The Zoo/Downtown Christmas Window Adventure

The weather has been so crazy warm, and it was beautiful out today.  The plan was to go downtown to see the windows at the Bay, and the Christmas Lights at City Hall.  Early afternoon and I was getting antsy so I suggested adding the zoo to the itinerary and Ken agreed! 

We were at the zoo for an hour and a half-ish, but it was great.  So beautiful outside!  The polar bear was awesome coming right up to the window, even rubbing his nose against the glass.  Poor Fiona fell off the ledge the first time he walked right by the window.  We didn't actually see many animals, but we still had fun.  We could hear one of the lions roaring.  We walked over the enclosure but there were none out.  The roar was intense!

Next we went to Kelsey's for dinner.  We all had a nice dinner, and then we drove downtown along Kingston Road.  The girls were antsy - are we there yet?  Was asked more than once!  We made an unplanned stop at Underpass Park looking for Corktown Common.  Someday Ken will see Corktown Common in real life!  I kind of parallel parked the mini van and the girls played for a few minutes.

We piled back in the van and drove to City Hall, parked underground and it was off to explore! The girls enjoyed walking around city hall and watching the skating.  They loved watching the skating, but the zamboni, we couldn't drag them away! We talked about skating there in a few years.  The girls are prone to wander and Ken and I had a hard time trying to explain to them - Alice particularly that they needed to stay close! 

The windows at the Bay were so great.  I remember going to see them as a child.  It's been such a long time since I've been to see them.  I think this is a yearly tradition I want to continue!

We wandered around the Eaton Centre and picked up a present for Anna.  We really had a great afternoon/evening.  We left the mall at closing and got home late, but who cares!  We're on holiday!

Skating Swimming Saturday

It was family skate day for the New Tecumseth Skate Club this morning.  I was nervous - it's been years since I've been on skates, but I was also very excited to go skating with Kate and Alice.  Alice and I went first.  It was really slow going at first - for both of us, but it got better and better.  I didn't think I'd be able to skate with both girls, but when Kate came Alice wanted to stay on the ice, so she did.  The girls can skate, not fast, but they can, and so all three of us skated around.

 After skating it was home for a quick change and then off to Grandma and Grandpa's.  Ken and I dropped off the girls, and went to the movies! YAY!  We haven't been on a date since the summer so it was fun to go out!  We got to see the fourth and final installment of the Hunger Games.  We both had pretty low expectations for the film, so we were both pleased, and enjoyed it!

Then it was back to G & Gs to go swimming, then pizza for dinner.  It was a fun sporty day.  We were also able to enjoy the awesome sweatshirt that Suzanne sent Dad for Christmas.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for babysitting and having us for dinner!  It sure was a fun Saturday - a great start to the Christmas break!

Kate's Concert

There was a daytime concert.  There was no evening concert.  Ken took Alice and Fiona and they were in the audience watching Kate and her class. They sang "Quand Le Pere Noel Vient Me Visiter".  It's a cute song about what Santa wears when he comes to visit.  I had the tune in my head a lot in  December. 

I'm so glad Ken could be there with the girls to support Kate. 

Alice's Concert

They pulled it off - a concert, at Christmas time.  I suppose that there was enough time after the labour disruption to pull it together, but really, they had to have been planning this for a while.  I was scared to start working towards something that might get called off because of labour stuff.  But that isn't the point of this post!

ALICE!  The concert was called The Nutcracker Concert and it really was the Nutcracker.  It was so great.  I was so impressed.  Alice's class performed twice.  Their first number was the 12 days of Canadian Christmas.  It was super cute.  You can tell Tottenham is a hockey town because the "Five Stanley Cups" got hoots an hollers every time.

The process of getting Alice to perform... that deserves a blog post of its own.  I'm not sure if Alice should be in full time Kindergarten.  She has more good days than bad, but the bad, they're ugly.  She had a melt down during one of the rehearsals and had to be removed entirely.  It turned out that being afraid of heights made her feel panicked during the rehearsal, but she was unable to explain this.  The fear seems to come and go however, as she was able to perform and feel safe at the edge of the stage tonight. Go figure!

The second performance was "I'm getting nuttin' for Christmas".  The kindies sang it with their grade 8 buddies.  It was really cute.

We saw Madison singing her heart out too.  SO CUTE!

It's amazing what teachers do for their students.  The concert was really well done. 

Fiona's Half Birthday

This year's half birthday celebration included a tiger balloon and store bought sugar cookies with icing and of course the traditional singing of happy-half-birthday to you!

Two and a half never looked so cute!

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!