A plague in our house for Christmas

It was a ...er.... different Christmas this year.

It all started on the 23rd, when at 4 p.m., Austin spiked a fever. Thankfully it was gone by morning and he was left with just a really rotten cold. The kind of cold that just kind of knocks you on your ass.

By Christmas Eve, I was feeling pretty rotten -- and by the evening I had fa ever, as did Ryan. So much for a nice quiet Christmas Eve, drinking wine and watching holiday movies.

By morning I felt better -- just left with the same rotten cold that Austin had. But Ryan was not.

The only time he managed to get out of bed was to watch the kids open their presents and even then (sorry hon) he looked like death lying on the couch. It didn't take us long to realize it was pretty clear that he wasn't going anywhere. He didn't have the same cold that Austin and I had; with such a high fever (39C+), he had the flu.

After some discussion, it was decided that I would take the kids to my parents house for Christmas dinner without him. The kids were super excited to go to grandma and granddad's for Christmas and to not go may have caused rioting.

So we went -- getting there around 4:30 p.m. And it was really nice to see everyone for Christmas -- my grandma was there and both my sisters. But by 6:30 p.m., Alex, after being pretty lithargic the whole time we were there, spiked a fever. 39C+. We didn't stay much longer after that.

So now it's Boxing Day morning. Ryan's still in bed with a fever, Alex is lying lifelessly on the couch with a fever and Austin's nose is pouring like a faucet.

I think I want a Christmas Day do-over.

But on a less-sick note, the kids had a great Christmas morning. The day didn't start until 8:20 a.m. when Austin woke up -- that's the third year in a row that we've gotten a late start to Christmas morning. (I must say I do love the fact that my kids aren't always early risers!)

Austin made his way into the living room first, checked out what Santa left for him and Alex (a 400-block Lego set for him and a Mommy and Me set for Alex -- complete with baby stroller, crib and high chair) and then went to wake Alex up.

They opened their stockings, ate breakfast and then the present frenzy ensued. This is the first year that Austin 'got' the opening presents thing. He'd open each one, look at it for a minute (or 2 seconds, depending on how interesting it was) and then move on to the next one. Alex on the other hand, would open a present and then immediately insist we open the packaging of the toy so that she could play with it right then and there -- completely forgetting that there were still more presents to open.

It was the first time we've done Christmas morning just the four of us at home and it was really nice -- well other than the plague that plagued most of us.

We were supposed to head to London today to spend the day with Ryan's mom and then the following day with Ryan's dad, but we've had to call in an IOU. No one is getting out of their pajamas today and maybe even tomorrow.

Santa also brought us all skates for Christmas. Hopefully we'll be healthy enough to try them out by New Year's Eve.

Wishing you all a very Merry (and healthy) Christmas.

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Merry Christmas from The Evans Family

Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday and a joyous New Year!

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I saw mommy...sitting with Santa Claus

Two weeks ago, we went to Ryan's company Kids Christmas Party. And of course the big highlight is seeing Santa.

We've been going every year, and Austin has only ever had an issue with sitting on Santa's knee once -- when he was 18 months old. Ever since then, he's super excited to sit with Santa and chat.

Alex on the other hand is not.

Last year she wouldn't go anywhere near him. This year, she was very excited to see Santa. She kept talking about seeing him and even when we were standing in line, she was excited. Until it was her turn.

And so, this is how our Santa picture turned out this year:
It was Santa's idea to have mom sit down too. Alex may not have wanted to sit with Santa, but I was pretty excited to!

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A November and December update

Well, after a flurry of new updates in late October/early November -- I seemed to have gone silent. Sorry about that. Life has just been busy and yet, there hasn't been much to write about. But here's a quick update of what we've been up to.

The weekend of November 13, Ryan's sisters Krista and Jamie and Jamie's boyfriend came for the weekend. We went to the Royal Winter Fair on Saturday (where the kids had a blast) and then went bowling on Sunday morning (where the kids really had a blast). Apparently, bowling is fun regardless of your age.

The following weekend, Ryan went to Michigan with some guys. They left early Friday afternoon, where they went to the Windsor Casino, a Michigan football game and a UFC fight in Detroit before coming home on Sunday afternoon. I've been told it was a good time.

Since it was just me and the kids all weekend -- we kept busy. Austin had a PA Day on the Friday so we went to the Science Centre. Then on Saturday we had a daytime playdate, followed by an evening playdate/dinner/movie. After such a busy two days, we kept it pretty low key on the Sunday -- even though it was Santa Claus parade day. Instead of braving the crowds with the kids by myself, we opted to watch it on TV while drinking hot chocolate.

The following weekend, November 26-28, the kids went to Nana's house in London, giving me and Ryan two whole days of quiet. I drove them down on Friday afternoon (making the trip in 6-hours including the time I hung out in London for a bit). So, on Friday night, Ryan and I went out for dinner -- because we could. Saturday morning was spent Christmas shopping without the kids and Saturday night was spent at Ryan's company Christmas party -- which is always a big do with lots of free food and drink. On Sunday afternoon, Ryan drove down to London to pick the kids up. I've been told the kids had a good time, even if they did tire Nana out!

This past weekend (Dec. 4-5) we were in Orillia for the day where Ryan's grandmother had an early family Christmas dinner. In all, 21 people were able to make it and it was a really good time. It had been many years since we'd seen some of the people there.

That's about all that's been going on. Austin still loves going to school each day and at his parent teacher interviews last month, his teacher had nothing negative to say about him. She said he's learning quickly, listens well and is all around a good kid (whose kid is she talking about?).

And Alex's big news is that she's now potty trained. Three weeks ago, I decided enough was enough and told her she was done with diapers and took them away. It had dawned on me a few weeks earlier that the reason she wasn't 'getting it' was because if she was wearing a pull-up, she was too lazy to go to the bathroom. (Pullups worked for one kid, but not the other.) The first two days were rough -- and we went through a lot of pairs of pants -- but after that she started to get it and now she rarely has an accident. She still wears diapers at night and a nap time and we'll get there eventually.

That's all for now. If I don't get back to the blog again this year -- Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah and Happy New Year.

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Trip to Austin, Texas

On Sunday, October 17, we left for a week in Austin, Texas.

The first day was an entire day of travel – which the kids were super excited about because they got to go on an airplane. We left our house at about 8:30 a.m., slowly meandered through the different waiting stages at the airport and then waited and waited at the gate because our first flight (to Minneapolis) was delayed. We finally took off and the first flight was without incident.

The biggest problem – instead of having 1 hour and 21 minutes to change planes in Minneapolis, we had just a little over 20 minutes by the time we finally landed. This meant for a mad dash across the airport with two kids.

We made it and the second flight was also fairly uneventful – and as Alex got more and more tired (she didn’t nap at all) she just watched more and more TV.

By the time we got to our hotel, it was after 6 p.m., so we grabbed dinner at McDonalds then put the kids to bed.

Because Sunday was such a long day, we decided to make Monday a quieter one. After breakfast, we went to Zilker Park (the largest park in Austin), played in the playground, rode the miniature train and walked around. That afternoon was naptime back at the hotel and then that evening we went to see the bats.From March to November every year in Austin, thousands and thousands of bats live under a specific bridge. Every evening around dusk, they all fly out to hunt bugs. It's pretty wild to see a million bats stream out from under a bridge and fly down a river.

On Tuesday, we drove the hour and a half to San Antonio where we met up with my parents to visit the Alamo and walk along the Riverwalk. Both were really interesting -- although Austin declared about 20 minutes into being at the Alamo that it was 'booorrring'. I guess to a 4-year-old, it is. We stayed until about 5 p.m., at which point the kids were exhausted and we headed back to Austin.

Wednesday took us back to Zilker Park, but this time to go swimming in Barton Springs Pool. It's a natural spring water-fed pool that is 125ft wide by 1000 ft long. It is always 68F -- which feels cool when it's 90F outside! It was fun, although because the bottom is all rock and algae, the kids had a little trouble with it and mostly wanted to be carried around in it.

Let me just say, that 1000ft is a really long way to swim. (Well, not quite 1000 ft, because one end is too shallow for swimming.) It's been 15 years since I swam any distance, but for some reason, I thought it would be fun to try swimming to the other end. I made it, but it was a long way.

After the pool, it was back to the hotel for nap and then out for some yummy yummy Texas BBQ for dinner.

Thursday we headed downtown to the Children's Museum. It was very similar to the kids area at the Science Centre, but the kids had a blast. Afterwards, we wandered around downtown for awhile.

That afternoon both my parents and Ali, Billy and Teddy arrived in Austin. So that evening, my parents babysat the three kids while the four of us went out. We met up with my cousin, Eric and his fiancé (the two people who we were in Texas for in the first place!) for dinner and drinks downtown. It was a nice evening, and a small chance to see Austin at night.

On Friday, we headed back downtown to visit the State Capitol building. It's the largerst Capitol building in the country and it's really nice. We tried to do the free guided tour, but the kids bored of it after about 15 minutes, so we just wandered around on our own after that.

By Friday afternoon/evening, everyone was pretty tired, so we hit the hotel pool and then ordered pizza for dinner with my parents and sister.

Saturday was the reason we flew all the way to Austin, Texas in the first place. Wedding day! Unfortunately, it was raining that morning, so we ended up just wandering around a nearby mall -- just to get out of the hotel for awhile. We didn't want to tire the kids out too much, because we knew they'd be up late, but we didn't want to just sit around and watch TV until 3 p.m.

The wedding was at a ranch about 30 minutes outside Austin. This place is set up to look like an old western town. The ceremony was outside, as was the dinner(thankfully, it had stopped raining). It was all beautiful and it was a really cool setting for a wedding. My whole family was there and it was nice to be able to spend time with everyone.

One (among many) fun things at this wedding was what they did for the kids. About 20 kids attended, so Eric and Monica rented a bouncy castle for them to play in during the reception! Austin and Alex are never going to be able to go to another wedding, because they'll want to know where the bouncy castle is! (In other words, they had a blast!)Austin and Alex did really well at the wedding, and were really well behaved. It was 10 p.m. when Ryan took them back to the hotel (and considering the reception ended at 10:30, they didn't miss much!)

Sunday was going home day so we didn't do much else but pack up and leave the hotel. Although, since our flight was at 5 p.m., we were able to join the bride and groom (and family) for lunch at another Texas BBQ place.

Then it was off to the airport and by 11 p.m. we were back at Pearson in Toronto. The kids were amazing on the flights home -- no complaints and no screaming thanks to a lot of TV watching (portable DVD player=best purchase ever!) Neither of them fell asleep for the entire trip home and it was just after midnight when we walked in our front door.

In all, a great trip. A little tiring living out of a hotel with two kids for seven days, but a lot of fun. And honestly, there's not much to complain about when it's sunny and 90F every day in October!

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New photos

I'm a little behind on posting new photos, so here's a new slideshow of September and October photos. All that's missing is our Austin, Texas photos, those will come soon. Enjoy!

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Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from Tigger, a pirate captain and Fred and Wilma Flintstone!

The kids had a great time trick or treating! Austin made out with a pretty good haul and had no desire to come home after an hour and a half of trick or treating. Alex was tired of going door-to-door after about only 8 houses, but she didn't want to go home until Austin and mommy did. So she I pushed her in the stroller while Austin continued trick or treating with our neighbours.

Unlike earlier in the week, where the evening weather allowed for just a light sweater to be worn, tonight it was a winter-jacket time of night. Alex wasn't too sure about the idea of wearing her costume over her coat, but she got used to it. And Austin just looked like a really tough pirate with the coat underneath. Ahhh, Halloween in Canada -- all costumes must be flexible enough to be worn over a snowsuit if necessary.

On Saturday night, Ryan and I went to an annual Halloween party as Fred and Wilma from the Flintstones.

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Sharing a great photo of the kids

On October 1, the kids joined us at a Holoud -- part one of our friends' weekend-long wedding. We got dressed at my parents house (since the party was in Brampton) and my dad snapped this picture before we left. It's such a great picture, that I wanted to share.
More about our October and our trip to Austin, Texas shortly.

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Our big girl finally got her big girl bed

Back in July, we went to look for big girl furniture for Alex’s big girl room. Unlike when Austin was old enough for a bed and all we needed was a mattress to put on top of my childhood bed frame, this time we had nothing. We shopped and found a store in Vaughan that specializes in kids furniture with some really nice stuff.

It was over two months before we were able to get back there – between an August full of vacations for us and some weird store hours for this family-run business in the month of September -- and Alex stated almost daily during this time that she wanted to sleep in her big girl bed. We were finally able to buy her a beautiful bedroom set at the end of September and on October 16 a bed frame, a mattress, a dresser, a nightstand and a dresser mirror were delivered.

We quickly set up the room for her (it was not some assembly required furniture) and made the bed with an old set up twin sheets we had in the house (the store had told us it would take 8 weeks to get the furniture but it only took 3 so we never had a chance to buy Alex her own linens). And within an hour of the bedroom being set up, she was happily napping in her big girl bed.

The transition was that easy. She was so excited to finally have her own big girl bed that she wanted to sleep in it right away. The crib remains in her room, and she did decide she wanted to sleep in the crib that night but overall, she’s very excited to be a big girl.

Of course, the day after the bed arrived, we left for Texas so she won’t get to be back in it for another week – which means we’ll likely leave the crib in her room for a little while longer, just until she’s comfortable.

Next on the list for our big girl…pretty girlie bed lines and a fresh coat of paint. It’s bye bye baby nursery, hello big girl room.

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News and updates

I realize it's been over a month since I last posted anything, so here's a bit of catch-up as to what we've all be up to.

Austin

Austin is having a great time at school every day. He goes every morning -- from 8:40 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. -- and comes home every day full of stories from what they did in class that morning. (And my fridge is quickly filling up with school artwork.)

On Sept. 30, he participated in the Terry Fox Run at school. The kindergarten kids didn't do the run with the rest of the school, instead they simply ran laps around the playground. Alex and I hung around to cheer him on and he pretty much kept running for the entire 15 minutes or so that the class did the run.

Alexandra

Alex and I now hang out every morning while Austin is in school. It took her a little while to get used to the routine -- some days wanting to go pick him up almost as soon as we finished walking him there -- but now she's into it. Some mornings, we do shopping or errands and other morning we go to programming or the drop-in centre. One morning a week, we go to a kinger-gymnastics program which she absolutely loves!

I guess that's why I haven't written in awhile -- there's not much to write about! The routine of school keeps us busy. And even though Austin loves school, most mornings I have to pry him out of bed to get ready to go. I guess it's a little too early for him.

October is a busy month for us. The first weekend of October we went to a weekend-long wedding here in Toronto. The kids came with us to the Friday night part of the event but we left them with a sitter for the Saturday night ceremony and reception. This past weekend -- Thanksgiving Weekend -- we spent in London. And on the Sunday of the weekend, Ryan and I left the kids with Ryan's dad and drove to Niagara-on-the-Lake for another wedding.

This coming Saturday (Oct. 16), I'm brave enough to run the 10K Zoo Run again and on Sunday morning the four of us leave for Austin, Texas. My cousin is getting married on Oct. 23 (yes, three weddings in one month for us!) and we decided to take the kids and spend a week there. We're all pretty excited and the kids are particularly excited about getting to go on an airplane! So I guess there'll be more to write about when we get back.

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Austin's 1st day of school!

So, it was Austin's first day of Junior Kindergarten today. He's been really excited for the last two weeks, so this morning came as no surprise for him.

Showing off his backpack !

And he did great. There was no long goodbye or crying (as some of the kids did when it was time for the parents to leave the classroom. All he did was come over, give me a big hug and say "bye mommy, I'll miss you."

I was doing alright until that moment. After that, I had a little cry as Alex, Ryan and I walked home. It really is hard to believe that he's old enough to go to kindergarten.He had a great day, and has been talking about all the things they did pretty much since he got home.

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Trip to Chicago

For our third and final trip this month (it's been a busy month!) Ryan and I went to Chicago from Aug. 19 to Aug. 23 while the kids went to my parents house.

The purpose of our trip was to attend the wedding of a good friend of mine who now lives in Chicago. As neither Ryan nor I had ever been there before, we figured we'd turn a one-day wedding into a long weekend so that we'd get a chance to do some sightseeing.

Unfortunately, for reasons I don't know, six days before the wedding, my friend and her fiancée called it off. (I've since talked to my friend by e-mail and she's doing 'ok', I guess.) So, Ryan and I were left with the decision -- three days before we're scheduled to leave -- whether to go or not. In the end, we decided to go -- after all, we had non-refundable flights, the time booked off and the sitter's booked up. So we went.

And we had a great time.

We got there on Thursday afternoon and just wandered around downtown near our hotel. For those who know Chicago, our hotel was right on Wabash in The Loop, meaning it was right next to the El and we could walk to just about anything downtown. And over the next four days, we did a lot of walking.

That afternoon, we wandered around Millennium Park and Grant Park before finding dinner and drinks.

The next morning, we wandered over to the Chicago Tribune building. It was built in 1925 and it quite beautiful. And, in its wall are stones from famous landmarks all over the world -- Berlin Wall, Great Wall of China, the White House, Edinburgh Castle, etc. And one such stone we found was from Miraflores Locks in Panama. This gave us quite a laugh, because six years ago, when we were in Panama, we drove around for a long while in search of this lock. We gave up, having never found it. So now, we've touched a piece of it! Later that morning, we went on an architecture boat cruise up the Chicago river. Chicago has a really fascinating architecture -- something that interests us both. The tour guide explained the story of all the buildings along our route. It was really interesting. It was also incredibly hot as we baked in the 95F sun on that boat.

That afternoon, instead of going to Navy Pier, as we had planned (we decided it was just too hot), we did a little shopping along the Magnificant Mile and then headed over to the Sears Tower (or Willis Tower now). It was interesting, but when you live in the Toronto and have been up the CN Tower, it's all the same. It even has a glass floor-type thing like the CN Tower, except, in this case, it's called the Ledge and it's a glass box that sticks out from the side of the building.

On Saturday, we walked out to the Shedd Aquarium but got there to discover it was an almost two hour wait just to get in to buy tickets. So we nixed that idea, and instead rented bikes and rode along the waterfront for a couple of hours. Chicago has really beautiful waterfront trails (about 18 miles worth).

On Sunday, we had tickets to the Cubs game at Wrigley Field. And although the Cubs got smoked (the final score was 16-5 for Atlanta) it was a lot of fun. Watching a game at Wrigley Field is nothing like watching a game at the SkyDome. It's much more intimate and it's not showy -- there's no big screen or music playing. And the field is right there in the middle of a neighbourhood. So much so, that the four-storey businesses across the street have put bleachers on their roofs and people buy tickets to sit there.

As we were childless for the weekend, Sunday night (as did the other nights) involved a drink (or four).

We flew home on Monday afternoon and now it's back to reality. A month of vacationing was a lot of fun -- but it's nice to know we don't have to unpack, do laundry and repack again.

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A week at the cottage

On Aug. 7, we left town for a week at the cottage in Sundridge. We rented the same cottage as last year (which is on the same property as the year before).

The weather for the week was almost perfect, which means we were out on the beach and swimming in the lake every day. We had only a little rain, on Sunday afternoon, but we still managed a quick swim that morning.

Both kids are now tall enough to walk all the way to the dock unassisted -- which is about 100 ft out. We would always go out there with them, but it gave them a lot of confidence in the water to know they could do it themselves.
And of course, once we got to the dock, they'd both want to jump off anyway! By the end of the week, Austin was jumping off on the deep side (with a lifejacket) and swimming back around the dock unassisted. Alex too would jump off the dock into your arms, but she'd quickly tire of the game and prefered to jump and play in the shallower water.

Austin has also been very excited by the idea of going fishing, so we bought him a little fishing rod and he and Ryan went fishing off the dock one afternoon. They caught absolutely nothing -- not even weeds -- but the boys seemed to enjoy sitting out there for over an hour. Another day, they went out in the canoe with the fishing rod -- but still, no fish.

On the Tuesday, we packed the kids up and drove to Bracebridge (about an hour away) to go to Santa's Village. It's a cute little amusement park geared at the under 10 crowd and it was a lot of fun. We visited Santa and his reindeer and went on lots of rides. They're pretty lenient with their height restrictions there and as such, Alex was able to go on everything -- even the little mini roller coaster (something she'd never get away with at Wonderland). She LOVED it!

We stayed all day (and it was really hot that day) and by the time we got back to the cottage at 8 p.m., we had two very tired kids.

Other than that, we stuck pretty close to the cottage this year. The property we stay at is fantastic and the kids just run around (and run themselves out) all day long. And since the weather was beautiful all week, we spent most of the time on the beach.

A note about the ducks this year -- only one duck came around to be fed early on the week. We were eating lunch at the time, so we tossed pieces of an uneaten hot dog bun to it. When it returned a day later, it decided Alex's toes would be lunch and took a nip at her! Austin chased the duck away for hurting his sister and it never returned.

Oh, and one last note. When we left on Saturday morning, we went to Orillia to visit Great Nana and Austin and Ryan fished off the dock for a little while that afternoon. They got 4 fish! They threw them all back, but they were pretty excited.

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More camping photos

I just thought I'd share a few more camping photos and one last story that I forgot to mention in my previous camping post.

All 16 of us, tired, dirty and packed up to go home

The kids playing with empty boxes as the rest of us packed.

Kid shot!

Family shot!

On our second night there, as we sat around the campfire after the kids had gone to sleep, a pack of raccoons started circling our sites. I'm serious when I say both of those -- a pack (there was about 4 or 5 of them) and circling (they kept coming closer and closer, then darting across to the other side and then inching closer again). All of this was happening while we were sitting on our site.

Then, suddenly, they burst into our kitchen area and while one or two of them rummaged around, three of them started drinking the leftover cooking oil that was in a pot on the ground. Literally, they had their face and front paws in the pot of oil!

The next night, as we were again sitting around the campfire, only one raccoon returned. He jumped up on the table, quickly found the bag of unopened pitas that we had forgotten to put away, grabbed it and took off. All of this while we were watching from 15 feet away.

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Annual camping weekend

This past weekend was our annual camping weekend, although for those of you keeping track, it wasn't over Canada Day weekend this year. Earlier this year, when the sites had to be booked, the group decision was made to move the trip to the August long weekend. This was made partly because of possible conflicts with Canada Day for some families but mainly to see if we could trick the weather gods into giving us better weather. After all, the theme of the last three camping trips was rain or cold...or better yet, both.
The change of weekends trick worked as the weather was almost perfect. I say almost because it was a little chilly the first night, but nothing extra clothes and blankets couldn't solve, and it drizzled for about 5 minutes on Saturday. That's it. Other than that, it was warm and sunny. And best of all, just warm enough -- not hot and humid as it has been most of the summer.

Once again, this annual trip was a four-family affair -- the same four families that went on the original trip four years ago. Except now, we've grown to a total of 16 people -- 8 adults and 8 kids between the ages of 15 months and 10 years (with the majority of the kids being under the age of 5). And once again, we were at Balsam Lake Provincial Park, near Lindsay.

We arrived on Friday afternoon, set up and then immediately took the kids to the beach. Over the course of the weekend, more beach trips followed with one on Saturday and two on Sunday. The water was beautiful and really shallow, which was great for the kids to play in. Alex prefered to play with the sand toys at the water's edge but Austin was right in there most of the time.

Our friends Rob and Vone brought their bikes this year, so one afternoon we borrowed them and took the kids on a bike ride through the park.

Other than that, our days consisted of hanging out at the campsite while the kids ran around; eating good food and relaxing. We had a campfire every night and let the kids stay up one night to roast marshmallows.

Needless to say, both our kids completely crashed the minute we put them in the tent every night for bed.

In all, a fantastic trip! There'll be more pictures to follow -- we did some group and kid photos on someone else's camera.

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July update

We spent most of July enjoying the hot, sunny weather and keeping busy. Here's what's been happening since my last update:

Strawberry picking

One weekend morning at the end of June, I took the kids strawberry picking. This year, we managed to pick more than we ate and once again Austin was meticulous about picking only the perfect strawberries, whereas Alex was more interested in picking as many as she could, as fast as she could and then declaring that she was 'all done'. We picked 8 or 9 pounds of strawberries and made a batch of jam and strawberry/rhubarb crumble from the fresh berries. The crumble was delicious, as is the jam -- although it turned out more like syrup than jam!

Canada Day
On Canada Day, we took the kids to the Tall Ships festival at the Harbourfront to check out the boats. We all had a lot of fun and it was a beautiful day to be down by the water. The boats were pretty cool and the kids enjoyed wandering through each one.

That afternoon, we met up with our friends' Rob and Vone and their kids to go to Woodbine Park in the Beaches for the Canada Day party and concert. We hung out just long enough to see Glass Tiger (yes, Glass Tiger) and then headed back to their house for dinner. Then around 9:30, we all headed out again for fireworks.

Needless to say, by the time we got home at about 11:30 p.m., the kids were both fast asleep in their car seats.

Swimming and Day camp

The first two weeks of July were swimming lessons time. The lessons were every morning. Austin ended up with a private lesson because no other kids were signed up for that class and Alex and I did the parent and tot swim during the same time.

The week after that, Austin went to all-day Kindercamp for one week. The camp was in the same place as his preschool. He loved it and came home every day completely exhausted. During the week, they visited the fire station, went to a splash pad and even went on a field trip to the Royal Ontario Museum.

While Austin was off at camp, Alex and I spent some girl time at the splash pad, the park, the zoo etc.

Everything else

That's really everything that's been going on over here lately. It's been so hot most days that the kids and have spent many days at wading pools and splash pads, just enjoying the warm weather. It sure is nice after the summer we had last year! Here are some other new pictures.

This past weekend, we were camping (separate post and pictures to follow soon) and next week we leave for the cottage.

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Time to buy a big girl bed

Most toddlers, at some point, learn to climb out of their crib -- either by delicately climbing over the rails, or by flinging themselves out onto the floor (as Austin did).

Either way, this is usually the point when the parents look at each other and silently say to the other that it's time to go bed shopping.

Well in Alex's case, it's now time to go bed shopping. Except, she has not yet climbed over the rail or flung herself onto the floor. Instead, she has figured out how to climb INTO her crib. She has yet to figure out how to climb out when she's ready to get up. She just climbs on in when she's tired and ready for bed or just wants a little quiet time away from everyone.

Seriously, how many kids learn to climb into their crib because they actually want to be in bed!

So, we're off to go bed shopping, if only so our little monkey doesn't have to do gymnastics every time she wants to go to bed.

Edited: Well, not one hour after I wrote this, guess who flew out of her bed in a fit of rage? Yup. Temper tantrums are definitely a motivation to get yourself out of somewhere you don't want to be. (Mental note for mommy, no more putting her in her bed when she's screaming uncontrollably for no reason in particular.) All I know, is one minute she was screaming at me from her bed and the next minute there was a thud. I ran to her room and found her just getting up off the floor while rubbing her head. Bed buying is definitely in the cards this weekend.

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'Now I know my...EFG'

Alex loves singing right now and one of the songs she sings all the time is her ABCs. Except, she sings it in her own unique way. And it sort of, um, goes on and on and on...


I know I should correct her and teach her the right way to sing it, but it's just so damn cute!

(In case you don't quite hear what she's saying, according to her, the song goes: Now I know my EFGHIJKLMOPQRSTUVWXYZ Now I know my EFGHIJK...)

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June news and updates

June has been a fun, but busy month for us. So busy that rather than posting after each event like I usually do, I'm just putting together one big post on the last month.

Austin's preschool graduation

Austin is now offiically done preschool -- having had his final graduation on June 3. The kids all walked in wearing paper graduation hats, sang a few songs for us parents and then got a certificate from their teacher. It was cute. As part of the concert part, Austin even led the class in a round of 'Wheels on the Bus'.
Now, it's a summer at home and then off to JK on Sept. 7!

A day at Canada's Wonderland

On June 5, Ryan's sister Jamie and her boyfriend came down from London and we all went to Canada's Wonderland for the day.

Like last year, the kids both had a blast and because they're both taller, they could go on more rides. So Austin was now tall enough to go on (with an adult) one adult roller coaster (Thunder Run) and the Ghoster Coaster in the kids area. He loved both of them. In fact, he loved the Ghoster Coaster so much that when him and I got off and went back to find Ryan he wanted to go again with daddy.

Alex too was now tall enough to go on all the kids area rides except the roller coasters. That meant that not only could she go on the rides that needed adult accompaniment (which for both of them actually, were most kids rides) but she was also tall enough to go on three rides by herself or with just Austin. She was very proud of herself when she went on her first ride all by herself.We got to Wonderland at about 10:30 and didn't really know how long we'd last with the kids. We figured that it would depend on whether or not we could convince Alex to take a nap in the stroller. Well, she wouldn't nap. Wonderland was just too much fun for her to waste any time lying down and sleeping!
But somehow, the kids kept going and didn't once get whinny. So, after riding ride after ride all afternoon, and eating giant ice cream sandwiches for dinner, we packed up to go home at 7:30 p.m. -- 9 hours later! Needless to say, they both passed out in the car on the way home. They were so asleep that when we carried them both in, they didn't wake up and spent the night sleeping in the clothes.
It was definitely a fun day.

Father's Day at the Jays game

On Father's Day, we all went to the Blue Jays game. It was a huge adventure for the kids, which started with catching the subway from York Mills to Union and then walking over to the Rogers Centre. It was a beautiful sunny day and the roof was open.Austin was captivated right from the start, and even when the Jays were losing badly 7 innings and more than 3 hours into the game, he didn't want to leave. Alex on the other hand, lost interest in the game quickly. All morning, she was SO excited to go and she was very content while eating her hot dog and watching the first inning.

And when that was over, she promptly announced 'all done Blue Jays'.

So, I spent the next couple of innings wandering around with her and checking out the kids play area. We made our way back to our seats at the end of the fourth and then managed to bribe her with popcorn to stay put for a few more innings. Or at least until we convinced Austin it was time to go.It was a tiring afternoon, but a fun one. It's just too bad the wrong team won.

In other news

In other news, Ryan has been transferred from Mississauga to a job site in Toronto. And, not only is it in the city, but it's only a 15 minute drive from our house (without traffic -- and when does that ever happen in Toronto? But even with traffic, it's not a bad commute).

I've been working a lot lately, having picked up quite a few freelance jobs. So it definitely keeps me busy (hence the lack of blog updates lately -- when I'm busy with work, I'm too busy writing to have time to write blog updates.)

The kids are both playing soccer and Ryan and I are both playing softball --which means there are activities on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings this summer.

That's all the news from us for now. There are more pictures in the slideshow on the right.

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