An Awesome Weekend to Finish our Holidays

We drove to Ingersoll and met Toby's new adoptive Dad. Toby left with Bill to begin his new life and is finally going to live the retired life with no worries and a big brother Airedale named Gus. Happy travels Toblerone we will miss you (a bit) but think of you often (as we vigilantly protect our food, garbage and countertops LOL).

From Ingersoll we were about an hour and fifteen minutes from Greg, Shae and Addy's house. We were anxious to see family again and to let the dogs have some fun time with Greg and Shae's chocolate Labs, Tal and Fergus. The seven and a half hour trip flew by like a nice afternoon drive. It was a very pleasant trip considering we usually drive 19 hours to the cottage.

Addy has already changed so much. Our first night there she stared into Shae's eyes and said very, very clearly "Mum, mum, mum mum." I had tears in my eyes, it was just so awesome. Don't worry Greg, I am sure Da, da, da, da is in there somewhere!

Addy is so cute and as beautiful as ever. Sid was right in there wanting to change her, feed her, bring her toys. These girls and going to be good friends when the age gap is a bit less noticeable. Right now Sid is lucky that Addy is such an easy going kid, she tolerates all the fussing and poking Sid inflicts (with love of course!)Look at those eyes, I have never seen a baby smile with her eyes the way Addy does. They sparkle and almost light up seconds before the smile crosses her lips.
All of the kids except Addy out playing fetch in the yard. As we knew they would, all the dogs got along really well and Tal and Fergus handled the Fun Police (aka - Maggie) with class. Our cute cuddly Maggie hates it when the other dogs are having fun without her so she likes to go and break up all the chasing and games by charging around and barking at everyone. She mostly got ignored.
Tal and Fergus were amazing with Sidney. She looked in their ears, pulled their tails, jumped over them and did all the things kids really shouldn't do with dogs. However, Tal and Fergus loved the attention and didn't flinch or appear bother at all. What great dogs!
We were spoiled with fantastic food, drinks and fun. Shae, you are such an amazing cook!!!! With full tummies and a bit of alcohol in our systems Greg pulled out Guitar Hero's. What a good time. I was very happy to be able to play bass.... how cool!



We got to go to the cottage and visit the best beach in the province on Lake Huron and then on Saturday we focused on a bit of R. and R in the backyard. We had another awesome meal and Addy tried peas for the first time. I love her look in this picture it almost says "Are you serious Dad? You want me to eat that?", in the end after a few bites she did seem to love her peas.
The boys went into town to pick up a few supplies and came back with Rock Band 2. They had a special promotion which included the mullet kit. Here is Sid modeling it for us.

Rock On Girlfriend

The MYTHA performing their first gig. Sing it Shae!

The Dogs waiting for the OK command so they can eat. Notice Groovy is ready to pounce!

We had such an great weekend and wished we lived closer. Thanks so much for having us down, we cannot wait to get together again. It really made our holiday special we love you guys!!!!!

Fairs, Fairies, Flying and Fire!

We went to the Navan fair and Sid really enjoyed the demolition derby this year. In the past she has cried when they lifted the cars off the field but this time around she understood the competition and enjoyed it.

Last year Sid really wanted to go on the Dragon ride and this year she was tall enough. She was lucky that an older girl sat beside her and comforted her through out the ride. Once the dragon took off it looked like poor Sid was going to cry but she got through it. We didn't do this ride again.



The Merry-Go-Round was much more her speed!

The fun evening came to an end with Daddy and Sid sharing some sticky gooey sugar filled fair food.
Saturday night we made it out to Lumiere festival. This is a lantern festival with fairies, acrobats, stilt walkers, dancers, jugglers, magicians and an eclectic mix of talents. There was a group of fairies that didn't talk but would dance and get the kids involved by bringing them into their circle. It was neat to see all the kids playing in complete silence.


Sid meets a magician and is wowed by him

On Sunday Daddy took out one of his R/C airplanes for Sid. We had a campfire and watched Daddy fly his plane after he mowed a landing strip in the back yard.

Dogs in the house to avoid an Aire-plane crash. Groovy just loves chasing flying things.
Coming in for a landing
Aborted landing on such a short runway

Plane in tree - oooops

No damage, time for another launch!

Our Staycation week one

Ken is off for the next two weeks and we will do a few day trips, visit family and some home renos during this time. So far there has been some rain, some more rain oh and a bit more rain. I would like to freecycle it to BC to help with the forest fires but no takers yet.

Our first project was a master plan to keep the dogs off the back door. Our old door is steel with a window that the dogs continuously jump up to look in when they want to come in the house. This has really wreaked havoc on the lock and bolt and the original owner put a 4"door jam in a 8" space so it was all built up on the outside with a wooden sill plate that had rotted and caused the door to drop. We were in the market for a new door but if we were going to do it right it had to be something the dogs wouldn't pound on day after day.

Daddy beginning the door removal with Sid supervising his progress

Oh the surprises of home renos! As suspected the wood was rotten right down to the frame of the house but the frame was very solid (good old construction!) Ken chiseled out the rotten wood and then we contemplated the 3" of kitchen floor we never knew we had. Tongue and groove, sub floor, vinyl, 1" plywood subfloor, more vinyl, subfloor, cushion flooring, subfloor and more cushion flooring. Ken had a fleeting thought of "Hey let's just re-do the entire floor with ceramic while we have this all pulled out!" but was quickly talked out of the project with the fears of what we would find when ripping the kitchen apart. One door at a time is my new motto (lol).

New door in without the handle and Sidney testing it with her shorts on her head. I don't know why.... she is 3 you know.

Day one - New steel door installed with electronic lock and handle.... Oh so nice without the dog snool that will soon adorn it.

Day two- storm door install. Look the dog is NOT jumping on the door.

Project complete. New full length window in steel door and a storm door with a chamber screen. Oooohhhh Ahhhhhh! Now to invest in Windex because between the dogs and the preschooler this setup is going to look like a finger painting by the end of every day! On another note, how awesome is my hubby??? He has now replaced all the doors in our house and the large bay window. Is there anything this man can't do? Not to mention he is doing this on his holidays!!!

Between all this fun and rain, Sid manage to go for a swim in her new wet suit. She wanted one like mom and dad because she was always getting cold before us and needing to get out of the pool. We found one in her size and it makes a big difference. This is her beach bum shot in the new wet suit.

On Sunday while waiting around for the rain to subside we had a sunny break and zipped outside to spontaneously paint Sid's jeep. It turned out well and then it rained and washed it all off. Sadly a bath was required for Sid to come clean but warm water and bubbles are too enticing for any 3 year old to refuse.Yesterday afternoon we had a visitor stop in for some frogs. He didn't stay long and let me get about 20 feet away. Blue Heron's are so majestic! Sadly today Ken got called into work and the worst was that despite predictions, it didn't rain today! Poor guy, he has been waiting a week to get the grass cut in the back. Hopefully it stays sunny in the morning and he can get the lawn done then I think we are going to go to a reptile zoo with the wee one. A few more day trips in the next week and then off to see family. Yahooooo!

A special visitor

We were all so excited to find out Greg, Shae and Addy were coming for a visit. For a week before they arrived, Sidney would ask every day "How many days until Addy gets here?". Sid had plans to feed, change and watch Addy so Shae and Greg could have a break.
After what has seemed like weeks of rain, we were lucky enough to have a beautiful sunny day and the entire family came out for an afternoon of visiting, baby cuddles and supper.

Although there was a house full of guests to occupy Sid, she couldn't pull herself away from Addison. She even helped Auntie Shae put Addy in a clean diaper and pajamas. Sid did a great job with all the snaps and sang Addy a little made up song to keep her happy. It was very cute.

One of the funniest things was Addy's reaction to the Airedales. I don't know if it was the beards or her pure love of animals, but she was giggling really loud evey time Toby (foster dog) tried to sniff her. Groovy was very intense once she discovered a baby in the house. She was just beside herself trying to get to Addy to make sure she was ok.

It was so wonderful having everyone together and getting to spend some time with Greg and Shae. Addison is the calmest and happiest little babe I have ever seen. She is so beautiful and snuggly. We are so excited to be travelling to see her this summer too. Soon we are going to pack up the dogs and Sid and head for Addy's house. We can't wait! Oh and if you guys ever want to visit again, I promise to pop all the helium balloons before they spend the night zipping through the ceiling fan LOL! Hope you had a better sleep the next night.

The day before our family get together, Sidney had a soccer tournament to end her soccer season. She wanted to be goalie but then had fun running after the ball too.

The morning ended with medals, popsicles and friends. We really enjoyed soccer and will play again next year!