One jam-packed mail box

Postcard from Vermontlife from the USA

Postcard from angelkoo from Malaysia

Description: Glorious early morning light at the Sungai Palas Tea Plantation. Tea was first planted in the highlands in 1926 and is exported to every corner of the globe.

Postcard from am9410 from Taiwan

Description: Sika Deer

Postcard from melybeea from Switzerland

Description: Hospice du Grand-Saint-Bernard, 2472 m
Religieux et son chien

And then, because four Postcrossing postcards couldn't possibly be enough, we also received two postcards from my mom and dad who are on an amazing trip - a cruise down the Danube from Budapest to Bucharest followed by a 2+ week tour of Western Turkey. I REALLY wanted to be a stowaway!

Russia, France and Finland: Frogs, Flowers and Friends

Postcard from Mazaj from Russia

Description: The Frog Princess

It came with smelly stamps too!

Postcard from jean-mimi from France

Postcard from elisairene from Finland

The Netherlands and Germany: Duck and Mole

Postcard from Laser from the Netherlands

Postcard from Squeeky from Germany

Description: Motif from the book
"How the Mole Got His Trousers"
published by Leif-Verlag
(translation by Google)

A German girl, some Taiwanese chickens and a Dutch girl

Postcard from sweetmalibu from Germany

Postcard from PCby from Taiwan

This card is a special 3D card - there are lines on the back of the card that you cut with a knife and the chickens and various other things stand out. I haven't done it yet...I'm not sure if I'm going to because then it would be difficult to read the message.

Postcard from Lautjetien from the Netherlands

Description: Coquille/Rosie's work is done, 2008

Movie Night

52. Go to a movie as a family

We were all set to head off the PNE again this Friday with Alex, but when I got to J's daycare, she wasn't really all that excited about the prospect. When we had talked about our Friday evening plans we had given her the option of a movie, particularly if the weather was less than excellent (it was beautiful) and when I got to daycare to get her she had changed her mind.

So I got on the internets and checked out what kid appropriate movies were playing and based on some parental reviews we decided on Brave. This wasn't J's first movie - I took her to a few mom and baby movies when she was tiny and she was invited to see a Thomas movie at a launch party a few years ago, but it was the first time all three of us got to go to a movie together.

We stopped for some dinner at the food court before the movie and J was super excited to have SO MANY CHOICES! And then we got to share bubbly drink aka pop at the movie and popcorn and Fuzzy Peaches. Oh this kid thought she'd died and gone to heaven!

We picked the 3D option and J loved wearing her glasses. We enjoyed the movie although there were a few parts that J thought were super scary and I ended up with a squirmy worm sleeping next to me for part of the night.

We had a great time though. J has been having long conversations with anyone who will listen about the big bear who used to be a prince before anyone on the earth right now was ever born or even an egg and he's mean. She got to get a new colouring book yesterday and the one she chose was one from Brave, so even though it was bit scary, I think she really enjoyed it.

Tiny Dancer

Except our tiny dancer isn't really so tiny anymore! J had her last ballet class of the summer last weekend and the parents and siblings and grandparents were invited to come watch.

J was happy to have us their with her. It was a big adjustment for her to go to class on her own, but by the end she was confidently walking into the dance studio and waving goodbye to me.

The class started with a little stretching, or as J likes to say, playing yoga. Nice bow pose!

The girls then all did little solos. Some of them went in pairs (J did) but it was all free dance and J had a blast!

Ballet might be over for now, but I know a little dancer who is very excited to head back into the dance studio in a few weeks!

Looks like she just might be more coordinated than her mommy ever was!

PNE Adventure

19.7 Go on 10 "adventures"

Back in 2009, Alex and I took then one year old Baby J to the PNE. We were joined by Sharla, her father-in-law and Inara. We didn't think we'd take J to the PNE this year - crowds and four year old seemed like a bit of craziness. When she was a year old, we took her to see the farm animals, the SuperDogs and to have a bite to eat and then she went to sleep in her stroller which left us some time to walk around the market place, check out the prize home, listen to some music and do other fair stuff.

But then my aunt and uncle and cousins invited us to go with them. So J and I hopped on the bus after daycare and ventured to the fair grounds.

We started with the livestock - J wasn't so sure about these cows as they mooed very loudly.

They are called Fiona and Hamish which I found a bit amusing as my friend Fiona had a dog (I think...or was it a cat) named Hamish when we were kids.

Then it was off to practice being a farmer.

She had blast planting vegetables, collecting eggs, milking cows and of course driving the tractor.

Of course, visiting a fair isn't complete without fair food, so we had spaghetti and meatballs, pizza and MINI DONUTS. Then J and Gruncle Brian decided to try to be vegetables. Guess who was having more fun!

We checked out the Canfor playhouse challenge. J loved most of them and we spent quite a bit of time playing here.

This one was definitely her favourite. She kept coming back to it over and over.

Before we visited the SuperDogs (sorry no photos) we stopped to get another fair staple, fresh squeezed lemonade. YUM!

After the SuperDogs, we caught the end of the Rick Springfield concert. You'll notice J finally has the one food item she came for - ice cream. It's actually a Dole Whip which will forever make me think of Expo 86!

J was one tuckered out but extremely happy young lady. And somehow even with all that sugar, J slept as soon as we got home!

Fresh Start

I've posted a few times before about September and how I always feel like it's the beginning of the year for me, not January 1 and this year is no different. No one is starting a new job or daycare this year (or school...next year we have school to add to the excitement), but I think it's time for us to have a fresh start.

I woke up this morning and the air felt different - cooler, crisper and more fall-like. I know, I know, all you summer lovers will hate me for saying this, but I am very glad to see the autumn.

See, she likes summer too!

September and October have always been my favourite months, so it's not surprising that I'm welcoming them. I love the feeling in the air, the delicious, fresh-off-the-tree apples, the fall clothes that don't require as many layers (and sometimes don't need a jacket) as they do in winter.

We're looking forward to the last four months of this year. 2012 has been a challenging year pretty much from day one, so we're going to make the last four months count. The next four months are going to have so many smiles in them that the last eight months won't seem like they've been so challenging!

Happy September everyone.