first cottage trip of the summer + more!

family pic from my sister's wedding last month

We are home from a week at the cottage and the kids can't wait to get back up there again. They were at the Brinkman-Tukker abode for a full week, and spent most of their time swimming, fishing, crafting, and playing games. Steve's parents knocked it out of the park again - with meals, activities, patience, and childcare while Steve and I booked it to Gatineau to move out of our condo. "I wish we were driving back to the cottage right now," said Hendrik on our way out. "I wish we could live at the cottage," said Alana. Maybe one summer they can, but not this one. Steve is back at work this week (check out this article that landed their crew on the front page of the paper, pic below) and Hendrik is in sports camp in the afternoons. I couldn't find anything right for Alana, so we'll spend the afternoons running errands and hanging out at home while her little brother naps. Today she pretended to be mom and I was the kid - so I told her I wanted her to read me stories and tuck me in for a nap - win win! 

front page a few weeks ago - steve is on the far left

way more sibling love at the cottage ... love love!

they couldn't get enough

Jordan loved it up at the cottage too, and spent most of his time lounging in his chair, swimming in the kiddie pool, eating and sleeping, and playing in the sand and water down at the beach. While we were in Gatineau, I finally picked up Scaredy Squirriel and  Have You Filled a Bucket Today? - which is a bit cheesy but has a great message and the kids do like it, and when I asked if they'd filled anyone's bucket that day or if anyone had filled theirs (you fill someone's bucket by doing kind/thoughtful things for them), Alana told me that Justin had filled her bucket (heart melt!). He was great with them, and I know both H and A had a great time hanging out with him.

loungin'

alana and justin playing alana's rules othello 

hendrik's dino craft, complete with food 

i had to selfie, otherwise i might not make it in any pics!

getting' sandy

CLASSIC. love the gogs.

driving the boat

some of the cast and crew: me and jordan, justin, jordan, gramps, unc and jordan, alana on a boat

so much fun down by the water!

doing a nice and then a crazy pic is one way of getting hendrik to maaaaybe make a nice face in the first pic. not sure why the resolution is so poor but ??? a great group for summer's first cottage trip!

In other news, both big kids are over 60 pounds despite the fact that Hendrik has 21 months on his younger sister. They DO feel heavy. I knew it. Hendrik dropped a massive bucket of water on his toe early in the week, and the nail will fall off one day soon. He wondered aloud what would happen if he put his toenail under his pillow; would the toenail fairy come? I really have to put my thinking cap on for this one, because I don't think such an offering could be refused. It's bed time - more to come soon, I promise!

goodbye gatineau, chapter closed! 

summer so far

the bigs - getting along! - downstairs

We're a week and a half into summer and so far so good; Hendrik survived his first (and only) week of full day camp, and Alana and Jordan and I got into a bit of a routine with morning activities and afternoon naps/down time. This week looks different though - both big kids are home, and they're happy to take it a bit easy despite the fact that they're staying up late and getting up early, even though they don't have to. I'm trying to get out to a park in the morning, enjoy some down time in the afternoon while the little sleeps, and then get out again in the afternoon for a combo of errands and something for the kids. This morning we enjoyed the park and splash pad up in Ilderton, yesterday we had a first time visit to Kiwanis Park (great park, average splash pad - maybe not a repeat visit park for us), and on Monday we walked up to Ryerson School where the kids had a great first visit at the various play areas. They've been asking for TV ALL the time, so I'm surprised/shocked that they are playing nicely in the basement right now - no demands, no TV requests, and no fighting... craaaaazy! And they were both very well behaved at the Honda dealership where we ate lunch while the car was serviced. I have a huge list of potential activities while the kids are home, but that wasn't one of them; we've had a few rainy afternoons, so indoor activities around the house have included baking (they make up their own recipe) and cleaning ("cleaning") - both done with mucho gusto. The baking involved a trip to Bulk Barn (always a highlight) where the kids picked out a few custom ingredients for what turned out to be cupcakes... and they did turn out, but no one has requested their desserts after day one's bake it and eat it excitement. Last week Alana got a new bike (!!) and I don't even have a picture. We went in to get her a new helmet, and found something in the second-hand section that works perfectly! Hurray. We're going to try to get down to Pinafore Park in St Thomas, and maybe out to pick some cherries in Arkona, but for now I'll enjoy the quiet... while it lasts!

hendrik's recipe, rockets and chocolates

look at this handsome dude, going on 14 months

summer is here!

wanted: grade two!

School is over and summer is here! Hendrik's class had an end of the year talent show, and I'll have to see if I can upload some videos of our guy. Each student showcased two talents: an outside-the-classroom talent (Hendrik played soccer with friends) and an in-the-classroom talent, which involved taking to the stage in front of a small audience of parents and classmates. Hendrik isn't too comfortable doing much of anything in front of other people, so I was proud to see him get up there without too much weirdness. His self-professed strength of choice was math, and despite the longer than usual computing time he found the answer and was honest enough to decline a second question from his teacher. There was no talent show for the kindergarteners but Alana was asked over to her friend Camila's house for a sleepover (!!!) on the last day of school and she made it through the night! She probably would have stayed for the entire weekend if she could have - she had so much fun. And the latest news with Jordan is that he's down to one big nap a day, and he's getting stronger and better at walking and cruising around on his own. He loves pointing and eating cheese, and is babbling a little more since he had the tubes in, but hasn't formed many words (yet). 

We had an awesome Canada Day weekend with friends that came up from Michigan, and took it easy in our 'hood with a trip to the park, and a water fight in the back yard followed by a BBQ here at home. There were lots of festivities downtown but the weather was a bit iffy (afternoon showers) and we were happy to just take it easy and avoid crowds. Steve worked yesterday so I took the kids to Thames pool where Alana, who passed the swim test last week, was happy to roam independently. I definitely kept her on my radar, but whenever I'd come by to watch her on the diving boards in the deep deep end, she'd kindly ask me to leave... !! She also did the monkey bars by herself for the first time (ten times), so I wasn't surprised that she was asleep before her head hit the pillow last night. Hendrik is in a Pokemon-themed camp this week, and I can't wait to hear about it! It's one of those funny things - when the kids are home and everything is busy busy you want some space, but when they're gone you want them home. Funny! A few random thoughts to leave you with: The Wine Rack sells these little Sangria kits and they are delicious! I haven't tried the red one and don't need to... the white one is delish (recipe here). It's our 8th anniversary today and we're planning on FINALLY drinking a bottle of champagne that someone gave us when we got married. I thought I had one more random thing but I'm drawing a blank. I need to take more photos! This is all we've got for now...

Hendrik's latest haul from the library

water fight!

Canada Day BBQ with John and Gretchen and family - it was so great to see them!

apple pie for dessert for these two sweeties

summer!