Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Such a big boy

So even just last week whenever Finn would cross over these things at the playground he would always make me hold his hand.  Then, the very next day, an older boy went across them and Finn followed right behind and now “momma help” is a distant memory!  Look at him go!

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

This is how we roll

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Mono

So, Tuesday morning after we get back from vacation, the whole family is going to the Pediatrician for flu shots, bright and early.  But when I went in to get Finn out from bed I notice he is burning hot.  So we head on into the doctor anyway and as we’re driving and he’s talking to me I think that he sounds funny.  Turns out that his tonsils were swollen and his glands were swollen along with the fever.  So doctor tests for mono….and over the next 3 days we are sequestered in the house until we get the results back…..positive…..Finnster has mono.  And not only are we sequestered to the house, it is also raining, like monsoon raining so we can’t even go play in the yard.  Stir crazy doesn’t even begin to describe!  But little dude also doesn’t have much energy to play, so its really momma that is going stir crazy versus the 2 year old!  But after a week I decide maybe we should get a movie, Finding Nemo specifically.  But Finding Nemo is actually quite an appropriate title as I cannot find this movie at Blockbuster, On Demand or Pay Per View.  But then our good friends say they have it and we can borrow it and she also gives us Madagascar.  So we put in Finding Nemo….and this is seriously a scary movie….I mean for Finn of course…..but every 5 minutes they are getting attacked by some scary sort of marine life.  Finn was not cool with this.  So I switched it over to Madagascar and life was much better.  Little dude is all better now and we resumed our usual activities this week, but he still wears out pretty quickly.

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Monkey Butt

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Friday, September 18, 2009

I am not smarter than a 2 year old

Finn loves cleaning....he has this play dirt devil vacuum that he got for christmas that he will spend an hour walking around the house vacuuming and only making me wish that it could really clean the floors. He loves to sweep with his own mini broom and momma's big broom. He will even wipe down the dinner table with his own napkin. Not too long ago when I was trying to find something in the closet we found the swiffer....I had totally forgotten I had that thing, but he pulled it out and start pushing it around the house. I was out of the little cloths that you put on it but I made a mental note to pick some up next time I went to the store. So we go to target, I pick some up and he sees the broom on the box and so we talk all about how these go on the broom and he couldn't wait to get home to try it out. I open the box, put one on the swiffer and he FREAKS out. Will not use the swiffer with the cloth on it. He rips it off and then proceeds to walk around "swiffering" the floor, but without the cloth, so he's really not doing any good. I should have known it was too good to be true, but you can't blame me for trying!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Daddy and Grandma Hike

As I mentioned in a previous post, Todd took his momma on a hike up a mountain, here’s some photos from their journey.

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Yep, that’s a bear track

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Self portrait, mountain in the background

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Stone seat with a view

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Grandma’s in the lead

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Mr Bear

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A river runs through it

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A walk in the woods

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Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Watch out Tiger Woods

and seriously…..how beautiful is that scenery?

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Brotherly Love

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and this one just kills me, I turned around from the front seat and saw this.....

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Lakes Big Adventure

Away we go….flight one

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Whaaaaat? Africa? Let’s just see how Canada goes first, OK?

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Ahhhh, we have arrived!

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Cowboys momma!!!

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Hot Springs with Papa!

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Playground with a killer view!

Views from our condo

Chubby bear and daddy (yes those are socks with sandals)

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We took a night-time swim in the natural hot (or luke warm really) springs and water falls…I thought I got pictures during the day but I can’t find them…

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Views with papa

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Photos at Lake Louise

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No idea what mountain this was but it was gorgeous

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Cheeseburger in Banff

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Eh, Hoser

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Finn’s first movie…..Not sure what he was more excited about….the movie or the headphones! The movie came after a 2 hour nap, helped make the last 4 hour leg of our trip home amazingly easy…..and momma and daddy got to watch some college football on their screens too, woot!

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There are more pictures and videos to come in separate posts! It wouldn’t be a vacation if the Lakes didn’t take 500 photos.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Eh Hoser

We took a trip to Fairmont Hot Springs, BC to meet up with Grandma and Grandpa for a week.  It was an absolutely breathtaking place to visit, although it was a haul getting there and there were a few “snafu’s”, we had a great time visiting with grandma and grandpa and taking in all the fresh air and scenery!

1) We flew from Atlanta to Minneapolis, 2 hour flight, both boys were good on the flight, yay!  We had 45 minutes between flights.  Turns out there is seriously a mall in the airport, and it was between the gate we landed in and the gate we needed to go to.  RUNNING.  Last ones on the plane but we made it!

2) Then we flew 2.5 hours from Minneapolis to Calgary.  Again both boys were good, although Finn wouldn’t nap on the plane.

3) Finn fell asleep literally 15 seconds after we landed.  No.lie.

4) We crammed “all” of our luggage and car seats into a teeny tiny pruis….we had the option of a camry but we thought it would be FUN to try the hybrid.  silly silly people

5) 4 hours into our 3 hour drive, both boys are in the backseat crying and momma and daddy are trying to ignore it by taking in all the beautiful scenery when all of a sudden momma thinks….wait….where is the baby carrier backpack?  yeah, that’s right, we got it off the carousel at the airport but we left it sitting on the floor and just walked away from it.  so much for all that hiking Riley wanted to do.  he did go on a couple of short hikes where we all took turns carrying him, all 20 pounds of him!

5) 5 hours later we arrive at grandma and grandpa’s pad, just in time for dinner, bath and bed.

6) did I say bed?  someone forgot to tell Riley.  stinker did not sleep the entire trip.  tired does not even begin to describe.  thanks to the signs posted at our resort about grizzly’s in the area, there was always a bit of panic while we were walking Riley on the golf course from 5-7am every morning.

7) Monday night Riley had a raging fever.  after a trip to the next closest town 24km away and back to buy a thermometer, phone call to our pediatrician back home and a trip to a Canadian clinic, Riley was diagnosed with a viral infection and there was nothing we could do but give him tylenol/motrin and let it runs its course.  by Thursday the fever was gone.  but little dude was sick and not happy and not sleeping and nursed all night long every night.

8) daddy and grandma went on a big hike on Thursday!  Grandma climbed her first mountain at 62, not too shabby!  Way to go grandma!  but, there were Bears.  yes, plural, bears.  we are all just very thankful they are alive!

9)  Friday we had a beautiful perfect day!  Riley had his worst night yet but we decided to just power through with our plans.  so we packed up all of our stuff, drove to Lake Louise for a bit of hiking/walking and picnicking with grandma and grandpa!  Then we went our separate ways as we had to make our way to back to Calgary.  We took a scenic drive and stopped off in Banff for dinner and diaper changes before making the last bit of the trip.  I guess we got a little excited when we could finally see Calgary in the distance (or maybe it was Riley crying in the backseat)….speeding ticket. 

10) while walking around in Banff I thought I got something in my eye…that would never come out……and after the one hour of sleep I got, my eye was giant and swollen and hurt…..yeah, that would be pink eye.

11) while dining in Banff, someone left his credit card in the black ticket sleeve thingy (is there a name for that thing?).

But it wasn’t all bad, I swear!  Like I mentioned, the scenery was absolutely breathtaking, we had beautiful weather, we spent a lot of quality time with grandma and grandpa, we did some swimming, some hot tubbing, some shuffle-boarding, some hiking, some natural hot springs swimming, some golfing, some domino playing (momma blazed everyone out one night, grandpa’s term, LOL!) and some napping!  We were sad to leave grandma and grandpa but we were happy to come home….and to have our baby carrying backpack returned to us!!!  YAY!

Pictures and more stories to come!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Be the ball…..

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Sunday, September 6, 2009

Grandma and Grandpa Part II

So if you remember Grandma and Grandpa from a previous post, Grandma and Grandpa now go everywhere with us. Finn’s pretending with them is amazing, they do all kinds of things, he has conversations with them, gives them hugs and kisses, grandma plays in the exersaucer, goes on car rides and walks and swings at the playground with us. Grandma also….eats lunch with us

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Saturday, September 5, 2009

Game Day!