Off to the lake

We are heading to Deep Lake, WA tomorrow morning...our annual vacation destination (my in-laws have property there). It's so wonderful out there and we are very lucky to have a place like this to go to every summer. Can't wait! Austin is super excited to go this year and has been counting down the sleeps. He remembers things about last summer that we had forgotten. Pretty good for only being 3! He never ceases to amaze me!
Stay tuned for pics.
Happy Summer Everyone!

My Little Goof Ball

Austin was being all goofy for the camera one afternoon while we

were hanging out in the backyard.

But I did manage to snap this one...

Baby Rozema

Congratulations to Erica & James on the birth of their baby boy this morning. Can't wait to meet him! Wishing you all the best! *HUGS*

Update: Baby details: Cohen Blair Rozema born June 26th at 10:54 am 5 lbs 8 3/4 oz

Soccer Wind-up

Austin had is soccer wind-up yesterday. They played against the purple team at 5:30; Austin did awesome! He has really come around since those first couple practices. I think he's even a little sad that it's over for the year. The coaches gave them all Soccer star certificates and I actually just got an email saying that they have medals for all the kids as well. So that was nice. After the game there was juice and hot dogs for everyone and bouncy castles for the kids to play in. It was really well put together. So proud of my little guy for conquering his nervousness and getting out there. Good job Buddy!!

A visit with the girls

My cousin Erica invited all of us girl cousins over to her place in Airdrie on the 20th. The only one missing was my sister Nicole. Wish she didn't live so far away! Yvanna suggested we make it a potluck so we all brought a little something to munch on. In all honesty there was enough food to feed and army, but we put a good dent in it. Guess it helped having two pregnant ladies amongst us! Just kidding! I think I ate the most out of everyone! haha

We had a really nice visit and I hope we make it a habit of getting together more often. I'm really lucky to have such great cousins in my life.

Thanks for the great afternoon ladies!

Yvanna, Angela, Erica, Me

Newman, Shannon, Angela, Erica, Me

Sisters

They both look amazing!

LOVE STORY (Taylor Swift) meets VIVA LA VIDA (Coldplay)

Discovered this video by Jon Schimdt on another blog. He is just amazing!

Here's his website: http://www.jonschmidt.com/catalog/index.php?osCsid=27085bab2f38afa1c164528c4d5e2f40

Day 3 ~ San Fransisco, California

Our final day in San Fransisco. We had purchased our Alcatraz tour tickets on the first day we were there as they sell out quickly. We got up early, packed up, got ready, had another yummy breakfast, checked out and got the hotel to store our luggage, and headed down to Pier 33 for our 11:30am Alcatraz departure. It was a beautiful day, probably the hottest one since we'd arrived. John got quite the sunburn. We toured around Alcatraz for a couple hours, it was really interesting to learn the history of the place. Wish we could have gone on a weekday as it was pretty busy, people walking in every which direction. Was interesting to learn that some of the families of the people who worked on Alcatraz actually lived on the island!

The cells.

The views were amazing!


I loved all the different plant life on Alcatraz. They have volunteers that take care of all
the vegetation.



It was definitely something you have to see at least once in your lifetime...even if you do get pooped on by one of the thousands of birds that now use Alcatraz as a nesting ground. lol
Note to self, bring a hat to Alcatraz (actually most of it landed on the jacket I was carrying thank goodness!)

After our Alcatraz experience, we decided to try and find a couple souvenirs to take home for Austie. It was trickier than we thought...gave up on the idea of finding something authentically made in San Fran...everything is made in China, surprise surprise.

Then it was off to lunch at the Rainforest Cafe...we'd never been to one. It was ok. I can see us taking Austin to one someday.

The day had flown by and it was time to grab our luggage and head to the airport. We were both pretty exhausted by this point so we were looking forward to a nice quiet ride to the airport...well weren't we in for a treat when we got the chattiest cab driver I've ever met in my life. Don't think he stopped talking the whole time! haha. He even gave us his homemade business card. Dave Schneider is his name. Very nice guy just really lonely I think.

We arrived at the airport safely, Thanks Dave! Got through security quickly and then it was time to sit, relax and wait. Our flight with United was supposed to depart at 8:00pm but once again it was delayed...not too sure what time we actually got in the air. I'd definitely suggest flying West Jet if you can...not only because of the delays but with United you have to pay extra for checked bags. Crazy hey?!

Got a beautiful view of San Fransisco and surrounding areas as we took off.

What a great trip! Memories to last a lifetime!

Thanks John! You are the best!

San Fransisco, CA ~ Day 2

How nice is it to wake up at your own leisure?

Well, I'll tell you... it was f-a-n-t-a-s-t-i-c!

It's something we all definitely take for granted before we havechildren. So that is how we started out our second day in wonderful San Fransisco, California. We didn't have any set plans for the day but had an idea of the things we wanted to accomplish. Enjoyed the breakfast buffet once again, so darn good. We had decided we wanted to do the Hop On - Hop Off Double Decker Sightseeing Tour. Basically you can get off at any of the 7 stops along the way (if you want) tour around, have lunch, whatever, and then catch one of the next buses. The pass is good all day (you can get 2 day passes as well) and if you stay on for the complete tour it's about 90 minutes. Definitely worth it. We got on at the Fisherman's Wharf stop just down the street from our hotel. On the way to Stop 2 - Golden Gate Bridge we saw Ghiradelli Square, Marina District, and the Presidio National Park. We had a 10 minute photo stop at the Golden Gate Bridge. The views were fantastic. It's a pretty amazing bridge, built in 1937. I didn't realize that you have to pay a toll to cross this famous landmark. A lot of the money made goes to keeping the bridge painted and looking beautiful.

Then it was on to Golden Gate Park. We didn't get to stop here but our guide told us that it is amongst the world's greatest urban parks. It's approximately 3 miles long and half a mile wide. It sounds amazing and I hope to one day go back to explore.

It was then on to Union Square. On the way we got to admire San Fransisco's Victorian homes neighbourhood, also known as San Fransisco's painted ladies due to the great gingerbread work and attractive facades. We drove by a set of Victorians, near Alamo Square that are amongst the most popular as they are featured in a number of TV shows and movies and are one of the most photographed group of Victorian homes. (First photo, bottom right hand corner.)

Oh, and I must say that I would absolutely not survive in this city as a bus driver! The tight squeezes and sharp turns these people have to make with these huge double decker buses is a feet in itself! Not too mention driving up and down the super steep streets in this city.

We drove by San Fransisco's City Hall which is one of the finest I've seen. It has quite an interesting history. It's the building in the next set of photos, far right; middle. Judge for yourself. I love the architecture and detail in all the buildings in San Fran. So unique.

Oh yes, and in the photo top right...had to take a picture of the guy with a rat, on top of a cat, on top of a dog...hmmmm. I believe this was at Union Square, our next stop.

Union Square is fantastic (I know I use this word a lot haha) but it is. There were SO many people! Wish I would've taken a picture of all the people! It was crazy! It has every store imaginable from Macy's to Louis Vuitton. This wasn't a shopping trip for me but one day I hope to go back and explore Union Square a little more. From here you can also go explore Chinatown and San Fran's Financial District.

Then it was on to North Beach and Little Italy. Points of interest at this stop: Lombard Street: San Fran's crookedest street. So imagine a crooked street....now imagine it crookeder (not sure if this a a word but seriously). The speed limit on this street is 5, yes I said 5 mph!! Here's a link to a picture of Lombard Street, we only got to see the view from the top.

http://www.executiveedge.com.au/themes/executiveedge/images/issue8/lombard-street.jpg

Then on to Alcatraz landing, the departure point for the ferries that take tourists to Alcatraz. Speaking of Alcatraz, if you plan on taking the tour, and it's a weekend, get your tickets the day you get there, they sell out fast! Located at Pier 33.

Last stop and where we disembarked: Pier 39, which we had explored the day before (thank goodness). It was amazing how much busier it was Saturday compared to Friday. We were so grateful we toured around this area the day before, there were hordes of people here when we got off the tour bus. Groups of people watching artists paint or getting their pictures taken with the guys that spray paint themselves silver and pretend to be statues. You name it, San Fransisco has it!

Here's pictures from our bus tour.

Click on the pictures to enlarge.

The palm trees in the next picture are along The Embarcadero, which runs all along Fisherman's Wharf. The other shots are of different trees that were around when we were waiting in line for the cable car on Hyde Street, our next stop. I love the different trees and shrubs and flowers they have down there. The tree in the top right corner was so beautiful, the picture next to it is the same tree zoomed in. The top left is looking down towards the beach.

As we are walking towards the Hyde Street cable car, which is the most popular of routes to take by cable car, John says to me "Look Mel!" and what do I see...a huge group of naked mountain bikers!! Not too sure what that was all about but I had to snap a picture for sure! lol See for yourself: next picture, top left. Other discoveries on our walk, was the Boudin Bakery. A 30-foot observation window lets you see a team of experts crafting batches of sourdough bread by hand. I thought it was pretty neat the animals they had created out of sourdough so of course I had to take some pictures.


I was super excited to go on the cable car! Tickets were $5 one way or you can buy day passes I believe. This cable car line is one of the most popular as it goes straight down to Union Square, so the line up was pretty long, but moved faster than I expected. Helped that there was a gentleman playing his guitar to entertain us the whole time (sarcasm)...too bad he only really knew about 3 songs...and another problem was that people kept giving him money when he would walk around with his hat so then in turn he would keep playing. And can't forget about the guy that got chained to a light pole in a straight jacket and showed us his escape routine then wanted money from everyone. There's all kinds in San Fran!

Riding the cable car was great. Got to see a lot of sites as we went up and down the steep San Fransisco streets. We rode all the way to the end of the line, Union Square, got off, saw the line up for the return trip was even longer than the line up we waited in to begin with, and decided to walk up a bit. I think we maybe walked up 2 stops and got on no problem. This time I got to stand on the outside holding onto the pole. So much more fun!


The ride back was quite a bit more exciting as we got stuck at the bottom off one of the super steep hills and the conductor guy or whatever you call him had to call for the truck to come push us up the hill! Must happen frequently if they have a big truck just for this purpose! Took a picture of us getting pushed up the hill; top left hand corner pic.

Taking a ride on a cable car is a must do in San Fransisco.
I loved it!

Afterwards we headed back to our hotel and went swimming and sat in the hot tub. So relaxing. Had a great dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe that night.

Here's short clip of the cable car ride.
Tried to upload a video of the cable car being turned around at the end of the line but it was too big. Too bad, I wanted you to hear the electric guitar guy. lol

End of Day 2.

Surprise Birthday Trip to San Fransisco ~ The Flight & Day 1

We are going to San Fransisco!! John totally surprised me with this trip for my 30th birthday. I thought we were just going to have a nice quiet family day. Do I not have the best husband in the world?! I think so!!

We flew out of Calgary around 7pm, Thursday June 11th on United Airlines. Our flight was originally supposed to depart at 6:20pm, so it was a little delayed but not too bad. It was a quick flight which was nice, especially since we were both anxious to get there!

...

San Fransisco is an hour ahead, so we arrived at our hotel a little after 9pm, checked in and went for something to eat (we were both starving) at the hotel restaurant "knuckles at the wharf". It was very enjoyable, had a great atmosphere, and was where we ate every morning at the breakfast buffet which was included in the package John booked through expedia. Ate way too much but it was so delicious and totally worth it!!

... Our awesome hotel HYATT at Fisherman's Wharf. 555 North Point Street, San Fransisco, CA
http://www.fishermanswharf.hyatt.com/

The next day (June 12th) we woke up around 9 o'clock, got ready and headed down to breakfast. I could totally get used to eating the scrumptious breakfast buffet every day. Yum!

After gorging ourselves we decided to take a stroll and headed down to the piers of Fisherman's Wharf. You definitely know when you've located all the little sea food shops...the smell is something else lol. Neither one of us are huge sea food eaters so we continued on our ventures. We came across this old Naval Warship, the S.S Jeremiah and decided to take the self guided tour. I mean how often do you come across one of these monstrous ships in a lifetime? We both really enjoyed it. The breeze off the bay was so refreshing and rejuvenating. Plus the views from some of the upper decks were breathtaking and provided some really great photo opps.

http://www.ssjeremiahobrien.org/

I love that our trip was so casual and relaxed. We were on our own schedule and could do whatever we wanted. The pictures below show Fisherman's Wharf, Fishermen's Grotto which is along the sea food strip, and an old arcade game which was amongst a huge collection of old (some very old) arcade machines in a building that we came across on our journeys, and a huge carousel at Pier 39. There was just so much to see!


That afternoon we decided to stop at the Hard Rock Cafe for refreshments. We had the greatest waitress (she ID'd me, YAY!) and it was just nice to sit back and relax. The next evening we went back to the Hard Rock for dinner and happened to get the same waitress, and you know, she even remembered what we had ordered the previous day...now that is a good waitress...that place is busy! Needless to say we tipped her well.


Back to our journey's on Friday. I absolutely loved the sea lions! They started arriving after the 1989 earthquake and in the winter months the populations of sea lions can grow as high as 600! I enjoyed watching them bark and bite at each other, protecting their territory and pushing each other into the water.

After exploring and seeing all the different things there was to do down at Fisherman's Wharf we decided to check out the Aquarium at the Bay. We thoroughly enjoyed it. The aquarium has 20,000 of San Fransisco's amazing marine animals.
http://www.aquariumofthebay.com/

Next we hit the Wax Museum. I had never been to one so this was a new and interesting experience for me. At times I found it creepy but overall enjoyed it. It has over 275 different personalities. Below you will notice John and I trying out the electric chair. It was hilarious. You sit down, and it starts powering up, then suddenly blasts you with air. Freaky! lol
http://www.waxmuseum.com/

...

Then it was on to the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum. We didn't have a whole lot of time left before we had to get back to our hotel and get ready for dinner at this point so we did a quick tour here. It was pretty good. Lots of reading! It was neat to see some of the things that I had seen on the Ripley's TV show back when it was aired. Click on the pictures to enlarge them and you can read some of the plaques. It's crazy what some people have done with different things.

http://www.ripleysf.com/

Part of my surprise trip was tickets to a Dinner Cruise on the Bay. After the Ripley's museum we headed back to the hotel to unwind and get ready for our 3 hour cruise around the bay. This was an amazing experience and I would recommend it to anyone. Not only did we get to cruise under the Golden Gate Bridge just after sunset, but we had an amazing four course dinner. Nothing quite like seeing the skyline of San Fransisco while eating an amazing dinner. After dessert (which was so good I can almost taste it now) we took our drinks to the upper deck as we were cruising under the Bay Bridge that was beautifully lit up. Memories that will definitely last us a lifetime. Thinking about it now makes we wish I could do it again!

http://www.hornblower.com/

After the cruise we walked back to our hotel (from pier 3 to 39!).

It was a gorgeous night. I seriously had the best time!

...

The End of Day One.

30?!? Seriously?!?

Wow! I seriously can't believe I turned 30 years old a week ago today. Holy Crap! Where does the time go?! Oh well I heard that 30 is the new 20 so I guess it can't be that bad =) ...plus I've already been ID'd 3 times since turning the big 3-0...once when buying lottery tickets and twice down in San Fransisco, so that made me feel a little better lol.

My parents came up for my birthday this year (John had to work as we were leaving on my surprise birthday trip to San Fran the next day) and I specifically told my mom that I didn't need a cake or anything...so later we were playing baseball outside with Austin and he says that he and Grandma are going to bake me a cake (not true), so I told him that I didn't want a cake and his response was "Birthdays need cake!!" So off to DQ my parents went to get me a birthday cake...and man was it ever yummy!

Thanks everyone for the wonderful day! xox

Some pics of Austin and his Daddy

Just a few pics I snapped the other day when John and Austin were playing trains, which then turned into the blast off game. I love watching them giggle and laugh together as they create their own special games...one of them being Mr. Spider. John's hand becomes a spider who talks and they go from there. John bouncing Austin really high down the hall is another one of Austin's favorites...once upon a time I was strong enough to do that one haha.

They have so much fun together.

The Urban Treehouse

Once again Jen invited Austin and I to go to the Urban Treehouse out in Airdrie with her and Alysha. Jen's Aunt works there occasionally and gets free passes which she passes on to Jen. It's a great place to take the kids and sit and have a coffee while they play. Austin loves the Thomas trains of course and fishing in the "pond". After, we took the kids for lunch and then did a bit of shopping. It was a lot of fun. Below is a picture of Austin & Alysha at the Treehouse back in March of 2008. Like how I tried to replicate the photo the 2nd time we went. lol

This video has nothing to do with the Urban Treehouse but I knew I had to share it when I came across it while looking for the picture above. It was taken back on January 30, 2008. Enjoy!

Austin & Alysha

May 29, 2009
Had to snap a few pictures on one of the last days that I would be babysitting Alysha. Austin and her had gotten along pretty well right from the start a year and a half ago. Here's a picture of the 2 of them from January 17, 2008, a couple weeks after I started babysitting her. Look at how little they were!

Where has the time gone?

Daddy & Austin were horsing around one night, giving zerberts I believe it was lol, when I had a flashback to when Austin was a baby and I had taken a picture of them together nose to nose. So of course I wanted to try and replicate this photo almost 4 years later...this is what we ended up with...not perfect but you get the idea. Hard to believe Austin will be 4 this year. Seems like it was just yesterday that we brought him home from the hospital...

Roary the Racing Car

One of Austin's favorite TV shows right now is one called Roary the Racing Car...cars with faces that talk and race around...he's watched it a zillion times. So we found it very fitting when John decided to blow up Austin's new pool that his Nana & Nonno had given him for Christmas, and found that it was a car pool. How perfect! Right away Austin started calling him Roary...but this pool is Roary after he's had a paint job because the one from the show is red he explains. What a great imagination this kid has! I love it! He's sure to have hours and hours of fun with Roary this summer!

Camping

Getting bored of all the same old activities, games and books one day, Austin and I decided to set up his play tent in the living room. Austin had a blast watching movies from the comfy bed, playing, and eating yummy frozen yogurt in his tent after dinner. It was definitely a hit and I wasn't the least bit surprised when he wanted the tent moved to his room that night so he could sleep in it. He ended up not being able to fall asleep that night which is odd for him so I got the brilliant idea to get out our portable DVD player and put on a movie for him. Worked like a charm, as you can see from the pictures, because the next time we checked on him he was completely passed out sprawled across his air mattress.

How do you like my new light?!?

I finally got my new light!! I absolutely love it!

Almost forgot to take a picture of the old eye sore, but you can get the idea.

A much needed improvement.

Soccer

We decided to put Austin in soccer this year since we noticed that he has a pretty good kick on him and he liked to kick the ball around the backyard. Sounds like a good idea right?! Ok so the first practice/game didn't go over so well. There was a lot of crying and saying he didn't want to play soccer ever again. I was thinking it was hopeless, especially again a few days later after the attempt at soccer team and individual photos which by the way didn't happen. No amount of bribing could convince Austin to have his picture taken...no big deal. The next week went a little better and Austin got out there as the goalie and made some pretty good saves (see video at the end of this blog). He seems to enjoy it most of the time now although he still gets frustrated and stomps off when he doesn't do well (hmmm wonder who he gets that from? lol) but he now gets excited to go to soccer which is a huge improvement. I think his confidence is growing.

Good job Austin! We are so proud of you!

A visit from Auntie Colie, Adam & Ava

Austin's Auntie Colie made the trip down from Saskatoon on May 15th. She brought along her boyfriend Adam and his adorable 2 year old little girl Ava. We all had a nice visit although it was a short one. Mom and Dad came up for the day as well which was nice. Austin and Ava had fun playing together. We can't wait to go to Saskatoon for a visit and to see their brand new house that is being built!

Austin's Room

Took some pics of Austin's room so that he can look back on them when he's older. Hoping his love for the Cars movie stays strong for a while. I think they're making a sequel so maybe that will help...fingers crossed. lol

Day Out With Thomas

We took Austin to see Thomas again this year at Heritage Park. He still LOVES Thomas and plays with his trains all the time at home. The weather wasn't as good this year, pretty cold and rainy but we still had fun. Plus we got to meet up with my cousin Michele and her husband and kids which was nice. Austin was so cute after we went for our 3 laps around Heritage Park with Thomas pulling us in his coaches, he says as we are leaving "Uh oh! I forgot to tell Thomas thanks for the ride!" Is that not cute?!

Here's a couple videos. The first 2 are of Austin the Engineer. He's controlling the little Thomas train. I think he would've stayed there all day if he could. The last one is Austin on the train ride. It was pretty cold and started raining but we still had fun.