Christmas Cheer

We had quite an action packed lead up to Christmas.  After the Santa Claus parade we went to the JCCC for their Winter Festival.  Akemi somehow managed to go on stage with the magician to do something.

We had two Christmas concerts to see - one in English and one in Japanese.  It looks like I can only upload the English one.

Silvina and Akemi made a Christmas scene with gingerbread and other sweets.

On the big day, Akemi got a lot of very fancy stuff.  On boxing day we did a big cleaning and she "helped" me shovel the driveway.

 

 

Christmas Train

 We are getting in gear for Christmas.  Got the Christmas tree up with the train around it, and yesterday we went to the Santa Claus parade.  It seemed to be bigger this year than previous ones, but very cold - as usual.

Autumn Catch Up

 Lot's to catch up on and Autumn feels like it is over.

In October we went to the pumpkin patch near Hamilton.  It was pretty wet.  This year they had this zip line that Nina tried out.  We ended up picking out three pumpkins and made them to look like Totoros.  Just like the movie, we had a small one, a bigger one, and a huge one that kept falling asleep.

For Halloween Silvina sewed a wolf costume from scratch.  She was working on it every night for about a month, but thought it was all worth while - especially when Nina's art teacher was raving about it.

The other day I made some lamb with small potatoes and other vegetables.  I told her that she had to try one of the potatoes, and she reluctantly did.  She took a reasonably large bite, chewed on it for a while, and then said "I think it is a bit under-seasoned".  Me and Silvina burst out laughing and asked her where she got that one from.  Apparently it was from a cooking network show that we had been watching before.

Today was graduation from the gymnastics class.  When Nina got report card she came screaming "I got level four!".  She had been working hard and was hoping to pass to level four.

Thanksgiving in Algonquin

For the Thanksgiving long weekend we took the Friday off and made it an extra long weekend.  For a number of years we have been going up to Algonquin Park to see the changing leaves and to hike.

This year the leaves were mostly down, but the hiking was still good.  Nina up-ed her game.

On the Friday we went to the Ragged Falls outside of Algonquin Park.  I was pretty short, but pretty none the less.  This picture is from that trail.  It was a beautiful day.

The next day was also beautiful and we went on this trail on the far side of the park.  I can't remember the name of it now, but it was quite long and arduous.  We took stops along the way to get "power-ups" and Nina fared marvelously.  In the afternoon we went on a canoe trip and circled around an island that we called Halloween Island.

Sunday was sort of rainy, but we went out anyway to the Track and Tower.  This was also a long and tricky trail.  All of us made it but it was a hard hike.

On Monday before we went back home, we did one more smaller trail - Hemlock Bluff.  It was longer than expected, but a pretty trail.  With these three hikes, Nina surely earned her badges.  Next year we may try the Centennial Trail.  I took a number of nice pictures this year and I think I will start a separate blog for the Algonquin trips.  Stay tuned.

Finishing with a Smile

Nina had her first cross-country meet on Tuesday.  They had been practising three times a week at the school for about a month.  She would trot at her own pace and manage to do several laps without stopping.  Slow and steady.

Leading up to the race day she was saying that she was nervous.  It was a beautiful autumn day for the race.  There were separate races for boys and girls and for different grades.  At her school there were nine girls in her grade going for the run.

The principal gathered the girls and told them what to expect.  One of the girls said "You have to go and follow the rabbit".  The principal snapped "No. You don't go out there and follow the rabbit - you go out there and catch the rabbit!".  It was a good pep talk.

At the starting line, the girls from the different schools lined up together.  Her school was allowed four spots, so they lined up four - four - one, with Nina being the one at the back.

When they took off from the starting line, Silvina said that she saw Nina leaving at the end of the pack and was worried about the outcome.

I was at the finish line watching all the girls come in.  The first girl was pretty tiny with red checks and was smiling as she sprinted in far ahead of the others.  Like a Poisson distribution the other girls filed in. A couple of Nina's classmates finished near the front, but no sign of Nina.

I looked towards the end of the pack, but before I got there I saw her running spiritedly across the hill.  As she rounded the bend I saw the  determination in her face to get to the finish line.  She was running hard, and passing some girls who had lost their steam.

Although many of the girls had crossed the finish line before her, she crossed it running, and I was proud of her.  She even beat a couple of her classmates.

Birthday Party Number 7

We had Nina's birthday party last Sunday.  13 rambunctious kids to see Monster University.  The party room was so cramped I felt claustrophobic.  I was surprised at how many times some of the kids had to go to the washroom during the movie.

All seemed to have a good time, especially the Birthday Girl. 

Gymfest 2013

Nina has been eagerly awaiting her debut at Gymfest, and today was the day that she and her class were able to strut their stuff to "Hey Mickey".

I've been mulling over getting a zoom lens for an upcoming trip, and I saw it on sale, so I bit the bullet and bought it.  It came in very handy.

The Golden Ticket

Yesterday was Nina's school fair.  They had a number of things to do including bouncy castles, a fire engine and a dunk tank with some teachers - including the principle.  Nina partook in all of these things, but I think the highlight (for me at least) was Candy Alley.

There are these paper bags full of candies you can buy, and a select number of them have a golden ticket inside.  Last year she tried several times but did not manage to win.  I had forgotten about it until Nina reminded me about it this year.

She (we) bought several bags to no avail.  I said that we could try one last time, and she ran over to the booth wishing on her butterfly tattoo to give her good luck.  She chose a big bag, and with great anticipation, opened it up.  She searched through and searched through, but no ticket.

She shared her candy and her disappointment of not winning a golden ticket with her friends.

Just before we were going to go home, Silvina went and bought another bag.  I was thinking "come on, another bag?".  Nina was surprised to get another bag and opened it up.  Like magic she pulled out a golden ticket and screamed with exuberance "I got a Golden Ticket!".  She ran like a shot to the prize area and excitedly presented her claim to fame.  I heard some of the kids saying "Nina got a Golden Ticket!"  She rummaged through the prize bag to choose - a football.

That instant when she pulled the Golden Ticket from the bag was as full of wonder and awe as the time  when she discovered the pancake magically flying on her plate.

In Nina's words about the school fair:

"I took a tumble on this like bouncy castle thing with this rope where you climb up.  I was trying to go penguin style which means on my belly, but instead of sliding down I flipped right over.  I ate a huge hot dog.  When my mom first got the bag my dad thought that it was no use, but then when I opened the bag... The Golden Ticket was inside!"

Hanami

Today was a beautiful day - low 20s, blue skies, and a slight breeze.  We decided to go to High Park to see the Sakura.  They were in full bloom.  From time to time a gentle wind would float a few petals to the ground.  We had a picnic under one of the Sakura trees.

Nina Lost Her First Tooth!

This evening I noticed that Akemi's bottom tooth was looking somehow shorter than the others.  When she was brushing her teeth, she bent the tooth forward and started brushing the back of it.  It gave me the heebiejeebies watching her, but amazingly the tooth hung in there. 

I finished brushing her teeth and when she spit out, low and behold, her tiny tooth was in the sink!  She was so happy about it she wanted me to put it on the computer.  She assigned the caption to this entry.

A couple of weeks ago we noticed that she had a second set of teeth growing in behind the ones at the bottom.  We were calling her sharky.

Miss Wiggly Tooth

Nina has a wiggly tooth now and is anxious for it to come out.  The other day we were making a "koodie catcher" for Easter and she asked "Where do you think the Easter bunny gets the chocolate eggs?".  I suggested "Maybe he lays them".  She flatly responded "That's impossible Daddy.  That's impossible".

Winter Fun

The big snow on Friday made for great fun this weekend.  It was a two-day outing to create the "igloo", snowman, and other snow creations.  In the first picture Nina is carrying Snowy, her baby polar bear.  The other pictures show the igloo and the snowman.  There was a huge mountain of snow in the driveway from shoveling that Nina called "Mount Everest".  She got stuck in it a couple of times and I had to pull her out.  She made up a new technique for making smallish snowballs bigger that works very well until they get to a rolling size.  She just drops them in the snow, and they get bigger.

Snowy Goes Skiing

It was a beautiful Winter day today.  Sun shining, not too cold, and some snow on the ground.  We decided to go outside and make another snowman.  Akemi had the idea of making this one go skiing - complete with ski poles and skis.