May round-up

Eventually, I'll get caught up with these pictures. Likely not this month though. Here's May.


May marked the first time that Max was left alone at another child's birthday party. Technically, Holly wasn't going to leave him there, but when all the other parents ditched, she felt weird sticking around. So out she went. The party was held at 4Cats, a children's art studio in the neighbourhood we lived in when we first moved to Ottawa. The studio has lots of cool programs for kids and for birthdays, they let kids go bananas in the splatter room à la Jackson Pollock. A canvas on the wall is sent home with the birthday kid. After the party, Max came to the prize ceremony at my Scrabble tournament...thankfully, he hadn't washed up yet! Max is registered for a few workshops at the studio in August and September

The kids on their 26th (estimated) trip to the Aviation Museum. Possibly the first day that I might be fooled if I didn't know my kids and someone told me Leo was the older brother.

One of our best recent investments - the Strider bike. Max was having some difficulty pedaling a tricycle, which made going long distances on foot with both boys a little tricky. In the late winter, Max started doing a drop-in class at the local Rec Center where kids could learn to get around on these "push bikes" - two-wheel bikes that kids move by walking. Eventually they pick up enough steam to just lift their feet and coast...if they can balance. It took Max 3 or 4 tries to be able to get all the way to the library and back in reasonable time, something that he would never have been able to do on foot. It took him about 5 more outings to figure out how to balance. Now, he's a regular pro at coasting and he has actually been on one 3 km trek with me to one of his playgroups at the end of June.

Here's Leo, trying his hand at balancing things while waiting for service at a diner in town. Note to self, if Leo can stack and destroy 43 times over, the service is too slow and we should not go back to that restaurant.

It seems like half the big cities and small towns in Canada have these sorts of painted things all over town from cows to fire hydrants to mailboxes. These wooden tulips come out every year around Tulip Festival time. Here's Max, posing with one depicting Parliament Hill.

Here's Max, making his first batch of peanut butter cookies. Jenn from Toronto was running the show, although she ducked out of the frame of this shot. Verdict: the cookies were delicious.


So Max and I went to the first birthday party I'd been to that had been organized by the parents and just put every idea I've ever had to shame. The bar has been set high by this space party. Handmade helmets for all of the kids. A star scavenger hunt in the backyard. A bike ride "trip to the moon". A 5-foot-tall nosecone in the backyard for kids to sign as a card. A lunar landscape cake made by the grandmother. And the centerpiece, a handmade space shuttle pinata. I think this is what all birthday parties are supposed to be like, from a kid's perspective. From a parent's perspective, it seemed pretty intense. I have no idea how long they were ironing out the details, but the birthday boy was loving it.

It's funny - back when I took this picture, it was one of our first sunny days and I had thrown Max in this outfit for Beach Day at preschool. Now that it's summer a) he wears this type of thing all the time, so it looks like a normal picture and b) Leo is the one who wears this swim top. Crazy.

Back in May, our great friend Kerry ran a try-a-tri and murdered it. We all went out to cheer and had a blast high-fiving at the finish line. While waiting for Kerry to finish, we also scored a lot of fun, sunny cuddle moments like this one.

One fine day in May, we took in some sheep-shearing at the Ag Museum with the Screids. We showed up just in time for the final shearing, which was perfect as they saved the big ram for last. I don't know how strong the shearer was, but it was surely STRong, if not STROng. Start to finish, it took about 5 minutes and the giant hunk of wool that came of was worth about $6, if memory serves. In any case, it was just another one of those things that the kids and I all experienced for the first time together.


We were cheering on a friend who was running the marathon for National Capital Race Weekend, so of course, we busted out our orange regalia for the event. For whatever reason, Dovercat was at the spot we had chosen for cheering. I guess he/she/it was celebrating the race route coming close to our neighbourhood for the first time too.


Finally, we also Touched-a-Truck for the second consecutive year. This year's event was really wet and the kids got pretty soaked. I managed to keep their feet dry except when Leo snuck out of the Bookmobile through the side door and beelined right for a massive puddle. Oh well. Here, the boys are "driving" a dump truck and a crane. Afterwards, we went inside the mall next door to watch a strongman demonstration and ride mini-ATVs around a road safety course (I'm hoping to get that video up pronto - it's a riot).

The Stardoms do Canada Day on Parliament Hill

Despite the promise of very large crowds and scorching weather, we decided to head downtown for Canada Day. Max wanted to see Will and Kate and John and I were curious as well. We weren't planning on going onto Parliament Hill but the gates opened just as we were walking by so we went for it. We got a nice piece of lawn and the boys were super, super patient while we waited an hour or so for the big show to begin at noon. It was quite the show, with the pomp for Will and Kate, a very low and loud fly-by of CF-18s, the Snowbirds, Cirque du Soleil-style acrobatics, and very good music on stage. We stayed for almost an hour of the show and had a very good view of the Duke and Duchess. Then it got way too hot and crowded so we bid a hasty retreat. All in all, it was an experience that I will never forget and that is saying something for someone who mostly avoids Canada Day in Ottawa altogether.



Our first stop as we headed up Sparks Street to the festivities was a great display by the Currency Museum. They told us to come back later for more games and treats as they were just getting set up.


A wee picnic before the Hill got much more crowded.






The boys finally hitting their heat and patience limits. We left VERY shortly after this photo was taken.



Free ice cream in the blissfully cool garden atrium to cap off our time downtown - many, many thanks to the Currency Museum.

We spent the early evening at Kerry's for a delicious BBQ and then early to bed to get ready to head to the cottage in the morning for Leo's birthday and family extravaganza. More photos and stories to follow!

My boys are moving out :(

Gradually, at least. Two days ago, Max started daycare. Yes, I'm still home. Yes, Max is not yet in school. However, over the next two months, there will be a lot of changes in Max's life (including introduction to daycare, introduction to school and having Leo crash his space when the two boys start sharing a room). We felt like spacing these events out as much as possible would probably help ease any trauma that the changes in Max's routine might cause.

The daycare is a facility that cares for JK-Grade 6 kids from 7:30 in the morning until 5:30 in the afternoon. While it is located in a school, it's not the school Max will be attending. The daycare and Max's future school, though, have an arrangement whereby kids are bussed to the daycare at the end of the school day ("day" should be in quotes, given that Max is done his "day" sometime around 11:00 in the morning).

The caregivers/educators (still not sure what exactly they're called) in the daycare center work with the kids using an emergent curriculum approach, so they encourage kids to learn through play, in particular using playthings that fit into what the kids are currently interested in (bugs and pirates are on the list at the moment). I'm not sure if Max cares too much about all that, but he does care that they have lots of Mega Blocks, a big play house and a bunch of books.

Max's daily schedule (for now) is: arrive at 9, play, eat lunch, have rest time, play outside (weather permitting), eat snack, play, get picked up at 4. Some days of the week are designated special days, such as Wednesday pizza lunch days, Thursday special event days and Friday water play days. For example, yesterday morning Max and the rest of the kids were visited by Dr. Kaboom the magician and his traveling petting zoo and pony rides. Eclectic.

I was a little surprised that the careducators pretty much said nothing about his day after day 1 - Max's previous caregiver and preschool teachers were always full of information about Max's day. However, it is a big bonus that Max is now old enough to remember a lot of what happened during the day so I can at least get some details. Even if they're filtered through the brain of a 3-year-old. Max apparently cried a bit for me in the afternoon of day 2, but still speaks highly of the place so we'll probably visit 3 times next week.

It's a little sad to be reminded at this point that the end of my stay-at-home adventure is not that far off. I'll try my best to get some quality time with both boys before they're squired away in care for the next year. It probably won't be that hard, given that the weather has been super awesome lately. Well, except on day 1 of daycare (see below).

Road Trip – June 2011 Edition

John was once again invited to play in the Canadian National Scrabble Championships, a biennial (or so) tournament that takes place in Toronto. It had been a while since our last excursion to Toronto (in fact, it was the weekend before Leo was born) so we decided to all go down together as a family to take the opportunity to visit family and friends in Toronto and Guelph.

We left Ottawa at about 11:30 am on Friday. Leo started to nod off about 20 minutes into the trip so we made a quick decision and pulled off the 416 to have a picnic at a Rideau Valley Conservation Area site. We had hoped to make it a bit further before stopping but it worked out fine. The sun was shining, we had some good food packed in our mini-cooler and the boys were fascinated by the caterpillars on our picnic table. Leo kept trying to feed the closest caterpillar to him. Perhaps an homage to The Very Hungry Caterpillar? Leo was asleep shortly after we got back on the road and Max and Holly quickly followed suit. John got bogged down in construction around Kingston, but the kids cooperated and managed to hang in there until we got to a rest stop near Trenton. We enjoyed some treats and truck watching there and then made it the rest of the way to Toronto. The traffic was fine until we hit the Don Valley Parkway but even then, it was reasonable. We arrived at our friend Jenn’s place at about 5:45 pm. John had time to unload the van and get us settled in before heading off for his first games. Jenn and I took the boys out for a walk and a sushi meal at a neighbourhood place. I eventually got the boys down for sleep around 10:30. Yikes.


All ready for a few hours in the van.


Leo and his caterpillar friend.
On Saturday morning, the boys got up at their usual time (before 7 am) and we had breakfast with John before he left for the day. We soon set off for a packed day of adventures – riding on the “buses with sticks” (streetcars), touring Little Italy, finding ground cherries for Max, browsing Kensington Market, eating outside at a restaurant called The Grilled Cheese, and seeing the Toronto edition of World Naked Bike Ride Day go by. Max thought that The Grilled Cheese was really, really funny – “Daddy, we ate a place that only served ONE thing! Can you believe it?” The grilled cheeses were absolutely divine – the boys devoured one with tomatoes, spinach, and black olive tapenade and Jenn and I shared one called the Beast with all sorts of toppings and another one with assorted mushrooms. Grandma, you would have LOVED that one! The sandwiches were served with chips and giant dill pickles so the boys were in heaven.






After a park visit, we headed back to Jenn’s and packed up for our next visit – our friends Greg and Isabella in another part of downtown Toronto. I got a little bit lost on the way (I blame the summer construction!) with the added bonus that both boys fell asleep on the way over. I got a choice parking spot directly in front of their place so we left the windows rolled down and let the boys sleep in there while we sat outside and caught up. And sleep they did! They both napped for over two hours. After they woke up and had a quick tour of the inside of the house (including, of course, a survey of the toys), we headed off to the park just down the street from their place while Greg slaved away on a gourmet dinner. By the time we got back, John had arrived. We had a wonderful dinner and the boys were in great spirits despite the hour. I eventually headed to bed with Leo around 10 pm.


Sadly, no pictures of Greg or Is but we got this one of Leo making himself at home on their couch.
On Sunday morning, we packed up again to head to Guelph to visit Krysta and Steven. We put the car seats in Steven’s truck and headed out for lunch at A&W and THEMUSEUM in Kitchener. The museum has an awesome special exhibit on – Animal Grossology – about all kinds of bodily fluids. Leo especially loved the giant cow that burped and farted and Max loved the toilets with poop in them. You could climb through an octopus’ intestinal tract, match the animal with its poop, and take a quiz on different colours of animal blood. There was also a demonstration of different animal scents that Krysta and I participated in – yuck! The rest of the museum is amazing too with a planetarium, a giant room filled with foam Lego blocks, a toddler area for the little ones, and tons of hands-on activities. If you are ever in Kitchener with kids, don’t miss this place!













After a quick dinner and birthday cake for Steven in Guelph, we headed back to Toronto to pick up John. After two late nights and long days of adventure, the boys were a little cranky but finally settled down to sleep in the van for the ride home. We got back to Ottawa at about 12:30 pm. It was a looooooooooooooong weekend but a really great trip. Thanks to everyone who hosted us!!!!