Semi-monthly photo update: July-August 2012

Lots of fun these past two months.  There are a bunch of photos below.

The new au pairs are working out nicely.  Since early July we've had three days each week of child care. Despite the extra time we still feel run off our feet.  I've been spending most of my child care time working even though I'm on parental leave.  I've also taken some time to catch up on my armchair punditry blogging.  Greta has been doing everything else required to keep the house together (including cooking for two additional adults), plus a huge amount of canning and freezing (strawberry jam, concord grape jam, concord grape juice, peach chutney, crab apple sauce, etc.).

We've also been agonizing over what to do with our lives and where to live while we're doing it.  Greta has been drawing 3D models of our house in Google Sketchup so we can better visualize our dream house or potential renovations to our current house.  We've also been looking at real estate in the middle of nowhere.

Max and Darwyn are proceeding apace.  Darwyn has entered super-cute phase.  She still cannot sit up by herself.  She loves to watch Max and play with plants.  A regular nap schedule is slowly emerging.  On good days she'll take two or three long naps, which makes life much easier for everyone.  Max is in the process of dropping his afternoon nap, which makes for some trying times.  His potty training has improved dramatically but he still has the occasional accident.

Our new au pairs acting naturally for the camera up at the river.

Max and Ella on our backyard swing (before it broke).  Some cute photos to follow below.

Ella dumps sand onto Max's head.  Both kids thought this was hilarious.  We heard about it for days.

Ella's brother Daxton is 10 weeks older than Darwyn.  I like this shot of him.

Our drowned rat of a dog up at the river.  I like this shot.

Max got to ride a pony at the farm where we play soccer up near the river.  That was cool.

Greta carried all this food and Max on her bike...with some help from the chariot of course.

Max's first tinkertoy construction.

Max was a little uneasy about the water...

...as you can see.

Amolia holds Darwyn.  Amolia and her sister Marie-Sol are Max's friends up at the river.

Marie-Sol holds Max while Amolia holds Drawyn.  They love our kids and we love it when they love our kids.

Max hijacks a grass-cutter from the University of Waterloo

On this morning's dog walk Max spotted a UW groundskeeper mowing the lawn with a gigantic grass-cutter.  He stopped for a lunch break so Max and I moseyed over for a peek.  The guy offered to let Max "drive" the grass-cutter while he ate his lunch.  After some deliberation, Max accepted.  We didn't have our camera.  But the groundskeeper had his Blackberry.  He was kind enough to snap a few photos and then e-mail them to me.  The least I can do is post them for the world to see.

Ottawa and back again

The James-Gutoski family recently managed a trip to Ottawa to visit Grandma Sandi and Grandpa James.  We were a little nervous about our first long drive with Darwyn, but everything went incredibly smoothly.  I'm sure this was due to our new Au pairs, Kathrin and Dennis, who manned the children through most of the drive.

Our new Au pairs Kathrin and Dennis, enjoying Grandma's pond.

Darwin blows bubbles, a favorite pass time.

Good times were had by all.  Kathrin and Dennis got a chance to visit Canada's capital.  Grandma and Grandpa were very welcoming, with lots of good food and a yard which Dennis though suitable for castle grounds.  Max was very excited about the waterfall, the sandbox with the large dump truck and the hot tub.  We also took outings to the library, children's museum and the beach.  At all 3 locations, Max spent most of the time trying to find trucks.  More surprising is that he managed to find them all 3 times!  Unfortunately, many of the trucks at the children's museum were behind glass which caused Max all sorts of concern.

Max: Should we play with these trucks?

Greta: We can't play with them honey.  They are just for looking at.

Max: We could open this cupboard (referring to the glass cabinet they were displayed in).

Greta:  The cupboard is locked Max.

Max:  We could get a drill and undo these screws.

Greta:  I think we would get in trouble.

Max: We could get a hammer.

Greta: I think that would also get us in trouble.

I guess Max just couldn't figure out what good trucks were if you kept them locked behind glass.  A sentiment I share wholeheartedly.

Max and Dad at Carelton Place beach.  Max is trying out a
life jacket for the first time this year and loving it!

Kathrin tosses Max in the hot tub