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

Amazing Art Project Showcases Gender-Coloured Toys.

Check out artist JeongMee Yoon's "The Pink and Blue Project" here.

I found this really interesting. When I was pregnant I made such an effort to avoid buying "girl-coloured" clothing that I realized later that my baby daughter had more boyish clothing than girly clothing.

Now, I don't try so hard. I buy what I think is cute. But I do try to avoid amassing a ton of pink and purple crap and so far I am desperately avoiding commercial stuff - such as Disney Princess everything.

I know that as Babe gets older she is going to have her own preferences and I fear they may lean towards the sparkly and pastel. But if that's the case I'll remind myself that it's just a faze and I'll suck it up.

My Mom was so wary of commercial brand toys that I rarely got anything I really wanted. It wasn't that I wasn't spoiled. I was. But I didn't have Barbies and Cabbage Patch Dolls, she wanted to avoid buying toys like that, which were so heavily marketed towards children regardless of their actual educational or entertainment value.

Now I totally get why she did it, but at the time I was dying to have the same things my friends had. And she must've told my friend's parents about her beliefs because while the other kids got hoards of My Little Ponies at their birthday parties, I always got art kits. I would think my birthday party would be my only opportunity to get a "commercial toy" because surely my friends would get me one...but it never happened. But now I'm glad I was different.

Speaking of hoarding toys, I don't know if this was the artist's intention at all, but equally as interesting as the colour of the toys is the sheer amount of them. It's pretty gross to see the excess of possessions a child has. And my kid is no better.

Her next series should be comparing the treasures of one Western child with those of a third world child.

Lesser-Known Rainy Day Activities in Vancouver.

"April showers bring May flowers." 

Yes, it's true, spring is finally here, but it's still raining a lot. It'll warm up soon enough but if you're like me, you (and your kids) must be getting pretty antsy for the warmer wether by now. Especially after the taste we got last weekend.

However we likely still have a few weeks of rain left before our days of sunshine begin. So in case you've used up all your aquarium and Telus World of Science passes and you don't know what to do in these last rainy days, here are a few lesser-known kid-friendly indoor activities in Vancouver.

6Pack Beach back in October.

6Pack Indoor Beach

115-13180 Mitchell Road

Richmond

Kids: $7.00

Miss the beach? Me too. But did you know we have an indoor beach located inside a warehouse under the Knight Street Bridge? I didn’t know either.

Its main purpose is to provide beach volleyballers with somewhere to play in the off-season but it doubles as the Grand Poobah of sandboxes for kids. You won’t find any waves, seashells or hot dog vendors at 6Pack Beach. But you also won’t find any cigarette butts, cherry pits, broken glass or seagull poop either. So you won’t have to comb through your spot like a cat in a litter box for five minutes before you put the baby down. It’s a perfectly safe place for the little ones to put their beach toys to good use year round. There are lawn chairs for parents or bring some friends and play a game of volleyball or badminton while the kids make a sandcastle!

Urban Source

3126 Main Street

Vancouver

$6.50-$20.00 per bag

If the kids like crafts there is no place in town quite like the Urban Source. Imagine if you could fill a whole store with the items from your junk drawer. The place is awesome for anyone creative.

Essentially it’s an art supply shop and it does have a selection of paper, foil, stickers etc. But what it’s really known for is its eclectic collection of odds and ends. Half the store contains barrels filled with anything from old photographs and puzzle pieces to tiles and test tubes.

This is exactly the weird stuff that inspires kids. Not only is Urban Source fun, it’s a great recycling lesson too. Most of their inventory is scraps from local businesses that are being resold here instead of thrown in the trash.

The Crystal Ark

1496 Cartwright Street

Granville Island

$3.00-$10.00 per bag

The Crystal Ark is a fun side trip when you’re visiting Granville Island. Located behind the Kids Market (which is a blast all on its own) the Ark is a gemstone store.

That doesn’t sound like fun for the kids you say? Wait for it...

Attached to the shop is a dome with a pit of polished stones. Kids can take off their shoes and sift through the gems in the cave while you shop. And for a few bucks you can buy a (very small) baggie and the kids can take their favorite stones home.

Remember all those times your kid has found a pebble at the park and given it to you with as much enthusiasm as if it were a gold nugget? Well at least when they give you a rock from here for Mother's Day it'll actually be pretty.

They used to have a cool little cave at the back of the store that housed the rock pit. I preferred that to the new dome they built, which is a little damp and chilly in the winter - but kids probably won't care

The Bloedel Conservatory

Queen Elizabeth Park

Vancouver

Adults: $6.50, Child: $3.25, Preschoolers: Free, Family: $15.00

A lot of parents don’t know of, or have forgotten about this rainy day haven. Perched atop Queen Elizabeth Park the conservatory is a year-round tropical oasis and the perfect place for little ones to go on an adventure. Because ankle-biters won’t stop to smell the flowers it takes them only a few minutes to make a full lap around the dome. But they can stay for as long as they want. It’s warm, it’s dry and best of all it looks just like a jungle! Complete with tropical birds and koi fish.


UPDATE!!


Extreme Air Park
14380 Triangle Road
Richmond
$14.00 per hour

This article (HERE) just came out today in the Richmond Review newspaper. I wasn't aware of the Extreme Air Park before and I have never taken Babe there, but I bet it would be tons of fun for toddlers and older kids. Comment below if you've been and let us know what you thought.

Babe's First Easter Egg Hunt.

I'm just posting a few photos from Babe's first Easter egg hunt last weekend. I know I haven't been posting much lately but I have been interning full time for a local newspaper and trying to fit in workouts in the evenings. My internship ends soon so hopefully I'll have more time to post.

On the hunt with Grandpa.

Yes, that is a Barrel as Monkeys. Hey, it looks kinda like an Easter egg.
And also, yes, in my family we hunt for Easter eggs around the forklift.

Checking out her stash of eggs.

Eeeeegggggssss! 

So independent. 

Who's in there?

Look!

Looking for the surprise.

She's grown up so much since this time last year when she looked like this:

Easter 2012.

Just Sharing: Special Needs Parenting: balancing work and your child.

I just thought some readers may find this article useful or at least interesting.


Special needs parenting: Balancing work and your child | Today's Parent

This Is What I Have.

Recently I was folding a huge pile of baby laundry in front of the TV on a Saturday night. In between rolling tiny socks I scanned Facebook on my phone and read the typical Saturday night status updates from friends who were out for a night on the town. I felt instantly lonely and jealous - really jealous.

I tucked the phone away and went back to folding laundry in front of the TV, but I wasn't watching it anymore. I was thinking about where I was heading before I got pregnant in contrast to where I am heading now. I was thinking about what I traded, about what I gave up and mostly, about what I don't have anymore.

I definitely traded my weekend nights. I don't have Friday to look forward to. I don't dance straight from work to a girlfriend's house to get ready for another late night. I don't feel that sense of mystery to the evening, of who I might meet or what laughs we might make. I don't look forward to sleeping all the next morning and meeting friends for a greasy hangover breakfast.

I don't have being swept off my feet to look forward to. Not in the same way as before anyway. I can't totally lose myself in someone - blowing off responsibilities and passing hours with hand-holding and people-watching. Riding the train for romance and eating dinner for three hours. I don't get to run away on impromptu lover's weekends.

I don't have turning off my phone. Ever. For any reason. You don't realize how that would be something to be missed until it is gone.

I don't have dashing out of the house for something. I don't have swift errand-running, or speed in anything anymore ... except eating.

Photo: Sung Van

I don't have my money to spend on me, or at least I'm not making enough to have any of it. I have to buy expensive formula and diapers and special over-sized-for-safety baby Q-tips and educational toys. It's spent before I get it and I don't get much because I'm not working much. And the work I have isn't what I want to have because it's hard to chase a dream when there's a mouth to feed and debts to battle.

I can't let my fridge run empty. I always have to have food because although I have a notorious habit of forgetting to eat (or even forgetting to feed the cat sometimes) I have to feed the baby. A lot. A few times a day at least. And it's expensive and she needs special items that I wouldn't ever buy. And because she needs what she needs and I don't have enough money to buy separate items for us both I have to mostly eat what she eats. And it's either gross or it's making me fat. Because babies need fat, the lucky bastards.

And I don't have my body. Not really. I mean, she's not living in it anymore which is physically more comfortable. And she's not eating food from it anymore, which is physically and emotionally more freeing. So I guess it seems like I have my body back. But it's not the one I had before. And it never will be.

Thinking about all these things I don't have made me feel even worse than knowing everyone was out having fun.

I realized I'd have to change my thinking or I'd spiral into tears. So I thought about the list I'd just made.

The weekends. I was never that much of a party girl anyway. I used to spend a lot of nights at home folding adult laundry anyway. And the nights that I did look forward to were never as good as I thought they would be. In fact, towards the end of my single life I usually went home early with a headache rather then late with a phone number in my purse. I definitely miss sleeping in on Saturday mornings but I don't miss the hangovers and I can't afford the greasy breakfasts anyway.


Being swept off my feet. Well I can still have that. Granted it will look a lot different - much more grown-up. But it can still happen. It'll just be more organized, less haphazard, less chaotic. But maybe that's OK because if the beginning isn't such a whirlwind then maybe the end won't be such a cyclone. And I can still go away for the weekend. It just takes a week of planning first, a rotation of sitters and my phone has to always be on.

Which is fine I guess. It doesn't need to be off anyway. And sometimes I do get to power down. Like when I'm in a job interview or if I ever get to go to a movie. Of course if my phone is being turned off it means that I have to arrange another emergency contact and preferably some sort of bat-signal that I can see from wherever I am in case Babe is in distress.

Not being able to run out quickly really does suck. There's no way to make it sound better than it is other than to say that on the rare occasions when I do get to run an errand alone it is fucking amazing. I'll actually choose the long line at the grocery store on purpose just to prolong the ecstasy of it.

Money. Well fuck, I didn't have that much before anyway. I do miss shopping for me but hopefully that isn't gone for good.

And the fridge really is better full. It's more homey that way. Dried out leftovers, questionable milk and beer is depressing. Yes it's annoying to have to grocery shop, like, by law. But it's nice to know that if child welfare came to the door they would see that I'm attempting to nourish my daughter. I would be proud of my full fridge in that moment.

My body. OK, I do still have it - it's just uglier now. But that does mean I get to set aside time to go to the gym which is almost the only "me time" I get. And it's nice to feel like I'm using my "me time" in a healthy and productive way.

But even though I tried to put a positive spin on the things I didn't have I still wasn't feeling totally fine about my life. So I did what I do every night when it's quiet and lonely. I tiptoed up to Babe's crib and leaned over the railing and rested my hand on her back to check her breathing. It was perfect. Soft and rhythmic. She was perfect. Warm, curled up with an empty bottle and Lamby. I ran my fingers over the softest cheeks I have ever felt in my life and I kissed her hair - still damp at the curls from her bath.

This is what I have.

I have Saturday nights folding teeny-tiny clothes that are so cute and small they make me smile no matter how many times I've washed them.

I have someone who already has swept me off my feet, someone who will always have my heart. No matter what.

I have a phone full of baby pictures and sound bites of garbled first words. I get phone calls from a little voice just wanting to hear Mommy.

I don't run fast errands but I have pride when strangers coo over my beautiful baby, when she runs ahead of me at the mall, holds items in the shopping cart or walks in from the car at my side.

I have more time than money and that can't be bought. Time with my daughter is worth every lost cent.

I have cooking meals, dirty high chairs, spaghetti face smiles and little person cutlery on the floor.

I have a body that can create and nurture life. I carried my baby inside me, safe and cozy. Growing. Her hearing my voice. Her hearing my heartbeat. I have a scar from the day she arrived.

I have calls of "Mamma" from her crib in the early morning. I have chubby arm hugs and yummy elbow and finger dimples to kiss. I have giggles. I have family holidays. I have slicing grapes. I have bubble baths and rubber duckies. I have tiny shoes by the door, bottles in the night and splishy-splashy mud puddles.

This is what I wanted and this is what I have.