It has been a busy two days for us. Yesterday I sprung Katrine from school in the afternoon (surprising conduct for me I know) so that we could go to watch the Skate Canada International competition in Mississauga. We got to see the ladies and pairs short programs. Katrine loved the ladies dressed.  She particularly liked watching Elizaveta Tuktamisheva, the 14 year old Russian skater. She couldn’t believe that this awesome skater is just 7 years older than her. During intermission we were walking to get snacks and saw a pair from the Chinese team warming up. Katrine thought that was pretty cool. A pair from where she was born skating where she lived and she got to see them. I have to say that the pairs were awesome. Wow! I am so glad that Katrine is so ticklish and likely won’t ever be a pairs skater because man do those girls fly. Pretty and spectacular when it is not my kid. The only thing that disappointed Katrine was that she didn’t get to see Patrick Chan skate. She has a bit of hero worship going on there. Watching Katrine’s reaction to the ladies was really fun for me because it reassured me that all of the time we spend at the rink is what she wants. I mean look at the photo and you will see it.
This afternoon we decided to try something new and headed out to the Community Safety Village. The safety village is an awesome place for a school field trip because there are a lot of opportunities for them to learn safety rules, like the kids apply safety rules while driving battery powered jeeps around kid sized rodes. That said, I was not sure what to expect with it being a community event. Was kind of hoping that they would walk away having met a police officer, played in the village and got one piece of candy. It was so much better. There was a wagon ride which was the first time Elspeth has ever seen horses up close. Then there was a craft area, Dora cartoons, all of the decorations and a Haunted House…and that was just inside. Outside there were the various community helper mascots (which scared Elspeth but delighted Katrine), the parks, a maze, bouncy castles, fire truck AND trick or treating at each of the little village houses. It was awesome as it gave Elspeth a chance to experience trick or treating in day light before we try it on Monday night. She parroted “tick” at the first house and then her eyes bugged out when she was given candy. After that she was sold. “Tick, tick, tick” I hope that she has as much fun at tomorrow’s party and Monday night but if not, at least she had today.
After we got home we did the whole pumpkin thing. Katrine was an awesome big sister. She assumed the role that my brother held – pumpkin gut handler- reaching right in to the pumpkin and tearing the guts out with her hands. She even convinced neat freak Elspeth (seriously, she complains if there is a mark on her hand still) to touch a small bit of the inners. What an awesome big sis. So proud of her.
