July - WEEK FOUR

Sunday - Church and a quiet day.
Today was our second Sunday of 9 a.m. church and we made it for sacrament - yay!  We were only 5 minutes late so considering that we have a 40ish minute drive to church I'm pretty impressed with us.  After church was finished and we had the whole afternoon in front of us, I almost didn't know what to do with myself.  We had a pretty quiet day. 

Monday - Swimming Lesson.  Marisol came to play.  Ken left for Whitby.
Today was Kate's 3rd swimming lesson - the last of this mini session.  There was some small improvement.  I'm not sure how much she loves her swimming lessons, but we went from tears the first two classes to no tears the third, so that's something.  Krystal - her swimming teacher said that there was definitely improvement, so I'll take it!  We brought Marisol home with us after the lesson was over and Kate and Marisol had fun playing.  We said goodbye to Ken - for 2 days it turned out.  (What am I going to do when he goes somewhere farther away than Whitby?!) 

Tuesday - Trip to Upper Canada Mall.
Today was a fun little trip to the mall to pick up a birthday gift for Ava.  It was a fairly successful trip to the mall - Kate did run off once and was out of my sight for about 30 seconds - any longer and I think I would have started to freak out. 

Wednesday - Zoo trip, and then Whitby - visited with Kay, swimming in the hotel with Kate and we all stayed overnight with Ken in the hotel.

I was impressed with myself today.  The girls and I got up, I fed them, packed up to go overnight to Whitby, made lunch for the zoo and cleaned up the kitchen all by 10:30!  Okay so it wasn't super early that we got out the door but still, I was flying solo!  I was also proud of myself for taking the girls to the zoo by myself.  I didn't meet anyone there, it was entirely me and the ladies.  We had a fun little trip which started at the carousel, next a trip on the zoo train (zoo mobile) and then we visited the butterflies, the polar bear (baby Hudson is getting very big), the Eurasian Pavillion, then a stop for picnic lunch (we had been snacking) and then up the hill to say hi to the penguins and giraffes.

Next I drove to Whitby, went to the place Ken was working and he gave me a hotel key.  The girls and I went and hung out in the room until he was done work.  Ken then informed me that he had to have a meeting that night, but luckily Adrian's wife (Ken works with Adrian now) - my lovely friend Kay was available to hang out.  Her cute boys (almost 14 and almost 12) hung out with Kate.  More like Kate followed them around, but they were so sweet with her.  Their dog Buster kept trying to eat Alice's diaper (the one she was wearing) which was mostly amusing!  Alice took it all in stride though so that was good. It was so nice to see Kay.  We had such a lovely visit. 

After visiting we went back to the hotel.  Once Alice was asleep, Kate and I went swimming.  This is when I noticed a difference.  Kate was so much more comfortable in the pool.  She jumped in (cautiously and into my arms) from the side of the pool, she practised her swim strokes and she also put a little of her face in the water.  It will be interesting to see what the results of her next session of lessons in August are!

Thursday - A visit to Grandma and Grandpa's and a swim with Grandma.
We left the hotel around 9:30 and drove to Thornhill to spend the morning with the grandparents.  We had a nice visit and a fun swim.  Alice and Kate had so much fun in the water.  Neither of them wanted to get out of the pool.  Alice has no fear and just loves the pool.  Both girls were just so cute in the water. 

Oh and Ken came home - yay!  Originally he was supposed to come home Friday.

Friday - A pretty quiet day.  In the evening went to Newmarket - Ken finished getting the stuff for his home office computers, visited Big Al's Aquarium Services, dropped of Ken and the girls at the mall, went to the Canadian Super Store to order glasses - half price frames and lenses, then back to the mall where I bought a dress.  (Pictures to follow... soon?)

Saturday - Breakfast at the Hockley Valley General Store, Farmer's Market in Orangeville, Every Kids Park in Orangeville, Home for a Nap, Then to the Plumbs for Ava's 4th Birthday.

Ken and I love going out for breakfast.  Heck, we generally love going out to eat, but there's something so fun about getting up and going out first thing on a Saturday morning.  We left the house around 9 and got to Hockley Valley in time to beat the rush.  We ordered a few things and shared.  The blueberry pancakes and the french toast were so yummy.  I've decided that breakfast is the perfect meal to do with small children.  Kate and Alice were so well behaved.  I suppose it helped that they both did a few laps of the store with their Dad while we were waiting for breakfast.  That and the food was out super quick!

Next we went on to Orangeville.  It had been a little too long since our last visit to the Farmer's Market.  We enjoyed some music.

Some toys.

Some crafts.

Mostly I followed the girls around and Ken did the shopping.

All except the Saucy Girl - Sue.  We know Sue from Orangeville Ward.  She's such a sweetheart and makes the most amazing soups I've ever tried.  I don't know how she comes up with the flavour combinations that she does.  I bought a container of roasted turnip and bok choi yesterday and ate it yesterday.  It was so good.  I'm sad that I only bought the one container of soup.

After the market we walked up to see the waterfall.

And mostly tried to prevent Alice and Kate from falling/jumping into the water.

Kate then requested to go to a park - so we did.

After the park it was home for lunch and naps. (Alice slept too, but I didn't take a picture.)

And then the Plumbs for Ava's 4th birthday party.

There was some trauma this week due to the birthday gift.  This is from a message I wrote to my friend Ruth (Ava's Mom) earlier in the week: We bought Ava a barbie unicorn the other day and have so far had two melt downs. Poor Kate is being slightly tortured looking at it. I've moved it out of sight and I'm thinking we'll wrap it and not mention it again. We'll see how Kate is doing on Saturday. Ava might just need to open it when we're not there! The joys of the "mine" stage! Mostly she is doing so much better sharing, but she's never had to give away a Barbie unicorn that isn't hers before!

Kate had a fun time at the party.  And she did a great job giving Ava her present.  There were no tears the whole party - except from Alice, she lost it at the end but that's our fault for keeping her up too late! I had a lovely time too - we all had a fun time.  Ruth always throws a plum party!

I am having such a lovely summer.  I don't want it to end.  It's funny because I was thinking that we had such a quiet week this week.  Bring on next week - the Bateses are coming!  YAY!  (The only bad thing about next week is that it is August.  We just won't think about that will we?!)