Happy 400th

Well, she's 400 days old. That's a milestone, right? I thought I'd throw some recent pictures up and update the world on our quiet life. When one takes no holidays, there's simply no reason to blog... but I'll try anyway.

Lily was spoiled with a second first birthday party in Ottawa (her first first birthday party having been in Vernon). Again, out came the chocolate cake and off came her clothes.

As all parties should, this one started with wearing a dumb hat and crying about it.

Licking icing off the candle turned out to be a bad idea, as she took a bite.

'This is gonna be good!"

And behold, it was very good!

Friends helping unwrap an awesome present.

Now our wee child is one and almost out of her 6-month clothes. Time to buy 9-month clothes? (She weighed in at 17.1 pounds at her one-year checkup/stabbing two weeks ago.)

She rather likes the dog's bed.

Tasting her first balloon. Thanks Oma!

Wearing her first helmet. Thanks Grandma!

She doesn't like hats but is tickled about this helmet, especially when I test it by bonking her on the (covered) head. We got a nice bike seat at a garage sale this spring; all we need to do now is actually use it once in a while. No worries though; looks like she'll fit in it for a few years.

She's at the stage where she's pointing at everything and grunting (or something). Her first word was probably "daisy" but she's added "mom" and "ball" to the collection. She recognizes quite a number of words but hasn't bothered to try and say many yet; when she does it's often with her mouth closed, so she gets the syllable count correct but that's about it.

Oh, one of her favourite items is fans. Like ceiling fans. They fascinate her for some reason; on is better than off, but they're all very exciting. One of our weirdest episodes was in North Carolina this past June. We walked into a surf/beach store that happened to have a dozen ceiling fans on, and she just went crazy. I actually had to hold on very tight to keep her from jumping ecstatically out of my arms. What a weirdo.

What else is new? Well, Carrie is leaving her job for a different one for a year and a half; it's called a secondment (temporary transfer) and gives her an acting promotion plus better pay. The new position is downtown, which is farther to walk/bike to now, but it would mean a better bus commute than to her old job if we decided to move, say, next year.

I, on the other hand, spend less time in the basement working and more time upstairs child-watching. We're slowly adjusting to a routine. Lily naps once in the morning so that means my afternoon is shot... ahem, I mean, is spent doing fun stuff or errands with my wonderful daughter. We now understand the potential benefits of living in the suburbs, as we could then use friends to babysit a few days a week. We haven't used a babysitter yet... at all. Don't worry, it's not a weird trust or attachment thing; we just haven't run into the problem yet, as we've just taken her everywhere we go together.

Well, she crawling under my desk looking for spiders to eat so I'll sign off for now.

Okanagan

Toward the end of July it was off to BC for a final holiday with Carrie's family before she went back to work full-time. It was disgustingly hot out there, but at least it wasn't humid. Unfortunately the heat made people want to go to the beach all the time. (I have yet to understand humans and their ridiculous beach urges. Perhaps I'm my own species?)


The whole clan (her side, not mine) showed up and spent a few days together. Mom arranged the every-few-years photo shoot, which is a handy way of making the three of us get a family picture taken for once.


The gang.


A few hikes, some beach time, a round of golf for the guys, and the family photo shoot were a few things to keep the crowd busy. A highlight of one hike in a nearby park was a rattlesnake hiding beside the trail. This experience was, of course, best enhanced by poking it with a stick. It gave us the obligatory rattle and slithered away to find a better place to nap.


August is a time of a zillion birthdays in the family, so we took the opportunity to have a multi-kid party.


Presents abounded...


...as did photos of one-year-old eating birthday cake...

"So... why is my shirt off?"


"Mmmmmm... chocolatey bliss!"


She didn't actually get that dirty. Of course we don't see how much of the cake she's sitting in. Plenty was found (uneaten) in and around her diaper.


Our little one-year-old enjoyed her cousins (this wasn't always reciprocated).


Like her old man, she is not a morning person.


But once those eyes are open, you just get lost in those dark pools.


When the siblings left, Carrie and I did plenty of activities with Dad, like kayaking and hiking. We'd certainly be whipped into shape if we lived nearby.


Carrie and I headed to Kelowna one day for a winery tour. We hit up Mission Hill winery and did a tour along with some wine tasting.


An avid wine disliker, even I participated in the tasting. (Still didn't like it.) Here's me practicing my snob look.


Our time there came to an end all too quickly. And of all the days to fly home, we chose Lily's first birthday; not the best way to celebrate, but she did okay.

Kiosk & Parry Sound

The last week of July we headed out for another little adventure. My sister invited us to visit them at a lakeside cottage they were renting near Parry Sound. We decided to take a couple of days on the way there and do some camping on our own. Between Ottawa and Parry Sound is Algonquin Park, which we could drive either through or around. There are a number of campgrounds on Highway 60 that runs through the park, but I decided that was a little too accessible. So I looked for a more remote option and discovered Kiosk campground. Presumably so named because it sits on Kioshkokwi Lake, it is on the north edge of Algonquin, about half an hour off Highway 17 that passes along the north of the park.

Kiosk has only 24 sites and no bugs! Or maybe we lucked out due to the time of year. The site is a popular starting point for canoe campers overnighting in Algonquin Park. There were only two park staff on duty, and we didn't see them do the rounds once. It was awesome to feel completely unbothered for a change!

We had a massive pull-through site to ourselves, and even our gargantuan tent didn't do much to fill it.


Having to fit everything into the car meant cutting back on some camping items, and so this time we took just a tiny backpacking stove instead of the regular one or the barbeque. It seemed a little odd but it worked. Voilà our kitchen.


Lily had a great time playing in her wing of the tent, which served as a great screened-in nursery.


It got down to 5 degrees overnight, which wasn't so bad except Lily's hands had no protection felt freezing by morning and were rather swollen. Don't worry... we felt sort of bad. Note to self: bring mittens next time we camp in July.

After a couple of days, we packed up and continued to the cottage that awaited us near Parry Sound. It was on a nice quiet little lake with very few neighbours to bother us; it even had a great little sandy beach, complete with a dock and boats.


The only minor issue was the massive trees overhead. They prevented any sun from hitting the beach or dock until 2pm or so. That would be great if it were 30 degrees out but it wasn't that week. Overall though, a nice spot to relax for a few days.


Creemore, who puts up with ear and eyelid pulling much better than Daisy does.


Lily didn't take to the water like Carrie hoped she would, but she did get wet a time or two.

July long weekend

I'm way behind in posting about any goings-on, but that's nothing new. So I'll cheat and do a bunch in a row. And it's tempting to backdate them but I'm resisting.

First a tiny post about way back in June/July. There has begun a tradition amongst a group of our friends to go camping on Canada Day long weekend. This means missing the celebrations in Ottawa, but we've done that stuff and will probably have the opportunity again some day. So this year it was off to Sharbot Lake. It's only a 1.5-hour drive or so which is pretty close compared to some spots we've gone to.

The kid count this year doubled to four, which of course changes the way one camps to some extent. Fortunately many babysitter hands make light work. And a little kennel always helps.


Our car is getting kind of small for all our camping junk, so we snagged some space on a trailer that one family brought along. Cheaper than us buying a minivan!

It rained quite a bit. This is fine once you're ready for it, but setting up in the rain isn't very fun. Which is why we got there second, giving the first arriving family time to put up their insanely large tarp in the rain. Thanks guys!


Besides a crazy downpour or two, the weather was okay, but probably not as warm as some would have liked. Some swimming was accomplished, as was some fishing, as was some cigar-smoking whilst watching others fish.




Not many photos got taken, so obviously I have little to write about. That wraps up this sad little post!