Tennis anyone?

I am back to work at school after my summer holidays. Holly still has a week off and today she went with my mom and Ivy to play some tennis. Check our her new racquet - a very nice present from Poh Poh!

At the beach

Today we met our Jericho friends for our annual Aunty Jan Keiki Day. It was a nice sunny day - we've been very lucky with the weather at these annual events!

These boots are made . . .

. . . for little girls?! Holly snuck into the closet and put on a pair of my boots! In a few years, I'm sure she'll be borrowing stuff from my closet on a regular basis!

Kitsilano Showboat

Tonight we had a performance with our Hawaiian group at the Kitsilano Showboat. Before heading down, we decided to have dinner at the Rocky Mountain Flatbread Company. On certain nights of the week, kids can make their own pizzas!

Cassie and Holly had fun rolling out the dough . . .




























. . . and adding toppings.



















Holly adding some cheese . . .














. . . and the final product.














Yummy!














Here is our M.C., Josie deBaat, who is also the kumu hula of our school called Halau Kia'i O Ka Hula (Guardian of the Hula).














Holly is part of the youngest group dancing at the school - this dance involves poi balls and is a traditional type of dance performed by the Maori in New Zealand.





























































These ladies are both in their 80's and you can tell when you watch them that they love to dance!















Switching to a Tahitian dance . . .










































Our finale, everyone comes on stage and we always sing "Aloha Oe", aloha, until we meet again . . .

Mini reno update

We now have a railing on our master bedroom balcony - here is Holly enjoying the spot where she THINKS Paul will be bringing us our morning tea/milk in the summer!















And here are Holly and Poh-Poh peeking from the "window" inside our family room (no railing there yet).

Dancing & Swimming

Today was the last day of Holly's week-long Dance Camp. She tried ballet, tap, Highland dancing, and jazz.

The class did a mini recital for the parents.



















Holly has had Miss Kathleen sub for her ballet teachers in the past, when they were sick, and enjoyed the week of dance with her.



















After dance class and a quick lunch (usually at Tim Horton's), we've been heading to swimming lessons, too this week. It was our first try at outdoor lessons and over the 2-week schedule, we were lucky and had only one day of rain!

Family Day

Today we had a family bbq at Burnaby Mountain - at the bench (some of my family are sitting on it) that was dedicated to my grandparents. It would have been their 73rd wedding anniversary!

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: