Sunday in Surrey

I forgot to publish these photos from our trip north to visit mom and dad! Better late than never...

Liesl and I started off our day in the condo gym - I ran on the treadmill and she tried out all of the machines and played with the giant yoga balls. Dad made us poached eggs for breakfast in his magical 50-year old egg poaching pot, which turns out utterly perfect eggs every time and is always on my list of visit requests.

Next stop: the fairy house garden in the park. We went to see if we could find the four grandchildrens' fairy houses from Christmas, or if the fairies had taken them away to live in. Or the goblins had destroyed them. We were delighted to find all four, still present and looking good!

And then we went to Grandview Aquatic Centre, a gorgeous and huge new pool facility in Surrey. (Ah, to have a government that invests in the health and recreation of its citizens...). There was a lazy river, a long waterslide, multiple lap lanes, a deep pool for diving, shallow warm water for small kids, and just lots of space for play. We swam and played for a couple of hours and then we were so hungry we had to leave. There was leftover chicken in the fridge, and Liesl (and mom) were so hungry they didn't even wait to heat it up . Liesl ate two thighs, which is unheard of! She and I went over to the local park to play in the playground and climb trees - there was an unused nerf gun lying around and Liesl got to play at marksmanship.

And then out for Chinese food at a restaurant in Richmond. It was the most Canadian food I could think of. :)

Fat and happy, back at the condo, we played a few (terrible) games of pool.

soccer, baseball, biking

We had a whirlwind weekend of outdoor activity - luckily, it was gorgeous and sunny, perfect spring weather for running around outside. (Although both woke up on Saturday rather sore from Friday's run - we discovered new muscles and tendons in our legs!)  Sebastian had a soccer game and then a baseball game on Saturday; Liesl had a soccer game; Jasper and I ran 5 miles in Forest Park.  We started off Sunday by making buttermilk waffles together - their pick, and I agreed as long as they helped make the batter and waffles - and then went for a morning bike ride along a paved trail in Washington county.  We rode, and Jasper ran his heart out on the grassy path alongside.  In the afternoon, both children had competitive team tryouts - Sebastian for an all-star baseball team, Liesl for a more competitive soccer team. They fell into bed, entirely worn out.

Fun Run for the arts

The kids ran the annual school Fun Run for the Arts today -- always one of my favorite events of the year. They run for 30 minutes, the laps are counted, and the money goes to support visiting artists of all sorts - theatre, glass, ceramics, authors, musicians, dancers. They all get sweaty and exhausted and it makes me so happy. Today, Liesl ran 16 laps and Sebastian ran 25 -- the most of any 4th-grader -- both of them made us proud. (On the school track, 6 laps = 1 mile, so they ran 2.5 and 4 miles respectively.)

girls' day in Seattle

Liesl and I left Surrey on Monday evening, bound for Seattle. I had decided to break up the journey home and to have a girls' day exploring Seattle. It was perfect. The sun came out and we had just a truly wonderful, sweet time together. Liesl is old enough to walk miles (5 today, according to my phone) without complaining, to carry her own luggage, to be flexible about sleep and food, and to be interested in exploring the world with me.

We had breakfast at Macrina Bakery - Liesl got a cinnamon bun as big as her head - and then wandered through Olympic Sculpture Park before heading to the Space Needle. Liesl has been asking to go there for months and she was utterly thrilled to go up. The sky was clear and we could see the snow-capped mountains of the Olympic peninsula.

There's a newish playground at the Seattle Center, with a giant climbing apparatus, a maze, and some musical toys, and we played there for a bit before hopping on the light-rail train back downtown.

Our next stop was the enormous Ferris wheel on Pier 57 -- I'd never been on it, and it was incredible. The views were outstanding and the ride was thrilling. We were both so happy.

And then we walked some more - back to the hotel, with a stop inside the Seattle Public Library, to pick up our bags, and then back down to the Amtrak station, with a stop to pick up some food for the train ride home. It's been fun to play hooky together for a few days, but we miss our boys and work and school are calling.

Dad's Canadian citizenship ceremony

On Monday at 1 pm, there was the main event - the reason for our weekend jaunt north. Dad had decided to become a Canadian citizen and his oath and ceremony of citizenship was Monday afternoon. I wanted to be there for it and Liesl wanted to come along, and I'm so glad we made it.

The judge's speech was well done, and the whole ceremony was moving, which is precisely what I remember from my own Canadian citizenship ceremony at age 13.

And then we went back home for "Canada cake" - a strawberry cake with whipped cream and a red Canadian maple leaf on top. At least, that was the theory behind my brilliant idea. In actual fact:
Liesl said "That in no way resembles a maple leaf."
Carl said "That was a sorry excuse for a maple leaf!"
Steve said "It's as Canadian as your dad."
... and mom and I laughed so hard we cried. We laughed at our incompetence, at our feeble efforts, at our utter lack of preparation and perfectionism.... we thought of what Kim would have done and said, and how amazing it would have looked, and that made us laugh even harder.  Our stomachs hurt we laughed so much. It was so funny, I'm starting to giggle even now just thinking about it.
Although Dad, to his credit, said, "Thank you for the cake. It's perfect."