5 Great Places to Have a Birthday Party in Abbotsford

I am spending a lot of time trying to find a great birthday party place for my daughter this year. After a while I think I should just share all my hard work with my readers. This might help you make decision and save time. :)

1. Fraser Valley Trout Hatchery
Our family loves fishing. This is the first place that came to my mind. The PRICE is at $200 for up to 15 children. It is available year round.
•2.5 hours
•A guided tour of the hatchery
•Hands-on fishing instruction at their stocked ponds which I believe you probably will catch fish for sure.
•All the tackle and equipment you’ll need
•Fishing rod gift for the birthday child (FREE)
•Decorated party room
•They provide cups, plates, cutlery, napkins, and fishing equipment (bbq available)
•Please provide your own food, cake and candles
For more information: 604-504-4716

2. PRC Abbotsford
This can be a Swimming Party, skating Parties or Specialty Parties. Cost is between $99-160.
All parties include:
* A Party host * Balloon bouquet (balloon for each child) * Tableware (cups, plates, napkins and forks) per child
Three easy ways to book your party!
Look and book online by clicking on the facility name below your party choice or call the Party Hotline at 604-864-5517 or visit a PRC facility to book your birthday party.

3. Maan Farm
Farm and animals are always fun.
Farm Birthdays Include:
Attractions
* Visit the farm animals – Chickens, goats, rabbits, turkeys, ducks, peacocks, fancy pigeons, pigs, long horn rams, and sheep. * Play in The Fun Farm Yard play area – Tube slides, Giant wooden slide & giant sandbox, * Huge wooden play fort – Tire swings, swings and many small fort high houses and walk ways, high look outs etc. * Pedal go-carts with race track * Giant Inflatable Bubble Jump * Farm Tricycles. * Zip line (160 feet long) * Adults are welcome at no extra charge (2 max per child)
Private Party tent area: Exclusive for your use, in the center of all the action/attractions
Lunch: Hotdog or grill cheese, drink and carrots.
Cost+Offerings:
FARMtastic Party $160: (April 1st to July 31st)
FARMtastic party includes all the above farm offerings. Cost $160 for up to 8 Children and $13 for each additional guest.
A-maz-ing Party $195: (August 1st to October 31st)
A-maze-ing party includes Farmtastic party package plus seasonal day time Corn Maze and Pumpkin patch admission. Cost $195 for up to 8 Children and $15.00 for each additional guest.
FREE Invitations: If you would like to get started with your invitations today, here are some great free online resources – Smilebox, GreetingsIsland, & HLoom.

4. Play Abby
This is great indoor party. The kids will have a lot of fun running around. The price start from $125 - 340 depends on where do you want to host a party. If it is a private room, it would be more expensive.
Package includes playground admission, party gift, table settings & tablecloths in preferred colour and after party.

5. Castle Fun Park
There are 3 packages to choose from, Ultimate Party Package ($24.50 per Person (tax included)),Deluxe Party Package ($19.50 per Person (tax included)),Classic Party (Package$12.50 per Person (tax included)). All Party packages include

* A party host or hostess to serve and clean up after your party guests
* A reserved table for 1 1/2 hours in our party room set with everything you need
* Complimentary Coffee / Tea for all party parents
* Animated stage show that sings Happy Birthday and various other songs
* Storage area for presents and cake
* A special helium balloon for the Birthday Child

Have you ever hosted a party at one of these places? How was it? Or do you know any other great place?

Another camp out with best friends

Water front property, playing on the beach, eating sea food. Who wouldn't like it? A few years ago, we found this spot from searching through Google earth and it become one of our favorite spot to camp. If you would like to read my post about this camping spot from a few years ago, you can follow this link : May long weekend annual campout .

 

 This is the view from our tents this year.

Every year during the month of May, we have to go camping with our close friends and family. It become a traditional for us. We love the outdoor and the adventure. My daughter was so excited for this camping trip too! In fact, both of my kids were sleeping in their sleeping bag for a week before we went camping.

As usual, we hiked in but this time we have to hike a few times since we have 2 children who we still have to carry loads for them. We found the landscape changed a little bit but it wasn't too bad.

 Nice trail, if there was a trail lol

 Another one of the beaver dam we walked over

 Nice little dip in the tree to take a nap haha

 Some bear sure lightened his load!!

 Toy that grandpa made for her on the beach. 

 That show how close the water came up. Just a bit too close for comfort! lol

  Smores of course!

 

It was a lot of fun. I love being with nature and love that my children love it as well. Summer did a great job hiking in. She wants to be an explorer! How cool is that.

What did you do on Dr. Seuss Day?

I didn't grow up with Dr. Seuss. We don't have his books translated in Thailand when I was young. On the other hand, both of my kids read his books. We have quite a few of his books at home. His books are fun to read. I have a lot of fun reading green eggs and ham to my daughter. We have a specific way to read too. If I don't read the same way, she will say "No, mommy. You have to read it like this. ...." I think I pretty much remember the whole book by now. 

Hallmark sent us a very cute Thing 1 and Thing 2 itty bittys® plush toys to help us celebrate the day. They both are really cute and very soft. My daughter grab the book and show me Thing 1 and Thing 2 on there. She was pretty excited about it.

What did you do on Dr. Seuss day?

*Disclosure - I am apart of Hallmark Press Pause Panel. The product in this review was provided to me free of charge for the purpose of conducting this review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and are not influenced by monetary compensation. #LoveHallmarkCA

Down Syndrome muttering: After many more natural path doctors visits #DownSyndromeLove #DownSyndrome

Since I mentioned about Elias starting solid food last, I have tried so many more suggestions from another DS moms and came up with my own experiments.

Elias is 14 months now. He is finally can SIT!!! Yeah!! Not only that, he can roll too! I am so proud of him and love seeing him roll around the house. When I visited my in-laws, I love showing of him rolling around. Many moms at Strong Start also commented that he moves quite fast now.

I am not sure that all this is because of our crazy visited with natural path doctors. To start with, I am quite frustrated with Elias' congestion since the last September. I believe that it links to his ears problem. One of DS mom told me that her son had the same problem but since they took him to nature path doctor, they never had to get the surgery. So we had an appointment with a pharmacist in Abbotsford who our friend recommended that his prescripts work really good within 2 weeks! It is different when we visited him and he asked to see my hands and my tongue. Then he can tell, which part of my body that I am having problems with. Same way with checking Elias. But he referred us to a herbalist in Richmond since Elias is still very young. He said that a herbalist's medicine will work even faster than his pills.

So off we go to see him. At first, we have to go see him every 3 days. It is quite a drive for every 3 days for us. Again, he asked to see our tongue and check our pulse. It is amazing how much he can tell only checking our pulse! He mixed about 20 herbs for Elias (in powder form) and I give it to him twice a day.

After one month, he can sit and can roll. I am not sure if it is because of the herbs or because it is about time for him to be able to do all these. But I still want to keep trying. We want the best for him. But none of this get rid of his congested!!!

So this last week, we got a chance to see our natural path that we used to visit regularly. I took Elias in and the result turn out that he should avoid wheat, gluten and dairy. This mean I cannot eat it too since I still nurse him. Not to mention that he has intolerance with chocolate, corn, vinegar, rice and tuna. It is very difficult to find any food for me to eat. I have tried Gluten free bread but they either contain corn starch or rice flour. The more I cannot eat, the more I crave for them.

After 1 week, I think it worth all these trouble. Elias hardly congested!! Seriously, I cannot believe it. He got better super fast, after he had it since September last year! I am hoping that we will not need ear surgery and he will be able to drain liquid in the inner ears off himself!

To be continue.....

Do you know that Mung Beans is one of the Superfoods?

Mung Bean or Vigna radiata (L.) R. Wilcz., in FABACEAE family, is one of the common food that I grew up with. It is super cheap but the benefits are super! I found it in Asian aisle at Super store.

Coming from Thailand, we use them as dessert. I know, many of you probably says I am weird. But that is how I grew up. You don't have to use them for dessert like me but you can add them to your soup recipe or your rice!

Here are the health benefits:

• High in Potassium
• Anti Cancer
• Give energy, improve immunity
• High in Magnesium
• Help lower blood pressure
• Help to increase appetite
• Reduce cholesterol levels
• Help weight control
• Reduces the risk of heart disease
• High in Iron
• Reduces blood sugar levels and diabetes
• High in Calcium and Phosphorus
• Help prevent and treat osteoporosis
• Stimulates nervous system
• Treat hang over
• mumps treatment
• High in fiber
• High in Vitamin B2
• Heal inflammatory bowel
• Heal nephritis
• Heal rash
• Heal Rheumatology
• Heal ulcer
• Heal diarrhea
• Heal ascites
• High in Vitamin B1
• High in Folic
• many more!

I am back finally.

Many of you might wonder where did I go during the last month. We took our son, Elias to visit my family in Thailand. It was great to see my family again but the trip was tiring this time. Did I mention that my mom fell and we have to bring her to the hospital? She still couldn't walk when we left. Elias also stayed at the hospital for 3 days since we got bronchitis, influenza and pneumonia.

But anyway, we are back! I am working on the backlog and will have everything up as soon as I can. :)

Down Syndrome muttering: Starting solid with Elias #DownSyndrome

 
I was scared to start solid food with Elias. I have heard many parents told me that he can choke because of his muscle tone, plus he cannot sit yet. So I waited until he is 7 months old.

His first meal, I tried banana because that was what we had. After that I introduced him pears. I had been giving him only those 2 fruits for not long then it started.

Elias was in such a big trouble when he wants to do number 2. He was in pain and cried every time. His dietician recommended me to give him some prune juice about a tbs or 2 which I did but it didn't work. He was still in such a great pain.

One of my friend who has a 2 years old DS boy recommended me to try NutraCleanse. I haven't had a chance to get it yet.

My sister-in-law babysat him last week and gave him a whole jar of prune baby food. I didn't expect him to be able to eat that much but it WORKED! It was such a relief.

I talked to his pediatrician. She recommended me to try giving him different type of food. I have to try to find what works what is not with him. We want to hold back any type of medicine as much as we can. I will definitely use prune. It only thing that I am worrying is he has to eat quite a bit to be able to go. That means, I cannot give him anything else to eat.

So far, I found that if he has 1 jar a day, it seems to be ok. The other 2 meals, I can try to give him something else.

I hope this will fade away and he will be able to go easily. I know that constipated can be part of being a Down Syndrome symptom. Hopefully he won't have it forever.

Halloween Rice Krispies treat ideas with Kellogg's #RiceKrispiesHalloween

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products from Kellogg's mentioned for free in hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. I received no financial compensation for writing my review. This is my completely honest opinion and may be different from yours

Rice Krispies recipes is a fun and easy edible activities to do with your kids. I am still learning and love spending time teaching my kiddos everyday life skills. Plus we had a lot of fun together. Daddy got benefit to come home with yummy treats at the end of the day too! Everybody win!

Kellogg's Rice Krispies and Rice Krispies Canada Youtube have many fun recipe ideas on their website. If you are looking for something to do with your kids on the raining day, like what we have here in BC, you might want to check them out.


I received Kellogg's Rice Krispies and decorating kit from Kellogg's and was invited to share some ideas with my readers. We made Butterscotch pops Rice Krispies. Here's recipe I made:

Ingredients:
1/4 cup of butter or margarine (I used butter)
4 cups of marshmallows
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
1/4 cup of butterscotch flavour instant pudding mix
6 cups of Kellogg's Rice Krispies cereal

Directions
1. Melt butter over low heat. Make sure you use a big saucepan for adding 6 cups of Kellogg's Rice Krispies later on.

2. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted.

 
3. Remove from heat and stir in pudding mix.

 
4. Add Kellogg's Rice Krispies cereal. Stir until well coated.

 
5. Using buttered spatular or wax paper evenly press mixture into 13x9x2-inch pan coated with cooking spray.

6. Let it cool.

7. Cut it with cookie cutters.

8. Decorate, insert lollipop sticks and EAT!

We ate it all within half a day. It is really yummy!

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#Noah's Ark #birthday #cake. Isn't it cute?

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The Noah's ark made from Rice Krispies too! Isn't it cute! I just have to share. I can't take credit for this one since my sister-in-law made this with her sister.

Elias after 2 months of his heart surgery #DownSyndrome

It has been about 2 months since Elias' surgery. He is getting stronger and stronger every week. We have been visited by physio therapist  every 2 weeks. Every time she came to visit, she will see that Elias is improving a lot.

Even though he is 6 months right now, but his development is at about 3 months old baby. About 2 -3 weeks after the surgery, Elias started to lift up his head while he is on his tummy. We were super excited to see that, a lot of cheers and noises for him.

The next 2 weeks, he can lift up his head even higher and longer. And right now, every time I put him on his tummy, he will just lift up his head to look around. This is amazing!

Because if the surgery, we can't pick him up under his arms. It is very difficult and awkward to pick him up. Just this last week, I still have to scoop him up but I can tell, he is stronger. It is easier to pick him up even though, I still have to scoop him.

We are trying to teach him to sit at this moment. I usually will put him in front of me and have toys in front of him. Our physio therapist recommended us to try to put both of his hands on his legs and press on them so that he might learn that he can rest and use his arms to help him to sit. Just yesterday, I think he can do it for a few second now! Woohooo!! Today, I tried again and I think he can sit by himself a bit longer than yesterday. His balance still not really good though. He swing to the left and right when he is sitting. ha ha ha.

Elias' #heart surgery #Down Syndrome

I have been busy in the last 2 weeks. Today, I actually feel like do nothing at all. I am so tired even though I didn't run a marathon.

Elias went for his heart surgery on July 30th, 2014. We were fortunate to be able to stay at the new Ronald McDonald house in Vancouver. We went in to Vancouver on July 29th, a day before his surgery. His appointment is at 7.30 in the morning. Somebody recommended us to go in a day before because it is very early in the morning. We are glad, we did that.

 

Elias was sleeping on that morning of the surgery. We have to wake him up and walk to the hospital.

We went to surgery daycare clinic for our appointment. Wait there for about 30 minutes until they called Elias' name. One of the nurse came and gave him some type of drug that make him fell asleep within 10 minutes. This drug put him to sleep so that they can give him IV and insert Anesthesia for him.

I am glad that the nurse took him from the bed instead of I handing him over to the nurses and doctors. They gave us pager so that they can contact us when the surgery is done or if they want us to go in immediately.

 

Gotta love how big this is. ha ha ha

They asked of we want to stay at the waiting room and they will keep us inform through out the process but we think we will get crazy so we chose to go out instead.

We went out after that, trying to keep ourselves busy. I was hoping that we will be able to see some booths on English Bay for fireworks. We took Sky Train to Burrard street and walked from there. I found out that the booths don't set up before noon. We left there around 1 pm and some booths just started the set up.

It was quite a walk on that day. We were so tired but good work out for both of us.
 
Around 11.45 am, they paged us. We are not sure how to use it and ended up page ourselves. (Our brainless day. We call the number on our pager and paged ourselves.) We called in to the hospital and finally got a hold of the surgery nurse that told us that we probably just paged ourselves.

We got the news that the surgery went really well. Elias got moved to ICU after that.

We came back around 2.30 pm and went in to ICU to see Elias. He had a lot of wires and machine hooked up with him. He is on temporary pace maker to help his heart to beat normal.

We got to talk to Dr. Campbell about 5 pm. He said that Elias' heart had bigger holes than he thought. His valve is also now split up into 2 valves but the way his valve was working is a surprise to him too. Dr. Campbell said it worked like parachute shape. From my understanding, the valves should move downwards instead of upwards like what Elias had. This is something that we have to keep an eye on, just to make sure that everything will be ok with him.

Long story short, Elias was in ICU for 6 days. Usually, babies and kids stay in ICU for about 1 or 2-3 days. Elias' heart didn't work properly by itself. Eventually, they tried to set pace maker to the different range and keep trying and decreasing some drugs for him. On the 5th day, they only set his pace maker just for the back up and let his heart work by itself.

He made it! What a relief....whew...he got moved upstairs on day 7th. I have to confess that I am glad we stayed there only 1 night! The room, specially the bed was horrible. One of the nurse recommended me to put mattress on the floor instead. It was that bad. (Specially after we were spoiled by the very nice and comfortable from staying at Ronald McDonald house.)

Here are some pictures from the new RMDH Vancouver.