Holiday Activities Advent Calendar

Counting down to Christmas with an activities Advent calendar

It's December 1st & I'm officially starting the Christmas season in our household. Though, truth be told, we've already been to several Christmas events like the East Van Panto, a couple of Holiday parties, & visiting Santa.

I love doing a Christmas countdown with the kids, & Oliver grew up with the tradition of the Advent calendar, so we're continuing the tradition in our own way. This year is a combination of things we've done in the past. Using the giant tree-shaped felt board with a set of numbered felt ornaments that I made a few years ago, plus some small gift bags I got at Ikea, we're doing an activities countdown calendar.

The giant felt tree Advent Calendar

I made up a list of holiday-themed special events & simple activities to do with the family, then created a set of cards with clipart images to go with each. Each day, the kids will get to take the number off the calendar, put it on the felt board tree, & read what the special activity is for the day. Some days it's extra special outings, like today, when we biked over to the Vancouver Aquarium to see all the critters, plus Scuba Claus & Rudolph 4D. Other days it's going to be easy things at home, like making paper snowflakes.

While this whole activities calendar thing seems like a lot of work, it's actually very affordable & great for slacker parents--hear me out! There was a bit of prep getting the bags & hanging them up (I used rick-rack & mini clothespegs to attach them) but you can easily use envelopes, brown lunch bags, paper clips, regular clothes pegs--whatever you've got around, or can find in a quick trip to the dollar or grocery store. The secret here is that you don't need to plan out the entire month in advance. As long as the bags/envelopes are opaque, the kids won't know that you're deciding the night before what the activities are going to be. You could even print or hand write them as you go.

Saying hi to Scuba Claus at the Vancouver Aquarium

There are some great variations on this too--one of my Facebook friends is doing fitness activities with her family each day, & Jen of Mama.Papa.Bubba has a sweet Kindness Calendar version (with free printables). & if you want to go the more usual route with chocolate--it's easy to pop one or two of those in the bags as well.

Follow our holiday adventures on Instagram with the hashtag #activitiesadventcalendar

Have you done a countdown calendar like this? How did you do yours? Let me know in the comments! 

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Divers Weekend & Hawaiian Musical at Vancouver Aquarium

Have you been to the Vancouver Aquarium lately? It's a great place to go on a cold rainy January day--nice & warm with lots to do. Here are some interesting upcoming events at the Vancouver Aquarium this month:

Image via Vancouver Aquarium

Divers’ Weekend - January 17 and 18, 2015
Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre is hosting its 16th annual Divers’ Weekend featuring compelling diving demonstrations, seminars and exhibits as well as fun activities for kids. Certified divers receive 50 per cent off admission or 10 per cent off Aquarium membership. For more information about events, go to www.vanaqua.org.

Honu by the Sea - Original Hawaiian Musical - January 24 and 25, 2015
Experience Hawaii in your own back yard on January 24 and 25 at Vancouver Aquarium. Enjoy a special presentation of Honu by the Sea, an original Hawaiian musical that takes you on a journey with Kainoa, a Waikiki Beach Boy, as he meets Malia, the Honu and her amazing ocean friends. With colourful costumes, lively songs, and an all-Hawaiian cast, the show delights and inspires audiences to better care for the ocean. For show times and schedules, go to www.vanaqua.org.

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Shades of Grey: Uncovering The Hidden Complexities Of The Lives Of Harbour Porpoises

Daisy the harbour porpoise. Photo via Vancouver Aquarium

You've most likely been to the Vancouver Aquarium, roamed the halls peering at fish, marine mammals, birds, frogs & all the other amazing creatures that live under their roof. But have you ever wanted to know more about these beautiful animals?

The Vancouver Aquarium has regular public lectures about many different topics. The next one, on November 13, is all about harbour porpoises.
Though they're common & live in the ocean right around Vancouver, harbour porpoises are shy animals that you rarely see. Except at the Vancouver Aquarium: the two most recent cetaceans to join the Vancouver Aquarium are harbour porpoises Jack & Daisy. Both were rescued at very young ages & though they were brought back to health with round the clock care, the Department of Fisheries & Oceans deemed both unreleasable.

Harbour porpoise in the wild. Photo via Vancouver Aquarium

This lecture is a great opportunity to learn more about the hidden lives of our little cetacean neighbours. Dr. Anna Hall will present an overview of what we know about harbour porpoises based on observations & documentation from the mid-1800’s to today. Dr. Hall will also present some of the latest findings from research on the foraging & breeding behaviours of harbour porpoises in BC. She'll finish her talk with a discussion on the conservation status of harbour porpoises, threats & actions we need to take to protect this highly intelligent but largely overlooked species.

Thursday, November 13, 2014, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.

Doors open at 6 p.m.

Vancouver Aquarium

$10 non-members or $8 members

Buy Tickets

If you'd really like to hear the talk but can't make it to the aquarium, you can watch LIVE on the Aquarium's YouTube channel, or later on when you have the time. 

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Have you seen the new, improved Vancouver Aquarium yet?

Don't forget to bring your water bottle to the Aquarium! 

If you haven't been to the Aquarium this summer, you should go check out their new expansion. I got a tour of the facility in July & I can tell you, there's a lot to see.

The new building is more sustainable (built to LEED Silver standards) & now double the size, with a cleaner, more modern feel to it. You'll see it right at the new entrance, in the gift shop, the gorgeous new cafe with a large patio area, & a two-level atrium space featuring a huge globe upstairs & tons of space for events downstairs.

More importantly, several of the animal habitats are improved, including the Bat Cave & the Tropics area.

A glimpse of the new coral exhibit

Inspiring future veterinarians at the new Clownfish Cove

I won't show you too many photos of the new renovations--you should go see it for yourself! Before you go, or if you can't make it, please check out the page all about Chester, the recently rescued baby false killer whale. He's improving--now swimming on his own without the aid of a flotation sling--but he still needs 24-hour care at the Marine Mammal Rescue facility. You can read his story here. Your donations help with this important rescue & rehabilitation work. More information including a link to donate online can be found on the Marine Mammal Rescue Centre webpage.

Another way to support the aquarium is to buy a membership for yourself or your family. They make great gifts for kids (remember, Christmas is only four months away!) because they don't clutter up the playroom with another toy. Probably the best thing about having a membership to a place like this is so you can go for a short visit without having to worry about "getting your money's worth" in one epic day. Go for an hour just to see the frogs & snakes, then go watch the belugas from the Arctic Gallery on your next visit. Your kids can spend the next trip in the new, improved Clownfish Cove, playing marine mammal veterinarian. Membership benefits are many (Skip the line! Member-only events! 20% off at the cafe & gift shops, AquaCamps, Animal Encounters, sleepovers, & birthday parties too!)

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Stellar Sea Lion Disentanglement & Rescue

I'm sure you're aware of the risk of plastic garbage like six-pack rings getting caught around the necks of birds & fish. Did you know that larger marine mammals like sea lions are at risk of entanglement from plastic garbage too? Fishing nets & plastic packing straps like you'd see around boxes or stacks of newsprint get caught around the necks of animals, eventually cutting into flesh & causing infection.

Until very recently, disentangling these poor animals was all but impossible. The veterinary staff at the Vancouver Aquarium have developed a technique & discovered a combination of anaesthetic drugs that effectively sedate animals safely so they can be freed from the garbage that was slowly killing them. Watching video footage of these rescues brings tears to my eyes, I can't imagine the incredible pain the animals must be in, given the horrible wounds they suffer from marine debris entanglement.

Photo Credit: Skunkworks Photographic via Compfight cc

I've written about the sea lion disentanglements before, but it was only this week that I learned the details of how Dr. Haulena & the other Aquarium staff have learned how to carry out these amazing rescues. Saving these animals in the wild could not have happened without the help of one particular Vancouver Aquarium resident. Tag was a Steller sea lion who lived at the aquarium for nearly all his 15 years. He was part of the ongoing research into why more than 80% of the Steller sea lion population has disappeared since 1980. Tag developed cancer in his old age & the veterinary team there performed surgery as well as administering chemotherapy. These interventions required anaesthesia multiple times & it was through this experience with Tag that Dr. Martin Haulena & his team developed a protocol for safely sedating these massive beasts.

It's not just Tag that has contributed to important research. All the captive marine mammals at the Vancouver Aquarium are providing extremely valuable opportunities for us to learn how to conserve wild populations. The researchers at the aquarium are looking at things like how dolphins use echolocation so we can hopefully prevent their future entanglements in fishing nets; collecting data on Steller sea lions diving & feeding habits in the wild, in an effort to determine why their populations are crashing; developing rescue techniques for animals we weren't able to rehabilitate & release before, like harbour porpoises; & much more. You can find a more exhaustive list of research areas at the Vancouver Aquarium here.

If you're interested in more details about the sea lion disentanglement excursions & the protocol for sedating them in the wild, the Vancouver Aquarium recently posted a video of a presentation by Dr. Haulena & marine mammal researcher Wendy Szaniszlo. Rescuing Sea Lions - Notes from the Field is what inspired me to write this post. 

You can also read more about Steller sea lions on the Aquafacts Page.

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Why does the Vancouver Aquarium keep cetaceans in captivity?

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