Hit the local waterpark!
Allan and the three older Ms -- Melissa (5), Michael (3), and Maddy (2) -- picked me up at the Skytrain station and we went directly to the new local waterpark in their neighbourhood. This place is great: water cannons, a ship, lots of fountains, sprayers in the shape of giant fish, a large area surrounded by lots of grass.
The kids just had a ball! Allan dropped me off and said the kiddies were not likely to last 90 minutes. Ah, famous last words. (In the end, I had to bribe them to leave. Then they got cranky with hunger, and I got a bit lost walking back to their house... those crazy cul-du-sacs!!)
A child ran off in every direction, and it was all I could do to keep an eye on the three of them, camera in hand. Maddy is the worst -- she won't care where we are, she'll just wander off in an oblivious state, not paying any attention to how far she's gone. She will take other kids' toys, balls, bottles, water guns -- whatever is left unattended is fair game. There was a birthday party off to one side of the waterpark, and I had to watch Maddy like a hawk to make sure she wouldn't make off with something that belonged to another child.
Funny thing is, whenever you try to scold her she puts on this big winsome grin... it's her way of saying "I'm so cute! How can you punish me??"
