Day 3 - Syd's Soccer

Yesterday was Syd's soccer day.  She's a sweet little 5-year old with an aggressive sporting nature...a real competitor.

Controlling the ball

 She sets her sights on the goal and goes in for it.

Closing in for the kill

 And she scores.  The goalie made an admirable attempt to block her shot.

Score!

I couldn't stay and watch the whole game because Aidan had to pee and Tate kept trying to run (crawl) away, and I forgot the bug spray and the mosquitoes were vicious.  Since home was just a block and a half away, it was easy for us to come back for the girls when the game was almost over.

Here's how Syd prepared for the game...

I came out of an upstairs bedroom and found her sitting in a beam of sunlight doing a yoga pose. 

So now I'm into day 4 of babysitting.  Hang in there baby!

Back to Kindergarten

My granddaughter, Sydney, has the best kindergarten teacher in the world. I first met Mrs. Schalin when Syd's older sister, Kenzie, was in kindergarten three years ago. She has a magical way with kids.

Each year in November Mrs. Schalin organizes a Grandparent's Day when all of the kids' grandparents are invited to spend the morning in class with their grandchild. I went three years ago with Kenzie and again today with Sydney. We did crafts, had snacks, and listened to a mini-concert by the kids. It was a lovely, fun, one-on-one time with the grandkids.

We made a wreath ornament for my Christmas tree with Syd's picture in the center.

We shared snacks at recess time.

We traced our hands and cut out the shapes and decorated them with glitter glue for classroom Christmas decorations.

We made a beautiful wreath which will be used to decorate the gymnasium for the school's Christmas program.

And we listened to original, fun songs by the entire class. I videoed a couple of the songs and tried to put one here but it didn't come across very well. It was a lovely song about how everyone needs a minimum, not a maximum, of four hugs a day.

I hope you all get your four hugs, and have a fun time with your children and/or grandchildren now that the holidays are just about upon us.

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.