Wednesday morning, I woke up and hoping it wasn’t raining. And, YES, it wasn’t. I quickly got ready, preparing Viola’s breakfast and lunch, diaper bag, umbrella, hiking bag, drinks, blanket and jackets. Before Viola was awake and slowed me down in the process of loading things in the car, i paced myself and tried to get everything organized. Finally, Viola asked for her diaper changed. She might have sensed that we would go hike.  I buckled her in the car and before I could start the engine of my car, my tummy gave out an “out of gas” sound (kkkkrrrr kkkrrr). Ups, I had forgotten to have a quick bite. So, I unbuckled Viola, we hopped out the car and ran inside the house and devoured two slices of breads and off we went again. The drive there was so nice. We got into the HOV lane and beat the rush our. We made it. Amazingly, the parking lot was half full already.

We met some new moms and babies. The weather also turned out warm and dry. FANTASTIC! We hiked and we talked. It was, it had to say the best hike because it was a steal for It was supposed to be a crappy weather kinda day. I was glad we were out.

Viola is growing really fast…. I wish I could stop the time and just enjoy it slowly.

Her milestone at this month:
-able to crawl to everywhere and manage to make rest stops to pull out dirty laundry, or items inside our gym bags.
-able to stand with support
-able to give me attitudes
-able to or wanting to smile more and more now
-able to mumble non-stop
-able to have porridge now
-able to ask for a hug
-able to fake cry
-able to complain
-able to whack us to wake us up, esp towards her dad
-able to wanting more (kiddie rides)
-able to control her body more

Happy birthday to my dearest wife! Viola also wishes happy birthday to the best mum in the world.

I got her a cake from Cupcakes … yet she still complained. Apparently, she wanted the “Tiffany Blue” wicker basket cake, and I bought a “brown” wicker basket cake. Honestly, I waited till last minute to order her cake and all they had for the wicker basket cake was the brown one. Oh well, there is always next year.

Viola cracked us up with all her daily discoveries. Also, check out her videos on link below the birthday.

Canadian loonie pulls above parity from US dollar for the first time in 31 years. Wow!! What does this mean to people living near the border? Go across the border to US and shop – for some reason, the same goods in US costs a lot less than in Canada. Now, the dollar is par. You can fill in the blank.

The cons would be border lineup will be crazier than hell, and the Canadian border patrol would probably look more closely for donation (i.e. tax and duty)

This is a show called KID NATION. 40 kids without their parents and left out in the dessert. Less talk, if you are interested, check the site. Despite the controversy, I think this show will teach the kids lots of valuable lessons and they will come out with extra 39 friends.

Being a parent, I would be so proud of my kids if they were presented with this opportunity. I like JIMMY, 8, the youngest of the group. Too bad, he opted out because he was homesick.

We started the trail at about 10:30am. We had to hike the longer trail because one of the moms was bring her twins in the chariot. After about 1.5 hour, we reached the beach. I was so tired by then. We had our break, fed the babies, chatted a bit and off we went again, finishing the loop for the lake.

Many times I thought that I wouldn’t be able to make it for my shoulders started to burn. By the time I saw the parking lot, I almost cried. (drama drama). I notice the clock was 2pm. Holy mollllyyyy. What a hike. Never hike this long with Viola on my back. I deserve a big snack afterward.

I did not expect Viola would have this kinda reaction when they kiddie ride stops. It was amazing seeing her reacted like that. We went home and tried it on our rocking horse and manually stop it to show Des and she did the same thing.

pic by: elly cie @ IKEA
We went to our family doc yesterday for a routine check up. As soon as we undress her, she screamed and cried. I think she thought she was getting jabbed. Even the nurses outside thought she did from her cry and commented how brave she was.

I said “for what?”.
Nurse responded “for the jabs”.
I said “no jabs today and she cried as if there were.”
Nurse just laughed and patted Viola’s hand.
(I walked away embarrassed because all the patients were laughing and smiling)

Here are the results:
Weight=10.16 kg = 22.4 lbs
Height= 73cm = 28.7″
Head size= 45cm = 17.7″
She is still above the average

We saw a tiny talent competition while strolling in the mall this morning. And what were we thinking? I took Viola to catwalk. She was a brave girl. To walk on the stage with so many audiences and still kept her zen. Good job Viola! Although you got rejected for your first job interview, we had a good laugh though.

The Summer is almost over and we would like to soak all the Sun while we could, so we went to English bay 3 days this week to watch the Sun sets and have picnic.

The view was magnificent. I forgot how beautiful it is. The smell of the grass mixed with sand and the water, esp. the smell of hot dogs really make you feel that Summer is still here.