Of This and That

This is a shot of the Rose Garden that we love to frequent for an evening stroll.  It's about a 8 minute walk from home.  The kids love it and so do we.  We visit it a lot.  This picture is from a look out above it, and although it's hard to tell beyond is ocean and mountains.  Very nice on a clear day ... or a cloudy, rainy one for that matter.  To get down to it with the stoller there an elevator.  So taking the kids there is like taking them for a carnival ride.  Win win.
Lately I've been very aware that when we go out and about on campus with the kids we are often the only people with kids in tow.  I went to the Student Union building today with Amy, Ben and Owen and was painfully aware that no one else hanging around had one kid, much less 3.  We make quite an entourage.  Our building has lots of kids though, and I meet other families at the playground so I know we're not the only ones, but it feels like it sometimes.  Saying that, I have been very impressed with UBC letting us use the grounds as a huge play field.  Ben and Amy love running around the Rose Garden, dipping hands in fountains we find everywhere and just being loud kids and we have never once been shushed, or told we can't be where we are.  Good on you, UBC!

Amy has had quite the 2 days.  She was literally taking time out to smell the roses last night on at the Rose Garden when she was swarmed and stung by a bee.  She flipped, and I mean, FLIPPED out.  And rightly so, bee stings, well, sting.  Then today she was stung again at the castle playground where we were having a supper picnic. (No rain today!  Kind of a first around here.... well, not a first, but it has rained a lot.  A nice old man at church told me, "Well, we aren't this green for no reason!"  Touche.
Anyway, after she got stung today I told her maybe the bees thought she was a flower and that's why they land on her and not the rest of us.  To which she replied that from now on she would wear her nice, colourful clothes in the house and change into plain old boring clothes like the rest of us wear when she goes out.  Problem solved.

She does look a bit like a flower in what she picked to wear today, I'd say.

A few posts ago we rejoice that Amy had made a new friend.  Sadly, that little friend has already moved away.  But here is a picture with a new new friend, Nion, a very sweet 5 year old from down the lane.  Amy also received an invite to another girls birthday party this weekend - she is very excited.  Living in this little community here has some funny quirks, but a lot of perks.  Hmmm... I see a post perculating in that sentence.

One more but of Amy news : today I got a call from University Hill Elementary School and Amy is officially enrolled to start in the fall!

I attended 2 evening speakers this week at Regent.  Both were good.  Monday's was The Economics of Enough.  I do like the idea of simple living and when I got home just wanted to pull out the good old WMPL handbook and read up on their stance on living simple.  Love good ol' WMPL mentality!  Tonight the lecture was Divining Spiritual meaning in Modern Art.  It made me wish I could paint.

Jonny has a Hebrew midterm tomorrow and is right now buried in vocab flashcards.  University summer Hebrew (known around here as "suicide Hebrew") seems very hard from what I can see.

And guess who is pulling up on furniture?

 Oh my gosh, I almost forgot.  Tonight walking home what do you think crept out from under the hedge?

A raccoon!  I know!  I don't think I've ever seen a real live one before, and let me tell you I was quite terrified.  They are sinister looking at dusk while walking alone.  Maybe it's the black mask they have.  I was expecting raccoons to jump out at me from every bush and tree after that and glad to get home.