Winnipeg in August

Monday the 11th of August, Max bid his uncle adieu in Ottawa. Tuesday the 12th, he met his uncle in Winnipeg. He just couldn't stay away...

Max piled on the airplane charm yet again on his 15th and 16th flight legs, to and from Winnipeg. In fact, Max slept through the entire flight west, allowing mommy to watch a wonderfully schlocky film in its entirety.

The day after arriving, the three of us, along with Max's Winnipeg aunt, uncle and grandma headed out to Sioux Narrows, Ontario, to spend two nights on a houseboat at Tomahawk Resort on Lake of the Woods. Max's aunt Kathy's family owns and runs this spectacular resort and they were extremely generous in extending their hospitality to us. The Resort and lake were both gorgeous! We beached the boat in a secluded bay and proceeded to do all of the following, in some order: swim, tan, read, sleep, eat and hang out. Neither Max nor his parents had ever been on a houseboat, so this was a terrific opportunity - a million thanks to our generous hosts! We even got to go out on a fishing trip with one of the Resort's skilled fishing guides. The Ottawa Stardoms got smoked by the Winnipeg Stardoms to the tune of about 8 keepers to 1. Oh well. Everyone had a wonderful time! Here are some pictures:

Max, Dad and the houseboat


Max exploring on the houseboat


Max sitting in the fish fryer. Oh, if only Mel Lastman could see this picture...


Dad attempting to fish, but being distracted by his tie-dyed junior sailor.


Mom and Max clearly having a good time.


Max attempting to wake up his uncle


After forgiving Max, Uncle M posed with Dad and Grandma for this shot.


On our way back to Winnipeg, we stopped off for a visit with Max's one great-grandmother. We made it a surprise visit and, sure enough, great-grandma was surprised. We arrived as she was having tea and she told another gentleman at her table "that's my great-grandson". (fatherly pride:):) It was a cute moment. Max took a shine to crawling up and down the hallway, hanging on to the wheelchair and playing with (what else) any available cord he could get his hands on. Considering the time of night, Max put on a show and charmed the pants off of everybody. But our night didn't end there! We still had a bit of a commute back to the Peg and some stomachs to fill. We made an emergency stop in Beausejour, MB and ate at pretty much the only place open (Chicken Delight). The bucket o' chicken and perogy pizza at 10 p.m. was at the same time the best decision and the worst decision. Here is the visual evidence of the visit and meal:

Max with Dad and Great-grandma


Max taking control of the world via remote


Everybody in a good mood prior to ingesting a Phelpsian amount of calories at 10 p.m.


When we got back to town, we took in a night of Folklorama, which I believe is touted as the world's largest multiculturalism festival. Different ethnic communities in Winnipeg rent out spaces such as arenas, halls and community centres and put on "pavilions" that feature food, performances and cultural displays. If you're ever in Winnipeg in August, check it out. We went on the closing day, when some pavilions open early, in order to give Max a taste before he turned into a pumpkin. First up was the Brazilian pavilion with its capoeira (now acceptable in Scrabble!), dancers, and delicious food. As Max's uncle said "Who knew the Brazilians would be the first to create zero-gravity?". Max had some rice, danced up a storm and checked out the ladies in full Carnaval regalia. A great start to the evening. Afterward, it was on to the Caribbean pavilion with more yummy food (the hot sauce was actually pretty hot) and fun entertainment...although we were pretty disappointed that the pair of limbo dancers (professionals flown in from Toronto, even) failed to get under the lowest two bar heights. Step your game up! Max was so enthralled by the goings-on that he missed his nap and so we figured he wouldn't be able to get through a third show. Mom and Grandma whisked him away while I headed out to the German beer tent, er, pavilion with Max's aunt and uncle. Zwei Warsteiner bitte! Sehr schoen. Here is a sad video of a failed limbo attempt. Oh, I guess I neglected to mention the bar was on fire. Don't worry, the dancer simply fell down - it's not like she caught fire or something similarly awesome.



We didn't have much time left in Winnipeg after that, but we were able to sneak in a trip to Assiniboine Park to check out a family fun day...too bad Max was indifferent to all of the activities (in another year or two, I'm pretty sure those types of things will totally be a staple of our summer holidays) and the temperature was well into the 30s. We still managed to tour the English gardens and Leo Mol Sculpture Garden. We also squeezed in visits with other family members and an old high school friend (exactly what Facebook was designed for!). We also spent a morning introducing Max to Winnipeg Grandma's colleagues at the University of Manitoba. Max had a great time exploring various offices and hallways and generally putting on another adorable show. We even got swarmed by wasps at a backyard BBQ - right ON! It was great catching up with everybody and many thanks to all for the meals, company and treats!! Here is a last batch of pictures:

Max at the Instruments of the World tent at the park. Why must everything go in the mouth??


Mom and Max in the park...likely just after a snack:)


Max trying out the play structure at the Winnipeg airport. And they said it was for kids 5 and up...pshaw!


Finally, possibly the neatest thing that Max learned to do while in Winnipeg was clap his hands. Here is Max putting his newfound skill to good use while out celebrating a birthday at a German restaurant:

In between big trips

After returning from Orlando, we had a week or so to chill out and get our heads on straight before heading out to Winnipeg. Lots of little adventures happened over the course of this week, starting with a couple of birthdays, moving on to the Ottawa Buskers Festival and then ending with some visiting time with Uncle Murray and a bunch of our friends. Max had a whirlwind week alright. Here are some pictures and commentary.

Our week at home started with a warm greeting at the Ottawa airport...


Yes, she's standing on his head. They proceeded to juggle. Max, sadly, was asleep for this act, but caught some other juggling and sword-swallowing at the Ottawa Buskers Festival.


Max learned to get into his toy chest (check out the awesome hand-painted Noah's Ark scene on the front, courtesy of the multitalented Great Auntie J). Looks like all of that drawer and cabinet opening he did in Orlando means that we will have to redouble our babyproofing efforts.


Daddy with Max at his first pool party. Max's, not Daddy's.


Max continued to experience teething pains after Orlando. After trying teething toys, popsicles and frozen facecloths, a friend's mum (thanks CoCo!) suggested dill pickles. It probably is...for a baby's first tooth. Max managed to use his preexisting bottom teeth to tear into the pickle pretty quickly :)


Cute outfits are the best thing ever. This one makes me think of Tanuki.


At the cottage, Max had the opportunity to hang out on the dock with his elders.


After Daddy went off to Montreal for a day to see Radiohead, he brought back Max's uncle for a few days of good visits.


We should have pieced it together, but with being a 25th percentile baby comes a marvelous little pot belly. Cookie Monster chuckles at Max's newfound rotundness while gobbling all you can eat sushi with Is.


We don't do a lot of brunches. Seriously. But this one weekend, we did a few. Max made some friends at one of them :)

Max in Florida: the finale

By the end of Thursday the 24th, we had finished up with the part of the vacation where everyone did everything together. The next day, we picked up the 12th and final member of our posse at the airport and registered the five men for the Scrabble Nationals. I was playing in the 2nd division, my three coworkers were playing in the fifth (one person) and 6th divisions (two people) and the only non-public servant was actually playing in the top division. Divisions are assigned by ratings so getting the chance to play in the top division is pretty impressive.

The tournament lasted 4 days and had us each playing 28 games of Scrabble. Everyone had a good tournament based on expectations with three of us finishing in the money (the two division 6ers finished 3rd and 10th and I finished 2nd in my division) and four of us leaving the tournament rated higher than when we had showed up. My performance ended up putting me in the top 10 in Canada and top 50 in North America - yahoo! (Dear Max - your daddy is a total geek. Love, Dad.) We had a really good time and might have a date for 2010, when the next edition of the tournament will be held. However, by then Max will be 2 and so he will require his own seat to fly...I smell a roadie.

While all of the nerds were off flexing their cerebral cortexes, everyone else carried on with their wonderful vacation. The moms and kids got to enjoy a lot of pool time in the mornings and then went out for special outings during the days. These included trips to a farmer's market in downtown Orlando, the world's biggest McDonald's (seriously), and a couple of outlet shopping malls. Lots of R&R was had and good deals were found. Holly is an expert bargain shopper so Max ended up with a pile of super-cute new outfits for next to nothing. (Dear Max - your mommy will teach you the definition of "deal". Your daddy will teach you how to anagram it into lead, lade and dale. Love, Dad.)

So that was that for Orlando - a wonderful week of adventures, Scrabble, hot weather and hanging out with friends! Here are some pictures from the back end of our trip.

Here is the whole NSC 2008 posse. Max was the only one unable to stay awake...



Max and daddy chillin' with the director of the National Scrabble Association.



Mom and Max with the star of Supersize Me:)



Max at his most curious. In the background: a typical swatch of hotel room floor in any of the three rooms with babies.



The NSC 2008 posse (minus mommy) chowin' down at Cracker Barrel.



Max practicing for a lucrative future career in the entertainment industry.



Max, pooped after a long day. Note the amusing "bum in air" sleeping pose.

Max in Florida Part 3: Sea World

The best part about doing these long posts in chunks is that when stuff is forgotten, you can fill in the blanks later. I completely forgot to mention on the first post that the day before we left, as we were packing, Max came down with a 102 degree fever. Sweet. Regarding the fever, at least we knew how to handle it this time and we were pretty calm about it. Regarding the trip, I was a little nervous that he'd be a total crankfest on the plane. I think we managed to bat it down to about 99.5 before getting on the plane and he regulated his temperature by the time Day 2 got underway. Side note: this time, Holly opted to attack the fever with a popsicle. I was told to fetch one and grabbed the first thing I laid hands on in the freezer. It turned out to be blue and ended up making Max's tongue, gums, lips and general mouth area pretty blue. We'll stick to yellow or orange in the future.


In any case, day 4 was the one day we chose to take in some theme park action. We decided against the Disney stuff as neither of the babies would have any idea what was going on, but everyone likes animals in captivity (Max is pretty interested in animals too) so off we went to Sea World. It was a super hot day and a busy one too (apparently families go to the Disney Parks earlier in the week and hit Sea World on Thursdays...). We started with a show called "Believe" at Shamu Stadium (like Dolphin Stadium, but cooler for the ladies). A lot of the storyline behind the show was pretty cheesy for the adults, but the stunts were pretty cool. Max was at least looking in the right general direction to see stuff for about 20% of the show, but he didn't run up to me after the show begging to be a whale trainer so I know he didn't actually SEE it.

We split up to tackle the Arctic exhibit and the Kraken roller coaster in two crews. I monitored the pair of snoozing babies in their strollers until everyone caught up. Next was the highlight of the day for the adults: the Anheuser-Busch hospitality building. Given that they own Sea World, they have splattered their name all over video tributes to American Heroes (finding WMDs around the world for you!) and things like this hospitality building with free beer. About 20 international varieties to choose from and an endless supply of air-conditioning. Bring in a dolphin to feed and even the kids will love this building. Spirits replenished, we headed out to feed sharks, see the inside of a massive shark aquarium via a movator, see an otter/sea lion/walrus show, feed dolphins and pet stingrays. By the time we left, we had all eaten, petted, drunk, napped, walked or enjoyed ourselves as much as possible, which made for a good day.












We went back to the hotel to meet up with my fourth and final co-worker joining us (he and his wife and two daughters, one 2 years old and one three weeks younger than Max), who had driven down from Ottawa over the course of the previous week. Once all together, the 11 of us went out to Friendly's, a Perkins-like restaurant which emphasizes its ice cream offerings. After reasonably-sized $7 meals, we all pitched in to buy our friend G the Ultimate Crowd Pleaser for his birthday dessert - a 12-scoop sundae topped with about an inch of a mix of 7 different toppings, 6 Reese's cups and 12 maraschino cherries. Feast your eyes on this bad-boy. We're talking about the sundae.



***THIS JUST IN - Max has successfully climbed our staircase for the first time. On his first three attempts, he averaged 6 or 7 stairs. This time, with one hand wrapped around a big ball of tissue paper, he conquered all 16. Now back to your regularly scheduled program***

After regretting our newfound belly aches, we returned to the hotel for some casual Scrabble and hanging out with our new vacation mates. Perhaps it was the ice cream which knocked Holly and I out, but it was the first night Max chose to sleep through the night. This was convenient timing, given that the first few nights, Holly would retire to the empty room we had booked for those arriving on Thursday when she couldn't get a good enough sleep in our room. Here's one last picture:



P.S. From our west-facing hotel room window, we had a nightly view of the Universal Studios fireworks extravaganza. On my birthday, I pretended it was just for me :)

Happy Birthday, G-Don

I know this blog is about Max but I wanted to send a little birthday shout out to my Grampa Don (known to all as G-Don). G-Don is 85 years young today.

Max, Grampa and I had a lovely meal this morning at our new family breakfast haunt, Kristy's, and then a nice drive around the city with Lawrence Welk playing on the CD player.

I feel incredibly lucky and blessed to have both of my grampas in my life. I know lots of people my age who don't have any grandparents left or who never had living grandparents. It is a real pleasure to see Max interacting with my grampas and seeing the delight that everyone takes in each other's company. Four generations of one family in the same city is definitely something to cherish.

Happy Birthday, Grampa. We love you, you ornery old coot.

Max in Florida Part 2: the beach

I neglected to mention in yesterday's post that in the Orlando airport, there is a Hyatt hotel. In the courtyard (in the airport) outside the hotel, there was a fountain that changed height and flow intensity over time...Max loved this fountain. I'd have taken a video, but it would have just been of Max staring for a long time. I think that, had he not been bounded by his stroller, he'd have crawled right into the fountain. Then, realizing that the fountain was made of cold water, he would have cried a lot. Probably best for everyone that he didn't hit the fountain.

So after everyone who was supposed to arrive on the Monday finally got into town on Tuesday afternoon, we went for a late lunch at a lovely little Thai restaurant in a strip mall near the airport. The place was quite plain from the outside and in a weird location but the food was wonderful (big thanks to Lucky D for treating us to lunch!). Then we hit one of Holly's favourite places from her trip to Boston last Easter, Coldstone Creamery, for some heavenly ice cream concoctions. Holly was in heaven with her cake batter ice cream. After our bellies were fuller than full, we hit the local chain superstore (the biggest of its kind any of us had ever seen with a full grocery store inside) to buy some cheap drinks and snacks for our rooms. The original plan was to do this in order to avoid eating at expensive Disneyfied restaurants. Little did we know that said Disneyfied chains were dirt cheap. Typically, a C/10 note (i.e. $10) covered a meal for one. Or at Ponderosa, a meal for a small famine-ravaged nation. In any case, we stocked up on snacks and foodstuffs and enjoyed a nice laid-back Tuesday at the hotel. (evidence of laid-backness below).




On Wednesday, we decided to take a road trip off to Cocoa Beach, on the Atlantic coast of Florida, just south of Cape Canaveral. The drive out was pretty low-key, aside from the Marco/Polo type calls/responses that came when the 528 turned into the A1A (Beachfront Avenue!!). We pulled off at the first pubic access point (Sheppard Park, I believe) and set up camp. We rented an umbrella and some chairs to get our comfort on and spread out four towels on the sand for the two babies, Max and Maddy. It was a gorgeous day, but the sand was nuclear-hot.

Eventually, the two dads took the two babies out to see the ocean up close. As soon as I put my foot in the water I thought, simultaneously, "Wow, this water feels nice and warm to me", and "Wow, this water is totally not warm enough for Max - expect tears". The sound of the surf weakened the knees of the babies and a little dip sent Max over the edge. The water was so nice (until the jellyfish washed in later in the day:) that I had to stay out there though - go ahead and cling, little boy, I ain't moving!




We spent most of the day out there, getting some sun, nibbling on snacks and feeding the babies - what a great way to spend my birthday! Somehow, both babies got tired at the same time and decided to take a cat nap on the beach. They were out for about an hour! I didn't think it would be possible for them to pass out in that kind of heat, but it was starting to take its toll on the parents too...

(Holly adds: I am hereby nominated for Bad Wife of the Year Award. You know how when you go on vacation, you sometimes lose track of the days and have no idea what actual day it is? Well, I completely forgot that it was a) Wednesday, b) July 23rd or c) my lovely husband's birthday, until someone said something about his birthday at 1:30 PM when we were sitting on the beach. Seriously. Not a word to him until this point. I groveled for the rest of the day and I think he may forgive me sometime this decade.)

For lunch (which ended up counting, calorie-wise, for our next three meals), we went to Sonny's Real-Pit BBQ for a cookout like no other. Ribs. Pulled pork. Mac 'n cheez (told you it was a staple). Green beans with ham (really). Last, but certainly not least, the to-go-cup. Restaurants around there seemed to all offer the to-go cup: a 1L (or more?) carry-away cup of whatever pop or drink you were having with your meal. For free. All of us were hobbling out of the restaurant and so didn't get one...except Holly. Way to go, Mom! That 1.5L of Hi-C pink lemonade likely kept you going on empty calories until the 27th. It should also be mentioned that the staff sang to me over the PA system and gave me a fruit cobbler on the house. I could have died after a spoonful.





(Holly adds: In my defense, I had absolutely NO IDEA how big the free to-go cup was going to be and I thought it might be nice to have some cold lemonade for the ride home. I didn't finish my to-go cup until 10:00 PM that night. Yikes. I can also report that the birthday boy finished two massive cups of Pibb Extra {some sort of Dr. Pepper-like stuff with extra caffeine} before we left the restaurant.)

On the way home from the beach, one of the daily monsoons hit and piles of cars (no, not pile-ups) were pulled over on the shoulder. Eventually, with the wipers on full and everyone driving with their hazards on, we lost all visibility and Holly was forced to pull over too. It took about 20 minutes or so for the rain to pass and then everyone just got back on the road to get to wherever they were going. Thanks to Mother Nature for the white-knuckle driving!!

(Holly adds: It is entirely possible that the stress of the monsoon drive took at least one year off of my life. Seriously. It was a tad bit stressful to be driving in those conditions with a van full of friends and two babies. But we survived.)

Our day ended with more BBQ digestion and a little bit of play time at the hotel. While we were super excited that the hotel was essentially baby-proofed and we could let Max roam to his heart's content, now that we're home, we're realizing what kind of trouble he can get into with all of the slobby mess here at home. Today, we're totally getting on the babyproofing before he destroys another pile of paper... Here's Max getting me cornered between the wall and the bed:



Next up: Sea World.