We have been spending so much time outside! The above photo was taken right after breakfast as you can see with Rose in her jammies. Paige had already changed as she was worried about Scout biting her nightgown. The weather has been unbelievable the past 2 weeks. This week the temperatures are about 30 most days...or "feels like" 30, as it always is over here with the humidity.
There are a few things to do out back...the small slide, climb on the rocks, eat lunch, hide in the bushes, play at the mud making sink thing, bubbles, play with Scout, and the sandbox. If the girls play in the sandbox though I have to pull Scout out of it a million times. We have a bucket of sand for Scout to dig in, but of course it's not filled with prohibited toys.
I'm not sure Scout is fully grasping the "peeing outside" thing. I think a lot of it just happens as we are already out. I bet if it was rainy for the past 2 weeks, we would have made better progress--letting her out to pee and then right back in...but then we would have gone stir crazy. We basically have to spend most time outside or downstairs as Scout has no chance to make it to the back door when she's upstairs, and that is pretty demotivating for her. She is up there in the evening though as she mainly sleeps on the floor after the girls have gone to bed.
Rose is so confident now that she lets herself out into the backyard and just starts playing all by herself. She loves making "drinks" and "food" out of the sand for Mommy and Paige. Ever since Paige's kindergarten concert at school, Rose has pretended to be on a stage on top of the big flat Rock in the yard, and yells out songs. Then she takes a bow and says "thank you". Too bad she wouldn't sit still for Paige's upcoming dance recital. She would love to see all the costumes. She is so so so much more into all that stuff than Paige.
First weekend of the year at the cottage! We were anticipating major bugs, and although Paige and Rose got lots of bites around their hairline and under their hair, the bugs were not that bad at all!! I think that they just have theirfine and messy kid hair most of the time and the bugs get in their and bite again and again. Poor Paige was not happy and had a fever and swelling again from it.
The drive up was great. Scout whined and barked for the first little while and then settled down. We made it to Weber's without a stop and there we stayed for a while to let the girls run around. Scout was excited to see all of the other dogs.
This was the first time that Paige and Rose could successfully share a room, which they did just fine. Paige wakes up lots in the night there for whatever reason, but Rose just slept through it all and had great sleeps, even all of her naps. So instead of sharing a room with Rose, we shared one with Scout. With her night time "troubles" we didn't want her to be where we couldn't hear her. Also didn't want her to be waking other people up. Kinda scary taking her outside at 2:00am though in the woods. When she is better at sleeping and bigger she will sleep elsewhere.
So here are some photos:
Paige was great at fishing
A puppy paradise
Bug hunting stuff. She hates bugs.
The required spin and dunks
Scout can swim! I tried to get a photo in the action, but she made it to the shore before I could get a shot. Mike held her in the water and she naturally started moving her legs and he slowly let go. Afterwards she rolled in the dirt continuously. Good thing she can stay outside there.
Scout spent a ton of time outdoors. During the day it was cooler outside then in the cottage so she liked to curl up in the shade. Paige and Rose spent a lot of time outside too, but in the water. I don't know how they did it as it was like ice water. I couldn't keep my feet in the water for more than a second without jumping back and forth from foot to foot to try to warm up.
So, a very very successful trip. Everyone had a great time.
Rose has reached the independent stage. Everything she does is "do it self!". Walking down the stairs, getting a snack, putting on clothes, etc. She is the most adamant about climbing into her own car seat and then doing it up herself, which for safety reasons, we obviously don't let her do. Big problems ensue. If only she'd gain some toileting indepence! At this age Paige was fully potty trained day and night. Poor Rose. We're focusing on "potty training" Scout now instead. Rose will have to wait. She doesn't have nearly as much interest in it as Paige did anyway, so maybe she's not ready. Actually, since we;ve been home a lot with new puppy I have let her wear underwear a few times. She has either held it or had an accident. But a good start. We have created a potty chart in the bathroom too and have some stickers on hand. She is/was excited about the chart and will sit on the potty, but will just hold it in. She's the most excited about the prospect of using toilet paper.
Speaking of doing it self, we have been picking up the dog poo after every incedent so no one inadvertantly steps in it. I said to Paige, "I better go pick that up", to which she replied, "Awwww, why don't I ever get to pick it up?". Seriously??
Scout has been home with us for almost a week now. She was 8 weeks when we got her, so is 9 weeks old now. She's probably about 15-16 lbs now, and it's obvious she will get very large. Her parents are quite large but not super tall, more stocky. We had a choice of 2 puppies when we went to pick her up at the breeders (which was more than a 4 hour journey away--with stops). I couldn't even begin to decide which one to pick, and as John the breeder said, they are twins. Mike was more observant and kept an eye on them individually and noticed the one that was more reserved and held back a bit more. She seemed less playful and jumpy, with more of a calm demeanor. So we chose her! In the car on the way home she whimpered for the first 10 minutes or so and was a bit squirmy, but after proceeded to fall asleep on my lap for the rest of the ride.
When we got home we were bombarded by the neighbourhood children and then took her to the backyard to get aquainted.
First few minutes in the backyard:
Paige laughing hysterically at puppy antics:
It was a bit surreal at first having an animal in the house with all of the associated paraphernalia and smells...toys, food, accidents, general dog smell, but since we must have become accustomed to it. Also, it felt crazy at first as we needed to watch her every second--basically involving moving her around the house where we could watch her, even if she was sleeping. A couple days in we realized that she sleep A LOT!!! And if she is sleeping she is generally out for a few hours. I was worried I wouldn't get one on one time with the girls without chasing after a puppy constantly, but we still get a lot of time while she's sleeping. Also, if she is asleep in the backyard it is ok to just leave her while we go inside as long as we occasionally ensure she isn't eating the deck or something. Or, she can often be transfered into her kennel to remain safe with the door shut while we go around the house.
Sleeping upstairs:
So sweet:
A quiet moment.
But boy, when it's crazy around here it's crazy. Labrador retrievers are big chewers. She tries to chew on everything which is why she must be constantly watched. There have been a couple of hectic moments where everything bad seems to happen at once...Rose temper tantrum, puupy accident, chair getting gnawed on, and Paige is going to be late for school. Basically I feel like I'm running around like crazy. Luckily these moments only make up 5% of the day.
A couple of things we need to work on are going for walks, house training, and leaving her in the kennel for short spurts. She won't walk for more than a few feet without lying down for a rest. The farthest we went was around the crescent one time, but she has since regressed. We have carried her to the park a few times so we can go as a family.
House training is not going super well. She still has accidents inside. Far more of it is done outdoors, but I attribute that to our freakishly good weather this week and the fact that we are outside constantly. The nighttimes are equally not going well, but luckily she settles right down to sleep with no whining. She does, however, wake up a few times a night, often with a pooey disgusting kennel, and poo paws. I really don't mind taking her out to pee in the night, but the poo is just gross. Tonight we're going to put in different bedding and make her crate a tad bit smaller than it already is (we have her full size kennel which comes with a divider). I also cleaned out the crate and bars with vinegar and water to rid it of any lingering poo smells--hopefully she won't think about it if she doesn't smell it.
We are still working on being able to leave her in her kennel which we go out. She basically just whimpers, howls and barks if she is in there during the day. We of course have had to go to the store, walk Paige to school, etc. and have heard her barking when we came home every time with the exception of once. Since she sleeps in her kennel at night no problem (i mean minus the poo of course), it isn't that she doesn't like the kennel, probably just lonely. We have no reason to leave her for long, but will eventually need to have mornings out, etc. for probably 2 hours. It's hard to go out knowing she is upset and not resting. I'm not sure if it's something we will have to train her on, or something she will just get used to...like ok, I know they go out and lock the door, drive away, and then come home. No point in whining while they are gone.
Besides the few areas that we need to work on, she is such a calm dog. She knows how to sit on command and always sits by her bowl when she wants her food. She is fairly good with the girls, although if they get all worked up around her she will be a bit too playful around them and will sometimes try to nip their hands or clothes. We are teaching them to be calm. Oddly enough, Rose is more comfortable around Scout then Paige is. I think Paige is used to her cousin-dog Abby who is an adult and is a lot calmer. The first few days we had Scout at home I felt a bit bad for Paige. She was really nervous and you could see it in her face. She was too fearful to play with Scout and would jump on the couch where the puppy couldn't reach her. Since then she has warmed up and throws her toys around and knows how to be a lot calmer. I demonstrated for Paige how she was walk/running on her tiptoes with her head always turned toward Scout. She saw how Scout thinks of it as an invitation to play and started to chase after me. Then I showed her the difference if you just walk normally ignoring her, how she basically ignores you or follows nice and calmly. I think that helped Paige to see what she needed to do differently.
Anyway, this is a super long post, so more about Scout later. She seems to have grown in the past week, and she has gained more of a yellow colour on her back.
Well, back from a fantastic time in Vegas. I had a great time despite the fact that I felt like my heart was breaking for the first 2 days from leaving behind Paige and Rose. We dropped them off at 5:30 on Thursday the 26th and proceeded in a taxi to the airport. We had our massive suitcase and only a purse and a small side bag as our carry on (we decided to just leave our huge camera at home and take photos with my iPhone). We had our Nexus passes as well, so it felt very very odd to really have no one or anything to worry about as we were in the aiport. We simply walked pass customs, breezed through security, and headed straight to the plaza premium lounge for free dinner and drinks (alcoholic as well if one so desired--I was too worked up and tired to even think about this). Our flight was delayed, which was annoying as it took off later than 9:00--and it was a 5 hour flight. It was a very very turbulent flight and the plane was making these messed up noises. Not really that fun. I also knew we were flying over the Colorado mountains in the pitch black which really doesn't put your mind at ease. But, I knew when we were reaching Las Vegas. After the longest time of nothing but black out the window, I could see the brightest beams of light. Las Vegas is much more in the middle of no where than I thought. And the airport is much closer to the Vegas strip than I thought. The taxi ride to the hotel was no more than 10 minutes away.
Anyway, here are some random thoughts on Las Vegas.
1. Plane. There will be lots of bachelor parties on the plane ride down there. Think women in their mid to late twenties touching up their hair and makeup before touchdown. Two guys in sailor costumes. Lots of photos being taken that you hope you aren't in, and lot of excitement..."cheers girls!, yay!!" clinking plastic wine cups over the seats. Lots of gossip and definitely no sleep.
2. Check in. When you arrive at your hotel at 12:00am local time (3:00am Toronto time), and you are desperately in need of a room and a good nights sleep, there will be loud pumping club music coming from all directions. And people. Tons of people in short skirts and extemely high heels.
3. Prices. You'll get a taste of Las Vegas prices when you open a bag of chips in desperation in the room before going to bed and it's $8. Also there is a $25 lollipop in the room.
4. Food. In the morning you'll inevitably hit the expensive, yet tasty, buffet. The following morning you'll try to go to the coffee shop to save money, which is futile as everything in Vegas is the same price. You'll have less food at the coffee shop, yet the coffee is $4 each and the orange juice is $5. The muffins are also $4, and the yogurt is $6. Now you have eaten less and spent exactly the same price as the buffet.
(After the trip we tried to figure out where we could have saved money and we figured maybe we could have saved $50 total by trying to scrimp and save).
5. Pool. Don't bother trying to go to the pool after 10:00am. You will not get a chair. People line up at 8:45 to chuck a towel on a chair and leave. We showed up at 11:00am the first day and were shocked and appalled to see that there was not a single chair free. We are used to the freedom of Orlando. After this, we just followed suit and put a couple of towels on the chairs. They will clear unused chairs after a while which is why i would always leave a few personal items behind...a bag, a bottle of sunscreen, etc. to make it look like you are swimming.
6. Shows--Amazing. Everything's bigger in Vegas. "Phantom of the Opera--the Las Vegas Spectacle" was in a specially designed $40 million dollar theatre with a 4 million dollar chandelier. It is a shortened show for your Las Vegas attention span. Also Ka, which is a cirque de Soleil show has the most amazing stage you will ever see.
7. The strip: Again--everything's bigger in Vegas. You will be in a sea of people, many of them drunk or drinking gigantic frozen beverages. Even as you're shopping in the mall people will be wandering around drinking. Kind of reminded me of what you could do on a cruise ship, except with younger less classy people. After touring a few hotels you will realize they are basically all the same. Giant casino and restaurants. Tons of smoke. Lots of clubs and bars. When we go back next time I would like to try a different hotel. Mirage is the same as the rest of them I assume, so it may be nice to check out a new view.
8. The Casinos. You might as well throw your money in the garbage. I am used to winning at slot machines. Not winning big, but at least $0.25 here and there. We played a few slot machines over the course of our vacation, really just anything that caught our eye. We played a fish one and a bird one that we thought Paige would like, and we played a Sex and the City one for Jen. And we won literally nothing. We were also unlucky on Blackjack and lost over a hundred dollars. Slightly more lucky on roulette-- put in 40, were down to nothing, and then went up to $45 for a profit of $5. wow.
So, I survived in Vegas and 4 days away from the girls. I say I because a)Mike has been to Vegas before, and b) he is used to going away and not to mention leaves daily for work. I realized that the first couple days were really hard. I was used to my schedule with the girls and felt very out of my element. By day 3 however, I was very relaxed and enjoying every minute of no schedules, not cooking or cleaning, eating whenever and wherever we wanted, going to the pool bar, actually reading or closing my eyes on a beach chair. Pretty sweet. The first couple days there I wasn't sure I would ever go back there, but by the end I was into the routine and decided I'd like to go back in a few years or so. I could definitely see more shows and live a little.
Here's a clip of one of my favourite moments...the Bellagio fountains. A must see, and definitely in the dark. the video does not do it justice of course, and does not show the perspective of how high the fountains actually were.
When we got to the airport in Vegas we checked our bags in no more than 1 minute and had a nice 2 hour wait until the plane finally took off. Sitting in the airport waiting area this is the view:
Notice how Mandalay Bay and the Luxor are literally parallel to the runway? So weird. Taking off was so cool to see only dessert anf mountains. More wonky concerning plane noises. But the flight was pretty uneventful with leisurely reading and a movie.
When we arrived in Toronto, we bypassed the massive customs line and then Yay! stood waiting for our bags forever. Grandma and Grandpa were waiting for us with the girls after we had our suitcase. They were so excited! (The girls were, I mean. Maybe Grandma and Grandpa were thinking "thank God they're home", I don't know).
Me: Paige, did you know that Mommy and Daddy went to see 2 shows in Las Vegas? One called "Ka" and then the second one was called "Phantom of the Opera".
Paige: I knew you were going to say that was the second one.
Me: How did you know there was something called "Phantom of the Opera"?
We had the whole family over for Rose's 2nd birthday (except for James who got stuck at work). Paige was very confused as to why Rose was having a party on a day that wasn't her actual birthday. She kept saying it was her "party" and not her "birthday party". She keeps thinking there is a friend party on Rose's actual birthday. We had a BBQ and cupcakes. There was a mickey mouse theme. I think Rose had a great time and was happy about the decorations and balloons.
We got a pickup date for the dog. May 9. It is going to be a long journey--6 hour round trip. Hopefully there'll be movie in the car, a nap (??), and then the dog as distraction, as well as a couple of stops on both sides. We're used to long rides up to the cottage, but never there and back in the same day in a short time span! The breeders have tentatively tagged the smallest female puppy as ours, but they are not all sold. There is room to switch. They still have to do field tests, but apparently they did tests with a pigeon and the puppies all carried it around--real pigeon? I'm not sure. They also need to shoot guns off and see which ones scatter. In case you forgot, Mike wants to bring the dog hunting.
Mike and I leave for Vegas in 3 days. Rose is a little unsure. A few days ago, Grandpa was sitting with Rose and asking her about coming to stay with them for a few days. Rose kept saying "mommyyyy....mommyyyy..." very slowly and quietly. It looked like she was getting worried that Grandpa was there to pick her up and bring her to his house! I'm hoping to talk to her more about it, and get Paige to gear her up. Paige is pumped. She has visions of dessert and fun outings. She also likes playing with different bath toys and sleeping in a different room. I still have yet to do any packing but we had some warm days where I needed some of the clothes I would bring on the trip.
We ordered a ridiculous suitcase. I would post a picture, but perhaps I'll leave you in suspense. We weren't sure what size to get but decided that since our current suitcases were 26" we could order the 30" heys hardshell with the 4 swivel wheels. This way we can mix and match our suitcases depending on the trip. We figured a larger one could hold both of our stuff for a quick trip. This thing arrived on our doorstep one day and it is taller than Rose. I could definitely fit myself in it and zip it up. It is silver, and with the hard shell, it definitely looks a little James Bond-y. I guess we'll test it out on our trip, but we will look a little hilarious. People will definitely comment. The thing is, we still can't go over the weight limit, so we can't just stuff it full.
Paige, Rose and I received our Nexus passes in the mail. I'm so happy that at least mine made it for this week. Woohoo! We'll be through customs and security in probably 5 minutes. I'll definitely be sad dropping off the girls, but I will then have something to look forward to at the airport right away! We'll try to remember to take a picture of me with the suitcase.
I felt our weeks were often dragging on a bit, and Rose's class wasn't running this session. So, I enrolled both girls in gymnastics! Paige has done it lots before, but not recently, as I didn't want to enroll Rose just yet. So at the same time Paige goes in her 3 and 4 year old class, and Rose and I go in the mom and 18 month to 3 year old class. In a way it's too bad that Paige is the oldest in her class. There are some kids that are pretty young in the class and she may not make any friends. Then again, she may focus on the gymnastics. She was doing well and listening and helping to rally up the youngsters when they drifted off. Rose was a natural. Hasn't perfected the balancce beam or swinging on the bars, but her jumping on the trampoline is fantastic. 2 feet jumps all the way down the tumble track. So funny to compare the 2 girls...they seem to excel at different areas at this age.
Rose had a meltdown when we left and refused to go, but finally scooted on her bum all the way through the lobby and then bit me on the arm as I carried her to the car screaming. A switch has definitely flipped in Rose lately and she's in full on temper tantrum a LOT.
