No snow or rain so we took off to Butchart Gardens. We went to see the Christmas Trees at the Empress first. Jia was pretty excited and she had to vote :) Then to the Spaghetti Factory, the kids happy place. Finally to the gardens. We thought we were early, got there at 5:30. Nope. Full hour wait to get to the parking lot. It was frightenly cold. Gorgeous but COLD. I was surprised how busy it was being so early in the season.
We talked in advance about how difficult it would be to drag the boys through the crowds especially with Kai not being able to see in the dark. We also thought strollers would be a pain so we decided against them. Big mistake. We forgot to factor in mittens. For unknown reasons the boys both become basically imobile when you put mittens on them. No clue why. Weird that it's both of them. Then if you let go of them they will wander willy nilly in front of other people. They are both unaware of everything surrounding them. Because they couldn't hold hands with mittens on Eric and I had to lead them (keep them standing) by holding their coat sleeves. Kai spent the first 20 minutes there moaning repeatedly "I can't see...I want to go home". I finally took his mittens off and held his hand and then things got a bit better.
We need more solution to walking with the boys. I'm thinking a harness like the old kids leashes but with handles so when they slip, trip, fall we'd have a hold of them already plus their hands would be free. They need to keep walking, for health, for strength for Luk and to help keep Kai fit so strollers and wheelchairs won't work. Kai does ok at night if he's holding Eric or I. He is trusting us more and we're extremely diligent about letting him know when there are steps, curbs or slight inclines or drops.
We've been asked to do a lot of baking this year. For seven different events. I baked five dozen chocolate chip cookies. Four in the freezer. One we ate at lunch. Then I tried making whipped short bread for the first time. Wish I'd known how easy they are! I think they tuned out fabulously. Four dozen in the freezer of those too. I spent most of the day in the kitchen. Still need to bake more. Did the mantle tonight. Started on Jia's cards for her class. Now we have bread on the go for lunches tomorrow. Neither of us wanted to drive into town for bread. Eric has been helping me all day.
I'm tired. My feet are stinging. I just layed on the couch and it felt way too good ;) TV time.
