"Thomas the Tank Engine roaring along"

It's been beautiful weather here (did I say I was done with the weather talk?) and I thought I'd post some pictures of Buck's latest obsession - Thomas the Tank Engine.

We have a nice "historical" amusement park here in Calgary where a life-sized Thomas the Train came. We were able to ride the train and I have to say that Buck literally squealed the entire ride! Buck and I went back to the park yesterday and we could have spent all 3 hours riding the train...but there was also a Ferris Wheel and a merry-go-round so the excitement never ended! It was a wonderful day and I have to say that Buck becomes more and more fun as he grows older, even as I mourn the loss of my little baby.

A funny thing that happened yesterday is that Buck climbed out of the car and sat in one of the beach chairs we have set up in the garage. He looked at me and said, 'Mom, sit.' and then "Milk, please." So, we sat in the two beach chairs, drinking milk (Buck) & a Diet Coke (me) as we watched the neighbors go by from the shade of our garage. Buck is so much like his dad with that mellow, sit and watch kind of attitude. It is really very fun to be a part of it all.









pics of Sir Topam Hat (spelling), Buck on the grass, & the train ride (with Thomas at the end there). Big stuff if you are nearly 2.

"OOO - Livin' on a Prayer"

So, I spent this past weekend working at the girls' retreat I have been alluding to. I thought I'd add some pictures because it was quite an undertaking attempting to plan an entire retreat in a city where I have only lived about 9 months. It was at a camp about 20 minutes away from Calgary, and it was really quite an experience. The girls range in age from about 10 to 17, so it was quite a mix of ideas and hormones and all of that. The campground had a zip line and a ton of forests and a playground which was continually overrun. I spent the majority of my time in the dining room area helping with food and dishes. It was a good time and the moms had as much fun as the girls had. We even had a few glasses of wine Saturday night (just the moms) as a wrap-up social. I hope it's clear that we weren't leading the retreat (ie: in charge of the girls). We were more the 'support staff' of the retreat in charge of the practical aspects but not the talks or groups or anything (hence, our ability to have a glass of wine without legal ramifications). RKZ and Buck remained at home and went to swim lessons, played at the park, cleaned up the garage, recycled bottles and cans and attended a First Communion party at a neighbor's house down the street (sort of). In other words, they had a fun, manly weekend.

We were sad to miss Memorial Day. It was nice to hear that Dad spent it doing manual labor :) Buck and I have big plans today - a walk in the forest by the house, lunch at the local pizza place and a playdate with Clemmie, Charlie and Keaton (of course). I also have to give more blood in our never-ending quest for fertility (hee).

More tomorrow!

"Critta'..."

I have a very good friend named Critta' Beem who lives in Reno (by coincidence) near my parents. These are photos of Buck and Critta's sons, Con-man & Jate. My mind is still flooded with thoughts of last night's "LOST" finale, so I have decided to dedicate this entire post to Critta:
Oh Critta, O Critta my partner and friend
We're starting a school (or we hope) in the end.
Our boys are all crazy but we are quite calm,
You're a good friend, a great singer and a really fine mom.
Oh Critta, O Critta we were together too short
Since I was off to Canada and you headed up Nort (North). But we will make sure that our paths cross again. We love Jesus, we love drinking and we love being friends. Here - a post that is all about you :) Instead of me for once.

"I got you, under my skin..."

The song title is all Frank. I think Buck is a throw-back with his little plaid hat. I think he wore it for about 10 minutes before it hit the floor (and has stayed there ever since). It was part of what was supposed to be the World's Cutest Mother's Day portrait. Instead, I just took him early in the morning in whatever he had on as I find that it's best just to get things accomplished when there is the toddler attitude to contend with.
Buck has been very excited to see his knees in these last few (warmer) weeks. He just can't get enough of them and says "knee" every chance he gets. This brings me to Buck's ability to copy almost any word he hears. 2 slightly humorous stories about this:
1. I try to go to Daily Mass. I have some friends there who also have chidren. There is a family we're close with here who also go to Mass (but their 4 children are normally in school). This is the same family that came over for dinner Monday night and whose eldest son, Paul, is Buck's new hero. Anyway, I guess there was a rough morning in the Ferner house because Paul was the altar-server at the 9am Mass on Tuesday morning. For you skeptics, this is actually considered a reward by Paul - not a punishment. Regardless, Buck also saw it as a reward for himself. Buck proceeded to scream "Paul!" and "Jesus!" through the entire Mass. From what I gather, either Buck thinks Paul is Jesus or that Paul has a special magical ability that allows him to stand near Jesus (Now, I'm not going to argue theology here, so I will suffice it to say that I find the second one more accurate minus the magic). Buck didn't care about anything except the fact that his new best friend was standing at the front. Paul seemed to think it was hilarious also.
2. The second story is set in IKEA (please see "Ode to Ikea" blog earlier in the year). I was trying to find washable placemats (Buck has graduated to table-only - no tray eating). I found a few and was holding them up to ask Buck which color he wanted. The clerk who was near-by said "there is also a turquoise one." When I held up this last placemat, Buck said "Turquoise one." Even the clerk was impressed. I don't think he's ever heard that word before, unless it was from his dad discussing his wardrobe (ha. ha.) It's time for Buck's nap. I'd better get going. There is a lot to do for the girls' retreat this weekend!

"Long time gone!"

This weekend was a great time - we had a fun evening with some American friends at their house. They are college-aged girls who are here in Calgary working for the (Catholic) Church. They are very funny & we had a good night listening to their stories of Jerusalem (they went for Holy Week this year). RKZ & I brought about 3 large bags of chips, some salsa and a 12-pack of beer. We were very popular with the girls.

Saturday was the block party. I have to upload the pictures and I will post them this week. Sadly, the weekend was a little cold - but Saturday was the warmest of the days. Buck had an amazing time entertaining everyone. More on that when I've added the pictures.

Monday, we cleaned. We also tried to get to Costco and my new favorite place - the Canadian Superstore. Costco was closed, sadly, but we found everything we need and hte Canadian counterpart. We cleaned the house - did much needed laundry and had some friends over for dinner. The Ferners and their 4 kids as well as a new friend and her son, Adam. Buck was in heaven. I think some kids are just made to have siblings. The Ferner's eldest is a 10 year old boy named Paul. Buck woke up saying Paul and seems to have a new best friend. They built forts, made messes and threw things all night long. It was a fun evening & I missed the chaos that I remember from being a kid. About 5 spills, three huge messes and only one stain on the rug later, the Ferners went home to bed and RKZ and I cleaned up. It was a good time.

These pictures are still some from the trip to Reno. Buck is getting so absolutely tall. He was 97% in height when we visited the Health nurse a few weeks back. He is nearly 3 feet tall now. We've had to buy shelf locks because he loves to open knife drawers and take sharp knives out while yelling, "Knife!" It's a good time, let me tell you.

"Hol-i-day ay..."

It's the beginning of Victoria Day Weekend here in Canada - so a lot of people are taking today off of work (not RKZ, of course) and we all have Monday off (not moms, of course). It is normally the first day of the camping season up here - but, and I quote, "It's been known to snow on Victoria Day." I'm not one to over-state the obvious (yes I am), but the forcast does call for snow on Monday (or it did - it seems to be changing by the minute). It is now supposed to be in the 50'sF/teensC all weekend, so, as good Americans, we are going to drive the 3 hours North to Edmonton, Alberta and the site of the "World's Largest Mall." No, I'm NOT kidding. I guess there is both and amusement park AND a water park within the Mall as well as 2 hotels and a bunch of other stuff. I figure that it must been seen as it's the "world's largest" and it's only 3 hours away. I'm sure that we'll see it again when both SDJ and auntie HAB come to visit. Did I mention it's the WORLD'S LARGEST MALL? That's quite a distinction, I figure. I will be sure to get some pictures and add them on Tuesday. We're only driving up Sunday and Monday (we're not that into malls) because our street is having that huge block party I mentioned yesterday (so excited). Also, I have to cut out big construction paper petals to make daisies for the little girls' retreat next weekend. And we have to find time to clean our house. (good luck with that last one).

These pictures are some more from Reno. Buck is very good at going up and down the slide on his own now - as is my mother. She went with Buck one time and he decided that she must go every time now. Beware the tiny dictator!

"I'm comin' home"

Well, we spent a few days in Reno (hence, no posts for a while) - I am going to drag out the pictures for a few days since they are cute and I have enough. It was 80's/25's there the entire week. Buck went around touching his knees and saying "Knee" since he had never really seen his knees before. He was also not sure about not wearing socks. This seemed an abomination to him until he realized that he'd still get to wear his crocs.
Anyone who has been to my parents' place in Reno (everybody who went to the wedding) knows that there is a large pond/small lake just a short walk from their house. The first day, we were off like a shot feeding the geese. I guess they are officially "Canadian Geese" but here we just call them geese :) I love that they all had little baby geese with them. They acted similarly to how I would if a giant stranger tried to come too close to Buck - a lot of hissing & the threat of biting. I love the pictures, though. Since we've been home, the weather has been really beautiful & we've been enjoying the chance to play outdoors. I will share some funny stories about Buck's love of grass and the fact that we don't have any in the back yard, but that our shy neighbors do (no fences). We're becoming more close. I'm also excited to share stories of this weekend's big neighborhood street party (with a senior-citizen rock band and everything!) I will be sure to get some pictures. It's supposed to SNOW here on Monday, so I'm living up this joyful blogging for a few days.

"Mi Terra"

We were very excited about our Cinqo de Mayo party (on May 5 - the Saturday before last). It was the first party we have thrown here in Canada. [as a caveat, we did have a dinner party or 2 in Toronto...] this was the first party where we invited a large number of people and made food. You can tell that we had fun because these "pre-party" pictures are the only photos we took.

RKZ decorated & I have to say that I was very excited about the Mexican flags. We left them up for a few days after the party. As our guests came in, they all made comments about the decorations. This is probably because I had invited my neighbors (there were about 10 of them) last minute and made it "seem" that we had just thrown the party together. They figured that we were these incredible party planners who could whip up anything at the last minute - oops!

The guests who were invited earlier were all of the parents of Buck's friends: Clemmie, Charlie, Keaton, Jackson & a new friend down the street. We also had some of RKZ's friends from work and their familes - plus the neighbors and their kids (there were only 2 boys) as well as 2 girls we hired to babysit the kids who came. So it was a good-sized crowd.

The reason we began our Canadian party careers with a 5 de Mayo party (aside from the fact that it is a totally awesome holiday) is the fact that I was craving some Mexcian food as well as the fact that there is a dearth of good Mexican food (even Chevys-type Tex Mex) here in Calgary. There is awesome Asian food of all types, but not too much "California-Mexican" like that of our beloved Las Barcas in HB. So, we thought we'd whip up some fattening, cheesy dishes for our friends and neighbors.

RKZ bought a deep fat frier - so we were serious.

Anyone even remotely Mexican (or a big traveler to Mexico) will know that most of the food we made was a pale imitation - but I gave it my best shot. It was funny that many of the guests had a difficult time with the "spicy" food that didn't even phase RKZ & I. The menu included: Empenadas (cheese & jalapeno), sopaipillas, taco cups (don't ask), quesedilla, chips and guac & salsa (of course), jalapeno poppers - from the deep frier - 2 bottles of margarita mix (all consumed) and a healthy recycling rebate in the Mexican beers we could find here - as well as the 4 cases of Corona people brought. Yes...it turns out that Corona is the gift of choice in both Calgary & California (with a dramatic difference in the fact that there was no Coors Light).

My favorite dish - and most proud accomplishment - was that I made an actual FLAN! and it was good and people ate it. I have enough ingredients to make another one, so I'm thinking we'll have a "follow-up" party for the friends we didn't invite. Don't tell them that they are the B list. A second party will also give RKZ the chance to use the frier again.

The one part of the menu we didn't get to was the baja fish tacos. There was simply food for most of the party & grilling fish might have taken RKZ from the bar unneccesarily :) So, we've been eating fish tacos every night. They are awesome! The only thing better would actually be being in Mexico with RKZ's parents who are there this week.

My favorite comment of the evening was when RKZ's friend asked him, "So, what's next? Arbor day?" That made us laugh because we had already decided to make it our "niche" to throw parties on "non-holidays." That way, we ensure a pretty good turn-out no matter what.

See you on Flag Day!