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!

Snow Fun!

We have a little hill not too far from our house and we've spent a hour here and there this winter.  Here are some shots from one of our trips!

My handsome boys getting ready to head down the hill!

RACIN'!

Mom takes a turn... and it was awesome.  I went down many times, did a couple good headers before realizing I'm much older than the last time I did this.  Regardless... AWESOME!

Crazy guys!

My favorite happy little face.  Pure joy.

The Connolleys Visit Mickey!

We went on the most incredible family vacation to Disneyland at the end of Dec.  None of us had ever been and I was sooooo incredibly excited when Shaun told me he had bought us tickets to travel to the happiest place on earth.
I'll try to give you my humble opinion throughout the photos as to what is good, what's great and what you absolutely must see.  We know we only scratched the surface of this magical land, but what we did see was so so so perfect... it was all as wonderful as I dreamed and even better getting to watch my little man meet these characters and see these things.  Our photos of the rides and fireworks definitely didn't do them justice so I didn't include them, but they are awesome.  Amazing.  Makes your little old heart pitter patter a little happier.  Loved it all.

We travelled into John Wayne Airport instead of going to LAX.  We decided to beat the hustle and bustle of the crazy LAX but the trade off was having to connect in Vancouver.  Makes for a super long day of travel (especially with a little guy), but the calm of the airports we were in made it all worth it.  We also saved a bunch of money by not staying at Disneyland.  Our walk to the hotel was a good hike, but saved us quite a bit of money.  We stayed at the Hilton, but any hotels outside the gates are probably of the same quality.  The one benefit of the Hilton was our perfect view of the nightly fireworks show.  Big bonus to that location.  I do hope the next time we come to Disney we are able to stay up late enough to watch the show from the park.

Our first night we didn't go into the part, but we did visit Downtown Disney.  Cool little spot to be, no cost to wander around.  It was still all decorated for the holidays and filled with Christmas music.  Perfect.  This is a shot of us in front of a Lego Beauty and the Beast.  SOOO COOL!

Huge knight and dragon made out of Lego.  Also very cool.  This lego store had every little bit of lego a little one could ever dream of.  

One of many wished made in the wells all around Disney.  This one Sam asked for fire... weird request, but it was his wish!

This is the best of four family shots I tried to take.  As you will notice throughout these photos, my little model is getting harder and harder to work with.  A real character!  

Day one of actual vacation started at Goofy's Kitchen.  Quite pricey but worth every cent.  The food was super yummy, buffet style and the characters traveled to your table to meet you, play pranks, give hugs.  It was one of my top highlights for sure!  Sammy and Aladdin!

Goofy's peanut butter and jam pizza... YUM!

Sam's Mickey Mouse pancake

Pluto REALLY wanted Sam to pet him but for some reason Sam was too nervous to touch him.  Pluto kept poking and prodding Sammy with his big nose and Sam thought it was all quite hilarious!

Chef Dale

The beautiful Fairy Godmother who was certain our little man was a prince.  Loved her!

A big BEAR hug!

Rafiki

Sam insisted that he try on Minnie ears like Mom.  Man I love this little boy!

We walked into Disneyland and within seconds Sam and I were swept into a stroller parade.  A band played and the Mad Hatter organized us.  I was so lucky to get to push my stroller right beside Alice in Wonderland who had stolen someone else's kiddo.  AWESOME moment.  I just couldn't believe our luck.  

Parading!

Walt, Mickey, Mom and Sam

At first we felt very confused on how to attack this place.  What were we looking for and how did it all work.  It started to rain a little so we went into Mickey's house and at the very end we found... MICKEY!  Teary eyed moment for mommy to see my little guy with Mickey Mouse.

We left Mickey's house and there was Goofy!  What luck!  Goofy is a great character that loves to joke around.  I give props to the brave folks inside these costumes who spend their days running from mobs of people and seem to do it all very happily.

The rain picked up and we booked it back to the hotel... which was about a 20 minute walk away.  We didn't pack much for rain gear for 'sunny' California.  Nothing could dampen these spirits though.  We went up to our room, blow dried our hair and Sam's blanket, changed our clothes and headed back out.  Quick stop for a rain poncho on the way!

We were give the tip that the parades are worth the wait and boy was she right (thanks Allison!)  This festive parade was amazing.  Each section having it's own music and show.  Just so cool! 

Lovin' every second.

I love Belle.  Period.  Teary eyed moment.  I'm also a huge sap.

Back to Toontown where we rode a really fun roller coaster.  One of my fav spots!

More character hugs.

Quick bite to eat in Critter Country.  On that note, I highly recommend bringing snacks of your own from home.  Line ups are long and food is expensive.  You never know how long you'll be trapped in a line up for a ride and then realize your little ones are getting hungry and everything is about to become a disaster.  Fruit snacks, beef jerky, bottles of water were a necessity!

Day two we went to California Adventure Park.  We went to A Bug's Land and found very short lines and great rides for kids Sam's size.  Here is a shot of me being smashed by Sam and Shaun in the bug bumper cars!

Waiting to ride the Mater Tractors.  Cars Land is cool.  Little boys' dream.

Sam really got into using the map.  He wanted to carry it and find the Mickey Mouse ferris wheel.  Him and Shaun are looking for it on the map... I think I found it!  The maps they provide are super helpful and easy to follow.  If for nothing else, grab one so that you ALWAYS know where the nearest washroom is!

My family... so much fun with these guys!

We zigzagged back to Cars Land and visited a few more cars.

Handsome face!

Next thing we knew, Lightning "Daqueen" (as Sam says) was cruising past us.  Even I was excited!

After another rain storm we hopped in line and got our picture taken with Lightning.

We shifted gears and went for supper at Ariel's Grotto.  Lots of very very excited princesses!!!   I would recommend this if you have little gals.  Sam loved it too.  Again VERY expensive.  It is worth your time to make reservations to these places.  We heard them turning people away in the evening.

We met many princesses, but Sleeping Beauty and Sam had a connection.  He did not hug many people the entire trip but there was something about her that he loved for the moment he laid eyes on her.  She made him stand on his chair to chat with her and he loved it.  BIG hug.  She could be my daughter in law... I'd be ok with that.

Day 3 we wanted to hit all Sam's favorite spots.  Here we are at the Haunted House.  Nightmare Before Christmas.  Actually quite scary and we thought we were terrible parents after but he didn't stop talking about how awesome it was.

Toon Town (ok maybe this one was my fav)

My two best guys

Pluto gave Sam a huge squeeze and wiggled him back and forth.  Sam thought it was AWESOME.

Toon Town gags.

Leaving Disneyland to head over to California Adventure

Jake and Sam!  We went to the Disney Junior show and it was really cool especially for kids Sam's age.  He loved singing the songs and seeing the characters all together.  This was in Hollywood in California Adventure.

My boys and Mater (yes we went back to Cars Land many many times!)

If you ever have the chance, go to the Rainforest Cafe.  Food is good and the entertainment is very 'lively'!!!!  Lots of fun!  Every 20 minutes or so there is an indoor thunder storm and all the animals come alive.  Our last meal of 2012 was a memorable one!

At the end of the trip, Dr Sam gave first aid to Shaun for a blister due to a day of fun.

So, for a girl that has grown up on Disney movies wishing to be Ariel or Belle, I give this place a huge stamp of approval.  It does cost a pretty penny to go, but I truly believe it was worth every single cent.  I will return one day with an older version of my Sam to try out all the big guy rides, but for now I cherish the memories of watching him explore and believe.  Perfect end to 2012 and start to 2013!