Fun, fun, fun

I don't know what else to call this post other than fun, fun, fun....because it's a lot of what this update is going to be. So here's a quick look at what our weekends have been like lately:

Canada's Wonderland

On June 18, we took the kids to Canada's Wonderland for the annual PCL family picnic day. The bonus of it this year, is the park (and some rides) were open to PCL employees one hour before they were open to general public. So, we got there just after 9 a.m. and headed straight for Behemonth (the sort-of new and ginormous roller coaster). We've been to Wonderland for the last three years, but Ryan and I have never had the chance to ride it.

So this year, with no line because the park wasn't open yet, we took turns waiting out front with the kids while the other one rode the roller coaster. I'll admit, I was skeptical about riding -- afterall, I'm afraid of heights -- but it was pretty awesome. After that, we took turns on the Back Lot Stunt Coaster (an also sort-of new coaster) and then, just before 10 a.m., we headed over to the kids' area.

It wasn't overly crowded there all day and we were able to get on a lot of kid rides. This year, Alex was tall enough for most of the kid rides -- basically all of them except two of the three kid roller coasters. Yes, she was tall enough for the mini coaster and we all went on it...and she loved it.

Austin is now tall enough for all the kid roller coasters (3) and 2 of the adult ones (Thunder Run and the Fly). And yes, he went on them all. He's turning into a real thrill ride kid!

By 4 p.m., we called it a day and headed home. A fun day for sure.

Nana's party
The next weekend, we had a small birthday party for Ryan's mom at our house. Ryan's two sisters spent the weekend and Ryan's mom and Graham came on Saturday afternoon, along with a few other guests. It was a low-key evening and a lot of fun.

And fun to have the aunties around for the whole weekend. They were lucky enough to catch Austin's last t-ball game as the Saturday morning was championship day. It was fun watching the kids play and the league really went all out to make the kids feel special -- announcing all their names at the beginning of the game, calling them up by name when it was their turn to bat, and giving them all medals at the end.

School's out!

Last week was the end of JK for Austin but before the end, his kindergarten class put on a play for the school. They've been working on it for months and parents were invited to come watch. So I did. It was Pinkalicious (based on the book) and Austin was one of the bees. It was really cute -- here's his big song and dance scene:


Strawberry picking
On the first day of summer holidays, I took the kids strawberry picking. I guess it's kind of a tradition for us now as this was the third year in a row we've gone. We had a lot of fun and some things never change -- Alex got tired of picking after filling half her container and started choosing strawberries out of my bucket to fill hers and Austin was meticulous in making sure he picked only the perfect strawberries. Eight pounds of strawberries later, we headed home.....and started making jam. Over the course of the weekend, we ate a heck of a lot of strawberries and made two batches of strawberry jam (which turned out like jam this year, not syrup!).

Bike riding
We've been going on family bike rides lately -- a little farther each time now that Austin is a superstar without training wheels. And on Canada Day weekend, we made use of our newly purchased bike rack to drive out to a nearby park and bike ride there. What we discovered is that there are whole parts of Toronto in hidden bike trails and paths that we didn't know existed. We had a wonderful time -- and ended up doing about 6 km, which is pretty darn good considering Austin's bike is way smaller than ours, meaning he has to bike twice as hard as we do.

Now that we have the bike rack, we plan on taking our bikes to the cottage in Augusst and on our camping trip later this month.

I guess that's about it for now. This weekend, the kids are off to my parents house as Ryan and I are going to a wedding (although I have to be honest, I'm really looking forward to a kid-free weekend!) and then the weekend after we're going camping for two nights with our friends Rob and Vone and their two kids. Then the kids are off to day camp for two weeks -- Austin is in full days and Alex is in half days. So with all that going on, there'll be lots more to write about again soon.

To leave off, here's some photos from May and June: