Easter has passed, we've gotten one huge snowstorm (hopefully the last, but we're not putting the shovels or winter gear away just yet!) and Cadence & I went to Toronto for a week of adventure & visiting. We're looking forward to summer getting here, and enjoying all the great finds every day as more snow melts to uncover things from last year or lost throughout the winter. Including many of Tofu's frisbees and fetch sticks.

Two weeks ago, the day we got two feet of snow in one day. Drew shoveled three times.


Last weekend we spent a good half hour in the morning discovering with Cadence the fun to be had with shadow puppets. Ever since that introduction we have daily requests for "shadow doggy" to make an appearance.


In Toronto, at the AGO. Cadence and I spent only one of our Toronto days in actual downtown Toronto, and when naptime came I had to find a good quiet place--what better than an art gallery!? He snoozed for an hour & a half in his stroller while i got to see the entirety of the new AGO. Perfect! (except I didn't get to nap, and boy did I feel like it after that day!) Afterwards we got a special almond brioche in the cafe downstairs. I really love my outings with Cadence.


Looking out over the city from up high in the AGO


Our back door...mud mud mud. Standard play outside gear right now includes rubber boots, rain pants, rain coat, gloves. All nicely sealed to keep the mud outside where it belongs. Poor Tofu gets daily baths. This will likely continue til...June? Notice the "bridge"/walkway we've assembled to help navigate the quicksand. Task for this summer: come up with some sort of landscaping that deals with this mess. So far the best bet is some sort of raised boardwalk. Stay tuned!


Road hockey in the puddles. of mud.



Easter morning--more eggs daddy!
Easter dinner/scavenger hunt with friends Jeff & Rose (we missed you Steve & Lee!)

Just because it's March doesn't mean it's spring...but we're not complaining :)

Cadence is napping away after a fun morning together--we hiked/toboganned up the trails & looped around to the end of our street, then came back & had a yummy burrito lunch. I wasn't sleepy (too much coffee), so thought I'd put up our most recent pictures.

I found these in the camera--a little photo shoot Drew and Cadence had. I think there's a bit of a rock star/model theme to a few of the pictures to follow...

3-d glasses from a film Drew went to see when we were last in London.



Cadence has recently discovered the fun of Connect 4. And all the other things you can do with checkers, like place them on the sleeping dog.


Last weekend, Cadence & I went to Sudbury to visit Grampa & Gammie, who have a lot of fun toys such as cameras & guitars. I picked him up a proper pair of sunglasses while we were there. Not as cool as the 3-d ones, but at least these won't give him a headache (3-d glasses these days have come a long way from those red & blue ones...)




Yesterday, Cadence & I went along with pretty much all of the under-6 kids in town to a sleigh ride place, paid for by the Early Years Centre (LOVE the EYC). There were hot dogs (brought our own veggie ones), marshmallows (which we ate first), and lots of hot chocolate (unsure just how much we drank; it was a lot). Sliding, and horse-drawn sleigh. Plus an outhouse which was also exciting.



Cup...3? of hot chocolate (in a maxwell house cup).

Here we are, at the top of the hill. When we talked about it before hand, Cadence was firm about NOT going sliding down the big hill. Also not at all interest when we got there. Then about 2 hrs in, after multi-marshmallows, hot chocolate, & one veggie dog each, he wanted to go. It was VERY fun. We laughed & yelled the whole way down, then as soon as we got to the bottom, "let's do it again!!" I think we did it about 5 times, then it was time to go. That was the most fun I've had in ages. It's hard to tell, but the hill's actually quite big. Lovin' the smile I get anytime I ask Cadence to smile for the camera.


This morning we explored our yard, since the crust on the snow is generally hard enough to walk on now. On the few occasions I broke through, I fell through mid-thigh. We ended up heading up the whole way on our trail then around in a loop & came out the end of our street. Cold out but the sun is just so nice these days. Lots of deer tracks but no actual sightings (we're still really hoping to see a moose).


No explanation needed, I think.

Buried in Snow

Busy as usual, although somehow feeling calmer these days. Last month was a difficult one; we lost beloved Nana. I've found some nice pictures of her with Cadence that I'll post below.

A while ago, friends Ireen & Thorben came up to check out the local ski club; they stayed with us & we had a great visit. I think Cadence particularly like Ireen; here they are reading "Oh the Places You'll go."


About two weeks ago Drew looked up to see a Lynx walking across the back of our yard. We all got to watch it for about ten minutes as it slowly made its way up one side & across the back. Click on the title of this posting to see the sasquatch-sighting-like video Tony took. I went for a very short snowshoe this afternoon & saw four sets of lynx tracks--very cool. We think that our compost pile attracts rabbits, and the rabbits attract the lynx. We're assuming, of course, that there's only one lynx...


Mid-way through our trip to London for Doreen's memorial last weekend, Cadence & I took a side-trip to visit Aunt Tracey, Uncle Brian, Hallie, & Emillie.



Exploring & examining some of Nana's pottery. We're excited to have such beautiful things that she made in our home.

Snowshoeing last weekend (i.e. before the most recent crazy snowfall; we have a tonne more than this now!) Not sure whether you can tell here, but the snow is way above Tofu's head.


Yesterday morning, skiing--ahead in the distance you might faintly make out me pulling Cadence in the pulk. Was a gorgeous day, and although we didn't ski very far, it was nice to get out & pulling a 30-lb child really adds to the work-out.

Happy New Year!

This has been in progress for weeks...my apologies for taking so long!

Happy New Year! Santa was good to us, and even brought a new camera, so I'll hopefully be back on track. We had a busy holiday and are pretty glad to be back to routine, although we miss all the family we got to see over the holidays, and we are sorry to have missed seeing some of our dear friends and family--but onwards into 2009! Some pictures since Christmas Eve, when the new camera came:

Christmas morning, Cadence and I opening presents. After a pre-Christmas gift exchange with my dad, we learned that less is best with gifts for Cadence--he just wants one thing and to play with it right away. He did a great job, helping bring people their gifts to open. We snacked on sticky buns, and had a really lovely Christmas morning.


One of the best parts of Christmas morning was the wagon that Nana & grampa Ron gave Cadence for Christmas--it came with skis for winter, and this actually was what got him playing outside on Christmas day; otherwise I don't think we could have gotten him out at all.

Examining the tree train he got for Christmas from Grampa & Gammie.


One morning after Christmas, enjoying his daily fruit smoothie--Drew makes stellar smoothies for us almost every morning.



Trying out the new wagon/sled on our road, Christmas Day.

Right before heading to Toronto during the holidays, we got a mild spell of weather...perfect for making a snowman! Here's ours (the thaw was quite extreme so he only lasted a day...)

Whenever we travel, the first thing we look for is a nearby playground. Cadence & I had lots of fun playing at the one near Nana's house in London. Especially since our playgrounds are all buried in snow & so generally only a summertime thing...what a treat to go to the playground in the snow! (and much safer :)) Plus the slides go super fast when they're so cold.


Playing cars on Nana's living room floor. Here is Cadence being a big hill in a park (the green blanket indicates grass). The cars are driving all over & up the hill, etc.


Hanging out & laughing like crazy at Nana's house with Daddy & Uncle Neil, and showing off the Cars shirt & tow truck he got for Christmas from Uncle Neil.


Buckets gifted to Cadence for his first birthday from Aunt Tracey, Uncle Brian, & Hallie & Emillie are great in the snow too! Here we have an entire setup of hand drums, in Nana's driveway.

One of the highlights of our trip to Toronto was the subway. Cadence had been asking for months to go on the subway. When ever we would mention Toronto, he'd talk about how that's where the subway is. So one of the first things we did was take a trip on the subway to the Carrot Common, so mommy & Daddy could do some shopping, & Cadence could have an adventure! Was super fun, plus we got the added bonus of the moving stairs, which are now mentioned with almost as much reverence as the subway when we remember back to our trip.

Santa's coming!!

Ok--been a while, and now our camera's broken so I don't know when we'll have more pics...but an update is definitely in order.

From before our camera broke, one pic only from the NL Santa parade. Cadence got to meet the big Giant Tiger mascot. Very exciting...


And Cadence posing before his little mini-snowman before demolishing it with a sweep of the arm.


This past Friday night was my work Christmas party, so Gramma & Grampa came from Kirkland Lake to babysit & give Drew & I a night out. It all went very smoothly, and then Saturday morning Cadence wouldn't let them leave! So, we explored the idea of him going with Gramma & Grampa, and all were in favour! By 10:30 we had spontaneously packed him off & sent him on his way to KL for a sleepover visit, and then found ourselves at home for a full 24 hours on our own! Cadence did great, no problems at all (I was a bit worried about bedtime or waking in the night without me there, but guess there was no need to worry!) I drove there to pick him up at lunch time, and he was back here in time for us all to decorate the tree. Christmas is officially coming!

All's well here as we get ready and I'm honestly more than ready for the holidays to start. Cadence seems to fully & completely get the whole Santa thing, and we've enhanced the education so far with tv viewings of Frosty &Rudolph. I think the grinch is on tonight. :)