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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