Parks, Beaches, and Zoos (oh my)

Lots of beaches and parks have been hit as we've been enjoying the awesomenes of summer. And one zoo... but parks beaches and zoo didn't sound as good as a title.

While Brandon was in Mexico, Logan and I had many park dates with Rachel. This picture is from the time we went to Springbank park and wading pool and ran into some cuties we know! Travelling from Stoney Creek, we definitely didn't expect to see them there... such a great surprise. And Rachel loved having playmates!

Logan and Rachel love wading pools so much, it's kind of the thing we do now when Rachel comes!

My little sister isn't so little anymore! She celebrates her 18th birthday this month (that's the same age I was when I met her!) so I wanted to do something special and mature for her birthday.. so (virgin) margaritas on the beach it was! Since Brooklyn was actually gone to camp over her birthday, we just celebrated a couple weeks early... at GT's on the beach in Port Stanley.

After supper and margaritas, we walked down the pier that is finally open. Port Stanley has had lots of upgrades in the last little while and it's really a nice beach! We rarely go there when we do a beach day (because you can't drink on the beach!) but it's so nice... especially to be able to walk the pier.

And on the way home, we hit the Shaws ice cream store (obviously). Still crazy busy at 8pm on a Wednesday. That's be the busiest place to work. We got our scoops with different flavours (because how do you eve choose just one?) then headed back to London town.

We made plans on a Saturday earlier this month to meet in Springbank for a family picnic! We met up with Aleksy's parents and Steph and Rachel. Richard set up the croquet game and taught Rachel to play. They took Logan along for the game!

We were excited to try out our new little charcoal bbq and I think this is what sparked Aleksys plan to have a picnic lunch (plus no clean up at home before and after!). We had some bbqed sausages, salads, fruit and applesauce cake then headed over to the park so Rachel could could go swimming and play! Logan was too exhausted and had an afternoon nap while she played.

Ad this past weekend we had Kincardine weekend #2! This time we spent more time on the beach... actually several hours while Aleksy and Zac went to launch and sail the sailboat over. In the 2 hours they were out, this guy slept just like this. I'm a bit jealous of his beach nap. And his shade (I didn't sunscreen where my shorts were and got a burn on my upper thighs... ouch!)

Aleksy took Monday the 25th off so we could go to the zoo! Rachel was going to be coming over that day so it worked out well that she could join in and have a fun day with us.

We went to Greenview Aviaries for the first time: the closest zoo for a good price: it cost us $38 for all of us for the day!

Driving long distances with Logan is so much easier when it's during nap time AND Rachel is in the car in case of a wake up.

My 3 zoo buddies. And a rooster. There were statues like this all over of the different animals at the zoo. And a dinosaur one.. I don't get the dinosaur one...

Rachel, me, monkey and monkey. And they had lots of different kinds of moneys. There's something about seeing monkeys that's a bit better than the other animals. Although there were pretty sweet animals at this zoo (which surprised me because it's not a huge zoo!).

Selfies with the animals!

This little goat was on the loose. He managed to escape his cage! I don't blame him! The kids love the animals (and the adults do too.. how cool is it to see a lion, zebra, bear etc??) but it's sad to see them held captive and some in small cages.

This lion was posing for us. So beautiful!

After checking out the first half of the zoo, having a picnic lunch, then the second half of the zoo, the goobster decided he had enough and zonked out like this while Rachel played on the awesome playground and in the splash pad. It was a hot humid day, so he did really well despite the temperature!

There was an awesome picnic area where we found a good sheltered spot for lunch... the playground is in the same area. We packed up some mason jar lunches (my newest obsession) the previous day so we were prepared that morning!

And the park was amazing! It was like the dairy dell that I used to go to as a kids where Billy Ts is now on Highbury. It had a zipline, a web of ropes to climb, poles to slide down and all the awesome equipment that we played on as kids that isn't around anymore (probably because it's not the safest!). Amazing! So good I had to play a bit too (I climbed the massive rope web).

And I even made it back home in time to make my 4:45 Monday gym class!

10 Months!

And we're at 10!

And at 10 months:

-Logan's been crawling like a maniac for almost a month!

-Logan prefers to feed himself, which means lots of chunks of food. Supper's are so much easier now that we can give him pieces of what we're having!

-And as you can see we have a standing man... he can stand unsupported for a long time! He balances himself. It's usually a 10-20 second thing but sometimes he'll surprise us and do more!

-His favourite foods at 6 months are no longer his favourite (avocado, banana, peas)... actually sometime he thinks they're disgusting now.

-the mama, dada babbles continue!

-He has been sleeping 10-11 hours through the night in his crib since 7 months! And has 2 naps: a morning and an afternoon usually between 1-2 hours in length.

-He loves to be outside and goes to the wading pool usually once a week!

-He loves his cousin Rachel and loves to watch everything she does!

2 til 1!

News!

June was an exciting month of life successes and new additions to the friend circle!

My amazing nephew Brandon graduated high school this year. This kid is going to do amazing things. He's both people and book smart and a hard worker too. So proud of this guy!

(when did Brandon get taller than me?)

 

And the third Osborne is here... and it's a girl! Just as I thought (and hoped! We were due for a baby girl in our group of friends... so many boys these days!). I got to meet the beautiful and healthy Raeleigh 2 days after she was born. She was born on June 28th. Our group of friends may be outnumbered by our offspring now! So exciting. Get togethers will never be calm and quiet again!

Canada Day and Boat Weekend!

On Canada Day, we hosted a bbq for our friends. It's not often in the year we get to pull our friends together for a get together, so we thought we'd take advantage of the holiday and spend some friend time. The sucky part was that so many people weren't able to make it... some were on holidays and some gave birth to a new baby so it was a smaller crowd than expected, but we had a great time anyways!

I made the dessert for the bbq a little on the patriotic side...

This little person was also looking patriotic on Canada day with his red and white and some mad love for Canada flags! Who needs toys anyways...

When I invited everyone, I suggested to wear red and white... these were the red and white wearing participants! Andrew and Chels and Warren didn't remember the red and white part... but one of the twins, Mason, happened to be in red so he made the picture! This is the exclusive picture.




We figured we should include everyone in a group picture so timed photo of everyone it is! These are our awesome Canada day celebrating friends! So fun... but so much too delicious food! I made pulled pork, potato salad & a veggie tray and Aleksy bbqed sausages and hotdogs (with guac and onions and mushrooms for toppers!) and my sister made an awesome cauliflower salad. We had leftover potato and cauliflower salad which we brought to the boat the next day too!

The next day, we left in the morning for the boat! Logan's first boat trip! As always, we planned the road trip around Logan's nap schedule so we left in the morning after packing up the car just before Logan's morning nap. He slept for an hour until about Guelph then I kept him occupied by feeding him for 45 minutes... yes that is not misspelled... our boy loves his food! It keeps the crankies away so I took advantage! Then I stayed and played with him in the back seat until we got there... Whitby is a bit of a drive!

But when we got there... this guy was super happy! We made sure he was wearing his clothes with sailboats on it and had some lunch first thing when we arrived. Logan was loving the boat as you can see here. This was at lunch.. we had some delicious sandwiches when we first got there then Mr. Logan was ready for another nap. He went down just fine for his nap in the quarterbirth while we had a drink in the cockpit! We actually had to wake him up around 3:30 because he had been sleeping for over an hour and we needed to get a sail in!

This is pretty much what Logan looked like the entire time we were sailing. He hated the lifejacket so much that he felt he couldn't move. After he had just started crawling around everywhere, we was pretty unhappy to be stuck on a lap and unable to move around.

It was a pretty windy day for Logan's first sail and we got going pretty quickly (like... for a sailboat...) and the boat was heeled over for most of the sail. Logan just kind of pretended it wan't happening. We sailed for about an hour and a half then headed back so Logan could move again!

Once we docked the boat again, I took off Logan's life jacket and this was what the result was: the happiest baby in the world! He was laughing at nothing and all smiles! Really glad to have movement again! And really happy Grandma was there to play too!

BBQ at the marina for supper! All the staples... drinks, meat, veggies and salads!

Supper went a little late (since Mr. Logan is usually in bed by 8!) so by the time we got back to the boat and Logan went down it was already 9. Logan went from really happy to tired and cranky really quickly as it got closer to 9. And then he was passed right out.

<---this is our little goober monster sound asleep in the quarterbirth!

And when baby sleeps, we got some adult time enjoying the view and having some drinks in the cockpit with my Mom and Paul. It's always a good getaway at the boat and we were so happy with how the Logster did.

Life as it is in the Summer.

It's been a little while since my sister and Rachel were living with us... they moved out May 24 weekend but the summer weather started so early, we were able to go for lots of family walks in May. We love us some family walks.

This picture was from one of our evening walks down to the pond in our hood where there were baby ducks! Rachel came along for a few of our walks... and although she loved the ducks and park in our subdivision, she still believes we live on the other side of the world from where she lives!

For my Mom and sisters birthdays, I got tickets to the Naked Magic Show at Centennial hall on June 17th. It was a audience inclusive magic/comedy show where the performers end up in the buff at the end (but its not a strip club.. no nudity!). It was a great show.. we shared a bottle of wine, laughed the whole time, and luckily didn't get called to the stage. The only thing that sucked was it only went for about an hour and a half or so which I would have thought would have been longer for the $55 the tickets were! Although they were from Australia so maybe this is why the price was premium!

After this, we tried to hard to find a good place to have a drink and some fun afterward to no avail. It was brutal. First we went to the Martini Bar downtown where the karaoke was all Eminem with a bunch of 19 year old wanksters. We left and went to Joe Kools where they didn't serve us the entire time we were there even though we really wanted Nachos. We ended up leaving downtown just after 11pm without food (we went to Symposium before the show but just got 2 appetizers!) so when I got home I couldn't wait to make toast. That was some good toast.

We had a family beach day on the Saturday after the Naked Magic Show (the 18th). Logan loved his life. Despite the fact that his nap schedule was all thrown off, he couldn't help himself but have the time of his life That kid friggin loves the outdoors!

Logan went to the beach the first time when we were in Kincardine but he didn't get to go in the water because we weren't compete with his bathing suit and special swim diaper. When we went to Ipperwash, he sure did go swimming! He loved splashing in the water.

Last year around the same time, we went to the beach when I was preggers and got a picture of me with my tummy on the beach. This year... it looks a little different and my baby is huge!

He had such a good attention span despite being so sleepy because he was swimming! He had such a good time in the water and when we helped him to make this sad situation of a sand castle, he gently pinched the sand (and probably tried to eat it).

This tent was the best beach (and any outdoor activity) purchase we made! Logan has his own shaded area to play with his toys.

<----- spitting at us... it's a really good time to Logan.


















Big feet/Little feet!

And what do you eat after a day in bathing suits at the beach? Deep dish pizza of course! This amazingness in a box was from Pizza Projeckt... the new place in the Fleetway bowling building! This was so heavy.. full of awesome toppings... it was like a panzerotti with the toppings inside the crust and sauce and cheese on top. It was so filling... I had 2 pieces (which was probably equivalent to 4 or 5!) and we both had a leftover slice the next day!

Way better than standard pizza.

This was Father's day... we got the Elephant pool up and running! Logan loves how it shoots the water up: he tries to catch it and drink it.

It was Father's Day so an afternoon beverage was necessary (while Aleksy sat in the kiddie pool). Actually this one was mine but we took this to show Aleksy's parents how we hang out in the kiddie pool they bought for Logan!

After an afternoon in the pool, we had a bbq supper at our place with my Dad and Lisa. Such a nice first Father's day with Aleksy and also getting time in with my Dad. And drinks and bbq always help.

Me and this guy... spending so much time outside since the nice weather is here... walks, hanging out in the backyard and parks... pretty much every day!