From One Extreme to the Next...

A couple days ago we were in White Rock, in the sun, getting sun burnt. Yesterday we were in Whistler, going up to the top of the mountain, in the snow, all freezing cold! The Thomas family (visiting from England) have been in Whistler since Saturday, and we went up yesterday to spend the day with them. We all had a really good time, and we went up in the gondola, to the top of the mountain, which was probably the highlight of the day. Whenever we go up, we always hope to see bears, and we often do, while we're in the lift. Our friends really wanted to see one, so we were really hoping that we would see at least one. Well, we get in, and start going up (the gondola's each carry 6-8 people, so we went in one, and their family went in the one after us), looking around for bears. Suddenly, right as we were starting, not where you expect to see the bears, as it is right by the bikers, I saw something black, and moving. When we got closer, we realized that it was not only one bear, but a mother bear, and a cub, right close to the lift, playing in the dirt! We were so excited! It was the best bear sighting we've ever experienced... and our friends were so excited! It turned out that they had actually seen two sets of mother and cub, and we had only seen the second set! But I'm glad that we got to see the ones that we did. The cub was soo cute! :D

When we were up on the mountain, we went over to the snowiest part, and watched some people who had found these huge signs, and were sledding on them. Sam, Amy, Megan, and both Joshua's really wanted to do it (I wasn't feeling too well, so I just watched), so they waited, and then went down. It was so funny watching them! In the picture you can see them all screaming! :) Ayana and Moses loved the snow too.. they were picking it up, and throwing it at people, and sticking it in people's clothes, and sucking on it (only the very clean parts... we made sure! :D ). Moses went in, and some got into his sandals, and he quickly ran back onto the dirt, saying, "Co, co, co!!", which is his word for cold.

I was actually feeling very sick on the way up, and the morning/early afternoon, so up to about lunch time, I wasn't having a very good time. Fortunately, Becca had some medication with her, so I took a double dose of painkillers. They really helped, and I'm very glad she had those, else I wouldn't have had a very fun day! But I just though I'd mention that, as in a couple of the pictures I look pretty pale... I was not lying about being sunburnt! I was only pale because I felt sick! Anyway, we had lunch all together, and walked around, and went in a couple stores, and then we went up to their hotel room for a bit. It is soo nice! They're staying in Chateau Whistler, which is the nicest hotel there.. it would cost soo much pernight, but they actually got it for free, by using some traveler's points they had been saving up for a long time! It was so nice to go in there and just relax a bit.. walking around Whistler is actually very tiring!

Lunch time

Waiting for the gondola

In the gondola

The bears!

Up in the snow!




Sledding down the snow.. on a Nintendo Wii billboard! :D

Meeting with Bears!

I only realised afterward that I was the guy! :P But our hair matched up, so that's ok! :D

Josh (my brother) also got the chance to go on this cool trampoline/bungy thing. It was really cool. He got strapped up, and then lifted so that he could go super high, and then he did flips and bounced around and stuff. He said, as he was going on, that he was going to do a triple flip. He tried and tried (at first he was too scared to do any flip, but after a while he got it!), and then finally the girl who was supervising it said that he could have 10 more bounces. When he still didn't get the triple flip, she gave him one more.. and one more.. and one more.. he had about 15 "one more" bounces! And then, she told him that he really did have only one more.. and he had one more chance to try for the triple flip.. and he did! He was so proud of himself, and we all started cheering... even the girl was all excited for him!

Getting all strapped up

Jumping high!

In the middle of the triple flip!

A Beautiful New Hair Style!

My mom just spent the last 2 1/2 hours (about) doing Ayana's hair. It is soooo cute! Ayana did very well, sitting still and eating a snack, but it did take a looong time. I sat and helped my mom put the beads on the beader, but even still it took ages. We were all happy when it was all done... especially Ayana! We had a little photo shoot right then and there.. so here are the pictures of the beautiful Ayana, with her beautiful braided hair! :D

The long ordeal (the yellow in her mouth is fishy crackers, if you were wondering!)

The last braid!!

The finished product

Look at me!

Beautiful new braids

So cute!

An Ethiopian Princess

I'm so happy to be done!! (I love this picture.. its so Ayana!)

We're really hoping that this style with last for quite a while.. I don't think anyone is ready to sit through more of that any time soon!

White Rock for the day!

Today we went and spent the day at White Rock, which is a huge beach, with nice little cafes, and shops beside it... and when I say huge, I mean huge.. even on a sunny, crowded day, you can always find tons of space to sit down. So we went, with our friends from England, which was really fun. Everybody really enjoyed it, even Moses, although he decided that for the most part he wasn't going to show it. All during lunch he screamed, and after that, if anything didn't go his way, he would start screaming again! Very tiring for my mom, who had to walk him up and down to get him to be quiet. But then, as soon as we get in the car, away from the people everywhere who can hear him screaming, he becomes as happy, and content as anything! But he did like going in the water! I went in with him, and he was very brave, and went in as far as his chest! He fell down a couple times, but he would just laugh and jump back up. Ayana loved it too. She spent a good half an hour in the water, although after coming out, she was freezing, and had to be wrapped in a towel for almost the rest of the time there! All in all it was lots of fun. We went to a little cafe for lunch, and for icecream afterwards (White Rock has the best icecream store ever! SOOO good! :D ) The one bad point is that I forgot, until half way through the afternoon that I hadn't put sunscreen on. Needless to say... I'm burnt to a crisp! :S

A Little Note

Just to let everybody know, I've started a blog for just everyday stuff, about me. I'll continue to write in this, but in case you would like to visit my other blog, feel free to, at:
http://erin-livelaughandlove.blogspot.com
See you later! :D

Happy (Late) Canada Day!

We didn't really do much to celebrate Canada Day, but we went and had a little impromtu barbeque with some of our closest friends, so that was lots of fun. Ayana and Moses had a lot of fun with their friends, and everyone else got up a good game of.. well.. I'm not quite sure what it was. They called it baseball, but there was no bat, and only two bases, and it seemed to consist of swinging at the ball with your arm, screaming, and running towards the first base.. if you could find it! The younger ones seemed to just scream and run! =) It actually looked quite fun.. and I had just joined in when my little brother got hurt (nothing serious, but with him everything is an emergency!) and we decided to take a break! :( But we roasted hotdogs over our friends fire pit, and then later some s'mores. Our parents wanted to watch a movie, but couldn't decide whether to take their kids up to our house (we live within 30 seconds of each other), or to just not do it. Normally we would do it at their house, as they have the best TV ever (a paint-on screen, with a projector.. the TV is the whole wall!! I love babysitting there! :P), but there were some people staying in their basement suite, who were using it. So, I came up with the brilliant suggestion of me and Megan staying there, and looking after their kids, so that everyone would be able to go to bed in their own beds, and our parents could still watch a movie. So everyone was more than happy to do it.. me and Megan went and watched a movie, and expected them to be home a little while after we were done watching it. Little did we know, they wouldn't return until 2:30am!! Needless to say, after staying up past midnight for the past 3 days, me and Megan were just a little tired.. and with being tired comes being incredibly hyper. When they got home, they found us on the computer, laughing hysterically at some stupid joke.. they thought it was crying at first! Thankfully, we've known them all our lives, so they didn't think we were completely nuts! But all in all, it was a pretty fun Canada Day.
Oh, another thing that happened that was pretty exciting, is the arrival of the people who, as previously mentioned, were staying in our friend's basement. My mom is from England, and so the rest of her family, and all her childhood/highschool/college friends are in England. One of her best friends, from University, had been saving up for a long time for their family vacation, and finally was ready to come.. to Canada! They arrived on Sunday, Canada Day, and it was pretty cool seeing them again (apart from one time, when I was two, and their older son was 3, I have never met them.. and I've never seen their younger two children, and they have never seen Megan, Josh, Ayana, or Moses). We spend the afternoon catching up, and listening to hilarous stories from my mom, and her friend, Becca. It seems like wherever they went, something bad happened to them.. they even managed to be kicked out of their homestay's house once! :P

Their names are Pete, Becca, and their children Sam, Amy, and Joshua (much to my brother's delight.. he has a new friend, around his age, with the same name! What more could he want? :P) They are in Victoria right now, but yesterday we all spent the day at Stanley Park. They asked me if I got tired doing all the touristy type things whenever guests come, but really.. I love it! Who wouldn't love spending the day on the beach?

Summer is Here!

School's been really busy lately, so I haven't posted in nearly a month. Not much has happened, other than me finishing up school. But finally, its all done. School is over (I still have 2 exams, but no more classes), and summer is finally here! Yesterday was our last day of school, and we ended at about 12:00-12:30ish. Everyone was so excited about summer, and of course, no one got any work done in class! I can't believe its finally summer! No more school.. and I'm turning 16 in a couple more weeks! :D :D

While it doesn't get too hot here (but definitely hot enough to have fans on every night), the slightest bit of heat will get Ayana completely drenched with sweat. She sweats at anything.. which is kind of weird, since I would assume that she would be used to extreme heat.. isn't Ethiopia hotter than BC?? :D And it does get pretty hot for everyone else too, so we decided to get something to help us cool off. My mom went to the store, and came back with a little blow-up pool. Its a little small for everyone else, but its fun for Ayana and Moses! They absolutely love it! They get in there, and splash around, and splash each other, and splash the house, and splash other people.. they just love to splash!

My mom also bought the coolest toy. Its called AquaDoodle, and Ayana and Moses (and me! :P) love it! Its this little mat, with special markers, that you fill with water. When you touch water to the mat, it turns blue. So kids can colour, and 'paint', and it can't get on anything, except for the mat. No messes at all! And the pens can just be emptied when you're done, and refilled up at any time. Its really cool, and I actually use it for when I go babysitting.. all the kids love it! The picture doesn't really show it at all, but it kind of shows what it looks like when you use it! I'll try to get some pictures of Ayana and Moses using it soon.

So, we're ready for summer; a new trampoline, a little pool, AquaDoodle.. now all we need is an adult sized pool for the rest of the family, and we're all set! :D

Oh, and by the way, my dad finally took us to see Pirates! It took a little while though... Joshua's birthday party was on May 26th.. and we saw Pirates yesterday!!! :S Its soooooo good! But SOOOOOOO sad!!!!!!!! Jack is hilarious yet again, but some parts of it are just soooooo sad!! Oh, and if you haven't seen it yet, make sure you stay after the credits.. its not a huge deal, but its kind of important.. and I liked seeing it!

Afternoon Tea

Just a quick little story. Today its just Ayana, Moses, and me at home all afternoon and evening. It's Josh's 10th Birthday Party, and my parents have taken him and his friends to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3.. which I really wanted to see by the way. But I got stuck at home. I was kind of upset, and bored, and not looking forward to being at home all day, when Ayana said to me, "Rara? Ayana, Rara, DoyDoy have party?" So we did.

There was some left over candy from Josh's goody bags, so we got out Ayana's tea set, cut up a Snickers bar, unwrapped some Hershey's kisses, got the twizzlers and lemonade out, and sat down to our lovely afternoon tea party. Of course, a tea party just wouldn't be a tea party without some wonderful entertainment, so on came the Wiggles, "Racing for the Rainbow!" Their singing and dancing routines, along with the chocolate, was the highlight of the party!It was a really cute party, and they really enjoyed it. They got all dressed up too, with Moses wearing a black cape, and Ayana a white woolen shawl. They had to have nice party clothes of course!

Then, afterwards, Ayana and I did a craft, while Moses finished watching the Wiggles. So we actually had quite a nice afternoon. Now I just have to figure out what to do with them for the next 3 1/2 hours until my parents get home. Of course, they have to go to bed at 7:30, so just 2 1/2 more hours till that! (That grimace on Moses's face in the last picture is what he does when you tell him to "smile for the camera"! He's hilarious!) Oh, and by the way.. my parents have promised to take me to see Pirates next weekend! Looking forward to that! :D

A New Friend from "Opia"

Whenever Ayana sees another black person, she points, and says, "Opia", meaning they are from Ethiopia. She gets very excited to see a new friend from her country.. whether they really are from Ethiopia or not! But the other day, she got to meet a new friend, who really was from her homeland.
There is an ESL student at our school, from Ethiopia. Her name is Bethlehem, and she's in the ESL grade 9/10 program in the highschool. She came in September, and when I found out where she is from, I was so excited, and so was my mom. She wanted to arrange a time to meet her, and get to know her. Unfortunately, it never worked out, until this last weekend. She's really sweet, and when she first saw Ayana and Moses at school one day, she was so excited. She said that when Ayana gets older, she's going to give her braiding, and Amharic lessons, because she said, "You can never lose your culture. That's a very important thing, ok Ayana?" She also said she'd love to come and help us with Ayana's hair some time. So, of course when my mom found that out, she jumped on the opportunity! :D

Bethlehem came over last weekend, from 2:3o, to 4:30, and braided Ayana's hair, and spoke Amharic with her (a little bit.. Ayana wasn't responding too much.. she was doing her hyper/shy mood.. a strange combination, but Ayana seems to pull it off well! :D) and talked to us about Ethiopia. It turns out that when we were in Addis Ababa, she was there too! And we arrived in Vancouver on roughly the same day...that was pretty cool to find out! She laughed at that, and said, "We probably saw each other walking around, but just didn't know it!" My mom thought we could have even been on the same plane.. but I doubt it!
Anyway, she did Ayana's hair beautifully, and said she had a lot of fun, and would love to do it again, anytime we need her to! She also offered to do our hair too, just for fun.. I'm thinking we should get Josh's hair done in cornrows! :P
She really loved playing with Ayana and Moses, and when she met them, she kissed them on the hand, just like they did everywhere in Ethiopia. I love that greeting for babies! Its so cute. When we go to an Ethiopian restaurant again, my mom said we should invite her.. she's only been to one in the 8/9 months that she's been here! :( So hopefully we'll get to know her really well.. Ayana and Moses really loved being with her too.. and so did I! Hopefully we all have a new friend from Opia!


Of course, I'm not sure my dad was having as much fun as we were on Saturday. While we were inside listening to stories of Ethiopia, and watching Ayana's hair getting braided, my dad was outside (for seven hours!!) renevating our back yard. He tore down a whole bunch of bushes and trees, and moved our big bunny cage to the side of the house, and got rid of part of the garden. My mom was looking at our back yard one day, and suddenly realised that the way it was landscaped, was a really big waste of space.. at least it was for a family of 7! At least one third of the yard was taken up with bushes, and garden, and our bunny cage. So now, with all the trees and stuff out of the way, our yard is huge! It doesn't look very good at the moment; my dad still has to tear out the stumps, and we have to turf the yard (when I say 'we', I mean it.. my dad has told us that we were helping him next time, or else!) and build a nicer deck, but you can already tell its going to be a really nice, big area to play in. So in the end it will all be worth it.. but on that particular Saturday, I'm not so sure my dad would have agreed!


Another funny story; the other day, I was sitting at school, with Ayana and Moses.. we were just about to walk home, when this guy in grade 9 walked past. I think he may be from Ghana, but I'm not sure at all. Anyway, he walked past, and saw Ayana and Moses, and pumped his fist in the air, and said, "All right, some of my little brothers and sisters from Africa!" It was so cute. Then he came over, and asked where they were from, and their names, and how old they are... he was really interested, and yet he was trying to be a 'cool guy' at the same time. It was really funny! But sweet at the same time.


So, we had a great Saturday, and Ayana's hair looks beautiful.. thanks Bethlehem! :D

A New Trampoline

We used to have an awesome trampoline; one of the Sundance ones, the square ones. They were really good trampolines, and really bouncy. Unfortunately, last summer, it split in two, and no one could use it anymore. Everyone was disappointed at first, but after a while we all forgot about it, and didn't even notice it any more. Then, since summer is coming, and several of our friends have them (and their little kids love them), my parents decided we could get a new one. So, last Saturday, we went to Walmart, and bought a new one, with a big net around it. The net was half for safety measures, and half so that Ayana and Moses can be zipped up in there, and have fun without 24/7 supervision. Its one of the normal, round ones, not quite as bouncy, but still fun.


We set it up last Saturday, and since then, Ayana and Moses have LOVED going on it. The setting up took two days actually. We set the trampoline part up on Saturday (with everyone helping, it took a while.. but then when we tried to move it into place, it didn't fit! We ended up having to cut down two of our bushes so that we could fit it in! :D) and then the net part on Sunday. That was not so fun. The bottom of the net had to be woven together with the springs, with this long string. However, it had about 150 little holes, and each one had to be threaded through the springs. I ended up just skipping every other one.. it was faster, and the trampoline is still completely secure!


Both the trampoline, and the net came in two big boxes, which of course are very exciting! So while we set up the trampoline (and my mom appointed herself "head photographer" :S) Ayana and Moses played in the boxes. They had more fun than we did, I can say that for sure. I think they were more excited about those boxes, than the finished trampoline. (We still haven't thrown the boxes away.. they love them so much! :D)

The trampoline has been a big success this last week! Moses thinks going on it is hilarious, and runs around as fast as he can, swaying, and tripping, and staggering around like he's drunk, trying to stay on his feet on the bouncy surface. Its hilarious! Ayana loves going on the "bouncy bouncy" with us, even though its a little scary when other people are bouncing. So since she is, of course, the queen of the house, if we are bouncing, and she would like to go on, she comes over, and tells us to "Wait jus' a minute guys! Ayana bouncy bouncy! Gosh!" :D Their favourite thing to do, is sit in someone's lap, and have the other person on bounce up and down. They sit there, holding on as tight as they can, laughing their heads off. Megan took a hilarious picture of this happening, on the first day we got it. (this is before the net was set up).


Here is a picture of Ayana, the queen of the bouncy bouncy! :D

Happy Mother's Day!

I'd just like to say Happy Mother's Day to everyone who is, or will be a mom! We had a really good mother's day (Ayana did think it was my mom's birthday at first though!:D) I think my mom had a good day, and we went to see my Oma too, and took her some cards, and a big bunch of flowers. So I hope that everyone had a great Mother's Day. See you later!

Take me out to the ball game...

On Friday we went to a base ball game for my dad's work. It lasted from 5:30, to about 8:30. It wasn't the most exciting to hang out with people from my dad's work that I didn't know, but it was fun watching him play base ball, and Ayana and Moses loved hanging out with all the new people, and the kids, and the huge field to play on. Moses was all ready for the game too, with his track suit, and side ways baseball cap.. he was very cool! And with his amazing throwing arm.. wow! He should be signed up for the big leagues already! :P

Ayana was very cute and friendly with everyone.. and even got bossy with a lady from my dad's work who had been dying to meet them since we brought them home. She was playing with them for some time, so Ayana got all hyper (she does that with big groups, and new people) and began to boss this lady around. They were playing catch, and sometimes the ball would roll to the side, and out of reach. Instead of running over and getting it herself, Ayana would point at the ball, point at the lady, and shout, "Get it!" We were all laughing, so she of course got even bossier. Then, another lady starting handing out those little noise makers to all the kids. Ayana was so excited, ran over, and got a green one. She blew it several times, studied it carefully, then shoved it back in the bag, grabbed a gold one, and said to the lady, "Ayana, nother one, now!" The lady laughed and said, "Oh, all right then miss!" It was actually really funny. But my mom told us to stop laughing at her, because she would start taking it too far if she kept on getting so much encouragment from everyone. Oh, and by the way, she was wearing the shirt I bought her from Roots, when I was on the Whistler Music Festival Trip! It was really cute on her (you can't see it in the picture; its under the sweater), and she loves it. If you ask her where it's from, she says, "Rara!" That's what she calls me; She calls me Rara, Megan Meme, Joshua Jofua, my mom and dad Mama, and Ababa (but she sometimes says daddy), and Moses Doya Doya, and even sometimes Ermias, which is his Ethiopian name (now his middle name). She knows our real names, but she likes calling us by those nicknames.. Moses even calls me Rara now! Its so cute! And he can say Mama, Baba, Doya, Rara, Jaja, but he can not, no matter how many times we try to teach him, say Megan, or Meme! Its so funny!

Anyway, all in all, the baseball game was actually fun. My dad's work team lost (quite badly, actually!) but they had some good runs, and cheered a ton, which kind of made up for it. :P I ran around playing catch with Ayana and Moses for a good part of it, and we got hotdogs, pop, chips, and ice cream (for $5! pretty good :D) which was yummy! Moses loved to throw the ball around, and chase after all the big kids, playing catch and "football". He especially loved playing with the dogs that were there.

There were 3 dogs there all together, and Moses loved the biggest, loudest, (friendliest!) one, of course! He followed after him, as fast as he could possibly run, laughing and squealing, and trying to get the ball before the dog did. He couldn't, of course, but he had a lot of fun trying to! The dog was so sweet, and patient, and would actually bring the ball to Moses when he got it! It was really cute; they were playing catch together! Kind of.. lol!

Ayana was terrified of the dogs, of course, but she actually went with my mom and touched one.. for about one second before running away again. But she's getting a bit better. There was the cutest little chocolate lab puppy there too. He was adorable! I would love to have a puppy, but I have the feeling it might be a little too much work for my parents at the moment!

So we had a fun Friday evening.. even though my dad's team did lose! :(

Back from Whistler

This weekend I got the opportunity to go on a trip to Whistler with my school. Whistler is a place up the in mountains of BC; a big skiing location, with great snow, and actually a popular place for bikers during the summer, when the snow has melted. I've been many times with my family, but its always lots of fun with your friends! I'm in Jr. choir (grade 9 and 10), and each year, both the Sr. music groups, and the Jr. music groups get to go on a trip to participate in a music festival. Last year we got to go to Edmonton, which was really fun.. a whole afternoon in Edmonton Mall!! :D :D That is the nicest mall I've ever seen. Its amazing!

Anyway, this year we went to Whistler with the choir, the band, the jazz band, and the vocal jazz to take part in the Whistler music festival. I stayed in a room with 5 of my friends, although one of them had to leave on Friday night for a volleyball competition the next day. But I was in the room with one of my best friends, K, and some other really good friends, C, J, N, and E (my mom told me not to use names.. so I'm using letters. :P) It was actually a lot of fun (although listening to the mandatory concerts, performances, and adjudications wasn't all that fun... especially when the concert on Saturday night went for 2 hours.. with the last song being about 45 minutes long. Just one song. Ugh.) But for the most part it was a great trip. Whenever we didn't have to listen to, or perform at any concerts, we went shopping, walking around, hanging out, and having a ton of fun. It rained from Thursday when we got there, until late Friday night (we had to walk everywhere, because we had no vehicles.. in skirts, dress shirts, and tights-the choir uniform-walking in the rain is not fun!!) but it was really nice and sunny all of Saturday, and Sunday too, so that was really good. I bought presents for everyone in my family (my parents gave me a lot of money for food and stuff, and I wanted to bring them something back in return). I got the cutest little shirt from Roots for Ayana (pink, with a sparkly flower), and a little 101 Dalmations book, and a "Whistler, Canada" baseball hat for Moses (to match with his "Canada Team" outfit he already has) and a Tigger book. They were both soo excited to get them! I was gone from Thursday afternoon, to Sunday evening, and when I got home, Ayana and Moses were so happy! I also got Megan some body butter, and a little Playmobile horse and kid (she's starting a collection of Playmobile :P) and Josh some sunglasses, and some wierd science/prank type stuff. Its powder that changes any liquid into gel. It's actually quite disgusting. I brought back tons of candy for everyone too, from the best candy store, the Great Glass Elevator. I love that store!! They have everything! Its awesome.

Since I was gone on Friday, and my parents, Megan, and Josh were going out, they needed a babysitter for Ayana and Moses. So I recommended my friend to babysit. (by the way, we were born on the exact same day... 2 minutes apart-I'm older lol- which is pretty cool! We always used to call each other twins.. we actually fooled one of the new kids! :P) Anyway, Ayana was excited about it all day, and kept on asking when "Rissa" was coming. They all really enjoyed it, and when I saw my friend at school on Monday, she told me to pump my fist in the air at Ayana when I got home, and say, "Who's your best buddy?" and see what Ayana did. So I got home, pumped my fist in the air, and shouted, "Who's your best buddy?" Ayana looked at me, laughed, pumped her fist and shouted, "Yaaaaaay, Rissa!!" It was hilarious! Ayana was brainwashed by my friend! lol.. it was so funny that I called her, and had Ayana say it to her on the phone. She laughed for ages. Anyway, the game is starting, so I'd best be off... Go Canucks!!! (by the way, Ayana is at Science World in the picture.. it might look really strange if you didn't know the context!)