July - WEEK TWO

Sunday - Kate is 3 1/2.
It seems like her look is changing.  I'm not quite sure how to put the change into words but she's getting bigger, looking older.  I did a little interview with her - the birthday questions, and then thought, really, am I really going to do this on every half birthday as well?  Do I want to add another thing to the list of things to keep up with?  That said, I'm not even sure where the piece of paper with the questions and answers is right now.

I love my Kate so much.  I love the crazy conversations we have.  I love our cuddles.  I love it when she and Alice are so cute together.  I love what a sponge she is.  I love teaching her things and seeing how she processes new information and makes connections to things. 

Sisters!

Alice is pretty cute too!

Monday - Bizzy Bees.
The last time I took the girls to Bizzy Bees Alice couldn't quite crawl up the stairs of the main play structure.  Today, there was no containing her.  She was off. 

The last time I took the girls to Bizzy Bees I didn't have to pay for Alice because she wasn't walking.

Tuesday - Swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's.
I didn't bring my camera.  I'm not sure how I would take pictures and take care of the girls in the pool.  As it is, swimming with the girls in the pool is a two adult job. (Thank you Grandma!)  Perhaps one of these days we'll swim when Ken comes as well and then we'll take pictures.  Alice just loves the water.  Kate likes it too, but Alice is just so comfortable in the water.

Wednesday - Zorana and Ciaran picnic in the beaches.
Today I took the girls downtown and met up with Zorana and Ciaran.  We had a lovely picnic in the shade beside the wading pool.  (Well except that between trying to put food into the girls I never did eat my lunch - until the ride home that is.)

Kate and Ciaran are so cute together.

I think this was the only picture of Alice and you can see Zorana sitting down on the other side of the house.

Kate loves this park.  I wish it was closer to our house.

 

Zorana and I love making our kids hug and taking pictures.  I wish Zorana and Ciaran lived closer!

Thursday - Wonderland with Uncle Andrew and teacher friends.
Kate was so excited.  Alice was Alice.  The trip to Wonderland involved a big group - Jodi, her nephew Aidan, Kathryn, Diane, her kids Luke and Maya, Annette, Chris, her daughter Olivia, myself, Kate, Alice and Uncle Andrew.  We started out trying to all go on the same rides and stay together. We managed to keep the group somewhat together for a bit but slowly sort of went our different ways.
We drive past Wonderland all the time so it was fun to actually go in.  Kate is the perfect age for the kiddie rides.  Alice, not so much.  Alice enjoyed herself, but Kate, she loved it - I think she could go back weekly.  Perhaps next summer we'll get passes... maybe?!  It was a really fun day. 

Jodi and Aiden

Annette, Jodi and Aidan

Uncle Andrew paid for us to see the dinosaurs.  They were really cool.  The girls were a little scared, but they did okay.

Friday - Passport Office - AGAIN.  After being warned that Kate's photo would probably be rejected, we received a phone call on Thursday confirming that we needed to have a new photo taken.  Both the girls fell asleep on the way home from Wonderland so we went out after dinner to Upper Canada Mall and had Kate's photo re-done.  I was so paranoid about the picture that the people in Black's gave me three different photos to take to the passport office.  Alice had an early nap on Friday so after she woke up we drove down to Brampton and thankfully one of the photos was deemed acceptable.  After the passport fun we went to Chapter's to buy birthday presents for Thomas and Isaac.  Chapter's is a really fun place to hang out with the little people. 

Saturday - Chris McLaughlin's Funeral, Lunch - Mandarin, Hung out with Laura and Joaquin, Played at Woodbine Beach.
Today was bittersweet. It was lovely to see family and to think about fond memories with Chris.  There was a small service at the grave in Aldershot.  (Chris McLaughlin was my mother-in-law's best friend and honourary member of the McCartney clan.  It wasn't a family event unless Chris was there!) We brought the girls and they were quiet for a little bit, but then I had to walk away so that we wouldn't disturb the service.  Chris did love Alice and Kate very much and was always very sweet with them.  After the service it was Chris's wish that we all go to lunch at the Mandarin in Burlington.  It was a lovely gathering, I just kept feeling like Chris should be there with us enjoying it.  I wonder if you get to watch your funeral?

After lunch we went to hang out with Laura, Joaquin, William and Dexter their new dog.  Kate kept calling Dexter "Texter" which I found very amusing.  Poor Alice got knocked over a few times by Dexter. 

When Alice was no longer fit to be awake we left.  Kate of course fell asleep too.  While driving home I decided that I wanted to do QEW to the 427 for fun.  Lately we always go up the 410 when coming home from the Hamilton area.  As we were getting closer to Toronto Ken suggested we actually go downtown.  After thinking about it for a few minutes we decided that we'd go for it and we thought we'd actually try to go to the Island.  If you're going to park and go to the Island, bring cash!  Neither of us had cash, so we went to Woodbine Beach instead.  We walked along the boardwalk for a while and then went to the water.  Kate loves throwing rocks in the water.  She and Alice played in the rocks and sand for.. a long time.  They had so much fun.  We eventually dragged them away, made a pit stop to change and then drove home. 

July - WEEK ONE

Sunday - Canada Day
I think that cupcakes are important and should be appropriately incorporated into all celebrations.  I'm not sure what exactly they have to do with Canada Day but they were so cute!

Kate has been talking about fireworks on and off for a year.  We didn't go see any fireworks in May  but we heard them.  Kate talked to the fireworks like they were a person and told them (this was in May) to be quiet.  Tonight she fell asleep but we dragged her out anyway.  Kate and I watched the fireworks from the back of the van.  Ken and Alice ventured into the parking lot adjacent to the funeral home pictured below.  In my opinion it was a great location.  Kate enjoyed the fireworks a lot.

And she fell back asleep before we got home.

Monday - Shawn and Cooper came to visit and I have absolutely no photographic evidence, stinkers!  It's always fun to visit with Shawn.  Cooper and Kate mostly ignored each other.  Cooper had fun playing with Kate's toys.  It was a spur of the moment play date and I'm glad that Shawn drove up to visit!  (Ken decided to work today and take off Wednesday.)

Tuesday - We went to Walmart in Bradford and I went to the eye doctor - not very exciting, except that we ran into my friend James and his daughter Audrey.  It was fun to chat with him for a minute.

Wednesday - Zoo trip with most of the Closson Family - Taunia, her Mom, William, Lydia and Darby.  (We bought a second hand BOB stroller from a friend on the way to the zoo)  Ken decided that he would take off the 4th now that he's working for an American company.  That way he figured we could do a zoo trip and avoid some crowds.  It was still pretty busy but not crazy.  We had a fun zoo trip.  Kate LOVED hanging out with Lydia.  Lydia was so great with Kate. 

Oh and incidentally, if you need to take passport photos, I wouldn't recommend taking them after walking around the hot zoo all day.  Especially if you're getting the 3 year old's photo done and her face is shiny (more on that later).

Thursday - Kate had a fever, and cried when she peed first thing in the morning so I immediately assumed the worst and we went to the Doctor in the afternoon.  Thankfully it was nothing.  We had the missionaries for dinner.

Friday - Kate still had a fever Friday but wasn't really doing too poorly so I thought I would go ahead and take the passport forms down to Brampton.  So down we drove to Brampton, went into the passport office and got in line.  When we arrived at the window to be processed and given a number I couldn't find the photos.  I assumed that I'd dropped them in the van.  I went to the van and couldn't find them.  Sweet Ken then decided to drive down to Brampton and bring me the photos.  I took the girls to walk around the temple and wait for Ken.  We had fun playing in the fountains.  I wish I had brought the camera.  Ken then drove the girls home and I went back to the passport office and the women who processed the forms warned me that Kate's photo would probably be rejected because of the glare.  (Glare, seriously?!)

Saturday - Kate's fever is gone!  We had a lazy morning and decided after Alice's nap to go to Fairy Lake and McDonald's - sometimes a late start to the day is just bad news bears.  Kate was almost totally inconsolable, but she pulled it together and we did actually have some fun. Here is Ken pushing the girls in the stroller - it is heaven.

We ended our day with a stop for groceries in Schomberg which meant that we had to go to the Donut Store (Tim Horton's) to get Timbits.

Canada-Day Eve

We had a ward picnic in Innisfil and then a family-help-out in Waterdown.  Sadly the pictures weren't very exciting.  We did lots of driving, the girls were slightly nutso, but all in all it was a good day.  And oh my goodness, I'm done, I'm done, I'm done.  Now I get to be a Mommy for two whole months. 

A Mid-week Trip to Barrie

Sometimes you need to go to Barrie on a school night with two small children.  So you go and you make the best of it, and it isn't so bad. 

Puddles