Merry Christmas to all

Here are a few photos from this past month. (Click on the family photo to see the rest. My computer died right after I uploaded these last week, so at least I have them, but I can't really do much else with them right now):

It's been busy lately. On Sat. Dec. 5, we took the kids down to Nathan Phillips Square to see the lights and watch the fireworks. We all had a great time and Austin loved pretending to skate on the ice -- well until one of the rink marshalls told him and Ryan they had to get off because they weren't wearing skates!

We wandered around, checked out The Bay Christmas windows and had dinner at the Eaton Centre before heading back to Nathan Phillips Square for the fireworks. Both kids loved them -- and it was the first time either of them have ever seen fireworks.

Sunday, December 13 was the PCL kids Christmas party. We went on a horse-drawn wagon ride, drank hot chocolate, did crafts and, of course, visited with Santa. Austin happily sat on Santa's knee and told him that he wanted 'presents' for Christmas. Nothing specific, just presents. Alex on the other hand, was excited to see Santa when we were standing in line but wanted nothing to do with him once it was our turn. She wouldn't even sit on his knee and scream because she clung to me for dear life and wouldn't go anywhere near him. So the closest Santa picture we got this year was of Austin, Alex and me with Santa. And even then she wasn't very happy about it.

The next weekend, on Saturday, December 19, we hosted a family Christmas party. It was a large dinner party, with many of our friends and their kids. It was a good time, and although a little crazy at times, a lot of fun. The kids all exchanged gifts and ran around well past their bedtimes and the adults hung out, ate lots of food and made good use of the bar.

And now it's just about Christmas. For the first time, we will not be travelling anywhere this year. Ryan's dad and sisters will be spending Christmas Day and Boxing Day with us (which means, we will be cooking our first Christmas dinner). Then, we'll be heading out to Brampton on the 27th to do Christmas with my family and back to Brampton on the 29th for another gathering when my cousins, aunt and uncle are in town from the U.S. Ryan's mom, who's on vacation this Christmas, will be doing Christmas with us sometime in January.

That's about all for now, Merry Christmas to all.

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We've got to shake our sillies out

Alex loves to dance. When the mood strikes her, she starts doing the happy feet dance while shaking her arms and laughing. It's really cute to watch.

But her favourite song right now is 'Shake your Sillies Out'. At every sportability class this fall (which was one of Austin's activities but since it was a caregiver and child program, Alex participated as well), the first thing we'd all do was shake our sillies out. Since we don't have it on CD, it gets sung a lot lately around here. Here's Austin taking on lead vocals while they both crash around the living room:

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Dear Santa,

Yesterday, Austin and I wrote a letter to Santa. He dictated and I wrote it for him -- although he signed his name at the bottom. And of course, he had to decorate it with stickers before mailing it to Santa -- because, according to Austin, everything has to have stickers on it!We talked about what he wanted to say to Santa beforehand, and then I had to prompt him with the first sentence, because when we sat down to write, he told me he didn't know what to say. Everything else, was his idea -- including what he wants for Christmas.

For the record, the glitter glue is something he mentioned to me before, so I'm impressed he remembered, and yesterday he asked for markers as well -- but not for him. He said to me "I want markers, but I already have some, I want more so Alex has some". (Which is all sweet of him, except the subtext is that he's saying he wants Alex to have her own so she stops taking his!)

Before we took his letter to the post office, Alex drew a picture for Santa.

Then I put them in separate envelopes and we took them to the post office. Hopefully, they'll both get replies from Santa soon.

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Why, why, why?

Alex has very few words to her vocabulary. Learning to speak is just coming slower to her than for the average child. But I'm positive that that has a lot to do with the fact that Austin speaks for her. It's a pretty common occurance around here for Alex to walk into a room and say 'ah ah' and Austin to follow behind her and say 'I think Alex is trying to say she wants ____'. At this point, she'll nod or say yeah to whatever Austin said and that's that.

Her use of words are coming faster now and she probably has about 20 or so to her vocabulary -- the main ones being mama, daddy, nana (as in Ryan's mom), mil (as in milk), ba (as in ball and bus), mine, yeah, hi, bye and baba (as in blanket, bottle, baby, brother, raspberries and any word she doesn't have a word for making this one a tough one).

She's picking up a new word every few days right now. And it's her newest word that floored me. And when I picked myself up off the floor, I was ready to send her out the door just so I wouldn't have to hear her say it again.

No she didn't drop the f-bomb or something like that.

She said 'why'.

And then she stared at me and waited for an answer.

Austin was a little over 3 when he became a why monster. It started with 'how come?' but quickly moved into 'why?' To this day, he often asks 'why' 5 or 6 times (or more) a minute. Every answer you give is followed by why until you have no more answers left and you grumble 'just because' in frustration. Most of the time, it's just plain annoying although there are some times that he asks very thought-out questions, like the time we had a whole coversation about why there were no people when the dinosaurs were living.

But the other day, I said 'lunch time guys' and Austin got up and ran to the kitchen but Alex looked up at me and said 'why?'.

Now thankfully, right now, although she waits for an answer, she takes anything at face value. So all I have to say is 'because we're hungry' and that's enough for her to get up and walk into the kitchen (I could probably just say because booga booga and she'd also accept that as an answer).

But seriously, she has the ability to speak just 20 words. Why, why, why, why, why does one of them have to be why?

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Happy Halloween!

Alex's favourite doll right now is Mickey Mouse, so it was rather convenient that we already had a Mickey Mouse costume that Austin wore last year! She loved wearing the costume, and in fact, even now, two days later -- she wants to keep putting it back on!

This year, Austin decided he wanted to be a fireman.

The kids had a great time trick or treating. At first, Alex wasn't really sure what to make of the whole thing, and after a few houses, she didn't want to walk anymore. But when Ryan tried to bring her home, she'd have nothing of it!

So, Ryan pulled her around in the wagon the rest of the evening, but apparently, now that she understood that every house gave her candy, she wanted to get out at every door and hold out her basket!

So, of course, now we have way too much candy in our house! Especially since we didn't get that many kids this year -- so there's also a lot of leftover candy!

And, since I'm posting Halloween pictures here; the weekend before, Ryan and I went to a Halloween party dressed as Thing 1 and Thing 2 from the Cat in the Hat:

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A update on life in general

It's been awhile since I updated on life in general so here's a few quick highlights:

Alexandra

Alex is now 18 months old and at her checkup yesterday, she weighed in at 22lbs, 15 oz. She's a lightweight alright. In fact, in the last three months, she only gained 14 oz, something the doctor is not concerned about but wants us to keep an eye on because it's below normal weight gain. I wish I could tell you how tall she is (because she very tall for her age -- at at her 15-month appointment, she measured in the 95th percentile for height) but she refused to allow the doctor to measure her no matter how many different ways we tried. Maybe later in the week, I'll try to get her to stand against a door just so I can get an approximate height.

She still has very few words to her vocabulary but she understands absolutely everything you say to her. And because of this, she uses non-verbal ways to communicate because she can't say the words. (For example, if she wants her soother, she points to her mouth.) The words she does know are cute, because it is often the same word for various items. For example, mama means me; meme (which sounds a lot like mama) means Mickey (her favourite doll), mama means more milk. So you have to listen carefully and figure out the context of what she's trying to tell you. Her newest word, this week, is mine. And it's pretty clear and is usually yelled when Austin is trying to take something from her!

Along the lines of her vocabulary; she's facsinated with everything around her. So if a plane goes by overhead she's pointing and yelling at it. And if we drive by a bus, she's yelling 'BA' from the back seat.

She's taking swimming lessons this fall -- a parent/tot program -- and she loves being in the water. She'll jump in, put her face in, do front floats (assisted of course) and splashes around with all the toys. But even though it's a 30 minute class, after 20 minutes, she's ready to get out.

Because Austin's in preschool two mornings a week, I get some alone time with her -- which we've really been enjoying. Sometimes we use it to do the groceries or other errands, whereas othertimes we drop in at a toddler playgroup where she has a blast. It's a different dynamic when she's just playing with other kids and her big brother's not around and it's neat to watch.

Austin

As I mentioned above, Austin is in preschool two mornings a week now. It's a program that's run through the city and it's at a nearby community centre. It's only for two hours on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and he loves it. It's a nine-week program and I've signed him up for the fall and winter so he'll be going to preschool until March (at which point I hope to sign him up again for a session) with just a three-week break in December.

They do crafts, songs, stories, playtime and every week they learn about something. Last week he came home and told me he learned all about good and bad foods. And they even took a field trip to a nearby grocery store last week to buy a pumpkin for the class.

He is also taking swimming lessons again this fall and once again loves it. And on Wednesday morning, we go to a sports class where for 45 minutes he runs around a gym and learns basic skills for various sports.

On another note, even though we keep very busy, Austin has given up napping. It happened around the end of the summer -- he would go into his bed every afternoon and he just wouldn't fall asleep. So now, I make him go into his room for 'rest time' every afternoon, but he only lies there for about 20 minutes or so before he's calling me to come back. At this point, I try to convince him to read books or play quietly with toys for a little while longer. Sometimes it works, and somtimes I get suckered in to letting him sit and watch a movie until Alex wakes up.

Mom and dad

We're keeping pretty busy as well -- aside from how busy the kids keep us.

My business is going well and I've been getting a steady stream of work. Right now, I actually don't have any projects on the go, but that's the nature of the business -- it's always feast or famine. But I'm trying to use this down time well and get a lot of other things done, because once more work comes in, I'll complain that I don't have time to do anything!

Aside from that, I also completed my first 10km race earlier this month -- which many of you know about. It was something I set my mind to many many months ago and have been training for ever since. I finished it in 75 minutes with the kids and Ryan at the finish line (and catching me around the 5K mark) to cheer me on. Austin even ran the last few metres with me to cross the finish line. It was fun, and I'm glad I did it. I'm even crazy enough to think about doing it again next year.

I don't think there's much to report on Ryan. He's still keeping very busy at work. He's still out in Mississauga building the Mississauga Transit hub and will likely be out there through to the spring.

That's about all from us for now.

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As seen on TV

We had an interesting week this past week. On Tuesday, I booked a home energy audit so that we will then be eligible for a government rebate when we buy our new furnace.

The company I called was able to offer me an appointment on Wednesday morning -- with one condition -- a CITY TV news crew wanted to come into my home and to do a story about home energy audits.

I agreed, and so, as scheduled, a cameraman and reporter came to our home with the energy auditor on Wednesday morning. And as she did her thing, the cameraman filmed. And then they interviewed me and got shots of me playing with the kids.

And then the three of us were on the 6 p.m. news on Thursday.

Both kids were very fascinated with the whole process (even though it took two hours) and Austin was thrilled to see himself on TV the next day.

So, without further ado -- here is Austin, Alexandra and me on CITY News at 6:

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A busy Thanksgiving weekend

There wasn't much time to rest this long weekend, but it was a fun one.

On Saturday morning, we started with getting some errands and chores done and then, in the afternoon, we all went to a kids' birthday party. It was a fun time, and a good excuse to hang out with friends and eat Dora birthday cake! (Ok, so the cake was more for the kids, the beer and wine was more to keep the adults happy.)

Alex after the birthday party on Saturday evening

That night, we started cooking. And the next morning, we cooked some more. Because this year, for the very first time, Ryan and I had Thanksgiving dinner at our house. So yes, it was the very first time we ever cooked a turkey. And yum....did it ever turn out good. As did the mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, veggies, homemade (breadmaker) bread and stuffing. Oh yeah, and the pumpkin pie.

It was fun to cook a full turkey dinner -- a lot of work, but fun. And it was fun having everyone over (My parents, my sister, Suzie, and her boyfriend). And the advantage to having the dinner at our house, is that we have the leftovers too. So turkey sandwiches are a plenty. And turkey soup from the leftover carcass will be on the menu soon.

On Monday morning, we opted to do something spontaneous. And, at 10:30 a.m. we drove downtown and took the kids to the CN Tower.

Austin has been fascinated by the tower for months, always asking if every tower he sees is the CN Tower and getting super excited when he does see the real thing -- whether up close or from a distance. So, telling him we were going up to the top was a big deal.

We chose the perfect time to go. Austin loved everything he saw up there -- especially the plane taking off from the island airport and the trains going to and from Union Station -- and the experience held Alex's interest for awhile at least. And, because they were both under 4, they were free! So we got to go on a great family outing, for only the price of two adult tickets.

Both of their favourite parts was the glass floor -- which mommy is still terrified of many years after first attempting to venture out on it. Although, this time I did stand on it, and even sit on it, because when your 18-month-old daughter grabs your hand and walks you out onto it, you don't have much choice! The things we do for our kids, eh?

The unbelievably cold weather for Thanksgiving that morning had us all scrambling for warm outerwear to wear. I mean, I haven't even bought the kids winter hats and coats yet. So for Austin, I found a hand-me-down jacket in the closet which is still about 2 sizes too big and Alex wore an old Austin jacket that also seemed 2 sizes too big on her even though the label said 18 to 24 months. I guess it's time to do the winter clothes shopping already!

By Monday afternoon and evening, we were all pretty tired. It was early to bed for the kids so we could both get some work done before calling it a night as well.

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A trip to Ottawa

This past weekend, we packed the kids into the car on Friday afternoon and headed down the highway to Ottawa to visit Alison, Billy and baby Theodore.

The drive down was trying. It was raining; it took an hour just to get to Oshawa and patience wasn't a word the kids understood. It took six hours to get there, making it 10:30 p.m. before we finally arrived at our hotel. Thankfully, the kids had fallen asleep at about 9 p.m., but it was still a long drive --especially the two hours after it got dark but before the kids fell asleep. It's a lot harder to entertain kids in the dark.

The next morning, we headed over to my sister's for a visit, hung out there for a little bit and then all packed up and went to the Children's museum -- where the kids had a blast.

Austin building a wall at the Children's museum

Alex driving a bus at the Children's museum

It was mid-afternoon by the time we left and headed back to our hotel so the kids could have a rest and Ali, Billy could get some rest too (after all, Theodore slept through the entire museum visit). Even Austin napped (he who has given up napping) for two hours!

We had booked a hotel suite -- and really, it was like a mini-apartment -- which was great for nap time and evening time. While the kids slept in the bedroom, we could sit on the couch and watch tv. (Or, as was the case on Saturday afternoon -- take naps on the couch.)

We headed back to my sister's for dinner, where my cousin Mindy and her partner Kevin were also there, and more holding Theodore time before calling it a night around 9:30 p.m.

Before leaving town on Sunday, we stopped in for one last visit, but since little Theodore insisted on keeping his parents up all night, we kept it short. Our kids were tired as well after a busy weekend of having fun and staying up late.

The drive home was far less eventful than the drive there -- yet it still took six hours, thanks to a two-hour stop in Brockville to visit Ryan's sister Krista in her new apartment. After a quick lunch and a walk along the waterfront, we were back on the road.

The kids were more or less good in the car -- I kept them busy with a steady stream of games and toys and before we knew it, we were home.

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The all-you-can-eat meat spectacular

After a busy week at the Evans household, Ryan and I thought that a quiet weekend at home was in order.

But then, on Saturday morning, as Ryan ran down to the basement to get English muffins out of the freezer for Austin's breakfast, he made a startling discovery. The English muffins weren't frozen. In fact, they were completely thawed. Which quickly led him to discover that most everything in the freezer was either partially or completely thawed.

What happened you ask? No, our freezer didn't die, nor did it accidentally get unplugged. Instead, one of the kids turned the knob on the compressor all the way to zero. And when you do that, it shuts off. By the time we discovered that the deed had been done -- 24 to 48 hours (we think) had gone by.

Most of the meat was thawed but still cold -- a select few items that had been squished between other items were actually still frozen. Bread was soft, frozen vegetables were not so frozen and popsicles were well -- liquid.

Once we finished taking stock of the freezer and throwing out what was unsalvageable, we had the following items that were still edible but couldn't be refrozen -- 15 sausages, 2 pork tenderlions, 4 pork chops, an unopened box of M&M lemon pepper chicken, 4 souvlaki sticks, a-2kg bag of chicken wings, a box and a half of spring rolls, 2 steaks, 2 racks of ribs, 2 chicken breasts, 5 chicken thighs, 5 homemade hamburgers, 2lbs of ground beef, 3lbs of bacon, 2 packages of hot dogs, 3 loaves of bread and a loaf of chocolate zuchunni bread.

So, we did what any sensible people would do when faced with the prospect of losing all that food or having to eat it all in hurry. We threw a party.

At just after 10 a.m. that morning, we called up some people to see who was free that evening to come to our all-you-can-eat meat spectacular. Responses to said question ranged from "you had me at all-you-can-eat", "you had me at meat" and "hell yeah".

Dinner consisted of five courses -- four of which were meat (the fifth was dessert). The first course was spring rolls (ok, not meat) and chicken wings; the second was ribs; the third was sausages and the fourth was chicken breasts, souvlaki sticks, steak and pork tenderlion. And yes, we did mix in a few veggies for variety -- I served veggies (from our garden) and dip and someone brought a salad.
Our friends did us proud and there are few leftovers in the fridge. Well that is, except for the ground beef, hamburgers, chicken thighs, bacon and pork chops that didn't even get cooked. The hamburgers we ate last night, the ground beef is being made into chili (so I can refreeze it) as I write this, the pork chops will get cooked and eaten tonight and the chicken thighs and bacon -- I don't know, I'll figure something out soon.

What I do know is the dial on the freezer now has a very large piece of duct tape on it.

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End of summer fun

It's been a busy few weeks since we got back from the cottage and I've been slacking on the updates and pictures. So, here's what I can tell you.

The week after we got home, Austin went to day camp for one week. It was a junior gymnastics camp for three and four year olds and it was only for 3 hours every morning (the perfect amount of time for him). He loved it and every day when I picked him up he would tell me about everything he did (jumping on the trampoline and doing tricks on the mats were his favourite things) and try to show me the moves he learned.

The key word here is try. It turns out that Austin isn't the most coordinated kid in the world. But he had fun, and that's all that matters. Below is a video I took from parents hour of the kids doing their final 'dance' to show off some of the moves they learned. It's pretty funny.

While Austin was at camp, it was just me and Alex every morning. It was weird at first, but we had a lot of fun. I haven't had alone time with her since last December when Austin stopped going to part-time daycare (and that seems like a lifetime ago). So, for that week, the two of us hung out and played, did the groceries and even went to the wading pool one day. At first, even she wasn't so sure what to make of the mommy-alone time -- in fact when we drove off after dropping Austin off the first day, she spent almost 10 minutes in the car screaming at me and pointing at his car seat. In other words, she was trying to tell me that I forgot Austin!

The last weekend in August, we took the kids down to Buskerfest for an afternoon. They both loved it -- Austin was facinated by all the acts and Alex, well, what she liked most was eating the same piece of corn for an hour.

The Friday of Labour Day weekend, Krista and I took the kids to Centreville. We all had a blast, as even I've never been there before. For starters, even the ferry ride over to Centre Island was exciting as neither kid had ever been on a boat before.

Alex on the train

Austin and mommy on the swan

The last ride of the day -- the carousel

And just like at Wonderland earlier in the summer, Austin loved the rides. But unlike last time, Alex was not too pleased when he got to go on a ride without her (because she was only big enough to go on three rides there). So, while Krista and I took turns taking Austin on rides, the other one would take Alex back to the train -- which she loved! I think we rode the train three or four times in total.

The four of us had so much fun, that even though we didn't leave until 4 p.m., Alex never napped. I had assumed at some point she'd fall asleep in the stroller, (I even brought the big stroller so that she could lie down) but I guess she was having too much fun. She did pass out on the walk back from the ferry to our car though.

Finally, in the long post about what we've been up to, on Labour Day, Ryan and I took the kids to the air show. We didn't actually go to the CNE, we just found a parking spot off Lakeshore and parked ourselves on a blanket on Sunnyside beach. It was great. We saw a couple of propeller planes do tricks and the Blue Angels -- the U.S. Navy jets. They were awesome, and every time, and I mean every time, they zoomed by, Alex did this while screaming with excitment:

That's about all the news for now. The kids are both registered for programming in the fall -- Austin for preschool two mornings a week and Austin and Alex for swimming lessons. So life will continue to be really busy.

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My nephew is here!

I'm an aunt now! (Which makes Ryan's an uncle and the kids older cousins.) Early this morning, my sister Alison called to tell us she gave birth to a baby boy. Theodore William Biggs was born at 12:30 a.m. and weighed 5lbs, 7oz. He was born 16 days early -- which is nothing compared to the fact that he tried to join this world 16 weeks ago!

Mom, dad and baby are all doing well.
Ali, if it's news like this that you have to share -- I'm definitely happy to hear from you in the middle of the night!

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A week at a cottage

On August 8, the four of us drove up to Sundridge, on Lake Bernard for a week at a cottage.

Although the same town (about 45 minutes north of Huntsville) and the same lake we've been to for the past three years -- we rented yet a different cottage, this time right next door to the one we rented last year. Last year, we loved the property and the shallow entry into the lake but found the cottage to be too small for us. The one we rented this year was owned by the same person and shared the waterfront area with the smaller cottage but was significantly bigger. So much bigger, in fact, that we didn't even use the third bedroom -- which is a loft upstairs -- we just bunked the kids in a room together.

We couldn't have asked for a better week weather-wise, considering the chilly weather we've had this summer. It was cool and drizzling when we arrived on Saturday and then on Sunday morning it was cool and stormy (to which we thought that this could be a very bad sign of the week to come). But by mid-afternoon the clouds cleared out and it was sunny for pretty much the rest of the week. And each day it just got hotter until, by mid-week, it finally felt like summer should -- hot, sunny and humid.

We spent every day out on the beach and in the water -- sometimes the kids were running around outside and digging in the sand as early as 8:30 a.m. Both kids loved the water this year and the walk to the dock was so shallow, that even Austin could walk it. Many days though, they'd just play at the shoreline, running in and out of the water.

The ducks were back again this year -- although there were only three -- and both kids loved feeding them. It became a morning ritual almost every day.

On Wednesday, we drove down to Huntsville -- mainly for something different to do. We found a great park downtown, had lunch on a patio and then wandered around the shops downtown.

On another morning, we took the kids for out for pancakes for lunch at the nearby Maple Sugar House. And we discovered a fantastic ice cream shop in the next town (only 8 km away) that was only $2 for a three-scoop cone. Needless to say, we went not one evening, not two evenings but on three different evenings for ice cream!

Another morning, we drove to High Rock Park -- which is really just a really big property on the lake that was donated to the county -- to wander around. It wasn't much of a hike, but we decided this year, that hiking with two kids who don't really want to be in packs on our backs would be too much work -- for us. Maybe next year.

Saturday August 15 came much too quickly, and we had to head home. But we did make a stop in Orillia where we spent a nice afternoon and evening visiting with Ryan's nana

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An update on life in general

We've been busy this last month, even though the weather hasn't been great and our swimming lessons were cancelled thanks to the Toronto city strike. But the kids and I have been keeping busy at the park, the splash pad (when it's not too cold) and visiting with friends.

Here's a quick update on everyone:

Alexandra

At Alex's 15-month appointment two weeks ago, she weighed in at 22.1 lbs and 32.5 inches. That means she gained just 2 pounds but she grew almost four inches! (I know they can be off a little bit when they're measuring toddlers, but regardless, she grew a lot in the last three months.) So, this puts her in the 50th percentile for weight and the 95th percentile for height. Yes, she's tall and skinny -- which is why dressing her is so difficult. Clothes that are long enough for her are often too wide -- and clothes that fit well are too short.

Having grown so much in the last three months, it's no wonder that this kid never seems to stop eating. There are many days when she polishes off her breakfast, plays for about 30 minutes and then walks into the kitchen, opens the pantry door and demands a snack -- sometimes even pulling a box of crackers out herself and handing it to me!

She now has five words in her vocabulary. I know I said this a few months ago, but she's pretty much forgot the words she had before and is starting over. These words are 'hi', 'bye', 'mama', 'oh oh' and 'baaa' (as in the sound a sheep makes -- I was teaching her the sounds the other day and this is the only one that stuck).

She also knows many parts of her body and can point out her eyes, nose, mouth, ears, head, feet and belly button when prompted.



She has a fair bit of hair now (finally) and it's growing in quite evely, but it'll be at least six months, if not more, before she's going to be able to wear even a clip.

Austin

There's not as much new going on with Austin right now. His soccer season is almost done and he's been having a lot of fun. He's definitely getting a lot more out of it this year than last year and almost daily he asks me if it's Monday yet (because he knows he plays soccer on Mondays).

He loves trucks, construction vehicles and buses. And about a month ago, as we were coming out of the grocery store, there was a fire truck in the parking lot (even firemen need groceries!). So, we went over to say hi and Austin got to sit in the driver's seat. He was THRILLED! And thanks to my new cellphone, I was able to snap a couple of pictures.

And today, I had to meet my banker in town to sign some papers, so I brought the kids. And, as a way to make it a fun adventure, we took the bus and the subway. I've taken the subway with the kids on a couple of occassions, but I've always driven to the subway station. Today, we took the bus to the subway -- making it their first time on a bus. Now, taking the city bus may be kind of mundane to all of us -- but to a three-year-old, it was the best thing in the world! At first, he couldn't stop saying 'weeee' every time the bus started. Even Alex was laughing. So, it was definitely a fun adventure. (Again, the picture is courtesy of my cellphone -- I love having a camera on my phone!)

Mom and dad

I don't think Ryan has much news, but I've been working a lot now that my freelance business is picking up. I've done work for a few clients already and I have a few more jobs coming up in the next few weeks. I do most of my work in the evenings and sometimes at nap time (if they'll both sleep, which isn't always the case with Austin).

It's exciting and I'm really enjoying the fact that I've gotten into this. It gives me the best of both worlds -- I can be with the kids all day, but can still use my brain and my skills in the adult world, without ever having to leave the computer in my basement.

A piece of really good news: my sister is still pregnant -- 32 weeks and counting. And, she was sent home from the hospital after 5 weeks and is now on bedrest in the comfort of her own home. So, things are looking up!

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Happy 95th Birthday Grandma!

On July 18, we celebrated my grandmother's 95th birthday.

Her actual birthday isn't until next month, but this party was planned to celebrate her birthday, my great aunt's (her sister) 80th birthday and my great uncle's (her brother-in-law) 85th birthday since they're all within the same short time period.

My grandmother is an amazing woman, who, at almost 95 years of age, still lives on her own in Montreal. And travels here by train by herself (albeit with assistance getting to and from the train station) to visit our family several times a year. She is a very busy woman when at home, always out and about to the store, to church, to the Scottish Centre, with friends and even to dancing classes! We can all only hope to be as vibrant and active as she is when we get to be her age. She has five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, with a fourth on the way.

It was a wonderful party, with tons of people. And my grandmother had two of her great-grandchildren (Austin and Alexandra) there to celebrate with her (her youngest great grandchild (my cousin's son) is just a few weeks old and lives in California).

Here's a few pictures from the party:

Austin polishing off his second cupcake (before then having some chocolate cake)

Alexandra was a little wary of the dog

The birthday group (Uncle Chris, Grandma, Aunt Joan) and Austin (who helped his great-grandma blow out her candles.)

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An impromtu trip to African Lion Safari

I've been so busy lately now that my freelance writing business is picking up that I have spent almost every nap time and every evening for the last three weeks doing work -- hence I've been slacking on updates. But at this very moment, I don't have any work on the go (although there's some more coming in the next few days) so, hopefully, they'll be a slew of new posts here as I catch up.

Two weeks ago, we were all up early on a Sunday morning when we realized we didn't have any plans that day and there was nothing we needed to get done. So, because we'd be talking about it for about a year but had never found the time to do it, we packed the kids up and went to African Lion Safari for the day.

And it was pretty awesome. I'd never been there and Ryan hadn't been since he was a kid.

We saw the elephants go for their afternoon swim and then we took our car through the safari to see the animals. It's amazing just how close you can get to some of the animals.
No baboons jumped on our car -- but this was definitely Austin's favourite part.

That and this ostritch, who, right after this photo was snapped, walked over to our car and bent down to look in the window at me and Austin.
Austin sat on my lap in the front seat for most of the time so he could see. We kept Alex in her seat because we knew if we let her out, she'd spend all her time pushing buttons up front instead of looking at the animals. She seemed to have fun and liked the animals she could see but after awhile she got bored and was happier to just sit and snack. As it took an hour and a half to drive through the safari, Austin too got a little tired of it after awhile and kept asking to go to the waterpark.

So, after seeing all the animals, we took the kids to the splash pad -- even though it wasn't that warm out -- and then walked around the rest of the park for awhile.

It was definitely a fun day, but we definitely had two tired kids by the time we headed home!

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Strawberry picking

On a complete whim this morning, I decided to take the kids strawberry picking.

With all the farmers markets on city property temporarily shut down because of the strike and our local groceries stores -- as usual -- doing a poor job of stocking local produce, I decided I really wanted some local strawberries before the strawberry season ended.

So, we headed out to Whittamore's Farm, which is only 20 minutes from our house, but so completely in the middle of nowhere that you don't realize how close to home you are. I brought some Ziplock containers with us, because I figured the small containers would be easier than the buckets the farm sells you. And I could also cover them when we were done for easier transportation while holding hands with two kids.

And the kids loved picking berries.

Austin was very serious the whole time, making sure each one was perfect and informing me every time he found a mushy one. Eventually, he filled his container (with a little help from me).
Alexandra on the other hand, picked one off the bush and put it in the container before realizing that it was a strawberry. The second one she picked whet right into her mouth. As did the third one. By the fourth one, she realized that rather than going to all the work of picking them off the bush just to eat them, it was far easier to simply take the ones from the container that I had already picked. And eat them.
So Austin and I spent about 30 minutes or so picking berries and Alex spent those same 30 minutes eating berries, regardless of how many times I tried to stop her.

You have to pay for your strawberries by weight when you leave -- it's a good thing they don't weigh your kids on the way in and then again on the way out!

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Third annual Canada Day camping trip

On Wednesday morning, we left town for our annual four-day, three-night camping trip. This year, we went to Balsam Lake Provincial Park (near Lindsay) and our group of families shrunk considerably to only three. (It was supposed to be four but the Jimmos had to bail out with sick kids at the last minute.) So, in all we were 6 adults and 6 kids between the ages 14 months and 9.

And, for the third year in a row, it rained.

Wednesday wasn't too bad weather-wise and, since we got there fairly early in the afternoon, the moms had time to walk over to the beach with the kids. All six of them loved being in the water and playing in the sand. And Alex was hilarious -- even though her teeth were chattering, she kept running back in and splashing in the water!

That night, as we slept, the rains came. Unfortunately, when we woke the next morning, there was a bit of water in our tent -- but nothing like last year and nothing that couldn't be solved by using our beach towels to soak it up.

But all day Thursday, it rained and rained and rained. Every time we thought it might let up, it just started to rain harder. Thankfully, the Emersons had a 20x10 shade tent to help keep us dry and we attached a large tarp to it to give the kids some space to run around.

We managed to ride out the rainy day by dressing the kids in raincoats and rainboots (poor Alex's were both too big), letting them splash in the puddles, play under the tarp and, by brining out a portable DVD player around noon to keep them from going crazy.

By bedtime, the rain slowed down enough that we could light a fire and let the kids roast marshmallows before bed. And then us adults had a chance to sit by the fire, even if it was still drizzling.

Friday morning started out much of the same -- but it soon cleared up enough that we could take the kids over to the playground before lunch. And then again, after nap time, we took them to the beach. To be honest, it was too cold for swimming. But they went in for a little bit anyway.
The next morning, we packed up as the sun was shining and drove home to sunny Toronto where we spent the rest of the weekend unpacking, drying out and catching up on some sleep.

Despite the weather, we had a really great time and I think that this year was one of the best trips yet. We survived yet another rainy camping trip, ate good food (bacon-wrapped trout one night and stuffed pork chops another night -- who says camping food has to be boring), spent time with good company and managed not to get too many mosquito bites.

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