Playland

Holly and I went on our annual trip to Playland today. It was a great day - not too hot and not too many people, so there weren't a lot of line-ups.



















This is Holly's favourite ride every year! It reminds me of a similar ride at Disneyland, where my sisters and I would go first thing in the morning when we arrived at the park and ride about 5 times in a row.

Storage Locker

During our renovation, we've rented a storage locker to keep "some" of our things. As you can see, it's stacked right to the top - I've had to get things out periodically in the nearly 2 years we've had it, but the majority of the items we don't seem to miss. It reminds me of a de-cluttering expert I saw on a talk show (maybe Oprah?) - anyway, it was in relation to kitchen clutter and he said you should pack everything in your kitchen into boxes. As you need something, you take it out and put it in a drawer or cupboard. Anything left over after 6 months, you don't really use, so you should get rid of it. Maybe the same applies to other stuff as well?! Don't tell Paul I said that!

Aquarium visit

After skating, we went to the Aquarium to meet my sister and my mom. Belinda wanted to take Holly to the Aquarium because it's where we went with Holly on her 1st birthday all together. We also wanted to see SpongeBob SquarePants in 4D! The red glasses are super fashionable!














The movie was fun and even though it was only about 10 minutes long and a cartoon, it still made you jump and nearly scream out loud a couple of times - the poke in the back from the eel actually hurt!














These are my favourites - the moon jellyfish!





































Regular jellyfish - like the ones in Nemo . . .



















The octopus doesn't move much, but at least he was out of his "cave" when we went by - sometimes we don't get to see him at all!



















Holly always enjoys visiting the Aquarium - she has a membership with my mom that I don't even have!














Can you spot Nemo swimming in here?














. . . and Sheldon?



















The dolphin show was fun to watch - when I was little, there was only one dolphin at the Aquarium, but now they have friends!
























































The bats are kind of creepy . . .














. . . but the butterflies are pretty!














Can't remember what this one was, but he's cute! I miss the tiny little mono titi monkeys, though.



















Pupa of butterflies in development:














And a caiman!














Try and spot the stick bugs:

Skating - Day 3

Holly is slowly making progress in skating class - they moved on to transferring toys without the use of the shopping carts!

Skating - Day 2

Doesn't really look happy in this picture. . . but she is having fun! She really likes the shopping cart - they pick up toys from one bucket and skate over to the other side and toss them in another bucket.

Skating - Day 1

This week we're doing skating lessons - these are Holly's first actual skating lessons. We've taken her skating a few times in the past, but just to family or public skating. It was kind of funny to be doing skating lessons in the middle of summer, but all the classes appeared very busy!

A Princess

Holly loves to play Princess (what 5 year old girl doesn't?!) - my mom found a birthday party crown and a crinoline from my sister's old ballet costume for her to wear. She was tickled pink!



















Today we celebrated Daddy's birthday, which is coming up in a few days. We made him a mint chocolate chip ice cream cake with Maltezers in the middle and PINK icing - guess who's idea that was?!

Hula Hoop

Mimi's family invited us to their Annual Sung Family barbecue in the park. Mimi and her brother and sister, along with their parents invite all their friends to come. We had a great time - there was an outdoor pool so the kids enjoyed that, along with the food and perfect weather. There were some hula hoops there and ever since her birthday when she say what Kayli could do with a hula hoop, Holly has been having fun practising at home. She wanted me to take her picture and then we did a video to show Daddy when we got home because he couldn't make it.

Myia's birthday

We went to Splashdown Park today for the first time - it was Myia's 5th birthday. She is one of Holly's friends from Polynesian dance class.

It's a great water park with a huge grassy area and tents that you can rent for parties. Holly had a great time in the kids' section - at the top you can pick from 3 slides to go down.



















At the end of the slides you end up in a wading pool . . .



















Holly with Sabine behind her (another friend from dance class).



















The two girls just kept running up the hill and coming down the slides - Sabine's mom and I just waited by the wading pool, which was great because you can see them the whole way down.



















View from the top . . .



















Still sliding!














It was perfect weather to be in the water all day!















The birthday cake - Myia (like Holly) is into Tinkerbell at the moment. This was made by Myia's mom, Cindy! She makes and decorates cakes in her spare time!



















Holly, Mackenzie and Cassie - waiting for cake.














Myia - the birthday girl!



















Group shot.














Someone loves watermelon!



















The kids participated in a watermelon eating contest! Two Holly's - the bigger Holly also dances and her sister Keilah is in Holly's class.



















Check out my clip of the event - at this age, an eating contest isn't quite the same as an adult one!


There was even a Tinkerbell pinata!