The Magic of Fall at VanDusen

This past Sunday, the boys and I, along with K in the baby carrier, took in some gorgeous autumn colours at the beautiful VanDusen Botanical Gardens. We were lucky to participate in the family program, Plant Detectives: Seeds and Leaves. Although we've visited the Gardens in the past for Seedy Saturday and their annual Garden Plant Sale, it was D & R's first "real" trip INTO VanDusen, an educational garden where they learned how seeds travelled and how and why leaves changed colours at this magical time of year. The boys had the chance to explore and run around the 55-acre Gardens, and I'm happy to report that they had a great time, asking to return as soon as possible! VanDusen is a must-see, inspirational place with an amazing collection of plants and trees, animals, ponds, a maze, a waterfall, and a host of passionate educators for young and old alike! We can't wait to go back for our next visit!


On a scavenger hunt for seeds

Looking for "swimmer" seeds

Picked Up Banana Pancakes

In between party planning for D's 7th birthday last week, I managed to go pick up my June fibre from sweetgeorgia. I was pleasantly surprised to find some primarily bright, happy yellow superwash merino in the bag, aptly named Banana Pancakes. I'm not normally drawn to yellows since I don't usually wear this hard-to-wear colour for asians, but I'm curious to find out how this spins up colour-wise. I've spun merino before and just love it! It's super soft and easy to spin. I'll aim to spin it in a 2-ply worsted weight..... if I ever get to it, that is......Presently, I'm recovering from D's successful 7th birthday party which took place at a U-pick strawberry field and at a busy spray park with a group of little people and moms. A good time was had by all. It's hard to believe my first, whom we used to call "our little man" as a baby, has now been a part of our family for seven years! A gigantic happy birthday to our handsome, fun-loving D!

Sushi Picnic

A sushi picnic at Kits Beach last night was in order for K's three-month-old birthday. The sun was shining and the playground way too distracting for the boys to eat their kappa rolls and tempura, but we all enjoyed our sushi and did our best to eat as much as we could without spilling too much soy sauce on our blankets and mats.

K is 3 months old!

This past month, K's been cooing, smiling, and trying to "talk" to us, manipulating her lips and tongue to produce as many different sounds as possible. She continues to enjoy imitating conversation. She, surprisingly, doesn't seem to be a big fan of taking baths though, crying at the top of her lungs through most of the bath as though we were torturing her. Could it be our technique, the feel of the water? She is our third child, after all. Whatever it is that bothers her about bath time, we just hope that it eventually changes. One good thing that's developed in the last little while is that she's been sleeping for longer stretches through the night. She falls asleep before 11:00pm or midnight, and I manage to get some uninterrupted sleep between 1am and 5:30am sometimes!!! Yaay, some peaceful knitting time before bedtime!

Above, K's finally modeling the cozy handspun, handknit EZ Best Baby Sweater that I knit before her birth. I super love this pattern and sweater, which I substituted stocking stitch for the gull lace pattern in the original pattern design, just in case K turned out to be a boy. See this post for details.

Great Finds

On an outing to Daiso today, I was surprised to find some bamboo circulars and stitch holders in the craft section. As some of you may know, Daiso is primarily known as a department store sized Japanese "twoonie" or $2 store, even though there are items that are now above the $2 price point. Nevertheless, it's still a bargain to find bamboo circulars at $2 each when I just bought a circular needle at Dressew for $6. I have to warn you, however, that Daiso only had the 4.5mm and 6.0mm circs offered in 40cm and 60cm lengths at present. It seems that the needle section is never the same when I visit Daiso, so just pop in when you can, and you may be pleasantly surprised. They just might have a bigger selection of needle sizes tomorrow?! Be sure to also check the section that sells the containers to organize your meds. Daiso has these containers in all shapes and sizes, which make them fantastic organizers for stitch markers and other knitting notions.

Our first MEC Paddlefest

We had a perfect day to try paddling at Ambleside Park this past Sunday. Mountain Equipment Co-op put on some great water clinics with Deep Cove Canoe and Kayak at Paddlefest for kids and adults. D had a great time trying something new despite being the youngest and most inexperienced. He didn't even complain or get upset when he had trouble manoeuvering the kayak to keep up with his group. The teachers were great and everyone seemed passionate about helping one another learn more about the paddle sports.


After the clinic, D told me he'd like to try kayaking again. This is exciting to know. We're glad D isn't too easily discouraged by being thrown into a completely new experience. He's such a good sport!

This guy, on the other hand, was too young to try kayaking, but was quite content blowing bubbles on the beach and having the comfort of his favourite cookbook (yes, you read right, his fave cupcake cookbook) nearby!

Where Did June Go?

It's hard to believe today is the last day of June and it's become hot watermelon- thirst-quenching weather here in Vancouver. The boys have even started sleeping out on the deck in the family tent. June seems to be a blur now, which I only remember as a lot of frenzied planning for the boys' summer activities, the parties laden with sugar wrapping up the school year and the annual late spring activities, namely, strawberry picking and D's birthday planning!



I finally finished the Baby Surprise Jacket in Noro Kureyon. Don't you just love how it turned out?!!! I almost chose wooden buttons for the jacket to give it a rustic flavour, but opted for the classier shell buttons. Like so many others who've knit this jacket, I love the ingenuity of the pattern by Elizabeth Zimmermann. However, I do have to note that the original pattern was seriously confusing to me. If it weren't for Dawn Adcock's super helpful notes here, I may have scrapped this project.

I bribed my youngest to model the sweater, but decided against it, since the jacket was too small for him. Taking photos would have been an injustice to R and the sweater. It looks like Ava will be the lucky recipient of the jacket when she comes for a visit this summer from HK with Zach and the family. I can't wait to meet and play with newborn twins!

What D Thinks About...

Today, as we were walking from the parking lot to the swimming pool for his lessons, D asked me who made the world...... AGAIN! It's really not unlike him to ask me such a deep philosophical question, as he has always been pretty mature for his age, but he's asked me this question before and I always bring up the Big Bang theory and he always suggests the added possibility of God creating the world, an idea he's heard from other people besides me. I stress the uncertainty of it all, and because D never gets the black and white answer, he just continues to ask the question from time to time. Then a little later on at the pool, he asks if I was a mom who was just pretending to be nice, but was really an evil person!!! My first thought is, gee, why can't I have a normal kid?!? But then again, what is normal? Wacky and off-the-wall, but maybe that's what almost-six-year-olds think about or is it just mine--one who probably watches too much tv and/or has a vivid imagination in high def? Anyhooow, my D never fails to surprise me with his sense of wonder.

Other activities this weekend included a trip to check out the Chinatown Night Market, which is small in comparison to the Richmond Night Market, but still quite fun and interesting for the atmosphere and offerings by the variety of vendors. I have to say that this market has improved and is a lot more organized than what I remembered it five years back.

Checking Out the Skateboard Park

I've had lots of projects on the go these past few months, mainly baby-related, for a friend at work, whose wife is expecting, and for the upcoming births of my niece and nephew in HK. We just can't wait! I'll finally be an aunt (and to twins!) at the end of March on my side of the family. I'd like to show you some of the projects that I've started for "Thunder" and "Lightning", names my brother and sister-in-law in HK are calling their twins, but I know they check on this blog, so I'll have to show you a little later. In the meantime, I'll show you the Green Leaf Tweed newborn hat that I gifted to my friend at work recently. I was so happy that he loved it.

Here are some pics of our walk through the neighborhood to the skateboard park yesterday afternoon. This is the first time D and R have had the chance to explore the skateboard park more up close and personal, as there weren't any boarders around to make it impossible to go into the "pit".

As you can see, we had snow earlier in the week, which I'm more than happy to report is quickly disappearing on this beautiful sunny day.

I'm pretty sure this guy is really wishing that he had brought his skateboard with him. I was too lazy to look for all his safety gear, so I convinced him to leave the board at home. Maybe next time...

Besides, he can show you some treasure found...

and be entertained by R who is always making us laugh with his usual made-up expressions and mimicking.

A Children's Christmas Fair

This past Saturday morning, we braved the chilly weather, like we did last year, to attend the Vancouver Waldorf School's Christmas Fair. A most memorable activity at this wonderful fair from last year was visiting the "Cookie House" to select a decorated gingerbread cookie from amongst many all hung on curtains from ceiling to floor in a small, narrow, dimly-lit, ambient space. We waited in line to experience the wonderful Cookie House again this year, complete with an elf to guard the house, as well as a fairy, to assist with the cookie selection. As you can see, R knew his immediate plans for his cookie upon leaving the "house".

There were many beautiful wreaths and table centerpieces being created all around us.....
...and new experiences to be had.... candle dipping!!!

in another dimly-lit, but magical room decorated with winter scenes, lots of stars and tiny lights...

...and warm, nurturing teachers that made all the activities at this fair so meaningful. D really got into making and dipping his own candle, deciding on his own how many more times he wanted to walk around the table to dip his candle into the wax pots.

Other cool activities included puppet plays, silk painting, visiting a winter wonderland and woodland pond, woodworking, and a variety of musical offerings around the school. And what's a Christmas fair without a "Marketplace", which was so crowded that I barely looked for fear of losing the boys. I did, however, pick up my felt order from Natalie of Bear Dance Crafts who came down for the fair from Kaslo. She offers good quality wool felt in lots of great colours for those of you who are interested.


Here is D's beautifully fragrant candle finished and wrapped with paper tissue and a lovely poem. The poem should read as below, but with the last line, perhaps, intentionally and appropriately left out:

A candle is but a simple thing,
It starts with just a bit of string,
But dipped and dipped with patient hand,
It gathers wax upon the strand,
Until complete and snowy white,
It gives at last a lovely sight.

Life seems so like that bit of string,
Each deed we do a simple thing,
Yet day by day if on life's strand,
We work with patient heart and hand,
It gathers joy makes dark days bright,
And gives at last a lovely light.

How we love this fair for its wonderful, meaningful experiences that appeal to all our senses and the child within us!

The Splendour of Autumn at Our Doorstep

Autumn in its full glory is here! The apple festivals have arrived. Pumpkin patches have opened. Our grey residential streets have suddenly disappeared under a brilliant golden blanket of leaves. It's my favourite season. We took time to play in it this morning-- examining the leaves, shuffling in it, looking at bugs--dead or alive, running for balls through the leaves, and even posing in it as a boarder with some serious attitude.



You look so rad D! Just no real aerial tricks yet please. Mom will have to ask you to abort any inkling of those ideas stirring in your head.

Look at My Loot!

Depite the pouring rain today, we went to Word on the Street, an outdoor book and magazine festival, held downtown just outside the Central Library. For the first time ever, I was able to snag a book bag for the book bag treasure hunt. In the past, I've always gone too late to buy one of the 250 available bags to collect the treasure hunt freebies, but not this year. I can't believe what I've been missing all these years, because this is my loot collected from some of the participating exhibitors today--lots of bookmarks, pens, books, and magazines, of course, but also extra book bags, (including a knapsack), a kids DVD, a sampler music CD, and one of my faves, a loaded Starbucks card that came with the purchase of the treasure hunt bag!


The festival was super fun with lots of authors and interesting literary types to talk to and many book-related activities for the boys. It was just too bad that I couldn't collect from the entire list of participating exhibitors, but the book bag was still well worth the $18. The wind and rain, unfortunately and eventually, got a little too uncomfy for the boys. I was sensing the meltdowns coming on fast and furious from every direction, so we had to head for the car.


On the crafting front, I've been crocheting booties--just trying to get the design right to match my basic crochet hat design. (Crappy photo, I know.) Not only have I had requests, but I've got two nieces or nephews or one of each making their debut in April, 2008! Can't wait!

Summer So Far....

As we approach the end of July, I thought I'd post some of our summer fun pics so far.. Those Flickr toys are so much more fun to use than Photoshop!

1. Treats at Kits Beach(centre), 2. Strathcona Community Garden, 3. Looking Back, 4. Street Party on Commercial Drive, 5. Robson Park, 6. Spectator Ryan at Soccer Camp, 7. Freezies with the Boys, 8. Car-free Day, 9. Feeding Ducks at Trout Lake, 10. Goalie at Soccer Camp, 11. Riding Tadem @ Family Pl., 12. Ryan @ Fam. Pl., 13. Family Pl. Biking

U-Pick Strawberries

It's strawberry picking time again! Yay!!! The strawberries were pretty picked over by the time we got to Featherstone at about noon yesterday, but there were still lots of juicy, sweet berries to be picked with some extra effort. With a perfect day weatherwise, we were able to pick about 10 lbs to bring home. I had a lot more help picking from the boys this year--especially from R who was quite possessive about his little bucket that he carried with him around the field. R mainly stuffed his face last year, although, I'm sure we all gobbled up a few pounds on the field this year too.

Off to the 30th International Vancouver Children's Festival

Look at my scary skull face painting!

Serious about fence painting

Exploring juggling balls

Make that diablo spin D!

Trying out the stilts

Why won't this kite fly?

With a day off from work on Friday and some tickets to see Tzo'Kam & Sandy Scofield, two First Nations music acts, it was a full day of fun festival activities that started bright and early (out of the house by 8:45am) and ended until the boys were just too tired to fly their kites made at the festival.

As usual on most of my outings, I bring my sock knitting, in case I have a chance to knit a round or two. Most of the time I don't even have the opportunity to unzip my knitting bag, but to my surprise, I was able to pull out the sock that day while R was in the giant sandbox and D was socializing with friends after having lunch. What I also didn't expect was to attract a crowd of French immersion students at the festival (both boys and girls) quite interested in what I was making. It was a little daunting trying to answer all of their questions while trying hard not to make a mistake in my knitting pattern, but it made me very happy that these kids would be interested in just watching me knit on my DPNs. Knitting in public sure has the power to promote it!