Monster High

My daughter turned six years old this week, and for her birthday, my mother in law bought her a Monster High doll. I would not have bought her one myself, and her grandmother asked a girl, my daughter's age, which toy she would buy if she had a choice, and the choice was Monster High. For those of you not familiar to Monster High, the dolls are very leggy, and very skinny (skinnier than Barbie) with larger heads, eyes and lips. The faces are not as bad as the Bratz dolls, but the bodies are much skinnier.

Right now, most of my daughter's friends are crazy about My Little Pony. The cartoons are pretty funny (which explains the whole Bronie phenomenon), but as with many cartoons, the humour is above the heads of six year olds. My Little Pony seems to be cashing in in the Monster High craze. They have designed their Equestria Girls dolls to look a lot like the Monster High ones. My Little Pony toys are now fashion dolls. Who would have thought? I liked the idea that they are ponies. Making them leggy girls has taken away some of their innocence.

Bratz dolls have come up with a line called Bratzilla to mimic the monster theme. I have not taken a good look at this product as I am particularly unimpressed by Bratz. When they came up with a line of baby dolls with makeup, and pouty lips, I wanted nothing to do with them.

The Monster High marketing scheme is pretty good. I kind of like all the different kinds of "Monsters" they have created, usually based on a popular culture beastie. My daughter's doll is called Operetta, and she is the daughter of The Phantom of the Opera. They have funny profiles, taking into consideration the history of the monster or its parentage. Aside from the appearance of the dolls, it is a clever concept. I find myself wanting to get Skelita Calaveras because of my year spent in Mexico and my fascination with the Day of the Dead.

The appearance, leggy, skinny dolls in skimpy clothes is a problem for me, especially with my daughter being only six years old. I want her to stay young and innocent for as long as possible. Maybe the look of the dolls is so extreme that kids realize it is make believe. Barbies are more "normal" looking in comparison, but equally unrealistic as far as body shape. They could be more dangerous because girls might try to be like them. I doubt anyone is going to try to be a steam punk robot. (Really, that is kind of a cool character).

So, I let my daughter have her Monster High doll, without judgement. I will just monitor what she consumes as far as related media is concerned. We tend to watch French language only programs, so unless I find a DVD with the French track, she will not get to watch shows like Monster High and My Little Pony. I know there are French versions of these shows available, but I will wait until she is a little older. For now, we will stick with the innocent shows of miniTFO (kind of like French Treehouse), without commercials. It is bad enough that their father is exposing my children to Avengers, in French no less!

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Our Camping Trip, 2013. Pinery Provincial Park.

Last year was the first time we went camping with the kids. We decided on Whispering Pines at Santa's Village near Bracebridge because it was close to the amusement park, the town of Bracebridge, and the campsite has a pool and playground. It was quite a successful trip. Being close to civilization meant I was able to pop into town for things like a smaller air mattress, and food for supper. We also spent one of the three days exploring the parks of Bracebridge.

We have been going to Santa's Village for a few years, and my children are still young enough to enjoy their time there. However, I have been feeling of late that this amusement park is small, outdated and quite overpriced for a day trip from Sudbury. Camping last year was perfect because the amusement park was not our ultimate goal.

We saved on entrance costs because Fridays are two for one. We were already at Santa's Village the day we decided to go inside the park, so we did not have to wake at the crack of dawn, and drive for three hours. The pool and the playground at the campsite were just as fun for our kids as Santa's Village, and it was included with the camping fees. We also had the opportunity to rent a canoe.

This year we had a different camping experience. I did not feel like another year at Whispering Pines, but I still wanted a short camping experience for our family. I decided on Pinery Provincial Park, on the shores of Lake Huron. We were already in southern Ontario visiting my parents, so the drive to Pinery was only 2 1/2 hours from Oakville.

For a biologist/ecologist, this is a pretty amazing park. The succession happening on the dunes, the different habitats, all of the rare plants, it was quite interesting. On top of that, their visitor centre is extremely well set up and interactive.

There are displays, aquariums, a movie theatre and an outdoor amphitheatre. They have daily activities, for free, as well as programs in the evenings, and children's activities. You can rent bikes and paddle boats. If the weather is nice, there is a long shallow beach with kilometres of soft sand. Even if you do not camp there, it is worth a visit to the day use beaches when the weather is cooperating.

Unfortunately for us, the weather could have been better. We only ended up at the beach the first day, and it was not a sunny or particularly warm day. However, my kids still had a lot of fun playing in the sand with their Manitoban cousins as my parents had driven out for the day.

The next couple of days were cloudy, cool, and the wind started to pick up. It was quite spectacular, seeing the waves on the lake. It felt like being at the ocean. For a day and a half there was an underlying sound of waves roaring in the distance. Without the option of going to the beach, we had to find other things to do.

We ended up walking a lot. I was surprised how well my kids, aged 4 and 6, did with all the walking. We misjudged the distance to one trail, and missed a mushroom hike. I ended up running back to our campsite to get the van. The kids wanted to watch "tv" often, and at one point I had to drag my daughter out of the movie theatre because it was playing a cartoon, and we had somewhere to be. Otherwise, they seemed as fascinated by the insects, plants, and animals as we were.

When you only do a three night camping trip, it is a gamble whether or not you will have good weather. The day we left, the sky had cleared, and they were predicting warm, summer temperatures for the weekend. It was still a great experience. The campsite was well equipped with washrooms, and warm showers. Most of our neighbours were quiet, and we stayed dry during the rainstorm our last night.

I know my husband was not impressed that there was no play structure for our kids, but we had other things to keep them occupied. I had brought along some pages to paint by adding water. We also had some "board" games found in the kids' Pomme d'Api magazines. I forgot to bring scissors, so we could not play the games that were not already cut out, but this leaves something for the next trip. Really, they needed to get a little bored as well. They often came up with imaginative games to play around the campsite. Unfortunatley, the prevalence of poison ivy prevented them from exploring too much in the bushes, but it was a step in the right direction with regards to camping.

Next year, maybe we will head out East. Three of our friends went out to PEI this summer, and I have heard nothing but good things about it. Maybe we will plan an epic road trip for next summer.

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Playgrounds

It is summertime, and we are spending a lot of time visiting various playgrounds and splash pads. My kids used to look forward to playing at the playground near their grandparents' home in Oakville, but the play structure was totally revamped last month. It seems as though all of the parks in Oakville were overhauled, regardless of whether or not they needed to be. My kids miss the spiral slide from the old park. The new park is supposed to be handicap accessible, but they replaced the tunnel slide with three shorter bumping slides.

They put in a couple balancing toys, a wake board, and a skate board. My daughter barely weighs anything, so it was quite easy for her to balance. She also liked the climbing wall leading to a fireman's pole. In fact, she said she did not like other play structures as much when they did not have a pole.

There are other parks nearby with shorter spiral slides, but they are not within walking distance from Grandma and Grandpa's. My son was particularly amused with the bouncy bridge at one of the further parks. This park was good for when we, the parents, wanted to play some tennis because the park was close to the courts.

In Mississauga, just off of the Lakeshore, there is a very interesting park called Lakeside. They have the closest spray pad to us. At first, the spray pad looked boring because it was just a series of fountains coming out of a cement pad. However, the kids loved it. I always said a bidet would be a hit at home. My kids love water that spurts up. Plus, the fountains will go on together, following a programmed pattern. There is even a misty vent. My biggest gripe is that the other misty vent, the one the kids can contriol, is at the top of a flight of stairs. Not well thought out. Makes me wonder if someone has gotten seriously injured yet.

The play structure part of the park is quite fun. Lots of spinning things, and a first nations, exploration, musical theme going on. At first, I was leery about the large climbing merry go round, but as my husband pointed out, it requires cooperation on the part of the children, and encourages communication. Often, the kids would try to recruit an adult to turn the merry go round, but with ten kids trying to get into place, it got quite tedious. I let the kids figure it out for themselves, and they usually did.

I think I was having more fun on the other spinning structures than my kids. It was one of those parks where it felt like it was giving the children the chance to explore and try out things. It was not too sanitized, but was safe because the smaller kids could not get on the bigger structures. Having just listened to a podcast asking if playgrounds are too safe, it was neat to see some innovative ideas for new parks. Listen here to the Q podcast.

Our playground explorations concluded with a rec centre in Burlington. For $3, kids had access to a splash pad, a wading pool, a big pool, and a playground. Plus, there was a bigger playground outside the fenced in Nelson Park, and a BMX jumping area. It looked as though there were sports fields in the back too.

I wish Sudbury had shallow pools for younger kids, either indoor or outdoor, but something other than just sprays coming out of the ground. I suppose we have all our beaches around town, but there is no truly family oriented swimming area for us. I was extremely jealous of my friend in Edmonton. Their rec centre had an indoor playground, plus two pools. One for laps and diving, and a family pool that was very warm, with a lazy river, and a waterslide. Also, there was an even warmer mom and babies area. Amazing. Of course, Edmonton is much bigger than Sudbury, but Burlington is about the same size. We have no outdoor pools in Sudbury nor indoor playgrounds, unless you count McDonald's or Burger King.

Have you found any fun parks in your neighbourhood? Where do you live?

 

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Advertising to Kids

Last week, while we were visiting my friends in Edmonton, my daughter was exposed to more commercials than she had ever been exposed to, and it was kind of scary. My friend did not have Treehouse, and she only had three "kids" channels to choose from. YTV was not playing stuff I thought appropriate for my almost six year old daughter, so we opted for Retro Teletoon.

I am not sure who the target audience is for Retro Teletoon, but I do not think it is young children. Maybe they are trying to market to adults reliving their youth. Regardless, most of the ads were infomercials for products not geared to kids. After watching this channel with my daughter for a few minutes, she quickly told me I needed to buy several of the advertised products. Apparently, I need a No No hair removal gadget, and my husband can get one too. Our cat needs to have the Cat's Meow cat toy. I am surprised she did not encourage me to use the pay day loan service as well.

I was struck by how easily influenced my daughter was by such a brief exposure to these ads. My children do not normally watch TV with ads. At home, we watch DVDs, TFO and sometimes Treehouse. The channels we do watch only advertise their own shows. She also asked why I did not buy Frosted Flakes cereal. It must be good for us since the tiger is so sporty.

My friend took us to the library a few days into our visit and I was able to get her commercial free, french programming for a few days. I have been quite good at sheltering my children from most of the advertising frenzy geared toward children. My kids are mostly influenced by their fellow classmates and daycaremates. This exposure is plenty. My kids come home talking about products and TV shows we never watch at home. I still have no idea how my son knows about Skylanders.

I sometimes worry that I shelter them too much, but there is access to current media everywhere these days. I try to keep them watching French language shows, if at all possible. We almost always listen to French music, or Kindermusik, and their books are in French too. They are constantly bombarded by ads for toys through print, video games and movies, and I want to keep them sheltered as long as possible.

I am even quite strict on iPad use. I might be on my iPad every day, but until my kids are old enough to buy their own handheld devices, I will decide how often they play on mine. I will probably limit their access when they do buy their own too.

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Reminiscing with Good Friends

My daughter and I are rounding up a week long visit with some very dear friends of mine. The three of us met while teaching high school in Monterrey, Mexico, 12 years ago. It was an amazing experience and I count these two women as some of, if not the, best friends that I have. They are at the top of my contact list on Facebook, and we have managed to see each other almost every two years since we have been back in Canada. Considering I live in Sudbury and they live in Edmonton, I count this as impressive.

I was saying to one of the friends a sign of a good friendship is when you can stop talking about what you did in the past and enjoy each other's company in the present. Of course, after that, we got out the photo albums of our Mexican adventures and proceeded to reminisce, again. But, as the other friend said, no one else was there, and there is no one else can we talk to who will understand what we experienced.

Friendships are odd things. I have many people in my life I would consider good friends, but we do not see each other very often because we live so far apart. I grew up in Manitoba, therefore many of my high school friends are still there. We see each other about once a year. We tend to not relive the "good ole times" because they were so long ago, but whatever drew us together when we were younger is still there. We are able to spend time together, talk about our lives and let our kids play.

I see my university friends even more seldom. I went to UBC, and since I graduated, I have only been back three times. These friends rarely come out East to visit. We stay in touch mainly through Facebook. However, it is as though no time has passed when we do finally see each other. Most of these people know who I am, and love me for the good and the bad. I count myself fortunate to have travelled so much, and to have maintained these connections for such a long time.

I do not have many people near my home I would consider good friends. Last year a relationship, I had considered a family type relationship, fell apart. The women decided, over what seems like an overnight b$&&h session, that they no longer wanted me in their lives. It hurt me deeply because it was never clear exactly what it was that I had done. I still do not know what I did, and I was never given the opportunity to make up for my "failings".

It was made even more awkward because they live in our community, they were important at our wedding, and our children are still close. I do not like to talk about it a lot because I do not know how much they said to others. I also do not know how many of my circle of acquaintances know them. It made dealing with the loss difficult because I had no one to talk to about it.


My friends here in Edmonton were very supportive throughout the ordeal. In fact, they are a testament to a strong friendship because we have all put our feet in our mouths with regards to each other, but we still love each other. We are like sisters, and despite the time and distance we are able to pick up where we left off, as though the years have not passed.

We were fortunate to have two visits this year because the fourth member of our Mexican quartet got married in Toronto in May. Unfortunately, he has not been as easy to stay in contact with, being a doctor now and basically eschewing Facebook. Our reunion with him was not quite the same since he was busy with his wedding (the nerve!), but we have had some good visits after Mexico when I was pregnant with my kids. We can still have a super reunion one of these years, and maybe focus on our present selves instead of our crazy, young, Mexican selves. Not that those younger versions of us were bad, but I think we have grown a lot since then, and we still like our older selves.

We are all mothers now, and our girls play together (our sons too). We are all teachers and we commiserate with each other and cheer each other on in our careers. After 12 years, we are still the best of friends, and I am so glad for the opportunity to see them as often as I do. As my visit comes to an end, I look forward to the next time. We will stay in touch through Facebook and Skype, but nothing beats being in the same room as my chiquitas!

La silla is a "pinche" mountain! ¡Jejeje!

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To Air Condition or Not To Air Condition

For some people there is no question. They must think us crazy for not having air conditioning in the summer. Generally, though, we rarely have heat waves that last longer than a few days, and usually the humidity is not too bad. We are normally able to cool our house down in the evenings by opening up all the windows. The basement stays cooler than the rest of the house as well. As a last resort, we could just lie down on the tiled floor.

This morning, however, I was wishing for AC in our home, if only to decrease the humidity. Currently, it is 32C outside and with the humidity it feels like 42C. Our house had heated up to 28C last night, and only cooled down to 26C this morning. Most of the people I met along my morning run at 7am said, "It is too hot to be running!" "Better now than in the afternoon." said I.

We are supposed to have cooler temperatures come Saturday, and if we open up the whole house, basement included, we should be able to get back to a reasonable temperature in our home. That will be up to my husband this week, as I am going away. Once we get back to having cooler evenings, we should be fine.

Our biggest problem with heating up our home is the westward facing patio doors in our bedroom. We have no trees blocking these doors, so in the summer we have light coming into the house from 3pm until 9pm. In the seven years we have lived in the house I have tried several types of black out curtains with varying success. Last year we put UV blocking film on the glass. It cut down on the heat, but we still have light getting in and that is what warms up the room, and then the house. I wanted to get an automatic blind on the outside which would prevent light from entering through the window. I suppose another option would be a gazebo on the deck.

In Europe, houses have shutters on the outside of the house which stop light, and heat from getting in. I am not sure why we have not adopted this practice in North America. Maybe it is aesthetics. Our friends had hidden shutters that would automatically roll down and block all light from entering. Seals the house up like a vault.

I often think about how my next house should be oriented with respect to home energy efficiencies. Which side of the house should have all the windows to maximize heat gain in the winter, but not in the summer? If we had a deciduous tree in front of our patio doors, it too would greatly reduce how hot our home would be. Alas, these are all things I know for my next home, whenever that happens.

For now, we are hiding in the basement, playing at the splash pad, taking advantage of friends with pools, or going to the lake. In a few days, a cold front will be coming through, and we will no longer be jonesing for air conditioning. Maybe we'll hang out at the mall tomorrow.

This is what we need. Northern Solar Screen. Now, are these available for Canadians?

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Jerk Pork Tenderloin, Pineapple Avocado Salsa and Barbecued Potatoes

I am working my way through the summer edition of Food and Drink. Yesterday, I decided to make Jamaican Jerk pork tenderloin, along with some pineapple avocado salsa. My kids ate the potatoes, which is a start. I even omitted the pepper from the jerk spice marinade so they could try the meat, but they decided to be vegetarian last night. Now, we have enough leftovers for the rest of the week. I need to start freezing stuff.

I had all the ingredients on hand for the jerk marinade except for the pepper, so it worked out well. Everything was chopped up in my mini food processor, starting with the onion, then the garlic, liquids and spices. The weird thing was, after the meat was cooked, the marinade did not taste like much. It has lots of ingredients, and many of them are quite strong, aromatically (garlic, cinnamon, all spice, nutmeg and ginger). Most of the flavour comes from smelling the spices prior to eating. Our brain works very hard during the act of tasting. To find out more, check out the CBC Radio One program called Think About It, the Neurogastronomy episode.

Anyway, the supper was fairly easy to make once the meat was marinading. The pineapple salsa called for chopping up a full pineapple, but you could reduce your work by using a peeled and cored pineapple if you choose. The salsa is supposed to sit for at least an hour prior to eating, and the meat should marinate at least four hours ahead. Both can be prepared the day ahead for even better flavour, so not a spur of the moment recipe.

Jerk Pork

2 pork tenderloins, trimmed of fat

1/2 large onion, coarsely chopped

3 large garlic cloves

Scant 1/4 cup each of vegetable oil, soy sauce, lime juice, and brown sugar

2 tbsp chopped fresh ginger

1 jalapeño pepper, thinly sliced with seeds

1 tbsp dried thyme

1/2 tbsp each ground cinnamon and allspice

1 tsp each ground nutmeg, craked black pepper and salt.

After trimming the fat and silver skins from the tenderloins, place the meat on a cutting board. Use a large fork to poke through the tenderloins. Make about 20 inserts throughout each tenderloin, ensuring that the fork goes through to the cutting board. Place the tenderloins in a large freezer bag or a shallow dish.

Put all the other ingredients in a food processor to make the marinade. Since I had a small chopper, I started with the onion, then garlic. I waited until the onion was chopped enough so there was room to add the remaining ingredients. Mix until everything is evenly ground.

Pour the marinade over the meat in the bag. Massage the marinade all over the meat. Remove as much of the air from the bag before sealing. Place the bag in a dish and let sit in the refrigerator for at least four hours, preferably 24 hours. If the meat is in a dish, cover the meat before putting it in the refrigerator. Turn the meat occasionally to distribute the marinade.

You can roast the pork on a foil lined baking sheet at 350F for 40 to 55 minutes. Alternately, you can wrap the tenderloins in foil and cook on the barbecue for 40 minutes. The internal temperature at the thickest part should read 155F. Remove the pork from heat and let sit for five minutes before cutting. You can serve it the next day, just wrap the whole tenderloin and refrigerate for up to one day.

Serve with Pineapple Avocado salsa.

Pineapple Avocado Salsa

1 fresh pineapple, peeled cored and chopped into bite sized pieces

1 large red or orange pepper, chopped

1/2 cup finely chopped red onion

Juice of two large limes

2 tbsp olive oil

1tbsp granulated sugar

1 tsp dried chili flakes or 1 to 2 tbsp finley chopped and seeded jalapeño pepper

1/2 tsp salt

2 ripe, but firm Haas avocados

1 cup chopped cilantro leaves

Mix together the diced pineapple, red pepper and red onion. In a separate bowl, mix together the dressing ingredients (everything but the avocados and cilantro). Pour over the pineapple mixture and set aside for at least one hour before serving, stirring occasionally.

Just before serving, drain off the liquid. Dice the avocado and stir into salsa along with the chopped ciltantro.

Barbecued Potatoes

It is up to you to determine how many potatoes you want to bake. You can use mini or regular sized potatoes. Slice them, but not all the way through, so they kind of look like an accordion. Top them with butter (or some oil/fat), spices (I used no salted added Montreal Steak Spice), and salt if needed. Wrap in foil, and cook on the barbecue.

Like I said, this meal requires marinating time, but once everything is "stewing" it comes together quickly. It is a very tasty meal, and the combination of spices is perfect for hot summer dining.

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