Christmas Memories 2012

While Christmas traditions tend to keep on throughout the years, somethings do change from year to year.

For instance, we didn't have any cookies to set out for Santa, so we decided to leave out some of the snack sized candy bars I won at the traditional Christmas Eve Rumoli game.

I also helped Rini write out the letter to Santa explaining the circumstance regarding his snack. Most of the letter she wrote herself, but close to the end, she got tired and asked me to finish. I think she just wanted to go to bed, and not because she was excited for Christmas. Turns out, you can get tired enough to sleep on Christmas Eve.

Today, we also did something that would be called folly by some. We walked from Grandma's house to ours and back again. Normally that wouldn't be so bad, but it's not normally -25C in the middle of the day! It wasn't very windy though, and we put on extra pants when we arrived at home.

I have to say that I was surprised with Rini's reaction to getting a Wii. She was more enamored with her Royal Wedding castle than the video game machine. That being said, Grandma and Grandpa have had one for over a year now. More than two years actually.

Guess we finally caught up with the times.

The Beginning of a Beautiful Relationship

Over the holidays, my wife got the idea to go the Telus World of Science Edmonton since I had the time available.  We also got the idea to get an annual family pass, since we do enjoy going there.  We don't go very often though, and I wondered if it would be a wise investment to purchase the pass.  After some calculations, I concluded that we would only have to attend three times withing the year and the pass would have paid for itself. I further concluded that the reason we don't go very often is because of the expense, and we only go when we can spend the entire day there in order to get the best value for our dollar.

Even with that information in hand, I was nervous and second guessing myself as we were standing in line at the Box Office to purchase the passes.  While the passes would cover our admission for the day we were there, we were spending three times what we usually would!  After the initial shock of the amount of money I had just spent, we went on to enjoy the Science Center.

We went through most everything like we usually do, and the new kids Discovery area was quite the treat!  

At the end of it all, Rini of course didn't want to leave.  But with the passes in hand, we reassured her that we would be able to return again soon.

In a bit of unusual turn of events, I stayed true to my word, and we went again this past Saturday, even though we were only there for an hour.

Unlike our previous visit, we only went to two of the four galleries, and didn't set foot in the Discovery area, let alone the second floor.  We did catch the tail end of the fire demonstration, for which Rini went and sat front row.  I was quite taken in by the isoproponol/lightsaber demonstration!  

Although we were only there for an hour, I found it to be very fulfilling, and I'm thinking that we could do these outings every week!  I am eagerly looking forward to the next time we go.

And it will definitely be before the Star Wars exhibit comes.