Some catch-up of summer happenings . . .

Sigh. So the weather has turned significantly cooler over the past couple of days, likely signaling the end of summer. What else does it signal? Sickness season. Personally, I'm super grateful that after Max's early July episode, everyone in the house managed to get their health in order for 9 whole weeks. Things with Max were always slightly worse when either he or one of us was under the weather. The present roll call goes as follows: Max - healthy; Daddy - healthy; Mom - cold-ridden as of yesterday; Leo - runny nose and an apparent post-nasal drip as of tonight. I suppose that's his first sign of sickness. Not too shabby. I seem to think Max's first crazy cold hit on Boxing Day, so about 14 weeks in. I'll have to take a look at the blog to relive those halcyon days. I remember a lot of steam showers, nasal suction and screaming. Yay.

There are a few things that needed covering on the blog before they drift too far into our memories. First up is our first ever family road trip as a foursome. The Saturday before Labour Day, we all piled into the van and set off in the pouring rain to Kingston to visit an old friend of mine and her wife - they were in town visiting from England for the first time in 3 years. When we heard that they'd really have to go out of their way to make it up to Ottawa, it was a no-brainer that we'd make the trip to K-Town.

The early morning departure was timed to coincide with Leo's nap and it worked out beautifully as he managed to stay asleep the whole way down. Just as important, Max managed to stay awake the whole way down without much fuss - have books, juice boxes, food and toy cars, will travel. There were plenty of big vehicles on the 401 to hold his attention too. We pulled into our friend's parents' place (thanks D&H!) in Amherstview just after noon, right on time to enjoy some food and good company (another former dorm neighbour of mine stopped by for a few hours in the early afternoon). Max had a good nap on one of their beds while Leo was very reasonable throughout the day. We capped the day with some vino and delicious pesto pizzas before setting off for home. Leo had a rough trip to Brockville-ish at which point we pulled off at a service station so that Holly could feed him. Aside from a brief blip, he (and all other non-drivers in the car) slept the rest of the way back.

Here are a couple of pictures from the day:



The week before this adventure, we were invited down for 30Fest, the latest in a long series of ____Fests thrown by friends of ours who live south of Ottawa. Despite what we'd heard about some sort of mosquito invasion, we trekked down to check it out. We're quickly learning that the best parties are those with other kids for Max to play with. As of right now, he's got a small clique of favourite playpals (the girls of the STC crew and the mostly male brood from Holly's moms group) and it's always awesome to see him interact with other kids. Fascinating, even. 30Fest featured a pool for the little 'uns, some volleyball for the big 'uns and plenty of corn for everybody. There was also the option to camp out overnight, but I don't think we're quite ready for that yet. Maybe next time. We left with smiles on our faces, food in our bellies and bug bites all over. Holly was attacked through the back of a lawn chair while she was nursing Leo:


We thought that Max had escaped relatively unscathed from the mosquito invasion but alas, we were sadly mistaken. This was taken the morning after:


More party photos:



Max was a BIG fan of the multi-layer bean dip. He really ate a lot of that dip. He seems to like spicy food just like his dad.



Going back in time (think the shimmery scene transitions in Wayne's World), we were at a BBQ with most of the families from Holly's old play group that she used to attend every week with Max. It came at the end of a rough string of days with Leo and, sure enough, if you tell enough people that he's been a little crotchety, he'll go and snooze right through your social event so that you can chat and eat in peace. Thanks mucho, little dude! We hadn't seen many of these friends in quite some time, so it was great to have that opportunity to see how they were doing. It was pretty amazing to see how all of the other little ones have grown up as much as Max. The spread was amazing and the weather cooperated too. In fact, we were having such a good time that we completely forgot to snap pictures, so we only have one to share:


A note about Max's very dirty right foot in this photo - he actually stepped into a wading pool with his shoe on! He then proceeded to march right over to the sandbox and start playing. Luckily those shoes are washable!

A lot of things happened this past week too, but I'll save that for the next post. A teaser: Max has started up at gymnastics and swimming again and both (yes, BOTH) have been a big hit. Evidence that Max is growing: he is now able to stand on the bottom of the small warm pool the parents and kids hit at the end of classes at Dovercourt Rec Centre. Crazy. Next, he'll be in the pool without my supervision or some such nonsense.