Kidding Around Vancouver Island

After taking pottery classes as a family, our girls have become pottery fiends and recently at a gift shop they fell in love with some very fun pieces. The shop owner told us they were by a well known artist named Heather Goldminc and it turns out we pass by her studio every day and [...]

If you’re looking for a great gift that’s useful and helps give to others, then you should consider buying a stainless steel water bottle that supports the Ryan’s Well Foundation. These commercial food-grade stainless steel bottles are the brainchild of a couple of Nanaimo moms. Cathy Aniceto and Michelle Bigg started their Bottles for Wells [...]

Christmas craft season has been in full swing here on the Island for a while now and just the other day the four of us were off to visit the Kris Kringle Craft Market in Qualicum Beach. When I say the “four of us” that means my mum was substituting for George, who often finds [...]

I love Save-On-Foods – the one at Woodgrove Centre mostly – it has the best in-store music – more 80′s and that makes shopping more enjoyable. Well, today, Ella Rose and I were doing the grocery store wander and headed down the book aisle. I love that aisle! Out of the corner of her eye, [...]

Having traditions is very important for kids – even if they don’t always recognize it until later in life – and one of our traditions is to attend a pantomime each Christmas. A pantomime is a tradition in British theatre dating back to the middle ages – something between a music hall production and Italian [...]

If you haven’t had a chance to introduce your children to the magic of live theatre, there’s no better time than the Christmas season. Most theatre companies have something for families at this time of year and a set of theatre tickets makes a great Christmas gift. Both of our kids attended their first live [...]

We were at the store the other day buying yet another pack of double-A batteries. If we kept track of how many batteries we buy these days…hmmm, batteries or a Mexican vacation? It doesn’t bear thinking about. We managed to put a little dent in the battery budget recently by getting the kids a pair [...]

There are two things I’m not much good at: painting pictures and cleaning up after my kids have been painting pictures. However, I am good at googling, so I set out to find an art class for the children. They’ve been having a ball at the 4 Cats Arts Academy, which holds classes in Courtenay, [...]