Happy Birthday, Canada

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!

I know, it's a little late, but we at least celebrated it on the correct day. We had watermelon cake, sang 'O Canada', the kids learned about different animals that live in Canada, we colored canada themed pictures, ate maple syrup on pancakes (and invited our friend, Nico, to join us) and decorated the house in plenty of Canadian flags. I wish I had remembered to take pictures. The kids thought it was pretty cool that Canada has its' own song. We sure do love "our home and native land".

With the recent flooding in our home town (and many other areas throughout Alberta), we have really been filled with some serious home sickness. We wish so much that we could be there to help with clean up. Thankfully, there certainly does not seem to be any shortage of volunteers. Calgarians have really united to see their beautiful city be restored. It's been so exciting to hear from friends and read in the news all the incredible ways that people are helping out. I'm not usually an overtly patriotic person but...Calgarians rock. Canadians rock. And I am so honoured that we get to celebrate our Canadian roots.

Hope everyone had fun celebrating!

Canada Day

Now, I know Canada day was nearly two months ago but when I saw Atticus proudly sporting his Canada t-shirt (part of a lovely shipment from Great Grandma and Grandpa Hochstein :). I decided it was time to get a couple photos up about the celebration.

Seeing that Canada fell on Sunday this year, we kept things pretty relaxed and had planned a picnic in the park with lots and lots of watermelon (and seed spitting). The rain, however, seemed determined to spoil our plans so it our plans were destined for the indoors. 

So we colored Canadian flags, made pin wheels with the maple leaf on it, tried our best to teach the kids the national anthem (in English and French) and then gave singing it a go. Our success rate for retention of O Canada words was pretty low, but we weren't too concerned about that as both kids were pretty ecstatic about everything anyway. 

Then we sat down for our "picnic" dinner. Naturally, I got picture of everyone with their mouths full. It makes for very flattering pictures, I assure you.

For dessert we served up Nanaimo Bars - easily a Canadian original. However, determined to try a healthier (and vegan) version of the butter-dense dessert we attempted a raw Nanaimo bar recipe and that was not a very wise choice.

It certainly looked great. The crust, made of nuts, shredded coconut, coconut oil and cocoa was delicious. The topping made of cocoa, agave, and coconut butter was divine. The filling made of agave, avocado and fresh mint, however, was awful! Personally, I could not finish my square.

The boys didn't seem to have a problem finishing their helpings, though we still had plenty left over as no one ate a second helping (we still have some in our freezer and I nearly died when Jason offered it to a guest he had over while I was at class one evening - poor guy, probably thought we were tricking him by offering him a Nanaimo Bar and then serving him that.).

In any case, at least we can say we tried the recipe and next time we know better. Treat yourself to the original or find a recipe with reviews! And even if the dessert was a little funky, we enjoyed celebrating Canada's birthday. It is one incredibly beautiful country with some incredibly awesome people living there. Happy Canada Day!