Those warnings that say “DON”T TRY THIS AT HOME” or “PROFESSIONAL DRIVER on CLOSED COURSE”, turns out they are there for a reason! Unfortunately, if you are ten, you apparently do not heed those messages on the Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift movie. It also turns out that you can not drift on a Razor Scooter like in the movies or on Mario Kart. So with that lead up, we present to you the “One Armed Bandit” formerly known as “CubJ”:

Never fear, the bright green cast will be a short lived friend. It turns out that there are better places to break your radius and better times in your life to break them. If you are going to break your radius, break it not too far below your growth plate and if you are a boy close to a major growth spurt say 10/11ish for the fastest healing. They will potentially be taking off his cast in as little as 10-14 days.

For me, after watching them set the One Armed Bandits break, it became clear just why my ankle hurt so much after my surgery when I broke it! I was impressed at just how much tension and torsion it takes to get a bone back in place. Thanks so much Dr.Lam (Fellow) and your trusty Dr.Resident, you both did a great job under Dr. Joughin’s supervision!

I must say, the staff at the Alberta Children’s Hospital was OUTSTANDING! They could not have been nicer, more helpful or healing. Everyone we met was wonderful. A great big shout out to all of the staff who make it look so easy and help our kids over at the ACH, you are amazing. Most of all, thanks for being so great with all of us parents who I am sure can be a great big pain sometimes!

Get Well Soon O.A.B!

Summers here!

So long grades two and five, hello grade three and six! The school year ended well for both LittleJ’s with each of them being promoted to the next grade. Yeah LittleJ’s! The Mom's are stoked that there are no more school runs, no more lunches, no more homework....

To start out the summer fun, we had a great evening of pizza and the movie Brave with our BuddyP and BuddyC. A great time was had by all : there was playing, gaming, movie treats and even a sleepover for BuddyP. Thank you for the great evening everyone.

As a part of our summer vacation we thought we would try out some new places and visit some of our favourites. So far we have taken in:

· Fat City Frankswhich was DELICIOUS! I had the Jersey Shore Dog, which had homemade meatballs, marinara sauce, a great dog and provolone cheese. While wildly filling, it was fantastic. I highly recommend trying out Fat City Franks http://www.fatcityfranks.com/

· Diner Deluxe this is a favourite of DaddyJ and mine! I am convinced that this is the home of both the best potato pancake and hollandaise sauce in the city. For something new, I thought it would be fun to take the kids here to try it out. Not surprisingly, they loved it to! Come mid-morning during the week and enjoy one of the best breakfasts in the west! http://www.dinerdeluxe.com/our-story-2

· Mucho Burrito While not new to us, it is always a great place to enjoy some of the best soft tacos in the city. Even SparkJ can easily eat two beef (you know, the shredded slow cooked beef, not that ground beef mixture I pass off as tacos at home lol) tacos here. For me, there is nothing else to have beyond the Fish Quesadilla made with the yummiest tilapia ever. For those of you who have had Baja Fresh, this is a close as you will get on this side of the border. http://www.muchoburrito.com/menu/

· Brewsterswhere we are all fans of the wings (when SparkJ is not missing all of her teeth) and Snowman and I always enjoy watching the blueberries bounce up and down in tall glass of Blackfoot Blueberry Wheat ale. http://brewsters.ca/

· Tubby Dogthis is an institution that has become a fast favourite with the LittleJ’s. I believe that when one of their recent weekly dogs had maple baked beans on it, it ratcheted up another notch in CubJ’s eyes. Maple beans and a hot dog, now you are speaking directly to his heart! http://www.tubbydog.com/category/specials/

No summer vacation would be complete here in Calgary without a trip to the Calgary Stampede. DaddyJ joined us for an awesome day of rides, fair food and gaming! The weather was HOT, plus 30˚C and sunny all day long. We took a few breaks in the shade by touring the Ag in the City exhibit, the Barns to see the miniature ponies and the draft horses (nothing like the extremes of the horse spectrum to keep it interesting) and the Canadian Armed Forces displays. It would appear that CubJ is leaning towards joining Army Cadets when he is old enough, or so he thinks until AuntieA, UncleP and MommyJ are done with him and then it will be Air Cadets! ;) I must say, I really enjoy watching the kids have fun at the Stampede on the rides and touring the exhibitors hall to see all of the products I never knew I needed that are for sale!

As a surprise addition to our Stampede fun this year, I learned that DaddyJ can sleep ANYWHERE and CubJ took in his first concert:

· DaddyJ went to the RoundUp concert to see his all time favourite band, The Tragically Hip. It was a great day as one of his buddies flew in to town who is also a huge fan of the T.H.! I can say that there was a very good time had by both of those guys at the concert and I am thankful that DaddyJ did not have to get on a flight then next morning, ROTF LOL!

· CubJ and I got a huge surprise when DaddyJ got us two tickets to see Garth Brooks!!!!!! It was an amazing concert. Not for having a fancy stage or lots of special effect, but rather because Garth Brooks could be one of the most naturally inclined showman ever. He had 16,000 fans screaming and singing for over two hours as he played “I love this song” one after another. When his wife Trisha Yearwood came out and did a duet with him, the crowd went wild and she continued with two of her own songs: Walk Away Joe and She’s in Love with the Boy. It was a memorable concert. For CubJ, this was his first concert! To say that Garth set the bar a bit high is an understatement. While he liked several Garth songs before the concert, I can assure you that he is a convert now! GO Garth! Thanks for the AWESOME surprise DaddyJ.

It turns out that we are a hospitable sort of people! We got a family of birdies after two Robins built a nest on the back of our house above an outdoor speaker. We are not sure how well the babies are going to fair given all of the hawks, magpies, crows, coyotes and dogs in the neighbourhood, but we will have our fingers crossed for them!

DaddyJ managed to take in UFC 149 which had some great seconds of entertainment and lots of dull parts. Oh well, I guess now he can cross off seeing MMA live off of his list of things to do! While I am not a fan of MMA, I acknowledge that these are athletes in impressive shape with a variety of martial arts skills.

While SparkJ looks like she has been participating in MMA, she has simply been losing teeth like a MAD WOMAN. No ribs, wings or corn on the cob in her future. On the up side, the Tooth Fairy is padding her bank account!

Each summer brings us one of our biggest highlights which is seeing AuntieL, UncleD, CousinC and CousinR! This year, with them relocating to Houston next month, times are quick here in Canada and we made the most of our time to visit with a busy day of dim sum, playing and the park, laser tag/mah jong and Peter’s Drive Inn!

Ottawa ~ Tying it up with a nice little bow

“That is it! I can not take all of this English speaking any more: we are WALKING to Quebec...LOL”

At the end of the school year we had the opportunity to take a quick trip to Ottawa. This was fantastic timing after having just been in France and England. It gave us the chance to tie up the history of Canada in nice little bow by seeing our nation’s capital. So with that opportunity before us, we had to seize the day.

The LittleJ’s and I flew out to Ottawa on a Tuesday evening after school. It was a very pleasant flight with a lovely crew on Air Canada. I must say that this year we have been very lucky to have nothing but great experiences in flying. The staff we have interacted with in the airports, on flights and through security have all been extremely pleasant. Our flight was very uneventful and we arrived at one in the morning. Thankfully, DaddyJ met us at the airport with TimBits!

While we were in Ottawa, we stayed at the Ottawa Marriott. https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/yowmc-ottawa-marriott-hotel/This is a wonderful location for staying at to see the highlights of the nation’s capital. You are two minute walk from Parliament, on Rue Sparks with quick access to lots of restaurants, only a fifteen minute walk to the Byward Market and the hotel has two kids games rooms, a large pool and a gorgeous Concierge Lounge. One can get great value for the money spent staying a this downtown location as the proximity to so many of the sights saves you quite a bit of money in transportation costs, in addition to all of the amenities.

On our first day in Ottawa, we walked to the Parliament to watch thousands of people doing yoga on the lawn. It is quite interesting to see so many people gathered to do yoga outside at lunch with such an impressive backdrop! We then toured the magnificent structure, stopping to read about all of the statues that surround Parliament. I must confess, it was a great reminder for me as I had forgotten what the contributions of several of the people were to the building of our nation. As has been the theme of 2012 so far, the Queen Victoria statue was a highlight second only to rubbing Lester B Pearson’s right shoe for good luck.

After visiting Parliament, we were off for a quick lunch at the Cock and Lion which had GREAT food, good service and a nice patio on Sparks Street. From there we headed to the Bank of Canada to tour their currency museum. This was a great way to see the world history of currency and of our history of money in Canada. It was the first time that I had ever seen a Bank of Montreal Buck. The banks really have been printing cash since their inception here in Canada LOL. Not to mention that CubJ and I were able to use our knowledge of the Canadian fur trade from our trip to the Glenbow Museum early this year to correctly answer several questions. One of the highlights for the kids was the movie on Counterfeiting and its Consequences.

That evening we went to a delicious old school diner called Zak’s that had massive burgers, great poutine and amazing milk shakes! It was delicious. http://zaksdiner.com/

Day two on Ottawa, we visited the Royal Canadian Mint where we learned a great deal about how our coins are manufactured in addition to all of the other countries that we produce coinage for. The tour is very informative with one learning about how Canada is on the leading edge of creating coins for collecting,how the VanOC medals were created and just how important that fifth nine is to the world markets when creating gold coins. While we were there, the kids got to hold the gold brick which was heavy enough to make SparkJ’s feet fly up off the stool the first time she tried to hold it! Additionally, on our tour we learned about the Barrick Gold 100kg gold coin which would take us to the Canadian Museum of Nature to view it.

After visiting the Royal Canadian Mint, I would announce to the kids “That is it! I can not take all of this English speaking any more: we are WALKING to Quebec...LOL” and we would walk the bridge to the Museum of Civilization. This is an AMAZING museum. We loved the children’s museum, the Canadian Postal museum, really enjoyed learning about why the Mayan’s think that the world is going to end this December with a special exhibit, toured a great exhibit about world religions, learned quite a bit about Canadian history and saw the Imax movie Journey to the Arctic. I must say that I was profoundly impressed with this museum, it was on par with the British Museum and really is a world class institution.

Day three, we went to the Supreme Court of Canada where we had our own personal tour of the building with a very good tour guide who is a Law student at the U of O! He was great with this LittleJ’s making the tour both informative with information presented in a way that was both meaningful and understandable to both a seven and ten year old. The highlight for the kids would have been sitting up in the Judges chairs! I would highly recommend a tour of the Supreme Court of Canada to anyone visiting Ottawa.

After that visit, we were off to the National Art Gallery where we took in the traveling Van Gogh exhibit. The displays of his work are well done. They presented some interesting information about Van Gogh’s career and had a variety of his works on display. I must say that the thing that I liked most about the display was that they brought works that I had not previously focused on when visiting the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Both LittleJ’s found some pieces that they really liked.

After the special exhibit, we toured the museum. There were some great works of art, lovely sculptures, a fantastic Calder mobile, a peaceful indoor garden and several pieces of art that I could neither relate to nor understand what made them art. It is always interesting to see what the kids are drawn too and have them explain to me why. One of our favourite games is to find the work in the small gallery that we are in that you most like or least like and be able to tell the rest of us why.

Following our trip through the National Gallery, we were off to the Canadian Museum of Nature to see the Barrick Gold 100kg gold coin. While there we took in a special exhibit on whales and their role in Polynesian culture. It was wonderful. Neither part disappointed. Being from west and having the Glenbow Museum, The Calgary Zoo and the Royal Tyrell Museum in our backyards, I can honestly say that the rest of the Museum of Nature is perfectly average. If you have access to other Natural history museums in your local area, I would not take the time to go to this particular Ottawa institution as there are so many other great things to see. That is unless you are going to see a special exhibit like that 100kg gold coin.

To end out culturally rich day, we went to the Byward Market with DaddyJ for a yummy supper at Tucker’s Marketplace where we sat on the patio to watch the street performers!

Prior to our evening flight home, on our last day in Ottawa, we went to the National Aviation Museum with DaddyJ. It was a great experience. There are a wide variety of planes on display with a great bit of information about the history of aviation in Canada. CubJ had a fantastic guide explain to him the intricate nature of how a 747 Rolls Royce engine works! There was even good display about the Canadian astronauts, flights final frontier. One of the other really neat parts about going to this museum was that we traveled past all of the foreign representatives’ houses and 24 Sussex Drive where the Prime Minister lives!

I must say that our trip to Ottawa was a lovely one. The weather was fantastically warm but not to humid. The sights that we saw did not disappoint and in fact really impressed which was no small feat after being in Europe earlier this spring. Our hotel stay was once again fantastic with us making good use of the facilities. It was extremely lucky to for CubJ and SparkJ to see where our Frnech and English histories come from and how they have come together become our amazing home here in Canada.

Despite the news of a sad loss for DaddyJ and a great deal of work for him at a conference, I think we all managed to have a very memorable time seeing the history of our country all come together. Thanks for making another trip possible DaddyJ, we really enjoyed eating those Beavertails while seeing the sights!

Springtime in Cowtown

The spring brought us lots of fun. We enjoyed getting a pet hamster, Claudette, who sadly did not live very long. While she was with us, she was a cuddly cute little hamster who brought us lots of fun memories. They were 23 days of fun. We miss you Clau-dee!

We made our own long weekend in May and headed to Great Falls Montana for a bit of shopping and relaxation. It was a very nice trip as we were not on our way in or out of town as part of our annual road trip, so we could just relax and see how many things we could jam into the boot of the car! LOL As always, we made a stop at the Montana Wheat Bakery for a cinnamon bun. Not only are these buns the size of a grown man's head, they are outstandinly good!

There were birthday parties to celebrate with our friends. Happy seventh birthday BuddyC! SparkJ really enjoyed getting her face painted, dressing up in the costumes and just helping her friend celebrate.

Cubs ended for the year with CubJ swimming up to Scouts and he will soon be known as ScoutJ! Yikes. Then Sparks ended for the year with SparkJ crossing over the rainbow to become a Brownie! We like to joke that she has baked up into a Brownie. She will soon known as BrownieJ! Zoinks, where has the time gone?

As the school year wrapped up, the grade fives headed out to Fish Creek Provincial Park to learn about the wetlands and all of the aquatic life living in the water. It was a great day trip with lovely weather. The grade two classes headed off to the Calgary Zoo to see learn about arachnids! We had a fantastic instructor who is from Mexico, who was very animated and fantastic with the kids. The look on their faces when she started to list off all of the bugs that are consumed in Mexico was PRICELESS. For the morning portion of the day, we explored the zoo in small groups which was a very good time.

LittleJ’s visit the Cousins ~ Euro Trio 2012

Part One- Paris

Late this winter with the warmth of Cayman cooling off, the excitement of the World Junior’s Hockey Tournament games dying down, we started to think about what we could do for the February and March breaks. It was then that everything started to line up... DaddyJ needed to head off for a week in Silicon Valley, we were thinking a great deal about the fun that we had had with our cousins when they were here over Christmas and then we found out the cousin’s had the same week off that the LittleJ’s did. Slowly but surely, it was looking like it might be a good spring to go visit the cousins. That was until British Airways launched a fantastic SEAT SALE and then we were sure that we could hear London Calling!

With this fantastic seat sale, I thought it would be a great time to cross two other things off of our list, Paris and the Eurostar! After all, they ought to have a chance to use the French that we are educating them in and you might as well take the train through the Chunnel if you are going from Paris to London. So with that plan in mind, we set off for our 12 Day, MommyJ, CubJ and SparkJ Adventure.

We had a wonderful flight on BA with an outstanding crew to London. Despite our inbound flight being late by several hours due to a “Medical Emergency” which forced a stop in Greenland, all went well. We three arrived after a bit of sleep on the seven hour flight to wander around terminal five of Heathrow for two and one half hours. This gave us a chance to watch the endless parade of planes coming and going, snack on some great food and top up our treat supplies. We then were onto our very quick flight to Paris.

Upon our arrival in Paris, we flew through customs, grabbed our bags and headed off to catch the train into the city. Of course, because I was well versed in how to navigate the ticket machine in French, it was not working! LOL So, we were off to speak to the man in the billets office. It was in there that what would become the theme of the trip would begin: I requested that CubJ purchase our tickets, which he dutifully did while I was helping SparkJ. As I was assisting her, I caught a bit of CubJ’s conversation where he was joking with the ticket agent about how poorly I speak French!  I must say that seeing the two of them chortle together in French made it all very sweet somehow.

After a quick train ride with one switching of train lines, negotiating several sets of stairs both up and down with the small suit cases, we arrived at our spectacular Marriott Champs Elysees http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/pardt-paris-marriott-hotel-champs-elysees/ . We dropped off our gear, called DaddyJ and headed out to grab some dinner at Pomme de Pain. http://www.pommedepain.fr/ Now, this had been a favourite of DaddyJ and mine while we spent three weeks in Paris when CubJ was six weeks old. It is a delightful, quick Parisian sandwich shop which is ideal for when you are tired or short on time and simply want good food without the fuss. It turns out that both kids loved the Parisien which is French butter and Jambon de Paris, our all time favourite.

On our itinerary for our three days in Paris was to visit

·         Les Catacombes, the old quarries which were filled with the bodies from the over crowed cemeteries which were causing major outbreaks of illnesses.

o   Our tour of the underground cemeteries of Paris was incredibly interesting. While the weather outside was quite cool, it was warm and humid below ground. The subtle drip drip of the water from the ceiling, the earthen walls and floor’s ability to dampen all sound really adds to the over all creepiness of walking past all of those long bones and skulls! In addition, for kids who love watching shows about pandemics including the Spanish Flu, Small Pox, Avian Flu etc, seeing all of these bones from people who had died in outbreaks was extraordinarily interesting.

·         Tour Eiffel, really, what would a trip to Paris be without seeing one of its most iconic sights?

o   We would however like to return on a day that was not quite so windy or cold and take the view from the very top platform. One of the things that I really enjoyed was walking the last stretch up to the Eiffel tower while eating crepes!

·         The Louvre, where we had a short list of must sees and freedom to see what ever else sparked the kids interest. The Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Venus de Milo and some of the French Masters were on our must see list.  It turned out that despite this being our third stop of the day, we all enjoyed looking at the sculpture collection including Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss, some of the massive paintings The Coronation of Napoleon, Monet, da Vinci. I learned that unlike when SparkJ was a baby, she is becoming more interested in Dutch Master’s work. This was a great improvement over her wailing in the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam! I feel very lucky to have two children who both enjoy looking at art, have a clear idea of what they like and can explain what interests them in a painting.

o   The other highlight of our time at the Louvre was our lunch. While we were sitting in the very dignified food court of the Carousel du Louvre enjoying a lunch of lasagne, wine, cheese and macarons I realized we were all becoming rather jet lagged and sleepy. It was then that I gave CubJ five Euros and told him to go get a bottle of Coke Zero, turned to SparkJ told her to stay at the table with the bag and that I would be going to get a double espresso! Both kids looked at me oddly, wondering why I needed two caffeinated beverages, at which point I told them that they looked sleepy, we had a museum to see and so they would be sharing a Coke Zero! That sure woke them up as they tried to decide if they were dreaming or if I had lost my marbles as they are never allowed caffeinated beverages! So it was with some caffeine in our system that we all really enjoyed powering through the Louvre Museum.

·         Haggen Daz, after a full day of touring, a quick dinner of the famous Parisien sandwiches, we were off to the three floor Haggen Daz for dessert. We went up to the restaurant on the second floor to enjoy an ice cream experience unlike any other with sundaes, fondues etc. While the most expensive ice cream eating experience I have ever had, it was well worth it.

o    Hillarously, our server was from Latin America and CubJ was able to converse with her in both Spanish and French! She found it very interesting to know that he was taking both Spanish and French at school.

·         Pont Nuef Bridge, while the weather was chilly that morning, the bridge was beautiful in that morning sunlight and a wonderful photo opportunity on the way to Notre Dame. This LittleJ’s enjoyed trying to see how the bridge does not exactly line up.

·         Cathedrale Notre Dame, another iconic Paris sight to see! We enjoyed looking for the kilometre zero medallion, viewing the outstanding stained glass windows, the sculptures, splendid depictions of the stations of the cross, the most impressive domed roof and the awe inspiring organ that shocked the kids by its sheer size. Not to mention that we all had several good giggles when we went outside to view the flying buttresses, nothing like getting to say buttress a few times to make it a fun outing.

·         After touring the church itself, we were off to tour the Archeological of the Crypt Parvis Notre Dame. This was the first time at I had visited the crypt beneath Notre Dame which house the ruins found during construction of the church in its various phases over the years. These ruins span time from the earliest Roman settlements to the 19^th century.

·         Then we were off to Basilique du Sacré Coeur, again a sight that I have not yet previously visited in Paris. SparkJ particularly enjoyed riding the funicular up the steep hill to the beautiful gleaming white church.  CubJ and I were looking forward seeing the massive dome and 19 tonne free swinging bell. 

o   The interior of Sacré Coeur is spectacular! The paintings on the ceiling are beautiful enough to give you a serious kink in the neck, the bright and airy light that fills the entire sanctuary with a feeling of warmth, and the lovely stations of the cross. It was a wonderful experience.

o   The exterior of Sacre Coeur was very lovely too. We took the 300 (yes three hundred) stairs to the very top of the bell tower! We can assure you that all of those stairs both up and down are well worth the view of the city from the top. They say on a clear day you can see for 30 kilometers. We were lucky enough to have a glorious view of the city as far as the eye could see.

·          La Madeleine, after touring the churches we were ready for lunch and toured this historical area on what would become our gastronomic tour of Paris’ macarons. I knew that we needed to visit Laudree (http://www.laduree.fr/) the home of Paris’ best macarons which has a location at Madeleine and we had had received strict orders from one of the teachers at the LittleJ’s school to be sure to eat the Fauchon http://www.fauchon.com/en/en/#/gastronomy-fauchon-luxury-delicatessen/boulangerie-fauchon We enjoyed a wonderful lunch, shopped for some presents and sampled as many macarons as we could find! It made for a fun way to unwind from our serious tours in the morning. One of the highlights was watching the kids easily use their French and listening to SparkJ as she chatted with the Chef Fromager who had made her a parmesan cheese rose!

·         Arc de Triomphe, we took an evening tour of this monument and for my first time, we went to the top to take in the spectacle of the evening skyline.  Seeing the Tour Eiffel lit up, la Defense acting like a giant picture frame, Sacre Coeur glowing on the hill and sharing this experience with the LittleJ’s was a wonderful way to enjoy our evening.

·         Louis Vuitton, as huge fans of the small leather goods, the LittleJ’s and I enjoyed touring the flagship store on the Champs Elysees. While touring one of the mini boutiques, CubJ had the opportunity to have his card holder monogrammed! This was quite a pleasant surprise for him as we were all under the impression that this was not even possible on his style of card holder.  It turns out that CubJ just so happened to be in the right location, chatting up the right master monogrammer to have this done.

·         Oblisque de Luxour & Roue de Paris as our final activities before leaving for the Eurostar was to visit the Oblisque, the sight of the beheading of Louis XVI and to ride the Wheel of Paris. Sometimes life is like a wheel and the opportunities come around again, in my case this was the chance to ride the wheel ten years later with CubJ and for the first time with SparkJ while we enjoyed a true chocolate éclair.

Our time in Paris was wonderful! Staying on the Champs in the thick of the action, able to easily hope on the metro to visit the sights and in such a sumptuous room allowed us to take in so many sights in such a short window of time. It was so nice to be able to take in the sights that the kids were interested in without the pressure to see everything all at once. I think that this trip gave the LittleJ’s a great taste of Paris, an opportunity to use their French which thankfully came glowing reviews (kudos to the teachers at their school), to see the benefits of being confident in the use of a second language, perhaps some understanding of why we are educating them in French and hopefully the desire to come back to France one day!

The Eurostar was very civilized! What a glorious way to travel. We cleared security, French and British customs and boarded the train all in under 20 minutes. Once on the train we spread out, unpacked our supper and felt free to get up, walk around and just relaxingly make our way to London. In fact, you know you are traveling in an infinitely more civilized way when the group of ladies across the train car from you break out a bottle of champagne complete with flutes, cheese and nuts from their bag to enjoy while playing cards. It was like the movie Shirley Valentine across the aisle from us as these ladies laughed about their Mid-Winter ladies get away!