Poor Kenzie

Our 7-year old granddaughter, Kenzie, had been suffering with a tooth ache for almost a month. Her dentist said that her upper 6-year molars were rotting from the inside. Poor Kenzie was so upset thinking that she had done something wrong or wasn't brushing properly but the dentist assured her that it wasn't her fault. She had hypoplasia enamel, probably due to a high fever when those particular teeth were forming. Their decay was inevitable.

Today she had oral surgery to remove both of them - general anesthesia so she was asleep for the whole process. Mickey and I were there for moral support and to help Amy bring Kenzie home while she was still weak and groggy. The Dentist showed us the extracted teeth which were strangely huge with vaguely deformed long roots...no wonder they were hurting her.

Straight from recovery, all Kenzie needed was her Mom to hold her and tell her everything is going to be all right. Our Amy is a very loving and caring Mom.

Ready to go home, with gauze in her mouth

The good news is that her 12-year molars (when they come in) will most likely drift in to fill the gaps thus allowing room for the wisdom teeth to come in without problem when she's older.

Always looking for the silver lining...

Dinosaurs!

In July of this year, just 15 minutes north of Edmonton, the most beautiful, amazing, interactive, educational, fun park opened. I finally went to it today with two of my little granddaughters, Kenzie and Sydney. Jurassic Forest certainly lived up to all I had heard about it. It's built in the middle of an old-growth forest. Participants follow a boardwalk through the forest where on all sides very realistic enormous mechanized dinosaurs roam. They are incredibly life-like. There are motion sensors all over so you can see them move and roar all around you. The kids loved it and so did I.

It was one of those beautiful fall days when the air is fresh and crisp - not too cold and not too hot. The colors were changing in the trees, the mosquitos had disappeared for the year, and it was a treat to be outside in the woods.

The names of all the creatures were displayed at the boardwalk but I didn't take note of them - except for this one - the Albertasaurus - named because its bones were found in southern Alberta in the Drumheller area, which is well known for it's dinosaur fossils.

These cute little wagons were available for rent by parents with young children who might get tired.

This guy has a baby (or small) dinosaur in it's mouth and would actually chomp down on it when the motion sensors were activated - really grossed Sydney out.

My little companions of the day - Kenzie and Syd. We had originally planned for their mom, my daughter Amy, and their two little brothers to come with us, but Aidan got sick and the baby was fussy so Amy was forced to stay home with them. (Our men were in a golf tournament all day so this was to be our activity of the day). The girls were so excited to go that I didn't have the heart to tell them we couldn't, and I'm glad we didn't cancel. We had a wonderful time.

This was an impressive guy. He roared and tossed his head around above us. As we rounded a bend in the boardwalk we realized that he was being attacked by a gang of young raptors and was trying to shake one of them off his back.

This was an impressive specimen. I don't know what type of dinosaur he is but I liked him.


This one was eating a dinosaur fish.

I liked these ones too - looked like they had curlers in their hair - kinda cute.

This one laid an egg while we watched.

There was also a good-sized sandy play area for kids - dinosaur head slides where the kids slide out of his head on his toung, climbing heads, and even a paelengology dig where the kids can unearth a dinosaur skeleton. There's also a large picnic area among the trees - lots of picnic tables well shaded by the trees. A beautiful, totally family friendly place to spend the day.

School's Out - The Art Class

Remember how great it felt that first day of summer, when you wake up at your regular time only to realize that - yea! school's out for the year! Then do you remember what your first activity of the day (after all the necessary wash, dress, breakfast stuff was done) after the last day of school was??? That's right!!! You got out your half full notebooks, leftover paper, pens, pencils, crayons, etc. etc. etc. and played school. Go figure. It just felt so good to be the teacher and boss the students (your dolls and friends) around. It just lasted for a couple of days - until it really had a chance to sink in - no school for two months! It just doesn't get any better than that when you're a kid.

Tuesday, June 29, was the last day of school for our kids here in Edmonton. On Wednesday, Kenzie, Charlie, and Elly got together. In a slight twist on the playing school theme that we used to love so much, they got out Charlies art set and played Art Class, with Charlie as teacher, Kenzie as apt pupil and Elly as class troublemaker! They played at it for several hours. I wish I had taken pictures of their finished projects but I guess I got distracted somehow. Anyway, the following pictures show how absorbed they were in their 'class'.

Watch out - Elly's casing the paint set.

Elly really concentrates when she's working on a project.

Charlie is so serious

and so is Kenzie. She's making pencil rubbings of sea shells

They all worked together so well. I guess I was the teacher for this small project, showing them how to do the rubbings. They learned quickly. And now the long summer looms ahead. Kenzie has a brand new baby brother to learn to help her mom take care of, and in a week or so Charlie and Elly will have a brand new baby sister to teach and learn from.

Happy holidays all you lucky people who have been granted a temporary reprieve from your regular work/school day schedules. Enjoy.