Vaude is a European company that produces environmentally friendly products and are the first outdoor company to receive EMAS certification.
We have the Farfalla Comfort baby carrier by Vaude. This is their top end carrier. We originally chose this one based on cost and the sales persons recommendation. We purchased it when our daughter was 6 weeks old so we were not able to try her out in it at the time of purchase.
Paige loves being in this pack and will sing and bounce as we hike along.
Pros: – Easily adjustable and many areas of adjustment are available on this carrier to get the best fit. We love the ease of adjusting so that if my husband and I trade off the pack during a hike Paige doesn’t really have to wait long before we are on the move again. – It can fit many heights of both the little one and the adult carrying them – Large pack for storing all of those items you may want to take with you on a hike. – 2 good sized outer pockets on either side of the carrier that will take a larger water bottle. – Front pillow for our little one to be able to rest her head on to go to sleep. – Rear head support for our little one if she chooses to sleep upright rather than leaning forward. – Footrests for once Paige is a little taller to help prevent her feet from falling asleep – Comfortable fit and weight distribution for long hikes – Change pad is included in the pack
Cons: (Many of these are not really cons, but rather observations, since there are pros to some of these notes as well) – The sun canopy could be extended a little further to shade the face a little more when out hiking on sunny days. This may be better once Paige is taller and closer to the top of the canopy. Not a huge issue since she usually has a bucket hat, sunglasses and some sunblock on. – Waist belt pocket is only large enough to hold 1 key, would be nice if it were a little bigger to hold a small camera (many carriers have the slightly larger pouch on the waist). – No rear view mirror (did not know that carriers even had these until we were out hiking yesterday and a couple moms had these) which would be handy to check on your little one if they are fussing. – The carrier supports around the little one are padded and very supportive which I love for Paige’s comfort, however in the summer this may become rather warm. Some carrier have made some of these mesh instead, although you do lose some of the support.
Overall, we love this carrier, it is comfortable to use and I am able to hike for long distances with Paige on my back. I have done a number of faster paced 10-10+km hikes with her on my back without any issues. I think this is a great pack that will last us many years since it will grow with Paige. It still looks like new and this pack gets tons of use (minimum 3-4 times per week).
Return portion of a 10+km hike on the Seaton trail
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?
Paige is definitely keeping me busy this week. Saturday was the Great Cloth Diaper Change and we attended the event in Toronto at the Green Parent Show. To be honest I was a little disappointed in the turnout at the event since Toronto is such a large city and this was also feeding from the surrounding communities. There were 42 qualifying babies at the event. Paige had so much fun up on the stage while we were waiting for the countdown. She was having a great time scooting around and visiting with the other babies. I picked up a couple fun toys and some chalk for Paige at the show. Spoke to some great mom’s as well as the editor and publisher of Eco Parent. They were great to speak to and gave me some good information. I am really looking forward to reading the debut issue which I picked up at the show since there are a number of outdoor articles.
Can you spot Paige at the back?
Over the week-end we did some work in the yard and planted white Trilliums on either side of the stairs we built last year going down our ravine. Last year Tessa mowed down on all but one of the few trilliums we planted, so this year we are keeping a close eye on her in hopes that she doesn’t get any of them!
We also picked out our kitchen tap and picked up our sink this week-end. We can’t wait to see our kitchen when we get it all finished. It is just a matter of waiting right now for the weather to improve so we can get on with painting. We chose to go with an oiled bronze finish for the tap so now we have selected the faucet we can decide on hardware.
With Monday being a rainy day, I decided to let Paige do some more finger painting. This time I put some paint in little containers that she could dip her hand into. She loved it.
We were back to swimming this week and Paige was having a great time. &We used the mats this week to try and teach the little ones flutter kick. Paige wasn’t so into having to do the flutter kick but loved being able to move herself and the mat down the pool. We also worked on showing them how to get out of the pool by going through the movements with them. Paige quite enjoyed jumping off the edge of the deck afterwards.
The weather has been very odd here this week – one day snow and hail and then yesterday was quite nice. We started our morning at the dentist where Paige was chatting up a storm and couldn’t resist showing off her amber necklace every time someone new came into the room. Since the weather was nice we decided to take advantage of it and spent the better part of the afternoon on the back deck and playing in the swing. Paige loves to scoot everywhere on her bum these days so I let her sit on the deck where she could check things out.
It is another grey and rainy day here today. Thank goodness for all of this rain since we definitely needed it. Paige and I are off to check out a new music & movement program this afternoon. It sounds like it could be a great deal of fun and the little ones get a musical instrument at the class to take home as well.
Tomorrow we have our weekly stroller walk, this time we are walking in a different spot so it will be nice to see somewhere new. Afterwards Paige and I need to head to Port Hope to pick up our tree order (25 cedars & 25 serviceberry) to plant in the yard. These were ordered through Ganaraska Conservation Areasince they were selling them as a fundraiser. I think Saturday will be pretty busy planting all of these trees.
Really looking forward to Sunday when we are hosting a “Learn to Grow Your Own Vegetables” seminar at our place being put on by The Backyard Urban Farm Co.There are 5 of us attending, so looking forward to learning some new skills which will hopefully make it easier this year and maybe more plentiful? Hopefully we have some decent weather for this since it will be all outside.
On another note, I have a guest post up about hiking with your little one. You can check it out at
Did any of you attend the Great Cloth Diaper change? If so where did you attend? What did you do to celebrate Earth Day? Do you grow your own vegetables in your yard? I would love to hear from all of you.
It has been one of those weeks. You know the weeks where you are kind of lazy, don’t really accomplish anything, but wonder where the time went.
Last Friday we were supposed to head out for a walk with our usual Friday group, but Paige had other ideas. Her two bottom teeth decided to make an appearance that morning and so once they were through I had my hands full with a real little fuss bucket. I am sure the cold was not helping matters. So Paige and I spent the day snuggling on the couch while I sang the same song (Rose Rose – a campfire song I learned in Brownies) over and over for hours and rocked her. It was about 1:00 am before she settled down enough to sleep.
The week-end was spent waiting for the rain to arrive that they kept calling for and we need, but alas it never came. So we headed out for a shorter hike at Heber Down Conservation Area where Paige decided she needed to be in the carrier rather than the stroller which was fine with me. She had a nice nap while we walked around and Tessa (our Golden Retriever) had a chance to play in the pond with some kids.
The earlier part of the week was quiet with daily stroller walks up the road and still no signs of rain. We really need to get some rain since things are already so dry. I am concerned what this means for the summer and our well.
Yesterday was a big day for Paige. She woke up with a new skill (clapping her hands together) and couldn’t wait to show me. Then at lunch she got to use a fork to eat her frozen mango with and she was quite proud of herself with that.
Since Paige and I were starting to feel somewhat better we headed off to the zoo for the afternoon to watch the animals. Paige was really enjoying her time at the zoo and interacting with some of the animals. She loved the Great Barrier Reef pavilion and watching all of the fish (I am sure we could have spent an hour there). She also had fun watching the turtles and the gorillas.
Watching the animals
After the zoo it was a quick stop into the office to talk to somebody quickly which ended up being a longer visit since everyone wanted to have a quick chat and snuggle with Paige. Paige was quite happy to be the centre of attention.
Today we had a great day outside. We walked to the end of the road and back checking out some of the plants that are coming up and a visit with some of the neighbours, a nap out in the yard and then lunch on the porch before a bit of play time in the swing before heading in for an afternoon nap.
Once Paige was up from her afternoon nap she was raring to go and scooting on her bum all over the place. The stairs from our dining room to our family room caught her eye and she was over there in a flash, but not for the reasons you might think. She wanted to get over to them to bang on them and feel the hardwood with her toes. Paige also discovered that they make a great seat.
Well if we don’t get the rain they are calling for tomorrow we will most likely head out for a hike on one of the local trails since the stroller group is not walking tomorrow. Hoping the rain arrives tomorrow, but it would be nice if it held out until after we got a hike in.
It is a quiet week-end around here for Easter. We are celebrating with just the 3 of us since the rest of the family is either celebrating with the other side or are away. We are enjoying the family time together.
Friday we continued our visit with my brother Fraser, how wife Meghan and their son Callum. Paige and Callum seemed to be having a great time rolling around on the carpet and playing together.
After the little ones had some play time and were fed we headed out for a hike. We decided we would check out a new trail. Our first choice for new trails to try was so busy that cars were parked quite a ways down the street, so we decided to skip that one and headed further up the road to a different trail. The trail we chose – North Walker Woods , didn’t have much to look at and was fairly flat. It was great for chatting and catching up on, but if you are looking for scenic then this is not the one for you. The little ones enjoyed being out on the trails. Callum stayed awake the entire time, while Paige took the opportunity to nap.
After hiking we stopped at Hy Hope Farm to pick up some grass fed beef and pickles to make hamburgers for lunch. We frequent this farm since it is close by and the food is good. The best time to go is when the bread is being made and then pick up a fresh loaf that is still warm.
Yesterday was very productive around here. We picked up 1 yard of mulch and got the cedar hedge, front, south side and back gardens mulched. As well we aerated the lawn. Once we were down with our lawn we made our way down to one of the neighbours to help them aerate their lawn. We then headed to a third neighbours house to visit, and see their gardens and pond while they aerated their lawn.
We finished off the evening with local fish and chips and a snuggle with Paige on the couch.
Today we will clean up some more of the gardens and figure out how much more mulch we will need for the remaining gardens and possibly transplant a few plants if the rain holds off. The sun is shining right now, but they are calling for rain this afternoon.
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.
It was a little cool this week-end, but we made sure to get out and enjoy the fresh air each day.
Friday was our stroller walk at Colonel Danforth Park. The temperatures had definitely dropped by the time we arrived at the parking lot to meet the other moms, but we didn’t let that stop us. It’s always a great group of ladies to chat with. This week there were a few women asking me about cloth diapering-tips, tricks, brands I like, etc. We chatted about that most of the way down and on the way back there was some discussion about sign language (I took Paige to sign language classes when she was 3.5 months old) and feeding solids to our little ones. The discussion about cloth diapers got me thinking that maybe I should write some posts on the things I have learned since starting to cloth diaper and to review some of my favourite companies, so stay tuned for that.
Paige was a little fussy since she decided she wanted to be carried rather than sit in the stroller so here are a couple of the ladies helping me get her on my back. Paige had not slept so well the night before again. We have discovered the cause of it and it we don’t think it was teething as we originally suspected, but rather carrots. So I guess we will be avoiding carrots for a while and will try it again come the summer. tSaturday we headed to Raglan to Purple Woods conservation area for the Maple Syrup festival. There is a nice, short little trail down to the sugar shack where they were demonstrating how they heat the sap to make the syrup. Along the trail they had made teepees out of fir trees and were showing the traditional way of making maple syrup over the fire. We didn’t get out on the wagon ride since we were a little late for that. Paige was having a great time in the backup with all of the new things to see and people to watch.
Sunday was cool and rainy all day so we had planned to just hang out at home after doing groceries, but Paige would not nap at all, so at 3:00 we decided to gear up and head up to Uxbridge to hike the Countryside Preserve trail. This is a nice gentle trail that runs through forest, open meadows, and back into forest. We will definitely be returning here in the spring, since one of the signs said that the bluebird makes it home in the meadows. We think it may be a little too warm in the heat of the summer since a large part of the trail is out in the open. It was a nice hike and the rain was very soft so it was comfortable for us to be out. Paige dozed off about 20 minutes into the hike and stayed sleeping until we returned to the car. We were surprised to cross paths with a few people out enjoying the day.
Paige has a thing where she has decided she does not like to have her arms covered by the carrier cover, so we just have to keep tucking her hands in when it is cool since she will not wear mittens either. Any tips for keeping little ones hands warm when out on the cooler days?
Hope you all enjoyed your week-end. What did you get up to?
Paige and I are off to lead a hike today with a group of moms, it should be fun.
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.
