The Big Apple

This moment of escape and parental solace brought to you by the bravery, love, and support of Grandma and Grandpa Mel. They held down the new home and the two kiddos while Mommy and Daddy took on Manhattan. Sure, it was for less than 48 hours but it felt like freedom - we went without snacks or a diaper bag! It was just us, no set plans, and every intention to sleep in! It was bliss. Thank you for making our first time away together in over 4 years happen, Mom and Dad. Look how relaxed we look... maybe we should make this an annual (or monthly) thing? ha.

Lunching with lemondae

Being a part of it - Time Square

When we returned, it was to a home full of four happy faces accompanied by stellar reports for how they made out in our absence. From the accounts of how smoothly it went, I'm hearing that we should go for longer next time! 

Grandma's happy face is missing from this photo, unfortunately...

Light Work

It's true, many hands make light work. Thank you to our parents and their hands for assembling, moving, cleaning, repairing, sanding, laundering, grandparenting, and being all around great helpers. Your combined efforts made quick work of the settling in process. Yippee!

MOMENT: All Hands On Deck

Turns out, I like things set up the way I like, and I like it that way now. I'm demanding, but the place looks great so I guess my mission was accomplished! Grandpa Mel even put his shadow to work and played with him and, and, and, and ... Thanks again everyone!

Sanding the kitchen table with Grandpa Mel

Avoid-cation

It's true. The kids and I dodged the heavy lifting required of a move. Well, there were movers for the actual lifting, but you know what I mean. We picked the perfect place to go too. The company was grand(parents), the scenery was wild(life), and memories were made (and captured).

MOMENT: Movie Montage

Kids and grandkids arrive at Grandma and Grandpa's. 

Co-captains of the boat

Frog finder

Taking in the sites - I

Taking in the sites - II

Tavish and the turtle

Playtime with Grandpa

Bathing Beauty...

...with an audience

Taking care of some paperwork

Mommy and Tavish

Waiting for the fish to bite...

...hoping Grandpa has better luck

Mommy and Keva

Grandma with her grands

Happily hangin' with Harper

Cousins cycle

Grocery getters

The trip was just too good to summarize in a short little video, so I had to make a longer one and include the above photos. So, take a seat, put your feet up, and enjoy the montage of moments that great memories are made of...



Meanwhile, back in southern Ontario...

MOMENT: Moving Mayhem

Tom was a trooper. He supervised the rest of the pack up after returning from dropping us at the airport, cleaned up the "old" house after our belongings were loaded into the truck, went to work for a few days, then met our stuff at the "new" house and began working to get it set up for our arrival. Phew! Moving is a nightmare, but letting you avoid the initial part makes Tom even dreamier... :)

One Year Old

Enjoy the last of the monthly mug shots of Miss Keva. It's unanimous (I only asked me), she gets two photos in honour of her first year. So, here is her face at twelve months of age at breakfast and then at dinner ... there was a long (and loud) drive from Winnipeg to Fort Frances in between. She was still all smiles though, so it was obviously still a good birthday.

MOMENT: Twelve to One

Breakfast and her water bottle

Smiles over supper

Our one year old is engaging more and more all the time by imitating and initiating interactions. She's closer to using a more identifiable wave, she 'talks' back, blows raspberries, and is a real smiler! Looking forward to many more years in the company of this lovely child. Happy first birthday, Keva!



FLASHBACK: Tavish Turns Onederful

Smiles over syrup

Tavish's first birthday fell on a Wednesday. We kicked off the festivities by hosting the family for lunch the Sunday before. That was Tavish's first taste of cake ... sure, it was the healthiest cake I've ever had and there was no icing (what? he was the first child... I was more particular then!), but he really enjoyed it regardless. His actual birthday was spent at a maple syrup farm with our friends, Andrea and Darius, where we explored and they tasted syrup for the first time. Also a hit. His birthday party was planned for Saturday, but we cancelled it because Tavish was pretty sick. It was a bummer, but his first year was certainly celebrated but it would appear that I wasn't as big on taking videos then, so enjoy the photo based video tribute to Tavish turning one!

Up and Away

Mommy and the kids made a side trip en route from Ottawa to Toronto. Okay, fine... we skipped out on the bulk of the move and left Daddy to supervise movers and start the settling process. Visions of being home with two little ones surrounded by boxes and having no idea where the cutlery was, all while Tom was working just spooked us both. This was for the best. So, we booked our flight from Ottawa to Winnipeg, then from Thunder Bay to Toronto. Everyone was truly on the move....

MOMENT: Fleeing the Scene

The three of us traveled well together ... well, the flight was no problem. The big ol' drive 'home' to the Fort left a numbness in Mommy's left ear though. Turns out, Keva had some separation anxiety which I now understand after some research, is common for the age, and can be perpetuated by absence of a parent or changes in surrounding ... oh ... add the arrival of some more molars and things were only peachy when Keva kept direct company with Mommy for the first few days we were there. Yeah, that was fun. Hard to believe such a sweet face could be so sad when Mommy was out of sight!

Sweet face, ready to board

Boosting up with juice for the flight

Traveling trio

Taking in some scenery and giving out some silence (ah)

Moving On

Just one month shy of 4 years since we moved into this place, we're leaving and with one more family member than we came in with. Goodbye Ottawa and Holland Avenue, you've been a wonderful host. Thanks for the many wonderful memories, there is no doubt that you will be missed...

A ONEderful Party

Happy First Birthday, Keva!

Our baby is wrapping up her first year living almost the entire year in Ottawa. We technically moved away the day before Keva's birthday, but decided to have her party among her friends and lump it into a departure party as well. Two big reasons for one fun party...

All decked out in festive attire

Pooped at the party, thanks for the lift, Daddy!

MOMENT: "Ain't Nothin' So Good as a Cake and Eatin' It"

Cake face!

Good friends gathered in one of our favourite neighbourhood parks to bid us farewell and to celebrate Keva's first birthday. The birthday girl was decked out in her new bonnet and Mommy-made tutu for the festivities. There was all of the birthday perks, a song, a candle and, of course, the inaugural taste of cake - sure, it was healthy-ish cake (Mommy made), but I think she liked to have her cake and eat it too... Happy birthday to Keva! Bon Voyage to us!