Christian's First Written Letter/Number

On Daddy's birthday, Christian decided to paint him a picture and he showed me the picture had the letter S, the number 3 and the letter T in it.  We don't really "practice" letters or numbers so I thought that was good that he was doing it on his own.  He is more aware of letters and numbers in the world now because when we see signs or packaging, he often will point out letters.

Suzuki Music Camp August 5-8

Marissa, Christian's music teacher, recommended that Christian attend the Suzuki music camp which fit into a week that we did not have any conflicting activities.  There were three kids (ages 3-4) in Christian's class and his teacher Nicole.  Nicole came up with fun games to play with the kids to reinforce what they all have been learning in private lessons.  They played the "abcdefg" musical alphabet game, the rythyms recognition game (whether Nicole was playing "pepperoni pizza, ice cream cone or run mommy, run daddy rythms which are all to the Twinkle Twinkle beat), having the kids turn their backs and guess whether she was playing a high, low or middle note and also guessing whether Nicole was playing keys that were accelerating, decelerating or staying the same, they practiced their posture and their bows (holding their bow to the length of time it takes to say "hippopatumus").  There was also a parent session giving us tips on how to motivate to practice and also reinforcing that it isn't easy to keep kids motivated to play.  After one more private lesson this summer with Marissa, we'll be off until September, then we'll be back to our 30 minute lesson with her.

Canmore August 1-4 and 8-11

At Christian's new school's annual gala this past spring, Mark and I bid on a week's stay at a lodge house in Canmore (the Three Sisters Mountain area), about a 45 minute drive from our house.  So we decided to bring his parents one weekend and one weekend we would go with just our immediate family.  We've passed by Canmore several times on our way to Banff, but have never spent any time there.  The lodge house was nice because it had its own clubhouse with a private theatre you could reserve, a pool and hot tub and a nice park for the kids.  Having Mark's parents with us, we were able to use the private theatre once for a mini date night.  We also took the kids swimming and met a nice young British family who own one of the lodges.  They come out twice a year (summer and winter) to enjoy the beautiful scenery.  It seems like a haul to come from England, but the scenery is really pretty beautiful.  On our way out to town one afternoon, we saw a real mountain goat who looked pretty stragley.  Christian asked me why the goat needed a  haircut!

The kids loved playing up and down the hallway counting all the bear motifs and also checking for puppies and a cat that lived in the lodge across the hall from us.  They also loved playing ball down the hall and going out with dad to fly a kite.  We loved the Coffee Mine cafe; nice homemade sandwiches, salads.  We also had time to check out the local library where we came upon its book sale.  Liam honed in on his "bobbie" books (i.e. Sesame Street) and we picked up a few new ones for them.  Liam especially loves "Farley goes to the Doctor" where Ernie has a sore throat and talks funny because of it and also the part where Dr. Rothman asks Farley to open up and say "ahh" when he is checking his throat.  It is so cute to see Liam so excited about reading his "bobbie" books; we can't figure out why he likes them so much when we rarely watch Sesame Street.  Christian likes the Sesame Street books too, but is more enamored with Richard Scary's Cars Trucks and Things that Go, especially the part where you find that tiny little Goldbug character.

On our last night, we had dinner with the kids at Luna, a pasta place that our neighbor recommended.  It was all right, but I had to scarf my food down so that I could watch Liam.  Once Liam is finished with his meal, he wants out of his chair (unlike Christian at Liam's age who could sit for a long time).  It was  nice to be out in Canmore and watching the olympic coverage at the same time.  We saw some pretty lakes that we will have to visit next time we are in Canmore (i.e. Quarry Lake).