The Ontario Science Centre

I must say, I've got to get more brave.  I trip to the Science Centre without Ken (but with my sister and brother) shouldn't stress me out so much!  Okay I wasn't that stressed but I was nervous about it.  I met Suzanne at the Science Centre.  We went for lunch first, Andrew joined us towards the end of lunch and then we went to play.  Thank goodness for Suzanne and Andrew.  They were awesome at helping with Alice or Kate - and of course Suzanne's four kids.  Two year olds are crazy... thankfully kids don't stay two forever!


The kids are admiring some a turtle.

Kate is standing in a virtual Koi pond.  She loved the fish virtually swimming around her.

Anna and Joey loved it too.

Anna and Kate playing in the water.

Kate and Anna in a cave.  Look at Anna putting her hand on Kate's back - so sweet.

Kate and Anna checking out some bones.

Kate reading a book in the toddler area.

Suzanne and Anna building stuff, Alice off to the side.

Joey, proud builder of tall towers.

Kate waiting for someone to help her pick up a guitar - they're pretty heavy.

Checking out the tunnel.

Suzanne and Alice.

Andrew playing with Anna and Thomas.

Kate and Anna and the dolphins that Andrew bought them.

Kate and Anna jumping!

Andrew and Alice.

A Monday with Cousins

Originally the plan was to go to the zoo - Andrew took the day off.  For this reason, Ken, the girls and I stayed over at my Mom's.  Well, it rained and the plans changed.  For most of the morning we did a whole lot of nothing.

Then we decided to go to Vaughan Mills with the promise of indoor fun.  Thomas and Joseph had lots of fun going on the go-karts and other rides.  Andrew and Isaac too - unfortunately it wasn't digitally captured!

Kate loves the fish and the waterfall at Bass Pro.

Easter Sunday Fun

I love it when my sister comes to visit.  The world just makes sense when I'm with her.  I hate that we live so far apart from each other, but I'm thankful that we usually see each other a few times a year.  Suzanne and the kiddies drove up from New Hampshire - yes that's right, she drove up from New Hampshire by herself with FOUR children.  She is brave and a little crazy! 

For Easter Sunday we all decided to go to church in Richmond Hill.  Mom bought a turkey so we could have a lovely dinner.  After church the Bates kids had fun meeting their new cousin Alice.  Anna and Kate had fun reconnecting.    

Easter Saturday Fun

After a healthy breakfast we had an Easter egg hunt!  The eggs were hid in plain view for the benefit of the 2 year old!

After eating lots of chocolate we made a trip to Downey's farm to partake in some Easter festivities.  We saw some animals, went on a wagon ride, walked through puddles, fell in the mud (Kate only), had Kate's face painted, posed for some pictures and saw some more animals.  Fun day! 

Alice is Two Months Old

Sweet baby Alice...

 

Alice is Eight Weeks Picture Comparison

So last week I declared that I wouldn't be taking any more "week" pictures of Alice.  Then I went and checked my files.  I discovered that I'd done weekly shots of Kate until she was 12 weeks - and then I switched to just months.  How can I deny Alice this same pleasure?!  I suppose I take pictures all the time so what's the difference you ask?  I pick out a cute outfit or sleeper and I pose the kid on a chair or couch - sitting up - or sort of sitting up.  I don't want Alice to be less documented then her sister!

Here's Alice - 8 weeks old!

And here's Kate - 8 weeks old - March 5 2009

More Cousins

Kate and Alice have LOTS of cousins - YAY!  On Sunday Lisa and Ken Peck (Lisa is one of Ken's sisters) came with their kids to meet Alice.  We had a fun time hanging out.

On the couch is Kate, Sarah, Brenden, Rachael, Kristen and Alice. 

Rachael just loved Alice.  You'd think she knew her or something...

We had a lovely visit and bade the Peck's farewell at 8pm.  We assumed they got home no problem... Monday afternoon I read this on facebook:

Yesterday was great for only one reason - we had a great visit with Ken and Wendy and their sweet little kate and Alice. Alice is the sweetest little squeaker! However, beyond that, it was totally horrible. On the way home we blew or should I say shredded a tire on the ramp from the 400 to the 401. got stuck in an unsafe place for about an hour, the spare would not come off the van, read on...CAA couldn't get it off either. So we had to have the van towed back home here last night, but as everyone knows, there isn't room for 6 in that cab. And we were on the highway, so how does one get off the highway, the tow truck driver called a buddy and this friend of his, who was actually pretty nice drove us to the local 24 hour Tim Hortons. Where we did stay for 3 long hours. Ken got back home, then drove back to retrieve us. We arrived home around 2:30am. Uggh - the kiddies are all sleeping in - forget school for now, we can do that later. But what we did do during that 3 hours was this. We counted our many blessings 1. That no one got hurt 2. That Rachael didn't cry or fuss when we were there 3. That Sarah was able to sleep upright with her head on the table and not fall off 4. That Tim Hortons takes Mastercard on any amount 5. That they did not enforce their 20 minute no loitering policy as posted on the wall. 6. That the police seemed to frequent that particular Tim Hortons 7. That someone was willing to tow the car home for less than $200, I'm sure there were more that we came up with. But we're all glad to be home, and I think its time that we said goodbye to Bessie (the name we've given my vehicle) because she has tooo many things wrong with her and it drives me crazy! Brenden said - Oh, we've made a memory, we won't forget this, so we'll always remember when we visted because now we have a whole story to go along with it. So - now we'll remember!

Needless to say, we're glad everyone is safe! 

Sisters