Mission Accomplished

This past weekend we had a lot of fun and finished almost everything off our list of Fun Things To Do And Things To Get Done! Dave and I are still quite amazed at what we managed to accomplish :)

1) Bowling and minigolf. We didn't want to go back to the place we had been to in November so I Googled and found another indoor minigolf place not far from us in Cambridge. Dave and I were a little hesitant what all we would find at "ibowl.ca: The Family Fun Centre," but we decided to give it a try. Thankfully it was not busy at all which made up for the fact that it felt a little sketchy. I mean, how many Family Fun Centres do you know of which are licensed to sell alcohol and have a full bar behind the cash?!?!?!

It was glow in the dark and Sam and Rachel's first time ever to go bowling. Thankfully, they had a little ramp which helped Sam and Rachel bowl since Sam's first few attempts to throw the ball down the lane without it were r-e-a-l-l-y slow. Rachel wasn't so sure at first, but overcame her fears and ended up having a really good game. I sucked, as usual, and Dave also played fairly well. Be sure to carefully check out the picture of our scores below for the whole story.

It was completely nerve wracking having Rachel's little fingers trying to pick up her bowling ball while another one was heading into the ball rack!

 

The minigolf course was an "around the world" theme and quite fun to play. Also, excuse my fashionable "white socks and black leggings" combo -- I was going for as much white as possible!

 

2) Tobogganing. We were planning on doing this on Saturday afternoon and then making homemade pizzas. And then one of our church friends posted that anyone who wanted to could join them at their local park for sledding and then go back to their house for...pizza! It seemed serendipitous! Sam and Rachel had never been tobogganing before and both of them claimed to be done after one ride each. I forced them each to go down a second time and, at the end of that one, Rachel said, "Again!" and Sam yelled, "That was fun!!!" and then they were unstoppable. Sam even loved pulling the toboggans back UP the hill!

Then we went to our friends and had amazing homemade pizzas and chocolate fondue for dessert. We had so much fun I forgot to take any pictures. And honestly, I decided not to take our camera tobogganing :)

3) Butterfly Conservatory. After having a lot of fun there last year, I really wanted to head back again this December so yesterday we headed out there after church. And as we walked in the door, a man was holding a butterfly and asked if I wanted a turn! YES!!! Unfortunately the camera was not happy with the high humidity after being in the cold car so these photos have an...um, other-worldly air... to them, shall we say :)

Sam was given a sheet of paper and told to look for clues about identifying the differences between butterflies and moths. He LOVED this aspect of it and was very intent about completing his sheet.

Rachel insisted on dumping the container of dried butterfly wings out about twice before we removed her. Last night as I was getting her changed for bed I took her shirt off and couldn't figure out why, suddenly, it was leaving black fuzzes all over the place. And then I realized it was dried butterfly wings which had been dumped down her shirt sleeves and then she had carried them with her for the next six hours. Ewwwww! I screamed and ran out of her room and completely freaked Rachel out but it was GROSS.

4) Skating. Dave was going to take Sam to the library so he could play games on the computers there and then they were going to go skating. Sadly, the library was closed yesterday (but Dave and Sam are going to go tonight, which is the last thing on our list!!!), so it turned out that we all went to the skating rink. Sam and Dave skated, I took pictures (which didn't turn out all that well because it was dusk) and Rachel watched the happenings. And a really kind stranger gave us her skating bar (to keep!) because it was too small for her daughter. Sam loved using it. It was only the second time in his life Sam has been on skates and he did really well.

We also did some fun things which weren't on our list. Sam and Rachel had some Christmas money to spend so Sam got some more Lego and Rachel got a purse. Her purse is actually her (belated) birthday gift and her Christmas money is going to the "owl backapacka" (rolling suitcase) we bought her last week. We also got her a puzzle because she already had the one Dave's parents got her for Channukah.

 

 

Last night I also got a chance to paint my toenails with my new Christmas stocking nailpolish (Essie's turquoise & caicos) and Dave and I finally ate the cheesecake he bought me last week to cheer me up. Last week was back when Rachel was sick and I was sad we weren't spending Christmas with my parents so I needed a little extra cheering up. (Yes, I know we had "early Christmas in Saskatoon" but it was still hard in the days leading up to Christmas Day.) We've also made our way through most of Season (series???) three of Downton Abbey these past few days so that's been really good too!

Today Dave is back at work and we have a quieter day planned which is good because we are all a little tired from our action-packed past few days. I said to Dave yesterday, "I think we just had ourselves a 'staycation.'" And it was a lot of fun!