Christmas Present!

 

So, for Christmas, the kids wanted another day at Escape theme park. Well, we managed to go one beyond that with a 2day-1night camping deal. It was difficult to get solid information about the basecamp camping, but we did our best and managed to end up only slightly overprepared.

We were given a tent within the theme park to leave our overnight gear while we played away the first day, and then we were escorted to basecamp for the evening.  

 Jasmin began the day with being the first person up the hardest wall of the Gecko Tower. Grace, Dad, and Aiden didn't make it. Grace got about 2/3rds of the way up, and even Jasmin had to take a few tries.  Mom stuck with her personal goal of making it to the top for the easiest wall - something she hadn't managed the first time we came to Escape. We left the Gecko Tower once our arms and fingers were trembling from the effort of hanging onto the wall - and went straight on to the main business of the day which was Monkey Business: the ropes courses. While we were waiting in line (the park was super busy!) Aiden lined up to try being an acrobat - they coach you through 3 trapeze moves.  He did pretty well - since he gets lots of bar practice at home :)

And the rest of us tried out stilt walking. It's super hard! Mom got the farthest on her first go, but with practice, Grace came close to beating her.  Most of the time, we couldn't even get up and standing, let alone moving, though Mom did make three small steps.

We did two of the hardest and highest courses in Monkey Business, but no cameras were allowed to come with us, so no pictures. Aiden, being the lightest, actually got stuck when he slowed down too quickly on a zipline. The rescuer was clearly jaded with the number of people who got stuck in a day, showing the girls how to do a rescue themselves next time!

We discovered, to our dismay, that the in-park food court is now only A&W, instead of the roti we were looking forward to. Not only so, but also there were only set combos to choose from so we ended up with 5 bottles of unwanted soft drinks. It was interesting watching the kids' reactions to root beer! The unanimous conclusion is that it is way too sweet, and tastes like bad toothpaste. So only 2 out of 5 bottles got drunk and the rest we returned.

After lunch we changed and entered the water side of the park. By this time we had more or less played ourselves out, and the girls were more interested in finding a quite corner of the splash park area to hash over book worlds, plots, and ideas. Aiden, Mom and Dad tried out a few more rides/play places. 

At closing time we threaded our way through the lack of clear communication and uncertainties to get to our night tents.  Unfortunately, their main basecamp area was not yet open, so we were essentially camping in a parking lot area - not exactly what we were expecting... but it did mean there were no mosquitoes to deal with, which was a small bonus. There were quite a few families camping overnight. The service was slow and sporadic, but we got tents, air mattresses, fire wood, BBQ grill, the fire started for us, table and stools, and even our own moveable lamppost lighting.  The lighting was very convenient - until there wasn't a way to turn them off all night! All the same, we all slept pretty well. Except mom, who kept waking up with the light and her aching back...

As usual, Aiden was the first up in the morning. And, very Aiden-like, made quick friends with a boy in the next campsite and so was happily occupied for the rest of the morning until the park opened. Dad did us a breakfast of scrambled eggs and pancakes of sorts as Mom was a bit too stiff to be bending over the fire.

And then we joined the park fun again for the day. We went straight to Monkey Business to finish the final level 3 course before the lineup got too long.  But there were much fewer people in the park so it was a much nicer experience our second day. A few times Mom's leg refused to do it's work, so after completing that course, we opted to explore parts of the park we hadn't done the day before.  We headed to Flying Lemur - lots of high ziplining.  But Aiden weighed in too light, so Mom and Aiden tried out Jumping Jack, And a scoped out a few other ones to try later with the girls (the weight difference between Mom and Aiden was too much for the Kite rider, the line up for rope swing was long, etc.) He worked on his flips at the Jump Park area, and we got to take in an acrobatic show while waiting for the others to find us after Flying Lemur. 

Once we managed to get back together again (Dad did Jumping Jack, the girls did the rope swing, Mom ran around trying to find everyone...), we had lunch (getting mineral water instead of root beer) and went into the water park. Dad, Mom, and Aiden did the longest waterslide in the world while the girls opted to climb the Gecko Tower one last time. Mom got separated again when she was told she'd picked up the wrong tube for the longest waterslide ride and had to go back to switch it. So she got a lone chair lift ride up to the top and a quiet solitary 1,111m waterslide down again. Excellent views, but much more fun when you can share it!

Back together again, we opted to go for the fast dry slide down the "mountain." Unfortunately, the wait time was huge - which you don't find out until after the chairlift ride up so you're kinda stuck... the ride is a lot of fun - sort of like loud, dry tobogganing - but the wait ate up too much of our afternoon. We got down just in time to try out the Banana Flip slide... Grace, Aiden, and Dad tried it again. Mom attempted pictures, but it is so fast, this one of Dad is the only one that is not all splashes!

Then we did a family race on side by side water toboggan tracks. Mom went the farthest, Dad finished first, Aiden nearly took off from the water going over the bumps... fun. But we only did it once 😁 Then we went down all the "ordinary" tube waterslides in various pairs, until our legs were jelly from climbing all the stairs! Dad and Grace also tried the more daring loop-d-loop and dead-drop slides. Grace got stuck in the loop and had to be rescued. Before closing, Aiden challenged Dad to races on the short water obstacle course, where they collected a new bunch of scrapes and plastic burns :)

We left quite satisfied we did the park justice, nicely tired, and happily not sunburnt.  It was unexpectedly a very good 2-day holiday: as we were approaching home, the scenery had that familiar-strange welcoming feel. A salmon chickpea supper rounded it out just nicely.

Thank you Imma, NiNi and Yea Yea!

Pieces of Christmas Week

Grace and Jasmin working on a video for a present - daily. hourly. still. On Christmas Eve. They joined with some friends to put together a Christmas video. It's going to be good, but it has meant they went from being really busy finishing school to really busy finishing this project.

Zoom calls as a family to family far away. Less of a celebration theme this year, as Omicron is ripping through Canada and has scrapped many travel and get together party plans. Still, it is good to see each other and share news. And next week we'll have happier news to share once we've got presents to talk about. 😏

A Physiotherapy appointment, in which I learn how to stand up. Apparently I've been doing that wrong for a long time, compensating for a weakened right side. I got odd looks from kids and husband alike, when I showed them what I can't do 😄 It was a particularly useful session, explaining many quirks and movement limitations of mine.

Fudge monster sort-of disasters.  We attempted make cute fudge monsters because Jasmin (who has all sorts of nicknames for Aiden) sometimes calls Aiden fudge monster, and uses it as a frustration exclamation.  The fudge didn't work so well in our climate, and remained pliable even after freezing for a few hours. And the icing refused to squeeze prettily out of the icing bag. And I couldn't find edible googly eyes. But... they taste good...and look sufficiently monster-like... Just not very cute. And definitely not like Jasmin's quick sketch imagining them!

Lots of Lego imagination games. Aiden and his friend are thoroughly enjoying their uninterrupted days of play. After some encouragement, Lego has again taken their fancy for play - once the allotted computer play time is used up, of course! Now the rest of us have to stretch our tolerance for a living room that is covered in Lego creations and the dangers of loose Lego though...

Jasmin and I finally got to the flower market! So we redid the balcony garden, adding more splashes of color and replacing the plants that we lost to various insect and disease invasions.

Neighbourhood caroling. This evening we walked through our neighbourhood and sang carols. Since caroling is not a thing here, we didn't stop and sing at houses, but just walked and sang. We thought it really ought to be a thing to carol here, where open windows and courtyard dinners create many more chances of people hearing you sing!  And then, since we had songs in our songbook left when we got back home, we walked and sang through the halls of our building as well. All in all we walked and sang for just over an hour! We went to bed a little hoarse (except Grace who can sing forever 😉)

Shared feast leftovers. Some friends of ours hosted a catered party and gifted us with the leftovers! What with an evening fogging (for which we eat out to stay away until the chemical smell fades) and other food gifts, I've had a break from cooking full meals even!

School's Done!

 This week has been all about getting our school done so we can have a clear Christmas break. It took A LOT of work - the girls finished their last piece after 10pm Friday night! Of course, that means there isn't exactly lots of enthusiasm for holiday planning at the moment...

Still, this morning we got up and went to a free rock climbing session. It was at a different venue than last time, and fewer climbers in the session we signed up for, so the kids came away with shaking arms and hands with hardly a grip left in them from all the trips up the wall.  They also got some encouraging remarks of their climbing skills from the team. There is hope that a kids climbing team will be forming in the new year with coaching for skill and speed improvement. We hope to join if cost and location is compatible with our location and situation.

A few other things than school work did happen also: 

Grace and Mom attended the 9 Carols and Lessons evening at a downtown Anglican church, which has sort of become a tradition. The choir singing was amazing in that they remained masked and there were no mikes but we could still hear them, and even the words were pretty clear.  Afterwards, Mom took Grace for her weekly date meal.

Tuesday night we had a new family over: one with a possible PhD advisor link, two young kids, and an interest in worship studies and music.  So Dad and Grace had good talks - naturally interrupted with fielding their baby's and preschooler's needs! - about the Gift and worship respectively. Aiden surprised us all by, after discovering the kids weren't interested to play with him, went to bed and fell asleep about 7:30pm!

We attended a drop-in Christmas party of former missions colleagues on Thursday, which happened to be Dad's birthday, so we celebrated with him in grander style than usual. Mom had made him an experimental cake (attempting to match a family joke) that turned out very blue... but we shared it with everyone anyhow, and they sang for him.

What makes Christmas?

Nearly two weeks into December

What signs are there that it is Christmas time?

Snowy days?

Christmas lights, trees, music, and decorations all through town?

Sweet treat baking and giving and receiving?

Feasting with friends and families?

Messages of anticipation, declaration, and celebration at church?

Nativity scenes?

The whirlwind of gift planning, buying, preparing, giving?

It's interesting that this year we each of us seem to be content to anticipate and celebrate in the quiet hum of normal. Other than our Advent calendar wall and a small nativity scene, no one is interested in decorations. It feels rather awkward and sad sometimes when you think of the thousands of Christmas traditions, activities, decorations, and tidbits there are out there and how full and significant they can make Christmas feel. And yet, are when they are missing, is Christmas missing or just different? Even so many years of Christmas (9?) away from Canada homes, still these thoughts arise :) 

Our signs of Christmas time are similar yet quite different from those above!

The crunch of school work to make space for a Christmas break

The need for a family calendar on the wall to keep straight the small flurry of special events, hosting, and invitations (that mostly have nothing to do with Christmas! Such as a free rock wall climbing promotional event, Chinese exams, etc.)

The gold-faced red hikers plodding up our Advent "tree"/mountain/wall

The new and old Advent/Christmas song playlists

Advent candles on Sundays and a pewter nativity that is still hunting for a resting place in our home

A single discussion and decision on what to use our Christmas gift money on - and we're done with Christmas shopping

Baking and boxing cookies for our neighbors

Preparations for our Christmas feast on the beach

And in the listing, contentment comes again.

Advent beginnings

A relatively rare occurrence: we went on a date!  Sunday we were going to check out a new beach together as a family, but Aiden got a lost minute invitation to play soccer with some friends and the girls decided they'd rather flop and read. Surprisingly (as usually this would mean we'd all flop/sleep/read), Michael took me up on the offer to go anyway - and added in a meal out as well. So, in true us fashion, we biked to the beach, had a quick swim in the coming storm-stirred waves, biked on to Tesco to change, and walked to a nearby Japanese restaurant (the kids don't like eating Japanese much). It was a lovely relaxing evening: the restaurant was quiet and nearly empty but small enough that it didn't feel awkward. A most delightful way to begin Advent!
 

Then on Wednesday we began our Advent tracking in earnest. We've chosen to walk through the Songs of Ascent for Advent - rather unusual as there's not really a focus on Christmas or even Jesus, but the psalms do fit in with the journey and waiting/longing aspects of Advent.

Already our family whiteboard wall is filling up with Christmas activities and invitations! There is an extra thrill to this after such a long time of isolating lockdowns and restrictions. We are finding it a bit more of an adjustment than expected to add in these extras, but more than glad to, of course.