Ottawa

Andrew was supposed to be in a hockey tournament between Christmas and New Years but it was cancelled. So since we had a few days off, we decided to go to Ottawa for 3 nights. 2 nights we stayed in a hotel and one night we stayed with friends. Ottawa has had so much snow during the past week! The kids loved it! But it was cold...minus 14! We went to visit the Museum of Nature while we were there. The boys really enjoyed that (so did I!).

Christmas!

Christmas dinner was at our house this year. The cousins all had a great time spending time together! Then on Boxing day, more cousins came over! We also had alot of friends over on Boxing day evening. It was a couple of very busy days but lots of fun. Andrew was sad that Christmas had come and gone so quickly! There was so much excitement leading up to it that it's kind of a downer when it's all over. So now he is counting down to his birthday!

Nathan's hockey team party

I have some catching up to do! It's been so busy that I have not been keeping this site up to date. Here are pictures from Nathan's hockey team party. Santa made a surprise appearance and brought gifts for all the kids! There was a dance contest, they played mini-sticks and decorated cookies.

Andrew

Here's a picture of Andrew and his teammate after he scored his goal on the weekend. You would think Andrew is one of the smallest on his team...the little guy hugging him is the team captain. He's little but he's a great skater.

Friday and Saturday we were in London for a hockey tournament. They were both knocked out of the tournament early and we came home on Saturday afternoon. We had alot of fun though. Andrew scored a nice goal on Friday! The boys had a great time playing mini sticks in the hallway of the hotel and they loved swimming in the pool. Bob started building the frame of our skating rink a few weeks ago. Here are a couple of pictures of the boys wearing costumes that I bought after Halloween at 80% off! They love wearing them while playing with their Nerf guns.

Nathan's party

Nathan's birthday was a few weeks ago but we couldn't seem to find a good time to have his friends over to celebrate. Every Saturday and Sunday we are busy with hockey. So we had the boys over on Friday night. They played air hockey, mini sticks and Wii. It was quite civilized and calm considering it was a group of 7 and 8 year old boys! I was surprised how much pizza those boys can eat!

Hockey!

Sorry, I haven't been updating the blog as much as I should. Busy, busy! Andrew has played some great games lately! While Bob was away in Florida, Andrew played 2 really good games. He got the hard working award the first game and then played another great game the very next day in Peterborough. They were exciting games to watch...Bob was disappointed that he missed them! Nathan...he has been awarded the hard working belt twice in a few weeks! Today Grandma and Papa came to watch his game. He said "I hope I can score a goal today"...and he did! His first goal ever! So hockey has been pretty exciting lately. Both teams are improving and the boys are having alot of fun!

Halloween

Halloween was fun. The rain didn't seem to bother the kids at all! We got less kids than usual this year but still over 100 (we are usually closer to 200).

Hockey

Andrew got his first goal of the season on Sunday! But the team lost 2-1. Hopefully there will be more goals to come from him! Bob went up to the trailer by himself for a night last weekend and closed it up for the season. We just couldn't find the time to get up there all together for a night...it's just too busy on the weekends now.

Back to School!

The boys are back to school and loving it (Andrew more than Nathan, but I would say Nathan is loving it)! They are trying out for the Cross Country team, they like their teachers, they like their classes and they kind of like the after-school program. They really didn't want to go back to the after-school program but we had no other options. We may cut out some days and have them go only 3 days a week...we'll see. Hockey has started. They are both in a local tournament this weekend. The season officially starts next week. Andrew was awarded the "hard worker award" at his game today. Bob is coaching Nathan's team this year. It's going to be very busy for us! We still need to find time to go to the trailer to close it up for the season but not sure when we'll go. The park officially closes on Thanksgiving weekend so we need to get our boat and close everything up before then. Weekends are too busy!

Bob and the boys were up at the trailer for 2 weeks, I was up there for one. We had some pretty good weather although it rained the last few days. Kids had alot of fun! Our trailer friends were all on vacation at the same time. Here are lots of pictures!

Cousins

Yesterday I took the boys over to mom and dad's so that they could hang out with their cousins for a little while. Sometimes they do sit on a couch all together, but it's never like this...

Most of the time, it's like this!

Schools Out for Summer!

So far the boys are enjoying the start to summer vacation. We spent the weekend at the trailer. Great weather!

This week the kids are at "Day Trippers" camp. Tuesday they went downtown to the Harbourfront and took a one hour boat tour, then they went to a museum where they got to play with clay. Today they went to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Tomorrow they will be at Loblaws cooking class, then to glow in the dark mini putting.

 Tonight we went to see "The Amazing Spiderman". We gave it two thumbs up. It was a really good movie! Andrew Garfield was great as Spiderman...much different than Tobey Maguire. Come to think of it, I didn't even compare the two during the movie. Go see it!

 Enjoy the heat!

Nathan

Not sure if I posted this video before...cute video of Nathan.

Summer

This is the last week of school!  I can't believe it.  What are the boys going to do all summer?!  We decided not to put them into daycare.  Instead they will be going to a camp next week (it's a camp where they go to a different place each day - science centre, rock climbing, maybe a water park).  Our neighbour's daughter will watch them for a few days here and there.  They will be spending time up at the trailer and they might hang out with the grandparents once in awhile!

Andrew was in a hockey tournament this past weekend...he played 5 games in 3 days.  They lost all 5 games.  It's a new team which is set to start it's season in September but I think the coach entered them into this tournament to see how they play together and what each of their strengths and weaknesses are.

We bought a new couch for our living room.  We had been looking for one for awhile and finally saw one that we liked at the Bay.  Also bought a new ottoman, shelf, and silk bamboo tree.  It's coming together...there are still more things to come though!

Talent Show

Here is Andrew's performance in last week's school Talent show. He practiced alot and choreographed his own routine. He loved being on that stage in front of the whole school and said that he wished there were more people watching!

Darien Lake

Last weekend we went to Darien Lake. It rained late Friday night and Saturday morning but the rest of the weekend we had really good weather. There were 7 families that went this year. We stayed in the RVs again. One of our friends rented a cabin...I am thinking about doing that next year! The kids love going on rides. They like the big roller coasters! Andrew and Nathan didn't go on the upside down coaster this year. I don't like how it knocks their little heads around so much. They did some rock climbing, go carts, played alot of games. It was a fun weekend!

Long Weekend

We spent the long weekend at the trailer. Great weather! We went out in the boat for a few hours everyday. Bob and the kids had a quick swim in the lake but the water was really cold! We bought a "hotdog" tube off of a friend so the kids took turns riding on it while being pulled by a Sea Doo. They loved it! This past weekend Bob and the boys went up on Friday afternoon but I stayed home to golf on Saturday, then headed up right after golf. I posted a couple of pictures from our Easter weekend at the trailer. Andrew and Nathan are in power skating classes every Wednesday. They get quite a workout! Last week they had to do the drills carrying a 5 pound weight in a backpack (45 minutes). I don't know if I could have done it! 5 pounds doesn't seem like much but for a 50 pound kid, I'm sure it gets quite heavy. Andrew is also on the ice every Thursday nights. He is playing 3 on 3 hockey and Bob is coaching the team. It is fun to watch...it's very quick. No face offs, no offsides. Last week Andrew got a goal and an assist. He has played hockey with almost all of the kids on the team during the past few years so I think he will enjoy playing on this team.

Update!

Wow, I don't know where the time goes! Lets see...what have we been up to? Bob bought a car. The Mazda 3 was traded in for a 2008 RX8. It's a nice car, fun to drive. But forget about putting a hockey bag in the trunk! I'm not even sure if golf clubs will fit! I guess that's why our other vehicle is a Dodge Caravan! Hockey season is over and then it was tryouts in April. Bob was offered a coaching position for September...he will be coaching Nathan's team which is AE rep (Novice). Andrew made it onto the AE rep team (Minor Atom). Tryouts were stressful and Andrew had some disappointments along the way but he is very happy to be on the AE team! Nathan went through 2 rounds of tryouts (he didn't really have to try out because he is automatically on the team because of his connection with the coach! It was a good experience for him though), but he had to miss the AE tryouts because he had a concussion. Nathan had a fall at our neighbour's house last weekend and hit his head hard. He has to stay off the ice for a couple of weeks. He was off school for a few days but thank goodness he is fine now! The trailer park opened up last weekend. Bob went up there on Sunday and did some work. The boys are looking forward to going up there this weekend. Summer plans: I have joined the ladies golf league again this year so I will be golfing every other Saturday through the summer. The boys will be taking power skating classes which will be once a week. No daycare for the boys this summer...we will arrange things so that they can be home. We will probably put them into a couple of day camps. That's about it for now. I will try to post more frequently!

Spring!

The weather has been amazing! The kids had a nice March Break. They slept over one night at Grammie's and then another night at Grandma's. Bob worked from home a few days and took the boys to shinny a couple of times. I worked the whole week. I am saving my vacation days for the summer.

With this great weather, the kids are asking to go to the trailer already. It won't be long soon! And golf season will start soon too. I am golfing with the ladies again this year.

We are still busy with hockey. Nathan is in a hockey tournament this week and Andrew will be in one next weekend. Then the following weekend, Bob has his work tournament. Mid-April tryouts will start for the fall hockey teams. We'll see how they do.

Not too much going on lately.

Mexico pictures

Mexico!

We went on a last minute trip to Mexico last week! Booked it on Tuesday and left on Sunday. It was so nice to get away, to have no plans all day, to not have to make lunches and cook dinners for a week! We stayed in the Mayan Riviera. The weather wasn't great but we still had alot of fun. There were iguanas (some quite large) walking around freely throughout the resort. Andrew and Nathan loved that. They also loved the kids entertainment each night. They would have a different movie every evening (Toy Story 3, Rio, Kung Fu Panda 2). And then at 8:00, a girl from the Kid's Club would get the kids up onto a stage and they'd play games (freeze dance, pinata, etc. Each night it was a different game). Andrew and Nathan would not let us miss that! They loved going on that stage.
The resort was not directly on the beach. They had a man made inlet which was perfect for the kids. No huge waves or wind. And there would be tons of fish swimming around you! Had alot of fun. The boys were so sad when we had to leave.
I'll post more pictures soon.

Andrew's Birthday

Andrew celebrated his 9th birthday at the Oshawa General's game. We got to sit in a box thanks to Uncle Kirk! Andrew invited some of his friends from school. They had a great time. We made a mess of the box though...by the end of the second period, popcorn completely covered the floor! A couple of the players came to visit the box and signed some autographs. The mascot came as well. It was a fun evening. And then we were up at 2:00 in the morning to leave for Mexico!

Lego

Aunt Laura and Uncle Mike gave Christmas presents to Andrew and Nathan yesterday. Nathan got a couple of Wii games (Skylander and Disney Universe) and this is what Andrew got. Lucky boys!!

I posted this picture just because I like it.

Happy New Year!

The holidays are over for another year...went by so fast!
Christmas was fun. We had a great time with family and friends! Kids are still off school for another week so I took a couple days off. We went to Niagara Falls yesterday for one night. Spent a lot of time in the arcades!
The boys have skated on the rink in the backyard a couple of times now. It's not a huge rink but it allows them to practice their shooting. They really enjoy it.
(Thought it was time to make some changes to the layout of the blog)