Going to a farm

It is so much more fun when the kids are older.  We took our little monster to a farm to check out different animals.  Ali had such a great time!

Checking out the ducks by the entrance.  Ali was a little scared at first, but very excited and kept on making "quack, quack" sounds.  So cute!

The donkeys are pretty cute.  I think they are miniature donkeys.

Free range chicken.  Literally.  They let these weird looking chicken roamed freely in the farm.  

Ali had a thing for sheep.  She was so so excited to see the sheep!  

A jumpy mountain goat.  They seemed to like to climb a lot.

This peacock was a little shy.  He tend to hide behind the garbage bin most of the time.

Two beautiful majestic horses.  They are so handsome and gorgeous!

Baa baa sheep taking a little break from grazing.

Ali, her wonderful goo-ma and a cute rabbit.

These moo-moos were just too sweet.  One was kissing the other.  So adorable!

After we went once around the farm (it was quite small), Ali wanted to head back to see the rabbits again.  Look at the dad and the girl.  They were so excited to go back to check out the rabbitat!

A short clip of Ali trying to feed the rabbits.  She was pretty scared to go near them, but she really liked watching them and didn't want to leave.

After our short visit to the farm, we went to Lonsdale Quay to have lunch.

It just so happened that there was a farmer's market there that weekend.  Look at those gorgeous cherry tomatoes!!!  So beautiful and yummy!!!  I wanted to take ALL of them home!!!

When Ali is at daycare...

I have so much free time that I don't know what to do.  Actually, that's not true.  There is a list of things that I want to accomplish this month and I am quite behind still.  And I really have one and a half weeks left!!!  Oh no, what to do!  Gotta power up the engine a bit and start being more productive!!!

One of the things that I really wanted to do is to learn how to make cakes.  I tried making a cake for hubby (boyfriend, back then) and it was a complete failure.  Ever since I learned that one of my students' mother has a talent in making cakes, I asked if I could be her apprentice for a day, just to learn a couple of things.  She is SUPER NICE and is really helpful in guiding me in this cake hobby of mine.  First, she showed me her moon cakes.  Gosh, it looks just like the big shops!! 

The cake I learned about is mousse cake.  Mrs. Gu is so nice that she made a cake early in advance so I can learn how to make the mousse when I was there and she showed me how to make the actual cake too on the spot!

My "sifu" working hard in the kitchen:

The mousse needs to be set for a day before we can do the decorations.  Mrs. Gu gave me a lot of tips and my first "demo" cake turned out pretty well!

A cross-section of the mango mousse cake:

Mrs. Gu insisted that I brought home both cakes.  So I practiced making my own blueberry mousse and it didn't turn out as well as I hope.  But for a cake dummy like me, it turned out better than I anticipated.  At least it tasted okay.  Oh well, now that I know what to do, I am sure the next one will be a lot better!

The only problem with me learning to make cakes is that my husband and I don't really like desserts.  Trying to get rid of the cake is a major problem.  Gotta take a little break from this before I make another one!  Too much cake!  

Playdate with Jonathan and Aiden

Another two good friends of ours were back to town for a short period of time in July.  They brought their two boys as well.  This is the second time that Ali met Jonathan and Aiden.  All the kids have grown up SO MUCH and SO FAST too!!  This time, Ali is able to interact with the younger one, Aiden.  Jonathan is too cool for Ali (the older one is much more into his ipad.)

Ali:  What's that?

Aiden:  That's a water nozzle.  You wanna try?

A:  "Hi, Jonathan goh-goh"

J:  "Who are you again?"

Ali waiting for Aiden's kiss.

Aiden: "This girl just kept on asking me for kisses.  I guess that's what happened when you are good-looking like me!"

Ali really likes hanging out with Aiden.  Here is proof:  (Oh and Aiden's nickname is DiDi.)

Central Park Picnic

We went to Central Park to do a summer picnic with a few friends.  Ali took a while to warm up to people these days.  Even people she knows really well, she still takes awhile to warm up.  By the end of the picnic, she was okay hanging out with her BFF, Allison, again.  They held hands to go check out a few ducks swimming in the pond.

Look at the two.  They are so cute together!

Allison and Alison:

Hug time!

Toddlers are so easily amused.  They had so much fun just looking at the ducks swimming in the water.  They made "quack, quack" sounds too!!  Those two silly girls!!!

A date with Trevor goh goh

Playdates, playdates and more playdates.  That's how I would describe this July!  My friend Emily was in town with her toddler Trevor a few weeks ago.  We went to one of the coolest park in North Vancouver.  The kids had so much fun in the car!!  I guess that's what life is like when you have two kids similar in age!  So much fun to be with!

Here is a picture of Emily and her little one:

Trevor and Ali playing "let's fill the tank" together:

A:  "Fill it up please!"
T:  "Yes, missy!"

After they finished playing, Emily yee-yee brought the two to the picnic bench.

Got side-tracked.  The two were having so much fun together!

We hope to see you two again soon, please come back to Vancouver more often, Emily yee-yee and Trevor goh-goh!!  =)

Hanging out with Sylvia and Mavis

After Auntie Connie heard that I will be home alone with the little monster, she quickly volunteered to have a playdate with her girls.  The last time Ali met the girls was at least half a year ago and of course, she didn't really remember the two.  But that didn't really stop little Ali from wanting to play with them!

Sylvia drawing in her big doodling pad while Ali playing with her eraser.
A:  Um, can I play with your stuff???  I want to draw too!!

Sylvia moved on to a different activity, while...

little monster played with Sylvia's doodle pad and looked at her geh-geh with her puppy dog eyes:

Sylvia couldn't stand Ali's puppy dog look and gave in.  She decided to "cook" for Ali.  Sylvia even got Ali her chair for her!

While the two playing cooking time together, Mavis wanted to spend more play time with her mama.

The two then moved on to drums and other cool toys.

It's TV time!!!  TV is a magical box, just look at those three.  So focus and they didn't even blink!!  Actually, Ali only watched for 10 minutes and then she wanted to play with something else instead.  She is still not very used to watching TV yet!  LOL!

Thanks Connie for hosting!  Ali and I had such a great time with the girls!!! 

A date with my Kiki

As a super-belated birthday present, I took my beautiful kai-lui Kiki for a mani and a pedi.  That's right - royal treatment for my princess!!  While we were out, Ali's kai mama took care of the two younger ones.  I thought the two wouldn't spend too much time together, but man, was I wrong!

Hayden and Ali are like best buds!!!

Why, you ask?  Simply because of....goldfish crackers!!  Yes, the one thing that bonds all children together!

The two troublemakers acting like little angels, hoping they will get more goldfish.  Seriously, they should consider hiring these two to be in their commercial or something.

Look at my Kiki's beautiful fingers!!  They painted flowers on her nails!!

And her toes too!!

Kiki hanging out with her kai-meow-meow!

Hayden playing with cars.  Must be a boy's thing!

Ali going nuts - as usual.  She is particularly happy when she is with her kai siblings.

Kiki showing off her cute nails!

After mani and pedi, we went to pick up a few pieces of cake!  Birthday is not a birthday without cakes!!!

Both of us enjoyed the nail experience so much that I think we should make it a Vancouver tradition.  What do you say, Kiki??