Thank God I'm A Country Boy

Karen here.

Last week I went to visit my parents for a few days. Above you see Magnus on the garden tractor with my mum. She took us for a ride in the trailer that attaches to the garden tractor, and Magnus had a grand time zipping around the lawn.

The fam got together at my mum's house for dinner one night. It was a really nice visit, especially with Magnus as entertainment.

Magnus and Jacoba

 Num num chicken bone

Yes, that's Magnus gnawing on a chicken bone. My mother's idea of fun. It certainly entertained him all through dinner. In fact, on this visit he found a number of interesting things to gnaw on.

Skipping rope

Yes, that's a plunger

We also went to visit one of my cousins, Renee, who lives in the area. Her 3 boys were really good with Magnus. But it was his facination with Renee's coffee cup that got us going. :)

The new cup game

But what made me the happiest was how much fun my mum had with Magnus. It was a laughter filled few days. :)

Chubby cheeks

A Nice Weekend

Karen here.

We had a nice weekend this past weekend. We've been super busy ever since we got back from Halifax (oh that never ending to do list seems to just grow and grow and grow). So this past weekend we took a day to breathe.

Once a year Matt goes to a rugby match: Canada vs. someone. This year it was Scotland. Matt always has a gaggle of buddies who attend the match (yes gaggle because by then end of the day most of them can't walk straight and rather waddle like a goose!), but this year only 3 guys went. And one of them also has a new baby, so they were all a little more in control than normal. But it was Matt's day to let loose and enjoy hanging with his friends in the hot sun. They had a really great time and were asleep by 10pm! Wowsers!

While the cat was away, the mice shall play, n'est pas? Well, since Matt was gone most of the day, I invited a girlfriend over to hang out on the deck. We got a little sun and had a lovely lunch. But what was really nice was how much my friend, Jen, enjoyed hanging out with Magnus and how he enjoyed hanging out with her! He's been choosier as to who is a lucky recipient of his famed wide mouth smiles. And he's even choosier as to who can hold him. But he warmed up to Jen very quickly. :)

In fact, we captured them playing together.

And just this past week Magnus has started turning the pages in the books we read. So I also captured them reading together.

So cute! I love that he loves to be read to!

The next day, Sunday, was a whole other matter. Yes, it was Father's Day, but we spent the day tidying up and running errands etc. Oh, plus we looked at a few houses. Yeah, there is that. We are officially house hunting. So time consuming. Hence Saturday was a rare treat and it did us a world of good. :)

Better To Live On Your Knees Than Die On Your Feet

Karen here.

So so so excited!

Gotta hang the baby gates now. Thanks again Jud and Jill. :)

Magnus is 7 Months Old!

Karen here.

On June 1, Magnus turned 7 months old.

He's now a very busy boy. He's mastered sitting up and is still creeping to get around. He just never seems to sit still!

Never In One Spot

He's managed to get into a few predicaments that he needs help getting out of. Mostly when he traverses backwards. Or when he tries to sit up where there is a barrier.

Stuck

Plus, he is oh so curious about EVERYTHING! If it's at his level or in his domain, he scopes it out.

Pulling All the Books Off the Shelf

Pulling Everything Out of the Laundry Basket

Everything still goes in the mouth of course. But he's always looking for something new to play with. He gets this look on his face like, "been there, done that" when you try to offer him his very familiar toys. So each late afternoon in the witching hour before bed, I usually give him a new kitchen utensil to gum. And speaking of gums, he just got his first tooth. No picture to share though (sorry - it has barely crested the surface). :)

At his 6 month check up, he was a few days shy of 7 months, a result of our later than planned return to Toronto. But I am happy to report he is still huge and in excellent health (he can only wear 12 month clothes now). However, he only gained 2 pounds in the last 2.5 months. He's lost a bit of the chubbiness, which is great cuz he was getting like the marshmallow man. This kid can eat!

Gnawing on frozen blueberries

Farewell to Nova Scotia!!!

We are heading west!  Unlike the Raz clan's trip west in '86, there will be NO Dan Seals and no playing of "Be Bop With You Baby" or "Heading West" every time we get in the vehicle.  Amazing how, after 18 years, those songs still leave such horrible scars on my psyche... maybe my sibs and I can get a group therapy discount.  (note to sibs: I suggest we wait until Trina is back this summer before we do our annual candle lighting at the Basilica in memoriam to the '86 trip).

Karen attempted to compile a list of what will and will not be missed from our little East Coast Adventure:

We will miss:

• the water view from our living room with all of the sunrises and all the ships and military 'copters
• having the most bars per capita (even though we didn't hit them all, we gave it a good shot)
• living in the same city as Karen's brother Adam 
• having a reliable babysitter (thanks again Adam and Lauren!)
• Matt's 10 minute walk to work 
• Magnus's special grey chair in the unit (thank goodness we had it cuz we didn't bring a playpen) 
• 2 farmer's markets and 2 breweries within a 5 minute walk 
• a liquor store in our basement that offers discounts to residents (better prices  than the breweries!)
• a dishwasher that works well 
• the summer in Halifax we did not get to experience

We will not miss:

• the rain and the wind (umbrellas were not invented for Halifax weather, for sure!)
• the lack of road signs (some streets don't have signs!!!)
• the barely visible road signs
• the copious and deep potholes
• inconsiderate drivers (inconsiderate to their fellow drivers, that is) who stop unexpectedly for random pedestrians, who don't turn right on reds, and don't know the rules of regarding one-way streets (in a city filled with one-way streets!)
• (FYI, Karen did have to drive to the gym 4-5 per week)

What we're looking forward to:

• our king size bed
• an extra long weekend at the cottage
• seeing family and friends

Uncle Mac keeping it real with the younger generation

Er, Owen, and (hiding) Sierrra, hanging with a pre-Halifax Magnus

• Jack Johnson concert at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
• a Sunday run in High Park (Matt)
• getting back to the gym consistently (Karen - sleep training reduced how often she can get there - but our Toronto gym has much better daycare hours!)

See you soon!

Our Last Weekend in Halifax

Karen here.

On our last weekend in Halifax, we still had a few touristy things to cross off our list. We were lucky to once again have a beautiful Saturday. 17 degrees!!! We took advantage and went for a walk (timed well with Magnus's morning nap). Our destination was the Halifax Citadel, a national historic site. However, we stopped on the way for brunch where we lapped up the sunshine on the patio sans jackets!!!

Saturday sunshine

We were right around the corner from the Citadel, so after brunch and a few bevies we headed up the hill.

Aerial view (no I did not take this picture - I stole it from the internet)

Yup. We pushed the stroller up that hill. It was a wonder that people were running up the hill, and then Matt declared, "Hey, I've run up this hill!". He was quite proud actually. :) When we finally made it to the top, we met this beautiful entryway.

Named entrance

It was really neat to see the fort. You can imagine an army cresting the hill only to have to scale a second wall! Just like in the fantasy novels I read.

Doubly walled

 I especially liked how the walls are 'buildings'.

One entryway to an outer wall building

Grass roof of inner wall building

Matt and I had fun exploring. We hoped to take a tour, but it's still not tourist season. We made our own fun though. :)

100 lbs over the head! (not really)

 

Strike a pose!

Who has the bigger guns?

And Magnus slept through the whole thing!

Awake after a 3 hour nap!

Well, after all that walking and exploring, we were thirsty. We headed down to the water on our way home for a seat on a patio at the water's edge. Magnus got to sit in his very first high chair!!!

First high chair

And he tried his first pouch of baby food. So easy to travel with!

Suckin' away

When we got home later that afternoon we had to treat our sunburns. :(  After Magnus had gone down for the night, my brother Adam and his girlfriend Lauren showed up so Matt and I could have one last date night in town. There was ONE thing we wanted to do on the east coast and we hadn't yet done it.

Roger pre-meal

Ernie pre-meal

Yup. We were lobster virgins. We named our lobsters Roger and Ernie and trepidaciously dove in. We had been told by many an East Coaster that the tail and claws were really good, and our waiter told us that if we wanted to be adventurous we could eat the body too. Umm, that's a loud NO! Matt just went for it. I, however, took my sweet time (it was really hard to get the meat out). Part of it was that I was a bit weirded out. I know. I know. I grew up on a farm. Still. It was weird.  

Floss a la Roger

Ernie post meal

So a life long goal had been accomplished - eat fresh lobster on the coast. :) Then we headed off to a pub for some live music.A great date night.

A Trip to Peggy's Cove

Karen here.

Prior to coming to Halifax, I had heard of one place to go: Peggy's Cove. I didn't know anything about it other than it was a popular tourist spot. And lucky us, it was less than an hour's drive from our place, so the weekend after Easter we hopped in the car for a day trip.

We decided to drive along the coast, and unlucky me, I got car sick. It has only happened one other time during all our trips in and around Halifax, so I guess I shouldn't complain. But most of our other drives haven't involved super twisted and curvy roads!!!

Anyway, the drive was beautiful and we had a warm day. No coats! Woo hoo!

When we arrived at our destination (after a brief stop so I could recover - memories of Mary Beth driving me around the 'mountain' at Westport!) we were greeted with the following scene.

The famous lighthouse

View of the coast

Rocks? Who knew? But boy, were they ever fun to climb around on. Magnus even came along for the ride!

My adventurous men

Me as close to the edge as I dare!

You can see from the pictures that it was a fairly calm day. I guess it's supposed to be spectacular on a windy day when the waves are huge and they crash against the rocks in majestic sprays. We caught a glimpse of what that would be like.

Water Rising

Did you see how quickly the water rose? Or maybe not cuz I ran away from the edge while filming. :)  We were astounded. There are signs posted all over the place to not go on the black rocks due to how quickly the water can come in. Many a life has been lost on these rocks. So we tried to be careful yet adventurous on our trek.

We also walked into the town of Peggy's Cove where about 30 people live year round when there were 300 at its peak. A real fishing and lobstering community.

Another great adventure. :)