Category: Family

Walking, a tower and Monet

That is what we are doing.  I am hoping that it will paseason and I will suddenly look good in shorts!

We began our day riding the subway to the Eiffel Tower.  I have ridden may different subways in different countries but this was the first time that I have ever seen a double decker subway.  Thatmade it kind of interesting.

What is there to say about the Eiffel Tower?  It is tall, brown and every bit as cool as in the photos we have all seen.  Oneneat thing which we had Katrine do was mail her postcards there.  They will bear the Eiffel Tower stamp cancel.  Small but different.  We walked along the Champs de Mers a bit to get a better view and found a small playground.  The girls ran off some steam while wewere able to admire the tower from an angle where the crowds were blocked by trees.  The steelwork was not as there but it was actually prettier.

Then we crossed the Seine and headed to the Champs Elysses.  We were suppose to hit L’Arc de Triomph first but I made a slight planning error with maps and we ended up about halfway along.  We still saw the arch just not up close.  However, we found a great crepe stall and Glenn and the girls enjoyed a nice lunch.  Elspeth also enjoyed watching the sparrows searching forcrumbs while Katrine watched the crepes being made.

We enjoyed aleisurely walk through Tullieries Gardens with a stop at L’Orangerie to see Monet’s paintings.  Inever knew that Waterlilles could be seen in surround.  I have only ever seen a framed print.  It was WOW to walk into a room and be surrounded by his painting.  Took my breath away.  A highlight of the gardens for the girls were the carousel and playground.  All of that smiling and laughing left them in need of ice cream (did I mention that balanced diets have gone out the window?)

Then the Louvre.  There are pluses and minuses to visiting the Louvre with a stroller.  Plus, get in right away!  Minus, the stairs, and there are A LOT of them.  We saw the main highlights that we had picked before leaving but it was difficult to do the museum proper justice as  neither girl was terribly interested most of the time.  That said, Elspeth liked the mummy section while Katrenjoy referred the Mona Lisa and spyhix.  If we were redoing today I would do it in reverse order so as not to have as much disconnected for the children at the Louvre.

Right now we arerelaxing in the hotel before heading out for dinner.

We have arrived safely

Our first day in Paris was wonderful, but a touched cool.  Elspeth liked our hotel room, the houseboats on the Seine and the ice cream(even though it was waaaay to cold for it).  Katrine loved the sights as well as the food.  Her favourite food of the day had to be thchocolate croissant that shehead for breakfast.  In case, you are worrying (mom, dad) I did managed to eat today but I wil post about that when I am home and can add photos.

We toured St Chapelle and Notre Dame today.  The stain glass windows in St Chapelle toke my breath away.  Their beauty struck you upon entering the second floor.  The colors, the details became that much more beautiful when you considered that they were all done by hand.  Talented crafts men.  Notre Dame featured the same level of skill.  Carved stonework, statues, painted walls.  Standing at the back of Notre Dame looking towards the main altar you werestruck by the sheer size and beauty of this place of worship that it is easy to believe that it took three hundred years to constructed.  Oh, Katrine says I need to tel you that there was amodel showing how the cathedral was built in medical times.  Elspeth?  She was too busy falling asleep in her stroller to even look at the inside of the cathedral, but she woke up in time for ice cream so it was all good.

We got a bonus event on our way to Notre Dame …a bread festival.  As we neared the square all you could smell was fresh baking bread.  I stayed outside the tents with Elspeth whilee Glenn and Katrine went in.  They saw bakeries making baguettes’ croissants and pastries.  Katrine was thrilled to get some samples.  While those two were busy doing something educational, I was standing beside a piscine de ble.  Yup, a wheat box.  Imagine a sandbox filled with wheat grains.  Elspeth merrily climbed in and dug in the wheat.  Me? I stayed as far back as possible.  Ugh, but at least it was fun for her.

That is how our day went.  Add in a four hour afternnon nap.  A looong walk for gluten free dinner and desserts before coming home to see the sun setting over the Seine and that is it.  I guess I should draw to a close and get some sleep to be ready for tomorrow.

The girls meet some skaters

The past few weeks the girls have been very excited to be able to spend some time with the members of the chinese national figure skating team.  Granted this time has been made a bit more difficult as a result of our lack of chinese language skills (thank goodness for translation software)…I suppose this offers support for the stay in chinese class arguement but that is another post.  That said, they have said hello, watched them skate, laughed, smiled and interacted in a way which made them feel special.  Elspeth calls them her “friends” while Katrine beams when she was asked to print her name in chinese characters or when one of the coaches thanked her for the good luck card that the girls made.

My take on this?  What a wonderful opportunity for the pair of them to interact with chinese skaters.  Yes, we have chinese skaters in Canada.  Yes, they are wonderfully talented.  No, I do not mean to detract from this talent in any way shape or form.  It is so very important for our girls to have chinese role models – both Canadian born chinese, chines immigrants and mainland chinese.  We have asian friends so I can attest to the fact that they have ample interaction with smart, capable and dare I say wonderful asian women (I am a bit biased because these ladies are my friends) to draw inspiration from when they seek to define what a chinese woman should be.  With my degree in asian studies, they also have access to a sizable collection of texts on chinese history, culture, food, etc.  Then you can add to that various experiences with chineseness provided by culture camp, china town, homeland tours, reunions, kungfu, etc.

Being skaters (Katrine certainly is and it does seem as if Elspeth is leaning in that direction), they also need atheletic role models.  All of their current coaches are fabulous.  They model creativity, passion, dedication and hard work…but they are all caucasian.  With this being such a large part of our family life, we have encouraged Katrine’s love of Patrick Chan as a model because it combines the image of chineseness with the qualities of hard work, dedication and success.  Meeting and spending time with the chinese skaters has expanded the available concept of role models.  Instead of just pointing to Patrick Chan, Katrine has asked to watch videos of other chinese skaters and wherefore goeth her sister, goeth Elspeth.

So, thank you to all of the chinese skaters who have spent time with my girls over the past few weeks.  Thank you for opening their eyes further to the possibilities available for chinese skaters.  Thank you for showing them hard work, focus and dedication.  I am not sure if either of my girls will go as far as you have with their skating but hopefully they will take the qualities you have shown and apply them not only to their skating but their lives.

Good luck to Li Zijun and Zhang Kexin

Good luck to Song Nan and Yan Han.

Good luck to Peng Cheng and her partner Hao Zhang.

We will be watching for all of you at next seasons international competitions.  Of course we want the Canadians to place first but it would be awesome if you came in second.


16 sleeps and the dentist

1. 16 more sleeps until our trip!!!!!  To celebrate we gave the girls some really adorable hairbows.  Apparently they are not really the thing for a nine year old sooo Elspeth now has two.  Hehe.

2.  The girls and I went to the dentist this afternoon.  They were thrilled with their new toothbrushes and small toys (little ducks whose eyes pop out when you squish them).  Well, we are off to the orthodontist to see about getting Katrine’s teeth straightened.  And little Elspeth has a pre-cavity in the back of her front two teeth.  :(  I suppose that is a small price to pay for not brushing your teeth for the first 22 months of your life.  Thank goodness it doesn’t need anything done to it right now.  Definetely not looking forward to having to get it filled.  Not sure how she would handle that especially as she quite likes our fabulous dentist right now.

Cherish the small things

Sometimes in the midst of horrible news we are reminded to cheish the small stuff.  Today provided just such an opportunity.  Katrine finally landed her axel.  A very big deal for our girl as she has been working towards it for quite a while.  We chose to celebrate with a family outing for frozen yogurt with multiple toppings.  A time to laugh and smile together while marking a success brought about by hard work.  To the families affected by this newest batch of horror, my heart goes out to you.  To the rest of us, let us remember to treasure the time we have with our families even more.

Thornhill Fun Skate – Part 2

Today it was back to Thornhill Community Center.  This time to cheer on Elspeth.  She woke up super excited that it was her day to skate.  That excitement lasted until about 10 minutes after she got off the ice.  Then she was tired (as you can see in the photos).  Once her snack kicked in she was back to her happy self.  She was also quite pleased to have a new ribbon for her board…although, she did object to the fact that it was not pink. She also competed in a new skating outfit because she actually grew out of the one that I made for her (see post on Winter Glitters from January).  I think that she looks right cute in this dress though.

 

The Skating Fun Never Ends in our House

That’s right, even when we are not at an arena it is still all about the skating.  This time the girls found a box and Katrine thought that we could make it into an ice rink.  With a little bit of creativity and a lot of glue, the Attwood Arena was born.  Complete with an audience calling out cheers, tickets and medals.

Now it was time for the gala.  Both girls got in on the fun by breaking out every single toy that has skates….and a walrus!  Who knew that stuffed animals had such awesome skating moves?  The Barbie was apparently the headliner.  I must admit that her spiral was not half bad.

‘Skatey Bear’ shows off her jumps, ‘Skatey Girl’ demonstrates the ice splits move (also known as the cold bum move), “Ice Angel/Barbie’ breaks out her spiral while Walrus sits (totally different from the cold bum move due to the mass quantities of blubber involved).

Now that the show was done it was time to increase the role which our arena was to play within the toy community of our household through lessons from our resident coach….Barbie! (She really is a woman of many talents.  Never seen a coach whose skates fall off quite as easily though.)  The arena has been used by all of the Calico Critters, who interestingly enough can apparently skate in bare feet! Barbie has also coached a sheep and Katrine’s fashion doll Lily.

Big Sister Sheep is working on push together while Lily is more advanced working on a toe loop as being demonstrated by her coach.


Introduction the new and improved Skatey Girl

We have the dresses!!! (A special thank you to SamSam for thinking of us)

Got the gloves! (Finally found a pair small enough to fit her hands.  Stretchy gloves that don’t need to stretch.  Hehe)  Got the fuzzy sweater and funky leg warmers. Now I am ready to rock my shiny new skates!!!

Look! I can even go higher in these.  I am Skatey Girl!  See me fly!