May Long

We have had a chill May long weekend around here.  What was meant to be a rainy and cool weekend actually turned out pretty great weather-wise.  We've enjoyed some time outdoors and have gotten lots done around the house.

Here's a glimpse of what our week looked like:

Riding Lesson

Sydney's sunny Monday afternoon riding lessons continue to be such a source of joy for her.  This week she decided that she wanted to spend her entire lesson in the pen working on specific skills riding sweet Bailey.  It meant that she had an audience of me, Sarah and Emma cheering her on.

She was thrilled to go trotting for the first time this week, it was so cute watching her bounce up and down in the saddle as the horse moved along.  She was a natural, it was as though she'd done it a million times before!

Handprints

Every year Sydney's preschool does a fund raiser where they create ceramic tiles with the children's handprints on them.  For the second year running I volunteered to help the children do their handprints and spent nearly every morning this week at the preschool making sure I'd gotten everyone!

Nico's Birthday

We celebrated Sydney's preschool buddy Nico's birthday in class this week.  His Mom made a 'cake' for him using cut watermelon to share with the class.  It was so cool!  She even carved a watermelon into a shark for the kids, they loved it!

Last of the Lilacs

We have, once again, so enjoyed our lilac bush blooming this year.  Before the fleeting blossoms were gone for the season we cut ourselves a huge bouquet for our kitchen and one for the preschool which they kept in a giant Mason jar vase.  Loved it!

Flower Arranging

Sydney has always loved flowers, from the time she was just a wee girl, and this year is no different.  She and I have been doing many a walk around the neighborhood collecting wild flowers and Syd has had so much fun arranging them in vases to display in the window seat in our kitchen.

Field Trip to Airport

This week was a special one indeed at preschool for Sydney and her classmates as they took their very first field trip to the airport!

We rode the bus to the Canada Line skytrain station, then rode the skytrain all the way to the airport where we looked around and then headed up to the observation area in the domestic terminal.

The kids so enjoyed watching the planes take off and land and watching luggage being loaded onto the planes.

We sat and had lunch together before piling on the skytrain to head back to school.

En route we stopped at Oakridge mall to celebrate Shabbat on the steps outside!  It was a very special time indeed!

Playdate with Jen and Emmy

Sydney was absolutely thrilled this week to have her beloved preschool teacher Jen and her daughter Emmy over for a playdate.

Jen and Emmy brought Sydney and I each a bouquet of coloured daisies, orange for me and purple for Sydney which made the most beautiful bouquet when put together!

Jen also brought Sydney a special treat, three varieties of Pocky as a treat!

Sydney and Emmy had such fun playing together, bouncing in the bouncy castle, dressing up in costume and playing in the playroom.

We can't wait to have them back again, we so enjoyed their company!  Sydney is already planning a tea party with Emmy!

Planting

We finally got around to planting our seeds this weekend, pumpkin, watermelon, sweet basil, sunflowers and lettuce.

Can't wait to see the seeds sprout really soon!

Kiwi Crate

During our quiet moments at home we dug out our latest Kiwi Crate which was a rainforest theme this month.

We made a flipping frog game which Sydney had so much fun playing!

Symphony

We spent Sunday afternoon with our friends Emma and Sarah taking in the VSO's Kids Koncert series.  It was Mother Goose themed this time and the girls really enjoyed the music, dancing and acting.

They especially enjoyed getting all dressed up for the event!

Welcome Back Alexa!

Our summer nanny from last year, Alexa, is back in town for the summer and has been coming over to watch Sydney a few times a week so that Paul and I can spend some time together.  It has been wonderful having some concentrated time together to go for walks, dinner, run errands and have uninterrupted conversation!

Sydney loves her time with Alexa, they do crafts, play games and toys, hang out outside, go to the park and have picnics together.

Looking forward to a great summer filled with lots of great time for Sydney and Alexa to spend together!