my fashion critic

Wearing my shirt on the stripey side.

A: WHOA! 

(Full stop.  She really didn't need to say anymore.  I was ready to turn my shirt inside out.)

Y: What?!

A: Is that a new shirt?  (Hahaha.)

Y: No, it's reversible.  I usually wear it on the other side.  It's grey.  Should I turn it the other way?

A: (without pause) Yes.

50th celebration

My parents celebrated their 50th anniversary this year.  In keeping with tradition, Mom let us all know that she wanted to go on a cruise as a family to celebrate.  So, after alot of planning and coordination, we managed to get all 23 of us to Florida this past August to hang out for a week on Marco Island and then hop on the Harmony of the Seas for a family cruise.

I am very thankful for the dynamic we have in our family.  I'm not sure how the rest of my siblings felt, but I don't think that I can be the only one that, after 2 weeks together, felt sad that the trip was ending!

For our first week on Marco, we rented a house a stones throw from our family's condo.  The house had a pool and the condo had beach access, so it was perfect!  A subset of us even managed to throw in an overnight jaunt to Orlando and spend a day at Disney's Animal Kingdom.   This is where I lost a child the first time 😳 (the second time I lost a child was at the outlet mall).  Believe it or not, it's much less stressful losing a child at a Disney park than at the outlet mall (and, yes, those were the only 2 times Brian wasn't with us!).

Some family couldn't join until the cruise, so it was a big reunion once we boarded the Harmony of Seas. Our stops were on St. Maarten, Puerto Rico and Royal Caribbean's oasis, Labadee, on Haiti.  There was also a plethora of activities on board the ship too!  The kids managed to decorate cupcakes, go to the spa, make sushi, go skating (!), play mini-golf, participate in a volleyball tournament, zipline across the ship, ride the waves, slide down slides, carousel and sing karaoke (take a breath!).  Not to mention the endless gobs and gobs of self-serve soft-serve!  

There were also the typical cruise stuffs - shows, themed dinners, casinos, shops, etc.  A never-ending supply of entertainment for 5000+ passengers 😱!  The only place we didn't "manage" to spend time was the pool.  The number of passengers divided by the number of pools on the ship made it a bit too "germ-friendly" for our liking!

In the end, it was the quality family time that we enjoyed the most.  Getting to see Josh and Aves hang out with their cousins was heartwarming.  And getting to spend some time with my siblings was pretty priceless too!  Thankfully, we all get together more than just once every 10 years, but we sure are grateful to be able to all vacation like this together.  Thanks for a wonderful vacation, family!  And Happy 50th Anniversary, Mom and Dad 💖!  (Full photos can be found here)

a memorable dance season

Showtime 2018!

Falling behind on posts already! 😩

This past weekend, Aves had her end of year dance recital.  Every year Boswell Dance Academy puts on a pretty big production!  This year, they decided that the finale would incorporate the Disney dance performance.  Aves usually isn't in the finale (reserved for dance grads and competitive dancers).  But since she was in Disney Dance, she was able to take part.  There were 2 shows and as I watched the finale of the second show last night, I felt a bit nostalgic and weepy for all the time that went into Disney dance (perfect segue into a post that I've been meaning to post for the past month!)...

Toward the end of May, we headed to Cali with Aves' dance group so they could perform at Disneyland!  When the opportunity came up last summer, Aves said she wanted to do it in a heartbeat.  I was excited for her - what an opportunity to dance at Disneyland!

It was a tough 8 months working hard to get the production ready.  The practices started last October as 2 hours every other week, but by the beginning of this year, they ramped up to 3 hour practices.  As the date got closer, they added extra practices, dress rehearsals and it all generally took time to get everything ready to go.  The girls, the dance coaches and parents all worked hard to make sure we were ready and organized for Disney.

Well, the hard work paid off.  I'm pretty sure everyone in our group of ??? would agree!  (There were just under 45 dancers.  So, with family and friends, our BDA group was pretty big!)

BDA Disney Dance Group outside the Hollywood Studios backlot

Early in the year, I canvassed family and friends to see if anyone wanted to join us at Disney for a May long-weekend vacay.  So, in addition to our BDA dance group, our friends PLD decided to come along, too!

It was truly a blast going to Universal and Disney with friends.  It helped that PLD were pretty laid back and were willing to follow the itinerary put together by the BDA parents group!

I loved seeing Aves in this moment, too.  There was a mix of excitement and anxiety that I think she handled amazingly!  I'm not going to say much about it because I have 150+ photos that captured our memories.  But I wanted to share some photos here that showcase Aves, along with the dance group.  I hope she will remember this for years to come!  (P.S.  The last upload here is the video of the performance that Brian captured.  He tirelessly held his phone stable for 22 minutes while trying to make sure he could watch the performance IRL, too!  Please watch his labour of love! 😘)

Listening to performance-day instructions

A dream is a wish your heart makes...

Try Everything!

Here I stand!

Happiness is a journey, not a destination

The rest of the photos can be found here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/FMqh6e1MshTrvPA16

dreaming stuff up

A: I have a joke.
Y: ok.
A: What did the sushi say to the bee?
Y: uhhhh...I don’t know.
A: wasssssup bee? (Think: wasa-bi)
Y: (laughing) That’s a good one Aves. Did you make that up?
A: (completely serious) No, someone told it to me in my dream.
Y: (bwahahaha!) Ave, that means you thought of it, because the stuff in your dream comes from you!
A: (still totally serious and a bit exasperated by me!) No, I said someone told it to me in my dream!

Sigh.

trypophobic

I learned yesterday that I'm trypophobic.  I'm not even going to put a link to the definition because I'm sure there will be images and the images give me heebie jeebies.

I went out to dinner with work colleagues last night and we were talking about custard apples.  We wanted to get more information, so we googled it.  When I looked at the photo of the inside of a custard apple, I said, "OK, I can't look at that.  It gives me heebie jeebies."  That rang true for one of my co-workers and he said he thought there was name for that!

We clarified that what was giving me heebie jeebies was all the little holes in the middle of the fruit.  He said there was definitely a name for that.  He looked it up and sure enough - trypophobia!  Like honeycomb?  Yes, that gives me heebie jeebies.  Everyone gave examples and yes, they all gave me heebie jeebies (I had goose bumps on my arms to prove it!)!  The only example that didn't give me heebie jeebies was the inside of the pomegranate.  That was a bit weird.  Maybe it's because I think its so delicious, that I overcome the phobia so I can eat it?

Anyway, you can google it to see more examples.  I'm going to stop talking about it now because the thoughts are giving me heebie jeebies!  Hahaha.

the highlight of brownie camp

I always wanted to be a Brownie when I was little.  Not sure why my mom didn't put us in.  I don't even recall if I ever told her I wanted to be in Brownies!  All I know is that I never did it.  Fast forward almost 40 years.  I asked Aves if she wanted to be in Brownies and she expressed mostly apathetic interest.  I needed to live vicariously through her, so I signed her up!

She had one stipulation, though.  She wouldn't do any overnight camps unless I went too.  Ha.  I'm told this is the best part of Guiding!

I decided that I would sign up as a Girl Guide leader so that I could attend the camps and Aves wouldn't miss out.  I thought it would be a fun way to volunteer as well!  Not only am I volunteering for sleepovers, but I also help out in the weekly unit meetings.

One thing I have learned about myself: I am NOT cut out to be a leader.  And I'm definitely not cut out to be a leader of children!  I don't have creative ways to deal with the never-ending list of excuses and interruptions that kids can come up with!  Most importantly, I don't have the patience.  I don't lose my patience with kids, but I find that I'm not alot of 'fun' to learn from.  Not engaging.  At.  All.

This past weekend, we went on our first 2-night Brownie camp (by 'we', I mean me and Aves).  Aves loved it!  She had a blast.  Her highlights were roasting wieners and making s'mores at the campfire and singing campfire songs at night.  Her most difficult times were sleeping at night (but I think we've figured it out for next time!).  At the end of the weekend, I asked her if she wanted to go to District camp this summer and she said yes.  I asked her if I didn't go whether she would still want to go and she said yes (as long as we address the sleeping issue)!

I'm thrilled!  I wanted Aves to be a Brownie to help her develop confidence in her skills and to give her a sense of adventure.  It seems to be working!  I've registered her for the camp this summer, so fingers crossed that she will go when the time comes!

As for me, I'm learning that as much as I wanted to be a Brownie when I was little, I don't really see myself as a Brownie Leader.  Camp was mostly fun this weekend.  But I had alot of anxiety about the one activity that I had to lead.  And then after the activity was done, I worried about how the activity went over with the kids.

The kids were great, though!  It was interesting to see all the different personalities and how they interacted with each other.  And the lifetime Girl Guiders who were the 'main' leaders amazed me!  I can learn alot from them in how to navigate groups of children (none of them were actually parents!).

In the end, I had one big highlight: helping to make pancakes for breakfast for ~35 people!  Apparently, I enjoy helping, not leading.  Note that someone else took these pictures and I didn't actually get any pictures of the weekend as I was too busy stressing about being a leader! 😓

food and more on oahu

Besides the tours, I'd say that the food was another highlight of our trip.  Thanks to the great tips from J&C, we ate some pretty good food.  I have to say, though, I can eat tropical fruit, coconut and macadamia nuts all day. so the local food agrees with me!

We couldn't get enough of local fruit!  We got pineapples, avocados, mangoes and apple bananas from the farmer's market.  So tasty!  I'm still surprised (and sad) that I don't like papaya because there are not many fruits I don't like!  And the papayas at the market looked SO good.

J&C recommended açai bowls and Heavenly, so I had to have the açai bowl at Heavenly!  I found my new favourite breakfast.  I think I had a Heavenly açai bowl for breakfast every morning after!  Even when we came back home, I had to find Hawaiian açai bowls here.  Low and behold, I found alohabowls.ca!  Now, it's not Heavenly, but it's still worth the trek to find the food truck!

Another food highlight was Fumi's shrimp truck on the north shore. We are told it's one of the trucks that serves local shrimp.  Truthfully, I'm not sure I can tell the difference between local and non-local shrimp, but local just seems like it will be better all around.  The shrimps did not disappoint!  We had garlic shrimp, coconut shrimp and shrimp tempura.  All of it was delicious.

Best shave ice (Waiola) and best poke (Ono Seafood)

Aside from wanting IHOP, the kids were great about eating whatever we decided to eat that day.  Some of their favourites?  The gyoza and crèpes at the Japanese food court at Ala Moana (that's the Japanese food court, not the regular one!).  And, of course, shave ice.

Surprisingly, we tasted the difference between bad shave ice and good shave ice on this trip!  One night, we had shave ice at some random stall.  The kids didn't even finish them!  They said it was meh.  I tried some and it was, indeed, meh (who knew?!).  I think it was a combination of the quality of the shaved ice and the quality of the syrup.  The next day, we made the trek to Waiola Shave Ice (on recommendation) because I couldn't leave Oahu having bad shave ice.  Yes, this was definitely good shave ice!  And the kids polished them off just to prove it!

All this food went hand in hand with hanging out at the beach and pool.  I'm not a lay-around-at-the-beach/pool person, but I found myself able to relax with a book while the kids played.  I think the way they love the beach makes me enjoy it more.

All in all, I think our trip had a good balance of exploring/touring and relaxing.  I know I came back feeling like I was on a vacation, so that's a good thing.

Again, there were too many pics to post them all here, so here is a link to the last album - https://photos.app.goo.gl/nK9KE3rMFwJPSgZE7.  And here is one last one of the hukilau:

kai'oli'oli

Tour #2 on Oahu.  Since we agreed to go to the Polynesian Cultural Centre for Aves, we had to go snorkelling for Josh.  I'm not very adventurous when it comes to snorkelling and Aves flat out refuses.  So, we decided to do an afternoon tour that got us out on a boat so that we could get a bit of snorkelling done while Aves had some fun too.

We went dolphin-watching and snorkelling with Ocean Joy Cruises.  As much as we planned to go on a jeep tour, we did NOT plan to do a snorkel tour.  This was the best last-minute decision on our trip!  We decided to book the tour because the weather had been on and off rain.  It felt right to be out on the water if it was going to rain (or maybe we might be tempted to stay indoors?).  Also, the tour took us to the drier, leeward side of the island.

Well, the weather decided to cooperate for our tour.  The sky was blue and the weather was perfect!  We saw so many spinner dolphins and they 'performed' for us!  We swear it was staged! (It wasn't staged.)  Getting to snorkel with turtles was the icing on the cake.  We couldn't believe our luck to get to see so many dolphins and turtles up close.  Even Aves, who refused to wear the snorkel gear and initially didn't want to be in the water, got to see a turtle when it surfaced.

I have to say that I was very proud of Aves on this tour.  She was reluctant to get in the water from the beginning.  And Aves can't be convinced.  She knows her limits.  I could tell she was sure she didn't want to use the snorkel and mask, so I didn't push.  I could also tell she wanted to go in the water but was scared.  I think between the bright yellow floaty thing we had to wear, the flippers and the pool noodles, Aves felt like she could give it a try.  She came in with me briefly, we managed to get one picture from the tour's photographer but she was panicky right from the moment she came in and she wanted out.  Done.

About 10 minutes later, I saw her on the stairs at the back of the boat again.  She was ready to come back in the water!  This time, she was not panicky at all!  She seemed to overcome whatever it was that was freaking her out.  She was even ok to let go of the rope that was attached to boat!  In the end, she said, "It was alot more fun that I thought it would be!".  Ha.

Our all-woman crew of 5 were impressively laid-back, fun and skilled.  I'm not sure how we were anchored while we snorkelled, but when the boat stopped, one of the crew dove into the water with a rope and when she came back up, she wasn't holding the rope.  At the end of the snorkel, she dove in again and came back up with rope.  I'm not sure what we were anchored to, but she held her breath a mighty long time!

Again, too many photos to post here.  You can see the album here - https://photos.app.goo.gl/N4h4QqeqjtPgPY7o1.

P.S. Later on when we were headed back to the dock, Aves told us that she was scared because she saw all the fish and though she loved looking at them, she didn't like the idea of them swimming around her.  She's not sure how she finally convinced herself that it was ok!

the real hawai'i

I was going to try to do our Oahu trip in one post, but we had so many good adventures, that one post wouldn't have done it justice.

One of the first things we did on Oahu was take a tour of the island.  Maybe I'm getting old, but I'm into tours these days.  All the tours we've done lately have given us insights into the places we've visited that we wouldn't have gotten just by going on our own (and some of the places we wouldn't have even known to go on our own!).  And, honestly, the kids love them!

Now, I'm not talking about a run of the mill bus tour.  We've been doing more 'fun' tours that cater to things we want to do.  This time around, we hooked up with http://therealhawaiitours.com.  They offered a jeep tour of the island and since the jeep only fits 4, it was a private tour!

Our tour guide, Dan, took us around the island and showed us things on and off the beaten path.  In a word, it was amazing!  We were engaged the entire time.  I can't really quantify what made it so great, but I think that was part of it.  It felt so much like a 1:1 tour of the island that sharing our highlights wouldn't mean as much to others.  It was just all the tidbits of information that we gathered along the way that made it so interesting for us.

Some of the particularly noteworthy discussions where:
- the Hawaiian language
- what it was like being on the island during the missile alert
- 400 skulls!
- shrimp trucks along the north shore
- Oahu vs. Maui
- all the movie locations along the way!
- chinaman's hat
- tako diving
- Hawaiian fruit and the economy

There were too many photos from the tour to post them all here, but here's a link to the album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/bJFO0oAfz0f7o0h73

witness

Aves has been singing Katy Perry since she discovered music (I think after the Wiggles, it was Katy Perry!).  Last summer, when I heard KP's Witness tour was coming to Vancouver in Feb 2018, I knew we had to get tickets (will KP be touring for much longer?!).  We gave Aves the tickets as her Christmas present and she was so excited, counting down the days!

Growing up, concert-going wasn't particularly popular with my parents.  My first concert was A-ha in LA, when I was 15 years-old.  I went with my sister and we had family friends as our chaperones (the only reason we were allowed to go was because these family friends invited us!).  Needless to say, I haven't been to many concerts, but each time I go, they're a blast.

I'm not a Katy Perry fan at all, but I had a blast at her concert.  For different reasons.  I had a blast at the concert with Aves.  She is such a fan and still has her sing-like-no-one-is-watching innocence.  This will not last forever.  I know she might kill me one day for posting this, but I had such a blast with her, I had to share. 💖

Witness Tour

Had to have the ears!

provincial champs!

This is Josh's fifth year playing lacrosse. It's a year-round sport - with field lacrosse in the fall/winter season and box lacrosse in the spring season (carries into summer for the higher levels). Some kids play either field or box. Josh plays both. I see his love/hate relationship with it. Sometimes he wants to play and sometimes he doesn't. Brian has done his fair share of nudging Josh to get him to go to practices.  At the end of the day, though, I think it's engrained in him now and if he stopped, he'd miss it.

I'm still not sure how I feel about Josh playing lacrosse.  It's a rough sport and Josh isn't a big kid.  Not even close.  But I do love watching the kids play.  Seeing their growth through the years, as a parent, I'm in awe.  Not just Josh, but his teammates too.

This past 2017/18 field lacrosse season was a particularly memorable one.  Josh has bounced between the 2 tiers in his division from year to year.  This year, he made the Tier 1 team and the kids had quite a successful season!  They were undefeated in regular season games, losing once in tournament play. They won gold in the 2 tournaments they entered.  Then, to end the season on a high note, they won their final tournament, which was the equivalent to Provincials (officially, they don't have 'Provincials' until the next division up)!

More importantly, I think the kids gelled well this season.  They also had fantastic coaches!  It was inspiring watching them come together as a team.  The team deserved their success this season and we are so proud of them!

Now, after a couple of weeks of rest and digesting their success, they have started tryouts for box lacrosse season.  Ha - no rest for the wicked!  Go Bellies Go!

do you wanna build a snowman?

It’s rare in Vancouver to have a big dump of snow and then, 24 hours later, still have snow that hasn’t been rained on and hardened. This weekend, we had one of those rare mornings! When we woke up, the sun was shining brightly and snow that had fallen in the previous 24 hours was pristine!

Josh immediately said, “I’m going outside!” and Aves wasn’t going to be left behind! Tess asked Josh if he was going to build a snowman and in typical tween form he said, “I don’t build them anymore”. Fair enough.

Brian and I took our time getting ready and by the time we got outside, the kids had already been to the park and back. They'd clearly surveyed their surroundings! We got out the shovels and Josh said, “Dad, can you wait to shovel the driveway? I’m making a snowman.” Ha! Turns out, when you have ideal snowball-rolling conditions, even the most ‘tween’ of us can find that kid inside!

We decided it was better to build the snowman at school (a mix of surface area and quality of snow!). The end product was fun! Josh had this idea to use greenery for hair, so we trimmed our cedar hedge for hair! In the end, the kids decided to name him Jefferson.

 

As we left to carry on with our day, Josh asked if he could kick down Jefferson. Of course, I said, 'Don't do that! Let's leave him up until he melts.' Apparently, my maternal 'every child is an angel' idealism got the better of me. When we drove past the school an hour later, the snowman had been kicked down. Some asshole(s) thought it'd be ok to kick down someone else's snowman!  😡  I guess I learned a valuable lesson that day: when your child asks to kick down his own snowman, let him.

creating content

I had a conversation today.  One of my co-workers said his New Year's resolution is to create more content than he consumes.  Huh.  This is a very interesting resolution.  And kicks my thought process into high gear!  I'd say it is next to impossible to create more content than one consumes.  Reading books/periodicals, watching tv/movies, social media and the internet.  It's all consuming content.  How many opportunities does one have to create content?

I look at this blog as my last 'real' attempt to create content.  Then, a couple of years ago, I started to cheat in this effort.  It was quicker and more instantly gratuitous to post in social media, so instead of taking the time to think through what I wanted to post, I'd just snap a photo and post it on Facebook. Yes, it's easy to argue that posting in Facebook is also creating content, but it's not the same.

Now, when I look back at my Facebook posts and my blog posts, I definitely get more enjoyment reading my blog posts than my Facebook posts.  Also, sharing my blog with the kids is a blast!  It tells a story.  And I realize that it's not as important to me to let others know 'what I'm up to lately'; rather it's more important that I have something that I can reflect on with my family years down the road.

So, in an effort to 'create content', I'm going to start creating content that is meaningful to me.  I know I stopped doing this because life got so busy.  But maybe, if I take time out from consuming content and I create content instead, I might just find some time.  Fingers crossed.