Minneapolis: 10 adults and 7 kids

The kids

This past long weekend we and a group of our friends (5 families) went to Minneapolis to spend time together. Girls' night, guys' night, shared childcare, shopping, amusement rides, aquarium and more shopping....It was a blast!

At the start of their adventures at the Nickelodeon

BFFs just hangin'

Ambrose checking out a sea horse. 

David and Ambrose in front of the best. store. ever. 

David is in HEAVEN! A childhood dream come true

Ambrose was such a big boy on the trip he was awarded with an Iron Man action figure - a toy he highly coveted from Samuel. 

My girls! We were about to leave for a late dinner. Lots of great conversation, laughter, tears, red wine and fabulous food. 

summer 2013

Summer 2013 highlights: 

- I went to Montreal for a conference, rented a fabulous apartment through airbnb and had guests: Arlo, Des and Emile! I then headed to Toronto to see my girlies Tamara, Sheryl and Alicia. 

-Ambrose and I attended Breanna's grade 12 graduation!

-We (finally) got a a new (to us) car. And later we picked up a utility trailer, a long over due purchase given ongoing reno projects, crazy yard waste and our pack rat ways.

-Met the new addition to the Anderson family (my cousin Moog's new daughter)

-We tried out an oTENTik at Clear Lake (awesome!)

-Hung out with Arlo et al at folk fest. 

-Rented a cabin at Clear Lake. Our friends were there, too (Christy, Karel and Ambrose's BBF, Samuel). Karel was the artist-in-residence at Deep Bay. Ambrose got to spend some quality time with the grandmas. My parents stayed for one night and so did Christoff.

-In August we headed up to The Pas for a family gathering. We were happy to host Emile's family (parents, brother and partner).

-We headed up to Clear Lake for one last sleep over in the oTENTik

Click here for photo gallery

3rd birthday

our boy turned three on march 30. I swear, his development spiked shortly thereafter and is steadily increasing with regard to language, comprehension and physical growth as well.

His birthday fell on Easter so we had lots of family time. Streit family (nana, poppa, Emma et al) along with Luna et al on Saturday, spent Saturday night in Mitchell, woke up and had Easter hunt on Sunday and then dinner with my family later that day. Ambrose had a blast.

I will admit his birthday started on a low note when he was disappointed to not see evidence of birthday wrap (we bought him a bike I failed to wrap it), helium balloons (his birthday was day after Good Friday so there was a delay in getting them) and banners (mama and dada were lazy and/or forgot). However, you will from this picture and the gallery (link below) that his energy and excitement once we got our act together and got the party started....

We bought him a balance bike - what all the cool pre schoolers are riding instead of a tricycle or bike with training wheels. Check out Strider

Check out picture gallery here 

Halloween

Dave is away on the train and Ambrose and I are both feeling under the weather, but we got into the spirit.  Christoff offered to take Ambrose out trick or treating (THANK YOU!!). Christoff had him out for maybe 10-15 minutes, which was a perfect amount of time for my tired little purple dinosaur. 

Click here for more pictures

Boo at the Zoo

We headed out tonight to Boo at the Zoo and met up with Karel, Christy and Samuel. I have to admit it was chilly. But the boys were troopers and they enjoyed their walk through the displays. Super hero statues were our first stop for photos (I think dada was more excited than toddler)

Now, back at home, toasty warm in pjs, cozy on the couch and laughing at cartoons on the ipad.
Life is good...

Pumpkins!

A few weeks ago, Ambrose and I joined Christy and Samuel for a lovely afternoon at A Maze in Corn.
The boys had lots of fun selecting the perfect small pumpkin, greeting the animals, climbing on the hay bails and running through the corn maze. We all slept well that night.
Click here for more pics!

July 2012 - Planes, trains and automobiles

In July we boarded a plane and headed to Ottawa to start our whirlwind vacation. First stop was second cousin Claire's house (Moog and Janine).

We had a fabulous time enjoying their new home and the amenities (read: backyard pool!). We had a great time with the Andersons! Thanks for the hospitality and the yummy meal!

Next stop was Gatineau and for a quick visit at Auntie Des and Uncle Emile's new house. Nana and Papa were there waiting for us. We then got into our cars - rental or otherwise - and 'caravaned' it to Dunham in the Quebec Eastern townships. We were there to celebrate Desiree's and Emile's wedding. And celebrate we did. It was a beautiful and magical wedding made even more special with the announcement of Desiree's pregnancy (we knew ahead of time but we were now able to share the news!).

We rented a cabin close to Emile's parents. Ambrose had fun with his cousin Emma and new friend Jack. Emile's parents were generous hosts and we loved spending time at their enchanting property including their cozy home and swimming pond! The pictures of the wedding may speak for themselves: outdoor, big tent, fabulous food amazing performances (including members of the Geoffroy family). And dance party! Ambrose started us off by gallop dancing around the stage. He LOVED dancing in front of the crowd.

Post-wedding, we drove back to Gatineau and spent the night at the newlyweds home (sans the couple, it was just our small family). We left the next morning on a train headed to Toronto.

Upon our arrival,  we headed immediately to my friend Sheryl's where were stayed the night with her family. Again, wonderful hospitality and delicious food. Ambrose was well taken care of by Eva (yet another beautiful older girl in his life in addition to cousins Jessie and Emma). It was great to see my good friend Sheryl and tootle around Yorkville catching up.

We then took the train home from Toronto to Winnipeg. Ambrose loved traveling by rail and quite capably demonstrated that he has 'train legs'; no issues navigating the bumps and jumps of the train going down the track.

Father's day weekend

We bought Dave a Mexican citrus press for Father's Day. He put it to quick use the next morning.

Ambrose got his first official hair cut Friday night. You might recall us talking about cutting his bangs a few times and then we shaved his head and left a layer of hair overtop while we were in Mexico (I don't think we ever got around to posting a gallery of pics from our trip...). Here, Kathleen is working her magic to allow this child to see (his bangs were really long) and to fix the craziness happening in the back.

Ambrose and I spent a lovely day with Christy, Karel and Samuel (and we snuck a quick visit with Viv et al earlier that day as well). Check out Ambrose and Samuel pretending to be frogs! 

We had an impromptu Father's Day dinner at my sister's house. Ambrose got to meet my babysitter Mary or "Dunnie" from Calgary. She was more like our nanny; she spent the day at our house and made sure we were fed and cared for while my parents worked. She was with us for many years.

photos while mama is away.

well. here are some moments from Lunas' second birthday.

 a dinner party with Luna. watermelon madness and bath time.

busy weekend

Here's a quick update

Ambrose has been quite busy. He had a fun visit with second cousin Claire. Ambrose was quite the gentleman and helped Claire with her shoes and she accepted the assistance. We are looking forward to seeing Moog, Janine and Claire in July during our trip out east.

Ambrose hung out with his buddy Samuel on Friday night. These two are very cute together; they are both very chill.

His cousin Jessie came by for the afternoon on Sunday and we walked to the Forks and back. It was fun. Pre and post walk, she looked after Ambrose so I was able to plant the garden.

Sunday night: we just got back from a quick road trip to Brandon and back to visit Grandma Johnson (along with Auntie, Beans and Jess). Whew, I need a weekend to recover from the weekend.

Wine tasting with Michelle and Tamara

Fun night of wine tasting . French came out the clear winner, there was a tie between the Argentinian and Australian, and distant last was the Canadian.

Luna and Ambrose - no captions are necessary