Scavenger Hunt

Because Easter was in the middle of Spring Break this year and some people were away (and because it was really, really, cold then, too!) we had our "Easter Egg Hunt" this last weekend. Except it wasn't Easter, so we had to do something a little bit different. So we had a scavenger hunt and obstacle course race. The weather was perfect! It was sunny and very nice and warm as we trekked out to the woods to look for different kinds of flowers, twigs in the shape of letters, feathers, different kinds of leaves and other woodland wonders. They also had to find someone with pocket lint to share, and 12 cents.

When they had gathered all these treaseures they got a sticker on their sheet of paper, saying they had completed it.
Next came the obstacle course. They started by showing off their skills at basketball by dribbling and taking a shot at the net, then they jumped 10 jumps on the trampoline and then it was off to climb the "rock" wall and slide down the slide.
Then they hopped in the sac
crawled through a tent, over some "hurdles", weaved around some buckets and skipped around a tree.
Then they crawled under or jumped over a bar, practiced their agility stepping in hoops
crawled through a tunnel, through another tent and, using a badminton racket, hit a balloon around the trampoline - which was difficult to do with the uncooperative breezes.
After another sticker for completing the obstacle course they had to do some playdough art, making a beach scene.
Then it was time for spelling. They spelled the word "FUN!".
After getting stickers for completing all these events they got an Easter basket full of goodies. Thanks, Auntie Kendra, for another fun day!
And of course there was lots of food and time for play. The girls had a blast playing with their cousins and second cousins and can't wait to do it again soon!

More Excitement On Our Street...

Well, the excitement never ends on our street! That's why we're moving. So far away, I know. For two hours last night there were six police cars sitting outside our house. Three of them were ghost cars. Darcy talked to one of the neighbours who talked to the cops, and they said they were waiting for something to happen further down the street. But they were sitting facing the main road. You'd think they'd be wanting to block the get-away path. But maybe they were waiting for someone to come home, so they parked down here so they wouldn't be quite as visible. Probably some grow-op they were going to bust or something. At 9:00 they just all sped away. No lights or sirens, they just drove off past where I could see them. Weirdness.

It's A Zoo In Here!

For Rachael's birthday Oma & Opa gave us a season's pass to the zoo! So, seeing as it was Spring Break we decided to try it out. The forecast all week was nothing but rain, but it was looking pretty sunny this morning, so we headed out.

Before we left I stepped outside to see how warm it was. The sun was shining and it seemed like a pretty nice day. But when the sun went behind the clouds it was CHILLY! We even saw a bit of the white stuff! What? It's spring!

But we braved the cold for a few hours, anyway. We didn't go see everything because we can come back whenever we want! At the Vivarium (nice and warm in there!) we got to pet a turtle.

And we saw the Birds Of Prey show. (Not so warm there!) Always impressive.

We saw the baby giraffe. Look how close we got to him!

Ok, so maybe that wasn't the baby. This isn't either, but it's still an amazing animal. The baby giraffe was in his house.

We didn't stick around for the lion and tiger feeding this time - the kids were too cold! But when we were leaving we saw this peacock with it's tail all up. The picture didn't turn out great, but it was very colorful.

Maybe next time we'll pile the bikes in the back of the truck and the kids can ride around the zoo. It was good practice walking. We were there for two hours and the only sitting we did was at the Birds of Prey show. Of course, walking is a lot easier to do when you get to stop and look at the cool animals all the time.

Rachael's Birthday

Yesterday Rachael turned 7 so we had the local Froese's and extended clan members (ie Claire, Chris & Nicole) over for vereniki and sausage. Rachael, the little vereniki monster, ate seven, cuz she's seven! Yikes! I hate to see how many she'll eat when she's 15!

And we had presents and birthday cake. Not nearly as fancy a cake as Autnie Kendra makes, but it was tasty!

We measured Rachael to see how tall she is for the height chart, and she's 4 feet! Growing like a weed! Today we're going to Gramps & Grams for some more birthday and Easter fun.

Coloring Contest Winner!

We got a phone call today saying Kaitlyn won a coloring contest! They had different age categories and Kaitlyn won for the 3-5 year olds. This was her picture:

This was her prize! That bunny is almost bigger than she is! Way to go Kaitlyn!

We dropped off more pictures for a different coloring contest. Those winners are announced on Saturday, so you never know!

Rachael's 7th Birthday Today!

My goodness, can she really be seven already? Time sure flies. Rachael wanted to go to the park that's close to our house today. It was kind of a run down park that was nothing special but she wanted to go. It was trying to be sunny so we went just before lunch.
We used to be able to see the park from the other end of the park street, so I thought it was a bit strange that I couldn't see it today. But we got a bit closer and we saw that they replaced the old park with a nice new park! So much nicer!
The girls brought along their "puppies" to the park and had fun pushing them on the swings and going down the slides.
A nice birthday surprise.

An Exciting Night On Our Street...

We woke up last night at around 3:30 to hear someone trying to start their car. It obviously wasn't working, but this person kept cranking the engine for about a minute at a time trying to start the thing. Meanwhile we were thinking, "give up already so we can go back to sleep!" They did this about 4 or 5 times, then stopped. That's when the yelling started. Darcy thought it might be our girls calling, so I went and checked on them, but they were asleep. So then I wondered who would be yelling at this time of night. I looked out our living room window to see our neighbours across the street out in their pyjamas looking at something down the street. So I looked too, and a car was on fire! It was parked on the side of the street (fortunately not in a garage!) and it started as a little fire, but then grew quite quickly. The windows and a tire or two blew out but the firemen arrived before it got hot enough to reach the gas tank. Not like in the movies where cars blow up right away. There was a car parked in front of this one and just before the owner moved it, the tail light caught on fire, but I think they were able to get it out right away. At least when the fire truck came it didn't come with the sirens on or they would have woken up the other half of the neighbourhood (namely my kids!). So then we had to listen to this noisy fire truck idling outside our house for at least half an hour. And then the noisy tow truck after that. So we were awake for over an hour in the middle of the night. And being right after the time change, I was more than a little sleepy waking up this morning! I don't think I'll tell the kids about the excitment. I can see Rachael not wanting to ride in a car anymore, or go to sleep, worrying about it happening to our car in the garage.

The moral of the story? If your car isn't going to start, STOP TRYING!!!

Party Time!

Rachael had her 7th (Yikes! 7 already!) birthday party a bit early this year. Her birthday's on Spring Break and at least four of her friends are going to be away then so we decided to celebrate early so everyone could come. Rachael had eight friends and family celbrate in a dino-mite way! We played dinosaur games like pin-the-horn-on-the-triceratops.

and "eat" (aka - pop) other people's (I mean dinosaur's) eggs (balloons) while keeping yours safe. We had a relay race where they had to wear dinosaur "feet" and carry talking eggs ("Hello, anyone out there, let me out, let me out!") on a spoon,

and a dinosaur version of duck-duck-goose where whoever was "it" got to make up the dinosaur names to say ("triceratops, triceratops, T-rex!)

Then we went upstairs for a Dinosaur egg hunt and then there were presents to open! Can't forget about presents! Then there were some hungry dinosaurs who wanted to eat! And of course, Auntie Kendra provided an amazing cake again!

Rachael wanted a dinosaur popping out of an Easter Egg (because her real birthday is so close to Easter this year). Thanks Auntie Kendra!

Science World

Since Darcy has been working so many weekends we decided to do something really fun this weekend. So we loaded up the kids in the car and drove to Metrotown. Then we hopped on SkyTrain and headed off to Science World. While we were there we saw the Dinosaurs Alive show at the Omnimax (dizzzzzzyyyy!) The girls loved it! Rachael got a little bit hungry so she found something to eat! Kaitlyn tested her grip. The girls love playing in boxes! Even at Science World! We also saw one of those little shows they put on - this one about toys. And Rachael got to be a special helper! They were making a pop bottle into a rocket. Rachael got to use a bicycle pump to pump air into the bottle, and then another boy pulled the trigger and it launched in the air a few feet. Then they added some water to the bottle, pumped more air into it and sent it flying. This time it went all the way to the second floor! Very cool. And right then is when the camera batteries died, but at least I got lots of pictures! The girls had a blast and Rachael is looking forward to going again with her class after spring break.

It's Summer!

Well, it's Sunny, anyway. Maybe the mercury needs to rise a bit more to make it officially summer, but after a long cold winter, we're ready for it! Kaitlyn is out walking her puppy to the new house. What a good dog! If only all dogs were that easy to take care of...

We're having a summer meal for supper tonight - barbequed hamburgers, potato salad, carrot sticks, jello and lemonade! Mmmmm!

Kaitlyn's Quip

Yesterday we were driving home from my Mom's birthday party. We were on a hill and could see the lights of Mission. Kaitlyn had a good view of them because we were in the truck and her chair goes in the middle seat so she had a good view out the front window. She said something like, "Hey, those lights look like stars lining up to get ice cream!" Twas very cute.

Random Acts of Kindness

Last June we went and handed out flowers to some seniors' homes in town and the residents enjoyed it so much we thought we'd do it again.

Our Life Group from church went to an assisted living place and handed out an early Valentine's day present. We thought lots of the people there may have lost loved ones and so we thought we'd brighten their day.

The girls had a blast and the seniors loved seing the kids.

Hot Wheels

No, not little matchbox cars, but Darcy did get a new toy. The old rusty van was dying - needing a new transmission or something we didn't want to pay for on an old thing, so Darcy went truck shopping.

It's a 2004 Chevy Silverado (I think). Fully loaded. Dual climate control, AC, heated leather seats, cruize, the works. (I think this time it's rain, not dust on the camera lense!)

The reason he needed a truck was because Darcy and Ryan found a great deal on a trailer that came full of tools. So he needed a truck to haul it.

This will definately be the vehicle we take our summer vacation with!

"I Want Candy..."

"I want candy..." What parent hasn't heard that a million times? Though, probably not followed by, "...only once a week." !!!!! Ok!!!! That's what Rachael said on the way home from school today, and I, for one, will not argue! In school they're working on nutrition and the four - I mean five - food groups. Apparently there's now a "Junk Food" group. Rachael said her teacher suggested eating junk food only once a week, and she wants to do it! Fine by me!