Father's Day

Father's day we decided to try something new and went out to the Heritage Society to see what they had to offer. We had the best time there and would highly recommend it to anyone who likes tractors and trains!

The model rail engineers of Victoria have built a railroad system that is fantastic. It has everything that you would have on a real railroad at 1/8 the size. The trains are steam or diesel just like real trains and run on this track that takes about 15 minutes to complete. There are tunnels and bridges and railway crossings and a rail house. Kian and Julean loved going for a ride and as usual, there were tears when it was time to leave.

Model trains at the Heritage Society

Family going for a train ride

Got my own seat!

Through the tunnel....

Over the tressle bridge...

The next stop was the picnic and all the tractors to play on. There were so many that Kian didn't know where to start! It was heaven for a 2 year old. The nice thing about the heritage society is that there really isn't anything that you can't play on and touch. It can be very difficult to take a 2 year old to the museum for that reason!

DIGGER! ( I had to run to catch up with him!)

I think this says it all!

I have no idea what this is called but it is the crane thing that helps lay the track for the rail road. (I think!)

FIRE TRUCK!

Riding the tractor

Another tractor...

The car of the future as seen in 1938. (It kind of looks like a tadpole with wheels.)

Tractor ride

Where is the water going?

I think we had a pretty good father's day and the boys were thoroughly worn out by the time we got home. I'm sure we will be going back again. Apparently at Christmas time you can ride the trains and see the lights. Sounds like a great thing to do!

Quote for the week:

Mommy you can't strap my into my car seat, you're too old!

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