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Due to a recent unfortunate incident with an unsavory element we have had to make some changes on the blog. From now on, all links to pictures will be password protected. If you would like the password, please email me and I will give it to you. Since most of the people who read this are family and friends, you should already have my email address. If you do not have my email address, too bad. That's the new rule.

Baby's Day Out

Hey all! When my mom came to visit when I first moved to Toronto, the weather was less than stellar. But we both agreed that when summer arrived, it would be the best city to walk around and the past weekend proved that we were right. It was a beautiful weekend with temps in the 80s. I wanted a pedicure, but I was too late to get an appointment in. Next week, though: Pedicure City! The Fambly also went to The Tulip, a local diner, for lunch on Saturday. The Tulip has been a Toronto Beaches mainstay since 1929 and, it's been said, a great place for a cheap, quality steak. Devoted Husband agreed and it turns out it just may be the first Toronto restaurant that he would like to revisit. Plus, it's near our house. As I was sitting eating my lunch, I looked out the window onto Queen Street and saw people walking around and the streetcars bopping along and I felt really good about the move. I felt like I was really part of the city. I hope everyone had a lovely holiday weekend. As it turns out, I wound up having an unexpected holiday weekend myself. Baby Boy's daycare was closed on Monday and so I decided to "work from home" but mostly I decided to take care of some things that I didn't get to over the weekend. BB and I went to Winners (Canada's Marshalls), Zeller's (Canada's Target) and Payless Shoes (Canada's Payless Shoes) because BB had lost one of his shoes and needed replacement footwear. After much searching, we got a pair of sandals and some sneakers that looked like little cars. I had to have BB try them on and run around the store to see if they fit. He got closer to the security beepers when I stopped him. The store clerk said it was okay and BB proceeded to run back and forth setting the beepers off and making it sound like there was a mass theft of shoes going on at the Payless. After our successful shoe purchase, we decided to go to lunch, but BB fell asleep on the way. But, that didn't stop me. I ate my lunch in quiet and got to read my book. Later that day, we went to the park and a good time was had by all. As we were leaving, a Japanese man came up to me and asked me if he could ask me two questions. Well, how was I going to pass that up? So, I said sure. The two questions? 1. What's a good way I could learn English? 2. What is an invention? My answers? 1. Watch a lot of TV, especially soap operas. 2. Wha? What do you mean? Something you create, I guess. Brilliant, eh? He told me that he had to ask these questions to 100 people as part of a homework assignment. He then made me sign the page with my questions and he went on his way. I was glad to help. A CANADIAN FACT! The average Canadian eats 61.26 Kg (134.77 lbs) of red meat annually. There must be someone out there that is eating way more than their fair share to make up for vegetarians.

Mountain Dew: Now Available Without A Prescription!

It seems like I've done nothing but complain about the rain lately, but I actually do like a gentle Spring rain, kinda like what's happening today. I walked outside with my brand-new bright yellow umbrella, like my own personal sun and I was more than happy to do it. While nothing particularly exciting is happening right now, I thought I'd delve into one of the many random things that I've noticed since the move to T.O. Until recently, Mountain Dew in Canada was caffeine-free, which would make it virtually useless to Devoted Husband, who prefers his morning Dew as a pick-me-up rather than the more traditional black coffee. Canada has regulations on products that have added caffeine, as opposed to the natural caffeine found in colas or coffee, and the Dew Fuel or Mountain Dew Energy, as it is known up here is branded as a natural health product. So, there is a big label on the side with all these "medical warnings" about this beverage. The label says: RECOMMENDED USE: Developed for periods of increased mental and physical exertion. Helps temporarily restore mental alertness or wakefulness when experiencing fatigue or drowsiness. RECOMMENDED DOSE: Drink 591mL (1 bottle) as needed. MEDICINAL INGREDIENT: Per 591mL: Caffeine 91mg CAUTIONS: Contains caffeine. Not recommended for children, pregnant or breast-feeding women, or caffeine-sensitive persons. Do not consume more than 1000mg caffeine per day. It's kind of marketed like a Red Bull-type "energy drink." Speaking of which, as youmay know, the Red Bull catchphrase is "Red Bull will give you wings." Or rather, "wiiiiiiiiiings!" Well, at the end of the commercial here in Canada there is a disclaimer that states unequivocally that Red Bull does NOT actually give you wings. So, there will be no more talk of anyone getting any wings, mister! I hope there wasn't a class action lawsuit brought against Red Bull by a group and angry Canadians demanding satisfaction for their lack of actual wings. But you know I wouldn't be at all surprised if that were the case. A MOUNTAIN DEW FACT! In 1965, Mountain Dew launched its first campaign "Yahoo Mountain Dew ... it'll tickle your innards." Catchy!

The Niagara Falls Pictures

As promised, here are some of the pictures of our trip to Niagara Falls. Here we are walking on the path on the way to the actual Falls. It's very windy and the water is flowing super fast. Here are the Falls. They just suddenly drop off and although you can't tell from this picture, they drop down pretty far. Baby Boy and the Falls. "No, Baby Boy! You need a barrel to go over the Falls!" Here we are with a better shot of the U.S. Falls and the Horseshoe Falls in the back. Baby Boy is getting a little sleepy. Time to head home.

Our Trip to the Falls

Hello all! I apologize for the delay, but I was swamped with work yesterday and wasn't able to post. But here I am now, so never fear! Our Victoria Day weekend was pretty slow as Devoted Husband was fighting a cold and the weather was overcast and gloomy. Not the best holiday weekend ever, that's for sure. The biggest bummer is that the weather has been beautiful since yesterday. Figures. Anyway, we decided to go to Niagara Falls on Monday and step on real U.S. soil for the first time in three months. The drive wasn't too bad. It only took us about an hour and a half to get there. We didn't have any trouble crossing the border and we were on our way. The first quest to find a place for lunch, but every place that we saw was closed or boarded up. We had a running joke that every restaurant in town had a sign in front that said, "Thanks for the Memories." I was so excited when we saw The Ground Round, a chain that I used to love as a child, but sure enough it was no longer in business. Rats! So, we wound up at the Ponderosa which is similar to the Sizzler restaurants. After lunch we headed over to Target. There are no Targets in Canada and when I lived in Southern California I would go to Target at least once a week, and more often than that as a rule. So, I was suffering from severe Target withdrawal. DH and I got a little misty-eyed as we pulled into the parking lot. It was all so very moving. Sniff. We actually didn't get much more than some household items, but that wasn't the point. The point was that we were back at Target and life was good. Once Target was out of the way, we finally headed toward the actual Falls. To say that this particular day was the off-season was quite the understatement. We parked in a lot that was completely dead. Guess why? Well, the parking lot was attached to was a defunct shopping mall. I sense a bit of an economic downturn in Niagara Falls, NY. We walked closer to the Falls and I would have pictures to show you, but DH didn't send them to me, so I will add them when I get home tonight. We didn't spend that much time at the Falls, but that's fine because I anticipate coming back for repeat visits. The Falls are very impressive. There is so much water, going so fast that I can't imagine surviving if you got caught in the current and pulled to the rocks below. We also saw the boat the Maid of the Mist but it was far too chilly to take that trip so close to the Falls. Plus, I don't think Baby Boy was up to it. But, as I said, I think we'll be back certainly before the end of the summer. We'll have to see the Canadian side of the Falls the next trip. So, BB was starting to get fussy and we packed up and went home. We made a controversial stop at a restaurant called Tucker's Marketplace. As you can see the sign resembles the sign for Macaroni Grill, a favorite of ours. But, it turned out to be just a buffet. And weirdly enough, at no point did they actually tell us how much the buffet cost. I only found out the cost because I overheard the restaurant manager talking to someone. It wasn't so much that we couldn't afford it, but still. Very weird. I know it sounds like a pretty mild trip, but it'll be seem so much more exciting when I get our pictures up. Trust me. Or not. A CANADIAN FACT! Niagara Falls has over 12 million annual visitors.

Happy Birthday, Vickie!

Listen up, dear readers, as I will explain the reason for my upcoming three-day weekend: Victoria Day. Don't know what Victoria Day is? Well, neither did I, until I thought the if I'm going to take the day off I should have the decency of knowing WHY I'm taking it off. Victoria Day is celebrated on the Monday on or before May 24 in honor of both Queen Victoria's birthday and the current reigning Canadian monarch's birthday. So, even though Queen Elizabeth celebrated her real 80th birthday about a month ago, her official birthday is on Monday. In Canada, Victoria Day is traditionally celebrated with fireworks. I've seen quite a few signs advertising fireworks locally. To the majority of Canadians the day is simply a holiday off from work, with little specific meaning, much like most legal holidays. Victoria Day is regarded as the beginning of the unofficial "summer season" in Canada, kind of like Memorial Day in the U.S. My co-worker, Miss Bella, told me that the weekend is known as "May two-four (2-4) weekend". This has two meanings, the first is that the holiday usually falls around May 24th, and also, parties will include lots of beer drinking (a two-four is a case of 24 bottles of beer). There is a radio ad that I hear every morning that has a jingle that goes, "Twenty-Four for $24, a Buck a Beer" to the tune of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." I've heard that a buck a beer is the lowest price that you can legally sell beer for in Canada. A CANADIAN FACT! The reigning Canadian Monarch has been in Canada for their official birthday twice: the first time being on 20 May, 1939, when King George VI was on a coast-to-coast tour of Canada. The second time was when Queen Elizabeth II was in Canada from 17 May 17th to May 25 2005, to mark the centennials of the entries of Saskatchewan and Alberta into Confederation.

Aw...Poop!

The rain keeps on coming. I've been attempting to get the bank all week and every day the weather prevents me from completing my task. Yesterday, I left work a little bit early and was on my way home when it started sprinkling out. I hopped into a bus stop kiosk in order to stay nice and dry, read my book and wait for the rain to lighten up. It started to do just that and the rain let up a little. But then it started to come down even harder! Just sheets of rain. And then thunder. And lightning. Oooh, scary. So, I hung around at the bus stop for much longer than I had originally intended. Then, I started to smell something...wrong. Awful and wrong. That awful and wrong thing was sewage. All the rain had backed up the sewer and there was now sewage on the street. Lovely. The backed up sewage also caused the manhole cover to get dislodged. A pickup truck drove over the cover and removed it from the hole and now there was a hole in the middle of the street. By this time, the bank was closed and I needed to get home to get the car to pick up Baby Boy from day care. But I wasn't going to walk in a thunderstorm, so I took my first Toronto bus ride. It was only for a few blocks, but I was a lot drier than I would have been. I was afraid that Baby Boy would be scared by the thunder and lightning, but he couldn't care less. He was more mad that I took a Big Bird toy car from him. Speaking of The Boy, enjoy some pictures from our trip to Riverdale Farm a couple weeks ago: Riverdale Farm A CANADIAN FACT! There are four sewage treatment centers in Toronto: the Ashbridges Bay Treatment Plant, the North Toronto Treatment Plant, the Highland Creek Treatment Plant and the Humber Treatment Plant.

Happy Birthday Devoted Husband!

I would like to wish a big fat Happy Birthday to my best friend and roommate, Devoted Husband. He's such a wonderful guy and I know he'll blush when he reads this, but it's MY blog and I can write whatever I want. He can start his own competing blog if he'd like. I hope he likes what Baby Boy and I got him. Shhhh. Don't tell him that we got him presents. It's a surprise. Yesterday, I braved the inclement weather to go and get my Ontario Driver's License. I went to what I thought was the local office, but it turns out that office was only for car registration. So, I had to go to another office quite a bit farther. When I got there I had to wait about a half hour, but I had my latest book to read, Hominids, a tale about a Neanderthal from an alternate universe that comes to our Earth. I don't usually read Science Fiction, but this book isn't bad. When I actually got up to the counter, the woman gave me a vision test which I guess I passed. Or at least I passed well enough for her. She then kept saying the I had to surrender my California License. Which is fine. She made me a copy of the CA License. For my memory box, I guess. Anyway, $75 later I had my Class G temporary license in hand and will get my new one with my goofy mug on it in about a month. Done and done. The other car related fun I had yesterday was my second parking ticket in three weeks. The street parking in front of my house changes to different sides of the street on the 1st and 16th of the month. The first of May I forgot to move to the other side of the street and got a ticket. Yesterday, I forgot to move the car back to the original side of the street and...YES, got another ticket. Needless to say, I was a little peeved. Change that to Extremely Angry and add about a dozen curse words and that will be a more accurate representation. How can I remember to move the stupid car!?! Any ideas? A CANADIAN FACT! Ontario Residents can get their driver's license starting at age 16. From the Ontario Ministry of Transportation: "The Ministry of Transportation agrees that the average 16 year-old has sufficient maturity and judgement to handle the responsibility of driving."

Canadian Candy Challenge - Week Three

This week the candy challenge will be a head to head battle royale between two similar candies - one US and one not. I give you: M&Ms VS. Smarties. While in the US, Smarties are chalky sour candies, kind of like a Tums that makes your mouth pucker and that you only see at Halloween, here in Canada, Smarties are candy covered chocolate buttons not completely unlike M&Ms. And yet, they ARE different. Check it out! We decided to compare plain candies, although Smarties and M&Ms both come in several flavors. Smarties (see left) are somewhat bigger and flatter than M&Ms. They come in roughly the same colors as M&Ms, with the addition of pink and purple, however, the shades are slightly different. But, appearances are only part of the comparison. There is also the taste test. The Smarties shell is thicker than the M&M shell. But, the chocolate inside each Smartie is of a much higher quality. Unlike M&Ms, Smarties do melt in your hand, but they do seem a lot sweeter. So, the chocolate is better, but it take you slightly longer to get to that tasty chocolate. Devoted Husband was torn because of this point. He liked the Smarties chocolate, but he didn't want to chew through .0000078 of a inch more of a shell to get to the inside. Personally, I liked the Smarties better, but you do get a lot more actual candy in a bag of M&Ms. CONCLUSION: It's a draw for Devoted Husband, but I'm leaning towards Smarties. Anyway, yummy chocolate means everyone wins! A SMARTIES FACT! Smarties were introduced in 1937 and are still the most popular sweet and one of Nestle's major confectionery brands. When production of Smarties resumed after the Second World War, Smarties were made with plain chocolate because of the shortage of milk. Also, Smarties tradition dictates that you eat the red ones last. I haven't the foggiest idea why, but you just do.

Mom's Day

I hope that everyone had a lovely Mother's Day (which we do have in Canada), if you are a mother or have a mother. There are tulips all over Toronto and so I sent tulips to both my Mom and Devoted Husband's mom. DH and Baby Boy got me a book called "Do Elephants Jump?" and I hope to find out the answer right away to that query. They also gave me wonderful Mother's Day cards. BB even signed his card himself with his favorite hot pink highlighter pen. Sure, to the layperson it may look like just a bunch of pink lines, but I can tell that he wrote his name, plain as day. We didn't go out for brunch, but we did go to Outback Steakhouse for dinner on Saturday night. The highlight of dinner was Baby Boy's introduction to crayons. While he managed to color a little bit on his complimentary Outback Steakhouse activity book, he also took a big chunk off the end of both the blue and yellow crayons. He's really getting a workout with his new front teeth. On Saturday morning, I went to the Women's Group at First Unitarian. It was a group of about 20 women, mostly 50-80 years old. I was pretty clearly the youngest one present. We then divided up into two groups of 10 and we discussed this week's topic. It was really quite interesting and I will go to the next meeting in a couple weeks. It was nice to get out of the house and meet new people. That's always a problem when moving to a new city. The other women seem really nice for the most part and I'm eager to hear what they have to say with new topics. A CANADIAN FACT! The annual Canadian Tulip Festival (4 - 22 May 2006 in Ottawa) is one of the largest in the world, thanks to the 100,000 tulips given 50 years ago by Holland's Royal Family to the Canadian soldiers who helped liberate the Netherlands during the Second World War.

Rain Rain Go Away

It's a gray May day with rain and whatnot. I hate the rainy weather up here because I don't get my daily walk done. Now, I have to try to squeeze my exercise in sometime today. My co-worker Miss Bella and I (as well as Bella's mom and cousin) went to a set sale today. When films and television shows are done with production the producers try to make back a little scratch by selling the clothes and other props. Really it's just a big garage sale. We went to a sale yesterday for the movie that Clive Owen was doing when he was up here called Shoot 'Em Up. It was a good sale if you are a fan of lots of black and lots of army fatigue colored jumpsuits. That's all that was pretty much up for sale. The other set sale was this morning and far more elaborate. It was for the television series 1-800-Missing and the clothing was in one office and the props were on a studio set. While there were a lot of items to pick over, there didn't seem to be anything that immediately jumped out at me. I was tempted to buy a box of random drinking glasses for $5, but the box itself was a little heavy, so I passed. There were all kinds of different items, like furniture, lamps, framed prints, carpets, curtains and weird little items that were gently used. When we eventually move into our own place, we will have more room to get some new (used) furniture and I will be more interested in these sales. Apparently Miss Bella had a Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer-sighting in the studio commissary today. They must be here to work on this movie. It's pouring out again. Rats. Oh, and Happy Birthday to my sister-in-law Liane! A CANADIAN FACT! The film industry supports 28,000 jobs in Toronto and annually contributes $1.5 billion to the economy.

Bravo to Bulk Barn

Stupid Blogger.com was acting all squirrelly this morning, so I'm a little late to the game today. But all is well now. I just got back from a pleasant lunch with Devoted Husband at the Burger King. I had a delicious Veggie Burger. DH isn't used to having a whole hour for lunch or not having to clock out for lunch either. So he surprised himself when he realized that he could actually sit and relax rather than rushing back to the office. So, he listened to me chatter away about nothing in particular. After lunch, I went to the Post Office to pick up a book of stamps (Canada to US). I use far more international stamps than inter-Canadian stamps. I also had to mail out my census form. I have been in this country for less than three months and I already have to participate in a census. I guess the censuses are far more frequent than in the U.S. Then I went to Loblaw's to get some mayonnaise for DH. Finally, I went to the best store in the whole world, Bulk Barn. O, Bulk Barn! How I so love thee! For the uninitiated, Bulk Barn is a store that sells bulk food items in these plastic buckets. I like to pick up a little bit of something after lunch and I don't get tempted with more than I actually need. Am I making any sense at all? I don't know. There is a fabulous range of items including, but not limited to, snacks, dry pasta, pie fillings, vitamins and supplements, baking ingredients, coffee and tea, pet food and the very intriguing cake decorating section. I always remember my mom making birthday cakes for my brother and I using Wilton cake pans and I want to try to do some of my own for Baby Boy. I used to love to look at the Wilton catalogs. I was always amazed that anyone could make a cake that looked like Raggedy Ann or a toolbox or whatever. Let's hope that Baby Boy like things that are one basically color, like Cookie Monster or a lawn. A CANADIAN FACT! Bulk Barn is Canada's largest bulk food retailer. They carry over 4,000 products and have 97 locations.

Farm Fun!

Overall, the Fambly had a pretty quiet weekend. I bought a copy of Cheap Eats Toronto, a restaurant guide and it's much better than some of the other guides that I had seen recently. Especially since it notes which restaurants are kid friendly. As you can imagine, this is pretty important if we want to bring the Boy with us. Otherwise, we would have to keep him tied up to a bicycle rack in the front. Armed with my new book, we went to the Olde Yorke Fish & Chips, widely considered one of the best fish 'n chips joints in Toronto. It was quite good, but a little pricey and the portions were pretty slim pickens. I could get equal quality food for a better price. So, live and learn. Yesterday, we went to the Riverdale Farm. The farm is located not far from our house, right in the middle of Toronto. It's a lovely farm with lots of animals, old buildings, flowers and a pond. The best part is the Farm is free of charge! So, we can go back all summer long. Baby Boy saw some horses and some cows, but he was mostly interested in picking up rocks and finding just the right place to put the rocks down. BB walked by himself for the most part and he was very much tempted to walk into the very scummy pond. There were ducks, geese and box turtles in the pond, but I managed to keep BB from joining them. We didn't stay for a very long time, but since it's nearby and the price is right, we will back to see the chickens and pigs and goats (oh, my). A CANADIAN FACT! Originally owned by John Scadding, the City of Toronto purchased what was to be Riverdale Park in 1856. Riverdale Farm officially opened on September 9, 1978. The Farm contains cows, horses, donkey, sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, rabbits, and cats.

All A-Boot Words, Eh?

Happy Cinco de Mayo, everyone! Or, as they call it here in Toronto, May 5th. I don't know if there are any festivities going on today, but I be pretty sure that it won't be as popular as it was in Los Angeles. Today I thought that I would address a common Canadian stereotype: the odd pronunciation of the word, "about." Now, granted I haven't talked with a lot of different people up here, but I have listened to the radio and watched the TV and when Canadians talk, they don't say "A-Boot." At best, they say "A-Boat." People do, however, do say "eh." I think it's cute. I'm just saying make sure you get your stereotypes correct, 'kay? The much more surprising alternate pronunciations are for brandnames. I give you the case of "Mazda." You know Mazda, right? The automobile manufacturer? Well, I was under the impression that it was pronounced "Mazda" with an "a" like "mama." But I repeatedly hear commercials with the "Mazda" pronounced like the "a" in "can." So, that's a little weird. Equally weird is that other commercials pronounce "Chrysler" like "ChryZler" with hard "z." You know what I mean, eh?

FINALLY!

We were so happy last night to find out that the sale of our home in California is now complete. We got the money in the bank and we no longer have to worry about all the bills and mortgages related to the other property. HOORAY! With Devoted Husband's new job and the sale of the house, we are all set money-wise for the first time and it's such a good feeling. Especially since we managed to more than double the price of our house from when we bought it only four years ago. We plan on paying off our student loans, gettin' ourselves some MP3 players and put the rest into CDs and let them sit until we are ready to buy our own place next year. It's such a major relief! All things considered, the whole process went fairly smooth and I hope that the couple that bought our place enjoy it. If not, too bad suckers! It's your problem now! A CANADIAN FACT! The median price for a home in Toronto is $366,683 ($331,188 in US Dollars). The median price for a home in the Los Angeles/Long Beach area is $470,900.

Canadian Candy Challenge Week 2

This morning is just so beautiful. The sun is shining. The sky is bright blue. Not a cloud in the sky. Temperatures in the low 50s. Just a beautiful Spring day. I love it. I got a new chair for my office yesterday. It's one of those fancy chairs without a back in order to improve my posture. We'll see how that works. In honor of such a sunny day, I decided to review a sunny Canadian candy. The last candy that we reviewed was a little too tame, so Devoted Husband and I tried a much more adventurous choice: the Banana Kit Kat. Well, it was quite a pleasant surprise. The banana flavor was quite good. DH compared it to Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey ice cream. By this reasoning, Banana Kit Kat ice cream should be the greatest ice cream on the planet. I think the world may implode with the fabulousness. That is, if you like banana. Otherwise, maybe not. What Is The American Reading? I just finished Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware. I can honestly say that I've never read anything like it. It's a graphic novel in the truest sense of the words and it tells a very emotional, and yet, painfully ordinary story. There are whole sections without any dialogue or text of any sort and the illustrations tell far more than words ever could. And, just because it's illustrated with cartoons, don't expect to laugh much. Or at all. This morning I started The Devil's Dream by Lee Smith. This is more of a traditional fictional story about an extended family of country music singers. It's pretty good so far. A CANADIAN FACT! Bananas are Canada's second most popular fruit, after apples, with each person eating 13 Kg (28.6 Pounds) annually.

The Weekend in Review

Hey all! I've installed StatCounter on this blog so I can see who, in fact, is reading the blog. I can only tell by the ISP address of the computer, so I don't know who is reading by name, but I can make a reasonable guess based on where the ISP address is located. I'm not spying on you or anything, I'm just curious who is out there. This weekend was, in a word, BEAUTIFUL. The Fambly went out to Mandarin, a Chinese food buffet, which was delicious, if a bit pricey. If you've even been to a buffet of any type, then you have probably made yourself sick in order to get your money's worth. Which is what I did, unfortunately. But I didn't want to leave without dessert, even though I couldn't eat any more. Just on principle. So, I picked up some little dessert items (which I felt were little on purpose for just this reason) and put them in a napkin and stuffed them in my purse. OK, bill is paid, tip is laid, we are heading out the door. Suddenly, at the exit, I see a backup of people and an employee stopping each person. OH NO! I'm going to get busted for taking a Rice Krispie Square! I tried to make a run around the group of people, but then I saw that the employee at the door was just handing out after dinner mints. I took my mint and man, I laughed and laughed. I told Devoted Husband and I couldn't stop laughing about my fear of having my stupid little desserts confiscated. I was so ashamed, but it was super funny. Baby Boy and I went to the park this weekend and we had quite a time in the park sandbox. More than sand and shovels and buckets though, he likes other people's toys. He "borrowed" a soccer ball from an older girl named Nia. Her parents didn't mind and Nia, herself, didn't seem to mind. So, BB walked all around the sandbox with the ball and kicked it a few times, all while randomly yelling out "Ball!" and beaming like he won the lottery. However, the soccer ball took a backseat to another little girl's Winnie the Pooh bicycle helmet. The girl's grandmother was very understanding while BB walked around with the helmet on his head. When it was time to go, BB was very good and gave back his borrowed treasures. When we came back from the park on Sunday, DevHus was working in the garden in front of our house, digging up weeds and putting in new soil. His loss, not seeing BB tooling around in a stolen bicycle helmet. Everyone's loss, I'm sure.