Welcome To My Life

Yesterday was the annual Brain Injury picnic at the zoo.  Since Byron suffered from a brain injury a year ago we were invited - free admission!

It was interesting trying to lug around 2 kids, but between the baby bjorn (thanks Jayme!) the double stroller, and two quick feet, I was able to keep both the children safe and happy.  I can't say I sat down, not even to nurse Emmy most of the time. 

We were going to get tickets for the train ride.  How could I bring Marcus there and NOT go on the train.  Well, that's what started our little adventure.  It was not yet 11am and the trains were sold out until 2:30pm!  Yikes!  Guess we weren't going on the train!  I spent a lot of time chasing Marcus around the playground, but since Emmy wasn't sleeping in her carseat, I couldn't really take them around to see the animals because of the intense sun.  Emmy was in the bjorn and the sun would have been beating down on her.....patience, patience.  She should sleep soon, then I can put them in the stroller to see the animals. 

We ate lunch, then another guy there that Byron was chatting with suggested that we rent one of the bikes for 4 and go around.  They were covered and with a great spot for Marcus!  All is well, we will see the animals afterall!

We get on the bike, and this is where things got interesting.  (Oh yeah, and the train had broken down so our hopes of getting on where fading quick)

Lesson Learned:  Just because Byron has recovered from his brain injury with a memory and great thought processes, doesn't mean that all the others have, even though you wouldn't know they had an injury by looking at them and speaking to them for a while.

So, this guy rents the bike, we all get on and head towards the animals....a downhill process.  Turns out he either does think to use, or doesn't remember how to use the brakes!  Here we are CRUISIN down the path yelling at all the innocent animal gazers...LOOK OUT! LOOK OUT!  It was just like a scene from a movie where people are literally diving out of our way!  We even tried doing the old Flintstone stop by digging our heels into the ground!  In the end we ended up slowing and stopping when we started going up a hill.  WHEW!  Poor Marcus was sitting in the very front with his hands covering his ears....but he seemed to be really enjoying our little adventure!  AHHHHHH the guy says.  Here's the brake.  Right.  Thanks.

After our little ride we look down and Byron is bleeding form the knee!  He has very long legs so in all the commotion he was trying to pedal (backwards maybe to try to stop??) and his knee smoked the safety sign on the bike.  How ironic.  It was a pretty good gash too, and I had to dig through my diaper bag to find a way to stop the bleeding!  He ended up with a baby diaper wrapped around his knee!  See the picture in the gallery! HA!  After this he headed back to the bike rental section where the guy was not even apologetic about the sign.  That's never happened before he says!  Byron started pedaling and sure enough, you have long legs, you SMOKE the corner of the sign!  Like it's never happened before. Heh.  We wasted 20 minutes getting his knee cleaned up and bandaged, then didn't have time to go around to see the animals.

I decided to try again with the stroller and we did get a close up with a zebra which Marcus liked.  Then the train came by, his favorite part.  It's only got a few people on it!  There was TONS of room, and this was only the 1:30pm train!  Geesh!  Oh well, I got a few shots, check the album for more.  We played for a bit, then left.  What a day it was, we were all wiped, especially this momma who ended up pedaling the heavy bike, chasing a 2 year old, and having a baby strapped to her all day.

Yesterday Marcus graduated from his toddler gym.  He has had so much fun scooting around with other boys and girls his age that we will have to sign him up for more in the fall.  He has a fascination with doing the balance beam with the hula hoop around him (???) and loves crawling through the tunnel and going down the slide the best.  At the end of each gym session we play with the parachute and Marcus goes bananas for that thing! 

Well, is was an exciting day around here!  First off, Byron got baptized.  It was a very nice service, and all went smoothly.  We then had a gathering at our house with approx 20+ people for lunch and cake.  It was HOT HOT HOT! 

Some highlights from the day....

Marcus was playing in his pool in the backyard in front of everyone, pulled down his swim trunks, went over to the lawn, and promptly peed. Well, he didn't pee his pants did he?  He later was yelling Help Help Mum!  I looked at him and he had pulled "himself" out of his swim pants and was standing by a bush trying to take a pee!  Where has he been learning all this?  It wasn't me!!!!

We set up a massive slip n slide on the front lawn for all the kids to enjoy.  There are lots of great shots in the album.   We put soap on the thing and the kids FLEW!  Nevermind the kids, I FLEW when I did 3 quick runs with Marcus.  What a blast! 

Claire (Emmaline's B-Day buddy) and Emmy were chillin outside having a great time together.  Loads of pictures of them thanks to Michelle, Claire's mommy.  Claire even brought a Bumbo seat for Emmy to try.  What a nifty little thing!

Marcus didn't nap all day, and with running up and down the hill on the front yard he was wiped right out.  Emmy didn't sleep a whole lot either, and both kids were HOT!  After everything (OK, most everything) was cleaned up and the plants were watered (thanks to Marcus for the help! lol) I took the kids into the tub...all 3 of us!  Yes, I was hot too....sorry no pictures of this! LOL The cool water felt sooo good.  Marcus and Emmy were clearly overtired and sat and stared at each other taking turns cracking up!!!  Marcus would laugh at Emmy, then she'd belt out this HUGE belly laugh (music to my ears).  Then Marcus would giggle, and Emmy would giggle.  Take that and repeat for a good 5 minutes straight, and I was laughing the entire time with them! What a nice end to a nice day, and it's even better now that they are both FAST ASLEEP!

The past week I have decided to try to do one random act of kindess/day as time permits.  It's kind of a way to get/stay out of a funk.  Today the act of kindness was returned!

In April we had ordered a bunch of gift cards with our Aeroplan/Airmiles etc.  I had thought we had another $50 coming to HBC, but it never arrived so I assumed that I was mistaken.

Today getting the mail I found one from Aeroplan which had been opened, but taped shut again.  On the front it said 'accidentally opened, sent to wring address'.  I figured it was another statement, but as it turned out, it included a $50 gift card!  Whoever opened it could have easily pocketed this, but instead it found it's way back to us!  What a nice feeling to know there are some good honest people out there.

First off, Happy Belated Father's Day to all you Dads out there!  I hope it was a nice memorable day for you yesterday.

Onto today, here's a photo of our little miss, and there's more in the new album created for her.

Last night we had a neighbourhood BBQ and the kids had so much fun!  Marcus was cruising around until 10pm and wouldn't admit to being tired!  He did a great job at keeping up with the rest of them.  A good time was had by all, and despite the rain in the forecast for the entire day, we never got a drop.

Emmy got a bit overstimulated and needed some extra time in her sling, so I ended up wearing her quite a bit of the evening.  My back ended up acually going out a bit, but seems to be OK today.

Today we celebrated Claire's baptism.  At the lunch after Claire, Rio and Emmaline all got together and had some fun!  OK, the camera happy parents/other relatives had some fun!  Seems we could not get all three babies happy at once, so we had to settle for what we could get when the 3 babes were all awake at the same time, which took some doing.

Marcus had a blast playing with Kris, and riding his tricycle.  He didn't even want to come inside when the thunder and lightning warned us of the storm rolling in. 

Here's a picture of the babies together, for more pictures from this day, see the albums!

Might as well start this blog off with a rather interesting tale!

The morning was like every other morning.  Wake up with Marcus and Emmy, let's get breakfast started, get everybody dressed....you know the drill.  Then I received a phone call from the neighbour wondering if we had seen all the excitement.  Puzzled, I asked "You mean all the garbage strewn everywhere on the street?" (This is nothing new thanks to those pesky raccoons!) "No, the bear!"  WHHHHHAAAAATTTTT??

Sure enough, I went outside and captured a picture of this large black bear up in a tree in the neighbours backyard!  It was an eventful morning as the Conservation Officers arrived to try to catch the bear for relocation, and the police officers stood by....for what I'm not sure yet :)

The bear had to be tranquilized in the tree and she fell landing on the neighbours back porch, which ultimately saved her life.  She landed and the deck caved in underneath her providing a cushion for her landing.  Now I'm not sure how this would work....Hello insurance company?  Yes, my deck needs to be replaced.  A bear landed on it.

Here's a shot of the bear in the tree, check my albums for more bear pictures!