Wedding Belles

Vacation has arrived and a final weekend to enjoy Ottawa before jetting to Halifax and some much-needed cottage time. Today we braved the sweltering temperatures and headed downtown for one of Isabelle's favourite destinations, the giant spider in front of the National Gallery. However, a funny thing happened when we turned the corner to see this awesome work of art. A wedding party was taking photos beneath the spider. Isabelle quickly abandoned her initial goal of counting all the spider's legs and became infatuated with the bride and all her followers. She was quite taken with the big white dress, the photographers, the dark-clad groomsmen and the golden bridesmaids, in fact she turned her back on the spider and never let the wedding party out of her sight. She was also ecstatic to get a wave from the bride herself. It was all we could do to tear her away. We are decades from Isabelle's own special day but I think we already have a girl who loves weddings. Better start saving funds now!

Inspiration: visiting where Mom & Dad first conversed


A bachelorette with a rose to give!


Never too early to start looking for the perfect dress

Family Picnic 2009!

One of the best days of the year had finally arrived, the family picnic in Bradford! For over 30 years running, Uncle Roy has presided over a fun-filled day of family, food, and festivities. And it gets better every year as the new generation starts to dominate the attendance. Isabelle was attending her 3rd one already(!), Oliver was of course making his debut, as were Carys and Peter. What fun years lie ahead for us as these ones start to rule the roost, especially when joining up with Sarah, Liam, Vivian, Mikaela, Annika, Claire and Aileen. Wow, so many kids! A great day to spend catching up with everyone and reacquainting Isabelle with the various contests, including the penny jar, nail hammering, shoe kicking and the water balloons. You can probably guess from the pictures which one she enjoyed most. Oliver had fun getting passed around and visiting the new faces, plus he even found the time to snooze through all the racket! We were able to top off the day back at the farm by setting up a very popular new addition, the bouncy castle. We could not have asked for a better time and we cannot thank Catherine, Kayla and Jay for hosting this each and every year! Already looking forward to the 2010 version!

Chatting cousins


Taking Carys for a spin


Next up for Peter: walking!


Happy in Mommy's arms


Isabelle runs wild


Hoop it up!


Dress-up fun




Streamer fanatic


Hanging with Janice


Warning: will crash anywhere, anytime


Shoe kick showdown


Stop. Hammertime!


This is for me?


Can I break it?


Pinata princess


Oliver and Mom reap the pinata spoils


I love my Gran


Bouncy castle buds


Pandemonium

Thanks, Great Grandpa!

Isabelle never considers us to have arrived in Toronto until we get to Great Grandpa's condo. To hear her say that is music to our ears because it is important to us that she feels as comfy there as she does in her own home. Great Grandpa's home is always open to us and he is the most accommodating of hosts. We all feel relaxed there and love both the condo and the company. It's also nice to provide him some conversation and give him the chance to spend time with his great grandkids. So we just wanted to say thanks to such a superstar great grandpa! We love you!

Sunday in the Park

After a hectic weekend that included the big family picnic north of Toronto, we got back a little earlier than planned. After many weekend hours spent in the car, it was time for Isabelle and Oliver to get some fresh air at the park. When we first moved into our house, we thought it was nice to have a park at the top of our street. It was a great landmark for giving people directions on how to get to our place. Little did we know how much the park would mean to us just a few years later. A failsafe kids destination just a minute from our door? We just couldn't ask for anything better. It has been great to see Isabelle's growth from being helped through every step of the play structure, to now running wild and climbing it like a pro. She now becomes the perfect teacher for Oliver as he starts to learn the ropes. The hardest part is always leaving to come home!

More on the picnic and the weekend tomorrow, for now check out the little ones taking the park by storm.

Best Foot Forward

Isabelle at 5 months:


Oliver at 5 months:


Not exactly the most crucial milestone of all but it looks like they have similar development schedules!

Cure for a Rainy Day

If you want to see Isabelle's face look like this, tell her that we're going to a place called Cosmic Adventures, at which point she will repeat the name a few hundred times before we actually get there. Cosmic is a giant indoor playground with slides, tunnels, ball pits, tubes, climbing apparatus, plus arcade games where you earn tickets to redeem for valuable(?) prizes. The kind of place where parents spend $30 on games to win a $10 toy but no matter, it's best described as a place where kids can just wreak havoc to their heart's content. It was a regular destination for Isabelle and Logan during their nanny days, but she hadn't been in a while so we took bad weather and turned it into a fun afternoon of toddler mania. A madhouse to say the least but also a blast to see her so excited. We foresee many hours of her and Oliver zipping through this place hopped up on candy and birthday cake, with the added bonus that they will sleep like logs when they get home!

Poof! She appears out of nowhere!


No time to waste! I'm heading back up!


Why do I feel hungry all of the sudden?

We Stand On Guard For Thee

We continued our staycation long weekend with a trip to see one of Ottawa's finest summer traditions, the Changing of the Guard. We arrived downtown early enough to go near the drill hall where the big march begins. Isabelle jumped for joy as soon as she heard the drums and saw the huge black hats! We were able to follow the group as they made their way past the War Memorial and Chateau Laurier to the huge crowd waiting for them on Parliament Hill. It's something everyone should see once, or if you're Isabelle's friend Logan, half a dozen times or more! Today was apparently no exception as we happened upon him right after the ceremony ended! She was thrilled to see her old chum and she made her way back to the drill hall to get a picture taken with one of her newfound heroes. Sorry Gran, when Isabelle says she wants to be a "gardener", she isn't looking to follow in your footsteps, she really means a guard!

Ladies Man

We all know that Oliver is such the little cutie, but sometimes it's nice to be out and get validation from people that aren't actually related or friends with him. Yesterday at Second Cup, he had a gallery of girls oohing and aahing over his every move and he ate it up, cooing and laughing his way into their hearts. As a bonus, he even charmed the barista into under-charging Mom for her drink! Safe to say he was a big hit and has female fans far beyond his Mom and sister. We've already caught him making out with Isabelle's mermaid and just the other day he crashed out with her Bitty Baby. We've got a busy set of teenage years ahead of us with these two fair-haired kidlets if this is any indication!

Chilling with the gals


Swinging with sis


Snoozing with his main squeeze


Can you blame any girl that finds him adorable?

Sparks Street Sweetie

Happy long weekend! A rarity around here this weekend, we just experienced our second consecutive sunny day! Something to report indeed, as we have just completed a July that set a rainfall record and had only 4 rainless days of the 31. So, weather-blessed, we headed downtown to check out the Ottawa International Buskerfest on the Sparks Street Mall. A similar array of offerings to what was there last year, but it's funny with Isabelle growing a year and not really remembering, it was like her first time all over again! Plus it was Oliver's chance to see it all, and although he slept through part of it he was happy and relaxed when we checked out the act. Zen baby strikes again! It was quite an afternoon of treats for Isabelle. Time in the bouncy castle, unicorn face painting, puppy dog balloon animal, FOUR trips down the death-defying slide and her first street vendor hot dog to top it all off. All this and we hadn't even seen a show yet! We decided to check out this drummer, Peter Rabbit, that we saw last year and enjoyed. He put on a great show, including a newly-added sidekick to pump up the crowd and perform some awe-inspiring acrobatics. Isabelle laughed and clapped along and happily zipped over with money once it ended. Alas, time to go home but not before "Mommy, Daddy, please, one more time down the slide?"

Daddy and Isabelle get prepped


Not for the faint of heart


Pre-launch with Mommy


Vertical drop!


Enjoying dinner


Peter Rabbit in action


Head over heels


Make yourself at home


Wicked show!