Monday, October 26, 2009

Merry Halloween

There was a real Nightmare Before Christmas moment on Saturday. The snow was coming down in big flakes whilst Anna and I decorated Halloween themed gingerbread cookies, and then decided how to carve two huge pumpkins. Nothing like mixing up our holiday endeavors, I say.

The past week went by fairly quickly. Anna and Isaac settled in, and the grandparents are enjoying themselves immensely. We have 4 more days here, and not too many plans. Kind of like at home, I suppose. It's hard to get out when Isaac still naps 2-3 times a day. Not that Anna is all that thrilled to go anywhere, anyway. This is a very comfortable house, so I can hardly blame her. I've never actually lived here myself, so visiting has almost a vacation-y feel. My folks moved to Calgary after I left for graduate school. As a result, Jon's never actually seen the house(s) or town(s) where I grew up. In contrast, he lived (more or less) in the same house until college. I really like seeing the area where he grew up, and wish I could introduce him to my past in the same way. I've always felt that environment is as much a part of one's life as any person.

Anyway, this is pretty close to the kind of house I would like to have. Lots of blue and white with wood accents. Everything is in good shape, organized, clean... Okay, maybe that last part is because kids have never actually lived in this lovely abode. And of course, after two days my precious children managed to undo all of the organization and cleanliness they could see.

We've done a few things while visiting, but it's been largely low key. We've checked out a couple of play areas in the local malls, visited the local library, explored some parks. Calgary is looking a little surreal at the moment. I guess there was a serious freeze (-16 C/ 2 F) while a lot of the leaves were still green. So, instead of turning a nice golden yellow or orange and floating gently to the ground, they just died (freeze dried?) right there on the branches. Looks like someone took a can of bronze spray paint to all the deciduous trees.

There's a surprising lack of  activities for the toddler set in Calgary, particularly in the colder months. It's a little disappointing, but we manage to make our own fun. For example, we threw a little pre-birthday party for Anna. I was trying out a few games for her upcoming b-day in November. I think there will be about 9 kiddos - her biggest party so far. I'm going with minimal planning. I figure they mostly just want to run around and bump into each other - with balloons.

1 comment:

  1. I never plan much for kids' parties (I say that like I've thrown so many-- Grace has had 2 birthday parties) and everyone seems to have fun anyway. I suspect that as they get older more structure might be good but toddlers aren't naturals yet at rules or structure within groups or anything.

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