Whistling while she works...

She might not be crawling yet... but have you ever known an 8 month-old baby who can whistle?

(Check out Simonne's blog to see Alice's friend's precocious winking talent)

"Joy, gentle friends! Joy and fresh days of love accompany your hearts!"

This past weekend we were able to make the long drive down to Stratford to enjoy some theater and, more importantly, to visit with Unky G. Lucky us, Alice is a fantastic traveller, and we had no trouble with the 7 1/2 hour drive. She also adapted well to sleeping in the playpen at Gareth and Gordon's house, and loved eating in her booster seat. We've only been home a day and a half, and already she wants to know where we are going next...

We're off!

It's hot in the car, but we brought drinks.

She seemed to be sleeping well, but we worried a little about her getting a sore neck!

Uncle Gareth gets that first hug he's been waiting 3 months for!


Feeding time. You're doing a great job Unky, but when do I get my prunes?


We took a drive out to St-Mary's, as none of us had visited Gareth and Gordon when they lived in the farmhouse. What a beautiful spot!

No trouble at the henhouse.

Gareth inspects the old chicken coop.

One of our favorite activities for the weekend.

Looking out the window at all the cars and people going by.

Another fave activity, reading books, of course!

Gordon and Gareth introduce Alice to the yoga ball.

She is almost ready for the circus!

A stroll along the Avon river.

Check out the big swans! Lucy was careful they didn't try to steal away with Alice.

Gareth's office.

So funny that he should grow up to work in a place called a "playhouse"!

But seriously, we were able to take in a few plays (Guy: the Merchant of Venice, Lucy: King Lear), and marvel at how talented our young bro-bro is. We also had the opprtunity to meet Gareth's leading lady, Lindsay, and to see her perform in Oklahoma. What a treat! (but wait... we didn't get any photos of Lindsay... Gareth will have to send us some...)

Yay! We love to eat outside!

I'll take my pureed lamb medium-well done.

The sunny backyard.

Of course we did some touristy shopping

And stopped for a chat in town.

Parting is such sweet sorrow.

Time to go home.

Thanks for a super weekend, and good luck to everyone for opening week.

Road trip

Our bags are packed and we're ready to go...
We're off to Stratford for the weekend, to visit with Uncle Gareth and to catch a few plays.

Stay tuned for the weekend report!

At one with nature

Stripe-aholics Anonymous

"Grandmother's Day" Celebration

Yes, we were a week late, but we managed to celebrate mother's day for the matriarch on Sunday. As usual, it was a nice celebration with lots of good food, and lots and lots of staring at Alice!

(Rainy day barbecuing)

Yard sale toy

Yard sale day!

This morning we went to our neighbourhood yard sale. What an event! There were people lined up for over an hour waiting to get in and pounce on the bargains...

We arrived early and stood in line with the other keeners...

Alice was so patient!

One of the special treats we picked up, Alice's first hard-soled shoes. What a steal at $2

(she can't figure out why the toy doesn't rattle or squeak)

What a silly puppet. And so unseasonal!

But who were we to refuse a bonus free gift for buying a bag of clothes!

This thing is awesome. Makes for a great slapping substrate!

We can take this nifty seat to uncle Gareth's next weekend - Port-A-Picnic!

I get it, this is where we snack!

Phew. What a tiring day.

Alice had just enough energy left to jig vigorously in her exersaucer for 20 minutes...

Yay! The best part of the day was when daddy came home.

But it wasn't long before he was back at work again.

We also picked up hoardes of nice clothes for Alice, but they are all in the wash so you will get to see them gradually, as modelled by you-know-who.

You call this technology?

Alice had been wondering what all those skinny round disks were for the past 8 months... She couldn't help but snicker when we explained to her that they store information that allows us to play music...

Surely by the time she is listening to her own music, she will have a microchip implanted in her forearm to tune into her favorite songs...

One meal, four reactions...

Madam, we begin this evening's dinner with some airy sweet potato infused cereal puffs,

(crunch crunch)

Followed by a light potage of broccoli,

(fool me once, shame one me... you're not getting that in my mouth!)

Which pairs beautifully with a sumptuous egg yolk souffle,

(you call that stuff food?)

And completed by a palate-cleansing, smooth prune reduction.

(now we're talkin'!)

Note the I love my daddy bib - he's away for two days so, "this bib's for you dad!"

Busy, busy weekend...

What a busy weekend we've had! Here are some of the good times, all rolled into one post...

Daddy kicked things off with the inaugural dip of the new pool liner.Then we went for ice cream!

On Saturday morning we went out for breakfast...
(Alice insisted on having bacon AND sausages - so demanding!)


Dad got back to work on the deck

(where are your swimming trunks now, huh?)

Mummy helped Alice mow the lawn

Guy and Stefane deep in conversation about the fence surrounding the pool.

Lucy suggested that it would be safer to just seal the thing off

Alice ate some bits of cracker... crunchy!

Alice rolling her goodie bag ball at Nicolas birthday party

Wow! Nicolas had a fire truck birthday cake, complete with a house on fire

(but thankfully not his)

We got to watch Nicolas open some great gifts.

Four year olds sure are lucky...

And finally, we enjoyed supper outside on the (almost complete) new deck!

Are you sure this thing isn't going to collapse, daddy?