a month well lived

Since we got back from our island getaway time, we have had a full calendar of fun times!

The weekend of our return we had a play day with Nolan, Tanya and Jer, and Mark had the boys over as Joe was in town again! Yay! We love to see him (tho Tom looks less than thrilled, hehe) I got a better pic of the boys, only Joe went and gave me the finger so I'll save that one for facebook! lol


The long weekend was full o' fun! Our community block party had a decent turnout given the rainy day. We enjoyed some catch up time and meeting a couple of new neighbours in the co-op, and then left early for dinner at Dad's before we went to the hockey game! I was lucky to be given 2 tix for the Women's Gold Cup game at GM Place, and Mark enjoyed the best seats he's ever sat in at a game. I enjoyed the game as well as the energy of a live game is far more exciting when you are in the arena surrounded by the cheers. This pic was when Canada scored the tying goal to make it 1 all...unfortunately they did not win. But it was a really great game to watch. :)

On the final day of the of the "Velo-City: Vancouver & the Bicycle Revolution" exhibit at the MOV, I did one final tour with Tanya, Nolan, Mark and Sasha. I really enjoyed giving tours of this exhibit and will miss it now that its gone. Throughout the exhibit there were 15 individuals profiled that were gatekeepers to the many sub-cultures that Propeller Design (the guest curators) identified in putting together the ideas. Actually they found 42 sub-cultures within bicycle culture which I found fascinating. There were over 60 bikes on display as well!

Below you'll see Nolan is standing next to the Varna Diablo which Sam Whittingham (one of my fave profiled folks) has broken many records for self-propelled land speed. And fastest speed for a crash at 130 km skidding out for over 300 meters! The Diablo was actually taken from the exhibit in July for a couple of weeks as Sam was off to Detroit to attempt another record breaker - mission accomplished! (those scratches on the paint job near Nolan's hand were from that exciting journey) He also designs and builds beautiful bikes which you can see at Naked Bicycles and Design. The Cherry Bomb was another of his bikes on display and it had beautiful beech wood rims. He learned how to mold wood from a guitar maker on one of the gulf islands. When he took his bikes away after the exhibit he was on his way to do some more record breaking - mission accomplished again!

The chalk wall is the end of the exhibit where the curators wanted everyone to leave their impressions...most of it was bike related. hehe. Sasha and Nolan had a blast running around and exploring. The 'Revolution Gallery' featured videos made by bike lovers near and far. Now I can fill you in on a behind-the-scenes moment: the video room was a pain in the butt to deal with when opening the museum in the morning. All the DVD players were stacked within one of the benches, and there were 8 remotes used for the whole exhibit, 5 of which were for the video room. But it was beyond tricky to get all the tv's to start all the movies at the same time. most often one dvd would not cooperate...and then you had to start all over. With the openings and closings of this exhibit I've learned a lot about exhibit design and functionality, which is one of my fave things about working at the museum! (Really stoked about the next exhibit called Ravishing Beasts!) Some pics of our play time around Vanier park. Mark was awesome and distracted the wee ones for a while so Tanya and I could brainstorm a bit, then we caught up to them at the beach.



The next weekend Mark and I had another date night, this time to see my friend Tara in a play at the Firehall Arts theatre. "Good Boy and True" was quite a gripping story about a rich jock at a private school, a video tape, a girl from a public school who was used to help 'prove' he wasn't gay, and how his best friend, the school and his family dealt with the fallout of his actions. There were many social issues I found myself reflecting on after that play, but one more than others. The play took place in the 80's when video tapes were not necessarily easy to produce and share with others...in comparison to the reality in schools today which has many students with phone cameras able to record everything, and post it online, in moments. I would be interested to see a similar story set in our more technological modern times.

The next weekend we got some more community fun time in at our co-op bbq social. A lovely day outside, and some rock band fun for all ages inside. The pinata is always a hit of course :)

After that party I went out and partied some more! Yahoo! Time for another ladies nite! This time we played pool while listening to some live tunes at the Fairview Pub. Wicked fun...and we all won a game so you can't get any more fair than that, hehe :D

It has been waaaaaaaaay too long since I have played pool...and now i'm itching to play again! Not nearly the shark I used to be (thanks to lessons from a pro at a sports bar I worked at) but still just love to play! I believe our next ladies night will have some more pool table action. lol

We'll have fun no matter what we do ;)

One of the best things to do on a sunny weekend morning (especially when feeling a little on the run down side, ahem) is simply explore our neighbourhood. This time on her scooter...for about 2 blocks. then we 'shared' the job of carrying it. Well, you can't roll down hill on it now can you? lol I'm thinkin' about starting a flicker site for her or something. She really likes taking pictures (and I only post the occasional random few), and this one of her scooter butterflies I just love for some reason. What do you think?


After a brunchy lunch and naptime, we jumped in the co-op car and went for a visit to Maplewood farms. Handy dandy pass my tourism privilege pass. We've decided we need to take advantage of it a little more. Next trip to the farm will be after Lulu (seen here being patted by Sasha) will have her baby calf in about a month or so.


For those who've been asking for health update on Sasha here we go: mid August Sasha had another follow up with the eye doctor. Her vision seems to have improved a bit, and we're gonna keep patching the left eye a couple of hours each morning to work the muscles in her right eye. The next follow up is in December.

This month Sasha had a visit with our family doctor regarding Sasha still having her poops in her panties (this is when all of you folks that don't care about poopy stories can scroll down a bit, haha) after 10 months of potty training. The pees she mastered long ago and rarely has accidents in the wet form. But the struggle to find the right way to help her master the poop end of things has been very tiring at times. A book sent home from daycare about a boy who went to the doctor to help him with the same problem proved to be useful in getting her through her own appointment with no anxiety. Also helped that we got to see the dr. as soon as we walked in the office (usually at least a 1/2 hour wait...) As I suspected it is not likely a physical problem, but rather the she is using her stubborn powers to resist for some reason. A power struggle, fun. At the end of the visit we had a new plan that Sasha seemed keen on. And a week or so later, she actually seems to slowly be taking control of things...i believe we're almost there!

Aside from that challenge, she is in another growth spurt, has had a bit of a cold lately, but otherwise is happy healthy and well. Some days she works really hard at trying to be a crank (literally. she said to me one day "I'm choosing to be a brat right now" oh really?), and she has different ways of pushing buttons for me and Mark. So far we have done a pretty good job of presenting a united front as parents and her barrier pushing seems to be abating a bit. Until the next barrier pushing stage kicks in...heh.

Things continue to go well at her daycare. She loves her teachers and here is her first class picture of sorts with her and all the over-3's. pretty big group and wonderful place for her to play all day while we work. Slowly getting to know some of the parents as well, and the after her dr's appointment there was a big family potluck at the daycare at the end of the day.

For every potluck this month we were able to bring foods made with things from our garden which is very awesome! We learned from trial and error approach to gardening of last year, and this year we had a bounty of tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, carrots and herbs aplenty. Also got a couple of peppers and squash. Green thumbs are slowly developing and we're gonna try doing some fall planting of hearty winter stuff soon.

The last weekend of the month was a party of Mark's bday weekend...we had yet another date night on the friday (record 3 in one month!) to see a comedy show, and some live music from the Yukonfest at the Railway Club. The Media Club was host to a Comedyfest show and one of the comedians was a friend Charlie Demers who I met through peace activism channels years back. I've become a fan of his show on CityTV called the List which features 3 other Canadian comics as well. aside from Charlie the other comic who had me crying laughing so hard was Maria Bamford. Hilarious!
After the laughs we heard a couple of different bands at one of our fave music venues and then enjoyed a nice walk home from the Railway. Happy 16+30 babe! :)

The rest of his bday weekend included a game night with the boys, but playing board games so I could play too ;P
Before the guys arrived we had a visit from Heath, and check out the rollerblades he delivered to Sasha from Aunty Karli...and the totally cute teddy bear knee pads. Within 5 minutes she was shuffling around on her own saying 'no thanks, i don't need help'. One of these days she'll get to use them out and about, for now she's mastering the floor here at home. She loves them!

The next day Sasha and I met Mark at Word on the Street when he finished his volunteer time, and Sasha her nap. Got a great colouring book featuring all of the Fish of BC which was created by my friend Robi. we got to see Sarah's large variety of comic materials, and got a nice overall dose of all things word related before heading to a bday dinner at Dad's. Two times blessed with a great meal at Dad & Liz's in one month! very nice!

The topper of the month for me was being given the opportunity to attend an event from Educating the Heart conference put on by the Dalai Lama Centre for Peace & Education. A morning session of panels entitled "Educating the Heart: Creativity and Well-Being and Heart-Mind Education" featuring His Holiness and a variety of other wise folks. Each of the panel members only a had a few moments to summarize their perspectives on things, so it was not an in depth dialogue. But the breadth of perspective and bits of wisdom provided me with some great food for thought. I really enjoyed the guys who founded the Blue Man group, and my favorite voice of the morning was Sir Ken Robinson. Still too many thoughts stewing around to share anything concrete...but it was a morning which further inspired my determination to take the dialogue on public education further...take it national! follow through with my project and see what comes of it.

I also spent time with Mike who is my CPEN cohort and always good to get my mind thinking in philosophical ways. Between breakfast and lunch with Mike, and a morning of listening to panels at the Orpheum (oh yah, I got to enter the Orpheum again...I love the inside of this theatre - gorgeous!) my head was swimming by about 2 when I got home. promptly flaked out for the rest of the afternoon. Catching up on the sleep I didn't get the night before between my racing mind and my little one tossing and turning beside me. Always nice when an opporunity for a nap comes along to get the bodyclock back in order. hehe.

What a month! After a summer off I had green team meetings for work and home, and this month there were lots of hours for me at work, but all my memories of this month will be from lots of community, friends and family, velo love, hockey, a farm, live music, theatre and comedy, and the Dalai Lama...wonderfull times!! :D