Quan, Quan and More Quan!

We had 3 play dates with Quan this past week!  On Monday evening, we went to a local park to listen to Quan's Mommy play bluegrass music with her friends.  Quan even played the guitar a little bit!  It was well past bedtime before we got home, but oh well, Molly and Quan really like listening to music.  Especially live music in a park in the summer.  Especially when Quan's Mommy is playing guitar and singing...

A couple of days later, Quan came over to our house to play in the front yard for the afternoon.  It was a really hot day, so we were playing in the pool and the turtle fountain, and I brought out the playdough when they had gotten enough of the water.  It was great fun!

And our third date was the live music in another local park, which happened once a week all summer long.  We have only missed 2 of them this summer.  We take a picnic dinner, a blanket and Molly's bottle, and sit and eat while listening to music.  Quan and his Mommy joined us this week, for the last performance of the season.  The music was really good, and we danced a lot.

It's sad that summer is coming to an end.  So many fun activities are ending, and we have enjoyed them so much.  However, I have signed Molly up for a few classes in the fall, so we new things to look forward to.

A Day at the Aquarium

The thing to do with kids on a rainy day in Vancouver is to go to the Aquarium in Stanley Park.  A few days ago, I arranged a visit with Merel and Nhan, and Rita and Ninh to join Molly and I.  We bought memberships and were able to bypass the 30 minute lineup to get in. 

The giant octopus

Jellyfish

The dolphin show

Waiting for belugas

I see one Mommy!

Watching the sea otters

Molly Amazes Me, And Why I Love Our Neighborhood

It all started when Molly was playing happily with the little cart I bought her in Vietnam that helps teach her to walk.  I was trying to cook her breakfast, but I had to keep helping her turn around, or get the cart free from being stuck on toys, corners, the carpet, etc.  I decided we should take the cart outside and see how she does on the sidewalk.

So later that day, she pushed her little cart from one end of our block to the other, and back again!  She stopped to smell the flowers, wave at some dogs, and smile at people passing by.  I was amazed that she could walk so far!  And she loved it - laughing and chattering the whole time.

The next morning, I decided she should walk with her cart to the coffee shop.  We attracted a lot of attention on Cambie Street as she made her way down the block.  After sharing a scone, we headed back, but Molly was barrelling down the street, so I thought perhaps we could go to the grocery store in the next block and get a few things.  Along the way, she stopped to wave at the hairdressers, chatted with the florist, who brought out a flower for her, and was given a balloon by the nice lady in the grocery store.  I love our neighborhood!

Homemade Playdough

In honor of the proposal anniversary on Monday, I made a batch of playdough for Molly.  I have been saving a recipe for (many) decades, and bought all the ingredients a few weeks ago.  Here is the recipe:

2 cups of flour

1 cup of salt

1 Tablespoon of cream of tartar

2 Tablespoons of vegetable oil

2 cups of warm water

food coloring (optional)

Put everything in a pot and stir until it is smooth.

Put the pot over low heat, and stir constantly.  Within about 10 minutes, the mixture will start to thicken, and soon will form a lumpy ball in the middle of the pan.  Test for stickiness.  If it's too sticky, you need to cook it longer.

Let it cool, then knead it until it is smooth and elastic.

Separate into portions and color as you wish.  Put a few drops of food coloring in an indent in the dough, then knead until the color is evenly distributed.  Start with a few drops, then add more if you want a stronger color.

Store in plastic or other air-tight container.

I found on the internet that you can use packages of Koolaid to color the dough, and it leaves the dough smelling nice.  I separated the dough into 8 balls and tried:

Orange - one package gave a nice pumpkin orange color

Lemon-lime - one package gave a bright green color

Cherry - one package gave a dark pink color

Grape - one package gave a very dark, almost black color

Tropical Punch - HALF a package gave a wine-red color

I also used food coloring for the yellow and turquoise.  For the yellow, I needed 12-15 drops, but for the turquoise, I only needed 3 drops of blue, 1 drop of green and 1 drop of yellow.

Molly was quite excited to see the bags of colors, but didn't quite know what to do with it when I put some in front of her.  I showed her how to poke and squeeze it, which made her smile.  I also made a few small marble-size balls which she immediately tried to eat.  NOT recommended!  Although the recipe appears edible, it's very high in salt.  It can also be bad if a pet dog or cat ate any too.

Enjoy!

My Proposal Anniversary

A year ago today, I sat in front of my computer and watched a picture of Molly slowly appear.  First her little fist, then a shock of black hair, then her little face with those huge dark eyes!  What an exciting, emotional time, full of promise and dreams coming true.  I have loved her for a whole year now!  (Click here to read my blog entry for that day last year.)

And what a year in between!  The high of proposal, the joy and panic to prepare for her, the devastation of waiting and waiting and waiting for the news to travel. Finally, the flight to Vietnam, meeting Molly for the first time, and the rest of my crazy, amazing, wonderful experience over there.  And now, the first few months of our life together.  There are no words to describe how incredible the feeling is to be her mother.  She's an awesome little girl!

Just Because I Can - May 2010

Here is the final batch of random pictures of Molly from May and the first few days of June, while we were still in Vietnam.

Another Day in My Life

So, as Molly and I were leaving my truck at the ferry parking lot on the way to Victoria, I noticed that my vehicle insurance had expired a few days earlier.  With crossed fingers, I left it there and tried not to worry.  When we got back, everything was fine, and we made it home without getting into an accident, caught or fined.  The next morning I looked through the pile of mail I haven't dealt with yet, to find my insurance papers.  Instead, I found the reminder that my driver's licence expired on my birthday a month ago!  And on top of everything, the insurance agent said that I had to get Air-Care before I could buy insurance.  He sold me a day's permit, and Molly and I rushed off the the Air-Care centre instead of taking a nap.  We had an appointment that afternoon, so it wasn't until the next morning that I bought insurance for the year and got my driver's licence renewed in the afternoon.  Then I ate a chocolate bar.  Everything's OK now.

Girls Weekend

Molly's friend Mylan is one of the Fab Four - adopted from Vietnam by a single mother, who has become a close friend.  Lesia and Mylan invited the two of us to visit them this past weekend, so we packed up and caught the ferry over on Friday, with a quick stop along the way to buy a tunnel from Ikea for Mylan.

Molly was hesitant as first, but after watching Mylan crawl through it, she had a blast following Mylan through the tunnel, chasing and giggling, over and over again.

Mylan has some other great toys and the two girls played together as Molly explored her stash.  Mylan was pretty good about sharing.

Saturday morning, we loaded the girls up and went out to a great restaurant for brunch.  We started with coffee at the most stroller-friendly coffee shop downtown (Habit) and then got a table for 2 plus 2 high chairs next door at Mole.

The girls did really well at the restaurant!  Of course, many things hit the floor, and we apologized to the people at the tables beside us for a few things...

But over all, I thought it was really fun having brunch with our girls.

Mylan thought the restaurant was pretty noisy!

Molly had a hard time waiting for her food.  She was HUNGRY!

Kisses

Later in the afternoon, we went out to Oak Bay Marina to see the seals, but sadly they weren't around.  Instead we took a walk along the waterfront to see the sights.  The westcoast is so beautiful in the rain.

Later that night, we bathed the girls together, and just HAD to get pictures

Mylan was trying out a new hair-do. 

How do you like it?

We read bedtime stories together, then lights-out for the girls.  Lesia and I stayed up way too late drinking good red wine and getting to know each other better.

Molly and I had to catch a ferry home the next morning, but we all wished we could have stayed longer.

 

Lesia and Mylan will visit us in Vancouver soon, and we can't wait to see them!

Playdate Fun

Molly's friend Nhan invited us to join them at the Blodel Conservatory last week.  Molly and I arrived first, and found that there is a wading pool with fountains in it there.  Lots of other kids were playing in the water, so Molly waded right in.   

Nhan joined us shortly afterwards, and neither family was prepared for swimming.  Therefore, both kids were in 100 lb cloth diapers very quickly, and the grown-ups also got soaked.  But what fun! 

Eventually we got dried off, changed, and went inside to see the flowers and the birdies. 

It was a great outing for all of us. 

The next afternoon, they all came over to our house to play.  Nhan sat in Molly's high chair to eat, he slept in her room, and he played with her toys.  We played outside, ate popsicles and lounged on a blanket in the yard. 

It was a really great time for the kids to be together.  Later in the afternoon, the two of them started crawling around chasing each other and giggling.  And we were giggling at them!