Thursday, September 29, 2011

Excitement

I took this video in our daily wait in the drive Tim Horten's drive thru.  I'm hoping their enthusiam for school stays around forever.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Books galore!

My kids are as big of book lovers as I am.  Last night was the first time we have received a book order from school.  Loving this phase of all these `firsts`.  The first week of school we placed a book order for the boys and they came in last night.  They came running off the bus jumping up and down telling me about all the new books in their bags.  So we enjoyed many new books last night and have some new ones to last us the next couple of nights!  The little things

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Friends

"Life is nothing without friendship." Marcus Tullius Cicero
We all make friends throughout out live that seem to leave listening footprints in our hearts. We first met the McEnaney’s when we were both expecting our sets of twin boys.  That’s right....we both have set’s of twin boys who were born three months apart.  Tara and I spent many hours and days of the infant stage looking after all 4 boys while enjoying a glass of coffee and even better.....a friend to talk about the baby twin stage with.  All four of our boys were literally each other’s first friends.  During this year's summer vacation we had the pleasure of being welcomed into their house for a visit.  It was absolutely fantastic.  The boys (who had not seen each other since Europe) played together wonderfully and literally laughed like crazy.  They played trains, dinosaurs, cars and just about every other boy game they could think up.  Their twins taught our boys how to catch crabs.  It was the first time that our boys have actually had a sleep over sharing a room with other kids and it worked out fantastic.  It’s  crazy to see how similar these four boys really are.  Of course Jason and I enjoyed the laughs and chats with Tara and Jon after the boys had gone to bed.  We had an absolutely gorgeous beach day filled with laughs, giggles, catching fish(well trying to anyways....the closest we got was when the fish were nibbling on our toes), sandcastles and just plain fun.  My favourite memory of the visit was the boys reading together.  They were all cuddled up taking turns “reading” books to each other. 

Since the boys were little we always took the “couch” picture as we called it.  We would always squish them all together and take a picture of all four.  During the infant stage we had to prop the ones who couldn’t sit yet against the ones who could......then we had to make sure that no one tried to squirm off the couch on us....then there was the stage when they kept walking away......but this one was easy peasie.....



 




Thanks guys for having us.....we will truly miss you ....until we see each other again!

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Packing

Some friends have been asking me how we organize things when we go on vacation.  Jason and I are actually rediculously fast packers.  Probably withing half hour we can have our entire family packed and ready for just about any vacation.  Our secret.....lists and organization.  As the twins get older the amount of actual stuff we need to bring has actually significantly decreased.  We don't need booster seats, bottles, play pens etc.  I always keep an up to date list of things we don't want to forget when we are going on vacation ie. sunscreen, special blankies, pea pods, bag of toys, floaters for swimming etc.  Then it's just a matter of quickly gathering everything on the list.  Another thing that takes longer when packing but makes the entire vacation soooo easy is my zip lock bags.  Every bag consists of a complete outfit for each of the boys ie each bag contains two shirts, two pairs of shorts, two pairs of socks and two pairs of undies (same in winter just winter clothes instead).  This has been a lifesaver for us.  When we get to a hotel that we won't be staying at for a long time we just grab the right amount of ziplocks out of the truck instead of the entire suitcase.  Jason love's only carrying one backpack into the hotels for all four of us instead of 4 suitcases :)  Another great feature is that during the vacation you still know that the rest of the outfits will still match and there is no thought every morning about what to wear.  Everything is ziplocked and easily accessible.  Do you have any packing tips?

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

School Boys

The boys have officially completed two days of full time school and so far everything has gone without a hitch.  They boarded the bus the first day without even looking back!  Jason and I drove to meet them at the school to show them how to go from the bus to their class.  They were excited to see us but once they had their coats on their very own hooks and their inside school shoes on they were quick to give us some hugs and kisses and run off to join their classmates! 




 The only tears that day were from mommy!  I can’t believe they are school kids already!  Where did the babies go?

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

A lot of first's this evening!

Well, it’s our official first school season.  The bus will be pulling up tomorrow morning and the twins will be on it!  Tonight is our first time to pack school lunches,


to pack the school bags for school, to get school shoes ready,

to say “hurry up and go to sleep you have school in the morning”. 

Tomorrow they just don't board the bus, they embark on a whole new set of adventures!

Monday, September 12, 2011

Tiny tidbit of cuteness

 Mathew tends to talk A LOT.  He often rambles and sometimes I must admit that I do not totally listen to what he has to say....so every once in awhile he starts to get all stressed and shouts when there is something really important that we didn’t hear him talking about that he needed us to hear.  We were heading out from an amazing dinner at margaritaville towards our truck.  Jason and I were talking to each other and then Mattie was getting really upset.  I stopped and asked him to clam down and tell me again....in his sad three year old voice “Mommy there is a big truck in that spot”
Me:  “That’s ok he needs to park”
Mattie: “But that’s nanna’s spot and now she won’t have a place to park”
Me: realizing what the heck he was talking about, nana is my grandmother (who is in a wheelchair) and he is pointing at the handicapped spot.  My answer to Mathew “Oh Mathew that’s okay, perhaps that person needs the spot too and anyways I don’t think Nana will need to park in Panama City Beach since she lives 31 hours away in North Bay”
Mattie: "Oh but I will find Nana a spot if she get's here soon then, tell her not to worry"
Me: "Thanks Mattie ??!??"

Friday, September 9, 2011

I couldn't believe my eyes!

I admit that this next post is going to sound very geeky....but well I guess I’m a geek!! The boys and I were out shopping one day during our vacation when we came across Border’s book store.  To my Canadian friends it’s the same thing as chapters.  Hmm should I go in for a book?  We strolled closer and I spotted their going out of business sign.  Oh well I guess there will only be the books that have been picked over left but.....to my great pleasure NO.....the entire store was still stocked and there were tonnes of books in all the sections....travel books...parenting books...children’s books....best sellers.....ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!  I was in heaven.  They were all 40-70% off and I left with a huge huge bag of books!  Jason the boys and I all got some and I am as happy as can be that I have a stock (that I am sure I will still occasionally add to) of my next reads sitting on my bedside table!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Next stop, Louisville!

Next stop, Louisville.  Odd tidbit of information before I start into our adventure there.....they pronounce it Lewa-vul.  Here we toured the baseball bat factory. 


This was a quick stop for us but turned out to be great.  We toured the factory and our guide was soo funny and kept all of us interested.  We learned the history of the baseball bats and how they were named after a baseball player who’s nick name was the Louisville Slugger. 









You get to try out the different bats and learn about all the Major league baseball regulations for size, colour etc.  I was shocked at how much fun the tour was. 







The boys got custom baseball bats with their names on them so they were over the moon.  I was happy to get to try out their pink breast cancer bat.  The pro’s are given two pink baseball bats once a year on mother’s day in order to support breast cancer.  They use the bats during the game and they are to donate one bat that will be auctioned off (proceeds going to the breast cancer foundation) and the other they are to give to their mom (awe J ).


Yes the bat outside is that big....with Jason and the boys in front of it you can use their size for comparison.  Crazy!

One more adventure.....a lot of un-anticipated fun!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Boys and cars

You just can’t go to Indianapolis with two three years old boys without making a trip out to the Indianapolis speedway.  It’s not possible to think about auto racing without thinking about the Indy 500.  The boys have watched it on tv with Jason and my dad and they were crazy excited to see a real raceway in person.



Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Man Vs. Food

I must admit that many evenings after Jason and I put the boys to bed you can find us cuddled on the couch watching ....Man vs. food.  For anyone who has not seen it yet it’s about this guy who travels throughout the US and competes in crazy challenges that involve eating way too much food or things that are crazy hot.  He also makes recommendations about restaurants who have what he considers the best food in different cities.  So in Indianapolis we packed up our little fam and  headed out to Edward’s drive in. 

 You  can actually drive up and have the waitresses serve you in your car or go into the diner that is decorated like an old time diner including music from the jukebox. 








The kid’s fries came in a box shaped as a car. 

I think they enjoyed playing with the car as much as they liked the meal. 
We ordered the porkloin sandwiches because that is what this restaurant is known for.  It was quite tasty but the shear size of the sandwiches was enough to make us laugh until we almost cried.  They make their own root beer and I will say the sandwich was good ....but the root beer....I have never had anything quite that good to drink!

Monday, September 5, 2011

Indianapolis


We decided to detour by Indianapolis because first off neither Jason nor I had been there and secondly because doing some research about top attractions to take kids to in the US it has the world’s largest children’s museum.  Jason and I enjoyed it as much as the kids but wow is all I can say.

  It is a four story building jam packed with millions of kid oriented learning centres.  The boys were in heaven. 


There was a planetarium were we sat back and watched Big Bird and Elmo talk to us about all the stars, the moon and the sun.  There were numerous shows throughout the day geared to different age groups and this one was fantastic for our family.  The boys still talk about the North Star and the big dipper (thank you big bird J ). 






Dinosaurs, dinosaur’s dinosaur's.  For anyone who has read past posts on my blog you know that my boys have a fascination with dinosaurs. 
We saw dinosaur bones,
 pretended to be palaeontologists,




















felt dinosaur bones, read about dinosaurs....























did everything I think you can possibly do with the topic of dinosaurs.  

I will say we didn’t get to spend nearly as long as we could have in each exhibit because of the sheer size of the building.  I wish we had something like this closer because we could have gone every single weekend and did something completely different!
Mathew putting his can goods on the scale at a market in the museum!
Riding a sphinx of course!

Zachary measuring the ingredients to make some egyptian tea!
We read in our trusty book that Indianapolis prides itself on being the most walk able city in the US.  Let’s just say it doesn’t disappoint we spent the evening walking the downtown area and taking pictures and enjoying all the statues and picturesque sites. 


Thursday, September 1, 2011

The adventure just got started!


Well we got to hang out with my sister and her husband Dan for the morning/start of the afternoon.  The idea was to enjoy some sights around Kitchener and tire the boys out before we set out in the car for a few hours.  We started the morning out with a quick trip to the park and then loaded up the truck to go to St Jacobs. 



Saturday is one of the days that the local Mennonite farmers bring their goods to the market to sell. 









We picked up a few little snacks for the road and the boys helped Shannon and Dan pick their fresh produce for the week. 







They even had samples there!  I have never tasted watermelon and cantaloupe quite this sweet and fresh tasting.  Hmm....my mouth is watering just thinking about it. 










One vendor had honey for sale.  He even had a display with real bees and took the time to explain to us all the different stages of honey progress that you could observe. 


















The boys were over the moon when they got to ride the ponies.  The worker’s were so cheerful and made a game out of the ride for all the kids with songs and jokes. 

Zachary got to ride Shadow and Mathew’s pony’s name was dynamite. 

I will say....I did get a little dizzy walking around in that little circle......and I will say there was no gym work out required that day because those ponies sure do walk fast! 

We headed across the street to do a little Lego shopping and building.  This entire Thomas is built from Lego’s.  Crazy! 

For lunch we decided to grab a quick bite to eat at the Lion’s Lagoon splash park.  The boys were a little apprehensive at first so Dan was trying to coax them in. 
They got the hang of it and loosened up to the idea.  Their favourite game was chasing after the water as it came out of the different holes in the ground. 

  On the way back to the car we stopped to see all the animals they have at the park.  Lamas, horses, ponies, roosters, bunnies etc.  A weird tidbit of info....apparently Mathew speaks fluent pig and can get all the pigs in the cage to follow him wherever he goes J 

Then we loaded up the car and set off for the border!