Canada Vacation (1st post)

What an amazing trip to Canada we had this year. We experienced the best weather we've seen in a long time. It only rained one day while we were there (besides the day we arrived). Nights were a little cool and days were warm but with a good breeze. It was so fun to see the cousins all together playing. It's a little overwhelming for Izzy as she only gets to see them twice a year.... but luckily she looks forward to the trip with such excitement.

We arrived on a Saturday afternoon. Diana and Nick picked us up at the airport. The week prior to us arriving they had tons of rain which had washed out a large culvert in the road so we had to take the longer way to Quyon from the airport. It's actually the fun way to the kids.... as we get to cross the Ottawa River aboard a ferry. The ferry takes about 10 minutes to cross so the kids were able to get out of their seats and take a good look around.

Colby and Nick watch the water pass by quickly here.

Sweet kiddo's.... can you tell everyones happy we are in Quyon!!

Pere takes Colby for a walk down by the water at the cottage. This view is so peaceful.

Mere and Pere had made a playroom for the kids in the cottage. It was filled with arts and crafts, and toys for both Izzy and Colby's age. They spent lots of time in here being entertained. Colby may kill me one day for posting this picture of him in a purple chair with a doll wearing a pink dress.... but I thought it was pretty cute! Tash was the greatest girl-cousin to Izzy... they sang, danced and played their hearts out.

We found deer tracks next to the water in front of the cottage one morning too.

Only part of the dock was set up in the river when we arrived. Danny, Donny and Pere finished setting it up in the first few days we were there. This dock gets lots of use from the Desabrais family.

One of my favorite views ever is watching the ferry cross back and forth on the Ottawa River. You can easily see and hear it go back and forth all day - everyday while sitting at the cottage.

Uncle Davey and Aunt Debbie came up to visit on Sunday.

Izzy and I played with the crafts one day to make a chain link decoration for Mere.

Every morning a flock of ducks that included the mom and here babies crossed in front of the cottage eating and picking there way through. They were so cute!

Mere feeds Colby a bottle while sitting on the beach at the cottage. I love Mere's smile here.

My favorite picture of Izzy on our trip..... isn't she beautiful??!!

Colby enjoys his swing too.... but not the Montreal Canadian cap. We left it with Nick!

Living in Texas you would never see a chipmunk! These little guys were all over the place. Izzy found a baby one that she was able to get super close to. She tried to feed him an almond.... but we never saw him eat it.

The boys love going fishing.... here's Matt trying his luck.

Pere acted pretty silly while marching out with the Canadian flag to attach to the dock.

Just nearly every day Diana and Ray were kind enough to take us out to Moor's Island on their boat. Izzy, myself and Nick pose for a quick pictures before heading out.

Colby's first time on the boat wasn't too enjoyable since he had to wear this life jacket. He couldn't move too much.

Can you tell how uncomfortable Colby was. At least he fell asleep on the boat drive out.

The water was pretty chilly, but Colby was too interested in the sandy beach to pay it much attention. Poor thing was stripped of all his clothes before he got back on the boat to make sure we had sand out of every crack!

Stay tuned for Post 2 and 3 of our Canada trip.  I only took 375 pictures on our trip.... so I'm doing my best to sift through them all.

Father's Day Weekend

Father's Day..... Such a special day for us this year as we had a new addition to the family to make things more special.

Last Friday Danny made plans for us to head to Paris for a quick overnight trip.  He had been able to put together a cabinet package for his mom's house in Canada and finally found the time in his shops schedule to cut out all the pieces and load it in his vehicle. We barely had room for Colby's car seat and were stuck riding two hours to Paris with a board the length of the car riding between Danny and I in the front seats.

We will be leaving this coming Saturday for our annual summer trip to Canada.  This year Danny, Izzy, Colby and myself are flying up and my dad (Pa) and step mom (Lolli) are driving their camper to meet us and spend the week up there.  Things worked out perfectly for the new cabinets once we found out my dad was driving up as he agreed to haul all the pieces in his camper.

On Friday evening before we left for Paris, Colby and I were able to get everyones overnight bag packed and him bathed for our trip before Danny got there.  Colby also practiced his baseball swing.... Daddy swears he'll be a future Hall of Famer! ;)

On Saturday morning, Lolli and Pa came over to visit and bring us breakfast at the Farm.  Little man was still pretty tired.  Oh thank heaven for Lolli!

Danny and Pa continued studying the map for Pa's drive to Canada. 

Danny wrapped up the cabinet pieces to make sure nothing got dented on the long drive up.

While the boys worked hard to pack things Colby and I went to lunch with Aunt Whitney and Lolli.  MMMMM.....mmmmmm.... TaMolly's!

On Sunday Danny and I were able to go pick up Izzy for Father's day.  Here is Danny and the kids as Danny unwraps his gifts.

After the gift giving we loaded up the car again to head ot Lake Texoma and meet Lolli and Pa at their campsite.  Pa goes on his annual stripper fishing trip every June with his friend Thump.  Colby started running a temperature while we were out so the poor thing was naked most of the day.

You'd never guess he was sick by the look of him here.

Izzy enjoyed swimming in the water, tubing behind the boat and looking for shells.

Pa and Colby look down the hill as Izzy and Lolli look for more shells.

My dad doing what he does best.... grilling! Thanks for the delicious grilled pork chops Daddy!

Let's Dive

Saturday morning we got up bright and early to head out to Six Flags with the kids. We knew we would have to get their early to avoid the crowd and heat. Doors opened at 10 am and we were there at 10:05! Colby unfortunately is of the age or size at this point to enjoy the endless possibilities of food, drinks, rides and entertainment that the park has to offer. But between Danny, Izzy and myself we made up for it.

Colby was a pretty good sport... he's a great people watcher!

The last time we took Izzy was 2 years ago so she had grown into a new group of ride possibilities this time. Up to about 45" tall... barely nudging that 42" cut off mark. Danny and her were able to ride the Shock Wave... front row and all! Both of them just alike... mouths wide open! Izzy enjoyed it so much when she got off she ran down and took me back up to ride it again.... front row for a second time!

Colby's serious face.... 

I can't remember the name of this ride.... but for Izzy... she wasn't amused. From the beginning she had her head laying on my lap covering her eyes and ears. Mental note... we'll skip it next time!

 Pretty bored....

Just about every event we have has some sort of surprise to go along with it. This time... Izzy got to go on a "Dive Bomb". Danny came up with the idea first thing that morning.... even had his mind set that he would take the plunge with Izzy. By the time it was time to play.... he backed out. Good thing Izzy has such a great step mom to go on these excursions with her!

Just before the plunge!

 

I asked Izzy when we were almost to the top of the "drop position" if she was scared. She continued to say "no". Only that she hoped we didn't go into the water down below. The people running the ride announced "3, 2, 1, fly"..... I pulled the cord and away we went. By the time we had swung back and forth 3 or 4 times Izzy was asking to go again. One fearless kid!



Time to Dance

Last week we went to a large event.  Something our family has become very familiar with in the past few years.... Izzy's Dance Recital.  This thing lasted 4 hours...... but thank goodness we were able to cut out after an hour and a half.  Until Izzy came along neither I nor Danny knew anything about the meaning of tutu's and tap shoes.  We certainly hope that we can instill a little bit of "athletic juice" in her blood.... but it could be a tough sell.

Izzy started out in dance at her day care a few years ago and was absolutely adorable.  I don't know a person in the crowd that didn't OOOO and Ahhhh at 3, 4 and 5 year old's dressed up  in colorful costumes.

Thankfully Colby was a proper gentleman and stayed quiet through the entire event.  He even fell asleep for the first act.... and you can imagine the roaring crowd of cheers and chants for all the girls on stage. 


One happy family!

Danny and Colby during intermission.  (Colby had just woken up).

We're Back.... Hopefully

Nine months ago I thought I would have plenty of time to starting Blogging our growing families life again since I would be home for 3 months with Colby. I even blogged about the fact that I would have more "home" time. Ha!!! Little did I know adding a newborn to the mix would take some..... or ALL of my time and I'd barely be able to add all the pictures to my computer.

This blog has really weighed heavy on me lately as I see my kiddo's growing before my eyes. Therefore.... I've got to get into a routine of adding our life's daily pleasures to this. If you have any secrets as to how to do this.... please let me know!


I will start out with an update as to where we are and all that jazz! 

Izzy is 6 going on 16.  She goes for all the latest fashionable clothing and shoes.  She's definitely got the "Justice" store fever.  Too bad we never bought into their market shares.  She just finished Kindergarten a few weeks ago and is enjoying her summer as anyone should.  Although, she still hasn't learned the meaning of "sleep in".  Between her and Colby, 6:30 AM is a normal time for us all to be up in the morning.  Izzy played softball for the first time this spring.  For any of you that know Danny you can imagine how excited he was.  He proudly stood by on the field as his ladybug did all she could to stop every ground ball that came came to her. 

Here is Izzy at her Kindergarden Graduation Ceremony.  I had hoped to see her dolled up in a cap and gown.... but I guess that's out the door.

Colby has been growing like a weed until the past couple of months.  Now it's more like his motor skills and such are catching up.  He's got his 2 top and bottom (middle) teeth and 3 more along the top are breaking through.  He's 9 months and 3 weeks old today.... still doesn't sound right!  He crawls with the best of them and can be up the first flight of stairs in 5 seconds.  He pulls himself up to standing along every chair, wall or person he can find.  I bought him a walker to help him gain the skills of putting one foot in front of another.... but he'd rather stand beside it holding on to the toys on the front of it more.  He's a very happy baby..... rarely fusses or cries, sit's quietly through events and will go to anyone.  Forget that shy baby syndrome.    He babbles "mama" and "dada" often..... even blurted out "Izzy" plain as day once.  Luckily she was with us that weekend and it tickled her pink!  We're working on bye bye with the wave.... depends on his mood as to if he says it.  We taught him to high 5 last week.... destined to be the great sportsman! 

Here he is after dinner.... can you tell he had sweet potatoes for dinner?

Like I said earlier... hopefully it isn't 9 months again before I get the next blog posted.  We stay busy every weekend so I've definitely got lots to tell.

A New Beginning

I tried keeping this blog updated a year ago... but unfortunately never found or made the time to keep it updated. I've decided to try again.... especially because this time I have more "home" time in my future since we just had a new addition to our family.

I’ll start this off by going back about a week. Izzy, began her journey through school as a kindergartener on Monday, August 23rd.

She is attending Rockenbaugh Elementary in Southlake. Her teachers name is Mrs. Whittington. After Izzy’s first day of school we asked what her favorite part was…. Her reply, “Everything!”. We just hope that never changes.