a peek inside the fishbowl

We had a doozy of a thunderstorm early this morning. It crashed and flashed right over our heads, illuminating our bedrooms. Both girls and the dog came into our bed, although the dog didn’t stay for long as she seemed to prefer to pace nervously… click click clicking across the hardwood between all of our bedroom doors. I’m not sure what she though about all that racket.

Piper wouldn’t settle down so she and I eventually fell asleep on the living room couch, only to awaken to Mark standing over us saying: DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS?

I had sleepily reset the alarm to 6:59 P.M. (note to self: I should never be trusted to do this) and as a result we all managed to oversleep. This created a bit of havoc this morning, but, whatever. The thunderstorm was a good way to officially ring in Sarah’s birthday. She is 10 today.

Sunday was sleepy. I was too pooped to do much of anything. We spent the day at Mark’s parents and had a celebratory dinner there too. The birthday girl got to pick the menu, and it was flank steak (!), french fries, and salad. Dessert was vanilla cake with chocolate icing, and there is a large part of it sitting in the kitchen right now. I’m trying to pretend it’s not there. :)

Sarah’s 10th birthday gift from Mark and I, was, er, is going to be a bicycle. She should have had it by now. We naively thought it’d be a cinch to buy a kid’s bike in Ottawa but so far it hasn’t turned out that way.

I don’t often find myself lamenting the 1970s, but this week, I am. I am sad that I can’t get a stylin’ 1970s bike for my kid. Like practically everyone of my vintage, I had a banana seat bicycle with long handle bars. I’m not sure of the name brand anymore, but they were the best bikes; easy to use (no gears, and a backwards coaster/push break), and a seat that was perfect for doubling your best friend. What’s more, the bike seemed to be virtually indestructible. I was forever tossing it on the ground, skidding and wiping out, and performing Evel Knieval tricks of all kinds. (Ha. Check this out.) It’s amazing that I even survived.

My bike was purple and had a basket on the front, long shiny streamers on the handlebars, and the occasional hockey card stuck in the spokes for excellent putt-putt sound effects. I think it *almost* made up for the fact that I never got a Big Wheel or Green Machine.

I spent hours on this bike and had many adventures, and I want my kid to have the same experience, but we’ve had a devil of a time finding the perfect bike.

Going the used route is a great option and it’s been recommended to me by several people already. There is a giant category on UsedOttawa just for bikes (and there are some good finds in there) but poor Sarah has been getting hand-me-downs and secondhand bikes her whole life. It’s time to go new. Besides, we pinkie promised.

Our journey, of course, started at Canadian Tire. For some reason it is deeply ingrained in me to go there first. In fact, our car practically drove itself to Canadian Tire. That’s where everyone used to go to buy this kind of stuff.

Canadian Tire, at least the one we went to, had a pretty small collection of bikes for a 10-year old girl. The one she liked was $99.00, but had really cheap components and didn’t look like it would last. After that, we went to a bunch of different bike shops in Ottawa. We’re still looking.

She’d like a hybrid. Suffice it to say that we are quite dismayed.

Here’s the problem: I am expecting to pay around $200-$250 for a decent children’s bike, and there really isn’t much available in this category. Am I being unrealistic? The industry seems to be fulfilling the cheapie-cheap-disposable-bike side and the pricey how-long-will-it take-before-it gets-stolen side. But there isn’t an awful lot in between for people who just want their kids to have a decent quality bike and not have to pay an arm and a leg for it.

We’ve gone to Bushtukah, Tall Tree, Westboro Sports, Fresh Air Experience, and Kunstadt to look at kids bikes, and have seen LOTS of great adult bikes, racing bikes, and toddler bikes, but we’re still empty-handed. Still on our list, Cyclepower, Sport Chek, Foster’s. What am I missing? (Please don’t say WalMart. I’ve pledged never to cross their threshold.)

Do you have a purple banana-seat bike in your basement? Because if you do, I’d like to make you an offer. :)

Sarah’s official birthday isn’t until Monday. That means that we have the whole weekend to celebrate beforehand. (!)

The agenda was packed. As per Fishbowl tradition, it began with a special breakfast in bed. Sarah requested breakfast sausages, pancakes, and fruit. So that’s what she got:

We spent the morning tidying up and getting ready for a party at 4Cats Art Studio. (They are a blog patron, but we’d be 4Cats fans even if they weren’t.) It is a bright, lovely and creative space, a great place to have a kid’s birthday party no matter the age:

On the agenda: a “pop art” silkscreening workshop and collective art project.

First, the girls created their own little silkscreen projects on special art paper. Here they are, helping Sarah keep her frame pressed to the paper:

Did you know that silkscreens are made of real silk? And that Andy Warhol owned 25 cats, all named Sam? I’m still not sure if that’s kooky or smart, but these are the memorable little bits of information that you learn at a workshop like this one. :)

Here are a couple of their finished pieces. Funny thing, I assumed the girls would all paint regular kinds of brown cats, but it was good to see purple, polka-dotted varieties, as well as cats surrounded by rings of fire and rainbows. It was kind of cool to see:

The girls were there to help Sarah with a big painting of her own. Picture a giant canvas (44″ x 44″) attached to a table. On it was silkscreened a giant butterfly in blue. First, the girls painted inside the body of the butterfly. Sarah chose the colours; pink, orange, and red. They used thick brushes and watered-down paint, which blended together for great effect:

Afterwards they painted the background in blues and greens. Here’s a sneak peek at the results of their hard work:

We are paying a little extra to have it stretched on a frame. I was blown away. The end result is so beautiful! The photo doesn’t do it justice at all. I love that Sarah has a wonderful memento of her party. Once it’s stretched I might try to find a way to have the girls all sign the back.

After the painting part was done there was time to have a snack (fruit dipped in cooked chocolate pudding, which was a huge hit), fizzy lemonade and… the birthday cake:

In lieu of loot bags each little girl received an inexpensive little stuffy. Sarah had taken the time to pick a special one for each guest. She knew that one girl loves monkeys and another liked dogs etc. We printed the gift tags the night before. (I found them online here, if you’d like some of the same. They’re free to download and print.) On the back, Sarah wrote each girl a little thank you for coming message.

These little guys were a huge hit:

It was a great party. It went by so quickly, and everyone seemed to have a good time. And there was no clean up at home afterwards! Yay!

We went home and opened gifts from Emma, and Mark and I.

Emma gave her a motorized butterfly in a jar, which sounds bizarre but was actually a huge hit. You tap on the lid and it flutters:

And Mark and I gave her a necklace I had picked out at Heavens to Betsy, a store I adore:

Also on the list: a brand new bike… but we haven’t been able to find the perfect one yet.

The afternoon was too nice to waste inside, so the girls played in the backyard until dinner.

The birthday girl chose to have dinner out. Sarah loves sushi, so we walked to Westboro Village and happily snagged a window-seat at MHK.

Here’s Emma, looking lovely while we waited for our meal to arrive:

And here is part of our delicious dinner:

We walked home, stuffed to the gills (no pun intended), and settled in to watch a movie.

Today is Birthday Celebration part II! But first, a shower and breakfast. :)

I am really happy to welcome the latest addition to the Fishbowl family! Please take a moment to say helloooo to Westfest.

Westfest is free, interdisciplinary community festival that will be celebrating their 8th year. But interdisciplinary sounds a bit, hmm, stuffy. It’s not the right word. So let me rephrase that: Westfest is a giant 14-block street party that celebrates art and life. It really does. The main strip along Richmond closes down to cars, creating one giant hive of people. In fact, I wonder if we should start calling it Bestfest. Although they’ve had some growing pains, I’ve talked to a lot of people about it lately and they all agree that this is going to be the best one yet. :)

The thing I love most about Westfest  – and I have mentioned this here before – is seeing our friends and neighbors taking part in what has turned into a really cool tradition. Imagine, we have a festival in our very own neighborhood!

This year, Westfest will be taking place Friday June 10 – Sunday June 12.

I had the opportunity to attend the official launch on April 1. It’s going to be one hellaevent. The theme this year is “Westfest gets Naked” which I think is absolutely hilarious.

It remains to be seen whether someone interprets this literally and embraces noodee behaviour at some point over the weekend. WHO KNOWS. But seriously, it’s a great nod to the headlining musical act, Bif Naked. (Woot!)

Now that my kids are older I am really looking forward to enjoying more of the music acts and discovering something new. The lineup looks amazing. Every night has something worth checking out.  Headliners include Lucie Idlout on Friday, Bif Naked on Saturday, and the Mighty Popo on Sunday.

The big change this year is that the main stage has been moved behind the Superstore on Richmond at Kirkwood (along the giant strip of unused grass). This basically quadruples the audience area for the main stage. There’s a grassy hill which runs alongside the length of the audience area, which will create some nice breathing room and a bit of a buffer, allowing Westfest to fence it all off and make the space fully licenced. (Yay!)

Also worth noting- and in keeping with the music theme (as opposed to the naked theme) –  Westfest is giving away a $3000 custom guitar. Your name is automatically entered when you buy a Westfest t-shirt or cap… which will be available during Westfest at merchant tents along the street and at the Domicile main stage. More info about that here. I am SO entering this contest. If I win I swear I will learn to play the guitar.

Other good stuff to know:

• Twitter Tweeps: Westfest is on Twitter! I will be tweeting out bits and bobs over Westfest weekend. If you’re on Twitter you can follow along (and add to the convo!) using #Westfest.
• Photogs: did you know there is a Westfest Flickr group? Upload your pics there as you go so we can all admire them!
• F’bookers will want to like Westfest on Facebook and get special insider scoop.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the official charity of Westfest is the Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa. (Full disclosure: I sit on the board of the YSB Charitable Foundation.) They are a WONDERFUL organization and deserve every penny that is donated. When you see Westfest volunteers asking for donations (they’ll be roving the streets with empty paint cans), please give generously.

I hope to see you there!