Happy Birthday Me!

It was my birthday yesterday, and we were in Montreal with my family, and extended family, The Belangers. There are so many things I'd like to talk about: what the past year has been and on turning 37, but I am just too tired (Max has a cold and I have been up with him since 4am). So, instead, another photo adventure. I know, not terribly inspiring, but my brain just can't handle anything more than that.

Marty and I decided to head to Montreal once more before the start of school and the best time just happened to land on my birthday. It turned into a little party with all of the family. It was a beautiful day to be outside and enjoying Tammy and Matt's new backyard, and in-ground pool. Yeah.

A little family time in the pool (oh, did I mention it's a salt water pool and heated to 80 degrees?)


Marie-Francis and Claudia enjoying some time together before Claudia and family move to Chelsey (yeah for us!).


Charlotte was having a great time heating Adrian with the water blasters.


Dominique and Tom (boyfriend: we like him) helping out with Max while Marty and I enjoy either the pool or some cool yummy adult drinks. I can't remember.


Max on his way over to push Alex off the chair. I hope they learn to play nice together.


After dinner (Montreal smoke meat brisquet on the barbeque, barbequed potatoes, coleslaw, rye bread and DQ ice cream cake) everyone got back into the pool. They have some very cool lights in the pool, even a strobe light!


Danielle got Mom to take Alex in the pool. Supposedly he wouldn't go in at Margaret's, but maybe the heated pool was more up his alley.


So there you have it. I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day weather wise, and I got to spend it with some of the most important people in my life. Pretty good birthday.

A day at the zoo

The Toronto Zoo rocks! We went last Saturday with the Stewarts, when it was hotter than Hades, and had a great time. Instead of blabbing on and on, I thought I would put a wonderful weekend in pictures.

The Sting Ray exhibit is on at the moment. It's very cool. Max seemed to like playing in the water more than petting the sting rays. Marty didn't really like the sensation. I thought it was way cool. You can see the sting ray at the bottom right hand corner of the photo.


Oh my, what big ears you have! Better to hear you with my darling!


Max's was very much into walking everywhere, as long as he was holding onto my finger.



What did Max get excited about most? Lions? Tigers? Giraffes? Zebras? No. Fish! I see a fishbowl in my near future.

Marty was so excited about Max seeing elephants. I was a little worried that Marty would disappointed. It was getting late in the day, Max was really hot, he hadn't had a nap, and we didn't know if the elephants would be close enough for him to really get a good look. But neither the elephants nor Max disappointed. Here is the look on his face when he saw them. Then he shot his arm up in the air and did his elephant noise. Marty just beamed.

There is the most incredible splash pad at the zoo. It's huge and considering the heat, it wasn't too crowded. Marty brought his swimsuit and joined in on the fun. I was very grateful for the opportunity to let Max cool off. He loved it!


We ended the day sitting in a little patch of shade and eating - you guessed it - watermelon. It was the perfect end to a perfect day.


Again, we have to thank the Stewarts for their hospitality. There was a lot more fun over the weekend which included water fun in their backyard, some yummy drinks after the kids were in bed, and of course, good food. I can't until we get the basement done and we can finally have them over to our place. Soon guys, very soon!

Weekend fun

We had a great family weekend. On Saturday we went to the Experimental Farm. This is such a great place. It barely costs us anything because I can get in free with my museum card and Max is free up to the age of 3. So Marty bought an adult membership for $34.00, which includes the Science and Technology Museum and the Aviation Museum. How great a deal is that?

So Max mooed at the cows, baaed at the sheep, neighed at the horses and doot-dooted at the tractors. Actually, there is an exhibit on tractors at the Farm at the moment and I thought Max was going to go into a fit seeing all the tractors. And the fact that he could sit on one, oh my! We made his year I'm sure! Forgot the camera, so no pictures of the look of pure joy on Max's face.

Then on Sunday we headed to Lac Philippe in Gatineau Park. It's a little out of the way (about a 50 minute drive) but so worth it. It's not too crowded and is totally a family beach, with lots of little naked bums running around. Dan, Heather and Sara joined us for most of the day. We playing in water, picnicked, played in the water and ate LOTS of watermelon. I think Max could eat his weight in watermelon if we let him.










In the water, Max had a little visitor for a little while. Heather couldn't stop exclaiming that it was the biggest dragonfly she had ever seen. It was a doozy!

Baby genius

Sitting on the stairs at the front of the house, Max is playing with seeds that have fallen from our poplar tree.

He takes two seeds and lines them up.

"How many seeds do you have Max?" I ask.

He points to each seed. "One, two."

I run into the house to call Mensa.

Girl TIme

I love Marty. There are many things to love about him, and I won't go listing them here. But one thing I do love about him is how he never seems to mind when I mention something I would like to do, without him or Max. I usually feel guilty about asking. Not only because I am missing out of my time with Max, but often it means Marty has Max for a full day and night, not getting much time to himself. For the most part, these times are what I call my "Girl Time." Last week I got to have two Girl Times.

The first was Thursday night. I went out for dinner and a movie with some of my girlfriends from work. We went to see Mama Mia! What a blast. I don't know if you have been reading any of the reviews, but they are mostly right. It's so bad, it's good. As nice and Pierce Brosnan might be to look at, he can't hold a tune in a wheel barrow. Makes you question why he was cast in a musical. He was so bad that I laughed until I cried, yelling "Please stop!" at the screen. And of course there was lots of singing. Well worth the $10 entrance fee. If you like ABBA (and honestly, who doesn't) this is definitely worth a look. It doesn't need to be seen on the big screen, so you can wait until it's out on DVD. Then you can laugh and sing in the privacy of your own living room.

The second Girl Time was this past weekend. Heather was in need of a break from motherhood. After almost 15 months of never being away from Sara, the time had come. I had mentioned it to Marty and he said "Why don't you both go to Montreal for a girl's weekend?" (Did I mention how much I love the guy?) We left Saturday morning with a spring in our step and money in our pocket for a little shopping. A little shopping? Is there such a thing in Montreal?

We arrived, had lunch, shopped, had ice cream, shopped, had dinner, and then could barely move as our bodies protested against all the walking. We ended up going to my parents a little earlier then expected and could barely make it to 10:00pm. Oh how different a weekend in Montreal is for me now!

Now it's Marty's turn for some Boy Time. He definitely deserves it.

Words

As you know, Max has been babbling away in his own language for a long time now. Ever since he found his voice at 3 months old he hasn't really stopped. Now he seems to be saying a new word ever day. Being the proud Mama, I feel the need to share Max's ever expanding vocabulary.

Here are the words he has down packed:
Mama
Daddy
Hi
Bye
What's that?
That
No
Doggy
Hat
Cat
Baa Baa (for sheep obviously)
Belbow (elbow)
Up

Here are the animal sounds that he has when you ask: "What does a ** say?"
Neigh
Moo
Woof Woof
Baa Baa
Meow
Roar

Not bad, ey?

A Day at a Cottage

I love cottages. I love friends with cottages. I love swimming in lakes and sitting around in muskoka chairs. I love fire pits and barbeques. Can you tell we had a great day?

Our friends Julie and Pete invited a bunch of us up to their cottage for the day. It's the perfect distance away, 1 hour. Invited were basically everyone you hear me talking about. Karen, John, Emily and Hope, and Meredith, Ron, Ella and Duncan. Julie and Pete have two of their own as well, Nathanial and Maggie. Eight adults and seven kids all under the age of 5. At least we still out number them!











It was a beautiful day with sun and cloud. Not too hot, with a little breeze to keep the bugs away. The lake was warm and the wine and beer were plentiful. Ahhh... I didn't really want to leave.

Everyone had a great time, especially the kids. What more could you ask for!

Detto Family Vacation (in Pictures)

We got back from the yearly Detto family cottage vacation on Saturday. It was a really nice week with lots of time down by the lake, lots of eating good food, and lots of laughing and antics (both kids' and adults'!) Here are some pictures from the week.

We weren't there fore more than a few minutes and Max swindled Rick into reading him a book.









Day two and Max in in the water.






Max hung on Connor's every word and action. Come Christmas time, he'll be running after Connor!










Max discovered Bacci. Lining up for the perfect shot.











Max also discovered and new toy. You can see how excited he was when he figured out all the knobs and dials.










Little cousing Emmy. Check out those gorgeous blue eyes!











Max and Mike did some bonding.








And Max and Opa too.








Dinner time!









Chili was in doggy heaven.

Another milestone

No, no, he isn't walking. But it won't be long yet!

Today at the library Max pulled himself up to standing for the first time. No, he hasn't done that yet. As he doesn't crawl, he is never on his knees so pulling himself to stand is a little trickier. Try pulling yourself up from a sitting position. It's damn near impossible! But our little guy did it today. Marty tried desperately to recreate the scenario for me when I got home from work, but it wasn't to be.

Today was the first of the many things that I will miss the "first time" of. I was too excited to hear about his accomplishment to care that I missed it. That bodes well for future events I imagine.

How cute is he?

For Max's first birthday, Nana and Opa bought him this cool truck toy. It's sort of a walker that transforms into a ride on toy that transforms into a wagon. And on the steering wheel there is a horn button. When Max first tried it, he repeated "Doot! Doot!" Every time that he plays with it, he will repeat "Doot! Doot!"


A few days ago he saw a picture of a truck and he said "Doot! Doot!" How cute, right? Wait, it gets better. Today Marty calls me at work with this little gem that made my heart melt.

Max was taking his afternoon nap. The recycling truck comes down our street, making a stop at each house. A few minutes later Marty hears quietly through the monitor "Doot. Doot." Every time the truck moved to the next house, Marty would hear it again. This is how Max woke up this afternoon. How cute is that? Too cute. Man I love that kid!

Marty and Max left for Toronto

...

(insert sound of crickets here)

Happy Canada Day!

Hope you had a wonderful day and that the weather was as spectacular for you as it was for us. We went to Grass Creek Park just outside of Gananoque for the afternoon. Actually, the afternoon turned into the whole day. It was wonderful. We were with the Stewarts, the Guerins and the Druirys (Beth who is 8 months pregnant with twins and looks fabulous!). The day couldn't have been any better.

Here are some moments (funny that we only have pictures of Max and no one else! Honestly, there were other people there!)

Max eating... what else is new

Max had his first apple the other day. Do you think he liked the experience?

I am starting to avoid going into the museum lease days, even though it's one way to pass the time (work has got ridiculously slow again). Why am I avoiding it? There are so many babies.

I can't believe how many babies there are in there every day. And every time I see one, my heart aches for Max, especially if the baby is close in age to him.

My little baby is turning into a little boy and it's just going by too fast. I mean look! He's eating apples on his own now! Soon he'll be leaving for university. Ugh. I can't handle this. I need to go watch an episode of early Friends when they were all single, childless and carefree.

Gardening

I enjoy gardening. I didn't know if I would, so I started small when we first bought the house. Then I discovered that I really liked it. I only have perennial gardens, no veggies. We live on an old garbage dump from the early 1900s and our soil is contaminated, hence no veggies.

I am still learning. I wouldn't say that I am a novice, but I don't know if I am yet into the intermediate classification (if there is such classifications). I tend to talk about gardening as if I know a lot more than I do. For some reason, people seem to think I am an old hat at it. Hopefully the advice I have been giving is good and not just blowing smoke!

Here are the fruits of my labor so far this year. I haven't spent nearly enough time in the gardens and they are looking a little jungle-ish, but some of the blooms are gorgeous.

Weekend at home

Went to Montreal for the weekend. It was hot. I'm talking melting the tar on the pavement hot. And it was Grand Prix weekend. We managed to avoid the traffic, but there was no avoiding the heat.

Max beat it by staying cool in his new pool.
Then Max spent a whole lot of time playing with Mitchell...
And eating...
And more time in the pool.
It was hot but time well spent with the family.