A gourmand

Seb loves artichokes. Perhaps it's all that scraping and the dipping in garlic butter.

Shorts and t-shirts??

The weather has been so warm (and dry) that the kids have gone to school for the past few days in shorts and/or t-shorts with a light sweater for the morning chill. So of course that means some new Spring attire.

The weather finally turned colder today. And I have to say that I don't mind as 25 degrees in Toronto on March 20th just didn't sit well with me.

Clothing makes the person?

I dressed one child for school that day. No prizes for guessing which.

Gal on the go

That's our daughter.

March B-R-E-A-K - Day 9

The last day of March Break was spent gearing up for 'the return' - the laundry and chores, recipes with lots of ingredients and multiple steps that take long to eat, some more Horse-opoly..., and a family meeting to discuss childcare options into the summer (our current caregiver has got a new job - ho hum).

We finished off the Break with an ice cream sundae!

March B-R-E-A-K - days 7 & 8

Never thought we would do it but we did and it was fun. 2 days / one night at a water park and fancy hotel in Niagara Falls. Yes, we saw the falls but only for 5 minutes. The rest of the time was spent at the water park, eating over-priced but fun food, going to see the magician (no hypnosis in the 5 pm show), playing in the arcade, walking the neon strip after dark...

I got some flak from my frugal love for insisting on going into Rainforest Cafe but it was fun and the decor is so over the top! And once there, I kissed a frog and got my prince!!



















Check out the fancy girl and chandelier. And that striped sweater Seb is wearing is mine!!! (and a hand me down from Grandma to boot).

Note the pose that Seb had to adopt to 'drive' the video game at the arcade.


The kids' overall review:
"Five stars, two thumbs up, a million goods" - Seb
"I think we should come every day. We should live here" - Sophie

The parent review:
Pricey but fun and the water park itself was surprisingly trademark-free. It's doable as a day-trip from TO, and worthwhile being there right till it closes. So we will probably do it again within the year!

March B-R-E-A-K - day 6

I know many of you are waiting for the water park snaps but patience, please. In chronological order, here is our wonderful Thursday tea party with Sophie's schoolmates.

Sophie and her dad made ginger cookies and brownies and we served "children's tea" (goji berry tea) and pineapple juice too. But prize of place were my fancy-pants new polka dot tins.

Skip to my lou, my darling

We will be splashing and not skipping when this post pops ups!

March B-R-E-A-K - Day 5

Wednesday dawned warm and bright. It still took us hours to get out of the house but once we did, we headed off with a picnic and sports equipment to spend the afternoon discovering Sunnybrook park. Turns out that this massive park has stables in it, so we admired the horses while we munched. But most of the time was spent skipping and playing baseball and soccer, wrestling and running, until we were wiped out!






Then it was home for Seb-made nachos and yup, more Horse-opoly






We are trying desperately to finish Arthur Ransome's Winter Holiday before it starts to feel like summer here!


(And yes, the kids and I were all dressed in turquoise t-shirts!)

March B-R-E-A-K - Day 4

What gorgeous spring weather we are having for our staycation! Too bad Seb wanted to spend the day indoors playing Horse-opoly... He wiped the floor with me, which of course I turned into a learning moment by discussing the 99%, 1% / Occupy XXX movements.

Over the next 2 months, the "Lightbox" downtown is hosting a retrospective of Studio Ghibli, our family's favourite film studio. So on Tuesday, Sophie and her papa went off to see her favourite movie - My Neighbour Totoro - on the mighty big screen http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif-(and yes, they bumped into people we knew). http://tiff.net/spiritedaway She even got dressed up!



And was so happy to see her new raincoat come out of storage (thanks Nana!).



After a yummy lunch at home, I dashed off for some me time. Seb roped his dad and our neighbour into playing - you guessed it - Horse-opoly. Then he was finally persuaded to head to the park to play some baseball with everyone...

Wednesday is supposed to be 17 degrees and sunny!!! So more time outdoors in short sleeves. On Thursday, we are planning a tea party for some kindergarten friends, while Seb takes a classmate to his pick of the Studio Ghibli retrospective. And Thursday night will be packing for our get-away!! (Though I think Seb started last week)

March B-R-E-A-K - Day 3

Monday was so busy I barely took photos.

In the morning, we all headed to Value Village to pillage their second hand bookshelves. $75 later, we came home with about 2 dozen books, 2 pairs of pants (1 funky striped pair of cords for Sophie and 1 significantly less funky pair of jeans for her dad), and "Horse-opoly" (think monopoly but horse-themed).

Sitting on our steps were the first 3 fellow theatre-goers (they were 14 minutes early). Off we went as a group, to join others from Seb's class at a terrific production of the Neverending Story. And then 7 of the kids came home to play!!

Meanwhile, Sophie had a lovely time playing at the park and home with 2 younger sibs.

So come to think of it, there were 10 kids rampaging around the top floor on Monday afternoon. Perhaps you could hear them?

March B-R-E-A-K - Day 2

Sunday started well with fresh squeezed blood oranges and tangelos (?), plus bagels and cream cheese of course! Some play time outside in the unseasonably warm weather and then off to Humber Arch Bridge and park with a classmate. There was some tree-climbing of course and some prodding of stagnant waters with sticks. In fact, it was perhaps the most urban hike I have ever experienced as we could hear traffic rushing by at all times...

But still what a treat to have this weather in mid-March!