An update

It's been an awfully long time since I wrote a proper update so I'll try to catch up on everything that happened this fall that I can remember.

Alexandra
I guess the biggest thing that happened was that Alex switched schools this September to go to the French Immersion school with Austin. She's in SK and now, 4 months in, doing very well. In fact, her teacher says she's one of the top in her class. She comes home singing French songs almost daily and always has new words to teach us.

We're very happy that she's doing well, because as most of you know, we had a lot of trouble with the transition when we started out. Because the French Immersion school is only half day Kindergarten (instead of all-day Kindergarten like her JK school), we enrolled her in a nearby Montessori school for the other half day. To make a long story short, she hated it at the Montessori school and after 7 weeks of misery, we withdrew her. She now comes home and spends her afternoons with me every day. Although it's a lot more work for me (it's hard to fit a full day of work into 2.5 hours!), it's definitely worth it because she's much happier.

Aside from school, Alex took ballet again this fall. And once again she loved it. She's registered to continue in the winter and she'll be doing gymnastics and skating lessons once week as well.

Back in September both kids ran in a duathlon. It was pouring rain that day but that didn't deter them. Alex is determined when she puts her mind to it and she came in first in her age group (3 to 5 year olds)! Austin had a little trouble with his bike on the wet course, but still placed 24th

Austin
Austin is in Grade 2 now and is doing very well. He has a great teacher this year who is big into hands on teaching and doing experiments which is right up Austin's alley. He's getting good at reading -- in fact his reading abilities in French now exceed his abilities in English.

He started hockey again in October and this year he's playing on a house league team. He loves it! He plays every Saturday morning (at either 7:30 or 8:30) and has a practice every Wednesday evening. Every week he's improving and has had a couple of good scoring chances already (although no goals yet.). Although, intuitively, he's a defenceman and does quite well when he's in that position. And he was goalie for one game -- letting in only one goal! (Although he found it rather lonely in net as the opposing team only took 5 shots the entire game.)

His team also won the Parkwoods Cup hockey tournament for their age division...which he was thrilled about!

Both Austin and Alex also took swimming lessons this fall, and they both passed their levels.

Mom and dad
There isn't as much to report about mom and dad. Ryan is now working at a site at Humber College and will be there until mid-2015. I am working quite a lot and have built a very steady little business. As I said, it's challenging now that Alex comes home every day at 11:30 but it's more or less manageable. And it's only 6 more months plus the summer, and then I'll go back to working full-time.

In November, Ryan and I escaped for 4 nights to New York City for a belated 10-year anniversary trip.
We rented an apartment that was about a 10 minute walk from Times Square and we had a fabulous time. We wandered around Times Square (several times), saw two shows (Spider-man: Turn off the Dark and Stomp (which was amazing!)), went to a Knicks game at Madison Square Garden, saw the World Trade Center memorial, wandered through Central Park and along the Highline Park, went to the top of the Rockefeller Center at night, went to MOMA and on a Radio City Music Hall tour and saw the Enterprise Space Shuttle at the Intrepid Museum.

And to do all this, we walked and walked and walked! It's funny how at home, we would take the subway or car to get somewhere, but in New York, it doesn't seem out of the ordinary to walk several dozen blocks to get where you want to go.

Thankfully the weather was beautiful the entire time we were there.  The coldest day was the day we arrived (Wed. Nov. 13) where it was only about 3C. But by Saturday afternoon it was 15C and perfect wandering around weather.

In all, a wonderful, and much-needed vacation.

Christmas
Well now it's Christmas holidays, so I might as well update on what we've been up to. Ali, Billy, Teddy and Julian arrived in Canada on the 20th and the kids and I headed out to Brampton to see them on Saturday the 21st. We had a great visit but when it was time to head home, the weather was getting bad so we decided to stay over. That night was the ice storm and it was 3 days until we went home because our house was without power for 54 hours. But unfortunately, 54 hours is long enough to have to throw out a heck of a lot of fridge and freezer food. But it could be worse...we got to go home for Christmas morning and we have friends who were without power for twice that amount of time.

It was stressful but the silver-lining is I got to spend a lot of time with both of my sisters (Suzie was there too) and the kids got a lot of cousin time!

Gardner family Christmas was on the 22nd and we all had a great time. Austin got a rod hockey game from grandma and granddad, of which he declared 'I wanted this and now I'm so glad I didn't ask Santa for it!'.

We were able to go home on the afternoon of the 24th and it was so nice to get to spend Christmas at home. Christmas morning was a whirlwind of excitement (Santa brought Alex a nail polish kit and a crafting kit and brought Austin Skylanders video game system and a Leafs jersey) and then we drove to London to Grandpa's for Christmas dinner. After 2 days there, we moved to Nana's for Christmas number 3.

That's about all the news from us.

A few links for you to enjoy:

Our year in review flipbook

Read more...

Video of Alex at ballet

Read more...

New York...New York

https://picasaweb.google.com/107184376695639310597/NewYorkCityTrip?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOGB1K_oubjmKg&feat=directlink

Read more...

Finally uploaded some new photos

Here are some photos from September and October.....finally

https://picasaweb.google.com/107184376695639310597/SeptemberOctober2013?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCKe8mcPlnojEEg&feat=directlink

Read more...

Two weeks at the cottage

We spent two weeks at the cottage on Lake Bernard in Sundridge this summer (from July 27 to August 10). This is the same cottage that we've been renting for the last five years, and in a way, it almost feels like our second home -- except a home that we don't need to worry about whether the septic is full or the roof is leaking!

We had a fantastic, relaxing time. The weather was a little cooler than past summers, but that didn't stop the kids from going swimming every single day. They swam, they jumped off the dock and they just played around in the shallow area. In other words, they had a great time.

'Look at me!' 

3...2...1....jump!

When they weren't swimming, they were playing in the sand and digging holes. That was the big thing this year. And one morning, Austin went out to work on the hole he had started the day before, only to declare that he couldn't dig because there were frogs in his hole! In the rain the night before, 13 toads somehow hopped across the sand and landed in his hole! We rescued as many of them as we could.

Toads in a hole

This is the first year at the cottage where we didn't plan at least one day trip somewhere. In the past, we've gone for a day hike, to North Bay or to Santa's Village. But this year, we played every day by ear. Since the kids (and mom and dad) are big into geocaching this year, we did a lot of that. (There are a ton of caches up there!) One day, we went to High Rock park (a place we go every year) and, while searching for the cache there, discovered a hiking trail we never knew existed!

Hiking and geocaching in High Rock Park

And on another day -- one where the weather wasn't really cooperating (rain in the morning and cool and windy in the afternoon) -- we drove around for a few hours to find five caches. A fun afternoon, for sure!

On Friday August 2, our friends Rob, Vone, Lilo and Isla joined us for the weekend. The kids had a great time playing together all weekend long. The four of them took hole digging on the beach to a whole new level. 

How many kids can you fit in a hole?

And the adults relaxed with a beer or two.

Also for the first time this year we were able to have a couple of campfires on the beach. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes were really bad this year, so although we didn't sit around the fire, we did hang around long enough to roast some marshmallows.

Roasting marshmallows

Waiting to roast marshmallows

That's about it for the cottage. Slowly but surely, I'm getting caught up.

Our annual picture taken on this rock at High Rock park. 

Read more...

August pictures

Here's the latest batch of pictures https://picasaweb.google.com/107184376695639310597/August2013?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIGmu7Db5oypMg&feat=directlink

Read more...

An update on what's been going on

Let's see, where to begin -- as it's been four months since my last update.

Alexandra
Alex's Junior Kindergarten year is done and in September, she'll be switching to the same French Immersion school that Austin goes to. She did very well in school this year and is progressing well with reading and writing. She's looking forward to being at the same school as Austin in the fall but, at the same time, isn't excited about it -- she's quite sad to be leaving her JK teacher (who she would've had again in SK had she stayed at the same school) and her friends. But we know she'll be fine once she settles in and we're certain that she'll quickly make new friends.

One of the things about switching to the French Immersion school is they still offer only half-day Kindergarten (she was in full-day Kindergarten for JK). So she'll be going to the school in the morning and then to a nearby Montessori school for the afternoons.

Aside from school, Alex is playing soccer this summer and loving it. And her ballet finished up with a recital in mid-June. She very much enjoyed dance and we've already registered her at the same dance school in the fall.

On June 1, Alex completed her first triathlon. Her age group was an untimed event, however she asked Ryan to time her anyway. She completed a 15-metre swim, 600-metre bike ride and 150-metre run (all with a small (and I mean small) amount of assistance from mom) in about 7 minutes and 24 seconds.

For most of the month of July, both kids were in day camp. Alex went to the Kindercamp in the same centre where she attended preschool. She loved it there -- the camp director was the same woman who taught her preschool and many of her school friends were in camp with her.

Austin
Austin is done Grade 1 and he too did very well in school this year -- all A's and B's for him on his final report card. In September, it's on to Grade 2 (hard to believe!).

Hockey wrapped up in April with a final tournament. And he loved learning to play so much that he's already registered for house league in the fall. Early Saturday morning games are in our future starting October 19!

With hockey done, it was just a short break before soccer started. He's playing house league in that this summer as well....and is loving it too!

On June 1, Austin also competed in the same triathlon as Alexandra. For his age category, he had to do a 25-metre swim (for which he did backstroke), a 1.5 km-bike ride and a 500-metre run. He finished in 14:03...which put him 12th out of 78.

And one week later, on June 9, Austin ran his first 5K race with me. He's been watching me train for, and run, races since he was 3 years old and last year, while I was training for the half marathon, he decided he wanted to run with me. So, last November, I took him out for a run -- not knowing how far he'd be able to go. Well, he ran 2.5K on that first outing! And so, we trained together off and on throughout the spring and on June 9 we ran the Toronto Challenge (which went from King and University, up to Wellesley and then back down Bay Street.). Finishing time: 45:01! We're all so proud of him! (And he's already asking to run another 5K with me!)

Like Alexandra, Austin spent most of July in camp. He was at a different centre than Alex (which made for a lot of driving for me) but it was well worth it. He very much enjoyed the camp -- and came home exhausted every day. They played sports, went swimming every day and went on big field trips once a week (one of the trips was to Centre Island!).

Other happenings and events in the Spring.
Trip to Montreal
Over Victoria Day weekend we went to Montreal. Unfortunately, the reason for the trip wasn't a happy one -- my grandma passed away a few days earlier and we all travelled back to Montreal for the funeral. But, to put a bright side on a sad situation, it was a nice excuse to see all of the family who came from far away and many extended family who we hadn't seen in years.

On the evening after the funeral, the grandparents offered to babysit all of the children so that the 'kids' could go out for the night in Montreal. And so, Ryan and I, Ali and Billy, Suzie and my two cousins went out for a few drinks in downtown Montreal. And then we ended up playing bubble hockey in the old Montreal forum!

It was a nice evening and it would've made my grandma smile to know that we were all together.

The kids also had fun in Montreal. They got a chance to play with their cousins Teddy and Julian for a couple of days (of which I managed to take no pictures of) and they got a chance to get to know their second-cousin Carson (my cousin, Neil's son). And so, on the Saturday, after we checked out of the hotel, the four of us spent the day wandering around Old Montreal with Neil, Carson and Eric.

Hanging out in Old Montreal with Carson.

It was a beautiful afternoon and everyone had fun. After that, we introduced the kids to Schwartz's smoked meat before finally getting on the road to head home to Toronto around 6 p.m.

Mmmmmmm....smoked meat

Canada's Wonderland
We made our annual trip to Canada's Wonderland for the PCL Family day on June 15 but this year we didn't get to take advantage of the early entry passes. That's because Alex's ballet recital was the same day. So she did her recital in the morning, she made a quick change in the car afterwards and we were walking through the gates at Wonderland at 1:30 p.m.

It was quite busy but we still managed to make it on quite a few rides (and we didn't leave until about 8 p.m. to make up for getting there so late!). Both kids are now roller coaster monsters. Alexandra went on all the ones she was tall enough for and Austin went on quite a few adult roller coasters. In all, a good day for all!

Sally!

Canada Day camping weekend
On June 28, the day after school let out, we packed up and headed out of town for a three-night camping trip with our friends Rob, Vone, Lilo and Isla. This year's trip was to McRae Point near Orillia. In all, the weather was fairly decent -- in fact it was pouring rain as we drove to Orillia but by the time we arrived, it hadn't even rained there and even though there was a 70% chance of rain, it never did that day. It did cool off a bit by Sunday, but overall (compared to some of the rainy camping trips we've had) the weather wasn't something we could complain about on this trip.

The Canada Day camping crew.

Actually, there was nothing to complain about on this trip. Now that the kids are all getting older, they can enterain themselves for longer periods of time and don't need to be hyper-supervised as much either. Both of this meant that there was more relax time for us parents! The kids ran around the campsite, biked around the campground, and generally ran themselves until exhaustion. So, in all ... a good camping trip!

Yes, they're all jumping.

Other fun July events
What else? In early July, I took the kids strawberry picking where we picked WAY TOO MANY strawberries. But that's ok, because there's now 23 jars of strawberry jam on my shelf so we should be good until next June!

Trip to the Zoo
On a hot Sunday in July, we took the kids to the zoo to see the Giant Pandas. Unfortunately, we ended up standing in line for an hour and a half to see them -- but the kids were good and the Pandas were pretty cute. After that, we checked out the Gorilla climbers that went up last year. They loved it and probably spent close to 45 minutes climbing the structure.

Ok, that's it for now. Coming up next time...our two weeks at the cottage and Suzanne and Mo's wedding.

Read more...

July pictures

More pics...from Canada Day camping weekend and the rest of July.
If the slideshow doesn't work, you can find the pictures here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/107184376695639310597/July2013?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCMTpw8aLodOWRg&feat=directlink

Read more...

June pictures

Here's some pictures from last month.

https://plus.google.com/photos/107184376695639310597/albums/5899898670361334097?authkey=CLHnpuqQ_fyR8gE

Read more...

Last day of school!

Read more...

Alexandra's ballet recital

Read more...

New photos -- April and May

I know, I know, I know. I've way behind on photos and updates. Here's a batch of photos from April and May.




If the slideshow doesn't work, here's the direct link:
https://picasaweb.google.com/107184376695639310597/AprilMay?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCJT4w_S2tt3MSQ&feat=directlink

Read more...

Austin's Grade 1 concert

On May 8, Austin's class did a concert for parents. Here's one of the three songs they sang.

Read more...

I just downloaded the camera...

...and discovered that Alexandra was taking 'selfies' one afternoon. So I just had to share right away:

Read more...

'True Colours'

The Kindergartens at Alex's school have been learning this song for months (literally, she started singing it around the house in February), and on May 1, they performed for the school (and parents). The video is a little shaky at times, and sometimes blurry as I try to zoom in on her, but enjoy anyway...

Coming soon....birthday pictures and more. I promise.

Read more...

An update on what's been going on

I'm so far behind on what we've been up to, so I'll do my best to catch up.

Alexandra
Alex's big news is that at the end of March she got glasses!

We've known for over a year that she was farsighted but our optometrist had opted not to prescribe glasses because of her age (she was only 3 at the time). But, because the prescription is different in each eye, she was at risk of developing a lazy eye and has been going for rechecks every few months. She has now developed a lazy eye and the hope is that the glasses will correct them.

The good news is that she loves wearing them, and I honestly believe it's because she really can see better with them on. The world is suddenly clear for her for the first time. She was a little nervous about wearing them to school though -- because she's the only kid in her class with glasses. But now, several of her friends have told their mother's that they want glasses just like Alexandra!

In other news, Alex is doing well at school and is still very much enjoying it. This week, I'll be registering her for the French Immersion school for September (the same school as Austin goes to). As it's only going to be half-day Kindergarten again, she's also registered at a nearby Montessori school for the other half-day.

Back in January, I took her to an afternoon all-girls dance party (she was the only kid there, but she didn't care) and afterwards, we walked across the street to the fire station where she got to sit in every, single fire truck and even ring the siren. 

And as an early birthday present, her Auntie Krista came to Toronto for the weekend and took her to see Pinkalicious, the play. For which, of course, she had to get all dressed up for!

Over the winter, she took both swimming lessons, ballet and (for the first time) skating lessons. She enjoyed both and this spring is in swimming lessons and ballet. In June, she'll be having her first ballet recital. And she's already registered for soccer this summer.

Austin

Austin is still playing hockey, with his final tournament coming up next weekend. He loved playing hockey this winter and is already asking to sign up for next season. This year, he was in a learn-to-play league, which was basically learning skills, although as the season progressed, they started playing short games. Next year, he'll be playing on a house league team. 

Austin is also doing very well at school as well and got all As and Bs on his last report card.

In January, Ryan took him to Monster Jam at the Rogers Centre. They had pit passes so that before the show, they got to go down to the floor and check out all the monster trucks and bikes. Austin even got to write his name on all of the wreck cars. Oh, and he loved the show.

In February, his Auntie Krista came to Toronto for the weekend to take him to a Marlies game for his birthday (yes, the same weekend Alex went to Pinkalicious). It was his first hockey game and he had a great time!

For his 7th birthday, we went to an indoor beach volleyball place where he and his friends had a beach party. They ran around and played games in the sand for an hour or so, wolfed down the Star Wars cake I made and then went on a treasure hunt in the sand for their loot bags. He (and his friends) had a blast.

This past winter, Austin also took swimming lessons and of course hockey. This spring, it's more swimming lessons and he's already registered for soccer in the summer.

On March 1, his school did a dance-a-thon to raise money for the school. He was really into the idea of the fundraiser, and I dropped by the school on the morning of the dance-a-thon and saw that he had a blast (he's the kid in the black shirt and brown pants):

And here's a fun video of the kids from January. After some snow and then some rain and then another deep freeze (story of this past winter, I think), we were left with a sheet of ice at the park:

Mom and dad

There isn't as much to say about us as there is the kids -- after all, everything they do is what keeps us busy. But here's us in a nutshell. Work is going well for me and keeping me busy while the kids are at school during the day. I'm also signed up to run my first race of the seasons -- a 10K -- on May 12. Ryan's signed up to do the Heart and Stroke Ride for Heart on June 2 -- it's a 50K bike ride up and down the DVP. And work kept him insanely busy through January and February as the building he's doing was to be turned over on March 3. They made their deadline and although he's still busy now, it's back down to regular levels of busy.

I think that's all for now.

Read more...

Austin and Alex's California Adventure

From March 6 to 12, the kids and I went to California to visit Ali, Billy, Teddy and Julian. Here's a rundown of our trip.

Wednesday, March 6
Today was filled mostly by flying -- it is afterall a 5.5 hour flight from Toronto to San Francisco. Fearing long lineups at Pearson, we arrived at the airport by 9:30 for our noon flight. But who would have thought that we'd clear baggage drop off, customs and security in 20 minutes -- giving us 2 whole hours to kill at the gate! We managed to pass the time by snacking, surfing the moving sidewalks and buying activity books for the plane.

The flight itself was uneventful and by 4:30 we were in their house and the kids were already playing together. Of course, 4:30 p.m., felt like 7:30 to us and after an early dinner, it was early to bed for Austin and Alex (because early to bed actually felt like 10 p.m. for them).

Thursday, March 7
But the early/late bedtime didn't affect Austin's internal clock; he was awake at 4 a.m., and Alexandra was awake by 4:30 a.m. So, after several hours of quietly playing video games in the living room; the rest of the house woke up at a reasonable hour.

As it was 'cooler' and cloudy that morning, Ali and I took the four kids to the Children's Museum in San Jose. It was crowded, but the kids had fun and by 1 p.m., we headed back to their house in Sunnyvale so Teddy and Julian could have naps.

But, by this time Alex was melting down from being up so early so she went into bed for a nap. And then Austin fell asleep for an hour on the couch!

The afternoon was rounded off with a trip to the park...and the walk there made it worth flying 3,000 miles:

Friday, March 8
Everyone was a little better rested today, though the kids were still up by 6 a.m. The weather was also nicer today so we headed off to the Happy Hallow Park and Zoo in San Jose. This is one of Teddy's favourite places to go, and so Austin and Alex were excited to be going with him.

We visited the animals, rode the kiddie rides, had a picnic and played outside. All in all, a fun day.

Saturday, March 9
On this beautiful Saturday morning, Austin and I started off the day by going for a run. It's the first time we've been running together since last Fall and it was a lot of fun. In all, we covered 3 km and he did really well.

Then it was off to the Sunnyvale Market for fresh fruits, vegetables and bread. And balloons :)

Later in the afternoon, after Teddy and Julian had naps, Ali and I took the three older kids mini golfing. It was Teddy's first time playing (and only Alex's second time). We didn't keep score, or anything like that, and had a lot of fun. It brought back fun memories for me and Ali of when we used to mini golf in Cape Cod with our cousins when we were kids.

Sunday, March 10
Today we went on our biggest adventure yet -- Santa Cruz to see the ocean. Austin and Alex had never seen the ocean and were super excited. It was about an hour drive through the mountains (which was beautiful) to get there. It was a warm sunny day and although it wasn't swimming weather, we all put our toes (or in Austin's case, legs and pants) in the ocean. The kids played at the water's edge for awhile and in the sand. (And yes, we tasted the salt water.)

Santa Cruz has a big boardwalk with carnival rides, so we wandered around there for awhile and let the kids go on some rides before they convinced us to go back down to the water.

Afterwards, we drove over to the wharf and wandered along there with ice cream shakes to see the sea lions that sleep in the sun.

We headed home around 4 p.m. and both Teddy AND Austin fell asleep in the car on the way home!

Monday, March 11
This morning was spent at a nearby park and at a Mexican restaurant for lunch (which mom thought was delicious but Austin and Alex declared that they like the stuff I make at home better!).

In the afternoon, we headed back to downtown Sunnyvale for ice cream and train watching (apparently something Ali does with the boys at least once a week). They all had a blast.

Tuesday, March 12
Today we had to go home. Again, we had good airport karma and dropped off the rental car, cleared baggage check and security in about 30 minutes. Once again, the flight on the way home was uneventful -- but we did get a quick peak at the cockpit when we got on the plane!

And although we never made it into to San Francisco for a day, we did see the Golden Gate Bridge from the airplane as we were taking off!

We had a fantastic trip. Austin and Alex loved having time playing with their cousins and I loved having time to simply hang out with my sister. It's definitely a trip we'll have to do again!

Here's the link to the rest of the photos.

Read more...