Oscar Prep

We're having a fun Oscar Sunday thus far. Our friends Mike and Jo (from Nairobi days) are up from Toronto with their family for last night and Oscar watching tonight. We played a little outdoor hockey this morning, our kids are all napping right now and I'm attempting to bake my first ever pie from scratch (results unconfirmed - but it's the Dinosaur BBQ's sweet potato pecan pie, so what could possibly go wrong?).

Here's my list of favourite movies of the year:
- Haven't seen Blue Valentine, Biutiful or the other foreign film nominees. Have seen all the best picture nominees and all the other films nominated for major awards. We didn't see many really good non-nominated movies this year so I could well be missing out on some good ones that dipped under the radar.

1. True Grit - the only movie I saw all year that I wanted to watch again as soon as the credits rolled. Dialogue was vintage Coen brothers (who can hit and miss like nobody) and loved the kickass young heroine.
2. Winter's Bone - grittiest, realest movie of the year. I wish the setting could be up for an award

... then a significant drop-off to #3 to #9
3.The Fighter - loved all the performances, especially Bale's.
4. Black Swan - always on the look out for reasons to not put my kids in ballet and this confirmed it. I really liked Portman (although am hugely biased).
5. Social Network - I think this captures an era, is a fascinating story, and Sorkin's writing is great.
6. Kid's Are Alright. Saw this a long time ago and thought it was really funny and real.
7. King's Speech. Kate loved it but I thought it was trying to hard to follow the Oscar-winning-formula of biopic with dude overcoming affliction. Won't mind if Firth or Rush win though.
8. The Town - not a best picture movie but this is exactly what Hollywood is supposed to do well, and this is the rare occasion that they pulled it off.
9. 127 Hours - didn't expect to enjoy it. After all, we know how it ends, but they keep it taut for the whole film.

Others
- Toy Story 3 was a lot of fun, but it's just a sequel kid's movie. Give it the animated award and let's move on.
- Rabbit Hole - overwrought and Kidman plays her normal icy, one-note performance
- Inception - saw it way back when it was released and thought, that was kind of cool but DiCaprio overacts as usual - definitely not award-worthy
- Animal Kingdom - nothing special

It Was Just a Snorkel

This was Jacob's response when I asked if he needed to go to the bathroom. I couldn't stop laughing, so now Jacob says "it was just a snorkel" everytime he farts. We've created a monster.

We had a visit this weekend from Greg, who was so bereft at being abandoned to Florida by Jo and Ben that he had to come join our chaos instead.

Zoë dividing her attention between a book and her belly button.

The kids' activities have ramped up since our return from holidays. Playball on Mondays, gymnastics on Tuesdays and swimming lessons on Wednesdays. Winter has returned in full force, so at least they're getting some indoor exercise. We've also been hibernating, watching movies. We're in the middle of Fly Away Home and a few days ago the kids were completely riveted by the Fox and the Hound. The only thing we like more than penguins around here is foxes. Toy Story 3 was also a big hit.

On the adult movie front, we've seen all 10 best picture nominees and most of the other major nominees, so I'll do an Oscar post between now and Sunday.

My running is still progressing - haven't missed a scheduled run yet.

Chinese New Year Catch-Up Photos and Winter Fun

Here's a photo of our Chinese New Year dinner table. Take-out dinner (next year I'll do the cooking - no, really). Decorations courtesy of my mom's visit to Toronto's Chinatown. Do real Chinese families have trouble explaining to their kids that the Easter Bunny has nothing to do with the arrival of presents on the Chinese year of the Rabbit?


















The 3 kids in their new New Year clothes.






















Bouncing on our bed in their traditional Chinese outfits

Zoë turning her panda into a Chinese rabbit

Fun on the snowpile at the end of our street

Zoë trundling back to the house from the rink

Skating fun - the rink suffered somewhat during our absence

Trekking to town across the lake

Sledding with the Ferrys and Fergusons

Zoë's 2nd Birthday Catch-Up photos

Zoë turned two last week, the day after we returned from Cuba. Here doctor's appointment this week confirmed that she's just below the 50th percentile for all her measurements and is healthy as an Ox (her Chinese symbol, of course). Who is Zoë at two? Sociable and happy, with the biggest smile and roundest cheeks ever. Nicknamed Zo Cheeks (after basketball legend Mo Cheeks)? Willful and feisty when she doesn't get her way. A great eater. A terrible go-to-sleeper.

Her birthday was also her first day of nursery school. All three kids in school for 2 1/2 hours, 3 times a week. That has helped me with my marathon training - 5 of 18 weeks now complete, and managed a 19km run on Friday! By all accounts Zoë is loving school.

Here she is playing with the twins and with Miss Laurie.































Spoiled much? Can barely see Zoë hidden behind all her presents. In our defence, the bags are much bigger than the gifts.

Cards from the big cousins - who recognized the dual passions for lift-the-flaps and penguins.

The mandatory chocolate ice cream photo. Plus one with her new Little Red Riding Hood puppets.

More Cuba Photos

All my Cuba photos come from the last 3 days of our trip. For most of the vacation I couldn't find my camera, assuming I'd forgotten it at home. Then in preparation for our Havana trip I opened the safe to get some currency to convert and there was the camera, where I had "safely" tucked it upon arrival. Oops.

- Swimming at the "quiet" pool

- Kate and Alison

- The Von Trapp Family Triplets

Cuba Cuba Cuba

We had a fabulous holiday in Cuba. No cold or snow to worry about. The kids played on the beach and in the pools all day everyday. The weather was perfect, with just a couple of days of rain and cooler temperatures.

Molly says her favourite part of the trip was swimming in the "quiet pool" with her waterwings. Jacob said his favourite part was playing with cousin Maeve.

Highlights of the trip:
- Kate and I spent a day in Havana sans kids. Loved wandering around this city that's like no other.
- Basking in the sun and warmth - not worrying about snowsuits and cold little hands
- Beautiful beach and great pools so lots of swimming. The twins learned to swim by themselves (with waterwings), going about 25m at a time across the pool with no adults nearby.
- Lots of time in the evenings to hang with Kate's family, watching the Aussie Open when the coverage was shown.
- Using the grandparental coverage to keep up on all our marathon training runs
- Watching the triplets (Molly, Jacob & cousin Maeve) hold hands and sing Christmas carols enroute to the restaurant everyday, much to the amusement of all the guests

Lowlights:
- Almost getting stuck in Cuba because of immigration problems with Zoë
- 3 hour flight delay on the way out
- A friendly but "that's not my problem" attitude with most of the hotel staff
- Zoë's continuing sleep problems
- Losing to Ben at tennis for the first time

Here are some photos:

The two of us in Havana

- Party to celebrate Zoë's birthday

- Brent and his brother Art

- Alison and Brent

- Lois and Zoë