Picnic at the new park

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Our adventures are things that either we'd like to do with J or things that J has requested. Well, last week, J kept asking we could have an adventure. I asked her what kind of adventure she was thinking of and she told me she wanted to go on a picnic at the new park and take Daddy so he could play at the new park.

The new park is actually the playground beside the water park at Granville Island. We actually had J's birthday party there last summer. Once the water park closed for the season, construction fences went up around the old adventure playground and down it came. It has been replaced with a much better playground - definitely better suited the various age groups that use the park. It has one of those cool rubber floors (is that what you'd call it? surfaces?) that reduce injuries and kind of bounce when you walk on it. It's got some great playground equipment including the merry-go-round with the ropes below and it even has a kid operated water feature.

We staked out our picnic spot, in the shade, on the big field, but just off the path to the playground. J rode her bike and insisted on keeping her helmet on for most of the time we were there.

Three or four families of geese roamed the grassy field beside us. J loved watching them - from a distance of course. We explained to her how the parents would protect their babies and that she needed to stay far away from them so that they knew she wasn't going to touch their babies.

J went grocery shopping with me on Friday night and she got to pick all of the food for the picnic - she is currently in love with croissant sandwiches, so those were on the menu along with veggies and dip, oranges, strawberries and of course, a picnic wouldn't be complete without a special treat. J helped make Emeril's Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. They were good, but I think the next time I'd cut the sugar in half and use powdered sugar instead of granulated and brown...maybe it's because I buy natural peanut butter, but the sugars gave the cookies a really granular texture. They still tasted excellent though!

After lunch J and Alex played in the park for ages - this is the new fangled merry-go-round with it's cage of ropes to keep the kids from falling out...although it doesn't stop them from climbing the outside and spinning around....

We left not long after this - the family beside us started feeding the geese and the mother (I think that's the female) was not impressed (if you click the picture, you can see she's hissing at the people) and the geese got closer and closer to our blanket and then kids started TOUCHING them.

Do not anger the mother goose! We decided before the hissing turned to lunging and wing flapping we'd leave...our not-too-subtle preschooler loudly exclaiming the entire way, "They shouldn't be touching those birds. Birds don't like it when you touch their babies. Geese will get mad and hurt you if you get too close. Birds don't like people food, it hurts their tummies."

Oh, adventures with J!

It was the teeth

Well, it turns out that the angst of last night was (almost certainly) cause by the rather slow appearance of some two year molars. J's been fussy and whiny and complaining about her mouth for a while now.

And this morning, well, we'll get to that, but she let me put my fingers in her mouth to check the situation out and she definitely has one, if not two, great big huge honking molars ready to erupt.

And she's still on holiday schedule which means staying up a bit later and sleeping in. That will change since we're back on daycare schedule this week. So hopefully she'll go down a bit easier too.

This morning was what you could call a challenge. A BIG challenge. I was happy to get a little bit of food into her and her diaper changed. We did not brush hair or teeth. She was wearing her pjs and rain boots when I dropped her off because some days the battle just isn't worth fighting. It just isn't. PJs out in public on occasion won't kill her or cause horrible, irreparable damage to her future abilities (to do anything - make friends, talk, go to school, find a job, etc etc etc). I'm sure of it.

So tonight I'm ready! I'm getting some popsicles on the way home. We're going to the library and maybe the park after dinner and she's going to get to stay up a little bit later than usual. And if all else fails, we'll go for a walk again.

But not to the seawall.

I'm a bit afraid that this time we might really get skunked!

74 minutes, a few kilometers, 23,495,392,487 deep breaths and one skunk encounter later...

we're home.

J is refusing to sleep. And she's demonstrating that she has almost figured out how to get out of her crib. BAD combination.

So just before 9:00 tonight I packed her into her stroller and we went down to the seawall. And she yelled "MommyMommyMommyMommyMommyMommyMommyMommyMommy" for a while and then listed off her body parts at the top of her lungs before returning to "MommyMommyMommyMommyMommy" interspersed with "I want cake." Except she's not quite that articulate yet. So it was more "Jocie deet cake. MOMMY. Now."

And then the bugs started eating me. So I decided it was time to move away from the water.

That's when the skunk came sauntering down the sidewalk. And we were stuck. Bushes on one side. Parked cars on the other. And no where for the stroller to go. And I froze. And the skunk freaked out when it smelled us and backed, this is key, backed into a bush with its tail up and ready to spray. It missed us. Because it backed into the bushes not us. And I might have run a bit. Maybe. But I don't run. So don't tell anyone. And that means the skunk missed us. Although there is a slight musky smell that has been lingering since.

And then we walked up and down the block in front of our house. Much to the amusement of the cat on the leash who wasn't sure what to make of us the first time we strolled past, let alone the fourteenth or sixteenth time.

J is now asleep in the bathroom. It's the coolest room in the house at the moment and I want to wait a bit before I transfer her to her bed. And I have tons to do. But I'm so tired.

Dear insomniac daughter, please sleep until at least 6:00 tomorrow morning. PLEASE.

That's all.

Stupid squirrels

So this morning, I got up and started my morning routine. I was in the kitchen when I heard some very strange noises coming from the bedroom. Now, Alex was in there, sleeping, I thought. The window was open, so I thought maybe it was the wind, pulling the metal blinds against the window, but the living room window was also open and it's relatively still. So, I went to see what Alex was doing. As expected, he was sleeping, but there was a horrible racket coming from our window.

And when I opened the blinds, well, there was a squirrel hanging off the open part of the window. The noise startled it and it jumped back to the roof next to us.


Then Alex pointed out that all of the neighbours windows were also closed...so there's a chance the little pain in the butt had been tormenting them too. The building is stucco and I've seen squirrel scramble along flat walls to windows, so it wouldn't be unheard of.


I wish I had a trap like my parents and a forest up the road to dump the silly thing in...The last thing we want is a squirrel loose in the house, so who knows when we'll be able to open that window again.

Vermin funeral

The vermin is gone. Yes, that says is, as in one vermin not multiple vermin.

The poor people across the hall had a bad smell in their apartment for a few weeks.

Yesterday the building manager went in to help them find the source of the bad smell. And it was a dead rodent.

We're pretty sure there was only ever one, so hopefully this is the end of the uninvited visitor saga!

Unwelcome, uninvited visitors

You know the kind, like the fabled Great-Aunt Gertrude or whatever old great-aunt lives in your family's closet. The lady who has to be three hundred years old, smells like powder, wet cabbage and stinky cats who arrived unannounced on your doorstep with her carpet bag. She hogs the best bed in the house, she complains about everyone, she insults the kids, the food is too rich, not rich enough, too salty, not salty enough, there's too much of it or not enough of it...you get my drift. And she overstays her welcome. Whether she stays for one hour or one month, it's far too long!

Yeah, so our unwelcome, uninvited visitor reappeared twice last night. I kind of scared it when I yelled really loud the second time I saw it...I was kind of hoping it was a figment of my tired imagination when I saw it the first time. I hope when we move, it doesn't move with us.

Sigh.

Coyote?

Last night, late, after all the guests had gone home, I was in the bedroom getting ready for bed. I pulled up the blind to open the window and looked across the street. And there, staring at me was a coyote. It was sitting in front of Alex's car like it was guarding it. I obviously disturbed it because if coyote looks could kill, I'd be dead. And then it got up and trotted down the street, like it was just the most normal thing ever that a coyote would be in the middle of a city street.

As things return to normal...

I realize I'm not really sure what normal is...because this week normal feels like staying home all day and my Mom living with us...even though I know that my "normal" actually usually means going to work and my Mom living in k-town with my Dad. By turning my world upside down and knocking the normalcy and routine out of my life and Alex's life, I've somehow also managed to alter the normal routine of both my parents' lives, some of my coworkers' lives and a number of the lives of the people I work with in Guiding...crazy....

But things are getting back to normal slowly.

• I have given up the wheelchair and walker in favour of a cane
• The computer-doctor-genius came to my house and fixed the computer...this time it's working...and still working...fingers crossed...don't jinx it!
• I can do dishes
• My concentration and memory have returned enough that I can actually watch a television program and not wonder what the heck is going on after five minutes

Also back to normal:

The squirrels long ago decided that my planters were an ideal place to hide their supply of winter nuts. Often I'd see a squirrel hide a nut or whatever it was hiding and five minutes later a crow would come along and steal whatever had just been buried. The other day I caught this little guy eating an almond right outside the kitchen window...and boy had he made a mess of the planter.

So we've graduated from raccoons and other nasty rodents to the squirrel variety of rodents...seems us Mulvis are doomed to be harassed by squirrels. I have not yet resorted to trapping them and driving them to the real wilderness and releasing them like some people I am related to.

Not yet back to normal:

• someone still has to put things in and take things out of the oven for me
• my desk at work is still empty and likely collecting copious quantities of dust
• I have not used public transit in two months
• the selection of pants which I can wear still consists of only sweat pants, yoga pants and anything else without a "real" waist band
• there's still an assortment of medical equipment littering our house

If I'd made a list of the not normal things happening in our lives eight weeks ago, four weeks ago, or even two weeks ago it would be many times the length of that list...so that's cause for celebration!!!

I'd do a happy dance, but my body doesn't move that way quite yet...

yup...so this was a post about my computer finally working again...HA...that's why it's so long...not because I ramble.

That's all!

no no no...they're here too...

buon giorno, mi chiamo Shannon

and I had my first Italian class last night...It was so much fun! I need to do a lot of studying though...the instructor has stopped speaking English to us already!

but...back to the title...Julia and I went to get some coffee and as we went up the stairs outside the office these little brats were there waiting for us. And when Julia shooed them away, they stopped, one got up on its hind legs and looked at us and finally they ran away...they're everywhere I go...

raccoon invasion

sooo...we've had an interesting time with raccoons...this friendly little raccoon...who turned a little vicious...multiplied into FIVE very bold raccoons yesterday morning...





we avoided the deck for the rest of the day...they were scary and barking and snarling and out in daylight for some reason...

peaceful afternoon rudely frightened away

MMMMMmmm....Alex and I spent a quiet, end-of-summer day taking advantage of the good weather and our lovely deck furniture. We spent hours playing Yahtzee and Battleships...yes, we are dorks.

Next weekend we think we'll crack out the Payday or Sorry or Clue game boards...maybe Monopoly. You're all invited (cause I know we're not the only dorks out there)!

I threw two Yahtzees in a row, which Alex promptly imitated!

Our lazy, peaceful Saturday afternoon was rudely pierced by loud screams, emitting from my lungs. I was standing at the stove, making dinner, and I heard a noise behind me. I turned around to see a HUGE raccoon...that evil guy I mentioned earlier...peering in the window at me.

He didn't seem too disturbed by the horrible noises I was making. Alex came running, thinking a person had wandered into the kitchen, saw the raccoon and slammed the top half of the door shut, as the raccoon ambled along the window ledge...I'm sure it was attracted by the smell of food.

It sat under the table for a while and watched us and then climbed over the fence/edge of the deck and went to play with the wasp nest we think it destroyed.

It's kind of hard to see the hanging bits, but really, it's hanging...hanging a lot!

Hiromi's here too!

and we had other visitors last night....

Our deck is a pleasant place to spend the evening and last night there was a bit of a breeze, so it was even better.

As we were sitting around the table chatting, the tree at the end of the deck started to shake and rattle...we looked up to see this little guy watching us.



He looked quite young, so we quickly got everything except our glasses in the house in case his mother made a surprise appearance and we had to make a run for it. He watched us scurry around the deck and once we had sat down again, he waited another 10-15 minutes.

Not long after we saw him wander up the neighbour's stairs. The tree on the other side of the deck started shaking like mad and he reappeared there, saw us and ran back down the tree and up into his little nest.

These guys live in that tree though...we stayed far away from them!



Kelsey went home last night and Hiromi arrived...



It's balcony party time...just like summers at Pax Lodge!!!



Hiromi brought me a sparkly ring...

look at my pretty ring from Japan!

Alex *really* liked it ;)

whoa...where'd ya get that thing?

heat brings out the crazies...

or people do crazy things, but I'm not entirely sure what the difference is though. Or maybe the heat has caused my brain to melt and I just think normal stuff is crazy...

In any case, it's way too hot to sleep...it's apparently 20C out right now and it's midnight (or close to it).

We've had a bit of a strange evening. Alex and I were walking down Broadway and we bumped into Duncan, who just happened to be talking to Gwen, so I spoke to her briefly.

Then we went to pick Kelsey up from the bus station. That was a bit of an adventure as there is a huge fire around Ontario/Quebec and 3rd Avenue. It's stinky and there was a huge bunch of looky-loos looking. We had to take a bit of a backward-forward route to get there. But we got there.

And just now someone pounded on our door. I opened it to discover a plainclothes policeman standing on our front porch. He wanted to know if we'd called 911 about an intruder...not any old intruder mind you, a raccoon. Considering the wildlife that has been hanging out in our backyard, it could have been us, but it wasn't.

It turns out the guy next door called the police on behalf of his neighbour who lives across the alley, so they were looking in the wrong block.

But my question is, who calls the POLICE about a raccoon?