Neck Point Park

The little ones and I went for a walk through Neck Point Park today. I love going there, there's beaches to explore, forested trails and sunny trails to walk through and it's a short drive from my house. I brought the buggy today instead of wearing Sophie so we were a bit limited in where we went. But we managed to spend about 2 hours at the beaches and walking through the trails.

Parker loved collecting fallen leaves and he quickly filled up the basket of the buggy. We also saw lots of mushrooms, most of which (okay all) I had no clue as to what they were. Learning more about mushrooms and being able to identify what's edible and what's poisonous is something I'm really interested in. But like most things, I never seem to get around to actually doing it!

Here's some pictures of our day. If you can identify some of the mushrooms for me, please do!

 Parker and his giant leaf!

"more gross" as Parker calls it.

Sophie enjoying the beach.

Walking on the trail.

Throwing rocks.

Sophie and Parker sharing a seat on a log.

Weird, eh? I think it's called a false morrel or a brain mushroom.

Apparently these are not rolling stones. :)

Pumpkin Patch fun

Yesterday, Thanksgiving Monday, we took our two youngest children to McNab's Farm. We've been going every year since moving back to Nanaimo and it was especially exciting this year to bring Sophie for her first visit. Ally was at home not feeling very well so it wasn't as great a trip as it could have been but we're planning on going with just her for an evening corn maze trip.

Every Autumn, McNab's has a themed corn maze (this year it was in the shape of an Inukshuk to commemerate the Olympics) as well as a hayride to the pumpkin patch. We had a week of rain so it was very mucky which actually added to the fun, although Dave nor I were dressed properly for all the mud!

Parker loved it, I think he could have spent the entire day going back and forth on the hay ride. Definitely his favourite part! Sophie enjoyed herself too, although she was getting pretty fussy by the end of our visit which we now know is because she has come down with a cold and has cut two top teeth. Poor bug!

I'm looking forward to going back at night to do the corn maze with Ally, flashlights and all!

Busy Weekend!

This weekend was a busy one for us: On Sunday we celebrated Mother's Day, my birthday and Parker's birthday with extended family. Dave's family came over for a late lunch, some cake and some celebration. We had a nice time, Parker just loves all the attention he gets when family comes over!
I decorated my first cake ever which was SOOOO hard, too sweet but super cute! I used a very yummy choclate cake (SO moist even three days later!) (from a blog who's recipes I"ve been drooling over and using for a few weeks now.) but the icing from the Wilton website was too sweet but I wasn't comfortable using a different recipe as I've never piped icing before and wasn't sure what else might work.

For my birthday I was given some money to buy something for myself and I decided to spruce up our yard. When we moved in last August the yard was disgusting, truly truly horrible looking. The people that lived here before neglected it so it was full of weeds, moss and general grossness. So we've slowly been doing our best to pretty it up little by little. We've been picking out the weeds so there's actual grass that's growing (still not perfect but useable!), put in a sandbox and a playhouse for Parky and put in a garden box which I'm very excited about!  We've got one long garden box along our fence and have another one that we're going to take apart and rebuild into two smaller boxes for cucumbers, zucchini, etc. Plus we have several pepper, tomatoe, strawberry, raspberry, mint and catnip plants growing in containers.

My adirondak chair that I'm in the process of painting purple:

My garden box with medicinal herbs, culinary herbs, garlic, shallots, brocolli and lettuces:

Parker's little sandbox area. We're hoping to find some cheap or free lattice to hide the under the deck part and then run more clematis along it:

Pacific Ocean: meet Sophie Maddelyn!

One of our favourite beaches to visit on the island is Rathtrevor Beach. The beach is great for exploring tide pools, building sandcastles, swimming (esp when the tide comes in over hot sand) and lounging. There's also a very family friendly campground which even though it's only 1/2 hour from home, I really enjoy going there.
Last Friday the weather was gorgeous, much like today, so I decided to pack the littles up and head for the beach for Sophie's first ocean visit!

Sophie touches the Pacific Ocean for the first time:

Parker finds a seashell:

Momma and Sophie relaxing while Parker explores the tide pools:

The views are just stunning from the beach:

Morning Adventures

Since Sophie's arrival, I've spent more time walking on trails rather than city walks. I find that it's easier to do so when you have two little ones because I don't have to worry about Parker as much. On most wide trails he can do and go pretty much where ever he wants. Not having to say: "be careful", "stay on the sidewalk", etc is also very relaxing for me just as it is for him to not have to hear it twenty times on our walk! :)

Today we went to Hemer Park which has really nice wide trails and is very quiet except for the occasional dog walker. I wore Sophie in the stretchy wrap (I'm impatiently waiting for my babyhawk to arrive!) and Parker led the way. Parker was fascinated with all the sounds he heard: birds singing and frogs croaking. We spent about an hour walking and discovering at a toddler's pace. We came upon a lookout over a large pond that Parker absolutely loved...we spent quite a while there watching geese, looking at lily pads and cat's tails.

I thought for sure that Sophie was going to fall asleep (she was dozing in the van on the drive there) on the walk but instead she became quite fussy and cried most of the way back. I'm finding it harder and harder to wear her as she's liking it less and less. I'm hoping it's just the wrap that she just doesn't like anymore (as well as the ring sling but I think that's because it shrunk and no longer fits properly) and not that she just doesn't like to be worn anymore. She was content if I was bouncing as I walked and patting her bum with her soother in her mouth but by then Parker was starting to become tired and wanted me to pick him up but of course I couldn't. Luckily just as we were all about to have a breakdown we passed 5 dogs. Parker loves dogs and the owners were nice enough to stop and let him pet the dogs and I was able to soothe Sophie until she calmed down. Next time I think I might bring the jogging stroller along with a baby carrier as a back up.. Parker can hop on when he gets tired and Sophie can go to sleep in it when she gets tired of being worn.

Needless to say that Parker fell asleep within 5 minutes of us being in the van. I nursed Sophie and she chatted to herself happily the whole ride back into town. :)

Window Painting Fun

Parker loves to paint but he quickly fills up a piece of paper in mere minutes. So instead of wasting sheet after sheet of paper and in my quest to find anything to give me a few minutes break I set him up with some paints outside on our deck so he could paint our patio glass windows!

I just mixed some tempera paint with a few drops of dishsoap in a cup, gave him some paintbrushes and let him loose on the windows. He was entertained for half an hour... that's alot for a not yet two year old!

To clean up, all you need is a bucket of water and a wash cloth. It comes off so easily because of the soap added in to the paints.