Help me see the world!

I thought that I had seen a lot of the world, well I guess I've only seen 3% of all the world's countries. That is not many. I want to see 100%! Will you help me?

Table Hockey, Bears, Butterflies and Dog Math

Bonjour from Canada!

We have been having MORE awesome weather. Every morning I love looking at the super bright yellow pansies in the clay pots in the front garden when everything else is covered in frost.

Kate and I have been working on some projects together for school. It's really nice to have someone to giggle with while I'm getting school stuff done too. My favorite this past week was visiting Oliver and Jasper's house for the Pet Project. They were really good sports and let us measure their heights and lengths (we decided NOT to count the tail because Jasper's is really long and Olly's is stubby.

Then we went shopping at Costco to check out dog food prices for our report. Wow, their stores are really FUN. I got to ride a pony and play table HOCKEY which I am totally obsessed with now. I played on an official TEAM CANADA game and I scored goal after goal. It was so funny when one of my goal pucks went flying out of the goal net and across the aisles into a big plushy display in the toy section. I met Shrek when he helped me find the missing puck.

Then I saw this really SWEET pony and was able to have a ride, but not bring the pony home. Kate explained that there was no room in the van. I was a little sad but I got over it, when I learned I was going back to the Zoo because I'd hardly seen any of it really. So, this time we saw some beautiful butterflies, a burrowing owl, a great owl, an elk, a muskox, bighorn sheep babies, and oh, gosh, I got to ride a bear, and it was all just amazing.

Oh ya, and then Kate and I found this waaay cool microscope that was so powerful. I have to find out if it was a laser or an electron microscope, but anyway, it had all these cool slides related to the Canadian Wilderness area, like quills and plants and stuff. So, after we looked at those, we got kind of goofy, and I discovered I could fit under the microscope and it would show ME up on the big flat monitor on the wall. It was SO FUNNY so Kate's Mom took a picture of my smile so I could see it. We laughed and laughed. We were there for HOURS and we realized we were all really hungry so we had to leave.

And on the way out, guess who was there? MALTI came out again, and holy cow, she is growing so fast. She spotted me out of a huge crowd and came over and tickled us with her adorable little trunk. We LOVE Malti. On the way home we went to Mickey-D's for ice-cream and we decided we would go to the little greenhouse and pick out some pumpkins for the porch. I had to get Kate's dad to carry mine home for me though. If you want to see the rest of the pictures, here you go: http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2086835313&idx=0

Well, au revoir mes amis! J'taime

Violet

Hi from Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Hi everyone! I'm having a great time with Kate and her family. We have been really busy since I arrived, but its been so.much.fun. There are lots of sisters to play with at Kate's. There was quite a commotion when I arrived, and the girls were even a little spooked by my mysterious arrival, but we are all having such fun hanging out together. Nellie and I, especially, have become great buds.
Kate has been showing me around Calgary. The weather has been A.W.E.S.O.M.E. I know why they call it "big sky country" because you can see forever, and the sky is SO BLUE. We've had really summery weather. Yesterday we went to an historic park to buy tickets to an upcoming Halloween event. The park was deserted, so even in the daytime, it felt a little spooky. I spent a lot of time exploring the park and I found an old windmill overlooking the water. There were lots of beautiful sailboats out because it was SO SUNNY and warm. I just loved sitting in the grass and watching the boats float around on the blue blue water.

Today I met the cutest baby elephant EVER. See, that's her picture at the top. Her name is Malti. I also met a tiger cub and her mom, and some really amazing giraffes and a rather large snake. It was all very cool.

Kate and I are very busy planning a Halloween party. Its going to be on October 28th. We have been busy shopping for treats and putting costumes together. I'm quite excited. This week we are going to be decorating the house. We bought some of that white spiderwebby stuff and some fun fake spiders. Its going to be F.U.N.

Of course, we have to work on school stuff too, but even that will be fun because Kate and Nellie and Emily and Nicki and Jess and Kit and Small Kate and Marisol and I (phew) are all going to do school together. Kate is rather a mischievous one, and Emily too. I am hearing outrageous prank stories, one after the other. Glue in the hair, salt in the sugar bowl, the whole nine yards. These girls are pretty hilarious.

We planted a new tree tonight, as part of a municipal greening "neighbourwoods" program the City of Calgary is sponsoring. Kate and her family and I planted a hawthorne right out on the front garden. Kate called the new tree "Violetta" in my honour. Isn't that something?

Really miss you Mom, but as you might have guessed, I'm having a wonderful time in Canada. I met a lady today who has a Chatty Cathy! She was so nice.

Well, that's it for now. Over and out from the Great Big Blue Skies Over Alberta!
LOVE you,
Violet

P.S. Here are the links to all the albums so far:
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2086994423
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2086977826
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2086960207

Halloween last year

Today I'm leaving for Calgary to visit Kate! I can't wait. The post office guy said I should be there in eight days. Yeah right.... last time it took me 2.5 weeks to get to Canada! All the customs people wanted to visit with me first.

Anyway, since I'll be away from home for Halloween this year, I wanted to post what I did last year. I was visiting Hannah and Bren in Virgina, and had such a good time! I got there in time to go to Williamsburg and Jamestown with them, and then I spent Halloween at their house. It was so fun, even though I tricked Kit out of her Halloween costume! (Want to learn more? Check out my album here). I am so sneaky!

Here are a few photos from last year's Halloween, Williamsburg and Jamestown. I know this year will be just as fun in Canada!

Felicity, Kit and I decided to watch a scary Halloween movie.

Maybe it was too scary, we had to cover our eyes!

My Halloween costume of Little Red Ridding Hood was so pretty.

Or did I go as a Safari Guide? (you'll have to look at the album to find out!)

Here I am in fount of the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg. Here I am in front of the James River. I was right outside Historic Jamestown.