BT 4.0: Baby Beluga in the deep blue sea...

This is our last night in Canada and I must say we are excited to get back to the states. Neither of us really knows why, other than the ketchup here is too sweet and our credit card has gotten such a big head because of all the comments about it's shininess. It's been a great run in Canada and we absolutely loved all the places we visited but there is no place like home.

Yesterday Mark spent all day at the conference so the kids and I had a low-key morning. Milo bullied me into going to Michaels and getting some craft stuff. Forty dollars later and we were ALL set. We also made a visit to the Vancouver Public Library and took advantage of the children's department. We put together lots of puzzles and Milo read a wordless picture book to us about a beaver. It was a really cool library (shout out to all my librarian peeps). Milo is crazy for this cartoon on PBS called Wild Kratts so we made a shirt like the ones they wear on the show. I got to relive my middle school glory days and whip out my mad puffy painting skills. Odelia also wanted a little Wild Kratts on her shirt and A LOT of everything else (hearts, flowers, polka-dots).

This morning we went out for breakfast and ate some delicious Nutella French Toast. Some days eating with a 2- and 4-year-old feels like exercise. Today it felt like a full on contact sport, complete with rapid breathing and sweat. They were just so busy and not nearly as interested in a leisure vacation breakfast as Mark and I were. After breakfast we headed to the Vancouver Aquarium and had a great time. The kids loved the exhibits. We went to a 4D movie about the sea. They did not recommend it for children under 4 but we plowed right through that suggestion and took both kids to it. I tried to explain to Milo that 4D meant we would be feeling things like they do in the ocean. I said we might smell things too. I said our chairs might do silly things. I felt like I gave him a pretty good explanation (especially since I had no idea what we were in for). The lights dimmed and the movie started with a spray of water (Milo begins to tremble) then our chairs start vibrating and then swimming snakes come on the screen and we feel a poke in our back (much like a snake running into us). He wailed. I asked if he wanted to leave and he said no. He crawled in my lap and remained there for the duration of the 4D experience. I spent a good part of the time wondering if this was going to be one of those moments he'd hold over my head ("I would have been a marine biologist if my mom hadn't scared the pants off me when I was 4. It's all her fault that I'm jobless and still living with her..."). We walked out of the theater and he said, "That was SOOOOOOOOOOOOO cool!" Phew...the therapy bills will fortunately come from a different scarring experience. (I suppose I don't need to mention that Odelia was unphased by the movie. It brought her no pleasure or pain.) The favorite animal exhibit was the Beluga Whale. I could not get the Raffi song out of my head which took away from my excitement a little but it was amazing.

We are heading to the Cascade mountains tomorrow. We'll be camping so I'll blog on Sunday when we get to Montana. Thank you, Canada, for a great 3 weeks! We will miss your beauty (but not your nasty ketchup).

Wild Kratts T-shirt
He hasn't taken it off since it dried.

Odelia puffy paints her first (but not her last) hot pink t-shirt

This was part of our breakfast fun. Milo is drawing things that are "refreshing" right now. So, we've drawn a lot of lemonade and watermelon. This morning he drew a slip and slide and two sprinklers. The cool part is that he wrote all of our names. Dad is directly above Mom and I think he was trying to make his "D's" as block letters. Funny kid.

Odelia still talking about her birthday...not until January.

Mark was trying to re-live his glory days, telling Odelia stories about how he used to be able to hang 5 spoons on his face when he was younger.

Demonstrating his spoon hanging skills

Chillin' at the Aquarium

And then Milo attacks

Children's exhibit at the Vancouver Aquarium

4D, baby!

They found the coloring at the aquarium (surprise, surprise)

Baby Beluga in the deep blue sea!

Beluga whales start out gray as babies and then gradually get white. You're welcome for that little fact.

Watching the Beluga Whales

We went through an Amazon Rainforest exhibit and Odelia squealed at every butterfly. This one she requested to be photographed. Pointing, "Daddy, you take picture."