A Non-Vacation Vacation

The last week of June was going to be a week off for Aleksy but then he got a new job. So we ended up having a random cottage booked in the middle of the week on a Tuesday night in Bayfield, which he requested off when he started and because he doesn't actually get his vacation during the probationary period, he didnt get the other 3 days of the week off. So... we decided to pack in the things we wanted to do during the week into the weekend!

We started off with another beach day on Saturday after Logan's soccer. We have been going to Port Franks this year and we love it there. There werent too may people there an although it was a bit chilly, we still loved just hanging out on the sand.

These 2 are complete beach bums!

After going into the water, Logan was an icicle so needed a towel cuddle and sunchip break! We usually pack a lunch and some snacks for the beach and then a few adult beverages... another reason we really like Port Franks!

Sunday, we went to the zoo! We had Leah's cake smash in the morning at 9am where Amanda came over and took some pictures and then we headed out shortly after to the Greenview Aviaries. We had been here once before when Logan was about 10 months and Rachel came too!

We started of with a picnic because it was lunchtime by the time we got there... about an hour and 15 drive. Leah had just a little sleep on the way there but was happy as ever.

I felt a bit sadder this time for the animals. I remember feeling that way last time too but this time I really noticed it. Especially the tiger who was given the smallest cage ever...

The ostriches seemed to have some good space.

Leah loved looking at all the animals and Logan liked it but definitely didn't have a long attention span for them!

When the big one gets tired of walking (and it was a lot of walking!). he asks to go in the stroller. He looks like a giant child in here having his popsicle. Logan is loving his popsicles this summer!

After seeing lots of animals, we made out way back to the park and splash pad area, which was definitely Logan's favourite part. And we were some happy parents because we found beer. We have a special talent for finding the booze at the kiddie events.

I love the 80s playground equipment that still exists at this park! It reminds me so much of the dairy dell playground we would go to as kids and Im pretty sure they have some of the same stuff it did. This is the only place I have seen some of the old equipment stay!

These kids loved the spash pad there!! There were pails (form the animal food!) that Logan was putting over the water sprayers and we loved his life.

And this little lady loved walking around the splash pad looking at all the kids and getting splashed! She loves to be around other kids as they play and has way more fun than when its just her and I.

And luckily this was the last stop because my sandal strap broke after this and I had to go barefoot for the drive home!

Aleksy went to work on the Monday, then Tuesday we headed up to Bayfeld around lunchtime. We stopped by the foodland and lcbo there which are so conveniently side by side and grabbed all our lunch needs to have a park picnic right by the playground.

How Leah feels about picnics.

Just kidding... we're lucky if she eats 2 bites of food! Unless its cheerios or baby cookies...

After some good playground play, we checked into our airbnb and it was a cute guest suite beside the main house on a quiet street but close to everything! The park, shops and beach...

And then we didn't drive again until the next day and this was the mode of transportation! Walking down to the shops for the afternoon...

Our favourite bakery in Bayfield! The pink flamingo. Their signature flavour is pink lemonade and Aleksy got one of those squares and I got some biscotti and a cookie while Logan devoured a chocolate cupcake.

On the main street where the shops are restaurants are there was a brewery that we wanted to check out but knew we couldn't sit down for a beer with the kids, but lucky for us they had a fridge of single beers for sale... or as we like to call them roadies. Perfect for the walk back to out place!

After I unsuccessfully tried to put Leah down for a nap (that girl only naps well in her crib), Leah and I joined everyone at the splash pad! We had to hit up all the good spots while we were there.

The we headed for supper at the black dog right on the main strip. We scoped out themenu when we were walking earlier and when we saw they had plain noodles for Logan it was sold.

Logan ate the whole bowl!

The kids were some tired kids with no naps (Leah a brief car nap in the morning) so they were ready for some good bedtime after supper. They went down pretty easily for a strange place and then we had a little balcony that we could sit on and have some wine without waking them up!

Then next morning we grabbed some coffee from the coffee shop... and a delicious muffin that we went back for 2 more of (if the baby's eating it, it's good...) and went for a 9am walk down to the marina to see the boats.

And all the way out to the pier! It's crazy how much the beach has changed in the past few years and the sand is nearly gone on the bayfield beach!

We tried to scope out a couple of spots for a beach day but there really was nothing left of the beach and the parts that were left had pretty fluffy sand and we prefer the flat stuff for Leah so we decided it would be best to check out and then take the drive to Port Franks so the kids could have a nap on the way there.

We got to Port Franks and it was the perfect day for the beach! The water was warm and swimable, the beach had no one because... wednesday and the weather was gorgeous!

And clearly Logan was in some kind of growth spurt at he time because he also ate this whole container of mac and cheese. Easy beach lunch!

This year at Fort Franks there was so much washed up trees and branches. Someone cleaned up a lot of the small twigs but some of these big logs in the beach are really pretty and Logan loves swimming out to them or trying to move them.

Those ones in the background are actually just at about knee depth!

This was the best discovery! On the way home we hit the twin pines cidery which is right along the way home. Aleksy had their cider with supper and we both loved it and had friends who also recommended it.We sampled 5 different kinds of cider and then couldn't decide so got 3 to take home. We loved it so much we hit it up again this past weekend when we were at the beach again.

We havent had time to but you can also walk around their grounds.

Leah's 1!

Leah had her birthday and party this weekend and we no longer have an under 1er! In fact, yesterday she took her first independent steps... a good 4 or 5 of them too! Baby girl's going to be walking in no time and then it will be all toddler land over here.

Every month I have taken her monthly picture and I put together all the pictures for her birthday with her cake smash picture for her 1 year. She did her cake smash 1 week before her birthday. The changes between 4 and 8 months are crazy! I think she went from something like 12lb to nearly 20! Now shes at 22 and a half my chunky monkey.

The theme of Leah's birthday was pink and gold/silver glitter and princess. So these glittery crowns were perfect for favours for the kiddos!

I may have started shopping months in advance to gather all the goodies... online shopping and mat leave are so complimentary!

Leah opened her present from us on her birthday morning. Aleksy (and Logan of course) assembled that morning and she loves this thing so much. She gets frustrated though and sometimes wants to dive down from the side where the door doesn't open..

I spent the morning icing up these cupcakes and cake. I was happy with how the little flowers turned out! I bought the little cake icing tip and it was so easy. And the little candy beads from bulk barn.

I didn't even mind the drooping flowers on the cake... it was pretty enough to not notice!

Apparently finding pink candy wasn't as easy as it seems. I scrounged up a lot of it from the dollar store and somehow between the bulk barn and dollar store the candy bar cost me $100. I had no idea candy could be so pricey!

But it was so cute with the "little princess" boxes!

I was so excited for our Mommy and me matching outfits! I bought these a couple months in advance for her birthday.

I have learned to roll with all the easy maintenance food for parties and get togethers and a sandwich bar is the easiest thing ever especially with pre sliced cheese! I really just cut up the red onion, tomatoes and lettuce and everything else was Costco special. Aleksy's Mom made the elaborate yummy salads.

I do however get credit for going to Costco on a Saturday... I needed the buns to be fresh so I could go earlier in the week.

After lunch was cake time. It got super windy so there was no candle which worked pretty well because its the first thing Leah grabbed.

My saddest moment of Leah's birthday was that I didn't get to watch her destroy the cake but I did see the aftermath. That was a cupcake in case you can't tell.

It's not all that bad though because I did see her smash an entire cake last weekend (and then we helped her eat it afterward... it was a little banged up but still delicious!

As you can see, little lady needed a wardrobe change after her cake mess. Luckily we had a gorgeous one from Nana and Dziadek ready to go! Leelee decided that she wanted to spend her opening present time standing. She really like the tissue paper and wrapping paper.... oh and the presents.

Once the kids figured out Leah was getting new stuff, they needed to check it all out! Leelee is checking out her new book here!

The party wrapped up shortly after 3 and then we spent some time cleaning the bomb that went off in our kitchen and backyard but then still had time for a fire with the kids and some backyard play! Spidey dogs for supper... our speciality.

Leah's cake smash. Amanda killed it again with the pictures!

June Weekending!

I feel like I have waited forever for this summer weather. It is glorious being off when it's so nice outside. We spend SO much time out there! Our daytime routine has become: drop Logan off at daycare, morning walk or run, home for morning nap (while Leah naps I work out - strength training and sometimes a treadmill run if I didn't already run that morning), wake up 11amish, lunch and a walk around the neighbourhood and a mandatory stop to the park... Leah's favourite (or errands if we need to) and then Leah's back down for a nap at 2/3pm! I get to sit in the sun in the backyard then and read and get a pretty sweet tan! It's going to be a great summer to not work.

I kept Logan home on a Friday when it was going to be beautiful outside so the three of us could have a backyard day. It was perfect weather! We got out our trusty old elephant pool that is now light purple and Leah got a small swim in before she was ready for a nap. Logan decided he really liekd the pool for cleaning off his sand toys so the water pretty much became unswimmable not too long after!

While Leelee sleeps, Logan and I had a picnic for lunch! I bought him a special lunchable... his first time trying it. He thought it was pretty great that they were all perfect little circles and put them all in stacks then ate a total of one of the stacks of meat, cheese and cracker (he added cucumber). Typical Logan... even lunchables aren't a hit.

Since Logan got this pool when he wasn't even a year old he has been using the elephant sprayer as a water fountain! And I am glad the tradition continues this year...

Backyard play... Leah with her toy knife (which is a kid favourite over here) and Logan going back and forth from the spinkler, pool and water table. Leah is more of a water table girl herself. But not too long Ive discovered and she's not the fondest of sitting on grass (I get it, it's pokey and scratchy!).

Logan started soccer too! He is way more independent and into it this year too. This year they have it set up so they rotate through stations and each station has a new coach. I don't think he would have liked this last year at his 2 years of age but he's doing pretty great with it so far! Sometimes when he doesn't know who the coach is, he just follows around any Dad on the field...

Action shot! Rotating through stations around the field means that me, Aleksy and Leah also walk around the whole 45 minutes to watch! And weirdly enough they do snack at the very end of the 45 minutes instead of in the middle... I guess that help with those kids that never got back into after snack! (Logan last year)

And we had our first beach day of the year! We went to Port Franks on Sat June 8th. It was a bit crazy because the water level is so high tht a lot of the beach is taken up. We actually had to carry the kids and all our things inclduing a cooler across hp deep water to get a spot on some good sand!

Leah is a total beach baby. She loved crawling everywhere and playing in the sand. Her first ever beach experience was in Mexico but this time she loved it all... she would crawl everywhere and we would have to redirect her when she was at other peoples spots!

This is how Leah liked to enjoy the beach water... not the scary waves of the lake. Logan has no fear though and would go back and forth filling his pail and a watering can up with water and bringing it back to the holes he dug or castles he built.

Bottles on the beach for the baby and cans of delicious beer and cider (that taste even better at the beach) for the adults!

Port Franks is such a pretty beach. There was a ton of washed up tree trunks... there usually is there but it seemed more than last year! We used to do Ipperwash as our go-to but kind of switched when we found their beach/sand area getting smaller and finding that this one was a bit nicer looking.

We do have a cottage booked at Ipperwash in July though!

And more backyard play pictures. Logan lined up all the "outside food" (as we call it) up and said "it's the superstore!". That's not our grocery store so he's pretty brilliant to think of that on his own if I don't say so myself.

Leah with her massive happy smiles! This must be before she discovered that the grass sucks. She also recently decided that she doesn't like the swing at the park and only the one at home (she keeps pulling herself forward at the park baby swing!) but LOVES the park still... especially crawling up the stairs.

11 Months!

It really does go faster with the 2nd (I think... sometimes its easy to forget how things went with Logan!). I can't believe I will have a 3 year old and a 1 year old in under a month!

This little lady is officially 11 months. She has been crawling like crazy since a few days before she was 10 months. She loves to crawl as fast as she can to take off the vents. She can really up her speed if she's trying to get to something she shouldn't.

Leah is great at walking with her little walker and can do it without help but when she bumps into walls or goes off tarck, she just needs help to push the walker back on track! She loves to walk when holding our hands too.

Leah loves our walks, but especially in this little pink car instead of the stroller. We usually go for an afternoon walk after lunch and on this day, we checked out the ducks at the pond by our place... and the ducklings!

Leah has been sleeping the night for about 2 weeks now but she has been waking up the last couple days with Aleksy getting ready for work at 5:45am. She goes right back down though and typically starts her day between 6:30-7:15am. She then goes down for another nap between 9 and 10 and again in the afternoon 3 hours after she's been awake. She usually sleeps from about 1 hour 15 min to 2 hours (sometimes more) but only in her crib. If she's in the car or stroller, she hardly falls asleep or if she does its short lived and we surely cannot stop.

We have a little couch cruiser and what she has done here is started with her cookie on one side and trailed crumbs down the whole couch to the other side!

Leah is still very particular with her foods. She LOVES her bottles (formula), likes baby mum mums, puffs, yogurt, cheerios, and baby noodles (with butter and parm).

Leahs tolerables are arrowroot cookies, bananas, pieces of bun, brenton crackers, cheese, and her pablum (mixed with yogurt). She also eats her baby food pouches pretty well. She threw up when we tried to give her tuna and when we tried ham! She's such a picky one!

On Friday I tried to mix her formula with homo milk to start the switch but after giving her 4 oz (not in the same bottle), which she took great, but I saw the next day she started a diaper rash so I don't want to start it again until I see out how fast this bum rash heals.

Leah loves her swing! Both in the park and in the backyard. We haven't got around to warmer weather activities like the elephant pool or water table because it's been pretty chilly but we have had a bit of outside play. Logan has had his sprinkler out once.

Leah loves this station at the park! When we go for our afternoon walks around the neighbourhood, we usually make a park stop and I put the music on and she dances excitedly!

And she has 8 chompers!

She's still the easy going baby she always has been and super happy. She's pretty independent and can crawl around playing for short period of time while I am in the kitchen or doing laundry. Just a little more into things these days with her crawling... vents, little things to put in her mouth (leaves, dirt, little crumbs... anything) knocking down logan's little chairs trying to climb them, getting the remote or our phones... She also is able to vocalize her frustration with a loud grunt when something doesn't work the way she wants it to.