Hike to Champlain Lookout

On Sunday we drove up to Gatineau park in the Gatineau Hills to go for a hike up to the top of one of the highest hills, to the Champlain Lookout. It took us about an hour to hike up and almost that to hike back down . . . of course we had a lot of little ones slowing us down. Paul and I went with the boys and my friend Katrien and her whole family. Here is Katrien walking with her new baby Lauren! They live in Toronto so we don't get to see them that often anymore. We used to play touch football together in our younger days . . .
And here is Paul at a moment he actually carried BOTH boys. Pete did walk a lot of the way by himself and David was more than happy to make the trip via backpack!! He had a great view!

We stopped an indoor shack for a snack on the way . . . here are Pete and Katrien's son Nikolas eating. Their birthdays are only two days apart!! Rob, Katrien's husband, is in the red sweater.

Yay! We finally reached the top and here we are - look at that beautiful scenery behind us!!! Of course we couldn't possibly have had all four of us looking at the camera . . .
And Rob, Katrien, Nikolas, Jaime and Lauren resting at the Champlain Lookout . . .
David and I enjoying the warm sunshine . . .

And here is the view from the top, looking down the Ottawa valley:

Our trip on the Wakefield steam train

We wanted to something fun over Thanksgiving weekend. We were totally blessed with the most amazing long weekend weather - beautiful, warm and sunny and around 20 degrees every day! It was perfect. On Saturday we took a ride on an old fashioned steam train. It drove us up to Wakefield, Quebec, through the beautifully changing leaves throughout Gatineau and Chelsea, Quebec. Here are Paul, his mother and the boys just before we got on the train (it was pretty darn early in the morning):

Peter was completely and utterly impressed with the train and loved the scenery on the ride up there. There was live music and a face painter to occupy the children . . . Pete opted out of having his face done however!
Granny gets a snack ready for Pete and David . . . thankfully an organized mommy always has everything on hand!

Pete takes a peek at some trees up close . . .

David and I - after I finally got some coffee into me. Ran out of coffee filters and didn't get my cup of joe before we left. Luckily for me I sent Paul to the snack bar on the train to fetch me a cup! My mom knit this beautiful sweater for Peter and now it fits David!! Looked great on him . . . oh, those marks on his nose are from a little nose dive he took down a couple stairs.

"I can't believe they took me out in public scarred like this . . . "

The scenery was just breaktaking, we really hit the perfect day to see all the leaves changing colours. We forget what a beautiful region we live in until we take little trips out like this. The Gatineau Hills in Quebec are amazing.


Here is the steam locomotive as it was *manually* turned around on the turntable. Four people pushed that thing all the way around so it could turn around and take the passengers back to Ottawa!!! Amazing to see . . .

Peter and his granny look out over the water in Wakefield. The train stopped for 90 minutes so everyone could get out and walk around the little village. It was just amazing. Or as Peter said, "it was really just awesome, mommy". We stopped into their world-famous bakery and tasted just about the best ever ham and cheese croissant I have ever eaten. And an apple danish. Yum.
It was a long day - 90 minutes to get there, 90 minutes to walk around the village, 90 minutes home, whew, we were all pooped!!! Peter didn't last ten minutes in the van . . .

Blog changes

I hope you will all be patient with me as I learn how to re-construct my blog with my own template. I'm trying to create something Halloween-ish, but not hideous. I thought these cute little witches were sort of subtle. Hopefully I will get better at this over time and will one day soon have something *spectacular* to show you!!!

CIBC Run for the Cure!

This morning I ran the five kilometre run for the CIBC Run for the Cure in support of breast cancer. I was so proud of myself - I raised almost $1200!!! I want to share my thanks to all those who were so generous to donate towards the run.

Although five km isn't very long, I still trained to make sure I would do well on the run. My goal was to finish in less than 30 minutes (I did!!!). The downside was it was very cold and rainy this morning - it was hard to get out of bed and get myself down to Parliament Hill. Paul took a picture of me before the run . . . you can see I'm not looking too impressed!

And here I am on my way out the front door - yes, that's pouring rain!!!! I dedicated my run to Marilyn Large, a close family friend I knew all my life. She passed away in July and b/c I live far away from home now, I was at a loss as to what I could do to *help*. Running is something I can do so I decided I would run in the race and raise as much money as I could. I thought of her the whole time I ran this morning. I was impressed and proud of myself - I stayed near the front of the pack and finished with most of the early finishers. Even in the cold and wet the scenery was breathtaking - we ran along Parliament Hill, across the bridge to Quebec, around the musuem of Civilization, back across the other bridge and then past the Art Gallery to the finish line. It was extremely moving - thousands of people running, everyone with a different name on their shirt representing who they were running for.

When I got home I was greeted by the boys and got lots of hugs! Here I am post-race with a cool breast cancer fleece jacket I got. Oh, and that cute little guy is my frequent running partner ;-)! Paul was planning to run with me with the boys in the jogging stroller, but we scrapped that idea with the bad weather.

Here's my post-run *glow* . . . or sweat?

Max and Ruby!

We all went to Carlingwood Mall yesterday morning to get Peter's haircut. The haircut wasn't so bad, he doesn't *love* it but he did sit still more this time than normal. We were thrilled to hear that that same morning Peter's favourite TV characters, Max and Ruby, would be visiting the same mall!!! What luck!!!

I braved the long line up for almost half an hour, figuring once we got to the big stuffed bunnies Peter would either a) cry and be shy, or, b) run away. I was shocked - he did neither. He took a running leap and gave them both a giant hug! He was so excited and bouncing everywhere Paul didn't even get a picture of his face! Here is he is getting a hug from Max . . .

. . . and trying to break loose from Max so he could make his way over to Ruby!

. . . and finally gets to spend a few minutes with Ruby :-)

Pete climbing the mall furniture while we waited in line . . .

And beaming after it was all over. We had told him for a couple days that we were going to see Max and Ruby . . . so after we left the mall yesterday he said it was great to see Max and Ruby but wondered why we never saw the movie????? ;-)

A baby visit and some new shoes

It rained today and was really yucky outside. The boys and I headed out this morning to pick up some stamping supplies I ordered and then we headed across the river to la belle province to visit my friend from teaching, Tiiu, who just had a gorgeous little baby, Hayden. The boys were superbly behaved, although they left their *mark* on her house, of course. I even held the baby and neither Peter nor David seemed too upset or jealous by that.

Here is baby Hayden - he only weighs six pounds!! What a cutie . . . with significantly more hair than David too!

Peter munches on a snack and is enthralled by something Tiiu is saying . . .

Here they are visiting with Tiiu and Hayden:

And Tiiu wanted to do a silly pose:

I bundled the boys up for a cool fall walk the other morning - David looked so cute I couldn't resist *another* picture - loyal to his fans, as always ;-).

And our big walker got his first pair of shoes this week - pretty darn cute. He still wears his THREE pair of Robeez in the house but now that it's cooler outside it's nicer for him to walk around in the little baby boots. Who are the geniuses creating these ADORABLE kids shoes? Someone's makin' lotso money too - these fine puppies set me back $60. EGADS!

Rainy Wednesday . . .

So the boys are napping - yes BOTH at the same time - and it's raining and there are a million productive things I could be doing: cleaning, paying bills, creating more bills, completing my Masters degree, watching said children sleep . . . but here I am again providing useless information for the masses :-).

We all took a family trip to Home Depot last night and bought an area rug for our living room. We've been looking for one for three years and haven't been able to find something we both like and agree on. Well, we love this one and we bought it right away, for a great price I might add!! It was timely b/c we are having the whole main floor painted in October and we need to get moving on choosing paint colours. This new rug will help us for sure!!!

Here's our new baby:


I was lucky enough to have some time to myself this morning to get my hair cut. I've been growing it for months and it's getting much longer! My MIL Brigid took care of the boys for a couple hours so I could sit and enjoy my coffee while being primped :-) I have some caramel highlights leftover from the summer so my hair is a nice, fun shade for fall. Very different for me but I like it a lot!!

David starting to walk!

Carrots . . . and cute!

With all the teething and sore mouths I gave the boys a couple carrots to rub on their gums . . . they loved them but they both look a little *drunk* so maybe there is something in carrots I am not aware of ;-)?

And this one of David at playgroup was just so cute I couldn't resist . . .

Our week of rain . . .

Well, for the life of me I can't figure out how to post a video clip here, and I know it can be done b/c I've seen it on other blogs. Anyway, I took a few shots of our new little walker. He can walk right across the room now! Excuse the pacifier in all the pictures, he's NEVER touched one and grabbed one this morning off the floor and stuck it in his mouth for a few seconds.

We had another LONG week of rain and teething and the boys ended up having colds - nothing major but made for a few nights of not much sleep. They are getting better now. David is standing and walking all the time, it's so funny that one day he was just crawling and now he's just walking! Crazy how time flies. With fall approaching we are back to a more regular schedule now, heading out to playgroups and other activities to keep our mornings busy. Peter starts Duffer Doo (a preschool program one morning a week) in a week and a half and I pray it goes well. He's still having separation anxiety and is not keen to be dropped off at a place where mommy will be leaving him. I'm hoping after some initial crying that he will end up liking it. The good news is that there are some friends there he will recognize.

Mommy is doing particularly well after having TWO nights out this week. Yes, WITHOUT boys in tow! Tuesday night I went to a stamping workshop which was really fun and I was able to learn a couple really cool techniques. And last night I met my friend Karen for coffee and the biggest piece of carrot cake I've ever seen. We had fun catching up and enjoying our treats. She braved the real coffee and I stuck with decaf . . . I have enough things waking me up at night as it is.

They're (meaning, they who work for the City of Ottawa) ripping up our street to replace all the watermains and put in a whole new water system. Fun and entertaining for Peter with all the tractors, backhoes, and other big "diggers" around, but less fun for mommy when she wants her kids to nap in the afternoon. And let me tell you, these guys must be dedicated b/c they start right at 7:00 a.m. Today they broke the pavement in front of our house and dug a hole several metres deep. It was insane - the house shook a little bit. They informed us they will turn our water off for a bit "next week", which I felt was a little vague. Hopefully it won't be mid-shower . .

The boys are off to Liam's fourth birthday party tomorrow. Peter is so excited, he can't stop talking about it! It's a Buzz Lightyear party so it should be fun for everyone. Did someone say CAKE???? Mmmmmmmmmmm!

Here David checks out "Muck", Pete's Bob the Builder tractor.

And says "enough of that, I'll walk across the room me thinks" . . .

And some more walking . . .

. . . and even more walking!!!!
Pete and I took in some painting during the rainy weather . . .

He made several works of art. And for those of you who think Pete doesn't remember you, he clearly made four paintings and said "this one is for Aunty Mary, this one is for Cathy, this one is for Grandad and this one is for Nana". "Can you please mail them for me mommy?"

I kid you not.


Hey, I don't think I'm supposed to be climbing the stairs!!!

But I will anyway b/c I'm so cute I can get away with it!

Yep, this is me looking cute!!!!

We have a walker on our hands . . .

Well, we figured it would be soon, and David took three steps on Sunday night!! Then yesterday morning he took three more for us at home. Sunday we went over to Granny's house for some yummy Indian food. It had rained all day so we were stuck inside. Little David took some steps on Granny's nice soft carpet. Not really walking I'd say, but definitely in the right direction. Then yesterday we were playing in the living room and he took some steps on our hardwood floor. He's very steady and standing a lot on his own in the middle of the room. I think he just needs a bit more confidence and he'll be on his way!!

On the less exciting side, both of the boys appear to be teething again. Peter is not eating at all and is pretty unhappy and cranky. He's not sleeping well, a sure sign that something is up b/c he is normally a great sleeper. David seems to be getting at least two new ones at the same time, if not more. We had a kind of stressful weekend trying to keep the two of them fairly happy and free of pain. We're praying these teeth come in soon so we have our little angels back!