First Skate

Last night, the boys and I went skating for the first time this year. The ice at Ted Reeve was surprisingly good. Liam tried out his new skates and helmet and Luke slowly circled the ice as he was intent on not falling and getting his track pants snowy. Hockey starts soon for Beth, Liam and Luke.

Cutie pie!

Granddaughters and Grandsons

Grandpa, where are your red crocs?

U2!

U2 was back in Toronto this week. This would be a perfect post for Dan to write...but it seems that I've taken over his blog. Oops, sorry Dan!

While I was worried that Grace (and therefore, Liz) were going to have a terrible night (they were fine) I still had a great time on Wednesday night. The concert was at the Dome with the roof open, which was awesome, though the sound was very much how I remember concerts at the Dome - not the greatest. We were 4 rows back just behind the stage. Not as close as when we saw them in Buffalo but pretty good. One of my favourite parts was when they played "End of the World" and Bono sprinted around the 360 degree stage! Edge and Larry were in fine form too...I can't believe it has been 22 years since I first saw them play at Exhibition Stadium.

Dan went to the second concert on Thursday and was on the floor. I will leave it at that and he can fill you in on how amazing it was. The photo is a bit small - sent from Tim's phone - but it shows Dan right under "the claw" at the edge of the stage.

Papa

I finally managed to capture the elusive shot of Grace and Papa! Liam, Luke and Grace all have the same shade of blue eyes as their Papa.

Teeth!

Grace got her first two bottom teeth a couple of weeks before she turned 7 months. We haven't got a great picture of them yet but here's a cute one from when they just broke through the gums. She's also getting 2 teeth on the top but they haven't come all the way through yet. I've noticed Grace is drooling a lot less which is nice for her neck rash.

Did you figure out that the top photo is Luke? Sometimes Grace looks so much like Luke, especially with those long eyelashes. (This is Luke when he is one year old).

Back to School!

I think the boys were more relaxed about going back to school than last year. Luke was a little nervous about his first full day of school but he loved it. He is now super excited about going to school and when we asked him if he wanted to go to the cottage last weekend he replied "no, I want to stay here and go to school!" Liam has the same teacher as last year (whom he adores) and Luke has the same teacher Liam had in Grade 1. Dan reports that his class of 33 is much easier to handle than the one he had last year.

We are still getting into the routine - the boys come home for lunch 3 times a week, which is a nice break for them but very hectic for Mommy and Grace. Grace never seems to get a proper nap on those days. On a good note, I get about 6 km of walking in on the days the boys come home for lunch.

We haven't started ball hockey or ice hockey yet but Liam has started choir and Dan has started the last of three classes he needs to complete for his Masters. Liam is hoping to take violin lessons so we are in the process of finding a teacher. Grace and I are taking a Salsa Babies class on Tuesdays when the boys stay for lunch. It is great exercise!

Here are some photos from the first morning of school.

David and Carolyn's Wedding

My cousin David got married in Stouffville on September 5th. David is the youngest son of my Dad's eldest brother. The kids were really well-behaved (in my opinion) and it was nice to see all the relatives.

Disney 2009

What did Dan want for his 38th birthday? To go to Disney World for free dining! Disney has offered free dining the last week of August for the past few years and Dan has been wanting to do this for a long time. Usually I am getting my room ready for school so it isn't really possible. However, since I am on mat-leave it was hard to say no.

Grace hasn't been enjoying her car seat these days so what better to do than take a road trip? After a few trips of crying all the way to and from the cottage and a whiney trip to Montreal it was time for the car seat boot camp!! The drive wasn't too bad except the day Luke was vomitting every hour and the day Grace cried all day! Grace only took two 1.5 hour naps out of 40 hours of driving though she did take some catnaps here and there. I mostly sat in the back with her while Luke was in the front (with the airbag off) and Liam in the third row. Dan mapped out all the Starbucks and Paneras along the way so I had my coffee and nice cool places to nurse Grace. We quickly noticed that Grace is a lot more efficient now when she nurses. In March, our stops were much longer as she would sometimes eat for 40 minutes. Now she is done by the time Dan has the lattes! On the last day of driving, Liam did not leave his seat for 10 hours! Boy did he have to pee when we got home...

Coles Notes version of the trip: the weather was really, really hot; Grace got to meet some princesses - even got kissed by one; Luke lost a tooth and fell in love with water slides; we found a new ride that is even better than Soarin' - Toy Story Mania in Hollywood Studios; the boys tried to eat Mickey ice creams but they melted in less than five minutes, Grace got two teeth; and the boys were super surprised. They thought we were going to Naples to check out Nana and Papa's condo for the upcoming year.

Oh, and did I mention that it was HOT?!

Bikini Girl

Grace has a few years of being able to wear a bikini without having to worry about the rolls of chubbiness. Of course, this isn't very practical as she has to wear her sun suit in the sun and the swim diaper just doesn't fit under the bikini bottoms. However, it makes an adorable photo!