Summer of fun!

A few summer activities!

A visit to the cottage with Aunt Robin and Aunt Mary Jo:

 Lounging in Mommy's chair:

The night I took the kids to DQ for dinner and ice cream.  40 degrees out.  Rose had been at gymnastics where there is no air conditioning.  It was very hard to get all the food for 3 kids and use the washroom, etc. at the DQ on a busy hot night.  Not the best idea in retrospect...

So so so sticky and dirty.

Daddy's birthday:

"A Yeti 110 iced down with some silver bullets!" (Yeti Roadie)

Fishing at Grandma and Grandpa's Fishing club:

Spring ridge farm with Claire and Bradford:

Second day of camp at RBG.  Paige was in Science Camp (complete with one night of sleepover), and Rose was at bug camp.  They both had a good time.  Rose's favourite part was the daily canoeing.  Paige was really looking forward to the sleepover, and i think she had a fun time, but there was rain in the forecast so they just slept in the building instead of the tents.  She was super bummed out about that, and apparently ate 3 hot dogs for dinner, which made her feel sick.  And she was TIRED the next day.  As I had to still do off and pick up Rose I got to check in on Paige who said "I'm SO tired".

On August 27 we had a little "1 year to go!" Disney Cruise count down party.  I put up decorations the night before to surprise the kids and then we baked a cake.

Henry wrapped up like a present after a swim:

Swimming in the lake to bring the summer to a close.  One final cottage trip and then home for a day to get ready before school started.

Girls weekend

In July I went on a girls weekend in Toronto with Katharine and Christy.  We stayed in a massive suite at the Royal York.  It was so big that we laughed hysterically about it for a good 10 minutes.  Mike had a coupon for a free night in a suite, which is why we went so crazy.  

The picture below shows Katharine in her "sleeping area".  After a big hassle with the concierge we were able to convince them to send us 2 cots so we all had our own beds.   I took the bed in the bedroom at K and C's insistence, Katharine set up shop behind the dining table, and Christy's area was in front of the fireplace.  So many places to choose from.  Also there were 18 places to sit.

Since we were in a lovely hotel we made use of the amenities and went for a swim and hot tub before getting ready for dinner.

It was while we were at an incredible Indian restaurant that I started to lose my voice.  It was after we went to the Irish Embassy for a beer afterwards, that I completely lost it.  Both places were super loud and I guess my vocal chords just couldn't handle shouting.  I had barely any voice for days afterward. Brutal.

The next day we went for a buffet breakfast of course and then changed into our theatre attire, and headed up to Queen Street for pedicures followed by a small lunch.

Then it was off to see "Kinky Boots"! A very high energy musical which was great as I barely slept the night before.  Also great that one is expected to remain quiet during a theatre production.  Easy Peasy.

It was decided we need to do this again next year. We can hardly wait!!

Horsies in the summer

Horse riding in the summer is much more fun for the rider (and viewer!).  The class is outside in the fresh air and no one stinks when they come home. 

Video Game Design camp

Paige had an awesome time at Video Game Design Camp at Appleby college.  She made her own spectacular game, which was mind-blowing.  She really learned a ton and is super comfortable with computers.  She wants to go again next summer. A great thing about the camp was that they fed her lunch too! A great treat for me in the summer!

Potty Training 3.0

Well that wasn't so bad!!!

Henry may possibly be our earliest poetry trained child! He started wearing his undies full time at the beginning of july.  26 months old.  The girls were early too, but he may have been a bit earlier.  Plus, as he was a boy,  I expected so much later.  Everyone always said that boys potty train so late.  I had visions of him starting school and not being potty trained. Or even worse--going on next summers Disney Cruise un-potty trained. Gasp! 

I followed the same routine as I did for the girls and it just clicked.  He has been trained for about a month now and has had 1 accident in 3 weeks.  Unlike the girls, however, he still wears a diaper at night.  He can't make it that long, and even if he goes in the middle of the night he still pees again by morning.  I don't think his little bladder is mature enough for that.  But as for holding it and going during the day he's doing awesome.  The other amazing thing is that he goes at the mall, grocery store, and any other public washroom.  Even in the car on the way up to the cottage he will ask to go and hold it until the next stop.  He seems way too little, but he's got the hang of it!

After he finished his first potty chart I gave him a Thomas train--"Henry". 

Paige's 8th Birthday!

Paige on the morning of her birthday! She got up early and opened presents and had a pancake breakfast.  Then it was off to Video Game Design Camp.  For dinner we went to Kelsey's and they sang Happy Birthday. 

For Paige's party we went to Laser Quest with  6 of her friends.  Laser Quest was super fun and even Mike, Henry and I got to play.  There were 3 parties running around there and Mike got the high score both games, which may not have been fair to the kids...

The Creeper cake I made for Paige.  Learned a lot during this endeavour....like make cupcakes next time.

One year older! Happy birthday Paige! Love you!

Dance Recital 2015

Rose did an amazing job at her recital.  Her costume was so amazing and she looked so beautiful that we had to make sure to take photos before we left on such a nice sunny day! Of course I forgot to also take a photo of her in her Acro costume, since that was her second dance.  Luckily there were photos taken at the studio in May.  Auntie Amanda babysat Henry, and brought Rose some incredible roses.  

We got in the car close to 9:00 and Rose was DONE

May long weekend

What to say about the May Long Weekend.... hmmm.  Something about the bugs perhaps? 

We pulled the girls out of school around 12:30 and got a head start on the cottage traffic.  The lack of traffic was probably the best part of the weekend.  We raced up north where it was raining.  This was actually great as we were able to go for a family rock to the river to skip stones as the rain was ending.  Then the kids went to bed and Mike and I played a round of Quirkle.  The weekend seemed to be going well so far. 

The next day we quickly realized that the great outdoors was teaming with black flies.  Like so bad that we couldn't even venture outside. We attempted to walk to the river again but had to turn back.  Instead we tried to amuse all of the kids indoors with colouring and games.  Henry just wandered around and attempted to enjoy himself outside on his own while swatting away the flies.  Poor guy.  You had to feel sorry for him as he was so desperate to play with this one truck. We tried to have a campfire and roast hotdogs which was almost torturous.  After a day and a half of this we decided we would enjoy ourselves at home more and got in our car first thing Sunday morning.  

Playing Rukshuk

A burger and fries on the way home.

Scout enjoyed the car ride home so much that she kept jumping back in as we were unloading the car.  It must have been cozy back there.

The rest of the weekend we spent hanging around in our backyard, swimming, playing on the swings, etc.  Not a bug in Sight!!

Skills Day

Almost at the end of the gymmastics year.  The held a skills day for the parents of the various pre competitive groups. Rose was really scared and extremely upset the night before.  Once we got there though and she saw all of the other girls and they went through their warm ups, she was totally fine and rocked it! I think it was a turning point in her gymnastics as she has felt really confident and proud of herself since then. 

Going onto the floor for her solo routine. 

Practicing with coach amanda

Here's Rose with her favourite coach Amanda.  We started with her at a different gym club when Rose was just a toddler.  When she moved to a new club we followed her over.  Hoping Rose can be in her class again one day.  Amanda asked to take this picture with her.

She earned a medal for a job well done.

Only a couple of weeks left of gymnastics until the year end Gala.  She'll get a few weeks off of training and then will be moving into the pre-competitive 4 hour group.

Fun at the park

 If you look closely, you can see Henry's face.  He is super bummed out that he can't go in this vehicle.  He thought it was part of the playground.  I took him over to see it and he mistook that for being able to try it out.  TRY!!! TRY!!!

Happy to live by the lake!