Buscapades

It started out innocently and ended with me swigging from a sippy cup and yelling "MOMMY NEEDS SOME QUIET TIME!!!!" But that part of the tale is too fresh to revisit. Perhaps it will cross the "funny" line one day. Today is not that day.
Anyways.....
I have spent the better part of two years singing Wheels On The Bus and as of this week Liam accompanies my warbling with hand actions and the occasional "beep beep beep" where appropriate. What better way to enhance this cognition than to take a ride on an ACTUAL bus? So that's what we did today.
DISCLAIMER: There's some pretty bad bus karaoke in this video. You have been warned.

There wasn't much of a destination in mind so we opted for picking up a few picnic-friendly items to complement our strawberries, and heading to the park.


I hadn't anticipated that the water park would be open yet so I didn't pack the usual necessities for this kind of outing. Like a bathing suit, for instance. Or a towel. But I did have sunscreen and an extra diaper so even though my kid was probably being referred to as "the naked one" or "Casper" I figured no harm could come of a little splash. And he did have fun.


Fast forward through the aforementioned meltdown and at the end of our adventure I had one very tired little boy who likes to ride the bus. And one very tired little girl who doesn't like to ride the bus. Or shop. Or go for picnics. Or the waterpark. Or walks in the stroller. Or the Baby Bjorn.
Maybe another day.....

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall.....

Who: Me, Sarah and Liam
Where: Kids' Bathroom
What: Bathtime for both kids
When: About 7:30pm last night

Me (while washing Sarah's hair): "Aren't you just the prettiest girl? Oh, yes you are!" (I'm absolutely doing the overly enthusiastic 'talking to a baby' voice here). "You're the prettiest girl I know! Don't you think she's the prettiest girl in the whole world, Liam?"

Liam: "No."

Me: "Are you sure?"

Liam: "Yeah."

Me: "Who do YOU think is the prettiest girl in the world?"

Liam: "Mojo."

It's good to know where we stand.

An island adventure...

The kids woke up particularly early one day last week and I, anticipating a very long day of the crankies, figured it was time to pull a fieldtrip out of my bag of tricks. I gathered up my courage, my baby tribe and a whole lot of diapers and we embarked on an island adventure....Granville Island, that is.
The market was a gong show. There was barely enough room to wheel a stroller around, never mind one that has Liam in it! He discovered that putting his shoe overtop of the wheel creates a jamming effect. Super fun for a toddler. Not super fun for the push-ee trying to manoeuver a double stroller through the lunch rush! When those antics got him "The Look" (okay, 3x "The Look") he moved onto removing his socks and shoes and randomly depositing them all over the market. By the time someone alerted me to his barefoot status we were only able to recover 2 shoes and 1 sock, bringing my running total of missing baby socks to about 37.
But I still had hope. Outside of the market there were ducks and a lake and a boat to climb on. A Kids Only area filled with toy train tracks and ride 'em dogs and dinosaurs.



But the real winner of the day was the mechanical ball "art" right outside the cement plant. Go figure. We spent at least an hour watching the balls go up and down, and round and round.


Applause for this engineering marvel:


Getting a better look:



And if we weren't watching the balls then we were inspired to....

1.) Walk like a dinosaur (roaring included!)



2) Breakdance:



3) Do a little ballet:

Someone was obviously impressed with the cement trucks...they were THIS BIG:


Sarah was more entertained by Liam than anything else!


So with the exception of one sock casualty (illustrated here), we escaped the island relatively unscathed. Success!

Liam of the Lake

I wouldn't call it summer quite yet, but this weekend's warm blue skies could have fooled anyone. The lake was beckoning so we spontaneously packed up (for about an hour and a half of course), strapped our babies into backpacks and carriers and into the woods we went!
At this point Liam had no idea what was in store for him...other than a nifty new jacket!


But the cool-ish water was up his shorts soon enough....


There's no way I'd be poking my toes in the lake just yet, but these two didn't seem to mind losing a little feeling in the legs....


Liam had so much fun he wanted Dad to bring some of the lake back home for later...


After towelling off it was time for a few refreshments. Liam tried to ignore this off-limits beverage....


....still pretending not to notice....


...but in the end the temptation proved too great!


Meanwhile, Mojo ran down dogs twice his size all in the name of protecting the snacks. And a stick or two.


Sarah snoozed the afternoon away while wearing her favorite accessories: a pink hat...and Mommy.


And Liam did some more foraging in the woods, which reminds me...


....to empty the pound of rocks Liam put in my pockets before they find their way into the washing machine!

Master and Apprentice

Liam has assigned himself a great responsibility: to teach Sarah all about toys. How to push, pull and twist for maximum effect. Where on/off switches are located and how to adjust the volume control (two things I wished he wouldn't have figured out quite so soon!).

He is quite generous, often piling a dozen toys around her until her little fists unintentionally catch on one and happen to drag it to her mouth.
He's sure she's not doing it right but seems pleased by her efforts anyway. I just hope he'll be this supportive when she grabs onto his beloved hockey stick one day!

The Best Kind of Baby Blues....

Sarah's 4-month immunizations were on our agenda this morning, so to make it up to her we spent the afternoon in The Pink Room doing all her favorite activities: Cuddles, Sitting Up, Super Up-Close Tickles and lots of amusement from her favorite pint-sized entertainer:


Yes, that is a spatula. And apparently a cow snuck into Liam's room during naptime and had at his head. Next up was his baby wipe pom pom tricks...

As always, an appreciative audience....

Told Ya She's Cute!

It's true, Sarah doesn't get nearly as much face time on this blog as her big brother does. She spends much of her day observing the constant whirlwind of activity around here. But she's every bit as sweet as Liam and the connection between them is undeniable. No one gets this little girl giggling like Liam does. And yesterday's finger boo-boo could only be cured by a kiss from Sarah. Not that she's aware of her powers....yet.

Must. Eat. Giraffe.

On the Mend....

Hello out there! I know it's been a while but things have been a little off schedule as of late. Finally feels like we're starting to recover from a couple of things.
First, Matt's almost-3-week-long stint in China is OVER. We all survived - but for those of us on the home front that was only possible with an enormous amount of help from the kids' 4 very enthusiastic grandparents! I really can't thank them all enough for putting up with large doses of me and my tribe of sometimes not-so-cherubic children.
Second, upon Matt's return (and to really mess with his jet lag) all 4 of us got hit with a head cold. Super fun. Calling a "rest day" for a very active almost 2-year old is about as likely as Matt making a salad. So we've been packing up the tissues and hand sanitizer and heading out on a few open-air adventures in spite of it all....
Matt traded in China's Giant Pandas...


....for farm bunnies!


Goats...


Ice cream pails full of fingerling salmon....


A snake....


And this guy....


Of course Sarah was present for all of this, but altogether not interested. The goats, however, were plenty interested in her!


I promise I'll get a good picture of Sarah up here really soon. For now, it's late and you'll have to take me on my word that she's still super cute!
Tomorrow is Monday - a fresh start, and time for us to find our groove....whatever that looks like after this hiatus. Breathe in.....breathe out.....here we go!