Big C on 2 wheels!

The boys have been working on some biking fundamentals today. Here is the evidence of what they've been up to:



That was only his second attempt!

You can see his smile from ear-to-ear in the photos that I took on his future rides.



He's pretty proud of himself.

Big C n Daddy Day

A little while ago I had a thought.
I've always wanted to take a day each summer and just do nice stuff for other people. Kind of a 'pay-it-forward' principle.
And then I had another thought.
Why not share it with each of my boys.
So today, Big C and I took what I hope is the first step of many.
Since it was something new and Big C still has some learning to do on the subject, plus a rather short attention span, I thought it wise to start by focusing on just having some fun.
So he got to pick everything that we were going to do.
Here's how it went:
Step 1 : Get out of bed. Not easy considering that with the new bed mommy now has free reign to come in a snuggle her little guy again. Roxy can also get up there with ease.
Step 2: Dancing in the car to the tunes on the radio.
Step 3: Sprinkly donut at Tim's. Yummy!
Step 4: Dancing while we wait for the bus.
Step 5: Dancing while we wait for the O-train.
Then ride the O-train

Step 6: Ride an escalator while waiting for our first stop to open.
Step 7: Go to the currency museum and learn about money! Big C can now check his allowance for authenticity.Then make your own currency (note: yes, ironically enough he does know that the 10 000 000 dollar bill he made is in fact counterfeit)
Step 8: Throw coins in the fountain outside parliament
Step 9: Go up to the Peace Tower and check out the city.
Step 10: Go to Chapters to look at books. Take pretend photos of daddy while he takes real photos of Big C.
Step 11: Off to the 'do things for others' activity - we went to Rideau Centre and held open the main doors for people. Most people walked right through the open doors that we had ready for them. Some people didn't (weird). We stayed for a good while during the lunch crowd and had at least 50 people go through each of our doors. Many, many people said 'thank you', much to the delight of that little boy.
Step 12: Catch a ride back to near where we left the car (NOTE: this is NOT in fact a real bus)
Step 13: go for lunch at The Works. Mmmm.....yummy burgers...and the milkshakes are absolutely good to the last drop!
Step 14: Go home and walk Roxy over to pick up Monkey. Then have a little down time reading in the office (what a great spot to hang out and read!)

Thanks for the awesome day Big C!

The cottage

This year we returned the same fabulous set of cottages that Saje went to growing up. She made the arrangements last year when we left and the boys (and I) were looking quite forward to enjoying the spoils of her labour.
We arrived and got set up, then met the neighbours and started to settle ourselves in. We had an absolutely outstanding week.
The weather was gorgeous and quite often the water was still. This lead to many hours spent out on the water either rowing around as 'the guys' chatting about life, or with our fishing rods dropped in the water looking for fish. Thanks grandma and grandpa for the rods and reels - they were priceless. We caught lots and lots of fish, including our outing when E-Man, Charlie and Ry-ry dropped by. Here is a bit of the evidence of the fish that were caught (and soon after released).
I think almost every night we had a campfire and made s'mores. The fan favourite I think was the s'more combination that included a graham cracker on the bottom, a marshmallow, a belgian chocolate wafer , a second marshmallow and then a chocolate chip/butterscotch chip cookie on top. MMmmmmmmmm.
The grown ups read lots of books and enjoyed the shade.
The kids spent loads of time in the water thanks to their swim shoes and lessons! Also, the wind-sailing board (sans wind sail) provided countless hours of entertainment.
We've already booked next year's visit and are looking forward to another memorable week.

Maxi the foster dog-an update

Maxi came to live with the WB Family on May 21, 2011. Our family intended for the rubanesque Maxi to stay for a bit, like so many other foster beasts have done over the years. Maxi had other plans though....

Maxi wanted to stay. She went straight for the kids and they fell hopelessly in love with her.Then, as an afterthought, she went for mommy and daddy as well. We changed her name to Roxy and she put up with it. You can see the knowing gleam in her eye in the photos. We're sunk.
She's a delightful snuggler and a lap dog to boot. Even though she's lost more than 10 lbs since she moved in, she is still a larger than standard lap dog in Dave's opinion (not that he asked her to move mind you).
So she goes along her merry days at our house. Still listed as "adoption pending" on the Hopeful Hearts website, but that is just a paperwork issue at this point.Because if the dog leaves this house, she'll be taking our hearts with her.

Helicopter Ride

Grandma C and the fellas had lots of fun with a helicopter ride over Ottawa. Monkey recognized many of his favourite places -- the rapids we see on the way to Camp Fortune, the "Clock" (Peace) Tower -- everything looked like models. Big C was pleased to have his toy helicopter with him.

Every trip to the Aviation Museum needs a little time to "ham" it up for the camera.