On Owen's birthday we took the kids to Canada's Wonderland for the day. It seems to be turning into a family tradition as the past three years we've gone on or near his birthday! This year was especially fun because we could all enjoy the rides in the kiddie section instead of having to take turns waiting with Noah (last year he was too young for the rides). We stayed from 10am until 8pm and both kids were really good. Owen wanted to walk the entire day, I think he was afraid that if he went in the stroller it would signal that it was time to leave, or he'd fall asleep. Noah slept for about an hour in the afternoon, then he was good to go again!

To get to the kids park you have to walk through the main ride section of Wonderland. Owen couldn't understand why he couldn't go on the big roller coasters and he started to get upset as we walked past the "bat" ride and he couldn't go on. Luckily he got over his disappointment fast and enjoyed himself.

The first ride of the day was the swans! There was only one adult allowed per swan so we had to split our small group :) I snapped this pic of Noah and daddy before one of the park employees told me that there were no cameras allowed on the rides. Gavin thought it was funny that we'd gotten in trouble just moments after arriving!


The boys met snoopy in "Planet Snoopy" neither of them were afraid of the characters, but Noah kept turning around to look at them and it made getting pictures of the kids difficult.


Here it looks like Noah is trying to snatch snoopy's cookie:)


While waiting in line for the "snoopy rocks on ice" show, Owen found some pine cones. Silly boys!





Meeting Charlie Brown


Noah on the train ride.


Owen on his first ride by himself! I made sure he understood that he was to remain seated and not try to get off the ride until the ride stopped and mommy came to get him off. He totally listened in fact he didn't move from this position the entire time :)


Playing "Lucky Ducky". Owen really wanted to play a game so we let the kids pick which one they wanted to play. For some reason Owen always wants to play the duck game. All of the games in the kids section are everyone's a winner games, so I'm not sure what the appeal is. It certainly wasn't the stuffed animal ducks they won as a prize. Noah kept tying to throw the "prize" out of the stroller and Owen shoved his duck under the stroller and I don't think he's looked at it since!


a match! winner!


On a ride with daddy. Noah sat this one out, it was a little too fast for him. We went on almost all of the rides in planet snoopy, I think we missed two of them. Owen noticed of course and didn't want to leave until we went on all of the rides. Noah was ready to leave though, so we were glad that Owen decided to "save those rides for next time".


Owen finally sat in the stroller on our way out of Wonderland. Both kids were asleep by the time we left the parking lot and we were even able to change them into their pajamas when we got home without them waking! What a great day we had and I can hardly wait until next year.

Owen's 3rd Birthday Party

**updated with birthday video**

Owen had a blast celebrating his third birthday with family and friends! I was impressed by how willing he was to share his new toys with his friends and by how polite he was to everyone, he was even polite enough to wish Uncle Adam a happy birthday when he arrived even though Uncle Adam's birthday was last month!

We spent the morning in a scramble trying to get everything ready before guests arrived. Gavin was busy saturday morning and then it rained all afternoon so preparing the backyard for the party had to wait until sunday. The kids could sense the excitement and were so hyper and busy all morning, it made getting things ready even more difficult.

The theme of the birthday party was "sports" so Gavin spray painted a mini soccer field in the backyard. The grass grows really slowly in the backyard so I expect we will have the soccer field there for the rest of the summer! Luckily the weather co-operated and we had a great afternoon outdoors.


The kids decorated sun visors as a craft. Noah refused to put his on and I think Owen wore his for a few minutes. I had bought a few pink visors for some of our girl guests but wee cousin Kian thought he'd look good in pink. I'm guessing he doesn't see much pink in his day :) The little kids looked so cute working on their crafts. As expected Owen covered his sun visor with as many stickers as he could fit on it.


I baked Owen's birthday cake on friday and then spent the better part of the day saturday decorating it. I don't think you can tell but Owen had stuck his fingers into the side of the cake when I had my back turned for one second. I turned to see him licking the blue icing off his fingers and saying "I LOVE soccer ball cake!" I wasn't impressed that I had to try and fix the cake the best I could, but he didn't mean any harm and he was so pleased with his cake I couldn't really be mad for long.


I think eating cake is Owen's favourite part of any celebration. I'm sure he likes cake more than opening gifts.


Owen received many great gifts from his family and friends, he was spoiled again this year! Here he is posing with his Buzz and Woody interactive toys, a gift from Mommy, Daddy and Noah.



We couldn't have asked for a better day. Owen loves his family and friends and everyone came out to help him celebrate his special day! I just love seeing my boy so happy makes all of the planning and effort worth it. Owen turns three on July 31st and we are celebrating his birthday at his favourite place! Can't wait!

17 Months Old

Full of personality but not so many words, he still gets his point across and you can definitely tell what he wants. We often try and get him to say the words we know he can say but he is so incredibly stubborn and will only talk when he feels like it. On the rare occasions he does say a new word I try and make a big deal out of it hoping that mommy's excitement will push him to try and say more. So far though, not much success. He can roar like a lion and bark like a dog but I'm not sure how far that will take him :)



Noah is at the stage now that whatever someone else has or is doing he must have it or do it to. It's been frustrating because there are still things that he is a little young for but he throws the hugest fits. We've just learned to walk away and ignore him that seems to be the only thing that stops the temper tantrum. My mom cared for the kids on saturday so that Gavin and I could go out and celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary. When we returned she was telling us about Noah throwing a hissy fit about something and she had no idea what it was he wanted. Apparently he sat in the other room and ignored her for a while! I think she was surprised to see him act like that because usually everyone comments on how good Noah is and how quiet he is.



Noah's favourite toys are cars, trucks and balls. Anything round is a ball to him so he is constantly throwing food such as blueberries across the room and saying "ball". Yesterday at the grocery store he wanted the watermelon that was in our cart because he thought it was a ball. He had his first major melt down in public because he couldn't throw a watermelon. You've got to love the toddler times :) His favourite book is a truck picture book and we must read it every night.

Noah keeps us incredibly busy but always entertained! he stops just long enough for some extra cuddles and to give us big open mouth kisses! I just love my energetic mamas boy.

Owen's First Soccer Game

Owen played his first soccer game tonight and he loved it! the games are really practices and they don't actually play games until the age 5 group. He is in the 3 and under group and it is hilarious to watch! luckily he had a great time and listened to the coach, there were many kids crying on the field, sitting down, running the other way and not paying attention at all. One little guy wouldn't even put on the navy jersey he wanted to wear the shirt he came in! For his age group one parent must remain on the field at all times.

Getting ready for the game!





listening to the coach give direction for the evening





When asked who wanted to go first in the soccer drill, Owen volunteered. I was so proud to see him so confident.


High Five for his goal!




Hip Hip Hooray!


I can hardly wait until next weeks game!

This past weekend we took a trip to Brockville area to visit my brother and sister-in law. They recently bought a trailer in the same park as Kaila's parents so we were thrilled to be able to spend the weekend at the beach and have a campfire. There was also a baby shower planned for Kaila that was supposed to be a surprise but it was obvious she knew about it :) and if she didn't Owen sure gave it away in the first few minutes of our visit.




Gavin and Uncle Derek took the boys swimming in the lake. The lake was freezing! I couldn't get in past my waist it was so cold.



Playing football with Uncle Derek





Playing at the worlds scariest park :)



Aunt Kaila is a trooper! the weather was incredibly hot and she found ways to keep cool! including hanging out with the kids in the kiddie pool. Besides the freezing cold lake and that little pool there was literally no relief form the heat. We joked with Kaila that the kiddie pool could be her birthing pool, but seriously she is so close to her due date that it could have been!


The next time we visit with Derek and Kaila we will finally be able to hold our niece and welcome her to the world!

Noah's First Haircut

I finally got around to making an appointment to get Noah's hair cut, which meant that Owen was going to get his hair cut at the same time out of convenience. Gavin made me promise to only get their hair trimmed, he says he lives vicariously through them because they have hair and he doesn't :)

The place was packed but luckily the Thomas seat was available.






My well groomed boy! it hardly looks like he even had a hair cut. But for those that have seen Noah lately you can tell that his hair is slightly less "bushy". Noah did great and didn't fuss at all, he loved sitting in the character seat and pretending to drive.

I think he looks just as cute and he didn't lose any of his curl :)

First Race

On Saturday June 24th the kids took part in the 1st annual Run for Turtles 1 km fun run. Owen was excited about the run and all week kept talking about how he was going to beat Papa in a race! so cute.

Sweetest runner number 4 I've ever seen, even with the silly grin on his face.


Sweetest runner number 3 I've ever seen. Noah was thrilled to be out of the stroller and free to run in the open space.


Sweetest runner number 2 I've ever seen. My nephew Kian was the youngest runner there!


Here are the boys looking really excited before the race!


On your mark, get set, go! The three of them were the youngest participants and I think they were also the last to cross the start line!


Here comes Owen! he finished the race in 9 minutes 25 seconds. Papa said he only walked part of the way and ran most of it! Way to go Owen!


Owen wanted to cross the finish line again :) you can see Gavin, Noah and Papa coming in behind.


Here comes Noah! Noah and Kian both spent part of the race in the stroller but managed to run what they could. Noah would have crossed the finish line at just over 13 minutes but took a little break at the finish line to wait for his cousin! I think both Noah and Kian actually crossed the finish line at about the 15 minute mark. Noah saw that Kian wasn't quite finished running yet and the two boys both took off running back in the other direction! all of the on lookers got a good giggle out of that.


Here is Noah finally crossing the finish line with daddy.


The boys enjoyed their shortbread cookie in the shape of a turtle. Owen thought that was his prize for "winning the race" :)




Family photo after the race


We had a great time and look forward to the second annual turtle run. Thanks for registering the boys Papa!