Super Saturdays

I have been enjoying my Saturdays of late as they have consisted of two of my favourite things - family and free stuff!
I start my day out by heading up to the library for their MAP (museum and attractions pass) program.  You have to line up outside and at 9am, you are given a number.  It's first come, first served but atleast the cold weather is keeping a lot of people away so I don't need to get there until 8:45.  Besides, when you have kids, sleeping in no longer exists so it doesn't feel that early!  You get to choose a free family pass for various attractions throughout the city.  So far I have scored a pass to the Zoo and the Science Centre!  I think next week I am going to get a pass for the Casa Loma castle or maybe the Royal Ontario Museum - decisions, decisions!  Stay tuned to hear about all of the attractions we get to see.

(cuddling together before breakfast)

When I get home, we have a lovely breakfast of pancakes.  I don't think Josh has let one Saturday go by without us having pancakes.  He is all about routine and he knows that Saturday is always pancake day.  Josh has always helped me make the batter but now Owen feels that he is big enough to help out.  He even goes and drags the chair from the table over to the counter so that he doesn't miss out.

The final fabulous free family thing of the day is swimming lessons.  Last Saturday the boys started swimming lessons and they are really enjoying them so far.  I wasn't sure how Josh would do with being in the class for the first time without a parent but he was all over it.  The great thing is thanks to the city, the lessons are free!

(splashing daddy)

Not only are we getting the opportunity to take part in all of these great activities while we are here, but we get to do them for free!

Snow Day

I thought that a guaranteed perk of moving out east would be the snow!  I was very disappointed when January arrived and aside from a few flakes here and there, we hadn't yet had our first snowfall.  I was so excited when last Saturday morning, I looked out the window and it was snowing, lots!

I have always loved the snow.  When the snow falls, everything is so quiet and peaceful and it is just so much fun.  When I was a kid, I would be get so excited when my mom or dad would come into my room to announce that it was snowing.  I would jump out of bed, pull up the blinds and gaze out in delight at the snow falling under the streetlamp.  My brothers and I would turn on the radio with the futile hope that school would be cancelled.  It was the one time we wished we went to a private school as we listened to the cancellations for all of the private schools. Nevertheless, it was still fun to walk to school in the snow and enjoy our extended recess playing in the snow.  Afterschool, we would play in the snow as long as we could - knowing that it would probably be all melted by the morning.  We only played in the backyard because we didn't want to ruin the perfectly untouched snow in the front yard.  It was so annoying when the paperboy cut across the yard and ruined the display of natural beauty.
As an adult, I still love playing in the snow.  As a parent, it is so much fun to get to watch my boys play in the snow.  On our first official snow day of what I hope will be many more this winter, we had a blast. 
We put the stroller in 4 wheel drive and found a lovely area to play in all by ourselves.

It was Owen's first experience in the snow and he thought it was very fun.

One of Josh's favourite activities is to eat the snow (we made sure to find an area that was untouched).  Apparently, it's good to eat the snow because 'it's healthy for your body'.

We actually went iceskating!

I had kind of given up on the idea that Josh would come iceskating with me.  Then last weekend I was taking some stuff out of Josh's closet and he noticed his iceskates.  He was admiring them and said to me that we should go iceskating together (what a great idea, I should have thought of that!).  We booked a skating date for Sunday and I tried to contain my excitement as the day approached.  I knew that there was a good chance that he wouldn't follow through. 
The big day came and we geared up and packed our skates.  When we got there, initially Josh just wanted to watch and then surprisingly, after a few minutes, he wanted to lace up his skates and join me on the ice.  As a sidenote, do you know how hard it is to lace up hockey style skates (with massive laces) with your gloves off and it's -5?  I was about to give up on the idea of skating.

Once we eventually got him laced up, we headed out on to the rink.  Josh lasted for about 10 minutes which I thought was pretty impressive and even stood without me supporting him for about 10 seconds.  After we finished, he declared that next he is going to learn to play ice hockey.  I told him that he would first need to learn to skate.  He informed me that he now knew how to iceskate (apparently he's a fast learner).

Mike and Owen sat on the sidelines watching us longingly.  I think Mike is already on the hunt for a pair of cheap skates and we just need to find a small enough pair for Owen and skating at the outdoor rink will be a family affair!

Home for the holidays

We were initially not planning on going home for the holidays but after much pondering (and a seat sale!), we decided to go home for Christmas and we're sure glad we did.  We visited with friends like we had just seen them last week, hung out with family as if we always did and the cousins played together like there had never been any miles between them.  It was good to be home to the familiarity of everyone and everything, the comfort of the known (never having to consult a roadmap!) and the vast beauty of the BC landscape.

Ironically, our first snow fall of the year was back in Vancouver.  It left the mountains beautifully snowcapped and as we drove in the sunshine out to visit our dear friends in Mission, we were awestruck by the beauty and were dying to be on those mountains skiing.  It made us laugh though to think of what typical Vancouverites we sounded like.  It was dark, grey and wet for the first week that we were there but as soon as the sun came out, that's all that we could remember!

We had great fun bowling.  Josh wins the award for most sportsmanlike player.  Bowling is the best family event and he is always encouraging everyone, telling them that they are winning.

(never too young to learn to bowl)

I felt like a kid again on Christmas morning, waking up at 5:30am (thanks to Josh) and running downstairs to see that 'Santa' had come and left lots of presents for us under the tree.  The boys had so much fun opening their presents and playing with them afterwards.



Hours of fun were had by the kids, and kids at heart building cool Lego houses, playing street hockey and just chilling out.  Oh, to be young again.

 (helping Grandpa pack everything up to bring home)

Allergic

A few months ago, we sat down to dinner and Josh announced that he couldn't eat his carrots because he was allergic.  He explained to us that if he ate them, they would make him sick.  I am guessing that he learned about allergies at school. I proceeded to tell him that no, he was not allergic to carrots and that he didn't have any allergies and that carrots were actually very good for him.  He apparently knows his body better than I do and in the coming weeks, became allergic to a variety of foods.  He often conveniently develops new food allergies at dinner when it is a food he doesn't want to eat.  His allergies don't always last either; he was allergic to peanut butter one day but somehow was able to eat it on crackers the next day.  Sometimes he is allergic to foods once he is full like the other day when he finished eating his pancakes, he said he needed to stop because he was allergic and he would get a stomachache. 
Yesterday afernoon, he was over at our neighbour's playing.  She offered him some grapes and he said no, he couldn't have any because he was allergic.  When Mike went to pick him up, she was a bit concerned and confused that he was allergic to grapes. Concerned I am sure, that we were very irresponsible parents sending him over there without warning her that he had food allergies and confused because she's probably never heard of anyone being allergic to grapes.
Interestingly enough, he has not yet developed any allergies towards candy or chocolate.