Backyard before and after

Before:

After:

You may notice that the new sod is a bit patchy. It rained and rained in May and early June. Then, we got our backyard landscaped and the rain stopped. The grass looked a lot worse, but with frequent watering it is coming back slowly. A couple of other plants are also dry, and some have been found by bunnies, but everything should be ok over time.

Extra long cottage weekend

We spent 5 days at the cottage for an extended long weekend and *gasp* the weather was actually nice. We were outside every day kayaking, boating, swimming in decently warm water, eating yummy food, and getting bitten by mosquitos!

The drive up was horiffic, but we managed to pick up a pack of fireworks for the holiday on the way and stop to play at a playground outside the store. This added a small element of excitement to the otherwise brutal drive. Grandma and Grandpa were there for the first few days joining us for the Turcsanyi Fireworks Spectacular, and cooking a completely blackened turkey in the deepfryer (black on outside, juicy on inside--wish we had a picture).

And then Mary Jo, Robin and Evan came up, joining us for my birthday on the 4th. It was so nice to see everyone, wish we could have visited longer.

Rose's first boat ride:

They love wagon rides, but the bugs were so bad and annoying:


She was super dirty and needed to be stripped and chucked in the lake:
Mommy's birthday morning. Waffles and then presents.:
Pictures are a bit out of order...this is Paige catching fish off the dock on the first day.

Grandpa fishes alone with the Dora rod: I tried numerous times to take a photo for the Cottage Life Magazine contest. I tried to submit one last year, but was too late.
Paige's first tubing ride. It was a bit uncomfortable to hold Paige and look where we were going. My neck was going to snap off:

Daddy and Paige had a bit more fun as they were heavier and could go faster:

Paige and my Dad picked mini strawberries at the road. They were soooo sour like a sour candy, but juicy.

Rose can fully eat a corn on the cob with her massive amounts of teeth:

Cirque de Soleil

Father's day 2011

For father's day we went to Springridge farm to pick strawberries.

The big wagon took us up to the picking fields. There are about 3 or 4 huge fields that they drop people off. Your family or group gets assigned to a half row to pick to your hearts content.

We didn't bring a bucket, but you can buy these huge wooden ones. We barely put a dent in our box, but some people had multiple ones that were full. Serious business for some. If I was baking a pie I suppose I would have wanted more.

It was an absolutely beautiful day. Nice and sunny with a cooler than normal breeze.

Once Daddy introduced Rose to the berries she was hooked. She ate 5 or 6 right there in the field. Paige wasn't interested. I don't think she likes strawberries too much, and these ones were very small and dark red, as they are when they are local, and were quite sweet...not the same as the larger grocery store variety.

The picking went so well that we left when we decided we had enough berries. Rose was probably pretty full, but the rest of us were hungry for lunch. We had our usual yummy lunch that we always eat there and then shopped for some backyard decorations in the gift shop.

For dinner, Grandpa and Grandma came over for some pasta and a strawberry shortcake that Grandma helped mommy make with the fresh strawberries. During the day, Mike had assembled our new patio set in the backyard so we ate our first meal outside. Our deck was not yet in, so we had to keep walking around the side of the house or passing things out the back door (our back door is about 4.5 feet off the ground). Paige and Rose were too excited by the backyard to eat, and just wanted to get down and play in the sandbox.

Dads are lucky that their special day is in June...such nice weather. Mother's day seems to be rainy a lot!

I wonder....

I wonder if texting helps lower teenage smoking rates. I drive by a high school every time I pick up Paige from her class. There doesn't appear to be a lot of smoking, but definitely appears to be a lot of large groups socializing whilst texting. You know what they say...."Idle hands are the devil's tools"! (ok, I had to look that one up, but knew there would be some appropriate expression to apply to this particular thought). I think the big congregated groups of the "cool kids" need to be doing something more than just talking, and texting seems to be it. I suppose it must be cool to be getting constant text messages. Just a thought....

Mommy daughters outing

On Monday I took the girls on a morning outing to Springridge farm.

It was definitely one of my most favourite mommy-daughters memories. The day was beautiful, everyone was in a good mood, we had a yummy lunch, and we really spent quality time together. Although it's great to meet up with friends, we also need to spend time together like this a lot more. I'm definitely going to think of other outings we can do, or make it a priority to go to Springridge together again.

Uninflated inflatable pool

I couldn't figure out how to use the air compressor, and the foot pump wasn't making a difference. I figured water was fun no matter what. Oh well!

Funny stuff Paige says...

Paige and I made smoothies the other day. She was in an independent play sort of mood, and wandered off into the living room after I handed her the smoothie.

Paige: Can I have one of those things to put my drink on (coaster), I want to look at a fishing magazine.

Apparently the McLaren fishing gene skips a generation.

The Kindergarten experience...

June 1 was Paige's kindergarten orientation. It was more an orientation for the parents actually, but the kids were welcome to come to see the school at the same time. There were various sessions in the 4 or 5 Kindergarten rooms, as well as the library. We were split into groups in the gym and then led as groups through the various sessions. In most of the groups, the kids either sat on carpets, or worked on activities, such as cutting paper, making a craft, stacking blocks, etc. while the parents were told different information in each session. We learned what type of backpack to buy for school, information on the 2 "nutrition breaks" (gone is lunch in the middle of the day), what entails the typical Kindergarten day, drop off and pick up routines, information about staggered entry (they start off kindergarten by going for an hour with just the teacher, then another full morning with just 5 kids, then with 10 kids, until working up to the first full day on September 16), etc. Of course we will be told most of this information later in the summer before school starts, but it was nice to get an idea of what to expect. Not to mention, we now have an idea of things we need to buy over the summer before school starts. They really stressed how independent the kids have to be, which I knew, but they also gave some great tips which I will definitely do, such as making sure that Paige can do up her new school backpack, open her lunch containers, and zip up her coat. I'll make sure these things are possible before we even buy these items. Paige certainly benefited from getting in the school and seeing that the classrooms looked fun and that there were a lot of other little kids her age that would be going there. She had only seen the super big kids going in there before. Recently she had started to say she didn't want to go to school, so I think this helped to calm her fears.