Spring Break

**I apologize for the lack of photos in this post, will add them later as we are having a few issues with uploading photos to our computer at the moment**

We have officially finished our first week of spring break and what a great week it was!  I can't tell you how much I love having full days with Sydney to do whatever we want with.  It reminds me so much of those precious days before preschool when she and I were just at home left to do whatever we pleased. 

We managed to pack quite a bit into our first week, first thing Monday morning we hopped in the car with Sarah and Emma and headed to the states for a couple days of shopping.  We hit up Target and Bellis Fair, grabbed a quick lunch at Red Robin and then headed down to Tulalip.

We checked into our hotel at the Tulalip Resort and took the girls swimming for the afternoon at the pool there.  They absolutely loved it!  It was so fun watching them both jump like cannon balls off the edge of the pool deck into the water and swim to our waiting arms.

After our swim we headed to the outlets to get a lay of the land and then to Olive Garden for dinner with our two sleepy girls.  All that shopping and swimming just tuckered them out!

The next morning we had breakfast and then headed straight to the outlets to shop our hearts out.  The girls were so well behaved and even got themselves a little treat from the Disney Store as a reward for being good.

It was so fun to have a little getaway with them and a change of scenery.

Sydney and I had a 'Dunbar Day' on Wednesday, hitting up the local branch of the Vancouver Public Library and then on to Kokopelli for lunch and a play.  We were delighted to run into Susan and Maddie, Weston and Gwen and Kaitlyn and Luke while we were there.  The kids had an impromptu playdate, it was terrific!

On Thursday we had a very special girls day planned with our friends Angela and Elizabeth.  We all met at Samaya Kids Spa and had a fun time getting our finger and toe nails done.  From there we headed to Neverland Tea Salon for high tea with the girls which was just so much fun!

We love hanging out with Angela and Elizabeth and are excited to spend some time with their family on the Sunshine Coast this summer!

The last few days have been a bit of a down turn as all three of us have been feeling not exactly 100%.  Paul and Syd seem to have come away unscathed after a day or so of rest but I was up last night all night sicker than a dog so spent the day in bed unfortunately.  Happily I am feeling much better now and am hoping to hit the ground running again tomorrow to get some more things off of Sydney's bucket list!

We did manage to squeeze in a play at the new Terra Nova playground in Richmond on Saturday along with riding lessons during a rare dry spell. 

Looking forward to another fun week ahead doing some great things and connecting with friends!

March Musings

We are a few short days away from the start of Sydney's spring break.  The timing is great, I think we are all feeling as though we need a little bit of a break in routine, it's been a busy term at school and at home!

Several weeks ago when I was looking ahead at my calendar thinking about spring break I asked Sydney if she wanted to do any spring break camps or go away on a trip anywhere.  She shook her head and replied: "I don't want to do anything Mom, I just want to hang out with you!"  So she got her wish.  We are going to have a staycation right here at home enjoying all that our city has to offer and doing some of Sydney's most favourite things together.

Sydney often asks me at the end of the day what I did all day while she is in school.  Sometimes my days are so busy running from one place to another that I can hardly remember what I did to tell her.  So I decided to open an Instagram account just for her to document my travels throughout the day.  Feel free to follow my feed here if you want to see what a day in the life of Susan looks like!

I had the pleasure of tagging along with Sydney's class last Wednesday on a field trip to Carousel Theatre for Young People to see the play Shakespearean Rhapsody.  It was such fun seeing how excited Sydney and her classmates were to be going on a field trip and to watch them laugh and enjoy the show.

Coincidentally, I had bought Sydney and I tickets to the exact same show for this past Sunday so we decided to make a playdate of it and took Sydney's friend Julia with us to see it again.  The girls had fun visiting and having ice cream in the sun after the show. 

Julia's Mom gave me the most beautiful spring planter to thank me for taking Julia to the play, it was so lovely!

Sydney has been busy as usual in the kitchen these days preparing appetizers for dinner.  The other night she made a salad with snow beans (snow peas but she likes to call them snow beans!), cucumber and blueberries with a dressing of Italian salad dressing and cumin.  She even heaped a pile of cumin on the side for dipping.  I love watching her create a dish and work on her plating skills.  I think I may have a chef in the making on my hands.

Syd came home with an art file stuffed with some beautiful paintings from school the other day.  She absolutely loves rainbows and made some gorgeous ones.  I especially love the ones she made with her little fingerprints!

We had the pleasure of celebrating her classmate Jaime and Ryan's 6th birthdays this weekend at the Arbutus Club.  The kids had a wonderful time playing on the huge bouncy castle and with the riding toys in the gym before having pizza, snacks and cake in the party room.

Sydney came home with a Hello Kitty bag filled with fun trinkets to enjoy.  It was fun to see her classmates on the weekend outside of school!

We have been enjoying one of the most beautiful sunny stretches of weather that I can ever remember for this time of year lately.  We have had one sunny, blue sky day after another and yesterday the temperatures reached up to 17 degrees!  It is amazing!  Sadly the local ski hills have absolutely no snow at all so Sydney's ski lessons have been cut short but we aren't complaining!

Hope that March has been good to you wherever you are!

This Weekend

Welcome March!  What a way to usher in a new month with yet another few days of spectacular, sunny weather! 

On Friday afternoon after school I had yet to do my practice run for the day so I convinced both Paul and Sydney to come with me down to the water to go for a walk behind me while I ran.  I can't tell you how delighted I was when Sydney told me that she wanted to run with me and then proceeded to keep pace with me for ten straight minutes!  I was so proud of her.  At the end of ten minutes she gasped "I'm tired and my ribs hurt!"  Poor girl had a stitch in her side but bravely walked it off with Daddy while I finished my run.  What a nice way to start our weekend.

Early Saturday morning Sydney and I tagged along with Paul while he went to get his hair cut.  At Syd's request she and I headed to Urban Source so that she could fill a bag to her heart's desire with art supplies to make some 'projects' as she calls them.

She had such fun making a collage using a tin of buttons and beads that she picked up along with some very cool flowers using straws and coffee filters.

We also took a bit of time on Saturday to make up Sydney's Spring Break Bucket List.  I have asked her several times if she would like to take a spring break camp or go away on a trip together and she has responded 'no' to both answering that she just wants to 'hang out with me' for spring break.  Sweet girl!

So we made a wish list of things that she'd like to do locally and roughed them out into the two weeks that she has scheduled off for spring break in March.  I'm actually really looking forward to spending some time with her doing some fun things around town!

On Saturday afternoon we whipped up our annual batch of Cherry Hamantashen for Purim which is coming up this week. 

They turned out great and are so delicious!  I'm hoping to have a few left to give away before Paul and Syd eat them all!

Speaking of making things, I just had to post a picture of this most amazingly decorated cookie that Sydney came home from her friend Beatrice's birthday party with last weekend.  She went to town with the icing, marshmallows and jelly beans!

We got a very special gift from Auntie Elaine last week, a beautiful freshly knit sweater for Sydney in a gorgeous rainbow pattern.  I absolutely love it!!

I have been volunteering in Syd's classroom once a week while the girls learn to play chess and Sydney and I have been having so much fun practicing together at home.  We played a few games this weekend and are honing our skills and learning a lot as we go.

Sydney and Paul picked me the most gorgeous bouquet of flowers this morning while they were out for a walk together.  Sydney arranged it all in a glass for me and surprised me with it when I had gotten home from my Sunday morning run with Angela and Susan.

I also picked myself some of these absolutely beautiful flowers which I have long admired in our back alley.  I have no idea what they are called but they blossom from seemingly dead branches, no leaves or greenery to be seen and are so cool!

This afternoon Sydney and I helped her buddy Aaro usher in his 5th year at a birthday party at Origins Parkour, a fun indoor play space on Main Street.

Sydney had such a blast in the gym, it was so fun watching her roll and jump and tumble.

We have been to every one of Aaro's birthday parties since I met his Momma while we were both pregnant almost six years ago.  It was so special to share this day with him once again!

Sydney came home from the party with a new bright orange water bottle filled with candy!!  Heaven!

What a great weekend it was, looking forward to what the week ahead will bring to us.