Monday, June 27, 2011
April in review
With a couple of days left in June, it seems like a fitting time to check out everything that happened in April. Ahem. Here goes:
My first impression of this picture is: what are those clothes? About a month ago, we rotated Leo and Max into 2T and 4T clothes, respectively. The old ones weren't fitting as well (particularly for Leo) and summer called for some more shorts and outdoor wear so now I don't even recognize these outfits. The second impression is: man, those kids are quiet when you throw cookies at them.
Early on in April, we drove up to Almonte to visit with our friends Jenny ("Jenny with the shovels", to Max) and Toby. The two of them had tapped a maple tree on their property and were in the process of making their own syrup. So we got to go out there and check out the operation and see the syrup at about three different stages of processing. Oddly enough, I took precisely 0 pictures with any sort of syrup in them...but feel free to enjoy the above two pictures from the trip.
Yes, this is the 827th picture posted from Sushi Kan, but it underscores that the restaurant is still a big hit with the kids. In fact, I'm already starting to dread Max turning 4 because then we'll have to pay for him. I'll have to sneak Leo in on the sly, I suppose. This is a picture of Max and Maddie getting squirrelly after a face full of yummy Japanese cuisine.
This is the aftermath following round 1 of Max vs. Nutella. I would say he liked it as much as he did peanut butter the first time around:)
This picture makes me think about how the kids have really started playing with each other cooperatively over the past couple of months. Yes, Max teases Leo a lot. Yes, Max still asks me every day how long it is until Leo's nap time and he enjoys playing alone in his room. However, he is often a really good big brother too and teaches Leo lots of things (obviously, we'd like him to skip some of his lessons...HEY LEO, TRY TO STAND ON THIS, e.g.).
Lastly, this is a reference to a picture Grandma took last year (see here). It's crazy to see how kids grow at this time in their lives. Max was like this too, but I have a different perspective on Leo's growth over the past year, given that it covers the time I've been off with him. Did he really look like that a year ago? Were we really writing blog posts about Leo being able to crawl a year ago? NUTS!
Monday, June 6, 2011
Whirlwind weekend
It was a whirlwind weekend of activities at Casa Stardom so I thought we should update our small but loyal group of readers with some photos.
On Friday, Max’s class at preschool had their end of the year field trip at Valleyview Farm. The Farm is a favourite spot for the boys so we knew it would be a big hit.
On Friday evening, we went to a “Spring Fling” fundraising event at Max’s new school, Woodroffe Public School. It was a great opportunity for Max to check out the new digs and get excited about starting kindergarten in the fall. We took part in a fire safety demonstration with firefighters (including fake smoke and evacuation out a window), took in a magic show, ate some BBQ meat, and got a few books at the indoor book sale. Max got a big kick out of watching the dunk tank and a run through a bouncy castle/obstacle course midway ride. Sadly, the line-ups for the ponies and the spinning strawberries were a little too long. Next year! We took no photos for some reason.
On Saturday, Max and I joined Nana, Auntie Melody and Grampa Wayne for some garage saleing in the neighbourhood. There were many treasures looking for new homes and the boys scored a few new-to-them toys, as well as some books to keep them occupied for our road trip to Toronto and Guelph this weekend.
Later on Saturday morning, we joined Max’s preschool gang again for a picnic at Champlain Park, a great park just down the street from Nana and Auntie Karen’s old house. The group included the 2s class as well as the morning and afternoon 3s classes (Max is in the morning 3s) and some children and parents who will be attending next year so it was a big group. The food and the activities were great: face painting, Little Ray’s Reptiles shows, marshmallow bobbing and an obstacle course with handmade felt medals for all of the kids. There is a great play structure there and an empty pool so plenty of places for kids to play.
On Sunday morning, Kerry and I took the boys out to the Robert O. Pickard Environmental Centre, the 3rd largest wastewater treatment facility in Canada and the largest industrial site in Ottawa. We didn’t go underground to experience the 1.7 km network of tunnels (it was 80 steps down with no elevator so that would have been a little tough with the kids) but we saw lots of other cool stuff. There was a great Kid’s Zone area with science experiments, magnetic fishing for invasive species (for prizes – Goldfish crackers!), face painting and crafts inside. Kerry picked up an energy conservation kit for her place. The site is 150 acres so we hopped on an OC Transpo bus for a tour of the site. We saw giant sewage tanks, aeration pools, the pumphouse and other stuff. Max was mainly interested in finding out what happens when we flush the toilet and I think he had that question answered. They also had a display of all of the strange items they have sifted out of the sewer system, including 2 x 4s, Social Insurance Cards, and balls of all sizes. The site was open as part of Doors Open Ottawa, an annual free event that allows visitors to explore various buildings in Ottawa, many of them not open to the general public. We capped off our east end adventure with lunch at Eastside Mario’s. Needless to say, the boys both had long afternoon naps after all of the excitement. A BIG thanks to Kerry for taking the boys out with me and giving John some solo time.
Sunday night, we headed over to Nana and Auntie Karen’s for our regular Sunday night dinner but with a twist. Monday, June 6th is my mum’s birthday so we brought and made a BBQ dinner and enjoyed some cake.
I think we need another weekend to recover from this weekend but it was great.
On Friday, Max’s class at preschool had their end of the year field trip at Valleyview Farm. The Farm is a favourite spot for the boys so we knew it would be a big hit.
On Friday evening, we went to a “Spring Fling” fundraising event at Max’s new school, Woodroffe Public School. It was a great opportunity for Max to check out the new digs and get excited about starting kindergarten in the fall. We took part in a fire safety demonstration with firefighters (including fake smoke and evacuation out a window), took in a magic show, ate some BBQ meat, and got a few books at the indoor book sale. Max got a big kick out of watching the dunk tank and a run through a bouncy castle/obstacle course midway ride. Sadly, the line-ups for the ponies and the spinning strawberries were a little too long. Next year! We took no photos for some reason.
On Saturday, Max and I joined Nana, Auntie Melody and Grampa Wayne for some garage saleing in the neighbourhood. There were many treasures looking for new homes and the boys scored a few new-to-them toys, as well as some books to keep them occupied for our road trip to Toronto and Guelph this weekend.
Later on Saturday morning, we joined Max’s preschool gang again for a picnic at Champlain Park, a great park just down the street from Nana and Auntie Karen’s old house. The group included the 2s class as well as the morning and afternoon 3s classes (Max is in the morning 3s) and some children and parents who will be attending next year so it was a big group. The food and the activities were great: face painting, Little Ray’s Reptiles shows, marshmallow bobbing and an obstacle course with handmade felt medals for all of the kids. There is a great play structure there and an empty pool so plenty of places for kids to play.
On Sunday morning, Kerry and I took the boys out to the Robert O. Pickard Environmental Centre, the 3rd largest wastewater treatment facility in Canada and the largest industrial site in Ottawa. We didn’t go underground to experience the 1.7 km network of tunnels (it was 80 steps down with no elevator so that would have been a little tough with the kids) but we saw lots of other cool stuff. There was a great Kid’s Zone area with science experiments, magnetic fishing for invasive species (for prizes – Goldfish crackers!), face painting and crafts inside. Kerry picked up an energy conservation kit for her place. The site is 150 acres so we hopped on an OC Transpo bus for a tour of the site. We saw giant sewage tanks, aeration pools, the pumphouse and other stuff. Max was mainly interested in finding out what happens when we flush the toilet and I think he had that question answered. They also had a display of all of the strange items they have sifted out of the sewer system, including 2 x 4s, Social Insurance Cards, and balls of all sizes. The site was open as part of Doors Open Ottawa, an annual free event that allows visitors to explore various buildings in Ottawa, many of them not open to the general public. We capped off our east end adventure with lunch at Eastside Mario’s. Needless to say, the boys both had long afternoon naps after all of the excitement. A BIG thanks to Kerry for taking the boys out with me and giving John some solo time.
Sunday night, we headed over to Nana and Auntie Karen’s for our regular Sunday night dinner but with a twist. Monday, June 6th is my mum’s birthday so we brought and made a BBQ dinner and enjoyed some cake.
I think we need another weekend to recover from this weekend but it was great.
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