Drapereses gone wild!

Well sorta. We actually just took on the Presqu'ile Provincial Park for a couple of nights - not really the wilderness, but it did involve sleeping outdoors for two nights with only a high-tech six-man tent between us and the critters.

What I really love about camping is that Mark instantly transforms himself into Crocodile Dundee and remains so for the duration of the trip. Khaki shorts, shirt, hat, probably undies too.



Inside of aforementioned tent. Lots of room for all of us and Mark and I could easily stand up in the middle - a drastic change from the one-and-a-half man tent (creepy visual) we slept in across America. Isaac kept rolling off his foam into the extreme corner of the tent, his face mashed up against the walls of the thing, so I'd do a quick check a couple of times a night to see if he was breathing. In this photo, we are trying to convince the kids to take their naps:



Isaac got to play with his pal Sawyer, who is five weeks older than him. Play is a strong word. Shove things at each other and occasional hair-pulling (because Sawyer can't get him back) is a more apt description, I think.



Our campsite faced out onto this lovely view: Lake Ontario never looked more like an ocean.



Logan and Gabrielle gettin' funky with glowsticks...



Let's all look out at the waves and contemplate the nature of reality. Or at least what we're going to have for lunch.



The day we were leaving, we managed to get Isaac down for his morning nap. Oh so very cozy - man, I wish I could sleep like that.



Angie and her little man Declan.

Early days in locomotion

He's progressed a lot since this was taken - he can now get across the room in about 4 seconds, but I thought I should post this for posterity. He's still doing the wounded soldier routine - dragging one leg under him - but if he's ok with it, so are we.

Gabrielle Jiggs?

As I mentioned previously, Gabrielle has a bit of an obsession with Jillian Jiggs. I thought it would be fun to get her to paint some boxes like Jillian does in her first book. I bought the paints but we never got around to doing it. One day I came home from work and found out Mark had organized this arts 'n crafts session during the day. Fantastic bit of parenting!



Gabrielle with her source reference material: "Does my box look like Jillian's?"

The Big Move

Hey, I'm only a month behind in my blogging - I'm catching up!



This has been a crazy month. Maybe they're all crazy and I just haven't gotten used to it yet. Anyways, the packing happened simultaneously with our taking possession of the new house and the doing of some small cosmetic changes to it as well as Bluesfest (oh horror!) We got it all done but it was stresssssssssful! At one point, I had to tape G's mouth closed in order to concentrate on the task at hand (see above).



The Wallis House, right before the move. We left the TV plugged in until the very last minute. Bye bye condo, we'll miss your big rooms and beautiful walls...



The new house, 10 hours x 3 strapping young men later. We love the sunlight and cross breezes...



First drop in guest: Anna (and Marc)! Who can resist Gabrielle??



Pat and Jane made the long journey to see the new digs (and the kids, I suppose...). Nice to have guests - will be even nicer once we get the guest room set up. It's on the never-ending list of stuff to do...

Picture-perfect parenting moment

Awesome Amelia and Bluesfest

Gosh, I'm so behind on the blogging. Amelia's visit seems like months ago but it was actually early July, the day after Bluesfest started. No coincidence there - she and I have talked about Bluesfest in the past and I was determined to bring her to a few concerts. This year, we made it happen (courtesy of her generous parents).



Speaking of generous, she arrived with armloads of gifts, including this stylin' get-up for Gabrielle, as well as a book that G can't get enough of: Jillian Jiggs. As it turns out, my capacity for Jillian Jiggs is much smaller than Gabrielle's - I find 2-3 readings a day about all I can handle. She prefers a much larger number.



I had a blast with my little niece. I taught her everything I know about how to act cool (see picture above).



The kids didn't enjoy Bluesfest quite as much as we would have liked. On this particular day, there was quite a bit of grumpiness, which necessitated pacifiers plugged-into their mouths for most of the day. Gabrielle found this day too loud. On subsequent visits down, she and Mark headed to quieter stages (and he bribed her with junk food. Oh yes, she LOVES Bluesfest now...).



I have lots of pictures of Mark walking around like this. She reverts a bit when she's grumpy.



And the big good-bye. Amelia was an incredible help to us in the period just before our move and the kids loved her. Mark and I merely tolerated her.

;-)))

Ben's visit in August!

Hm... maybe he doesn't need his own room after all

We were visiting the new house before we moved in one day and Isaac very clearly needed a nap.
Hall closet floor + curtains = cozy nest! (We were just hoping the new neighbours didn't poke their noses in to say hello at that moment. Clearly they could be forgiven for thinking we were lousy parents.)

Playdate with Celydia

In the last few months of daycare, Gabrielle made a friend named Celydia (pronounced Sa-lid-ia). According to the daycare ladies, those two became joined at the hip at school, doing most things together. The funny thing is that the two almost couldn't be more different, physically. Even though they are basically the same age, Celydia is teeny-tiny - easiest the smallest kid in her class - and dark-skinned. G was the largest kid in her class and the palest too. We decided to meet up for a playdate in the park so the two of them could try to continue their friendship.



A rousing chorus of "Ring around the Rosie" to start things off.



Chatting in the stroller. I meant it when I said they are a study in contrasts.



Celydia holding onto G's belly for dear life at the splash pad.



Mark took the opportunity to cool Isaac down on one of the water jets. Hard to tell but I don't think Isaac much liked it.



But he always forgives us.

Saving water

Help! Killer Bees!

Nest of wasps on the Rogers junction box at the new house means no internet connection until this Thursday, a full TWO WEEKS from the day we moved! Much uploading of photos and cute stories will follow soon afterwards, I promise.

Meanwhile, we are DYING for news from the outside world...

Canada Day in the 'burbs

Mark and I did what we used to laugh at others for doing: we spent Canada Day at Britannia Park (a.k.a. the deep suburbs). What can we say - it's kid-friendly and full of stuff for them to do. At least we arrived in urban style - we packed the kids into the Chariot and rode over on our bikes. (full disclosure: we actually drove our car to our new house, then got on our bikes and rode the last 8k or so over to the park. Not quite as hardcore as we used to be.)



Gabrielle on her perennial fave, the carousel.



Mark got her to try something new: the spinning strawberries. They rode with Dan and his fearless daughter Naya. Apparently G cried quite a bit during the harrowing ride.



Then it was time for her to try a solo ride, at least one without adults. She and Naya rode this little choo-choo that reached a top speed of 2 km/hr, I reckon. G loved it, Naya almost fell asleep. After this great success we put them in the flying bees ride together. G was pulled out of it by the ride supervisor even before it began - he could tell that the pre-ride tears didn't bode well. Naya's so cool - she loved the bees and then went on to ride the big kid rides with her dad. This fear of rides thing is so obviously genetic - Mark and I both avoid rollercoasters - can the cycle be broken??



Finally, she rode the ponies - this one was named Peanut, according to her. There was alot of whimpering from her throughout.



One thing she loves to do is eat, preferably junk food. She basically stole this caramel apple out of my hands and wouldn't give it back. Naya may be a pro on the rides but no one eats like our G.

Where did that year go?

Here is G on the morning of her last day at daycare:



And here she was on her first day:



She's gone from toddler to little girl ("I'm a big girl!!" she yells at me) in the span of a year.

Doppelganger!

We found this little guy at the gym daycare and Isaac took to him immediately. I almost took him home by accident - I really found them quite similar in appearance.

Gal pal or more?

Isaac and I spend alot of time with my BFF Natalie and her daughter Alix, who is almost exactly 3 months Isaac's junior. Mostly we go to the gym while the kids nap side by side at the daycare, but they might be bonding - who knows?



"You're cute."
"No, you're cute."
"No, you."

G's last day of daycare

Today was Gabrielle's last day of daycare. I actually cried, I have no idea why. I guess it's one of those "end of an era" things, but it really was so nice knowing G was happy and making friends, learning stuff, etc. Her wonderful teacher Suzie made this amazing movie to document Gabrielle's year at the Andrew Fleck Daycare. I'm so grateful to have this...



I'm afraid due to copyright issues, the video may only be viewable to those watching it in Canada.

There's a right way and a wrong way to use a jolly jumper

The right way - notice Isaac's proper and elegant jumping form:



The wrong way - I'm pretty sure this voids the warranty but it sure is fun (and contains an important lesson in physics at the end):

Mark is officially old

Mark's 40th birthday started with the traditional off-key singing of the Happy Birthday song...



We then hopped in the car to go to Montreal to ride the Tour de l'ile (cold, wet, unfinished). My parents took care of the kids while we were gone, which was the best present of all. Thanks folks!



Isaac manages to get a word in with my dad.



They had a great time together once Isaac figured out my father has tons of chest hair to pull...

Followed by even more off-key singing of the Happy Birthday song:



And then the final indignity - a party with our friends at the Casino a week later:



Happy Birthday Husband! Smooch!

First face paint!

Gabrielle and I went to the Ottawa International Children's Festival this year. We got there a bit late on its last day, so the only thing left to do was watch buskers and get her face painted. This was unlike any face painting I had ever seen or heard of before. It's a group of women from Quebec City called Kromatik who do face painting as performance. A group of around 20 kids stand in a big circle and then the women walk around and paint the children's faces, seemingly at random, and as inspiration hits. Each child looks radically different from one another at the end. One will do the hair, another sponge on the colour, another will walk around with sparkles, etc. And they don't take requests. The little girl next to Gabrielle asked to be a fairy. The woman told her, point blank, that they do what *they* like, not what *you* like. Poor kid was choking back tears after that. Anyways, luckily G had no real expectations of the experience and even though she was a bit nervous each time one of the artistes came around, she stuck in there.

Above, the first woman sprayed her hair into 3 sharp spikes. It was later sprayed orange and red with black polka-dots.





The finished look. Tres cirque du soleil, n'est-ce pas?

Who's cute?

Isaac is, that's who.

Hilarious/Disgusting

Chocolate ice cream + toddler + 35 degree heat = Tide commercial.

Spring nature walk

WARNING: Video contains fighting ducks.

I chose this myself!

She chose it, she wore it, I didn't want to fight.

Here come the earmuffs...

...it must be time for Bluesfest!



Gabrielle shows Isaac how all the cool kids are wearing protective hearing devices.