First Day of School!

Some of our summer fun

March Break

What a busy week! We started our March break off by saying "Goodbye Andy" and sent him off to Chili for two weeks (work trip). Me and the kids braved the local Chuck E Cheese to use up leftover tokens we had from Avery's birthday. It was packed with our fellow March breakers.
The next day we headed over to Climbers Rock (http://www.climbersrock.com/prices.php)to do some climbing. Chase was super excited about scaling a 5.7 coarse. (routes are rated by difficulty with the easiest-at this gym-starting at 5.5 going up to 5.13(pardon my previous #,my resources were off) Avery wasn't"in the mood"so she only went up a couple of feet and would tell me to "belay". It was still a blast.
We also enjoyed a day out at the park playing catch and soccer.
We went to a place called KidsTime that looked like fun with mini golf and a ball pit. Unfortunately the pictures posted online were the only impressive part of this place. The golf coarse was very dissappointing, especially for a nine year old "dying" to play a good game of mini golf. We decided that the place was designed more for daycare of toddlers and not as a kids attraction. Lesson learned.
All in all, it was a great week spent with good friends and great kids!

Happy Birthday Avery!

That's right! She's FINALLY 6. If you ask her, she's been waiting a long time to turn six. We celebrated the big day with some friends at Chuck E Cheese. It was a blast! She is growing up right before our eyes (and I don't like it!). Avery has been a real trooper this past year and has been a great example to her friends and classmates. She still loves to snuggle (thank goodness) and is super friendly. We feel so lucky to have her in our family.

Valentine's Caring Concert

These cute little kindergarteners put on a sweet valentine's day performance last Friday. They sang several songs and then read a cute story. Avery had a part in the story and she did a fantastic job memorizing and saying her part. (If I can get it loaded, I'll post the recording.)

Climber's Rock

Avery "graduated" from her first session of gymnastics this month. She has loved every minute of her classes which doesn't come as a surprise. Her favorite stations are the trampoline and the balance beam. Although it seems more like play time than anything, she really has gained a lot of muscle control and is making progress. We are thrilled that she enjoys it and look forward to session number two.

Just a bit of our Christmas fun

Chase is AWESOME!

Chase recieved a recognition award from his teacher for being just plain aWeSoMe!!!! We are so proud of him! The first video is of him walking into the gym, seeing Andy and I there and being embarassed. (you're welcome)

Our trip to Andrew's Scenic Farm

Yummm-eeeooooo

Chocolate dipped Oreos......yum. And, they are supposed to be owls but with all that chololate I almost forgot what they were.

Happy Birthday...to you!

A little bit of Mini golf, little bit of cake, little bit of ice cream, and a little bit of Rock Band equals a whole LOT of fun!!!!
Chase turned nine and with this blessed occurance came the all to grown-up request for steak and baked potatoes for dinner........Steak?!? Really???? What happened to pizza or hamburgers? I know he is bound to grow up sooner or later, this just seems a bit premature. Oh well. I guess I'll just be greatful he still likes to cuddle....(which, for a nine year old boy, is a miracle).

....and then school started

A visit from the Foxes

A little slice of heaven

We went exploring the other day and found this gem of a "park". They call it a park, but it's more like a reserve. It is a 180+ acre park surounding the Credit River here in Mississauga. It is beautiful! There are biking trails everywhere, lots of picnic pavillions and big patches of grassy areas and playgrounds. It is open for catch and release fishing, too. We actually saw a guy reel in a two foot salmon, huge! AND...it's only 15 minutes away. Anyway, it was an awesome find for me when I really needed it. It really reminded me of the beauty back in Utah and I am now convinced this may not be the worst place ever. (I was having a "why did we move here" bad attitude day and this find relieved some of my anxiety.) I can't wait to go back soon.

Take me out to the Ball Game!

So we decided to take the kids to a Toronto Blue Jays game today. There is a shot from where we sat, right down the third base line. It was awesome!!! The Jays hit 8, that's right EIGHT home runs today and most of them were in our direction. We didn't catch any balls, but we had a great time. If that weren't enough, they were having a Junior Blue Jays day and let any kids under 14 go down on the field and run the bases. We got to see the dug out and Ace, the Blue Jays mascot. Needless to say with 8 homeruns, the Jays won and we all left happy!