Weekend Post (that turned a bit opinionated)

Well that didn't go as planned...

We didn't go to the Go Green, Go Dutch, Go Bike festival on Saturday. Turns out helmets were mandatory for adults and children, and I don't wear a helmet. If you are interested in why I don't wear a helmet read on. If not, skip the rest of this paragraph: It is not required by law here in Winnipeg, it gives cyclists a false sense of security (causing them to bike irresponsibly) and the helmet only helps for impact force. It does not help with rotational forces. If you are interested in reading more on helmet "safety" click here. Izzie does wear a helmet as children riding in bike seats are required by law. But I do think it's a good idea for children up to a certain age/skill level to wear helmets while biking, since they do help in the event of a fall.

Today we did make it to the Teddy Bear Picnic, but we were so late that we only ended up being there for 20 minutes. It was a madhouse, filled with super long lines and lots of sights and sounds. Izzie was a bit overwhelmed. I did meet up with a mom from my old playgroup and she told me about a playgroup for ages 1 - 4 in the Fort Rouge area of Winnipeg. Which is wonderful since Izzie's Baby Rhyme Time through the library just drew to a close and I've been scrambling to find something else.

I did not bring the camera to Teddy Bear Picnic, I was a bit spacey. Once we left, we had to come back for sun screen and Izzie's hat. Whoops.

But we had a wonderful weekend. Lots of biking, treats, excitement and time with Nana.

Fun with Argyle

Izzie discovered Argyle on her favorite chair.
Her favorite chair because it's the bounciest.

Starting off with some pats.
Note that her breakfast is in the other hand.

Oooooh, long and furry. What's this called
Breakfast now in mouth...

The tail holding makes it hard to chew...

ESCAPE!

And then we were off on our bikes for our Saturday run to the neighbourhood bakery. Izzie enjoyed some pain au chocolate which she gobbled up with glee! Hope you are all having a lovely Saturday as well.

No Freaking Way

I have always loved lilacs. I mean, who doesn't? They're pretty, smell gorgeous and tell the world that spring is sprung. I even vowed to have then as my wedding bouquet, but since I got married in November that didn't happen. Therefore I have always envied anyone who has a lilac bush in their front yard.

So when we bought our house, the first thing I said to Phil was that I wanted to plant a lilac bush. Okay, it wasn't the first thing but it was said. I vowed to pull out the bushes in our front yard and plant lots of lilac bushes next year. Someone told us that the bushes were Manitoba Maples, and we already have scads of those in the backyard thank you very much!

And then I looked outside this morning...

Those be freaking lilac bushes!! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY! Those buds weren't there yesterday!

So very happy. Now I don't have to spend money or break my back digging out unforgiving roots. Huzzah!

Who's a cool chick?

Oh yeah.

Bike Ride to Assiniboine Park

This morning I decided that we weren't going to spend the morning sitting around the house. I had a mission. And that mission was to bike the 8 kilometers to Assiniboine Park and the 8 kilometers back! Why did I want to do this? Because I will be doing it two times this weekend. Saturday is the "Go Green, Go Dutch, Go Bike" Festival and Sunday is the "Teddy Bears Picnic."

So this morning I was bound and determined to see if I could survive the trek.

Ready....set......GO!

Trying to get a handle on taking a picture while biking

Yup, right up my nose

Whizz, zoom. The cars flying by me.

This is was she looks like while biking,
Poor sad peanut

Lovely day for a bike ride!

Coming up to the underpass. Thank goodness we don't
have to cross Kenaston!

River to the right of us. Winnipeg rivers are brown

Now on the multi-purpose path. Lots of joggers
with headphones in. HEAR MY BELL DANG IT!

The entrance to the park in the distance.

In the park, stopping for a drink

Very lovely biking conditions in the park

Park buildings...I should know their names...I don't

Leaving the park, they want you to dismount too cross a very narrow street. Uh, guys? I understand the stopping and looking, but dismounting and walking takes a lot longer than just riding. And If I start going and a car appears, they have to wait...because I'm not stopping midway...and they don't like that. Just so you know, you guys who control these things...

Coming up to Academy and Wellington. I cheated and am on the sidewalk,
which I wouldn't have done if there were pedestrians.

Coming up to the bridge.

Water, bridge and basket shot.

And then we arrived home. No shots of that since it's a bit busier. Thanks for coming on our adventure! Now I must sit down on the couch and eat popcorn.

Sippy Cups are for Babies

That's right, Izzie is drinking from a cup...on her own! Last night during our meal, Izzie grabbed my water glass and started to chug. (It was empty.) Amazed that she had done this and horrified that she would drop the glass glass, I rushed into the kitchen to grab her BPA-free plastic cups. This morning, she wowed me again..
The cup fascinates her. She's more interested in the cup than her peanut butter toast, and does not care that Phil put his Guinness hat on her.

Sunday Adventures

Since the United States of America, the land of Phil's origin, is having a long weekend Phil's parents decided to make the long trek up to our neck of the woods. We all spent a lovely day at an "educational nature reserve" that is located in our fair city of Winnipeg. Can you tell I've been outside all day or am I only sounding loopy to myself?Once inside the "reserve", we were greeted with loads of Canada geese, whom I do not have a good relationship with....stupid Toronto geese chasing me when I was little.

Then we entered into the current eternal question with Izzie: Stoller or walking?
Walking won for the most part of today. I tried to put her into the stroller once. It did not go over well.

A gosling. It was surrounded by geese, I just tried to stay far away from them. I'm very scarred by the goose attack of '85.

The inside bird habitat. Izzie was LOVING this

The indoor stuffed animals that kids can touch.

Outside of the interactive indoor gallery we were greeted with this sight. Lakes and gardens and benches and off in the distance two Adirondack chairs. (People were sitting in the chairs.) We took some time to look around.

Izzie enjoying the geese again. I guess the Winnipeg
geese aren't as angry as Toronto geese.

Izzie's personal walker, Poppa

We then headed out along the trails. There was a garden trail, a wetlands trail, a "look at the lake" trail and some other trail that I don't remember. We smished smashed the first three trails together mainly because we had no idea where we were going. When we were done we came across The Sod House.

Poppa and Izzie at the "Sod House."

Buckets aren't for washing, they're for drumming!

Putting Izzie to work.

There's nothing like a nice warm day, lots of sunshine, lots of activity and two very attentive grandparents to make a little one sleep like a log!

Things around the house

This morning I was trying to keep a very tired Izzie awake until her nap time. She's taken to waking up at the ungodly hour of 6 am. Five hours till nap time. Five hours filled with an already sleepy, soon to be cranky little one shouting her displeasure. This has been difficult for both of us the last few days, but today it warmed up. So we headed outside.

I haven't been using our back yard very much. We have a "ghetto" fence. It's falling apart, being held up by sheer will, and has a huge gaping gap for cars to drive in. Not very safe for little ones. But it's where the sun shines in the morning.

So I improvised:

The lattice from our basement finally comes in handy

The baby gate does it's job once again!

Fence being held up by "sheer will"
We didn't do that, that's from a previous owner, poor tree

We believe this was once the gate

Izzie and I played to our hearts content. Chalk drawing, dirt exploring, and some leaf cleaning. Izzie is a master sorter of leaves. Soon we'll be able to afford to have a new fence put in. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

F.Y.I. She didn't last till her nap time, but that's okay. I just ask that she remembers how tired she felt when I put her down...because that's how I freaking feel at 6 am!!!

So, does this mean I'm a real Winnipeger now?

Our car was stolen last night. And not from our backyard which is where , if anywhere, I thought it would be stolen! No, it was taken from the parking lot of the Legion where Phil and his pipe band were practicing.

I received a call late last night from the RCMP telling me our car had been found. Huh? It was missing? It sure was. They had found it abandoned at the end of someones (long) driveway. It's lights still on.

Izzie giving the car some love

It is odd that this happened. We were getting ready to donate our car to charity or possibly sell it online in an effort to go "car free." I had my entire "Goodbye Car" post and pictures mapped out in my head. I was going to lay wreaths upon it's hood and hire nymphs to dance gaily around it. Fine, I wasn't going to do that but I was going to give it a proper goodbye. Thank it for being there when we brought Izzie home from the hospital, for lugging my butt all around the city and carrying all the crap I bought, and for taking us on all the trips to see the grandparents. And for being half mine through marriage even though I never thought of it as a step-car.

I'm not angry at the hooligans who stole it. I know that they don't think these things through. They don't think about the people who drove the car, how they will get home, what they will do without a car. They think about themselves. Because maybe they don't have anyone who does. All I gotta say is thank god we took the car seat out for the weekend!

Now we don't know if we'll ever even see the car again. It's sitting in East St. Paul, being fingerprinted and checked over. With it's poor ignition hurting because it was started with a screwdriver, it's steering column hanging broken, it's body defiled. (Yes, I feel bad for the car. I've always projected feelings onto inanimate objects. Like the lamp at my old house that was rarely used. I would turn it on so it felt it had a purpose. I'm a spaz, but at least I know it. )

Well, goodbye car. I didn't name you, but you were a good car. I will miss you.

Wordless Wednesday: Rainy Day

Blerg, it's pouring.

Overcast and windy as hell.

The look I receive after telling Argyle
he can go outside

Maybe tomorrow, bike.

Time to break out the rainy day bible