Typical summer weekend

Wow, our weather finally cooled off a little. It has been a hot summer!

I will eventually post pictures and stories to go with some more of our summer adventures (Alaskan cruise, trip to the cabin at Yale), but in the mean time, I thought I would sum up our weekend.

As usual, it was great!

FRIDAY
Max and I start our weekend on Friday morning. We usually start with swimming, but after we had such a great time watching the One Woman Circus at the Harmony Arts Festival on Wednesday, I thought we would go check out Bobs & Lolo. Bobs & Lolo seem to be very popular, but honestly, I have never heard any of their music or seen any of their shows. What a great opportunity to see them and find our for ourselves.

It was considerably busier than Wednesday had been, which was surprising, considering it had cooled off a little and looked a little like rain.

Max seemed to enjoy the show, well, when he wasn't distracted by the water and rock fountain that he had so much fun playing in on Wednesday. Of course I made sure that I had an additional change of clothes. He actually spent a lot of time standing up and asking me to get up so we could go to the water...

So, guess where we ended up? The fountain is perfect for kids. It is very very shallow (maybe an inch deep), with a really shallow windy river and a bridge and a few rocks built into the structure. It's great and obviously meant for kids to play in. Considering how cool it was, I am a little surprised at the number of kids that were playing in it, but Max got right in there as well. I am sure there are a few parents that were not as happy that I was letting him get his clothes all wet, as they were trying to discourage their kids from going in, splashing each other and generally getting really wet and cold. If I had not had a change of clothes, we would have had to try and avoid the fountain all together, but Wednesday had me ready for it. I think we'll probably have to avoid this area all winter though.

Of course Friday afternoon is spent with Grandma & Grandpa, although this week Max was missing Brandon.

SATURDAY
More of the Harmony Arts Festival, wow! What a fabulous kids day they had set up. We watched Beverly and the Billionaires, which was rather entertaining. Again it looked like rain, so the show wasn't nearly as busy as I expected it to be and Max and I got great front row seats (well, easy to get in and out of) and easy for Max to see as he spends a lot of time in the beginning just holding on and watching. This is particularly interesting to see, as he requests the songs that we saw performed again and again as soon as we get into the car to go home. Or to go anywhere.

I did not get many pictures, but we met a huge orca mascot and that was cool because Max is usually quite fearful of them. He shook the orca's hand, but really did not want to stick around for too long in that area.

There was also a bubble blowing station, a chalk sidewalk, a poster, a wand making station (we skipped out on this one), and various craft stations.

We walked down on the beach, on the rocks and the sand and then Max caught sight of the train on the playground and that was it. The train was where we spent the rest of our morning. Oh, and watching the kites. There were a few of them flying around, so Max had fun watching those.

The morning was so full of activity that Max fell asleep in the car... I can't remember the last time he did that.

Max and I spent the afternoon driving around and exploring various appliance stores looking for an upright freezer. As un-exciting as that may sound, I think Max had fun, as we spent at least half the time we were in each store, running around and/or playing with something.

Direct liquidation has some great couches for practicing climbing and sitting and has great mazes for getting stuck and chasing each other.

Sears outlet has really nice wide aisle's for chasing and dancing. We opened and closed the doors of every single fridge/freezer we could find. Sometimes twice.

We went to a few places on United Way in Coquitlam (I can't remember the store names) and did the same... opened and closed doors, although one store was mostly furniture, and they were clearing it out, so it really was a maze to get around in and out.

Bad news is, we didn't find an upright freezer, but the good news is, we may have some more fun one day when we look again. Or I may give up and just end up ordering one from Sears, they seem to have the best price. I'll take any suggestions!

SUNDAY
We got up and it was pouring! We actually slept in a little, which is nice, but definitely throws a kink in our morning as far as getting in something before the munchkin naps.

As we were coming up with things to do and getting ready in general, we realized... the munchkins feet had grown right out of his sneakers! Well, he's been wearing sandals for most of the summer (and occasionally flip-flops) so it didn't quite happen overnight, but it certainly feels like it. Funny thing is, just the other day I was looking at his feet and commented on how big they were starting to look. uuuggh, I LOVE cute little baby feet, but as his feet grow, I'm finding I love them just as much. They may not be as cute, but I still love his cute toes.

Plans changed: shoe shopping for the munchkin. I HATE SHOPPING. So it is always a good thing when I have company. Ross is not a big fan of shopping either, so it works out quite well. I find time and time again that our local Wal-Mart seems to have the best deals on kids shoes. I also find it nice that their sizes are fairly consistent. The shoes we had before were B.U.M. kids and it was easy to just look for the same brand, one size up. Not so easy to find, I think we might have had 2 options, but one was on sale and I liked it better. So we stuck with the one pair and headed off to the dinosaur exhibit at Metrotown.

All the posts and info you read is correct: it is a small exhibit and not very exciting. The munchkin seemed to enjoy most of it, although the little dinosaur that moves and roars really freaked him out.

It's on until September 20th http://www.metropolisatmetrotown.com/news

HUGE dinosaurs and fun, even if it's small. If you happen to be shopping, even better.

Almost fell asleep in the car again, so it must have been a good morning.

The afternoon was even better, we got to visit with Brandon! Oh how we've missed Brandon. Brandon's in daycare during the day now, so we don't get to visit with him as often as usual, but it was great fun running around the house, jumping on Grandma & Grandpa's bed, sharing toys (heeheehee), and getting/giving kisses again. We will have to make some more plans to visit so we don't miss him so much!

My nephew is 1!

It's so hard to believe that Brandon came in to the world just 1 short year ago...

Happy birthday Brandon!


Let's celebrate with crawling into small spaces... Don't worry, Grandma to the rescue!

Opening presents with Dad.
and then Dad gets to play with the new toys!

Max and Brandon have so much fun together. Well, Brandon loves to follow Max and Max tries to get away. They are both learning to share and Max likes to help Brandon drink water or eat. It's so cute. He says "Hi Bwandon" when we get there or "here Bwandon" when he gives him something.

Brandon is now walking a little, talking a little and generally interacting more and more everyday. I LOVE his big beautiful blue eyes! I'm so glad that we are close enough to have play time.

I am so proud of my sister for what an amazing job she does taking care of, and raising Brandon. He is so lucky to have such a fabulous Mom. Brandon's birthday celebration was perfect - a small family gathering with grandparents, aunts & uncles and his cousin Max!

I'm posting a few of the photos I took, but I'm sure none of them compare to the ones that Kiri took. Brandon's Aunt Kiri is a professional photographer and she is absolutely amazing! She did our fall shots of Max. Her web site: http://www.kirimarr.com/

Another fun day!

While Grandma & Grandpa are off enjoying the sun in Hawaii, we are stuck at home amusing ourselves. Unfortunately I didn't think to take any pictures while Auntie Liss & Brandon were over at our house visiting. It was a good visit, but Brandon had to leave to go nap shortly after Max got up and ate, so we went for an afternoon stroll on our own.

Deja vu on the pictures... Max is pretty independent and takes off, leading the way, whenever I let him. So, I get a lot of pictures of his back. But I really took these because I LOVE this outfit (and I think everything actually matches today). This is the sweater that Grandma knit, it has a matching touque (but it's way too warm for that today, in fact it's probably too warm for the sweater too). The navy cords still fit so far, but Max is growing so quickly, that they won't fit for much longer and/or the weather may be too warm for them.

I know, the next couple are the same, but he's so cute!

Oh yeah, here's what happens when Mum doesn't pay attention to what Max is actually doing while I'm trying to take his picture. I was able to put the top of the light back on... thank goodness.

This is the route we take to the park. We cut through the side of an apartment building so that Max can walk up the stairs with my help. These stairs are considerably shorter than normal, so he can actually step up them one-by-one instead of crawling up them on his hands and knees (provided I am holding his hands).



Since we spent such a long time walking and playing outside, we didn't plan or make anything in particular for dinner, so Dad decided that we were going to go out. Yay Dad! Vietnamese for dinner, mmm, so yummy! We often get take-out from this place, and Max usually really likes the food, so we thought it would be a safe bet for him to actually eat dinner. He's been teething the last few days, so I wasn't expecting him to eat much today but he surprised me by eating all of his cereal and 2 eggs for breakfast... all in about 10 minutes! Record time for him, breakfast is usually about 10-15 minutes with just cereal. Maybe we're going through another growth spurt.

We couldn't help but laugh at Max sticking his tongue out in anticipation.

Max really wanted water, which we gave him, but then he realized that I was drinking out of a different cup and he wanted some of my water. We explained that it was tea. To which he replied (signed) "more, please"! We asked if he wanted more water and he replied "tea", "tea, please". Hehehehe. Of course I let him try it.

Tea with dinner? Yup... oh boy... that's probably not a good-mum thing to do.

Bed time math equations.
Not really, this is Max climbing up on the stool after I told him not to.

and this is Max NOT falling off the stool. So far so good. I think I rescued him, I don't think we've practiced coming down from the stool enough times for him to remember how to get down, especially at the end of a really long day.

I'm going to cut this a little short, I have to get some things ready for work Saturday morning and I wouldn't mind actually watching some of Game 2. Canucks are up 1-0 at the end of the second period, yay!

Grandpa's birthday!

Guess what we're staring at?
What could have possibly grabbed their attention away from their toys and each other (and at the SAME TIME)?!

It's Grandpa, playing his harmonica (apparently it's called a mouth organ). Old McDonald...
Happy birthday Grandpa, we had a great time!

Max and Brandon just stopped and stared. They were absolutely enthralled with it.

I'm so glad that we got to see Grandpa on his birthday (even though I got the date wrong and thought it was the following day).

Ice Skating

So, we wanted to try ice skating with Max. I got him some of those double bladed skates (under $10 at Canadian Tire) and we brought him to the pre-school skate. Ross had the day off, so it was nice to do something different with all of us. So, we got ready...

Gloves, mitts, jacket, skates. All ready to go!

So, Max freaked out on the ice and we put him in a chair. They don't allow you to pick them up on the ice (very good idea, especially since falling from up in our arms could cause a whole lot more damage). This is Max and Ross "chatting" about ice skating. Well, Ross is trying to calm Max down and convince him that everything is okay. Max isn't buying that at all. In fact, Max is saying "up, pees. Up, pees." (pees=please).


It didn't help that there was a kid just outside the rink bleeding, with his two front teeth pushed in after falling on the ice. His mom was on the phone with his dad and the dentist as we came off the ice with Max, a few minutes later.

Here I am trying to talk Max into standing. After being on the ice he did not want to stand at all, just wanted to be up with me. He was not happy the minute his feet were on the floor.

So, our first ice skating trip did not go as well as I thought it would. I have to remember that Max has only been walking for a few months, so ice makes him even more unstable. Hopefully it will go better next time and Max and I can work on our skating together.


The last picture is just a neat one I took of Max with Brandon this afternoon. Max is putting the phone to Brandon's ear the same way that I put it to his whenever someone wants to talk to him. They are so cute!