DINOSAURS!

As part of the Moffat family time this summer we went to the Royal Tyrell Dinosaur Museum up in Drumheller. It was so interesting to see all these dinosaur bones put together. I have no idea how they can find bones and piece them together like a puzzle. We walked through the entire museum looking at different period's in time and reading about the different animals and environments they lived in. Alberta, our province, used to be covered in water and corals and slowly it turned into these dry fertile prairies. The best part was where all the dinosaurs were pieced together and set up. The painted background was the same as the bone placement so that you could visualize what the dinosaurs looked like walking around.

The kids seemed to enjoy running around and looking at the different looking dino's. I think that Brayden really enjoyed this one dinosaur whose head resembled Elvis' hair. They had big T-Rex's and tiny little baby dinosaurs complete. I was surprised at how small the rapture dinosaurs were considering how dangerous they were (or as I remember them being in Jurrasic Park, hehe) but as Kait pointed out to me they hunted in packs so they didn't need to be big.

After our walk through the museum we took a journey through the badlands. It was really pretty through the different hills, the colours from the different sediments all lined up like a rainbow. As you are following the trails through the badlands there are signs asking you to stay on the trail so we had to keep on the kids because they wanted to run around and look at the cactus or draw in the untouched spots of mud. The bummer of it was when I went off the trail to try to get this amazing yellow sunflower with the rich blue sky as the background. I took a running jump at the steep hill the flower was on and landed in a silky pile of mud and slid down getting mud all down my arms and pants in my effort to save the camera. *sigh* If I had only been able to get the picture it would have been worth it.... next time I suppose.

Beattie Family Reunion

This weekend was the annual Beattie family reunion. Everyone got their camping gear ready and headed out to Park Lake for a weekend full of good times. I haven't been out to Park Lake for at least 10 years and didn't really have a great lasting impression of the place so as excited as I was to hang out and have fun with family I was a little nervous about spending 3 days out there wondering what it would be that we would be doing. I was genuinely surprised when we arrived with how pretty it was. The day was perfect but the lake was so clean, the trees were green and full and our campsites were perfectly placed. It was so warm when we arrived, the kids were very excited about getting into the water for a swim and out they went building sand castles and floating in the rubber dingy. The kids played in the great park and rode bikes up and down the paved path that lined the lake running off tons of extra energy. In the evening there was some fishing and walks with Grandma.

After the kids were all settled and put to bed we got to watch a beautiful sunset while Jim and Jessica reeled in the first catch of the weekend!

Saturday was another great day. The weather was amazing putting me in a great mood to start the day. There were a lot of fun things going on to keep us busy including a game of kickball in one of the fields at the lake. It was nice to see the kids running around and kicking that ball around. There were some really great plays made by siblings going after one another and kids outing their parents with some impressive throws and catches.
After lunch there was some more swimming before playing with these amazing bubbles that never pop! THEY. ARE. AMAZING. I couldn't believe it, you can run after them, catch them and still they remain bubbles. Madison seemed to love running after them and the best part was that even though she wasn't fast enough she could pop them herself after they safely landed on the gravel. After dinner my kids did some crafts with Grandma making up some of that lost time with her. Sydney made a nice butterfly and Brayden created this colourful angelfish out of coffee filters. My kids really really love getting their hands on marker, paints, scissors or glue. When I told them it was time to get ready for bed it was no surprise that 1. they were both upset and 2. they both wanted to keep their new creations in the tent with them while they were sleeping. I love seeing that they have such pride in the creations!

Craft time required the kids to use water guns to spray their coloured coffee filters to bleed the vibrant shades together. Ryan was able to get his hands on a couple of water guns and seemed to enjoying spraying those of us without guns in our hands. Thankfully his dad was able to get his hands on a gun and even the playing field.

Such a great time with the family! Loved it.

Night Lights

Klahowya Village

There is a new addition to Stanley Park in Vancouver named Klahowya Village. The village only opened 2 weeks ago and will be open all summer long as a free exhibit. It's an interactive look at the Native Americans in the B.C. area and their heritage. We were drawn in by the huge teepee which holds the cedar from the oldest tree in the Stanley Park which was blown over in a storm back in 2006. The piece of cedar was taken to Beijing as a part of the attempt to win the vote for the Olympic games to be held in Vancouver. It apparently symbolized the great diversity that Canada has to offer. I'm not too sure how that symbolizes diversity but one thing was for sure, it smelled amazing in that teepee from all that cedar. You walked along the path which took you through a variety of different crafts and skills that the Indians have and sharing some stories and games that they would play and share with their families. There is a spirit train that you can take into the woods of Stanley Park that takes you to the petting zoo to hang out with some of the animals. They had these beautifully engraved stones lining a pathway which showed the Haida artwork for different animals such as the beaver, killer whale, humming bird and more.

On the main stage they have a couple of live performances every day where native dancers will perform different dances and educate people a little bit about the stories behind the dances and where they originate from. We were fortunate enough to watch a couple of flashy dances by some young girls traditionally done when a loved one is lost in war as a grieving process and another done telling the success tale of stealing a horse from the enemy. After those dances one of the champion hoop dancers for over 3 years danced for us. While the dancing was going on there was a guy on the stage doing all the singing and drumming for the dances live and he was so great! The show was awesome.

Sunday Stroll to the Park(s)

One thing that Vancouver does not have a shortage of is walking paths and parks for families to enjoy. Sunday we decided to take a walk down the sea wall and stop off at a park we had scouted out the other day on our aqua bus ride. It was a good distance from the hotel but we figured it would be a nice and we had no other plans for the day so, why not? We took the walking path while so many bikers and rollerbladers passed by along the bike path next to us. It was so nice to not have to dodge out of the way like we do at Henderson Lake, we could enjoy our pase and didn't have to continue telling the kids to get out of the way. So much more relaxing to just stroll along and not worry about everyone else. There were so many families out walking their dogs, pushing their posh strollers and suntanning along the grass. We passed a couple different playgrounds before too long and decided to stop off at one before we made it to the planned destination. All three of the kids ran around zipping down the slides. After a little break we got back onto the path and headed to the 'big' playground we spotted the other day. We played there before continuing on our journey.

I think that it would be hard to live in an apartment without a nice yard to let the kids run around in but if there was a time I did have to live in a condo, Vancouver would be the place. Amazing views, parks, playgrounds, beaches and walks every where you look. No excuses to stay inside on a beautiful day!

Burnaby Central Park

Today we did something completely selfish on my behalf. When I was a little child I have a lot of happy memories with my family in Burnaby where we used to live. I can remember running through the wooded trails in Central Park and getting completely trampled on by Max (our golden retriever) because I didn't get out of the narrow path fast enough. I remember feeding ducks, the pitch and put and I can even remember the smell of the cedar trees from our family walks. These are really happy memories for me and I can remember that I loved it so I really wanted to take my kids there and show them the things I used to do with my parents when I was their age. We parked on the street where we used to live since it was only one block away from the park, took out the stroller and headed to the park. We didn't walk too far before we stopped at a quiet spot along the lake and brought out the bread to feed the ducks. They started chowing down on the bread and the kids seemed to enjoy throwing these huge chunks right at the ducks with a piece even getting stuck right in the center of one poor ducks back. While we were feeding the duck a huge blue heron flew over us and landed just on the other side of the lack to take a rest. It stayed there the whole time which was a little frustrating since I was really hoping to get a nice shot of it in flight... but my plans were foiled when the ducks got full and swam away leaving the kids with no further excitement and we went on our way.

We went for a nice walk through the trails with a few chipmunks and squirrels running across our path. At one point Kait and I separated from Ryan and the kids to go through one of the narrow paths in the trees so we could be nerds with our camera's and try to take artsy pictures.

We caught up with Ryan and the kids at a park and sat on the bench while they ran around playing on the slides and making new friends. The park was beside another lake where some ducks were bathing and some people were suntanning. There were so many different families out for picnics and the smell of yummy BBQ burgers was so tempting. We continued on our way after a while taking the rest of the path around the park. It was so nice to go somewhere familiar and happy for me, to share it with my family now and to see it's still just as I remember it being. It was also great to watch my children enjoy themselves as much as I remember doing and knowing somehow I was able to pass a little piece of who I am down to them today!

Vancouver Science Center

We had the greatest time at the Vancouver Science Center. No offense to the Calgary Science Center but this one was WAY better. We spent hours there and the kids were far from ready to leave when we took off to find some grub for dinner. The best part about it was there was so much for us to do along with the kids that I never felt bored, in fact I don't think I was ready to leave either. I felt like a kid trying out the different games and trying to figure out the puzzles. I was able to kick Kait's trash in the wheel chair races, watch my mom scream as the puzzle jumped out at her and see Ryan make enough energy to power a smart phone.

What did the kids do? Well, um... they played too. They launched rockets and parachute men, found treasure, controlled an underwater submarine carrying a camera and burned off endless amounts of energy. It was so fun just to watch them run from one activity to another, try it out and learn something from it. We saw dinosaurs bones and little creepy things little kids love to look at.

When we left the Science Center I asked both the kids what their favorite part of the afternoon was. Well, to no surprise to me they both answered 'the fire!' The last thing we did was sit down and watch a science show on how different chemicals can cause reactions. We saw flash paper light up before our eyes, the guy threw flames in the air, shot off a canon and shot a water rocket up into the next floor right over Nana and Papa's head! It was SO cool! Brayden sat there with his eyes wide and mouth open almost the entire show watching in amazement.

Vancouver Aquabus and Granville Island

We thought that it would be fun to take the aqua bus to some of the spots that we wanted to go to today. The nice thing about Vancouver is that they have made it so easy to get around and it has been so fun to try out the different types of transportation with the kids. It's kept it exciting for them and they haven't once complained about the amount of time spent getting to somewhere. They are loving the adventure. The aqua bus takes you up and down the False Creek from downtown, to Granville Island and zig zagging up until you reach the Science Center which is just up False Creek from the B.C. Stadium. We wanted to walk around Granville Island a little bit in the morning and spend the afternoon at the Science Center and so the little boat was perfect for us. We walked down about 5 minutes from the hotel until we reached the water and docked right there. It took another 5 minutes for the little boat to shuttle us across the river to Granville Island where we got off to walk around the shops and the market. The views from the water of the city where really beautiful and it was an angle I've never seen before.

We didn't spend too much time at Granville Island but just enough to look at some of the interesting artwork and designs they have on display. There are really a lot of beautiful crafts but they are all just too expensive unfortunately. The market was colourful with so many huge fresh berries and vegetables. Our adventure even included a creepy guy singing and dancing to the kids for money.

After our walk around Granville Island we hopped back onto the aqua bus and headed towards the Science Center. The driver of the boat was kind enough to point out a wild harbour seal swimming around and the kids seemed to enjoy seeing him out in the water. We also saw these little houses built on the water just floating there like house boats only more permanent. They used to line the river but now there are only a few that remain. The ride was nice and in the evening on the way back from the Science Center we were lucky enough to enjoy the beautiful view again.