More dramatic things he says

"You ruined my life...now I need a snack."

Headed to the Falls

After discovering the beautiful Fall foliage in the NE last year, I have decided we will make this a yearly trip to this area. Even though we couldn't get to Vermont, we decided to trek further north. We started in Toronto, drove north to Lake Huron, then back down South to Niagara Falls. We stayed on the Canadian side and never felt like we missed anything by not traveling into New York.

Brad and I went to the Falls years ago, but this time we thought G would really like it. We spent one day driving north, etc to see the most fall foliage. Then we spent the next day walking around the falls and the surprisingly "year round" carnival type street with rides, wax museums, etc. That evening we drove to the nearby Niagara on the Lake and toured some of the wineries. They are known for their reds and icewine. It was overcast and rainy all day, but we made the best of it. The next day was time to go home, and of course the sun came out and it was gorgeous! We packed up, found an illegal place to park, ran to the falls to take our picture and then loaded up and drove back to Toronto. We had a great time. Can't wait for the falls leaves next year!

Dramatic Quote of the Day

After 4 times of asking G to go to bed and stay put, I get this:

"I just can't (dramatic pause) follow the rules (dramatic pause as he throws himself onto the ottoman) any more!"

Oh, to be 4. :)

"I'm the Birthday Boy"

Wow! My boy is four! And he reminds me of this fact everyday. He was so excited that friends and relatives were coming to his birthday party, and he was excited about presents and swim party!

We had a John Deere themed party on his actual birthday. My friend Jennifer even made the cake for us, and it was perfect. I rented the clubhouse in the neighborhood so we could hang out, eat cake and swim afterward. It ended up being a perfect day, so we were blessed.

He invited some friends from his new school plus several family friends. There were 7 kids total, two friends of mine from my old work, plus his granddaddy and Bernice, Aunt Kelly, Zachary, my mom and my sister. It was a fun day.

We had a pinata where every child got three hits to the pinata. We had to enlist cousin Zachary, he's 11, to break that sucker open. It was tough! But the candy fell and it was every man for himself.

G was itching to open his presents. He came up to me and said, "I'm the birthday boy, and I say we get to open presents now." Wow. :) But he was able to wait until we got home.

After everyone left, Aunt Kelly, Zachary and the three of us had sushi. Not very kid friendly, but he was pretty eager to try several things.

All in all, we had a fantastic day and we are looking forward to more. Next up, I'll post a little yearly recap I like to do for him.

4 year doc visit recap

We went to a new pediatrician this year since his old pedi doesn't take his new insurance...but it's for the best because there were past charges we didn't care for, so we are making a clean and fresh start.

I was very impressed with the new pediatrician. This is a second career for her, so to me that means she's very committed as she had to accomplish medical school with 3 children and a husband. They took his measurements. He's 42" tall and 40 lbs. Both are on the high side of average. She thinks he'll be about 6' tall, and from the looks of all of the men on my side of the family, I wouldn't be surprised. They pricked his finger, and he was very brave. His hemoglobin was a tiny bit low, but since I recently found out about my strange genetic blood disorder (not serious, really if it's monitored) then I wouldn't be shocked in the least if he had it too. She recommended a vitamin and to make sure he gets lots of red meat and dark green veggies. Uh-huh. :) We'll try that for a few months to see if it makes a difference, but I highly doubt it will. He'll always be a little low.

She had him play all sorts of games. He counted to 20 in Spanish (he was a little shy and this helped him warm up to her), told her some opposites, colors, etc. then he wrote his name for her. She was very impressed. She commented that he was pretty advanced and that she was happy he was learning Spanish or he would probably be bored in pre-school.

Now off to the fun part. Including the flu shot, he received 4 shots that day. OUCH! She mentioned that she was sad that his first appt was at 4 years because he'll never want to come back! The first shot was fine with a litle "ow!" then came "Ouch!" then came the tears and "Stop!" and next came "I DON'T WANT ANOTHER SHOT!" Poor thing. And to top it off he said, "Why did you let the nurse give me shots??" I was almost in tears.

We survived with a little blood and even some bruising. So no more shots for now, until his pedi and I decide whether to take the swine flu shot or now. That's out for a decision in a month or two.

Art

I wanted to post his art from last week. I am so proud. He has such an imagination and explained everything to me. Starting from the bottom right:

A picture of him
A picture of me (very small, so I must be a super model)
A submarine
A house
More houses (at the top in red)
An airplane
And his name (he is getting better at it every time he writes it)

And as for the little dots all over the middle of the page???
He said, "Those are snow bear tracks."

My little pirate

G went to his best "girlfriend's" birthday party over the weekend. She's exactly one week older, and they had a blast together. It was a princess and pirate party at a children's museum in Tennessee. I got to see G in action. He was the host of the party by taking gifts from people as they arrive and showing off his best pirate speak. Too cute. We had a great time! Happy Birthday, K!

Summer Art

A collection of G's art from this summer and the beginning of fall. They create lots of art at his new school. I love it!

First Day in the 4 year old class

Go West Young Man (Labor Day)

Oh Canada!

Our extended time together as a family is rare, so we try to make the most of it when we can. Brad had 6 days off (which is an anomaly), so we took a long weekend trip to Banff, Canada, a small ski village/touristy town outside of Calgary. Brad and I had been there before G came along. We remembered how beautiful it was and wanted to go back. We have so many great photos that I am going to make several slideshows so you don't have to watch one with 100 photos. Yikes! Yes, there are many photo ops. It was just so gorgeous.

After arriving in Calgary late the night before, we woke up and drove the 1.5 hour drive to Banff National Park. We signed up for a tour the next day, shopped for road snacks, and drove another hour or so to Lake Louise, where we were staying for this trip. We decided to stay at the Fairmont Lake Louise Hotel, which is located on a lake created by glaciers. It's the gorgeous blue you see due to the glacier sand that collects as the water melts and is pushed down the mountain. I believe the sand is mostly made out of limestone.

The next day we had three sites to accomplish, and they were all in Banff. We took the gondola up the mountain, we did a float trip, and we went to the Upper Banff Hot Springs. I would recommend all except the Hot Springs. I had originally envisioned this gorgeous rock formation with hot bubbly fresh water collecting in the bottom and the steam rising up toward the mountain. Uh. Nope. Brad and I decided it was one of the nastiest things we have ever done as far as germs go. Blech. It was just a hot pool with TONS of people sitting in it elbow to elbow. You could almost see the germs swimming and doing the backstroke in the disgusting water. Had we seen the springs before we bought tickets, we would not have wasted our money. So we climbed out of the pond of filth, bought a bar of lye soap and proceeded to remove the top two layers of skin. Well, not really, but we wanted to.

The last full day, we drove two hours north of Lake Louise and did a Columbia Icefield tour. The drive was a sight in and of itself. There were many place to stop and hike or just lookout and see the sites. We saw a few animals - bears. We did a short hike with G, and that's all his poor legs could take. It was hilarious as he decided that he was ready to go back to the car after the first big hill. Brad took him the rest of the way up on his shoulders. Poor daddy.

The glacier tour puts you on this bus mounted on Gigantic tires. It's able to drive across the snow. I felt a little bad about driving and walking on a receding glacier thinking that it wasn't very ecofriendly, but they have steps they take to make it as green as possible.

That night, we had yet to canoe across the lake in front of our hotel, so we decided that was our last adventure for our trip. You can tell in the photo that I was petrified of flipping the entire time. A little wiggler in the middle perpetuated that fear too. Since the lake is formed from a glacier, then it is constantly 32-35 degrees F. I didn't want any of us spending time in that lake (or my cell phone and camera). Burr!

If you want to see our first trip from 2004, follow this link.
http://www.thewhitehouse.cc/Images/Calgary/index.html
We didn't have our camera with us on the lake, so we used Brad's cell phone. Cell phone cameras have come a long way...

Viva Mexico!

I love Playa del Carmen, so much so that when my colleagues mentioned that I should go down there for work, I didn't hesitate. We flew down over 4th of July weekend and took G and mom. Brad got to go for one day but had to fly off to work. Even a friend of mine was in Playa the same weekend, and we got to spend some time with her too!

We stayed at the Fairmont Mayakoba just outside of Playa and rented a car. The car worked out perfectly, and I'm SO proud of myself for driving all over the place and got being run over or stolen.

When we dropped off Brad at the airport in Cancun, we found a place to parasail. Mom has wanted to go for a long time, so it was time to mark that off of her list. G is under the age limit, not because of safety reasons, so it was up to the captain to approve him. The captain spoke to him for a while and asked if he was scared, "No, I'm ready to go up!" G and I went up first, then mom was to go it alone. We had so much fun looking around and he wasn't scared at all. I saw sting rays and turtles even from those heights. When we landed, they were so impressed that G did so well that they offered to let him go up with mom again, no charge. Of course! So he went up to show mom the ropes. :)

The rest of the trip we either hung out at the resort or went into town to eat/shop. It was relaxing. I LOVE Playa, did I say that already?

It's Foamy

G and I had a craft day this weekend. It's too hot to go outside for extended periods of time, and we can't live in the pool. Ok, I guess we could, but I get a little wrinkly after several hours and need a break. :)

We made homemade playdough with Kool-Aid and the normal ingredients like flour, salt, cream of tarter, etc. Let's say that even though all of the ingredients are edible, DON'T eat it. It has so much salt that it burned our tongues...blech. Hee hee.

We also made foam snakes. I saw this in a kid's magazine and I was itching to try it since I could make it without a trip to the store. It's a plastic water bottle with the bottom cut off, an old towel cut into a square, a rubberband, and that's all you need! You wet the towel and then dip the whole contraption into a plate of dishsoap (I even mixed it with a little water as I was running low on the soap.) It works just as described and shown in the magazine. Fantastic. G got upset because the wind kept blowing the snake off of the bottle, but we were entertained.

G's escuela

G started at a Spanish Immersion pre-school this week. What is he immersed in do you ask? Well, Spanish - all day long by native Spanish speaking teachers. They teach regular pre-school but only in Spanish. G did really well on his first day with no tears. He's used to going to a school everyday, but he was nervous about a new school. They integrate them in the first two weeks by speaking a mixture of Spanish and English. They get 30 min. of English every day where they work on days of the week, months, time, etc. I've heard from several parents that their children understand almost everything within the first semester but truly understand within the first year, however they won't speak it until the end of the second or third year. When I picked him up that evening I overheard him say "I had a lot of fun!" He's never said that about school before. Now the stinker overheard me tell several people what he said, and the second day he made it clear to me that "I don't like this new school." But after talking to his teacher, he clearly did well and had a lot of fun. During the summer, they are having themed camps each week. This week is Art Camp and they are learning about Salvadore Dali. They are making pictures that resemble Dali's work, and G's picture looks great so far. I'll post when they bring them home.

We walk in each morning and every teacher has a smile on her face, greets him by name and asks him how he's doing (in Spanish) - EVERY teacher does this whether he's in her class or not. G's teacher is young, cute and full of energy. She's impressed with G, and I'm impressed with her.

I saw a little girl from G's soccer team in his class. She's been going for two semesters, and she's now fluent. Wow. Her parent's do not know Spanish at all. She came running into class telling the teacher that she brought her napmat and for them to look at her new socks - all in Spanish. She's the exception, not the norm, but how exciting. What I would give to be fluent in Spanish and not have to work that hard to learn it like I would as an adult.

He will be able to attend Kindergarten here as well, and they have a later cut off date than public school. They conduct class in Spanish for 3 days and English for 2 days per week, which is taught by a different teacher who is accredited and taught Kind. for years and years. Since he's a Sept. baby, I could send him to Kind. here at 5 and then repeat regular Kind. at a public school when he's almost 6.

They also have an after school program one day a week after he goes to public school through age 12. That keeps them brushed up until they start Spanish in school.

Who knows how it will all pan out, but I am excited about the possibilities, but I'm even more excited about him having fun and being in a friendly, positive, nurturing environment.

I'll keep you posted on his progress...

And you know my name is Simon, and I like to do drawrings...

I have a boy's boy, which will probably mean I will have a man's man. He has such an engineering geared mind. He's never been interested in coloring or even sitting still for that matter, unless he's taking something apart. I was soooo happy when my little boy's mind is starting to show interest in writing and drawing. He handed this to me the other night, and you would have thought he drew the Mona Lisa!

It was so cute how he described every piece to me, so I had to label it for prosperity. Of course the following night the interest was gone, and he was off taking something apart or putting it back together. :) I will take what I can get.

Crazy animals

We took G to one of those drive-through animal parks. The animals were crazy, but it was a great time.

G and Kelsey have their first dance

Yes, their first dances are the Hokey Pokey and Chicken Dance, but it's sooo cute!

Twinkle Twinkle

I have a few videos from the Disney trip that I've been trying to publish all day. I think I'm finally getting them uploaded.

This is G and Kelsey singing Twinkle Twinkle on the way to the airport after the trip. G started strong and pooped out, but Kelsey carried the tune until the end.

Music to Tame the Savage Beast

On Memorial Day, G and I invited our friends to see a concert with us at the Dallas Arboretum. The artist's name is Eddie Coker. He's apparently a popular performer all over the country but especially in the area. We braved the heat and found some shade under a nearby tree. The performer was really good. Lots of fun and very interactive with the kids. I should have known better to get the boys together. G and Graham had NO interest in listening to the concert. They would rather run in circles chasing each other in a nearby open area (in the sun.) They loved it though. Run free children!

After the concert, we were invited to their neighborhood pool to swim. Opening weekend equals mass chaos. It was fun though. We got home around bedtime. He was asleep in the car, of course. I took him inside, changed his clothes, and tucked him into bed. Ten minutes later, he was up. Oh no! Will he be up all night? He came downstairs and sat in my lap for a few minutes, got up and said, "Good night mommy. I'm going to bed." That was it. What a big boy.

We survived our first Disney encounter

Well, we did it. We sailed on the Disney Wonder and lived to tell the tale. It was actually a lot of fun. You know we are cruisers, but our friends talked us into a Disney cruise. G and I have never been to Disney, so I wasn't sure what to expect on a cruise. The kid's programs were phenomenal. You could, if you picked a Disney cruise to party, drop your child off at 9am and pick them up at 1am. They would feed them, let them lay on a mat if they were tired, etc. WOW. Of course we didn't take advantage of it, but the kid's programs were great. They dressed G up as a pirate one night. He LOVED it.

G met Kelsey for the first time. The are only a week a part in age. Good thing they got along splendidly because the arranged marriage will continue as planned! :) They were so cute. G coyly put his arm around her during a movie. Daddy's boy!

Clouds

One afternoon, G and I were working in the flower beds, and I decided it would be a perfect day to sit down on our "hill" in the front yard and show him the clouds. We talked about the different clouds and how you can see shapes and things in the clouds.

From this point forward, every time he sees clouds he says,

"Look at the clouds, mommy. I see an alligator eating a pickle."

It's always an alligator eating a pickle. He came up with it on his own. Too funny!

Who knew Elvis liked to play in the sand?

G has re-found his Elvis costume. We are back to sleeping, playing, etc. in it. I don't mind since he will outgrow it someday, and my mom worked hard to make it. So here we are on a bright sunny day playing in his sandbox.

Is he even mine?

I so badly want just a little bit of my son's looks, actions, pinky toe to look like/resemble me. He doesn't have to be my twin, but he can at least do something to remind me that he's mine. I did carry him for 9+ mo! LOL. Anyway, here's more proof that I'm just the mother ship that brought my husband's twin into the world. :)

Boxes and Trains

We're talking mom to mom here: Boxes are better than toys. Can I get an Amen? So why does he have lots of toys and no boxes? G spent the week playing with this box. He couldn't get enough.

I've also included pics of his train set that he got for Christmas, but we found a train table several months ago and have it all set up.