Winter and pre Christmas fun 2011

Euan at his dance class. This was most of the class with the teacher. Little Henry is just to his left.


on a tram at Burnaby's Heritage Village


Euan and Olivia seeing Santa at Grouse Mountain. Olivia was very upset as soon as she saw him.


OOps she isn't getting over the snow


Poor Livi, this was after some snow in the face.


Olivia and Euan sitting in the snow.


Daddy, Euan and Olivia on the sleigh at the top of Grouse Mountain. 'The peak of Christmas'


Olivia in her jacket which is more than a little too big!!


Euan seeing Santa at Van Dusen Garden. 'The festival of lights' He was very happy.



Ok Where do I start. I have rather a lot to upload and I had a bit more but have picked the better ones for you to see. We have been trying to take advantage of all the Christmas activities for children here in Vancouver. Its such a nice time of year and its nice when there is so much effort made for children.

First of all we have spent some time at Burnaby's heritage village - Heritage Christmas.. its basically a history lesson and Euan was bored out of his mind obviously, but there was one fun part for him and that is a old fashioned carousel. We were going to put him on one of the normal horses but you were not allowed to sit on the horse with a child so we figured the small horse for now was a bit safer. He was fairly excited at the time although you will be hard pushed to find an excited shot. He has talked of the carousel often since he went on it with Dad. We went on it again today and this time it was with Mum. The village itself is buildings from roughly 1915-1925 but here that is ancient. We got to sit in a old tram car so that was nice.

There is also a garden here called Van Dusen, basically its just a big botanic garden open all year round but in the winter time 1.5 million LED lights are placed all round the gardens. The lights dance to Christmas music. There is also a gingerbread garden, candy cane walks, lots of stalls selling gingerbread men, mulled wine and of course Santa was there. Euan waited for awhile before he could see Santa so by the time he got there onto his lap he was quite excited. Really nice evening. It was very very wet and cold but despite this we had lots of fun.

Another great Christmas activity is heading up Grouse Mountain. All of you who read this have been up there too so you will know what its like. In the summer its a 4 minute cable car ride (or gondola in Canadian) up to the summit. Lots of activities and beautiful views. In the winter time its a big ski resort, where you can ski down miles and miles of track, go on some of the snow shoeing trails, do some tubing. Prior to CHristmas they have activities for children and its called 'The Peak of Christmas'. We had a very busy gondola ride up the mountain which Euan loved and he now thinks cable cars are the most exciting thing ever. I don't like them but I have developed this fear from my Dad (thanks Dad ;). SO I over pretend that its the best thing EVER! At the top we saw some of Santas's reindeer, some snowy owls, we went on a sleigh ride around the mountain and Steven took the 2 kids to see Santa. Euan and I tried to make some snow angels but the snow was a bit too icy, although it was still fun to try. Euan likes the snow and finds it fun and he has done since he was little. Olivia on the other hand isn't so impressed. Whether it was due to the snowball in the face first thing or just getting a fright touching the snow I don't know but she didn't like it at all. She also hated Santa, Steven said as soon as she saw him she burst into tears.

We have been spending a lot of time at the mall due to one thing. A Christmas train. We saw Santa up there he is in the middle and round about him is a small train track with miniature train which Euan adores. We have been on it about 6-7 times so far its lots of fun. Every hour snow comes out up above so it comes down onto the track and its really nice.

I have also included some videos of Olivia standing which is her favourite thing to do. She has been pulling to stand for about 3 weeks and she is getting stronger every day. She turns 10 months in a few days so I think she might be walking soon ish but we will see. I have popped a picture of Euan and his class mates at dance class. He loved it, its finished now and he misses it. Euan has a new little friend called Henry and we have had a few play dates together.. I have popped a few videos on with Euan and Henry feeding the ducks! It was a nice day, we had a walk to Burnaby Lake, had a little picnic which was great then fed the ducks. We will probably do it again soon.

Its Christmas eve tomorrow. We are all looking forward to Christmas day and Euan seems to remember on occasions that Santa is going to put presents under the tree when he is asleep.




Daddy and Euan on the carousel at Burnaby Heritage Village. He has raved about it ever since.


More Carousel. Can you find Euan spinning past?


Euan donating some toys... to the toy Christmas drive.


Mummy and Euan in the snow trying to make snow angels


Euan getting snow in the face... he thought it was funny for awhile ;)


Euan playing Round and Round the garden with Olivia


Euan's favourite thing to do at the mall. Ride the Christmas train


Euan and his little friend Henry chatting and about to feed the ducks.


Little bit of a feeding frenzy. Euan loves feeding the ducks.


Decorating gingerbread men... prior to this we made and painted a snowman


Finished gingerbread men and snowman picture


Olivia standing.. her current favourite thing to do


The dancing lights at Van Dusen Garden.

New developments

We have not been up too much lately, not too much going on. Enjoying some walks outside with Euan at the park. The big thing really is that Olivia is now crawling, its great to see her progressing but its terribly upsetting for her big brother :)

Just uploading a few videos and a picture for you all to see. I will try and take some more soon.





Family out for a walk in the park, with Euan's favourite thing. Throwing stones into the water.


Olivia crawling, after her brother.

Halloween & Pumpkins

Smiling Olivia


Euan in the farmyard train


Euan


Olivia..not quite as good when you can see Mummy behind the post!






The pumpkins


family fun in amongst the pumpkins


Daddy and his pumpkins


Mom and her kidlets at the pumpkin patch


Our scary halloween pumpkins


Our finished pumpkins. Lots of work but lots of fun too!


Olivia as cat baby


with the side kick Batman


So its fall or Autumn. The thing to do here in Canada with children is head to the pumpkin patch for some fun. Not only do you buy your pumpkins to take home, there are lots of wooden vehicles to play on, there are wooden cows and goats to milk, there is a good sized corn maze, there is a petting zoo with lots of animals to see, a little concession stand which Euan was excited about, he got a cookie as a treat. Its a really large farm filled with tonnes of pumpkins, its very muddy so wellington boots are in order and we had to carry Livi. Some parents were there with prams but too messy and hard to push.
Euan had a really good time. He picked his own pumpkin and the carving that he wanted on it. He seemed quite excited to pick his own, although it did take several picks before we got there. He liked playing on the toy train and a tractor. We got to go on a tractor and have a tractor ride which I was quite excited about. We went into the corn maze, he liked leading the way round although it did take quite a bit of time to get out, there were lots of wrong turns. We looked at the animals, lots of cute baby chicks, rabbits, ponies. We came home and we hollowed out all the pumpkins and set about carving them, we were very pleased with how they turned out.

Halloween itself was a bit of a washout. I had planned on taking Euan up to the mall dressed up as Batman while Olivia stayed home and napped, but he was so naughty that we stayed at home instead. There were a million children at the door on Halloween night but I had forgotten to buy sweets, that's all they do here candy, no fruit and definitely no nuts, its a huge no no here. Needless to say I never answered the door, even though the carved pumpkins at the door was an invitation to come. I must get better organized for next year. The traditional things here at Halloween here is fireworks so there was plenty of them until just before midnight.

Nothing much else has happened. We went to the zoo a few weeks back which was lots of fun, but we don't have any good pictures from that, and we will be heading out today for a little while. Its nice and sunny so we should get outside for some exercise.




Olivia has just learned to clap her hands, she likes to do it and look for your reaction.


Euan & his pumpkin


Euan & pumpkin


spooky pumpkins


Olivia playing peekaboo


I think its time to lower the mattress. She spends a lot of time on her knees and is trying to pull herself up to standing in it.

Olivia at breakast time causing a ruccus

Thought I would show you our morning routine with the wee one and how she is quite demanding when it comes to feeding time. Patience is not a strong point with this one :)
Its quite funny though and you can clearly see her personality. (Mum you were so right when you said that she is going to be a little terror from a few hours old!) Here's hoping that she doesn't evolve into a full on mini Joanne!, but I think she will and maybe worse!!



Olivia screaming and generally being very impatient while waiting for her breakfast


A little bit of toast crust in an aim to stop the screaming - it semi worked! ;)


Olivia enjoying and trying to get to get toast into her mouth.. she is settling down a bit now that food is finally getting to that tummy.


Happy baby

October 2011

Euan and Olivia watching a baby Einstein dvd together.



Euan watching some tv first thing in the morning, while I was getting Olivia up.


I don't have much news to report. Weather has been nice and sunny the past week, so we have been out and about lots which is great. Euan and Olivia have both been going to some classes with me, which has been lots of fun! Just uploading a few videos that you might like! Nothing particularly exciting but you can see how Olivia is developing into a cheeky little thing and Euan is as patient as ever with her. They are demanding and quite the handful but lots of fun.



Euan and Oliva watching a Baby Einstein dvd together.. Euan is in a trance watching it and Olivia looks a little bored at times but its nice to seem them sitting together.


Euan and Olivia having a tug of war over a book of transport. Olivia puts up a pretty good fight but Euan wins in the end.


Euan and Olivia being musical together

Summer fun continues

Evil Owl

2 Racoons

Joanne & Graeme @ Prospect Point - Stanely Park

The 3 boys

Olivia having fun

Pool fun

Euan

Olivia

Since the last post the weather has been beautiful and super hot. We have been spending a lot of time at the beach and a lot of time at the pool cooling off and basically enjoying the sunshine. Graeme was over for a week and ended up staying a bit longer but we had lots of fun. Euan loved having his uncle here to visit and we visited lots while he was here. We went to Steveston and flew our butterfly kite, We went to Buntzen Lake and had fun in the water, Euan spent most of his time with his life jacket on at the edge and spent his time throwing all his water toys into the Lake and Mum and Uncle Graeme spent all there time getting them back out again. We had a little swim at the end of the day it was lovely, really refreshing. We went to another Lake called Stave Lake which was very nice too we stayed for awhile with Euan throwing stones into the water. We had a little visit to Deep Cove in North Vancouver and Euan spent alot of time with his feet in the water throwing stones, there were tonnes of baby crabs around so that was really nice to see. We ended Graeme's sightseeing visit going around Stanely Park where we saw some Racoons and a really cheeky Owl just sitting on a tree branch in the day time which was brilliant, my first Owl to see that wasnt in a bird sanctuary. We have had a lovely summer, and I don't think it will be long before its Autumn and raining.




Euan trying to fly his kite!


Euan and the caterpillar


Euan & Uncle Graeme @ Buntzen Lake


Uncle Graeme & Olivia plus Euan jumping into the pool


Graeme & Livi


Pool fun


Euan jumping in the pool

Swinging & Jumping

Not much to report just a few new videos to upload that you will like, going to try and pop them on much more frequently so it doesn't take so much time.


This was Olivia's first time on the swing. She had a towel behind her to hold her up and a little blanket in front so she wouldn't fall forward. She seemed to enjoy it, she was squealing with excitement before the camera was produced. She seems to be a bit more quiet when I am trying to film. Euan is flying on the swing next to us, he looks super high and fast when I view it here.


Olivia on the Jolly Jumper. She really liked it and then Euan decided that he wanted to help her jump and he wanted no help from mummy and daddy at all. The end of the video is funny as Euan decided he wanted to take her socks off, we both sprung off the bed pretty fast.


Olivia being very nosy

Summer 2011

Euan & Mummy @ Harrison hot springs - Harrison Lake



Euan & Daddy @ Harrison hot springs - Harrison Lake



Euan playing in the water with Daddy @ Golden Ears Provincial Park



Mummy and Euan @ Golden Ears Provincial Park



Mummy and Euan having fun at Golden Ears Provincial park


Olivia in her exersaucer


Well folks, thought I had better search through all our pictures and videos and post some more of Euan and Olivia so you can see how they are doing. I am trying to do it once a month, it takes some time but its nice for everyone to see.
Its been quite a busy summer so far, apparently its been the worst summer in a long time in terms of weather because its been so changeable but I like that. The last few summers have been far too hot with no respite so I like there being some cloud and rain but there are lots of people who disagree.

We have been busy on Stevens days off, adventuring and discovering a lot of places close to home, which has been very nice. We have been to some local provincial parks called Golden Ears and also a nice lake called Pitt Lake. We took a nice drive to Harrison hot springs it used to be a proper hot spring but now its in a hotel, have never been to it but the lake is very pretty and you will see all of them in some pictures and videos.

We have discovered a new hobby called geocaching, you use a website and our GPS systems on our phones and look for boxes of stuff that is hidden in the forrests, grass, trees and anywhere else really. Its lots of fun and we have discovered some spots very close to the house that we did not know were there so its good. The only downfall is the beasties... both my legs are bitten like crazy as you know they like me so have not invested in a few different brands of insect repellant to see if they work.

We are finished with Euan's art classes for now but have some more booked in autumn so looking forward to that. We have dance classes booked too.

Both kids are doing great, Euan is doing well for the most part, we are going swimming most days that have nice weather and he is enjoying it, his new favourite thing to do is jump in the pool and yesterday he was jumping in without Steven being properly ready to catch him. He gets a wee bit cocky, we need to do some more proper swimming lessons at some point soon I think. Olivia really likes the water too, I had her in our pool yesterday for a short period of time but it was too cold for her and after a wee while her mouth, legs and arms were a bit purple so we came home. She was having fun though. Olivia is doing great, she enjoys spending time in her exersaucer and her play mat but most of all she likes to be held by one of us. She is teething and has been for a long time, she is drooling and chewing on her fingers, her gums are quite lumpy and there are tonnes of the white tooth just under but nothing has popped through yet.



Euan in art class, we got to paint this picture and glue on some animals that he made from clay. He also painted a self portrait. He was quite interested in the little girl that was next to us although he did do very well. We have this picture sitting on on top of our fireplace, and am thinking about hanging it up somewhere.


Olivia on her swing, Euan likes to push her which is very sweet. She likes it when he pushes her pretty fast and high.


Bed time fun. This has become a every night occurrence, Olivia stays in her crib while Euan is having his bath and getting ready for bed, he likes to climb in with her and have some fun. Its nice to catch the moments when he seems to like her.


Euan and Olivia playing on the playgym


Euan and Mummy building sandcastles at Harrison hot springs, he loves to put all the sand into the buckets and its quite fun popping it out onto the sand but as soon as the sandcastle is out it has to be kicked down. No chance of building a lot of them or building a fortress.


Olivia in her high chair waiting for food. She does this all the time, she likes to bang the table while her food is cooling down.


Euan on the balcony watching a train, I am getting dinner ready for us all. He is still train obsessed and every train that he hears passing he runs into the kitchen and stands at the balcony to watch them pass under the bridge. We have been doing lots of the geocaching lately that took us across that train track and under that bridge there is a path down to a nature walk its very pretty but Euan was so incredibly excited.


Olivia getting hold of her feeding spoon, she has done this quite a few times now and its quite funny.


One more of Olivia feeding


I bought this little umbrella stroller from toys r us the last time I was there. I went in to buy a high chair for Olivia and on that particular day if you spent a certain amount of money you got to buy this umbrella stroller for $5. We have had Olivia in it for very short journeys and Euan really likes to push it as you can see.


Euan pushing Olivia in her little pram

Videos for last post

Bowling

These are the videos that were meant to go along with the previous post. Basically videos from our trip home and one of Olivia being an early hockey fan, watching the Canucks in the final.

Summer 2011

Here are a few pictures that I promised that I would upload. A few are of Olivia, Steven did a little photo shoot in the house and his pictures are lovely. We need to do another one soon and get one of Euan too. I have uploaded the pic of Olivia peeking over the side of the bassinet, she is now in the crib.

I also attached one of them both looking at the tv. I was getting the bath ready for Euan and Steven was getting one ready for Olivia... I popped them into position to keep them occupied. When I came back for Euan he told me that he covered up Olivia with the blanket because she was cold.



Olivia

Mummy & daughter

Euan playing on Thomas at the cafe

Euan and Olivia watching tv holding hands

Olivia peeking over the side of the bassinet.

Euan & Olivia

Ok so quite a bit has happened since my last post, we have been to Scotland for 3 weeks and we all had a good time. Since we got back we went to a day out with Thomas, have been walking in West Van, been to the park and Granville Island. Today we were at a car free event in the East end of Vancouver which was fun, we got Olivia weighed outside our midwifery clinic and she is putting on weight like a trooper. Here are a selection of pictures of both the kiddies in all the events. I cannot post videos anymore as I think I have reached my limit but will look into increasing the amount I can post. Enjoy!



Yes I am coming eventually..

Happy face on the swings @ West Van

Cruise ship & Vancouver

Cruise ship going under Lions gate bridge... if only I were on that boat again!!

Euan & Mummy on the smaller train.. he liked this one better. Thomas was a bit scary.

Thomas and the mountains

Euan & Mummy @ Thomas

It's THOMAS !!!!! See it

Mummy & Euan

Euan & Amy

Olivia & Granny

Woohoo Puddles

Euan out walking with Daddy @ the brandy burn - Foxbar

Olivia shortly after she was born - Look at that hair

Olivia lifting her head up to watch the hockey

Grandpa and his grandbabies