Spring Ski Bunnies!

Last weekend Shaun swept Sam and I off to a weekend in the mountains.  We took advantage of the WestJet ski day sale and spent the day at Lake Louise.  As we were leaving the city, and there was a large ugly sky and snow coming down, we second guessed our choice in hitting the slopes.  However, by the time we parked at Louise, it was -2 with a huge sunny blue sky.  Couldn't have been a more perfect day.

Like the blind leading the blind... makes for lots of excitement!

My boys on their way back from an emergency potty break!

Silly happy boy!

Another try... I look all business but I promise I did have fun.  I was just doing all I could to focus on not falling and smashing my child!

Sam and I took a break to let Dad do a real run from the top.  We built a couple mini-snowmen (apparently that's a little frowned upon on the ski hill), threw some snowballs, had a snack and took some selfies!

 We decided that three runs were enough on our first day out as a family.  After lunch, Shaun went for one more and then we headed to Banff to continue our family fun weekend.  Shaun booked us into a beautiful room at the Rimrock, where we showered away our toque hair and changed out of snowpants.  We took the shuttle down town to avoid the slightly annoying parking situation in Banff.  Had a lovely supper and view of main street from Tony Roma's, hit up the candy store and a quick stop at Lulu just in time for Sam to pass out on Shaun's shoulder for the bus ride home.  Early bed also meant, EARLY to rise but no big deal.

My crazy little leprechaun having a couple last bounces on the bed before we left.

A Sunny Sunday in the Snow

A couple weeks ago with the sun shining on our backs, we decided to take advantage of the little snow that was left and play in the back yard.  We threw snowballs, piled snow and I tried out Sam's snow block maker.  SOOO FUN!

Mom working hard on the igloo... both in making it and trying to convince Sam to not destroy it!

My boy in the igloo.  He has a snowball maker in his hands... PERFECTLY ROUND snowballs!!!  Awesome.  

And then it happened... he butt dropped my beautiful fort.  Fortunately the pure joy it brought him out weighed my disappointment in its destruction.

Not just a bum drop, but a whole bunch of kicks and punches and smashes.  He was a boy on a mission!

And MUCH quicker than it took me to construct this sad little fort, Sam had it back to a regular old heap of snow.  Worth every second of hard work and cold fingers.  Love days in the sun with my boys!

My Little Sea Otter

Another belated post, but too wonderful not to share.  Sam did swimming lessons this winter again.  He took the same level in the summer and it was not a success at all.  He only completed 3 full days last time and we both spent quite a bit of time fuming in the changeroom.  That was not the case in January and February.  Sam was super independent and loved every second.  He had another amazing teacher who displayed soooo much patience with the little herd of monkeys he was trying to teach.  Here are some of my favourite pictures from his last class.

Sammy swimming under water... he can swim about 4 meters unassisted!

Love his determined little face!  That is a SERIOUS motorboat, motorboat!

Flutter kicking

Sam loved and trusted his swim teacher soooo much!  Here's an air born Sam without a care in the world.  He's definitely in his happy place.

Sam doing his back swim... its quite a splashy situation.

Sam's turn to be Mr Shark... when asked what time it was, he replied "100 o'clock!"  Smart kid!!!

LUNCH TIME!!!!

A Very Belated Birthday Blog for You!

Somehow the weeks have slipped by and I'm only now getting to blog Sam's 4th birthday party.  It was an absolute blast, with a theme of Diego and Animal Rescue.  I was fortunate enough to get the gym at my new school, so we invited every child we know and nearly all of them came!!!  We learned a lot last year decorating for Sam's pirate party, so Shaun and I were much more efficient in setting up and preparing.  Here are a few of my pics... I never get as many as I wish because I'm busy scurrying around, but I got a few!

Sam and two of his beautiful cousins.  Both girls did an awesome job playing with the smaller kids and making sure Sam had a wonderful day!

Our tiniest birthday guest, Sawyer, and our good friend Karen.

A photo with most of the birthday kids... only 13 kids didn't make it into the shot!!!  Lots and lots of busy party animals!

Cake time!

Cake eating buddy, Smith!  Two very happy little guys!

The Eagletons!  Sam is so lucky to spend his days with this family and we are so happy all the gang made it to his party!

Hugs for his little buddy Camden

Some kids slowed down long enough to watch an episode of Diego on the big screen

Two goof balls!  Thanks for coming George!

A beautiful Princess Logan

Grandpa Trev and Gramma Bee brought a load of cousins with them to come party!

Sam points to this picture and says "that's my crazy cousin Serry.  She is crazy."  Love it!

Another set of special guests... Gramma, Kaili and Grandpa

I don't know if this is a picture of both our kids or both our animals... either way, we love them a ton!

Those are the best shots that I got but my Auntie Bobbi also sent me a few that I'd like to share:

We set up a station for the kids to make their own Diego rescue packs.  Another station they created binoculars.  Here's our rescuer hard at work!

Crazy kids using binocular parts for other fun things!

Our cake.  The cupcakes were zebra striped... one scoop chocolate, one scoop vanilla and repeat until 2/3s full.  They were yummy and some even looked zebra-ish!

Another task was to decorate a wooden critter (snakes, lizards, crocodile).   Jack (and Tat) working hard!

And this was the life saver and fun maker... the jungle bouncy house... it was money well spent and a solid two hours of fun for our full house!

A happy and handsome four year old!

Thank you to all our friends who made Sam's party sooooo much fun.  He was spoiled rotten, absolutely exhausted and couldn't stop talking about all the memories he made on this day.  We love him more than anything and we are so greatful that so many other people love him too!