The Tree

I love this age and stage.  The girls are so into putting up the tree.  There were a few tussles about who got to put what where, but mostly it was a very happy afternoon of decorating.  I love the tree!  Bring on Christmas!

The Santa Claus Parade and Marisol's Birthday Party

I guess it started with the pancake breakfast this morning!  I almost forgot about that.  Last year it was Kate's school, this year it's Alice's school, but it's still the same awesome fundraiser.  The local hockey team served pancake breakfast, there were vendors, and of course, Santa Claus.  We all enjoyed our breakfast and the girls got a few new hair clips, and we had a practice picture with Santa.

After the breakfast it was home for a bit, and then off to the parade.  How many kids can say that they get a parade for their birthday?  Last year Marisol's birthday party was at Bizzy Bees and we missed the parade.  We went to the Beeton parade with Michelle and the girls the next week (or week after) and agreed that the Beeton parade was not nearly as good as the Tottenham parade.  This year Michelle decided to incorporate the parade into Marisol's party.  I thought that was a great idea.

We met up with the Tokarev's on the parade route and enjoyed the parade.

After the parade we walked over to the Tokarevs for the rest of the party fun!

The Olaf pinata cracked me up.  The girls really demolished it, and no one flinched. I still feel funny hitting pinatas with faces, but it seems to be just me!

 

And then Alexei put the pinata in the fire, I thought oh my goodness.  But again, the girls loved it.  They thought it was great fun!  It was pretty funny.

It was so lovely to spend time with Michelle.  The girls had fun, it was a lovely relaxing party.  We were the honorary grown-ups, Marisol pointed this out.  I don't think she minded too much!  (She was promised a kid only friend party this year!)  Happy Birthday Marisol! Thanks for sharing your birthday with us!

What a fun Saturday.  Weekends are the best!

The Dinosaur Museum

Fiona was talking about seeing the dinosaur bones.  One of the girls used to call it the dinosaur museum.  Now Kate and Alice know the proper name.  The plan was to meet the Lim-Andersons at 12:30.  We were running a little behind, we were debating which way to go, the girls were desperate to go on the subway, we needed gas... in the end the subway won out as getting gas would probably take longer than the subway. 

All was going well, it looked like we would be ten to fifteen minutes late, and then the announcement, "St. Clair West station is a terminus station."  Wait, what?  St. Clair isn't a terminus station?  Well, it was yesterday.  They were working on the signals on the track and we had to get off and take a shuttle bus to St. George where normal service would resume.  That was of course the station before we were going to get off the train, so we walked from there.  We arrived at the ROM at 1pm.  Oops!

The Toronto Library has a great program for residents of Toronto.  They have a limited number of tickets to different attractions available each Saturday.  Emily and John Inca each procured a pass and we were good to go!

Kate wanted a picture of the biggest dinosaur.  There's a very large dinosaur in the main atrium of the ROM.  I thought it was the biggest dinosaur in the museum, but I wasn't sure.  There was a volunteer sitting at a desk so we went to inquire.  We found out that not only is it the biggest dinosaur in the museum, it's the biggest dinosaur in the world!  It was found in South America and it is called a Fotalognkosaurus. 

After a few pictures it was off to the gems.  It was John Inca's special request to see at least one other thing before going the bat cave and dinosaur bones.  We all had fun looking at the gems, I think.  John Inca seemed to enjoy the comfy chairs more than the exhibit...

I had to take a picture of the mosaic ceiling in the rotunda.  I just love the prominent place that God holds in the ROM.  I looked it up and the information on the ROM website said: Charles T. Currelly, the first director of the Royal Ontario Museum of Archaeology, conceived of this mosaic introduction for the 1933 addition. The mosaic ceiling was designed to reflect the breadth of the collections, being adorned with patterns and symbols representing cultures throughout the ages and around the world.  Currelly was trained as a Methodist minister.

Next up, biodiversity.  Hands on stuff, gotta love the hands on stuff.  The kids coloured pictures, read books, we chatted.  Eventually they got bored and after begging several times, we were on the move again.  Bat cave ho!

By the time we got to the dinosaurs the kids were squirrelly and hungry.  We sat in the corner trying to be inconspicuous while breaking the rules and eating.  At first it was just Fiona nursing (not against the rules) and then it was Fiona eating fishy crackers and marshmallows, and then Hazel was eating fishy crackers, and then the granola bars came out and everyone was eating.  Before and during this the girls were running laps.  I kept thinking that a security guard would come talk to us, but no one ever did.   We took a few more dinosaur pictures, and made a pit stop, and then we went downstairs to the basement and had more snacks.

After we ate it was almost closing time, so we decided we might as well make our way back home.  John Inca and Emily were going to a play so they had to leave.  We said our goodbyes and Ken had a game plan for the ride home!

Ken thought that we should walk along Bloor over to Yonge, ride the subway north to St. Clair and then take the street car across.  And so we did.

 

We stopped along the way to take pictures with some of the pretty Christmas lights.  It has been such a long time since we've walked around downtown.  There is so much to look at, so much life.  I forget how fun it is to walk around in the city.  Kate and Alice were very excited because we were using five different modes of transportation - walking, the van, a subway, a bus, and a street car.  It was all very exciting!

We stopped for dinner and groceries and arrived home with three sleeping girls.  It was a full, fun day!  I LOVE SATURDAYS!