Critter Crawl

Today we went on a critter crawl at Moreau Lake. It was more like a really long hike through some dangerous terrain and possible poison ivy to see a few bugs and to be honest, I'm not sure anyone had a good time. The girls were good sports about it though. Afterward, at least we stayed to play at the beach. I was so tired and frazzled I forgot to take any photos of the good part!

Love These Girls

A Weekend in Montreal

We had a great weekend in Montreal with Gram and Grumpy. We tried airbnb for the first time and had a great experience staying in a condo downtown.

The grown ups appreciated having kitchen space and a washer and dryer while the kids clearly only cared about the pool and the hot tub on the roof!

After settling in we headed to Old Montreal where the kids and Daddy had a dance party in the street.

Here's a view from our condo at night:

Saturday we walked to the shopping and underground city on St. Catherine Street stopping to see interesting sights on the way. 

It was a long walk... and clearly some of us were not very excited.

We found some water and a cute sign to pose in (plus a strawberry smoothie) and that seemed to lighten the mood.

The highlight of the day for the kids was spending the afternoon running and playing in these fountains in the street.

The kids took their first subway ride.

Then we walked back down to the water.

We rode the sky wheel and found some dinner. 

Yesterday we packed up, had brunch at Eggspectation and played one more time in those fun fountains before heading home.

I Love Our Playgroup

When MiniM.E. was a baby and I was a new mom and I hadn't found my mommy-friends and I was overwhelmed and sleep deprived and didn't know what I was doing, I was fortunate enough to find my two fantastic mommy-friends, J. & T. and their daughters. We held "playgroup" for our babies (only one of whom was actually old enough to play when we first started) on Wednesday afternoons and it was was got me through the week- having someplace to go and something to do mid-week.

We have held our (mostly) weekly playgroup faithfully since then and we have grown from three kids to seven in about as many years. All the kids are close and play well together and look forward to seeing each other. We are so lucky to have found such a fantastic playgroup. 

So. Much. Fun.

When you play this hard at the splash pad:

 You nap this hard when you get home:

BabySlimJim and Food

BabySlimJim had multiple food protein intolerance from 6 weeks on and we struggled to find a solution that let him keep nursing and when that didn't work, we struggled to find a formula that he would tolerate (and that made us feel okay about feeding it to him). Fortunately, we found a great German formula, HiPP HA and he's been eating that since. 

Because of his intolerance, when six months rolled around we couldn't find anything he could eat. So he just drank his meals. Finally around eight months he started eating rice, which seemed to agree with him, but everything else made him miserable.

At almost a year, we decided to try again and started gradually introducing a few grains and some fruits and vegetables and miraculously, he was okay!

So we kept going. Turkey, chicken, beans, grains... 

And finally the big few: gluten, dairy and eggs.

And he is fine! I am so thankful that he has outgrown his intolerance and can eat like a normal kid.

It's taken him a while to figure out what this "food" thing is all about since he didn't get it for so long, but he is loving it. Especially bread.

While we don't do this often, here he is enjoying his sisters' favorite treat: Dunkin Donuts.

And here he is in his new favorite location- the booster seat. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to say this for a long time, but I'm glad I can: this guy loves his food!

Just Hanging Around

Spring Run Trail 

Kelley Park

Backyard Pool

Downtown