saunders farm in the fall

The Sunday before Halloween we finally made it to Saunders Farm to check out all the Fall activities they host each year. I forgot how much fun it is there at Halloween!


Our weekends have been so busy lately I'm happy that we squeeeeeezed this in.

Somehow after R's hockey practice, and before both kids swimming lessons and R and K taking R's buddy B and his dad Rick, to the Sens game...

We managed to drive out to Saunders to meet Karen, Craig & D and take in...

Many many mazes.
Some orange cotton candy and pumpkin spice whoopie pies.
A jump on the bouncy carpets.
The pumpkin patch hayride and the {super scary} haunted hayride.
A verrrry long play in the {super cool} playground/barn.
The petting zoo.
And the discovery barn.

And of course I took the traditional 'How Tall this Fall' photo...


{but it looks like both kids were distracted by something better happening at the Discovery Barn}!

There are so many other fun things to do at the Farm, but we ran out of time! Next year we will make more time and do it all and more again.

spooky

The boy wanted to be spooky creepy scary this Halloween...
.
When I found a skeleton costume for him he thought it was OK, but it needed a little work.


So he and I found the chains {lovely}. And then the scythe {???} - that is what he calls the thing on the stick {I just call it creepy}. And then I had a very happy boy all ready to go trick or treating with his little sister and his buddy D {that was dressed as a dead zombie hockey goalie}. Spooky...

me hearties

Ahoy ye landlubbers!

Miss S wanted to be a 'pirate princess' for Halloween...

and I'd say she was the cutest little pirate I've ever seen!
Blow the man down...

Avast! Blimey!

{this is when Miss S thought she put a hole in her skirt with her sword...aye aye}
Aye Aye!

She had a great Halloween night trick-or-treating and gathering all her booty.

Fair Winds! Happy Halloween!

freckleface

Miss S has the sweetest little sprinkling of freckles on her cheeks...

I just love them.

bonjour mes amis

Bonjour mes amis

Bonjour,
Bonjour mes amis
Bonjour
Bonjour mes amis,
Bonjour mes amis,
Bonjour mes amis,
Bonjour
Bonne Journee!

Her teacher greets her with a song every day. Miss S loves this french song and sings it over and over and over. {In her Senior Kindergarten class Miss S learns in English one week and in French the next...hopefully some of the French will rub off on me so I can keep up with the kiddies!}

a senior in kindergarten

Here she is, all ready to go.


That sums up Miss S pretty well...ready to go.

Maybe it is because she is the second child, but I haven't worried about her as much. She is ready for school. Ready for her non-parented activities {skating, swimming, gymnastics and Sparks this year}...

Raring to go in fact.

After a quick {thankfully} trip to CHEO early in the morning to get her cast taken off {and this new half cast/tensor thingy put on}, Miss S made it to Senior Kindergarten to meet her new teacher.

And all her classmates.

I just hope they're ready for Miss S.

Look out Senior Kindergarten Class of 2012!

grade two

This is what Grade 2 looks like...

Skateboard shoes and skull backpacks. Board shorts and bubblegum.
Baseball caps and hoodies.
Big boy {sometimes stinky} feet.
He's too cool for good-bye kisses {in front of his friends}. So I have to sneak them in before we leave our house.

He has no time to pose for photos. Unless I bribe reward him with a Lego mini fig {he still loves his Lego, and so do I}

He can't smile for the camera until I tell him embarrassing stories about myself that make him laugh...

But he still gets this cute squeaky voice when he is excited and is telling a really,really long story. He still loves his bedtime stories and wants his back scratched before bed. He still wants to play outside every day or walk to the park after dinner. He still wants to make things with his mommy. He still wants to play hockey, or football, or soccer, or ride his bike or scooter all the time. He is still my big helper.

I still look at him and see my little baby.
I love this kid.

Happy first day of Grade 2 big guy!

last week of summer

To make the most of the last week of summer, I booked a spur of the moment camping trip for the kiddies and I. Our summer has been so much fun, I don't want it to end. I can't believe that soon the kids will be back at school. And hockey try-outs start on the long weekend for R - nothing says end of summer to me like the start of hockey season!

K dropped the kiddies and I off at my favorite campground in the 1000 Islands - the same one the kiddies and I camped at in July - and picked us up a week later.

We pretty much spent the entire week here...

at the pools.This campground is so great for kids. They give you a schedule of activities when you check in, that you can take part in as you like. It's like sleep-away summer camp {but I get to go too}!

You can start every morning with a jumping contest at the pool.

And this week you could tie-dye a t-shirt...

{the kiddies found a cool 'stick bug' by the tie-dye station}

go on the daily 'Water Wars Wagon Rides' around the campground {a huge water fight between the kids on the tractor-pulled wagon and all the other campers - so much fun!}...

make a water yo-yo, get an airbrush tattoo by the pool, have movie nights with popcorn in the main lodge, or outdoor movie nights, etc. Our kids spent hours and hours in the pool daily - they lived in their swimsuits. {Thank goodness for the waterproofing on Miss S's cast - the only downside was having to dry it out each time it got wet!}

A friend of mine and her girls came to spend the week with us in our trailer and the kids had so much fun together. And it was great for me to have someone to have 'margarita happy hour' with at the pool and after the kiddies crashed for the night!

I wish we had more weeks of summer to spend here.

best buddies

R has been best buddies with C since the beginning of JK {since 'forever' if you are 7 years old}.

These two immediately hit it off in their first year of school together, right after we moved here, and all of R's stories from school have always included C. They have always had so much in common, and they got along so well. They were in JK and SK together and then this past year, in Grade 1 they were in different classrooms, but that did not stop them from playing together at every recess. They were on the same hockey team this year, so there were many play dates after the Saturday and Sunday games.

Sadly at the end of this school year C moved to a new city {his dad's company transferred him} and R will miss his buddy...