news? I am so proud of Jasmine. Jasmine's preschool teacher called me again today. When I heard her voice, I was thinking, "oh no, what did she do this time?" However, this time, it was good news! The teacher told me that Jasmine behaved very well today. They had a water table activity and they went outside to draw chalk on the sidewalk. Jasmine listened to everything the teacher said and behaved well.

Awesome Jasmine. Mommy is sooo happy. I'm very proud of you!

More Trouble from Jasmine?

Unfortunately, I receved another phone call from the teacher M today. So who did Jasmine bully today? This time, it involved a few other kids because the teacher pulled 3 other parents together after class for the discussion (so I heard form FIL). So what did these kiddies do? Drum roll.....

They got called on sexual harrassment! Yup. You see, there are these kids washrooms (3 stalls), you know those tiny toilets that are so low to the ground? Anyways, the washrooms only have a cloth door, so kids can open and close them easy. Well, apparently, Jasmine and a few other kids, were pulling those cloth doors open when someone was in there doing their thing! Ai yah. Talk about prompting each other to do bad things. Or is it peer pressure?

Discipline Methods

I'm starting to read a discipline book called 1-2-3 magic. Everyone raves about it. Will let you know if it helps with Jas. She is getting better at listening to me. Just last night, when I showered her, she was starting her "I do this, I do that" rant. She wants to do everything herself. But she can't do everything on her own. Power struggle - you listen to me... no, I do it myself. Get in there... no, I do it myself. I go ahead and rip the stupid cloth out of her hand, hang it on the caddy... Jas screams and starts crying histerically, stomping her feet and grabbing the cloth again. I turn off the shower, tell her that it is time to dry off... Jas starts her flailing her arms and legs, putting up a fight. You see, it's VERY hard to pull out a wet 35lb kid from the bath tub when she doesn't want to cooperate. I'm getting old. Can't fight her much longer. No strength.

So - I stop. Bend over and look at her in the eyes. Just trying to see why she is so upset. Jas looks at me, has tears in her eyes. I smile, give her a kiss and tell her in a soft voice. I know you want to keep playing in here but it's time to get out. You can play with those things tomorrow, ok? And she just says ok, then gets out of the tub! Wow, is that amazing or what? I guess she really does understand!

Here Comes Trouble - Jasmine

Last ThursdayIt was a normal day until out of the blue, Jasmine's preschool teacher (M) called me on my cell phone today. The call started with M telling me that Jasmine has matured alot over the past 6 months. She's listening more and paying attention and playing well with others. I'm thinking, ok. So why are you calling me for?

Then the teacher informs that Jasmine got into trouble today though. Apparently, Beeps stood on top of the table in the Science corner, where the fish tank was. She was on the table and wouldn't get off, even when the teacher asked her to. And then, Jasmine proceeded to throw stuff off that table! Errrggggg.

Granny Turns 100 this year!

Every year, our Granny celebrates her birthday with a family dinner, and includes all of our extended family. This year, she is turning 100! For this important event, our immediate LEUNG family decided to get some professional photos done with Granny. Winnie arranged with her photographer to have this done one weekend in Vancouver (thanks Win!). He did an amazing job. Check these pictures out:

18 Month Shots

I finally took Julia for her 18 month shots today, a little late due to the doctor's office being closed on the summer weekends. I didn't want to take a day off from work to take her into the docs office so I waited until there was a Saturday appointment. Julia's current stats:

weight - 9.72kg / 21.5 lbs, 25% percentile
height - 86 cm, 90% percentile
head - 46cm, 50% percentile

Speaks 20 words:

1) Ye Ye
2) Ma Ma
3) Daddy
4) Mommy
5) ball
6) bless you
7) hello
8) bye
9) wo wo (dog)
10) meow (cat)
11) she she (book)
12) guy guy (go outside)
13) dung (lights)
14) gwo gwo (fruits)
15) mo mo (hat)
16) ngap ngap (duck)
17) jerk jerk (bird)
18) sui sui (water)
19) nai nai (milk)
20) 1-2-3

She had 2 shots jabbed into her thighs this time. I went to the doctor's office alone with Julia today so it was hard to keep her still. Poor Julia, she had no idea the needle was coming. The first needle was finished and Julia didn't even make a peep. It was when the second needle was inserted that she started screaming and kicking... Took about a minute and Julia calmed down, with the help of some crackers. Phewf, another shot done.

Julia Ball Dance (video)

A short video of Julia while she was playing with the musical kaleidoscope toy while sliding around on the ball.

Kid Scary Moments

Kids do the silliest things. Two funny incidents happened recently, funny to us, but scary to them. These were things that the kiddies did, that got them scared.

1) There is a computer tower in our living room that links to our PVR, which stores all of our TV recordings. The computer tower is placed on the ground so the kids can access it easily. Julia was pushing on all the buttons on the computer tower and nothing happened. Then suddenly, the DVD drawer slides open. She took one look, then ran straight into the couch and dug her head into the couch cushion (like a flamingo?). I went over to pick her up, she started crying hysterically and stared non-stop at the DVD tray. Poor girl.

2) Upstairs in Richard's room, we have a paper shredder. We never turn it on, because we don't have alot of confidential papers. Anyways one day, Richard decided to shred some bank statements. Just as it starts shredding (background guuugnggggggg sound) Jasmine freaks out. She ran from the living room all the way into the kitchen, meanwhile screaming her head off. AHHHHHHHHHHHH! I go into the kitchen to see what is going on. I see Jasmine standing on the far wall, tears streaming down her face. So frightened. I'm guessing she thought the sound was from the TV, the TV blank screen thing? She is sooooo scared of that too.

Poor kiddies. Inherited Mommy's scardy trait.

Julia Bouncy Horse (video)

We had a small get-together at John and Cheryl's place this afternoon. There were 4 families and a total of 7 kids running around the house. Quite a pack. It was really neat, because the adults were able to sit around and chat while the kids were busy playing with all the toys. Boy, were there lots of toys everywhere! Thanks Cheryl and John! We have to come by more often!

Here is a video of Julia on a bouncy horse:

Stanley Park Water Park - Lumbermen's Arch (video)

It was a really hot day today and we wanted to spend time outside before the weather got cold. Where can we go? To the water park of course! Inside Stanley Park, there is a free kids water park. I didn't even know that this water park existed until the other day, when we went on the train ride and we walked by it.

We suited them into their UV swim gear, large sun hats, rubbed sunblock on the legs and arms, and we are set to go. Both girls LOVE playing in water. They had an awesome time running and splashing around in the water... until Jasmine slipped and fell on the ground. With a scraped knee and elbow, and no bandaids, we had to leave promptly. Even though we didn't play in the water, it was fun just watching them.

Burnaby Village Museum

We visited the Burnaby Village Museum today, as they were having a free admission day so we checked it out. We were lucky to find a parking spot in the shade, a quick walk from the entrance of the museum. It was boiling hot. By the time we got to the entrance gate (a 2 minute walk), everyone was sweating.

This museum is quite special. It's basically a tiny village of shops, from the early 1900s. There were maybe 20 little shops, some of them with people dressed up and greeting you inside. There was a bank, a theatre, music piano shop, bakery, Chinese medicine shop, blacksmith, barbar... quite interesting. Too bad it was so hot outside, we were all burning so we had to leave after an hour.


Theatre ticket office, MuiMui doing gymnastics (click on pics)