Party at the beach

Giving my brother a ride.


Having a great time!

Kian and Julean were invited to Stella's second birthday party the weekend of June 13th. It was a beach party at Hamsterly Beach (I love the name!) and, thankfully, it was just warm enough to play in the water and make castles in the sand. Actually the whole weekend was about sand and water for the boys because we finally got the pool out and filled it up. Julean thought he was in heaven getting to do all the things his big brother gets to do.

Julean building, and eating, his first sand castles!


Boys in the sandbox.

They had a blast at the birthday party and it was difficult to wrench them away from the beach. With much protesting from both we did manage to get them in the car and of course, they were so worn out the didn't make it home.

Party clothes at the beach and loving it!

Can't wait to get in the water



Playing in the grass


Home boy

Mark and I were able to get some more stuff done in the garden and Mark finally started tearing down the walls in the former dining room which will become the library. This is our second room to renovate and insulate. Hopefully it won't take as long as the spare room! Let's see what we find in these walls....

Kian's first canoe ride!


He did a great job paddling.

A fun ride with daddy!

Oak Bay Tea Party

Thumbs up to the tea party!


The past weekend brought with it a visit from grandma and the famous Oak Bay Tea Party. The "tea party" is not in actual fact a "tea party" at all. It is a fair with a mid-way and games and all the junky snacks that any 2 year old would love to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday of the week!

We decided that grandma would like to see her grandson enjoy himself on all the rides so we went to the fair on Sunday afternoon. I guess we should have gone on Saturday because it was glorious on Saturday and pouring on Sunday! Kian and I put on our rubber boots and decided that we would have more fun jumping in the puddles than anything else. It turns out that Kian and I got the best seats for the tea cup race because we had our boots on and could stand in the ocean to watch.

Kian had the best time on the rides although was a little upset that I wouldn't let him go on all the spiny-windy rides that make me ill. Maybe next year... ! The end of the fair brought the usual grim looks of despair but eventually we were able to pull him away from the wallet-draining-money pit that is the fair with promises that we would go to the Saanichton Fair in September. Maybe he will forget about it by then?

Grumpy grumps!

All trains a go!


Kian and his girlfriend (!) Carys on the helicopter ride.

In the real helicopter!

This sucks! I'm way to small for any rides and get stuck in this stroller!

Is this ice cream not just a little too big?




And some other random photos from the past week.


Cuddly sleeping toys...


Still getting along!


This is the way we cut the grass, cut the grass, cut the grass...


Yummy black berries!

Memorable Quotes

Julean 6 months

There are some things that you two year old says that you really want to remember for future times, things that might be good for bribery or may come back to haunt them at a wedding.

This week's quotes:

Kian: "I need the rice cooker."

Dad: "What do you need the rice cooker for?"

Kian: "I need to do something bad."

Mom: "Do you think you can behave if we go to the park?"

Kian: "Mom, I think you need to behave."

Brothers (Julean 6 months)


Washing my "fire truck"

We are not amused....

Photo update

Julean (5 1/2 mths)



What chocolate cake batter?


I have decided that this blog is mostly going to be a photo update because I just can't remember all the things that have happened since the last blog! (At the moment I am trying to bore Julean to sleep by sitting at the computer and typing rather then entertain him. It really isn't working all that well!)

Let's see what I remember; Julean is 6 months now and just shy of 20 lbs! He has been on solid food for about 2 months now and absolutely loves it( and certainly has the little bhudda belly and legs to show it!)! He is now rolling over and sitting on his own. He still doesn't have any teeth in, despite teething for the past four months, but I'm sure that is to come shortly.

Kian is loving the warmer weather and it is becoming harder and harder to get him to come in for anything at all, especially with the new play structure there now. We have been having many picnics outside at various places around the city.

There are times that you think that you are talking to a brick wall when you're talking to your kids because they are running around and don't seem to be taking anything in at all and others that I really have to wonder if I'm not such a bad parent after all. A few days ago Jacob, Kian's little friend, was over and had found one of Kian's favourite toys. Unfortunately Kian decided that he wanted to play with it at the same time as Jacob and was told to wait his turn. Jacob was only prolonging his turn with the favourite toy because he saw that it was wanted by someone else. I took Kian aside and said to him "Kian, you know the trick with Jacob is that if you pretend that you don't want the toy then he will give it up and play with something else." The answer I got was "Mommy I don't like lying"!!!

And now for the photos.....

With my buddy Joa


Feeding my brother


After....


My friends Katie and Jacob


The mafia at the naval parade


Julean (5 1/2 mths) and mom



Julean ( 5 1/2 mths)

Nikki's birthday party at the gym

The Fire Station

Know where we are going today?


Hold on to your firemen hats! We are at the fire station!

Kian has been obsessed with Fireman Sam, and anything fire related, for months now so I thought I would try to book a tour of the fire station in Saanich. I didn't want to tell him a head of time because I would get "right now?" for the two weeks prior to the big tour. He was so good the week before the tour that it became the special treat that was worth every minute in his mind. (If anyone reading this post has not had a tour of the fire station in their area and they have small kids, it is well worth it. Usually the tour is free, too.) He was so excited about the firemen and the trucks. I have never seen him listen so well! We had a great time and I'm sure we will be back since I heard " right now?" before we even left the parking lot!

Thanks for the tour to all the firemen at Station #1!


Kian driving the fire boat


Julean and Colin hitching a ride on the fire boat


Driving the fire truck! Wow, mommy, wow!


This truck is really big!


Fireman Craig : " Does anyone know what these are?"
Kian: "Ya, the jaws-of-life!"
Fireman Craig: " uhhhhh!! Ya..."


Fireman Craig talking about the ladder truck. Obviously Kian looks like he could care less!


Eventually Fireman Craig stopped talking to the rest of the group and only talked to Kian.


I think this photo speaks for itself!


Thanks to the firemen at Saanich Station #1!

Napoleon

I love my brother!





For the past week Kian has been walking around with his hand down the collar of his shirt. Mark decided to ask him what was down his shirt and got the reply "many, many boobs daddy!". Like don't you know?! I'm not too sure what to think about this. Maybe it has something to do with nursing Julean. I guess it is a little better than when he was walking around trying to pump breast milk to feed to his stuffed snake. I'm sure it is just another phase in his development that he will eventually grow out of. He doesn't have a problem telling anyone what is down his shirt though and I sometimes get strange looks from people. They must wonder what I'm teaching my child! Maybe that is what Napoleon was doing with his hand in his shirt too.

Kian and Julean were so good last week that I was wondering if my luck was going to run out sometime. Not just yet so I hope that isn't just a faze!

Tomorrow is the big fire station day. I booked a tour for Kian and a few of his little friends to go to the Saanich fire station to see the fire fighters and play on the trucks. I'm sure they are going to have a fantastic time and I will be asked to go back "right now" for the rest of the week. Apparently you have to be a pre-school to go for a tour, so I made one up, but I'm sure the "Blenkinsop Kids Club" will be back soon.

Some photos of Kian and Julean - two brothers who get along really well - at least for the time being.


Favourite past time (Julean 4 1/2 mth)


Favourite past time


The "fire ladder" and the "fire rope"


My friend Jacob


Looking up to my big brother


A helping hand


Julean and mom in the "fire house"




Does this desk bring back any grade school memories?