Chalk Drawings

Just recieved this email from my brother in law - thanks Rob. Very cool pictures - take a look - J

Julian Beever is an English artist who's famous for his art on the pavement of England, France, Germany, USA, Australia and Belgium. Beever gives to his
drawings an amazing 3D illusion.

Updated Website

Reportage - where Dana is a photographer has updated their website and it looks great - check out Dana's work if you get a chance.

Not Much New...

We haven't been bloggin for awhile - because really there isn't much new around here. The boys are feeling better, Jack ended up missing three days of school last week, and Henry is starting to bounce off the walls again, which is always a sign of good health. The weekend was spent taking Hannah to skating lessons, then on Sunday we went skating together. She has a new pair of skates - figure skates this time, no more hockey skates. They are going to take a little while to get used to, she seems a little less stable on them.

The summer is already beginning to be busy! Hannah and Jack both chose to play t-ball this summer so we have to sign them up. They were trying to decide between that and soccer. I might be interested in coaching, I think it would be a lot of fun - I think I said this last time...

My Sick Boys

Jack & Henry have both had fevers and body aches for 2 days now. I took them to the doctor this evening and they were tested for strep. I should get the results tomorrow. Jack is actually asking to go back to school which surprised me. But I know he's not feeling well because he loves playing games on the computer and I told him I would be right back to get a game set up for him after I put Henry down for a nap this afternoon and this is how I found him...

The weekend

So Nancy & Doug, Chase & Zoe came to visit on the weekend and we took the kids to a Monster Truck show. Jack had been to one with Jason before, but it was a first for Henry, Hannah & me. Luckily Doug is an old pro at these sorts of things and brought all the appropriate props, toys and ear plugs. Jason was still away so I wasn't sure how I would make out with the three kiddies.

We had a "Pit Pass" which allowed us access to the floor to view all the trucks and take photos prior to the show. Apparently this is usually limited to people with great seats for the show and people who are willing to pay extra but for some reason, this show advertised free pit-passes to anyone attending. So it was pretty crowded. I had nothing to compare it to, so it seemed pretty cool to me. The kids were all impressed with the whole scene. There were lots of the favourite superhero trucks at this show...Superman, Batman, Ninja Turtle...that made it especially exciting for Henry.
There was a 2 hour wait between the pit part and the show so we went for dinner then entertained the kids in our seats for a bit. Unfortunately, by the time the show started, it was already past Henry's bedtime and some kids were bored already.
Hannah was way more into it than I had anticipated! She was screaming and waving her homemade sign, "Gravedigger is so cool!"
The good thing about leaving the show a little early was that we got the kids to bed at a relatively decent time and Doug & Nancy & I got to have some time to to ourselves in the evening.

Home

Home from Halifax. What a great city, I really enjoy going there and it was especially nice to have Dana come out on a trip with me. Thank you Erika and Mike for watching the kids, I know it must of been a lot of work, they told me all about the great things they did with you guys.

The week was busy, a lot of waiting around for things to happen, a 12 hour day turns into 1 hour of tv... Everything went great though and next year's events are in Quebec City and Vancouver.

I was able to get out more than I thought, and it just happened to overlap with Dana being there, and it was perfect timing to meet up with Andrew and Ali too. It's good to be home, Jack, Henry and Dana were waiting for me as I walked out with my bags at the airport. It was a nice treat to pick Hannah up at school this afternoon too. Exhaustion just kicked in and I think I should unpack. Back to routine tonight as Dana is at work, and I am back to work tomorrow morning. I watched the first half of the movie Babel on the plane, and might just go and watch the rest now, so far so good. - J

I'm Home!

It's amazing how wonderfully slowly time goes by when you spend it by yourself. I'm so used to schedules and rushing around and getting kids here and there that I seemed to think that 2 and a half days in Halifax would go by quickly, but not only did I fit a lot in, I also slowed down and got to relax.

I got to have a couple of breakfasts with Jason and late evening drinks when he got off work. Andrew & Alison & I met up for lunches and and dinners and evening drinks. I got to see 2 figure skating events. I got to sleep in. Jason & I went to the casino. I spent a few hours walking around the city photographing whatever I wanted. Ali & I spent time shopping. I fell asleep in the bath doing a sudoku puzzle. What more could a girl ask for?!

Halifax is an amazing city and different from Toronto in all the right ways. The pace is so much slower and everyone is so relaxed and friendly. The city itself is so attractive (but boy was it cold! -40 with the windchill on my first day) It was just such a pleasure to explore. Although I used to live in Nova Scotia, I didn't ever get to know Halifax all that well (I moved to Ontario before I could even drive).

I was also surprised to become a real figure skating fan while visiting Halifax. I haven't ever had the opportunity to watch real figure skating anywhere but on tv and never considered it all that interesting but boy, to watch it live and close up was a whole different experience. To hear the skate blades throughout the performance and see their facial expressions right in front of you was a wonderful experience. The speed just doesn't translate to tv.

I had also never visited the Halifax casino so that was a treat. I don't know that I'm cut out for gambling (I'm too cheap) but it was a fun experience and strange to see so many people out so late at night while everything else in the city is completely shut down.

Jason took me on a tour of the studio truck he works out of and I got to meet some of his co-workers. We would see different skaters and tv hosts around the hotel as well.

But of course, the best part was spending time with my brother and Ali...I got to meet his co-workers and see his workplace and get a real sense of a day in the life of Andrew and Alison. They made me a wonderful home-cooked meal on a cold evening at their beautiful new place. We talked until the wee hours every night and I enjoyed every minute of it. I missed you guys the minute I got on my shuttle to the airport.

So I have to say thank you to Jason for coming up with the idea and getting me the plane ticket and show pass in the first place, but especially to Erika & Mike for giving me the peace of mind to completely and totally relax for 3 days...I was beginning to think I had forgotten how!

a BIG thank you

Just waiting for the taxi to take me to the airport and wanted to say a big thanks to Eri and Mike for watching the kids - Dana leaves tomorrow and we have dinner planned with Andrew and Ali tomorrow night. Looking forward to it! Thanks again guys, Dana left instructions - in the morning turn the kids on, unfortunately the off switch is no longer working...you'll have to wait until the batteries wear out. - J

Squeaking Dolphin

Jack returned home from school today with a slip of paper in his knapsack that said he had a time out at school for not listening to his teacher after being told to be quiet. After further prodding, Jack told us that the teacher was telling a story during circle time about a vacation they went on, and they saw a dolphin and were allowed to touch it. Jack began squeaking, interrupting circle time again and again. I must say his squeak does really sound quite dolphin-like! Hey....I have to put a positive spin on this somehow...... -J

Game On!

Today the boys and I played a little road hockey - it was good to get outside and play in the little bit of snow that has fallen so far this winter. After dinner, we played again by the light of the streetlight with Hannah this time too. Henry ended up in the penalty box a few times for trying to wack Jack with his stick, as you can see in the picture, he liked that and asked me to put him in the box again and again.

The weekend was a busy one, but with fitting so much in, it actually felt a lot longer than just two days. Friday night we went to a get together with some friends of Dana's family, where I got to play Nintendo Wii, which was pretty cool - it feels a bit strange to play it - if you have ever seen it before, it's a video game system where you hold a cordless remote control type device and it detects the motion of your movements, playing tennis you actually hold this and serve and swing at the ball as you would in tennis.

Saturday we went to the Wave Pool with the kids, good fun, water was a bit cold, but the waves were great and it tired the kids out nicely, Hannah was especially tired because her skating lesson was in the morning before we went out to the pool. Jack was a bit upset because he wasn't tall enough for the water slide. Hannah, trying to console him said "don't be sad Jack, I won't go on either" as she was waiting her turn in line, Jack through some tears said "no you go Hannah, you go" Hannah is so concerned for everyone's feelings sometimes, and it really bothers her to see someone upset, especially her little brother.

Last night Dana and I went to my Masters swim club's belated Christmas party, it was fun, they had a really goofy Christmas re-gift exchange - where you can pick a gift out of a pile, or steal someone else's gift, we ended up with a big box of microwave popcorn, a picture for the wall and some smelly soaps, my Tim Horton's gift certificates were stolen by someone else at the last moment....Today I didn't do too much, Dana on the other hand spent all afternoon and some of the morning in the kitchen, baking, cooking and more baking - she was planning meals for when she isn't here later in the week to make it easier for Erika. We are looking forward to it, and the kids are really excited to spend more time with Bennett - get ready Bennett, you'll be smothered for a few days...

Looks like a big snowstorm is headed our way tomorrow, and they are predicting an awful drive to work in the morning - Hannah can't wait for more snow and to finally make a snowman...or as she called it when she was two "a homo"...

Happy Birthday Ann!

Higgins Beach Seal

I don't remember if I mentioned this before, but I found some pics of the seal that was found on Higgins Beach - it's where we went two summers ago, and where we are planning on going again this summer...it's also where generations of Dana's family has vacationed.

I just hope this little guy pays us a visit when we go, the kids would be so thrilled, it's Hannah's favourite at the zoo.

Here is the accompanying text that was on the website;

We happened across this "beached" seal recently and were worried that it was sick or dying. A call to the seal rescue unit at strandede.org quickly put us at ease. This particular guy, raised in captivity almost from birth, just happened to like to stretch out along the shoreline. He had apparently only been released a day earlier and was perhaps still too at ease with human spectators.

Stay the course

Looking forward to the weekend before I go away. I am thinking of taking the kids to the public pool tomorrow afternoon - they haven't been swimming in months and I think they would really enjoy it, especially Henry - I mentioned it to him yesterday that we might do that, and he asked me if he could jump off the diving board. No fear that one. I have spent a lot of time in the pool and last night did me in, 2750 metres and I am tired, I should of made it well past 3000 but I just didn't have the energy last night.

Dana is a volunteer this morning in Jack's class and today the entire class were allowed to bring in 1 special toy they recieved at Christmas - not sure what Jack brought it, but I am sure the teacher was just thinking "as long as it's not another squirrel's tail."

Jack's steady use of "Manakeels" has me hooked, I have been using it at work, it's not really catching on with my co-workers though - they are not on the cutting edge of new harmless swear words. Last night at dinner, Hannah was talking about something she didn't like at school, about how the girls play 'chase the boys' or something, and Jack said "do you h-word it?" He thinks hate is a swear word, so Manakeel's is fine in my house. I think I remember when we were kids, hate was a word that wasn't allowed, but saying Judas was fine (not calling someone Judas, but just using it when you get angry.)

Dana just called to say that Jack brought his Darth Vader voice changer, which is a Darth Vader mask that you wear and it will change your voice to sound like Darth Vader - I would of loved to see that!

Anyway, enough rambling I better get back to work. - J

Happy Birthday Karen!

Jack-ism's

When Jack is really mad or frustrated he has made up what we can only compare to swear words. He told us the other day it's so he can say them to us when we don't let him do what he wants to do. He also yells them at Hannah & Jack sometimes if they take his toy or something.

There are a few others that I can't remember...

1. Conky (said in a really mad voice through clenched teeth)
2. "You want coasted slime?"
3. Manakeels

Back To Routine

I think everyone is looking forward to being back to a routine tomorrow. How the kids are going to get up for school for 8:20 in the morning is beyond me. We had good intentions this weekend to wake them up early, but I didn't wake up until after 8 each day. Hannah is excited about meeting her new teacher, the other just retired before Christmas, bad timing I think, but it's all about pensions I guess, and frankly I am happy she will have a new teacher, who is young and energetic and is not jaded by the teaching any longer. Jack isn't very excited, he wants to stay home and play with his new toys.

Today we went to Woodlands Park here in Markham, it was a beautiful sunny morning, so off we went to walk in the woods, the kids had a great time exploring with their walking sticks, or of course how Jack found a stick that perfectly resembled a machine gun I don' t know... Eri and Bennett met up with us there and we just walked around enjoying the outdoors.

Dana took some nice pics, and it was a little disturbing to see so much greenery in January, but I can honestly say I don't miss the snow, nope not one bit.

More Christmas and Happy New Year!

So after real Christmas, we celebrated another Christmas with my family with more stockings, gift opening and Christmas dinner! The best gift of all was my Dad's official news today that everything's going to be ok!

Christmas dinner was here for a change and I really liked it! The kids could go off and play when they got tired of "grown up talk" and the evening could go on a little longer than it might have otherwise.

Andrew and Ali went home a couple of days later but the good bye wasn't as sad as it might have been...Jason gave me a plane ticket to Halifax for Christmas! Jason will be working there in a couple of weeks for the Canadian Figure Skating Championships and I will spend 3 days there too! Erika has very generously agreed to watch the kiddies and I'm wondering what I will do without them for 3 whole days! It still hasn't been too cold here, but I'm not so sure about Halifax in January...I have a feeling I may need my winter jacket!

Jason & I hadn't made any plans for New Year's Eve until 2 days prior when a couple of Moms were picking their kids up from playing here and everyone was saying they weren't really doing anything this year...hmmmm... An impromptu party turned into 14 adults and 15 kids! It was great! The kids had games, movies and treats downstairs and the adults had games, drinks and treats upstairs. I made the mistake of putting plates of goodies out for the kids then leaving the room not really thinking that a 2 year old would have no sense of etiquette. I went to check on Henry shortly after and he had his cheeks stuffed with cookies and the plate was empty! At midnight we all came together and counted down. Henry was in bed at 9:30 and managed to sleep through the noise, even when one kid accidentally turned his light on and started playing, not even noticing sleeping Henry in the bed! But it was Hannah & Jack's first time staying up until midnight. They managed well but were really ready for bed at the end.

Happy New Year!

~Dana