Truckapalooza, Kiwi, and the Bob Baker Marionette Theater

So when I said a lot has been going on, I guess I mostly meant for Sophie, she's had a lot of fun outings lately. She loves trucks right now - loves watching the garbage truck, loves hearing fire trucks and pointing out big trucks on the road, so I thought that she would love downtown Riverside's "Truckapalooza" with tons of big trucks and the opportunity to sit in them, interact with them, and meet the people who operate them.

Maybe it was too big, or too overwhelming, who knows, but while she seemed to like seeing them and looking, she didn't want to get too close or interact with them much. Oh well I guess! At least AJ and I got to start the morning with some great donuts.

It kinda looks like maybe she's
just grossed out by the cat...?

We got to wander around some of downtown Riverside and eat snacks, so the day wasn't a total loss.

In other news, we've had Kiwi for over a month now officially and he really seems to be getting comfortable and fitting right in... but maybe toooooo comfortable. He'll just claw right up you and make himself at home and still hasn't quite learned to control those razor sharp claws yet.

Once he got settled, I enjoyed working
with him on my shoulder

Khaleesi tolerates him quite a bit now!

Sophie still loves him, but she has
grown wary of his claws at times and
asks me to get him down. She loved this though!

Aaaaand here he is getting too comfortable.

We didn't want him to fall in and freak out and scratch
the hell out of Sophie, so we purposely dipped his paws
in so he could see what it was and then he scrambled away.
Crisis averted.

On my Nintendo Switch Animal Crossing island, he was so taken by the butterflies and was trying to chase them down and catch them, it was so cute!

The butterfly went offscreen and this
was him looking for it to see where
it went

It had been way too long since I had seen Jessica, and wanted to visit her in LA, and she found us a puppet show to attend at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater and IT. WAS. ADORABLE.

The theater has been around 50 years, it's it's own full scale little theater, the marionettes were all original ones and so vintage and beautiful and every scene used a different backdrop, curtain, lights. There was a live organist and the puppets would come out onto the floor and interact with those sitting there. It was so lovely!

At first, Sophie did not want to go inside (as is usual with her), but I pointed out all the other little kids there and she was a little intrigued, so she stopped whining, but she was still clinging to me. Once the show started, she was transfixed and I could tell how into it she was getting. I re-situated her on the front of my lap and she was just so into it. She was talking and laughing and giggling and counting the puppets and just seemed to have a great time. The best part was the tradition at the end of the show: everyone got ice cream! We'll definitely be back.

After the show there we went across the street to a great little playground where Sophie pretty much had the time of her life just going down the slide over and over and over and over and over.

We were in a cute little neighborhood with lots of shops and cafes so we took a walk and got some lunch at one that fortuitously ended up having a whole little kid section with toys and books so everything turned out pretty awesome in the end.

Montréal 2023

Man, a lot happened this past week! I never have much going on anymore, it's a challenge to think of something to write about and now there's too much. But I figure I'll just start with my (third!) trip to Montréal, which, although it was for work, Jayna was able to join me, and given the timing, it kind of felt like my birthday trip in the end (happy birthday to me yesterday!)

My first time in Montréal was when I was living in New York and spent Thanksgiving there, I believe it was 2011 (12 years ago!!) and then I went for work in September 2018 and had so much fun there with Chrishon, and now I get to add March 2023 with Jayna to the list, and man it was still deep winter up there.

I had my work fair on Saturday, but Jayna walked me over and helped me set up my booth LOL.

Action shot courtesy of Jayna

After the fair, we were walking back to the hotel and passed by their winter festival that was still going on. It was really cute! But I don't think I was used to all the cold and snow yet cause I couldn't believe how so many people were just okay hanging out outside here.

Little mini Stanley Cup hockey games!

We passed so many beautiful little interactive art installations and beautiful lights and decorations, and it really did help bring some joy to such a cold winter! Below was a huge stack of dominoes that would make musical notes as they fell down.

This "Giant Ring" is less than a year
old - it was installed at the end of spring 2022

These pretty colors sparked so much joy

Because it was my third time in Montréal (and it's really not the biggest city) I had suggested we take time to explore outside of it, and Jayna found us a great day trip to Quebec City that included visiting the only ice hotel in North America (that is rebuilt anew and different every winter). We were on the fence about the ice hotel but it kinda ended up being the best part! I will say that I have never had a desire to stay in a ice hotel, and after visiting - I loathe the idea even more!

This was actually a chapel, separate
from the hotel. I'm down to renew my
wedding vows here one day!

Chapel's altar

See the nice row of benches for the guests?

Reception at the ice hotel

My George Costanza

Jayna enjoying a "Lou-Lou" aka Shirley Temple

My favorite photo from the day

All the rooms had different themes!

My special suite! The ballet room!

One of the tables in the room

After the ice hotel, we went into Quebec City proper. It was beautiful. It's kinda small and touristy, but it's quite hilly, and it's surrounded by beautiful old city wall ramparts, and lots of darling shops and cafes and restaurants. I thought we might have a hard time filling our 4 hours but in the end we were rushing, but maybe because we had such a great time over our poutine lunch and entertainment from the staff.

They still have Christmas decorations up everywhere

Inside their Cathédrale Notre-Dame

Parliament! (Quebec City is the capital of the province)

After the city visit, we went to Montmorency Falls, which is the largest waterfall in something... maybe North America? LOL. It is longer than Niagara Falls, although Niagara Falls has a much larger width. It was really neat to see it under so much snow and ice, I don't see that often.

The St Laurence River frozen over

We got some time to explore the city and my God did we walk a lot! And don't get me started on St. Viateur's Bagels who ONLY TOOK CASH (did you know Montréal is known for their bagels, supposed to rival NYC!) but we got to see some really great neighborhoods in the process.

It was a rough trip home but all's well that ends well, and it was such a great getaway (even if it was for work), and a chance to see Jayna, and I always love being in the francophone. And hey, a really neat unexpected perk was the way being in an unseasonably cold California doesn't feel so cold anymore about 5 days in 20 and 30 degree weather.