Family Day

For Family Day this year we went out to Niagara Falls once again. We were just there in November (see here), but didn't quite do everything we had intended on doing, so we made our way back here again on Monday.

We brought Sara to my Mom's house (thanks Mom!!) and off we went to visit the Bird Kingdom, Brick City and to view the Falls (hoping for lots of ice!). We had a fun day together - and a great sleep that night from all the walking!

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First we visited the Bird Kingdom...which also has a reptile display too.

This little lizard was just sitting by himself on a table out in the open - with a sign that said he likes to be pet! Anna wasn't too sure about touching him...but the other kids had no problem.

Basking in the florescent lighting!

Ew.

These guys were in the "little bird room" - love the colours!

Cute little finches. These guys are some of Alvar's favourite little birds.

Moving onto the "big bird room" - this guy was just sitting on the railing - people watching!

This guy was hiding in a dark corner - don't blame him - all these crazy camera happy people snapping shots at him (I'd be hiding too!).

Fruit Loops anyone?

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Next we walked over to Brick City. A lego land donated by some guy (I think he's from Sweden or some place like that!). It wasn't a huge deal...one room - lots of lego sets - but kinda neat to see what kind of lego sets Caleb is missing out on....

ACDC concert anyone?

Why see the real thing when you can view the falls inside!

Kids were able to make stuff too...but to be honest...not a whole lot of lego to work with :(

I asked Anna to hug the clown...she looked at me like "whatever Mom....I'm not doing that!"...so Caleb opted for the photo-shoot instead and gave the clown a nice hug :)

Enough was enough, the kids were tired of lego so they played with other stuff instead..like squishing in a podium together!

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Then finally off to look at the Falls - quite a hike from the Bird Kingdom/Brick City - the kids were real troopers walking all the way there and back again (cheap dutch parents wouldn't pay for parking 2x in one day!!). The view was beautiful - and some nice ice build-up the closer we got Niagara Falls.

American Falls

View from the American side...very cool ice there!

There was one railing that had a significant amount of ice build up! Had to get a picture of it :)

It was a beautiful day, blue skies and sunshine...lots of rainbows at the falls!

This was Alvar's Valentine's Day gift to me...he had a heart-shaped hole made in the water at the base of the falls....isn't he an amazing husband!!!

A Letter

Dear City of Hamilton,

Just a little letter to say thank you for a number of reasons. First off, you kept my kids very entertained for a few hours the other day as you cut down our tree!

Even though I'll admit that I'm going to miss our big tree in the backyard...

I will not miss the carpenter ants that made their home in this tree (and looked for food in our house!).

I will miss the leaves in the autumn season that the kids enjoyed jumping in....

But won't miss the big branches that came down with every storm - thankfully nothing was ever damaged!

Who ever thought demolition work would be so cool for a 3 and 5 year old!

It kept them from fighting with each other, and instead talking with each other about how cool the crane and the chainsaws were.

They probably would have missed snack if I didn't remember it for them!

And they didn't even ask for t.v. or computer time either...this was just way to interesting!

I think I also enjoyed the fact that you did this so efficiently and safely.

And most of all...

We didn't have to hire and pay someone to do it for us!

So thank you for your time and effort taken to cut down our tree, it was very much appreciated.

Sincerely,

Laura

The Tongue

Someone found their tongue...

And loves to stick it out...

Here....

There...

And everywhere!

*P.S. The bruise on the forehead is from a fight with a furbie...the furbie won that day*

Must be Something in that Fergus Water...

Oh the fun we can have with a little hair...

Anna - is it time again for a haircut?

Where did my baldy Sara go??

Hmm...this guy chose to remain anonymous...who ever could it be??

The Many Faces of Sara

Quite a happy girl this afternoon (just fed and changed...who wouldn't be!), posing nicely for the camera - although she let me know near the end that enough was enough!

Kids Bored With Their Toys?

Apple Sauce Cups!

We only had about 100 of these things in my bottom drawer in the kitchen (and only 10 or so that have lids which make them useful). I'm a real 'saver' of stuff when it comes to things that might come in handy one day. Well - Friday was that handy day for the kids ;) I actually got fed up of having so many of these things in the drawer (falling over and taking up way too much space!) that I took 90% of them out (with about 15 left in the drawer still!) and let the kids play with them.

It made for a good hour of fun for them - building towers and of course, breaking them (best part right?)!

Jump! Jump!

I think I'd like to be a baby again. Just for the sake of using some pretty cool toys! Sara gets moved around from "thing to thing" to keep her entertained during the day, exersaucer, swing, bouncy chair or play pen (and most favourite...our arms!). But she's taken quite a liking to this particular toy. We wait till after supper (crankiest time!) to let her enjoy some bouncy time in this contraption.

Here's Sara in the jolly jumper:

My niece, Caidence got to try out the jolly jumper today too - she was starting to get the hang of it and was quite enjoying herself as well....just gotta bend those knees a bit more!

Just Can't Wait!!

Someone is very excited today.

Someone gets to have their very first visit to the dentist today.

Someone has been asking to go to the dentist for a lllooonnnggg, lllooonnnggg time now.

Someone definitely does NOT take after her Mom - but that's ok - I'd rather have my kids excited to go to the dentist then terrified!

Practice makes perfect - and boy, has Anna been practicing today! The hygienist is gonna have one wide open mouth to work in this afternoon!!!

Late Night Party

For New Year's Eve this year we decided to go to our friend's house with the kids...let them stay up and ring in the New Year with us. They were pretty excited to stay up later then our bedtime (as Caleb kept talking about) - and it was fun to hang around some good friends! The kids played all evening together and the adults got to enjoy some game time too (Carcasonne!!!)...all around it was a fun night.

Kids enjoying a movie

Group shot! All the bells and whistles...hats, hulas and noise makers too :) And all still smiling at midnight!

Getting ready to go home...and still awake (this was after 1am)

Anna didn't quite make it....just after 12:30am she crashed and had a good sleep in that morning!

"Oh!!" Someone woke up at the end of the party...only because it was time to go home - Sara slept wonderfully the whole evening so Alvar and I could enjoy the evening!