A Little Farm in Abbotsford.

On Victoria Day my parents and I drove all the way out to Abbotsford to take Babe to visit Maan Farms, which my father had spotted while running errands a few days before.

The place is a family-run farm, market and winery and for kids it has a small petting zoo and play area.

It was Babe's first time seeing pigs and only her second time seeing goats. However the first time she saw goats they were on the roof at Coombs so this time was much more interactive. The baby goat was so cute I wanted to load him in the back of the truck when no one was looking. But then I remembered that my apartment doesn't allow dogs and likely won't allow goats.

Babe's favorite was the rooster because he was so noisy. They also had baby chickens in a coop, ducks, rabbits, goats, pigs, peacocks and an alpaca. 

My favorite, the baby goat.

Babe also loved the slide. It was pretty big and really fast. The older kids were really having a blast on it, using burlap sacks to increase their speed. The first time I let Babe go down I let her sit up and she fell back and bumped her head. But that mishap didn't stop her from repeating the ride over and over... and over again.

Here is a sequence of her sliding on her back:

And here is a sequence of her sliding out of control:

She LOVED it!

Babe also went on her first water slide (on my lap) in Richmond last week and had a blast. She made an excited inhaling noise the whole way down each time. I think I definitely have an adrenaline junkie on my hands. 

After playing outside we had a tasty lunch in the market. The menu is super simple. But we all ordered paninis which were very good.

I don't know that I would recommend driving all the way out to Abbotsford just to visit the farm but if you can tie it in with another reason to head out there then I would definitely say take the kids to Maan Farms. FYI there is a place nearby where you can take the kids and fish for trout in a pond. I think it is this place, but I didn't catch the name when we passed it. Anyway, you could hit both places in one day and maybe that would justify the long drive. 

According to the Maan Farms website they also have a pumpkin patch and corn maze in the fall so that could be a great time to visit as well.

The trip was a bit of a bust for me though. Despite the misleading farm name, they do not farm men there, I did not find one and I am still single. Too bad :)

A Fun Saturday: Doors Open Richmond.

I'm sorry that I didn't get a chance to blog about this earlier thereby giving any of you who didn't know about the opportunity a better chance to come out this weekend. But I did want to post tonight about the places we went so that if you are inspired you can still come out tomorrow.

This weekend is Doors Open Richmond. An annual festival where many of Richmond B.C.'s cultural and heritage sites are free and open to the public to check out. Please visit the website HERE if you want to see a list of the over 40 places that are participating in this year's event.

There were lots of places that I wanted to check out with Babe but with a little one in tow you really have to limit the amount of time you spend trucking all over the place. So I decided that this year we would visit some of the many houses of worship along Number 5 Road.

I drive past them weekly and I'm always curious about what they look like on the inside and I know that many are open to everyone all the time or at least have visitor hours but I was uncomfortable just showing up so Doors Open Richmond was the perfect opportunity to visit.

We first went to the Thrangu Monastery. We were allowed to take photos inside so that's why I have more from this place. Babe loved it. When we arrived they were in prayer and Babe seemed soothed by the soft, rhythmic chanting. There are 10 monks in residence at the monastery and according to the pamphlet it is the first of its kind in the Pacific Northwest.

Next we went to the Az-Zahraa Islamic Centre where we were greeted by the most well-mannered and eloquent little boy I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. They had a room set up with informative displays on aspects of Muslim faith from art, food and calligraphy to the true meaning of jihad and reasons for the hijab. They also had an tour of the facility which Babe and I only made it partially through because she was determined to run amuck.

After the islamic centre we walked next door to the Gurdwara Nanak Niwas, the Indian Cultural Centre. We briefly toured the facility which was in the middle of hosting a sikh wedding. Babe and I loved seeing all the women in their beautiful traditional clothing and we even got to sneak a peek at the bride and groom! Afterwards lunch was being served downstairs which looked and smelled amazing. However we had plans to meet my mom for lunch so instead Babe just snacked on some watermelon and grooved to the music. There were so many people and things that I wanted to photograph but I didn't want to intrude on the wedding. I wish we had time tomorrow to go and check out the other Gurdwara tomorrow.

Finally we stopped in at the Ling Yen Mountain (Buddhist) Temple. By this time we were in a bit of a hurry to meet my mom but Babe, now a little tired and hungry still enjoyed it. She was awed by the big gold Buddha and she was in love with the volunteers after they gave her a couple of baby-sized buddhist bracelets. The courtyard is beautiful and walking along the outdoor halls and listening to the wind chimes was really relaxing. Afterwards we went in the back garden and I took off my shoes and walked along the pebble pathways for a little foot massage while Babe played with the rocks.

Minoru Chapel is also open to visitors this weekend but we didn't get a chance to go. We walk by it all the time and the outside is so pretty I'd love to see the inside. But that will have to wait until next time.

So if you still don't have anything planned for Sunday (May 5th) maybe head out to Richmond and check out some of the many Doors Open locations. Otherwise I hope you enjoyed the photos from our tour of some of the many places of worship in Richmond and keep them in mind the next time you are out this way.

Keepsakes: Explosion Boxes.

I just thought I'd share some pics of my first attempt at making explosion boxes. Back at Christmas I made each of my parents one and J one as well. They turned out to be nice little keepsakes
of Babe's first year. 

I also made these adorable little sewing kits for all the women in my family. Each recycled baby food jar has needles, thread, a thimble, a measuring tape, pins, little fabric patches and some buttons. To make them extra special I turned the lid into a pin cushion and put a personalized label on each one. They are the perfect size for traveling or keeping at an office, summer cabin or in a guest room.

Inside each box is photos from Babe's first year as well as her ultrasound image, footprint and little embellishments.

Review: Extreme Air Park.

Sorry the photos suck today. I wasn't thinking blog post when we headed out
 and it wasn't until we got there that I realized I should've brought my camera. 

Today Rachael and I decided to take Babe to the Extreme Air Park in Richmond. I only just heard about it a couple weeks ago. I did add it in as an update to my Lesser-Known Rainy Day Vancouver Activities post, but most of you wouldn't have noticed it tacked on there. So here is a quick review of the place.

It's pretty awesome although be prepared; it's expensive for a kids activity. It's $14.00 per hour of jumping, $19.00 per hour and a half or $21.00 for two hours. But on weekdays from 10am to 3pm it's $12.00 for an hour and a half, which makes it a little more reasonable. And trust me, if you're planning on bouncing too an hour and a half is plenty. I almost had a heart attack.

Also on the first trip you have to buy special socks to wear inside at $3.00 a pair. After that if you remember to bring them back then you don't have to buy more. I was a little annoyed that not only are toddlers the same price as adults you also have to pay for a pair of adult sized socks for them despite the fact that they would NEVER fit a toddler and baby/toddler socks usually have their own grips on the soles. So I had to pay for an extra pair of socks that Babe of course couldn't wear, which was ridiculous. Luckily Rachael had the sense to trade the extra pair of socks for a locker rental for us so it worked out. I don't know if the having to buy big socks for tiny tots is an actual policy or if the useless kid behind the counter just didn't want to bother with a three dollar refund. If I had judged the place just based on the front counter experience I would have left. But the place is pretty new so maybe they are still working out the kinks.

Once you're inside, Extreme Air Park is pretty sweet and it was worth the money. It's basically wall to wall trampolines. Actually, the walls are lined with trampolines too!  And the only area that you can fall off the trampoline is into an enormous foam pit.

Babe loved running on the trampoline half pipe.
Didn't like waiting her turn very much though.

It's got trampolines of all different sizes, trampoline dodgeball courts and trampoline basketball stations. They offer aerobics classes, special group rates and birthday parties. The website says that they will soon offer parent and child jump sessions so maybe that would be a more affordable time to take a little jumper.

I was mildly concerned that Babe, who is not 18 months old yet would get clobbered by bigger kids who are literally bouncing off the walls in there. So we went at a time when we thought it wouldn't be busy. It was still busy. Don't kids go to school anymore? Maybe it was let-your-home-schooled-kids-bounce day.

However most of the tramps are all sectioned off into personal sizes and even with the large ones, you can only have one jumper per tramp at a time. So unless kids get too rowdy and forget the rules there seemed to be little risk to the tiny jumpers. If it was a very busy day I could see it getting out of hand a little so that's another reason to keep an eye out for the promised parent and child times. But I saw lots of parents with a tiny kid happily bouncing and an older kid careening through the warehouse-sized facility like the Tasmanian Devil.

If you are a very nervous mommy you might have an anxiety attack with all the big kids flying around, but I personally felt that Babe was pretty safe. No one ever crashed into her -- unlike a bouncy castle which is essentially like throwing ten kids into a giant dryer and letting them tumble on air dry for an hour.

Rachael and Babe.

Babe was perfectly safe and she had a BLAST! So did Rachael and I, and bonus; it was an amazing workout! It was so much fun and such great exercise that I'm really tempted to try their Aerobics (AIRobics) class and I'd love to get a team together to go and play trampoline dodgeball.


My recommendation:

If you are looking for an activity that your older kids and younger ones can both enjoy doing this place is a definite win. If you only have a toddler maybe wait to see what their parent and child deal is. Or try it out on a weekday morning when it's cheapest and likely the least busy (although don't expect a ghost town). I'll for sure take Babe back because it was fun for both of us and I didn't have to worry about her falling which was more relaxing for me than taking her to the playground where she is now climbing all over the big-kid equipment.


Bonus: If you don't want to bounce (WTF?) there is an adult-only lounge with Wi-Fi.
Downer: No baby change table, I had to take Babe outside and change her on the endgate of the truck. But that's not a first.

Jump Gymnastics.

So my good friend Rachael was a gymnastics instructor for years. And since Babe was born she has been a great "auntie" and always very encouraging of Babe's physical development.

One of the first times that Babe stood alone while holding onto a stool was with Rachael. Rachael helped Babe practice her first steps in the early days of walking and recently she taught Babe how to do a somersault (front roll).

So of course it was Rachael who, wanting to share her love of gymnastics, took Babe and I to a drop-in class at Jump Gymnastics in Yaletown, Vancouver.

Rachael helping Babe do a front roll.

The place is pretty cool. It's a full-on gymnastics gym with pint-sized equipment. There's fun trampolines, bars, rings, balance beams and foam everything. Babe of course loves it, although she may not be the Olympic hopeful that Rachael wants her to be and she certainly doesn't like to perform on command.

Owner/director Jennifer Hood was a gymnastics coach for over twenty years and has an education degree. After her middle child was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis she realized that her nine to five job wasn't going to fit her family's needs. "I'd get phone calls on Thursday for her to be admitted for two weeks on Monday morning and what kind of an employer is ever going to go for that arrangement?" said Hood.

So she quit her job and built Jump.

"It was born because I really believe in what developmental gymnastics can bring to kids for the lifetime of being elite athletes or just generally participating in sport and the foundation that we can create for them."

Hood said that despite originally planning on opening Jump in East Vancouver the Yaletown location has been a blessing in disguise. "It's been a great location that has been filled with incredibly supportive and engaged parents."

All of Jump's coaches have a degree in a related field such as education or kinesiology and a sports background. Hood bragged that one coach is a Canadian women's wrestling champion and others have been dancers, soccer players and swimmers. "We've had almost every sport represented over the last five years," said Hood.

Hood's experience and training has told her that the early age of Jump students is the perfect starting point for learning important physical skills. She said studies show that between the ages of zero and six is when kids learn language and number skills, but it is also the time when children learn physical literacy.

"That idea that there is a discrete set of movement pathways, whether it be; skipping, running, climbing, jumping, rolling. There's a whole bunch of them. If kids are taught those and allowed to explore them in an environment that is liberating and excites them...they acquire what's called physical literacy."

When kids later combine those fundamental movement skills with sports skills, "they can go on to explore any sport that interests them," said Hood.

Hood knows that only about one per cent of children enrolled in gymnastics will go on to be an elite athlete in the sport but she says there is so much more that the training and equipment can provide.

The equipment at jump is the real stuff that you would see in a gymnastics centre - just smaller. "It provides them with an interesting playground to work on those movement skills," said Hood.

Kids can jump, climb, balance and hang. Hood said she really enjoys that with the smaller equipment she never has to say, "'Don't touch that. That's too dangerous. Don't go near that."

Babe, of course, was an instant Jump fan. She immediately preferred the trampolines, the ball pit and the balance beams, but being a good sport she tried it all.

She's 17 months old now and just starting to really climb and explore the playground equipment. To help keep her busy on indoor days I scoured the city and finally found a toddler-sized slide for her bedroom. The first night she had it she must've gone up and down that thing 30 times.

Then it was bedtime and she passed out cold.

On the way home from a Jump drop-in class.

For more information on Jump's classes and drop in times visit the www.jumpgymnastics.ca