Visiting the Aquarium

It's been a LONG time since i last went to the aquarium, like maybe two years - half my lifetime. Long enough that while i remembered seeing the belugas i had totally forgotten there was a play area there too.

Mom and i played I-spy trying to find all the fish listed in the tropical tanks:

 

 

There were a lot of Nemos, and even a shark....and a giant turtle who was as big as me.

 

The jellyfish were kind of cool, but not as fascinating to me as the colour-changing bubble machines

 

 

we saw the beginning of a 4D movie called The Polar Express, but i didn't like it AT ALL, so we left pretty quick. When something splashed on screen you actually got wet sitting on your seat! The train went out of control and was screaming down the track....my seat was shaking, it was really loud and the wind was blowing in my face..SCARY.

We retreated to the safety of the kids area, where i built a tower of foam blocks and had a rest to recover from the experience

 

 

 

All in all a great day out. I can't wait to go back again some day.

A safe place?

It was nearly time to go to school, and i was done playing, so i went to look for mom.

Eventually i found her in the shower. After I'd weighed myself on the scales, had a little taste of toothpaste, thrown some bath toys back into the bath(narrowly avoiding mom) and moved a few bottles around, i spotted mom's glasses sitting somewhat precariously - i felt - on the top of the toilet.

"Shall i put these in a safe place for you?" i asked. "sure" said mom, "but be careful with them".

Off i went.



Five minutes later mom came out dressed and ready to take me to school.

"Can i have my glasses now, Ollie"
"Oh"
"You put them in a safe place, remember?"
"Ermmm...i know, i think they're on the lego table......no, not there.....erm...maybe they're in my bedroom? let's go and see.......no.....well where else could they be? shall we try the kitchen somewhere?"

"Think where you put them Ollie. We need to leave for school"

"I know...we could go to school and then YOU could look for them. or maybe you could get a different pair?"

Mom and i eventually found them in HER bedroom, about six feet from the bathroom door.

And yes, i was late for school.

pumpkin patch

Last year at preschool Joel and mom came to Trimble Park and made the morning class their very own pumpkin patch, hiding pumpkins under piles of leaves. I was going to link to the post, but it seems i didn't do any blogging last year AT ALL.
What happened mom?
You can see some photos here though: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=344890&id=773165334&l=b918356de4

Anyway, this year we went on a field trip to a real pumpkin patch. Fortunately the sun was shining as i really don't like getting muddy boots, and there wasn't any really scary stuff although the man-sized singing and dancing sweetcorn and orange were definitely a bit odd!

I made it my mission to find the smallest sized pumpkin i could. In the end the smallest one we found was about the size of my thumb, but it was still green so mom said we couldn't pick it. I carefully avoided the worst of the mud and managed to find a pumpkin for each of us.

 

 

 

 

Once we got home mom set to work carving our designs. Joel drew a lighting face on his, and dad probably has the only longboarder pumpkin in town. Mom and i had more traditional jack-o-lanterns, although mom's met with a sorry end when a squirrel attacked it over night :(

 

 

 

On Hallowe'en itself we went out into the neighborhood around Joel's school where there were loads of families out trick-or-treating. I put my knight's costume back on again, and Joel dressed up as spiderman. All we had to do was knock on someone's door and say "trick or treat" and they gave us handfuls of candy. Typically now that we have all this candy, mom won't let us eat it all, which may have something to do with the fact that she had to say 'trick or treat' at most of the homes we visited.

 

Haircuts

As is readily apparent from yesterday's photos in the park i'm badly in need of a haircut. Part of the reason for postponing was so that Joel wouldn't have really short hair for his school photo this week but now that's done so we're off for a trim.

Mom managed to score a great deal with Groupon so instead of going to our usual hairdresser we went to a special kids salon called Melonheads. Instead of regular chairs there was a choice of all kinds of things to sit on, big screen TVs on the wall showing Treehouse, a bean bag game to play afterwards ..... but just like the other place they still gave us lollipops once we were done.

 

 

 

 

Preschool fun in the park

Every day it's not raining, and sometimes even if it is, we start our afternoon preschool sessions with 30 minutes or so in the park across the street. Personally i'm not a big fan of 'weather' - rain, wind, cold, heat.....and i'd much rather start class inside. As we approach preschool i look carefully out of the car window for any sign the kids are outside. At the first glimpse of an orange pinny in the park i give a theatrical groan and utter my regular complaint: "Ohhhhhh....we're starting outside AGAIN today"

Once mom's persuaded me out of the car I actually quite enjoy playing in the playground. I've overcome my intense dislike of swings, and quite like swingly GENTLY. No big pushes thank you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gymnastics

Going to gymnastics is one of the highlights of my week. Right now i go with Stephen to Kitsilano community centre on a Tuesday morning - it's not my most favourite place as there's no trampoline but i still really enjoy it. Mom drops me off and goes for a run outside while i run around inside. Afterwards i get to have a playdate with Stephen and sometimes we even do lunch together before preschool.

If we don't have anything else planned, sometimes i get to visit the gym at UBC on a Friday morning too, and they do have a trampoline so i can get some bouncing in. We're planning to go later this week when Joel has a Pro-D day so he can come too.

 

 

 

 

Bike-a-thon

Every year Wesbrook Preschool has a bikeathon as a fundraiser. All the kids ride either the school tricycles or their own bikes around a track drawn up for the occasion on the basketball court over in Trimble Park. Despite much reluctance on my part, mom made me go to school today AND she brought my bike.

Of course, once i got started i really quite enjoyed it. I'm finally getting the hang of my balance bike, and instead of just walking along awkwardly with it between my legs, i'm actually sitting on it and zooming along. Ok, maybe zooming's a bit of an exaggeration, but i'm definitely going much faster than i used to.


and i REALLY like my medal
.