Family Fun Things to Do In Calgary

Being new to this whole "family stuff" I thought I would share a list of fun things to do with young kids in Calgary. I was initially going to just make a list myself but then later thought that this is probably not an original idea so I Googled it. Why reinvent the wheel? So here are some helpful websites that I found:

Family Fun Calgary
This is an awesome blog on different things to do in Calgary. I totally love this site! It has a lot of great features! It has a calendar of events that features activities daily and monthly. It also has a section for cheap and free activities, which is awesome because some activities are quite pricey. It also informs you on community sales. And it has a list of the typical things to do in Calgary. Wonderfully organized and my new favourite website!

Calgary Things To Do
This is a wonderful list of things to do. I love the practicality of it. It is a simple list and the websites have been linked activities. Love it!

Family Fun
Here is the official list of family fun activities by the City of Calgary.

Things to Do in Calgary, AB with Kids
I like this website because it includes lots of local playgrounds to go to. Many of the activities are free. You can refine your search a bit more but unfortunately, you cannot narrow your search by quadrant.



This weekend I was looking for things that would be fun things for a toddler to do. So here are some things that I've done or will do in the next few months in and around Calgary:

Banff National Park

Bowness Park

Bragg Creek Park

Butterfield Acres (Though I must say, I'm a bit disappointed that they start charging kids once they can walk so this becomes quite expensive)

Calgary Corn Maze (Very excited about going here in the fall to see the pumpkin patches)

Calgary Public Library - Mother Goose Program (free but must register)

Calgary Zoo

Cross Iron Mills – play area

Edworthy Park

Heritage Park

Kananaskis National Park

Lake Bonavista Tumbletime 

I'm going to write a little promo for this because I love this place! I love Tumbletime at Lake Bonavista. Seth loves it there! They open their gym up to the public for 2 hours and for $2 you can bring your kids to play there. It's not supervised but it's like Gymboree but much cheaper. I wish I had discovered it sooner because now it is not so close for me. It's a great place to meet up with other moms as well. Unfortunately this is ending this month but I expect it will resume in the fall.

Market Mall – play area

Southcentre Mall - play area 

If you have any other recommendations for a busy toddler, I would love to hear about it!




 

 

Black and White

I'm a bit delayed in writing this post but if you remember, I took this four week online photography course. I finished it about a month ago but never got around to posting the assignment for week 4. For the final week, the assignment was to work on black and white images. Nothing too exciting. I didn't think my image was very impressive but the instructor liked it. Yay!

Now to further my photography education, I'm looking into taking real courses and maybe complete a certificate at a local school. Organizing childcare will be a bit of a challenge but it will likely only be one evening a week for a few months depending on how many courses I want to take. I'm excited about the prospect of learning more.

Happy 100th Birthday CPL!

I love all sorts of books (well, besides textbooks and scary books) and the library. My love of the library does not come from the fact that I'm a teacher. My love for the library started as a young child. I remember weekly visits to the library with my mom and sister. I just loved traveling to another place through stories. My parent's encouraged reading and so I spent a lot of time doing it. As I child, I also read quickly so I ended up reading many, many books. It never made sense to buy books for me because I'd finish reading it in a day or two and I would never need or want to read it again. To this day, I only buy books that I know I will re-read but even then, I might still borrow those books from the library just so I don't crease and ruin my own copy. Yes, I completely realize how strange that is.

This year, I've learned what an amazing resource the library is. They have quite a few programs for babies and toddlers and they are free. Yes, absolutely free! You sing songs and poems with them. It's a wonderful program. Unfortunately, they don't offer frequent classes because of funding issues. Each class is generally offered twice a session, can range from 1 class to 8 classes and usually only accept about 15 babies at once. If you're interested in those programs, you must find out when the registration date is and wait at your computer and be ready to register once registration opens because often, the programs are filled in less than an hour. I was fortunate enough to get a spot this winter. It was great to get out and meet other moms and Seth got to socialize with other babies as well. The class is mostly educational for the parents because the babies end up crawling all over the room or talking by the end of it. I really enjoyed it and I wish they could offer more programs to the community because early literacy is so important.

I didn't end up signing up for another class this session as things were quite busy and unpredictable  with our relocation but just as my mom took me to the library weekly, I'm starting to do the same with Seth. I let him choose a few books of his own, which usually just means the ones he threw onto the floor that I didn't want to put back onto the shelf. I think he enjoys going to the library because he gets to throw books off the shelves. My hope for him is that he will discover the many adventures and treasures that books hold just as I did.

This year, the Calgary Public Library (CPL) is celebrating its 100th birthday. Happy 100th Birthday, CPL!

Mom Swaps & Consignments

I hate to admit this, but I used to be one of those people who frowned upon other people who shopped at second-hand stores. I'd turn my nose at those who frequented those joints or I'd just politely listen and encourage them on such a savings. I just thought it was gross and those were places for seriously "desperate, lame and poor people". Yes, I was one of those snobs. Pretty terrible, eh? Turns out they were in on a secret that I didn't discover until the last few years. Those places are full of TREASURES! The thrill of the hunt and the find... getting something for the fraction of the cost is just inexplicably exhilarating! Now, I genuinely congratulate my fellow thrifty shoppers on whatever they purchase. I have a few friends who find beautiful one-of-a-kind clothing items at your regular Value Village/Goodwill places. They just have an eye for finding great items there. So jealous of their skill. For myself, I've been specializing in children's things. So I've been to mom swaps (in real life and on Facebooks), children's consignments, thrift stores and looked online (kijiji) for gently used items. My love to brag about two incidences when I've scored a mother-load of steals and for the rest of the day, Rod will tell you that I was absolutely crazy for the rest of the day. I was seriously HIGH on my precious finds!

1. Okotoks Mom to Mom Sale
The first time was my first experience with mom swaps. I even remember thinking that I might not go that Saturday. My initial intent was to only spend about $50 but brought some extra cash "just in case".  This swap happens twice a year and tables are rented out to people in the community very quickly. This mom swap is so well known in Calgary that people line up probably an hour or more before. I was warned beforehand to arrive early so I did. I was informed the strategy is try to score large items like exersaucers, play houses, high chairs, etc. because those went quickly. Also, once you get in, don't hover at the front - move to the back. I am so glad I ended up going. Wow. Mom swaps are are seriously so full of awesomeness! It is especially awesome when you're a new mom because that's when you need the most stuff and most of that stuff is usually in excellent condition. What better situation than to get this stuff at a fraction of the cost and often, practically brand new. Serious huge score! Thank goodness I bought my "just in case" cash. I know of a few other swaps in our city and I believe they are all the same. I mean, of course it really can be hit and miss because it's just people like you and me renting a table and selling their used junk. If you have to drive a little ways to get to the swap, I'd highly recommend you do it! At this swap, I scored a bunch of toys. I didn't have that many at the time and I also knew Seth would quickly outgrow this baby/toddler toys so I was reluctant to buy new toys. Well, that fall, I only stopped buying things because:
1. I ran out of money.
2. I ran out of space in my car.
They had another one last month in April but sadly, I missed it.

2. Coupons for Children's Consignment
There are a few children's consignment stores in Calgary and I went a few times but nothing really caught my eye. Toys and clothes were cheaper than brand new but I didn't feel it was a really a steal of a deal. After all, it was used. I found it was basically half price, which was still a lot of money to me for something that was used. But things totally change if you have a fabulous 50% off COUPON off your ENTIRE PURCHASE sort of coupon! I can't shout this word any louder but I will try:

50% of COUPON!!!

I would make the font even bigger but this blog site doesn't allow me to. Oh. My. Goodness. I was in heaven... *sigh* I thought that it was too good to be true so I even checked with the lady TWICE that it applied to everything in the store and confirmed it was for the entire purchase before I started to empty the store. Thank goodness they took visa. I got all these Fisher-Price Little Peoples toys for $10 each set in perfect condition. I think I practically own them all... I got these learning toy car things but my best steal was my Kelty kid carrier. Rod and I were looking at this particular carrier and thought about buying the carrier a few months back and there it was, sitting in front of me, shining like it was trying to get my attention and calling out to me... buy me, buy me!! *sigh* I remember looking at it in its brand new condition... I had to buy it. So I did! I'm so glad I did not buy it brand new. I think I probably bought it at about 15% of its full value. It is one of my deals that I am most proud of.    

After those two experiences, I've only picked up a few things here and there. Often I get inspired by my friend's deals. For example, I had one friend who found a beautiful wooden high chair at Goodwill for about $20 dollars so that week, I made it a point to go there. This is what I got for $18:

Nothing that spectacular but I was quite happy with my square toy thing that works for $6 (apparently a few years back it was selling for $60 new). I bought this stash about a month ago and Seth just started figuring it out this week. This square is made by Neurosmith and they don't make them anymore. It's nice to hear songs that are not of the Fisher-Price line. Seth picked out the hippo keyboard and the lady bug bath toy storage (now a frog design and sells at $40 new) is great because I need one of those. Except I have a feeling I might have one somewhere... And the wooden blocks... well, I was disappointed that they were not Melissa & Doug ones. They were just from Ikea but still not bad. 

Second-hand stuff is hit and miss and I find you can't really go really expecting much. You just have to keep your eye open for coupons, sales and the unexpected. If you have a fab steal that you got, I'd love to hear about it!

The First Birthday Party

I've been totally stressed out the last two weeks. My thoughts have been consumed with birthday things as today was Seth's First Birthday Party. It's the FIRST birthday so it was a big deal! Well, it was for me anyway. Seth doesn't care one bit of course. So for weeks (maybe even months) I've been thinking about birthday themes. Maybe I should do an animal theme (I'm not sure he's even aware of animals other than dogs). Maybe a favourite book (though it would be more like my favourite picture book). Maybe a television show (though my efforts in doing the whole Sesame Street gang on cupcake was going to be wasted on a boy who doesn't even know what Sesame Street is). Maybe a favourite toy (I was thinking Lego but didn't want to "waste" a possible 5th birthday party theme here). So the weeks went by and nothing really inspired me. Even earlier this week, I still had NO THEME. NO INSPIRATION. I even PINTERESTED but nothing still. But it was time to get baking. The clock was ticking. So what did I end up doing? Well, I didn't end up doing my back-up plan, which was to continue with his owl theme. I just had NO THEME. Just a colour theme and it was barely that. Basically, I just made sure I had baby blue and that was that. So let me give you a glimse at what this week has been like.... besides obsessing about a theme and ending up with no theme... But let's begin with 2 months ago:

Two months ago: New house is sadly NOT ready for guests. Scramble to find new location to host this epic event. Research lots of places. Compare prices. Location booked. Check. Think about theme for party.
Four weeks ago: Make up guest list. Log onto evite.com to start thinking about invitation design. Picked design. Get ready to send out evites for epic event. Too early to send out evite. Don't want people think I'm over-eager, you know. Think about theme for party.
Three weekends ago: Perfect time to send evite. Guests have perfect amount of time to prepare to come to Seth's epic event. Evite sent out. Check. Thing about theme for party.
Two weeks ago: Wait for people to RSVP. Why haven't people RSVP-ed?!?! Think about food for epic event. Especially cake. Need to design cake. Went to Dollar Store to look at party paraphernalia. Whoa.... party crap is a plenty. No theme so can't buy anything but designing room in head. Maybe we can think about hanging paper lanterns all over the ceiling. Ooooo.... but likely will need 50 and that will cost $50.... Too expensive. Think about theme for party.
This week, Monday: Designing cakes and cookies in head. Research on Pinterest. Still nothing catches my eye. Will attempt to work with fondant, I think. Royal icing is such a pain. Takes so long to dry.
Tuesday: Pick up fondant and cake paraphernalia from Michael's Craft Store. Very nervous about using fondant.
Wednesday: Make one cake to put in freezer. Will eventually be Seth's cake smash cake.
Thursday: Bake sugar cookies for party favours.
Friday: Baking bonanza. I basically baked and decorated for about 12 hours. I had my sister come to watch Seth while I decorated my cookies like a crazy person. I'm absolutely certain she thought I was crazy because there was a point where she thought my cookies were done but to her dismay, I was only about half done. The fondant on cookies [my first attempt at using fondant] was just the first step. The second, most consuming part was the royal icing part to monogram and add detail my cookies. Not only did I have to decorate my cookies, I had to bake the cupcakes and the cake AND decorate them. I had other little food prep things to do but these were the biggest things to do. By 11:00 pm, I was totally stressed out as I had not decorated my cake and still had no solid design.
Saturday (TODAY! Woot, woot!): I had a few hours this morning to do some last minute prep like icing the cupcakes before our day would really being. Beginning at 10:00 am, my friends (and very talented photographers) would come and do a cake smash photo session with Seth. No pictures yet but will post some when I do.

So today was a bit of a crazy day. We had some emergency ribbon problems with my cake, as in, it totally did not match my cake. Even though I had no real theme, it was okay. I'm always very stressed out the night before an event because I never know how my baking will keep through the night. In my life, prior to Seth, I was able to test recipes a few times before doing the real thing. We had a bit of a cupcake fail today but that's okay. It was just a bit dry. I guess I just can't bake under pressure! That's okay. It wasn't poisonous or anything. Just a bit crumbly for some reason. Of course if you've been following my blog, my test batch was perfect a few weeks back. The best cake today was the one Seth "smashed". It was nice a moist. His actual birthday cake today was a bit dry but not as dry as the cupcakes. My cookies were nice and soft, though I generally like them a bit harder. I would probably make them a bit thinner next time since the fondant added more thickness to it.

What do I think about fondant? I'm not sure. I like that it's surprisingly easy to work with and it definitely looks good. I'm so thankful of that because that deceives people into thinking that the cookie/cake tastes better than it actually does. HA! I'm not sure about the taste. Apparently, homemade fondant tastes much better. I still have to perfect colouring as it is not easy to get the colour that I envisioned and I will attempt at making homemade fondant. I think I might have a new hobby here.

Anyway, birthday party went well. It wasn't the epic birthday party that I envisioned but I think it would be epic if I was truly insane enough to put that kind of effort into a party. I'm so glad to have lots of friends and family to celebrate Seth's birthday with. Of course we're so blessed to have Seth to celebrate because of course, today was not about cakes and cookies. Without him, we would of course have no party today at all. He was a good little sport today with all his guests. It was definitely a fun filled day! Enjoy a few photos of today's event.

30 medium monogramed sugar cookies favors. Admittedly, inspired by Pinterest.

30 large sugar cookies favors. People kept asking me if this is from Pinterest, to which I said something to the likes of, "I, too, have original ideas!" But honestly, no offense taken! I am so flattered!

Polka dot chocolate fondant cake. Happy First Birthday, Seth!

*phew* What a week! What a day! I'm tired but I'd definitely do it all over again! Happy Birthday, Seth!

EmTA: Star Trek

I've come to the realization, that I may be a little more than just an appreciator of the Star Trek franchise. I think I might just more than really, really, really, really like them. I am EmTA that I might be *gasp* a... TREKKIE! Now, I don't know what the official definition is - I haven't looked it up or anything. But this I know - I enjoy watching Star Trek. I haven't watched them all but I've started with the movies. I love Captain Kirk and Spock. I love the new Star Trek. It is one of my favourite movies and I can't wait for the newest one that should be coming out this year.

Do you know who is here in Calgary, right now as I write this? This very weekend in Calgary, for our version of ComicCon the ENTIRE cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation is here!!! You can even buy tickets to meet them IN PERSON and TAKE PICTURES with them!! And I am MISSING IT! Why am I missing it?? Well, it is just one of the sacrifices of motherhood that I will have to make. :P Plus, I can't take to crowds too well. I think I might be clausterphobic...Plus it starts in the evening and I zonk out at about 9...

Anyway, if you made it there, have fun and enjoy it! Take lots of pictures! But maybe don't show them all to me because I might get too jealous...

The Search for the Perfect Cupcake Recipe

This post is a bit delayed but regarding this last week's Wednesday Night Baking: I tried the recipe that I wasn't able to try the prior week. It's just a White Cupcake recipe from The Joy of Baking. I usually avoid making recipes that require beating eggs separately and using cream of tartar. I just think it's too much fuss. But alas, I was on the search for the PERFECT cupcake recipe so was this, cream of tartar, the ingredient that I have been avoiding, the secret to the perfect cupcake?? Well, I think it is!

Once I took these cupcakes out of the oven, I knew this recipe was The One. They were so light and bouncy to the touch. Then I tasted it - light, fluffy goodness! I thought to myself, before I endorse this recipe, I should let them sit overnight and try them again in the morning to see if they are still good. Because there was no way that I would be waking up at 6 am on the day of Seth's birthday party to start baking. I've also had some recipes that basically turn into cupcake rocks 12 hours later. Anyway, I tried these in the morning and they were still yummy. Of course they were much better fresh but I think they were still very good! No pictures today since they look pretty much like my cupcakes from last week. I think the next time, I may think about reducing the sugar a bit... we'll see...

I think my search is now over! YAY! Of course, I will have to do yet another batch or two just to perfect baking times and such.