First off I am sorry it has been so long. We have gotten so busy around here (not really sure with what) that I didn’t really have much time to sit down and write up some posts. I am going to try and get a little ahead over the next couple of days (time permitting) so there won’t be such a long break again. Fingers crossed!
Paige has gotten over waking herself up from sitting in her sleep, but with this heat has been waking up thirsty every night for the last week and a half between 11:00pm – 12:00 for a “snack”. It means I am struggling to get used to being woken up once a night again, either that or I stay up to try and get her fed again before I head to sleep.
Construction of the highway has been very busy the past couple of weeks as well which means they start early in the morning and it also means it can be tricky getting in and out of our place. On the upside some of the expropriated homes have come down on our road so hoping that means the one next door will be coming down soon. Also with all of this construction maybe they will be done our section soon which will also include some nice new paving on our road. Paige loves watching the big trucks go by.
The day we had our pool filled we unfortunately had to take down Paige’s swing set since it had been eaten from the inside out by carpenter bees. I think we might have to wait until next year for a new swing set now.
Last post we were getting the pool filled that day. It has taken some time to warm up enough to be tolerable but today we spent some time in the pool together. Even though the water still feels quite cool, Paige was having a blast and did not want to come out. She swam a bit on her back in her life jacket then had fun floating around in one of our floating loungers splashing the water.
After swimming we hung out on the porch playing until her afternoon nap time when we headed inside where it was a little cooler. We topped off the day with a barbecue at our place with friends.
Also I was able to get the paint colour fixed (thank goodness) it is a little lighter than we wanted since it was a lighter base used to get the “wrong” colour I had originally asked for, but at least it is in the right tone. I also managed to get one coat of paint on half of our kitchen cabinets. They definitely look better, but boy were the fumes strong from the melamine paint.
Tuesday May 29 Paige had a swimming lesson where we worked on jumping off the edge of the deck and going underwater. Paige couldn’t get enough of going under water. She especially loved when we would go right to the bottom and back up (there is no real deep area in the pool where we take lessons).
That Wednesday we had a hike with a friend in Durham Forest. We did the Red Oak and Spruce loop. It was a great day to be out hiking and the loop is about 8km. Unfortunately we dropped the head rest to the pack on the first time round so I ended up having to hike this entire loop again. Thank goodness the weather held out. On the second time round it was amazing how different the trail seemed as we noticed things we had missed the first time round. Paige was really enjoying seeing all of the different butterflies that she could point out to me.
Thursday was Baby Beats which Paige absolutely loves. The morning was spent playing out on the porch.
Friday we worked in the yard before the wind and rain storms hit that afternoon. \The wind was wild and brought down a great deal of branches and leaves. It looked like a tornado had been through our yard. Some of the branches that came down were bigger than some trees. So Saturday was spent trying to clean up the yard. Paige chipped in with the clean up, even if it was only 1 leaf at a time.
Sunday turned into a nice day and we spent it catching up with one of my husband’s buddies from school who came out to share some exciting news with us.
This past Monday we led a hike out on the Seaton Trail from Whitevale. It was overcast so not too bad for our hike. We covered about 7.5km. The hike always seems to go by quickly when you are in good company.
That afternoon was the start of a new session of Baby Beats which overlaps for 2 weeks with the session that is just coming to an end, which means Paige gets to go to music 2 times in 1 week for 2 weeks straight. There were only 2 little ones at the class so Paige got to choose some of the songs and was having a great time being the centre of attention and snuggling up to the teacher.
Tuesday was our last swimming class so we did a little of everything. There were no life jackets used this class. The little ones also got to go down the slide once more. Paige got a nice little certificate which will go in her scrapbook (when I actually get around to starting it). That afternoon it was a great afternoon to play out on the back deck and enjoy the fresh air. Paige had fun singing songs and playing her instruments.
Wednesday we walked at the zoo with one other mommy and her little one. I am glad we had decided to shift the walk an hour earlier since it was very busy with students and daycares and it was becoming so hot at the zoo by the time we left. We did check out the kids zoo, which I hadn’t even noticed before. Paige really enjoyed watching the Prairie Dogs run around their enclosure.
Unfortunately by the time we got home my migraine was getting the better of me so I had to climb into bed while Paige played so nice and quietly in my bedroom until I could function a little again. She seemed to understand that Mommy couldn’t play and that I needed to lay down since she played quietly and didn’t fuss once.
Thursday was Baby Beats again. Paige has grown so much more comfortable at these classes now and doesn’t hesitate to join the other little ones up at the felt board or check out the other instruments put in the middle for them to all play with.
Friday we were out for our usual stroller walk with 2 other moms and babes. It was a bright sunny day but with the breeze off the lake it wasn’t too hot. After afternoon nap we played/worked out in the yard to get some things done before the rain was to arrive.
Saturday we finally picked up the final load of mulch (1 yard) that we had been putting off getting. We transplanted and split 2 of our large hostas that needed to come out of some of my other gardens as well which really cleaned up the way the back yard looks. We also managed to pull up a bunch more of the mustard garlic that keeps taking over the hill in our yard. Our gardens have really exploded with all of this rain and heat. We have never seen our plants do so well. It is nice to see and things are really filling in.
Yesterday we spent the day taking it easy and just enjoying each others company. We started with breakfast on the porch. Paige had her nap while we got a few things done around the place then it was time for all of us to swim. After swimming we played on the porch and had some snuggles then Paige went down for her afternoon nap. During her nap Dave and I sorted out the details of our trip out east that is coming up since plans fell through that we had accounted for in the middle of our trip so we had to make some phone calls to switch check in dates and reconfigure our plan. In the evening friends came for dinner and Paige had her playmate to play with while we all caught up since it had been a little bit since we had all gotten together
Today we are off for a hike on the Seaton trail. Depending on the heat, not sure if we will make it as far as we did last week but we shall see. Then it will be Baby Beats in the afternoon. This week there should be a few more little ones at the class which will be fun for Paige.
Friday ended up being a quiet day for Paige and I with lots of snuggled and singing. I think Paige might be teething again (this time the front top 2 teeth). We missed our stroller walk since Paige was napping and I didn’t want to wake her to go since she didn’t nap so well this week. We did however get up to Ganaraska to pick up our tree order. We had enough cedars to put in a 2nd row of cedars on the south side of the house. We also planted a double row hedge of Shadblow Serviceberry at the front south corner of the property to give us privacy in a few years during the summer months since we like to set up the pool on the south side of the house. We did end up with some leftover serviceberry which one of our neighbours was willing to take off our hands.
A remarkable occasion that was marked on Friday was my grandparents 67 anniversary. We often wonder if we will even be around for our 67th anniversary, or if around would we have our wits about us to even realize we had made it to this anniversary!
Saturday was a cool, but sunny day so Paige and I headed into Toronto with Dave in the afternoon after getting the lawn cut and the whipper snipping done in the morning. Dave had a baseball practice with the rec league he is playing with this year near Riverdale Farm. I hadn’t been, but had heard about it, so thought it would be a great opportunity to check it out with Paige. We wandered around the farm and checked out the chicks in the barn. I am not sure Paige knew what to make of the sheep or the cow she had a very quizzical look on her face when I was showing her these animals.
She would jump and be very interested in the chickens every time one would walk near the stroller. The gardens were beautiful with all of the tulips and daffodils out so we spent some time looking at the flowers as well.
After a while of wandering the farm we headed down to the ball diamonds to watch some baseball. It was definitely much cooler by the ball diamonds. We stuck around for a bit before heading back to the car.
We had thought we would maybe stop at The Shops At Don Mills to wander and maybe grab something to eat, but Paige was napping so we decided to keep heading in the direction of home and stop if we saw an interesting place. We ended up passing by Frankie Tomatto’s. Every time we pass this place it is busy and so we thought we would check it out. It is an all-you-can-eat Italian buffet. The restaurant is currently undergoing much needed renovations to update it and expand the restaurant. We were quite surprised at the quality of the food and both enjoyed our meals. There was nothing that we would advise against. If you like garlic and Italian food, then this is a place to check out.
Sunday turned out to be a nice sunny day. It felt quite cool in the morning and there had been a heavy frost the night before. The gardening seminar that was to happen, I had to cancel as it was down to 3 of us Sunday morning (people backed out overnight) making the cost prohibitive to the 3 of us left.
So with nothing planned for the day, we figured a hike was in order. We took a drive out to Long Sault Conservation Area. We were looking for the Eastern entrance and must have missed it so we ended up taking a drive down roads (they didn’t look like roads, sand and lots of bumps through the woods, but they did have stop signs, etc) where we passed a conservation area that was supposed to have opened fall of 2009 but had a no trespassing sign. After about 45 minutes of driving down a couple of these “roads” we decided to head back to the main entrance and just check out one of those trails. It was a very busy spot.
It appeared that most people hike the Cottontail Rabbit Trail, so we decided to check out one of the quieter trails and went with the Barred Owl Trail. It is a 2.9 km Advanced trail. We found this to be a nice easy hike with a fairly flat trail. Even though it is quite flat it does provide nice scenery. We are not really sure why this was deemed an advanced trail (maybe the distance). It was a nice hike and the trilliums are just getting ready to open, so by this week-end I am sure they will be putting on a nice display. There is a little picnic area at the beginning of the trails. Some of these trails do meet up with the ORTA (Oak Ridges Trail Association) trail system for a portion of them.
One thing to watch for on these trails is Bloodroot, we noticed it right near the trails edge in a few places so do be careful when out on the trails that you don’t walk through this. I have heard it mentioned on a few trails in the Durham Region now.
We were home shortly after lunch time so we had plenty of time to hang out in the yard and try and get some yard work done. We added forest compost to the raised vegetable beds and mixed it in before planting a few of our seeds for this year. We planted our onion seeds, sweet peas and snap peas as well as buttercrunch lettuce and mixed greens. We are trying new seeds this year that are Organic so we will see how they do. Once the weather warms up we have a variety of other seeds to add.
Even with these cool temperatures the gardens are doing quite well, although many of my herbs have yet to make a showing so we may have to replant many of them this year. The only one to show has been the lemon balm and of course my lavenders. The strawberries and rhubarb have more than doubled their size in the past couple of days between the rain last week then the sunny days and some more rain again today, they could be rather large plants this year, so hopefully the strawberries will also be plentiful.
While we worked in the garden Paige had a great time playing on her blanket by the vegetable gardens and visiting with one of our neighbours.
Hopefully the rain keeps up for a few days this week to ensure that the trees are well watered since the ground was pretty dry when we were digging it up to plant the trees. It would be nice if they could get themselves well established before the warm dry weather arrives.
Is there a trail you would recommend up checking out in the Durham region or within an hours drive?
Do you plant a vegetable garden in your yard? What do you grow? Do you have any tips and tricks?
It was a busy active week in this house. Wednesday was a great walk at the zoo, it was at a good pace and we tackled the hill that goes down to the Canadian section. We walked all areas of the zoo and did the hill with a break before the hill and managed to complete it in just over 1.5 hours. There is always great conversation with these ladies. Paige napped the whole time, so I didn’t stick around after to see the animals with Paige since she was still sleeping.
Keeping a steady pace up the hill
Paige was having a great time this week in evenings playing in her swing with daddy in the back yard. It is her favourite thing to do.
Paige is reaching that age where she enjoys playing on her own for large period of times. She will roll around on the ground, crawl a little bit and just hang out on the living room carpet. It is great so I can get a few things done around the house while she entertains herself.
Yesterday was another great hike with another mom, hiking the Countryside Preserve trail in Uxbridge. We managed to get a little lost and ended up hiking a loop in Durham Forest as well. It was a good hike with great conversation. Maybe that was our problem – too much conversation and too little paying attention to where we are going! We were out for just over 2 hours. The little ones did great and didn’t really fuss at all. Paige took a nap at one point in her pack.
We then stopped in at Vince’s Market for some groceries where Paige put on a show for everyone in the store, chatting and singing away in the cart.
My brother and his wife came over for the night with their little one Callum for a visit and to spend the night. The littles ones played for a little bit, we skyped with my parents and then it was time for bed for them. Once they went to bed we made some pizzas and sat around and had a visit before we all headed to bed.
Paige so happy to see her cousin Callum
Today looks like a good day for a hike-sun is shining and it is supposed to go up to 11oC today. I think we will all head out for a hike together once everyone is up and that way my brother Fraser and his wife Meghan can try Callum out in the new pack they got yesterday.
Yesterday we had a great hike with a small group of moms at Enniskillen Conservation Area, it was the first time any of them had been there. What is nice about hiking here is that it is fairly flat, so great for beginners, the trails are not too long and there are picnic areas and outhouses throughout the trails. We hiked the outer loop and then turned back in to the middle as we were nearing the end of the trail to stop at the main picnic area to enjoy a snack and a chat. Two of us brought our dogs along so they had a great time rolling around in the grass and playing with each and even managed to collect quite a few burs between the two of them. The little ones all seemed to be enjoying themselves and all managed to stay awake for the whole hike. We couldn’t have asked for nicer weather, the sun was shining and there was very little wind.
Here’s a photo of all of us after our break
Today Paige had her first swimming lesson. It is a rather large class, but I am sure it could shrink as time goes on. Paige was having such a great time kicking and floating in the water. Paige giggled away each time we bobbed down under the water and back up. I definitely have a water baby. I am happy that she really enjoyed the pool. Bath time is one of her favourite activities, but we weren’t sure how she would react in the pool, but she took to it right away. Paige definitely prefers the big pool to the warm baby pool.
Tomorrow we are off to the Toronto Zoo to walk with the same group of mom’s we walked with last week. This week it is going to be a bit more challenging since we are going to be tackling the large hill at the Canadian section of the zoo. Hopefully I won’t feel the burn too much (I like to think I am in reasonable shape, but I guess the walk tomorrow will prove it!). Depending on the weather we might stick around for a little bit after to see some different animals than we did last time (maybe check out the Africa section of the zoo to see if the lions are out and watch the penguins for a bit). If we don’t stick around at the zoo, I may pull out the finger paints when we get home so Paige can do some more painting for family since she had a blast last time. I think this time I may put the navy blue away and not put it out as an option as Paige gravitated to that one when I had all of the bright colours in front of her.
Birthday card for her Pop’s
Thursday we are leading another hike back up to Country Preserve in Uxbridge. Maybe this time we will try a different loop, or at least a new portion of the trail system.
We have a busy week ahead, but no plans for the week-end yet. I am sure we will be off on an adventure of sorts come the week-end since we generally find some new trail to check out or some new place. We discovered a number of hiking trails near us the other night when we took some back roads home from our hike in Uxbridge, so we may need to check out a few of those and see what they are all about.
So this is my first post with the new direction my blog is taking. The past 6 months have just flown by with my daughter. We head off for her 6 month appointment today to have her weighed and wellness checkup. She was born weighing 9lbs 12.6oz and was definitely worth the wait. I have been in love ever since.
We have a pretty busy schedule these days. We have a stroller walk every Friday with a group of mom’s in Scarborough where we walk a paved path down to the lake and back. I think it is about a 6 km walk on flat terrain. It is a great group of ladies and we generally have some good laughs. We met this group when we joined a hiking group back in November where we were hiking with the babies in carriers 1-2 times a week. Now that the little ones are getting bigger this group prefers the strollers. Thursdays is Musical Babies through the Ontario Early Years Centres (http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/topics/earlychildhood/oeyc/index.aspx) They have some great programs for little ones. My daughter just loves singing, so this was a great match for her. This is the second session we have done of this program. It doesn’t look like they are running this program for April so I will have to find another musical type program for her.
Wednesdays are a variety of activities. Sometimes we stay at home and play in the yard, go for a stroller walk up the road or a hike. Last week with this beautiful weather we organized a group of moms (through meetup) to go hiking on the Seaton Trail. It was great weather and great to meet some new moms in our area with a similar interest. We hiked just over 5 km on the trail heading south from Whitevale so it is a moderate trail due to some hills. Tuesdays tend to be a quiet day at home with a walk in the afternoon in the stroller which usually entails visiting with neighbours along the way, seeing the wild turkeys and various other wildlife and if the weather is nice we walk up to the pond at the end of the road to watch the ducks.
Mondays are our library day, when we go to get some new music and a book or two. As I mentioned previously my daughter loves music so we usually try to get 3-5 new children’s cd’s to listen to for the week. She seems to be a big fan of Sharon, Lois & Bram in the car and loves to sing along with them. She is also a fan of The Wiggles and Fred Penner. We are also adding some of our favourites in there as well. This Monday we had organized a hike at Glen Major Forest, but with the wind chill (-12oC) I decided to cancel it rather than take a chance with the little ones.
The cancelled hike we have now tried to schedule for Wednesday (tomorrow) so we will keep our fingers crossed it is a great day.
This week-end we started renovating our kitchen. We can’t afford to replace the kitchen so we are giving it a fresh coat of paint, replacing the countertops, sink, faucet and hardware. We went to Ikea on Friday to price out butcher block counters and tried to pick them up but realized when we got there they would not fit in my vehicle so left Ikea and went and took a look at some sinks and taps and picked up the paint for the cupboards on the island. I painted 3 coats on the cabinets just to be on the safe side. We went with Behr Pencil Point for the island. (I will post pictures of the finished kitchen once complete).
Since the weather was great on Sunday we went out to hike at Enniskillen Conservation area. We hadn’t been there before so it was a new adventure. It was also our daughters first time in the backpack carrier, since I normally carry her in a soft carrier for hiking. She loved the backpack since she could see so much more. I could feel her kicking and bouncing the whole way! The trails were nice and easy and there were some great picnic areas throughout the trails with washrooms. I think we will be returning here throughout the spring and summer months with picnics. What activities do you like to do with your little one? Any hiking trails you enjoy? I would love to hear from you.
