Movie Stars

Movie stars you ask?

Ok, it's like this, Vancouver is known as the Hollywood of the North and many movies are made in and around the city. A friend of our suggested we get the girls as they are identical, enrolled with a agency as we might pick up some movie extra or advertising stuff given they look for identical twins as it makes filming easier. So we did, and we got an audition for a TV part but they were not the right fit. Next came a movie audition for a part in a film called "Ramona and Beezus". Turns out they got the job and so started our first experience with a major feature film production.

Technically they were called "extras" but the part they were playing was the baby sister of Ramona and Beezus little Roberta. As such we were on set for 21 days in a 42 day shoot and got to see a lot of what was involved in such an enterprise. For you film buffs, the cast included Bridget Moynahan (Roberta's stage mum), Ginnifer Goodwin, John Corbett (dad), Sandra Oh and Josh Duhamel. Joey King (age 10) played Ramona and blew us away with her acting ability while Selena Gomez (Wizarads of Waverly Place) was a great and very helpfull older sister.

They girls had their own dressing room when we were on location which was very cool, well for mum and dad anyway and they ate like little queens every lunch hour!

The filming certainly had it's moments, many which brought tears to our eyes as the girls looked so cute and were so well behaved and other times when it was late and we were all tired which was a test of endurance for all. In retrospect it was a fantastic experience, and they crew and actors were great with the girls. We managed to put all the money the earned in a trust fund for their future education and come next spring they will have a movie they can watch and keep, with them as little cute babies.

Would we do it again?

Possibly, but I doubt we would ever get lucky enough to work with such a great team of people.

Britain

Travelling with two young babies to Japan was just not enough for us! My mums 70 birthday and my sisters 40th had us all on a long hall flight to the UK. The girls, now seasoned intercontinental travellers took the flight in their stride despite being ill the day we left and after about 20 hours on the road we arrived in the Lake District for a pint at the local pub. We had a great time in the lakes but unfortunately passed on the girls bugs (sorry) and then headed for the big family party.

The party was great fun and the girls met all the extended family and were little angels having adjusted to the time difference. They also got to meet their cousins who as you can see found them a bit of a handful!

After the party, we left in heavy snowfall (I thought we had left that at home) and headed North to Edinburgh for some quiet time before the long, long trip back home.

First Christmas

Christmas was a relatively quiet affair with the Nicol clan over for the classic turkey diner after a fairly hilarious present opening session with the girls, whom like all young kids, preferred to play with the boxes, bags and paper than any toys or other gifts. They were very cute and will be even more so once they grow into some of their new clothes.




Happy New Year!

The year ended with us in our North Vancouver house virtually trapped by over 1.4m of snow! In fact there is still snow on the ground and we have not seen our garden for over a month now. Makes getting round with the girls and their stroller kind on interesting. They seem only mildly interested in the cold stuff, perhaps a bit young yet for those snowboarding lessons.

Japan

So whose idea was it to take the girls to Japan and why! Perhaps we liked the idea of exposing 350 people to the little bundles of joy for 10 hours on the flight, or a macabre interest in what jet lag does to 8 month old little ones, or perhaps how easy it is (or isn't) to travel for 48 hours across the world and cultures with 25lbs of baby strapped to your chest. In fact all of these turned out to be surprisingly non events. They had fun on the flight although did not sleep, and we lucked out on an getting an extra seat. No problems on the travel front either with everyone including the girls happy for most of our travel time including a one night stay in Tokyo. They then switched immediately to Japan time and slept 12 hours a night except for brief periods of snuffling due to colds picked up on the way.

Some brief highlights of our trip included taking the girls to a swank cafe in a high end department store in Tokyo where the entire staff fell in love with them and on our return trip just about stopped service as a result of our brief second visit. Several lunches in very Japanese restaurants where sitting on the floor at traditional low tables made taking care of the girls a joy. Walking in the CW Nicol Afan woodlan trust in crisp autumn weather, spotting a wild monkey in a tree by the pig field opposite our accommodation in Kurohime, and listening to Zanti's attempts at pig ranching! Eating some of the best apples I have ever tasted, which the girls enjoyed also. Miwako had fun with the girls at their first Japanese hot bath, and we all enjoyed eating excellent Japanese Italian food afterwards. We alos enjoyed a concert piano rendition for Aila and Zanti followed by the girls playing piano for the first time. Last but certainly no least we enjoyed hanging out in this lovely rural area of Japan with Nic, Miwako's dad. Spoilt we most certainly were and did we pay for it when we got back .......... oh yes!



Now I know what jet lag and 8 month olds have in common.. ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Solids!

Hi all

So we have moved on to solid food and so now it is feeding time at the zoo, twice daily. So far so good in that both Aila and Zanti will eat just about anything we throw at them, or rather, they throw at themselves! So far so good, when do they start to get fussy I wonder? As you can see from the pics, the both like to hold their spoons and this results in food being spread around a bit (in Zanti's case, or allot in Aila's) on the table, faces, hands, floor, even us if we get too close.

Aila now has her first tooth which came in a week ago and it feels like Zanti will have one soon, so I guess they will be weened in the next month or so to save mum some considerable discomfort. So we also introduced sippy cups, which actually acts as a pre bath time shower but they love trying to sue them and do actually get some fluids where they are meant to go.

Both girls have stopped packing on the pounds and at 7 month now weigh about 20lbs which while big for twins is not so far from allot of singletons. They are chatty chappies always giggling and talking to each other which seems to be more interesting than taking naps, which we now have to fight to get them to take. But, the naps are worth pushing as they then don't become overtired and as a result generally sleep through the night from 7pm to 5 or 6am. This just about saves us from going crazy as while adorable, they are full on and the most exhausting challenge I think we have ever taken on.

Old Nics Visit

Hi all

This months update is largely to do with our time spend in Port Hardy with Nic, Miwako's dad or "grumpy" to the girls. Nic came over from Japan to spend some time with our little ones and we all went up to our house on North Vancouver Island to hang out where the wild things are. This involved trips to watch whales from the beach, coffee at the local espresso place and the odd beer at the local oceanfront pub, which to those of you have been will likely remember. The girls were on best behavior for the ten days and only slightly cranky on the 8 hour car and ferry trip!

The girls now weighing over 18lbs, play together and eat and even sleep at the same time thus making things a lot easier for mum and dad. Having said that they are still a handful when you have them on your own for long periods of time. This is what happened when Nic and I got the chance to visit one of my fish counter sites, a day trip by boat from the next town. We had a great time enjoying some grizzly bear watching while doing my work. The photo is three bears fighting over one pink salmon which is passing over our fish counter.

Meanwhile mum was looking after the girls, who had at that time not yet started solid food, but were showing an interest if misdirected as yet. All in all it was a great time, a rest for Mum most of the days as Nic helped with cooking and the endless washing of feeding bottles and I hope a break for Nic from his busy life in Japan.

Next update is feeding time ............ at the zoo (at least that is what it feels like!)

Don and Miwako

Hi again

As my sister asked for some pics that she took of whales, I have added one to the blog along with a picture of a two grizzly bears and one cub that I took while at work three weeks ago. The girls are going to grow up in a part of the world that is still very wild when they are old enough to figure it out!