Wednesday 24 June 2009

Deer Park at Marineland





You are of no use to me now, little boy.
Find the Zachary in the next picture :)Leaving Deer Park. Off to Friendship Cove!

Everyone loves.....

... MARINELAND! They sure do. We had a great time there today. It was quit sweltering hot, but we didn't mind. Way better than rain! The seal/dolphin show brought back a lot of memories of going to Marineland as a kid. I'm glad I can take my kids there and enjoy it all over again. We'll be going back at least once or twice this season. (It's only $5 more for a season's pass and the kids are both still free.)

Waving at the dolphins :)
Waiting for the "mini sky screamer"She loves the thrill rides :)

Saturday 20 June 2009

Thanks Dad!


Happy Father's Day to the best role model a daughter could ever hope or wish for. Thanks for all the little everythings along the way, Daddy. The love, the advice, the boundaries, the freedom, the guidance, and of course, the unconditional love. I know that love is there, however I'm still always so worried about disappointing you in some way. I'll always be your little girl. There is nothing I can give you for Father's Day that can even compare to what you've given me. Much love, many hugs.

Love you Dad!

Tuesday 16 June 2009

Gotta watch ourselves....

The kids and I were driving home today and this was how one of our conversations went:

Alex: Is it supposed to rain tomorrow?

Mommy: I think so.

Alex: Dammit.

Mommy: Pardon?!

Alex: I wanted to play outside.

Catastrophe averted!


I went to McDonald's with the kids for a treat on Saturday (I think... days are a blurr). We went up to get sundaes and, what?! No hot fudge?!! How could that be? What are they thinking?! What marketing genius thought this would be a good idea?


By the way, McDonald's has also recently foregone their trademark orange pop for Coke Zero, so when I was told they "no longer have hot fudge" I wasn't overly shocked at the lame move. The employee had no idea what was going on.


I happened to be in a McDonald's today, so I inquired. (As Jean-Paul had said, "Without hot fudge, what's the point?") I found out that, whew, it's only a temporary thing and they should be getting more hot fudge soon. Apparently it's all been recalled. What?! They don't know why. "We haven't been told anything," said the need-to-know-basis employees.

Saturday 6 June 2009

The t-shirts were a bit hit!

These are the shirts I made for the kids to wear to the triPride festival. I'm really happy with how they turned out. They got a bit of attention, too. Everyone loved them - the shirts and the kids.triPride is a little festival in the park about love and acceptance. It's always so fun and colourful. The kids have fun. There was a fishing booth set up, as well as a ball toss (for kids - get your mind out of the gutter!). And Alex and Zach had so many tattoos by the end, too :) The entertainment was good, but too loud for little ears, so we didn't catch too much of that. Alex picked up a condom package and I said, "You don't need that sweetie." To which she replied, "Why? What is it." "It's a condom. You won't need those until you're all grown up." "Why?" "You'll learn all about them in school in about grade 6 or 7." That satisfied her :)

The other day, out of the blue came "Why are they called penises and vaginas?" That discussion went on slightly longer than the condom one...

Lying to my child seems to be working

We're trying to wean Zach from needing us to lay down beside his crib and hold his hand as he falls asleep. This was taking upwards of an hour sometimes! It will funny, though, when Jean-Paul would fall asleep on Zachary's bedroom floor and I could hear him snoring through the ceiling in the family room.

Now, we did create this situation by allowing it to happen and continue. "Accidental Parenting" as The Baby Whisperer would call it. We had even gone so far as to have a blanket and pillow beside the bed so we'd at least be comfortable while doing this. (I really didn't mind too much on most nights, but sometimes it was a REAL pain. I know this time of life is short - and it is bittersweet to be giving that up, but we needed to get back to a bit of "normalcy", whatever the hell that is - or will ever be!)

I stumbled upon a trick a few nights ago and it seems to be working. It works best when only one of us is home for bedtime, but we've done it successfully when we're both home as well. I/Jean-Paul sing Twinkle, Twinkle (as we always have) while putting him to bed, say 'night 'night and tell him "Mommy's/Daddy's just going to the bathroom. I'll be right back, sweetie" and sneak downstairs. He usually falls asleep waiting for us to return. The last couple nights it's been done without any crying or calling out on his part! Yay!!

Again though, it's a bit bittersweet. There's nothing like the feeling of having someone feel so secure with you around that just your being there makes all the difference in the world while they're falling asleep.

I love bringing him into bed with me if he wakes at night, but I know I "shouldn't" - and don't very often for that very reason. Don't want to start any more "Accidental Parenting" "bad" habits... That's a lot of quotation marks for one blog entry!

Wednesday 3 June 2009

How did it get so late so soon?

How the heck is it JUNE already?! To quote Carly, "What the beans?!"And while we're on the subject - how is Alex almost 5?! And Zach's 2?! And I'm almost 30....?! OK... 30 + 6... And we've been in our house for two years?! (And still haven't gotten to all the crap in the garage.... Guess we really don't need most of it!)