November 2013

Yes. It is a bit cold out.

Trout Lake Community Centre

Nara asked use to go a bouncy castle. We went to the drop in at Kerrisdale arena a year ago (it's open summer only) and somehow she remembers. We did some searching and found a drop in at Trout Lake that has a bouncy castle. We packed the kids and went for it.

This gym had a modest sized bouncy castle, and it was happy times for Nara. She got in lots of jumping and sliding, but only one jump down the slide (she bounced off at the landing). There was lots of other activity in the gym - a good number of ride on toys and things to pick up.

This was Claira's first time in bouncy castle and she had a good time. She is walking well enough now that she can take on challenges like walking over things without holding on and moving surfaces (she likes climbing onto the couch and the rocking chairs at home). I think by next summer she will be to keep up with her sister in most activity.

When we got the kids home they were just bushed - they went to sleep quietly and slept for almost three hours.

Noelle's Birthday

Noelle turned five and Nara got an invite to the birthday party. The party was held at the Adventure Zone at Granville Island - we have been there before back in February. Noelle is considerably older than Nara (a year and half) so it was a bit hard for Nara to keep up (or interact meaningfully) but Nara had a great time.

I'm the first to admit, Nara really likes cake. We don't really have cake other than for birthday parties so Nara always asks if there is going to be cake. She isn't picky - ice cream cake is good too.

Half a year ago, Nara wouldn't go through the Adventure Zone very much - she just wanted to stick around with Daddy. This time she was more brave about exploring the place. They have significantly refurbished the place - new balls, new mats, new nets and it looked really clean when we visited. Nara quite liked the ball pit in the bottom, but she insisted on clean up when other kids lets balls out of the room.

Climbing around as parent, I encountered more than one "stuck" kid who couldn't get out of their current location and had no parent anywhere to be found. I don't know how stressful it is for a kid to ask a stranger for help, but I don't think these kids were having a good time. That said, Noelle and her school mates were having a blast going up and down.

Claira is too young for the Adventure Zone, but the party room has great light. She had a good time just looking around at the various game systems and watching Nara climb around. Thanks for the invite!