More family adventures

We have been racking up kilometers visiting family and have been seeing some generous pieces of roading. Refer example A below.

The flipside of all the travel is great times will all the extended family.

 We have just located a camera cable to download images, thus more to follow.

Maxing and relaxing

Watching the sun set over the lake from the deck, jumping into the lake while Emily counts 1, 2, 3 go.... relaxing couple of days at our friends cottage.

Flying to Canada

We have hit the ground running in Toronto.  25 hours of travel, 3 flights, and kids that coped fairly well.  Still got next to no sleep though.  All good now until kids jet lag really hits.

The days of traveling with one bag and getting through the airport quickly are definitely a thing of the past.  Got our bags and were about to head out of LAX to transfer when out of the corner of her eye Candace saw the oversize luggage area and someone else's baby car seat and quickly exclaimed that we had forgotten to pick Cameron's up.  That would have been a mighty mistake to discover at the midnight end of the next flight!

An exhibition of Feelings

A exhibition of feelings from Candace K on Vimeo.

Rockstar Em!

This is Emily singing and dancing with a microphone she made out of magnetic blocks at school.

Emily reading....

We just love listening to Emily read stories to herself. Thought you might enjoy it too. 


But where's the green sheep? from Candace K on Vimeo.

Our lil big man...

Cross spectating

Little Emily is stepping up the spectating game, now with a clacker!

No, Mommy, No...

I had been busy trying to get the kitchen clean before some friends came over for a playdate, and I set Emily up with some "drums" in the lounge (just some plastic containers and measuring spoons). She played them for a while and then said, "Mommy turn". So I came over and belted out some mean beats on the drums. I guess I overdid it and might have been too exuberant as Emily then said, "No, mommy, no". She grabbed the drumsticks back and said "go back kitchen, make cooking."

Emily reading!

Here is a video of our wee girl reading the Very Hungry Caterpillar. Not so much reading as just good memorisation, but it's a start.

Emily reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar from Candace K on Vimeo.

Our kids...

 I went downstairs to get some more firewood and less than a minute later, Emily had moved from drawing pictures on her paper to colouring her brother in. My first reaction was to yell at her, but when I looked at the pride in her face at her artwork, I hesitated. Then she said, "Look Mom, I draw Cameron!" Well, I had to change how I was going to explain that Cameron's face is not a canvas for her artistic exploration. My heart still sinks when I look at how close the coloured pencil/pencil crayon was to his eye.

 to

Emily, posing as Captain Canada for Super Hero Day at her daycare. We had no other superhero clothing and have no shortage of Canadian gear. She kept yelling, "Go Canada!"

Happy Canada Day!

Go Canada! from Candace K on Vimeo.

When we build our own house...

Our bathroom might have to have something like this. Thanks Amy for showing us this!

It's getting muddier

Cross race number two for winter, and it's getting muddier.

It's cyclocross time.

It's winter, and that means cyclocross race season.  Nothing beats racing laps in the mud with your two year old yelling "go daddy".  We need to give her a cow bell at the next race to really get the spectator spirit up.

Go Queen!

The all too popular "Go Queen" chant, sung on the Queen's birthday...

Untitled from Candace K on Vimeo.

Swimming and splashing

Em and Bryce at the pool. I just love the excitement she gets from watching Bryce jump into the pool. Check out her expression and tiptoe pose at 00:24.

Untitled from Candace K on Vimeo.

Queens birthday weekend

First up we headed to Palmy to catch up with Nanny and GG.

We celebrated the Queen's anniversary thing with our British friends Guy, Cheryl and Mia.

What the image below doesn't show is Emily running endless laps of the kitchen, British flag in hand chanting "Go Queen", post desert of course.

Holiday Monday was a good day to get out for a walk to a hut for lunch.  We went into Otaki forks for an "adventure", a loop track walk that has a hut right near the car park. Carrying a 2 year old, plus food, plus a cooker and billy, water and clothes equated to a not insignificant load. Great fun however.

The adventure continues...

 Cameron and his 4 month picture, alongside George the teddy

 Bryce and Guy after a night out in the bush

 Emily and Bryce at the pool

 Emily and Mia exploring the compost heap and Mr. Worm who lives there

Cameron enjoying his nude-y rude-y time

Life lesson #35: No matter how hard you try, the magnetic attraction between a poopy diaper and a baby's foot is too strong to keep apart.