Let the cottage season begin!

What better way to open the brand new cottage, then fill it with the family!

For the first long weekend of the 'summer'.

Over the years the Victoria Day weekend can be hit or miss. 

It could just as often been a cold and dreary weekend that you spend up at the cottage - because that is what we do - than a gorgeous sunny weekend where you need to make sure you don't get burned.

 I think that Nick agrees that this was a pretty good weekend!

The kids were right into the lake - regardless of the little squeals that the adults made when we put our feet in the water.

And in no time there were busy making potions and mud pies.

Going fishing

Captaining a ship

And flashing smiles that say "I am having so much fun!"

The kids loved being on and off of the boat.
They were careful (it's sitting in about 1 ft of water).

I was not so careful about the kids. See this picture above. The bare feed, the carpet. The position of the feet. 2 minutes after he got on the boat and was having fun moving around, he had a big sore on his foot. Exactly like last summer.
After a minor freak-out and berating myself for not recognizing that this would happen (in 2 minutes). We had it bandaged and socked up. Nick didn't care at all.
But at least we didn't get tons of splinters like last year during the long weekend.
And we had the knee pads that helped save the knee. I only used the snazzy baby ones, because they are so simple to get on and off. And we had Nick's old braces for him to take in the water with some water shoes.

Between all of the braces, socks, pads, shorts - Nick might as well have been wearing pants!
But at least the water cooled him off! Even if I was keep him dry standing at the side of the dock - and didn't notice he had shrunk until it was too late.

At the end of the day we just decided to all pile together for family nap time!

Panda Pandamonium!

We had the opportunity to get some tickets for a Panda pre-show and the Toronto Zoo!

 

We decided to get the first tickets available, 9am.

We started to line up at 8:20, along with about 20 other people. By the time they opened the door at 9am exactly, the line up went all the way out to the parking lot, and was full of not-so-happy people, considering the zoo knew how many people expected to be at the exhibit by 9am.
Not only is there no bathrooms before you get through the gates, but we were full of children who were not happy to be waiting in a line up.

 

Come 9:01 we were through the gate.

So we now had 30 minutes to walk to the exhibit for our appropriate time.

 

There was a good set up, they had an exhibit full of educational stuff. We  practically ran through it, knowing we were already late. We noticed it and saw that it would be interesting to read – another time.

Got a quick picture of the kids in front of a cute panda.

In reality how much time can you spend looking at some – really cute – panda bears that aren’t really doing anything.

But we got to get close before the crowds really pushed in.

Nickolas had a lot of fun.

We talked all about what Panda’s eat. “Silly mommy, Panda’s don’t eat chicken wings, they eat bamboo”.

 

(See the little white spot on the rock - that's a Panda)

Mothers Day

Now that Katheryn is in school, Mother's Day has become more of a big deal - to her.

I got an invitation to a Mothers Day Tea at the school.

And Katheryn was counting down the days to mothers day.

 

The kids put on a show with a couple of songs and a slide show.

After the show the kids went around to find their mothers.

Poor Katheryn looked so lost until she found me!

Around the whole gym they had pictures that the kids had drawn of their mothers and we had to go around and try to guess which one was us.

Katheryn was so excited to show me her picture!

And we went to her class for her to show me around a little bit as well.
I had the opportunity to talk to her teacher for a bit (Katheryn is doing great of course).

We had a laid back weekend.
Our plans were cancelled because my family was sick, and so we just went with it.
I got to open my present from Katheryn,

 

And Kyle put up my other present (now if only that comes with watering through the summer).

 

 

I didn't get any pictures with the 3 of us. So a little photo-shopping and I had a cute pic!

 

 

Of course mothers day can't pass without me thinking about what being a mother means to me.

From when I made my mother a mother, and Katheryn made me a mother and everything since then.

 

 

Being a mother means that I am much more than one person, that I think of 2 little munchkins as soon as I wake up and before I fall asleep. That there is a whole world that I never knew existed until just over 5 years ago. Like seeing something in HD and now realizing that the world is brighter and sharper than you ever realized.
My favorite thing in the world?
Having little arms wrap around me and hear "Mommy, I love you."

Happy Mothers Day to me!

Hockey

I've had a couple of hockey posts over the last couple of years.

But this takes it to a new level.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are in the playoffs. For the first time since 2004.

Which of course got me thinking about how much has happened since the last time I participated in the chaos that is Toronto during playoffs.

Graduated from nursing school, started my career, loved my career and transitioned into my educator role. And that is just work. 

Graduated to my own house, started our own family, loved being a mother and transitioned into actually feeling like I know what I'm doing.

Uh oh, did I become an adult since the last time the Leafs were in the playoffs?!

Scary!

OK back to hockey.

Our jerseys (sorry Kyle), our hockey sweaters come out for all of the games.

And the camera as well (Katheryn took this picture of us)

And as Kyle said on facebook (only one of us can have the 'C')

Katheryn gets really excited with the games!
Her favorite part is still the national anthem.

The kids get a kick out of all of us matching

Sometimes there is some down-time.

So come on boys!
It's always more fun to watch your own team during the playoffs. Lets go to round 2!

Spring has Sprung - Finally!

It has felt like a very long winter.

Which made the sun extra bright and made us want to spend more and more time outside enjoying it.

But first some popsicles!

Can you believe that I got that photo of the kids on my very first shot!

We got to work on the garden.
Nick got so much fun out of the sprinkler!

And Katheryn was busy painting the house for us

We got to sit in the sun and catch some rays (pulled out the sunscreen first)

Katheryn is enjoying a bright colour pallet for the spring.

You can't tell from the picture -but those shoes are bright! Practically glow-in-the-dark!

She loves them!

We set up the water-pond at grandma's house!

Nick? Is the water cold?

 They got used to it quickly!
And we had a soaked boy at the end of the day!

All in the price of fun!