more words

Snowboarder called me at home this morning and I had baby j in my arms when I answered the phone. Of course, baby j was trying to grab the phone from me so I gave it to him. He listens to his dad on the other end then says "YES" about three times with a pause in between each yes. I was in shock! He said yes with the "s" in the end, so clearly. I asked snowboarder if he heard baby j say it and he did. Snowboarder said he was asking baby j some questions and he was responding with a yes each time. I am impressed!

So lately, baby j's vocabulary aside from yes: walk, light, out, kiwi, bbs (for berries, blueberries and raspberries in particular), baby, doggie, wawa (for water), bath.

His baby signs: help, water, all done

tea party

I had to take pictures of my kids this morning having a tea party together. I thought it was the cutest thing especially since little nael is 4 and baby j is only 17 months! It all started with baby j just sitting there on a booster seat by big sister's play table. Then big sis sat on one chair, baby j moved to the other chair and voila, the beginnings of a tea party. And, nael served fruit with tea and baby j was playing along, pretending to munch away and taking a sip of his tea! I love it!

fishing and swimming

Snowboarder wanted to take little nael fishing again today so we headed out to Tabor Lake in Prospect Park. While they were fishing, baby j and I took a nice walk around the 2 other lakes and the park. Then, the kids played around a little bit at the playground before we headed to the "Bacon and Eggs" Mall where the snowboarder and the kids had lunch at Johnny Rockets per little nael's request.

After their afternoon naps, we went over to camp Teddy's for a swim in their pool. And, both kids were enjoying themselves in the cold water. Little nael had on her floaties and she was jumping in the deep end of the pool all by her big self! While baby j splashed and splashed in the water. Cousin T didn't want to get in the pool because the water was too cold and I don't blame him. I wouldn't get in the water either! But, he did join snowboarder and nael in the jacuzzi.

For dinner, we made our way to Cafe Jordano with Liz sans John and Teddy (it was T's bedtime) and we had a nice evening catching up with Liz. On our way out in the parking lot, nael whispered to Liz that she wanted to see cousin T again soon and go swimming. Liz told her to come over anytime and nael got excited all over again!

camping

Snowboarder has been traveling the past few weeks but he finally took a few days off this week to rest and spend time with the kids. So on Monday, snowboarder and I packed up the kids to go camping...kinda. Not in a tent but in a cabin up in Sylvan Lake. When we told little nael the night before, she got so excited to learn that we were going camping. She said it was just like Fred and Ted (from Fred and Ted goes camping). The weather forecast for the week was rain, rain and more rain so snowboarder and I hesitated to go but decided to go for it anyway. Why not? We only live once. So off we went.To make it a little easier, we made chicken curry and rice the night before for our dinner up in the cabin and for breakfast the following day, we brought eggs, pancake mix, fresh blueberries and raspberries, and for snowboarder, applewood smoked bacon. Sylvan Lake is probably a 2 hour drive from our house but we checked out Heeley and Green Mountain Reservoir first and didn't get to the lake till after 4pm. By that time, it had stopped raining, maybe just a drizzle here and there. So after we got unpacked. snowboarder took nael fishing while baby j and I walked around for a little bit. Unfortunately, little nael didn't catch any fish but snowboarder promised her that she could try again in the morning. Snowboarder went fishing too for about an hour while the kids and I rested before dinner but he had no luck either!

We got a 2 room cabin - living room separated from bedroom. The bedroom has 2 sets of bunk beds and little nael got excited when she found out she was going to sleep at the top bunk!

After dinner, baby j finally fell asleep in his pack n play. Snowboarder started a fire in the pit and he and little nael made some smores!

The next morning, baby j woke us up at 6am and didn't want to go back to sleep! No matter how much I tried, he was awake, wide awake and that meant, we were all getting up. After our yummy blueberry pancake breakfast, baby j took a nap and snowboarder took nael fishing again. No luck this time either. When baby j got up, we hiked around the lake. The weather was nice. The view, beautiful, peaceful and calming. We stopped at a small bridge for pics and somehow little nael's jacket fell in the water, down the inlet and snowboarder had to run for it. Little nael started to cry but was happy to see her father save the day, he got her jacket! On our way back to the cabin, it started to rain again so we had to hurry back.