zookeeper for a day

I'm writing this post from our new laptop. On Monday there was a bit of an unfortunate mishap with our old "new" laptop (which we bought at Christmas). Let's just say that there was a glass of wine involved and that it cost more to fix that laptop than it did to buy this new one. I accept all responsibility. But don't start getting images of me having a few too many on a Monday night. Get that image out of your mind, because I'd only had one sip of one glass before I knocked the thing over. What a waste of wine.

Anyways, no laptop, no posts. But I wanted to share what we got up to on the weekend. For Jordan's birthday this year I went in with his mom and dad and got him a day at the Calgary Zoo spent behind the scenes with the zookeepers. Jordan loves animals, and our trip to South Africa was the highlight of both of our travels so far. It's a little expensive to go back there, and I don't think we will be going back any time soon...but a day in Africa at the zoo seemed doable, and almost (no, not really!) as awesome. I have to admit his initial response was not the ecstatic excitement I expected for this fabulous gift, but he eventually got there, and now after experiencing it thinks it was...

 

So, Saturday was the day this all went down. His day started early at 7 am with the Gorillas, where he fed the silverback a smoothie and helped clean up their enclosure. Then he fed the turtle, the lemurs, the bats (by hand), and helped build a nest for one of the birds in the rainforest. At this point, Westley and Jordan's mom and I joined in the fun, watching from afar and trying to get Westley to look at his Daddy in the enclosures instead of the fun and noisy kids running all around him (not easy!).

The best part for me was when he went over to the African exhibit with the Hippos. Somehow he mentioned my love of hippos to the zookeepers (we had seen one once in South Africa, and I screamed loudly in excitement and it immediately went underwater and never came back...I was so disappointed), and they offered for the three of us to go back and join them while they trained Sparky the hippo. Eek!!! I almost cried I was so happy. They let us feel inside her mouth, and the adorably soft spot behind her ear. Then the giraffe stalked over to see what we were doing and we got to feed the youngest giraffe some carrots (which he wouldn't eat) and bananas (which he loved). It all ended with Jordan helping the zookeepers to feed and distract the older giraffe Keri (sp?) while she was treated for an uncomfortable patch of dry skin. It was very cool to watch how patient the zookeepers were with her and they explained that they never make the animals do anything they don't want to do, everything is done on their time. Anyways, what started out as a gift for Jordan ended up being just a much fun for all of us and I'm so grateful to those awesome zookeepers!

 

 

 

 

 

love you forever

I just had a "Love You Forever" moment (from the classic Robert Munsch book). I checked the monitor and saw this:

 

 

The picture is a little blurry, but you get the idea. My earlier fussy/whiney/teething baby that had driven me a little crazy had been transformed into a peaceful sleeping one and my heart immediately melted. I had the impulse to go see him sleeping all adorable-like. Once I quietly crept in I couldn't resist the urge to put my hand on his little back. At which point he immediately woke up, started to cry and I booked it out of there as quickly as I could.

 

...So maybe it wasn't all "Love You Forever"...that Robert Munsch baby must have slept like a dream for her to be able to pick him up and rock him back and forth, back and forth and sing to him the whole time. I love that book though, and now that I'm a mom I can appreciate it that much more... This post likely will make no sense if you don't know the book, but if you don't know the book, you should read it sometime.  

 

 

 

 

birthday book

Our trip to England was planned around my Dad's 60th Birthday and it was so nice to be able to bring Westley and Jordan over to spend it with him. That was our big "gift" for him, but my brother and sister and I put together another gift as well that I think in the end may have meant even more to him. We each came up with sixty of our favourite memories of times spent with him and then compiled them into a book. I was really happy with how it turned out and I think I will order myself a copy now, too. Here's a few excerpts...

england, part deux: dorset adventures

As mentioned in my last post, we spent Easter weekend in Dorset. It was beautiful! Rolling green hills, cute sheep and baby lambs dotted the hillside, views of the beach, historic towns, tea houses with amazing cream teas and country pubs with local cider. Picturesque, idyllic, lovely. 

 We stayed at the Manor Hotel, a beautiful old building with a view of the sea and a great little pub. We were able to put Westley to bed every night and use our phones as baby monitors and then head down to the pub for dinner. It was the perfect setup! 

The daffodils were out everywhere. It (deceivingly) looked like Spring.

 As lovely as our hotel was, I don't know if I ever, ever want to stay in one with a baby again. Maybe sleeping in another new spot threw him off, but Westley's sleep went from bad to worse. He just wouldn't sleep...and not only would he not sleep, he cried, a lot. Which was awesome because we were surrounded by other holidayers who I'm sure had been hoping to go on vacation and hear a baby cry All. Night. Long. I had also come down with a bad cold and was totally exhausted...it was a bad situation. Anyways, the point of this story is to explain the picture. At 4 am, my amazing husband took a poor and inconsolable little Wes for a drive, so that I could get some sleep. I didn't ask him to, but I was so grateful. They ended up sleeping in a running car in the parking lot for a few hours. This picture was that afternoon when the two of them passed out for a good 2.5 hour nap after all their nighttime excitement. 

View from the hotel. 

Beach by the hotel. 

Self portraits get a little harder when there's three of us! (on the beach by the hotel, but our big heads are blocking the view)

View from the road to the hotel...

Sheep! Baby sheep! Awwww. 

Abbotsbury was the closest town to where we stayed and was the quintessential English village. Tea houses, thatch cottages, and beautiful views. 

Westley was thrilled that the lambs didn't run away from him at the petting zoo. So much more fun than that cat that he lives with that disappears from sight the minute Wes makes a move. 

Fun in the freezing cold. 

I love pubs in England, and I especially love that you can bring babies in with you. This pub was in the middle of nowhere, note the tractor on the left of the pic (under the sign) - after a hard days work on the farm, the farmer stopped in for a pint. Then a couple other men from the area came in by themselves and they all sat at the bar and gossiped about the happenings in the area. Eavesdropping is so entertaining. 

Sad looking pub dog. So scruffy, old and dirty (but adorable in that ruffled kind of way). 

Lulworth Cove. Part of the reason we picked Dorset was because of it's gorgeous coastline known as the Jurassic Coast. I was so excited to see it, but what we didn't count on was the freezing winds...so it was a quick picture and then back in the car, or a stop for cream tea. Which by the way, I didn't get any pictures of, but are to die for. Scones, thick clotted cream, strawberry jam and tea or coffee. Umm, yum.  

View from one of the hills above Lulworth Cove. 

 On our way back we stopped at Arundel Castle, so that one day we can tell Westley that he's been to a castle, and of course no trip to England is complete without a picture of a castle. 

 Another picture of a castle. 

And a picture of a goat. 

Well this completes our tour of Dorset, hope you enjoyed our visit. I know I did, and I also learned a few valuable lessons: 1) There may be daffodils in March in England, but that doesn't make it picnic weather. If I visit England in March again I will be sure to pack a coat next time. 2) Avoid hotels with babies, a rental would have been much more relaxing. And 3) Cream teas are delightful. I'm sure it was the first of many memorable adventures to come as a family! 

XO

real beauty

Have you seen the new Dove campaign? It's been posted for two days on youtube and already has 3.5 million views, so obviously it must resonate with people. My sister in law posted it on Facebook yesterday and I had to share. Seeing this makes me wonder why we're so hard on ourselves...

Powerful, isn't it? Even if you don't define "beauty" as how you look on the outside, it still makes you think. I know if I was sitting in that chair describing myself I would be describing my insecurities just like the women in the video, but how amazing other people (strangers even!) view them in an entirely different way. The strangers in the video see the beauty in these women where the women see things that aren't "right" or "perfect" about their own appearance. I think it's a great reminder to embrace our individual beauty, and trust that we are beautiful because of who we are and not the shape of our face or the angle of our chin. We are all more beautiful than we let ourselves believe, don't you think?

XO

england "vacation", part one

Happy Spring! Happy Easter! Happy belated April Fool's Day, Sibling Day, Scrabble Day and (my personal favourite) Grilled Cheese Day (April 12th for those that have not observed this holiday and wish to in the future). How have you been? What's new in your life? It's been a while.

We have been back from England for a week and a half now and we are still recovering. Luckily my family over there is completely worth it, because...that was no vacation. I'm not complaining, just stating the facts. Traveling with an 8 month old, as we continually discovered over the 2 weeks away, is far from easy (or maybe it's just travelling with our 8 month old). But watching Westley play with his Papa and Auntie made up for the jetlag, lack of sleep, and general torture that goes along with a fussy teething tired baby that is developing both a temper and separation anxiety...No matter what though, the trip was memorable, and what's more important than making memories?

Here's a collection of pics and a few stories to go along with them...

We flewAir Canada, and lucked out with the bulkhead seats so we had some extra legroom and they gave us a bassinet that hooked up into the wall in front of us. Westley slept in it for about an hour and half, which turned out to be useful because while he slept there was a lot of action going on. A woman behind us was pulled into the aisle at our feet by her son because she passed out and wasn't breathing. It was dicey for a bit, and so scary to witness, but it turned out her son was a Doctor. After the flight attendants fumbled around trying to remember what to do in event of an emergency, he was given a medical kit and a nurse passenger helped him treat his mother (...I did my part too, I held the IV bag, a very important job that is usually given to a metal pole). Jordan was forced to sit in first class for a few hours, which was unfortunate. In the end, although the pilot had considered landing the plane, she turned out to be alright and they never did figure out what had caused her to lose consciousness - but it definitely helped the time to pass on the long flight. 

It meant so much to me that my family in England (especially my Dad) were able to meet Wes and that Westly had the chance to spend time with them (even if he won't remember). We had a fun night getting together with my five aunts and quite a few of my cousins, and lots of family lunches and visits. He is the first great grandson on my Dad's side of the family, so he was spoiled with love and attention everywhere we went. Yay family!

I know I promised to never talk about Westley's sleep again, but this is a special occasion. Before we left Westley had suddenly figured out how to not only nap, but sleep through the night. It was a beautiful thing. This is a picture of the now rarely seen Sleeping Westley. Note not one, but two, stuffed bunnies. If we had had ten bunnies with us we would have thrown them all in there with him in the hope that it might somehow woo him into slumber. 

We ended up with an Audi A4 when the rental company ran out of whatever it was we had paid for...and once we figured out how to turn it on, we weren't complaining. It was slightly terrifying as Jordan got used to driving on the wrong side of the road and we continually veered to the left...but once we got out of Heathrow and on the M4 things got a little less scary. I have to say Jordan impressed me with his international driving skills. Driving in England is scary even with English people. 

We went to the county of Dorset for Easter weekend, just the three of us (more about that in part deux).  While there we spent the day in the adorable seaside town of Lyme Regis and came across this Banksy street art of an origami paper crane holding a fish. We were excited, and have about 20 pictures of it from different angles...(side note: while there we also came across the building that Jane Austen stayed in while writing Persuasion). 

Well that's all for tonight. Despite all my complaining, we did have a great time. Stay tuned for more exciting tidbits in part two...where we delve into the details of our trip to beauty-full Dorset. I will try to post a little more promptly next time! 

Cheerio, XO

tuesday tune: pink - just give me a reason

It's the night before we leave on our trip to England, and here I am, unpacked, writing a blog post. Where has the time gone?!?! So much to do! But the night is young, it's only 8 pm...lots of time to finish packing, do our taxes, pay the bills, etc. At least our house is clean, or it was, before I decided to cook spaghetti sauce from scratch for dinner because I needed to use up all our tomatoes and veggies before we vacate. I'm supposed to be a grown up and responsible now. I have a baby for crying out loud. And I use the term "for crying out loud". I'm old, yet time and again I have not learned this lesson, and here I go procrastinating further. (luckily we leave tomorrow evening, so I can procrastinate a little more...I have allll day tomorrow).

So, here you go. This is what I'm listening to. It's Pink feat Nate Reuss from FUN and the song is "Just Give Me a Reason". I have no idea if it's been out forever and I just heard it yesterday, or if it's new. I could do my research, but I'm running out of time. Although the 33 million views is hinting that it's not brand new....Anyways it's one of those songs that I want to sing really loud to while I'm driving, or cleaning, or packing for that matter. What do you think?? (if the video doesn't work click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpQFFLBMEPI)

I'm thinking I will have a chance to post again from England, so hopefully "talk" soon! Wish us luck tomorrow, 9 hours on a plane with an almost-8-month-old is a terrifying prospect....but it will be so worth it when we get there!

XO

a trip to brighton and tuesday's tune

Who watched Walking Dead this week?? Wasn't the song at the end perfect? It fit the show so well. I looked it up and it's by Fink. It's a good chill out song, just what I am in the mood for today...

Apparently he is based out of Brighton, UK, which just so happens to be where we are headed next week to visit my family. Westley gets to meet his Grandpa for the first time and see his Auntie, as well as all of my extended family over there. I can't wait!! If you've never been to Brighton it is one of my favourite places. We spent every summer there growing up - swimming on the rocky beaches, playing on the pier, shopping in the lanes (it is hands down my favourite city to shop in), stuffing our faces with banoffee pie, and getting into trouble with our cousins. Such good memories there!

Here's a few pics from past trips: