Snakes and Wood

This weekend up at Balsam Lake my hubby worked hard rebuilding a fence between our cottage and the neighbours. It looked really good at the end he works hard and had the post in and painted by noon the first day. He was off to the lumber store and completed the job minus the paint which is a project for another weekend. The boys enjoyed assisting in holding up the fence boards for Daddy and off course enjoyed nailing them in.


What the boys enjoyed even more then the wood work was the water snake that we observed while swimming at the lake. This snake appears to have made a home in our boat house and James was thrilled. Daddy on the other hand was a nervous wreck that they even wanted to check it out.
James has a thing for reptiles and couldn't get close enough but did refrain from picking it up seeing as Daddy was very nervous about snake bites.

Special Exposure Wednesday # 3

Scooby Doo Where Are You?

Loving the Merry-go-around at Canada's Wonderland!!

Toronto Blue Jays

My hubby took the boys down to the Rogers Centre last Thursday before we headed up north. They took in a Blue Jays and Yankees game, the three of them really enjoy watching the Jays win 14 to 3. Lots of runs for those Jays. They went glove in hand as they were seated at the end of the foul line and they just hoped some balls would come their way. They really enjoyed the WAVE too.

The view of the field from their seats...
The Blue Jays Mascot visited their section at the dome.

Lazy Days of Summer

The kids have really been enjoying themselves the last few days despite the fact that I was getting over some sort of summer flu or cold bug which was pretty nasty but we still managed to make it up to the lake and to Canada's Wonderland today.

We were very lucky to have some really nice swimming weather too when we were up north. The boys spent much of the time in the lake as possible. The lake water was a little chilly but the boys never seemed to notice. They raced from our boat house to the neighbours dock more time then I can count. Damon usually won those races which was upsetting to his bigger brother. The boys also enjoyed a few game of cards, a jigsaw puzzle of Hawaii (we can only wish to go I guess a puzzle will have to do) as well as a walk down the cottage road and ghost stories before bed. They were very content the whole time and didn't really want to return to the city. Ashley seem to enjoy it just as much as her brothers except she came home with two bug bites from our nightly walk which i feel very guilty about even though they don't seem to be bothering her too much.

Here's a few photos from the weekend activities at Balsam lake.

The last game of the Season

The baseball season went by really fast this summer especially considering both my boys enjoyed many weeks on holidays. They both loved being a part of the OakRidges Rebels when they were home for the games. There was no shortage of home runs or good times. Here's a short clip from last night game. Both James and Damon did great. This clip shows Damon scoring a run for the team. It was pretty special. Way to go Damon!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Tonight the boys are off to the Rogers Centre to cheer on the Toronto Blue Jays while Mommy and Ashley recover from a little cold at home.

Junior Bloggers

The last few days I have been busy setting up my boys with their own blogs . They were very interested in my blogging and wanted one of their own. James is into Sharks so his blog is called Shark Screen Kids it hosts some cool pics and videos of sharks James found on the web. Damon's blog is just about how much fun it is to be 6 years old. You can see his blog at Cool at six. I hope this will get them to enjoy writing a little more and we added a bookshelf to get them excited about reading. So far they have lots of ideas to write about and have even gotten a friend involved who is writing for James blog and now has his own as well.

Home Sweet Home with my 3 amazing kids!

Today and yesterday i was the lucky recipient of some great big hugs from these two boys they had loads of fun on vacation but still missed Mommy some. It was really nice to have all three of them together hanging out on the coach this afternoon. They were all doing their favorite activities at the time, Ashley holding on to the remote (she loves that), Damon playing Wii, and James is reading a book.

Finally heading home

My boys are now on the road heading home after a three week summer trip with their grandparents they will be here for dinner. I can't wait to hear all about their adventures on the east coast, see if they have grown. My hubby and I will spend the next two weeks enjoying every last minute with them until school starts for all three September 2nd. We are finally taking the boys to the cottage this year and plan to head to the zoo and maybe wonderland for some thrills.

James will enter grade 3, Damon grade 1 and my little girl will start nursery school 2 mornings a week for the first time with 20 other typically developing 3 year olds. I know Ashley will be thrilled to see the other kids, she will love music and stories at circle time, and will come home with art work for the fridge, and ready for a good afternoon nap. I hope all three of them will love school this year.

I also hope no one comes down with any bad illness especially Ashley but that is something I will worry about if and when it happens. I'm feeling pretty brave about that since her lung team said nursery school in a small setting was okay with them at this age and would help her development. I also hope she will make a friend or two which I'm sure is guaranteed to happen.

Special Exposure Wednesday #2

Funny, Sporty and Cool Brothers.

Ashley, Mom & Dad can't wait for these two boys

to return from their vacation with Grammy and Grampy!

James and Damon we love you both and are excited for your return.

Physiotherapy

Ashley did great at physio today both her therapist and i feel that her balance and standing is improving!!!

Ashley and I also headed downtown today to have her thyroid level rechecked. She didn't appreciate the needle but got over it quickly. Now I'll be anxiously awaiting the results of this blood work. Hopefully everything will be normal and she won't require medication.

Instant messaging at a whole new level

This weekend i hosted 8 guests, cooking and entertaining.. this is something my mom does with ease and i guess it's time i had some practise being hostess. I think everyone was comfortable and enjoyed themselves.

My cousins daughter and my niece both 14 are glued to the computers rather then talk they send instant messages back and forth. It was well strange and cute at the same time. I guess that is what teenagers do now. I'm feeling my age next to those two that is for sure. They were very excited to see each other and ping each other while sitting side by side. Oh and 24 hours a day too. Does that sound odd to any of you? I'm addicted to blogging but i still couldn't relate to that.

On Saturday we headed off to the Nascar SpeedPark and even ping pong in the basement provided a few hours of enjoyment.

Kathy, Christal & Sue thanks for coming this weekend it was lots of fun. (Brett next time you have to join us too!)

CN Tower

Life has been too busy to even blog lately. I've been enjoying a fun weekend with cousins again. We headed down to the CN Tower friday and here's some images from below and way up high.


Ashley is checking out the view from a port hole window in the skypod.

Ashley, Cassandra and Cecila waiting in line to head up to the skypod. The lines up were a bit much since the weather this summer has been very wet so everyone at the same idea as us indoor activities.
The glass floor. I stepped out for a very quick picture..
Paul, Cecila, Cassandra were very brave and hung out for a while.

One of the best part of the weekend was when i asked Ashley "Can you say Cassandra? and she said.. ananda (twice !!) it was so close. Four year old Cassandra was impressed and that made my weekend. i love those surprises

Special Exposure Wednesday #1

Therapy can be fun!! Especially physiotherapy Ashley clearly enjoys learning to balance, step and walk. Play therapy also this morning was even more fun.

Fun with Cousins

I guess I'm behind on my blogging as we have no Internet up at the cottage with the third post today I'm catching up. This is what kept us busy last Friday prior to going up north. Fun with cousins visiting from overseas. Time with these girls is very precious as it only happens annually hopefully they will relocate closer to us soon. The same continent would be wonderful Mighty Mom. I promise to visit you at your home if it's in North America.

So cute!
Ashley is trying to keep up with the girls !!!
This one is growing up i remeber when she was just a baby.

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Melonhead

Ashley's hair was getting in her mouth and eyes so I thought she was really due for some styling. Having her hair cut is something I wasn't really looking forward too as her hair is so beautiful.

When she was just two days old they had to shave part of her beautiful newborn hair to place an IV on her scalp. It was shocking to come into the NICU and see the IV where her beautiful strawberry blond hair was i had no idea they even put IV on heads at the time. This is something they have to resort to sometimes as little ones hands and arms are so small.

After that initial hair cut i become very attached to her beautiful hair and now at 3 1/2 only started to feel it was time to maybe tame her hair a little. We headed out to Melonhead this afternoon and this cut wasn't as painful for mommy as the first and she enjoyed it for the most part.

Before picture:


She enjoyed it..
The after picture still just as beautiful.

Long weekends at our cottage

Long weekends at our cottage start with a trip to Tims for coffee and bagels a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up the goodies for the weekend. Even before the all important food and beer are purchased my dear hubby starts his to do list. Which is usually pretty long but he is a very hard and dedicated worker so he always manages to check the majority of it off the list before the weekend comes to a close.

Here's the list ... oh this was day #2 list. Day one he was busy blowing many leaves, picking up branches, and mowing the lawn.
The place was looking very good when he was done i have to admit.
This is a very natural garden it grows year after year with very little care required by us. We spotted a young boy catch a bass just off our dock .. he was pretty happy about his catch but it wasn't going to be dinner they let it swim back home.
This totem pole was a gift to my husband grandfather from his students the year he retired. It's probably 40 years old and still looks great. It brings us good luck and keeps evil spirits away so we always put it up and store it away in the boat house for the winter so it can last another 40 years.

Every hard worker deserves a big feast... we ended our days with yummy shrimp and steak it was great. Ashley loved the meal too especially the carrots which are quickly becoming her favorite.


Dinner was followed by a spectacular fire works show put on by cottagers across the lake. We all had fun and are really looking forward to heading back up with the boys in two weeks.