The Waterfall Falls (sic) - Family Fun Day 2

On day 2 of our two day family vacation, we trekked to the Water Falls...aka Niagara Falls. EZ calls it the Waterfall Falls, because the "water is falling down." Very astute, my 2 year old is!

We began the day at the Butterfly Conservatory.  We took Ez there when he was about 6 months old, so we thought the reprise would be just as fun. This time was different. There was an overabundance of butterflies -- and not in a good way.

Has anyone ever seen that old Hitchcock movie "Birds" or something? Well, it was kind of like that...except butterflies. They were everywhere, on every surface, landing on our clothes...and worst of all...landing in our HAIR! 

{I'm cringing as I write this. I *hate* that feeling - like insects landing on your head. I'm sure you're cringing now too. You are welcome. Or as EZ says, I welcome you}.

EZ was anxious to get out of the stroller. He was in it for about 2 minutes at this point. This was not an auspicious beginning to our adventures. EZ wants to be on the run!

My ridiculously cute Little A graced us with a smile as she pulled the hat off her head to check out her new surroundings.

So this was about 2 mins and 10 seconds into our trip. EZ not looking anxious to get going, but he's turning into a little grumpster.

We loved seeing the butterflies. EZ knew what they were and seemed to enjoy himself for several minutes inside the conservatory.

I told him that butterflies may land on him, maybe even land on his nose. He then grabbed his nose for a few minutes to prevent the evil butterflies from attacking his nose.

EZ was captivated by all the butterflies. I was creeped out {see my comments above about the Alfred Hitchcock movie and the exhibits below}. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. Most people thought it was cool to have a butterfly land on them. Big A thought my fear of the Great Butterfly Conspiracy to organize themselves and start attacking humans was crazy. He's probably right, but why take the chance?

EZ noticed butterflies and liked to point to them.

Exhibit A: Only gray & white butterflies would land on me. They obviously know my favourite colour combination. Or they are trying to camouflage themselves on my stripe-y cardigan. You decide.

 

Exhibit B: Colour butterflies landing on a khaki-coloured hat. Definitely not camouflaging themselves!

Exhibit C: Another butterfly trying to land on Big A. Icky!

EZ was quickly losing interest and started to tear up. I feel your pain, little buddy. Oh, did I mention that EZ has taken up calling me & Big A his "guys." Yep, no longer mummy and daddy, we're in his inner circle now. We are the "guys": "Hey guys, wait up!"; "Where my guys go?" etc.

EZ loved watching the butterflies eat their lunch though!

Little A couldn't be bothered by all the butterfly nonsense. She just wanted to chew on her toys and be done with it. Luckily kids under 5 are free at this place.

The attack of the butterflies! They are swarming us! And we're outta there. I lasted about 10 minutes -- so that's $1 for every minute we were there if you're tabulating the cost of our Butterfly Conservatory adventure.

We then drove down to the Water Falls and enjoyed a picnic lunch. I made myself lettuce wraps and they are AWESOME -- and low in WW Points!

EZ enjoyed a single bite of his PB&J before taking off in every direction. We chased him and got a good workout in.  EZ likes to run fast and race: "I run fast you?", he says.

After the lunch al fresco, EZ insisted on hauling the cooler BY HIMSELF back to the car. He did it too! This kid is STRONG and DETERMINED! I love that about him!

We then walked over to the BIG Waterfall Falls. You can see Little A enjoyed ever minute of it. She was bored and pulled her hat over her eyes to take a nap.

EZ was less interested in the Falls themselves, but more in the Maid of Mist boat tours at the bottom of the Falls.

Little A finally peeked out from under hat, but promptly went back to sleep.

 After the Falls, we drove through town and somehow ended up at the Outlet Mall -- don't know how THAT happened! My mission was to get a new Coach purse and wallet since my current Coach purse and wallet were ruined in the great sunscreen explosion in my bag the previous day.

Alas, I couldn't find anything worth my money {and I even had a 30% off coupon! Thanks to my friends who send me coupons!}. I saw a $600 bag reduced to $200, but I didn't really like it enough to buy it.

Then Big A hijacked the shopping trip by getting a new summer wardrobe at the Tommy Hilfiger outlet. Yep, not just a shirt or whatever, but 4 shirts, two pairs of jeans and shorts! There goes my purse money!

So despite not getting my purse and being attacked by crazed butterflies {wow, this butterfly story is getting out of hand!}, it was a good family day. And that's what it's all about, right?

 

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Little A over the last 7 months

Since having Little A, I wanted to better document her growth by taking monthly photos of her. So far I've done only months 1, 3 & 7. Decent effort, I'd say :)

Hasn't she changed?

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The Safari - Family Fun Day!

Big A is taking a couple days off work, so it's time for some Family Fun!  My kidlets are VERY spirited and vocal this week {aka not napping, grumpy and Little A has a cold - they are not shy in showing us how they feel}. I'm SO happy for the help and the distractions, let me tell ya!

Today we ventured to a local safari game reserve.  It was EZ's {and Little A's for that matter} first time seeing animals up close and personal!  

You can drive through the reserve in your own vehicle, but frankly we didn't want to explain to the mechanic that a monkey had ripped through the sunroof of the Baby Benz. We opted for the air conditioned and guided bus tour.

We started out all happy, but you've got to see the photos of how it ended {they are at the bottom of the post!}.

Despite her cold, Little A was happy all tucked in with dada, and EZ's foot...

Prior to the safari adventure, sustenance of a funnel cake was needed. One must always stop at a place called "Funnel Cake Factory" -- it's the law. And we're law-abiding people. Don't worry, we didn't eat the WHOLE thing!

Just as we were lining up to get on the bus, the elephants walked by us to go for their daily swim. EZ was THRILLED -- he LOVES elephants!

On the bus, brimming with anticipation! Oh! and a RARE photo of me. Big A says my shades are Elton John-esque. I think they are fab, and if looking like a gay man from the 1970s is wrong, I don't want to be right. And they match my cars and that's not a coincidence - yep, I'm vain like that.

And the animal-watching begins...EZ was so adorable! Everyone on the bus thought he was so cute {and no, we weren't the only people on the bus!}.

If you squint and tilt your head to the left, you will notice EZ's mouth is gaping open. You also notice that he is seeing "ROARS!" (EZ-speak for lions} for the 1st time.

Unfortunately because I'm a bad photographer my camera is slow, I wasn't able to capture the full-freaking-out mode EZ was in when we were in the lion reserve. So this is all I got!

After several photos mamarazzi-style, EZ was annoyed at me and literally took the camera out of my hand, and gave it to Big A, who them promptly snapped a photo of his grumpy and annoyed face. Parenting win - we've gotta show these kids who's boss! Haha!

One of EZ's favourite animals was the "babababooms". When I went to this place as a kid, I remember seeing the baboons jump onto people's cars. Today the baboons were reserved, and mostly napping in the shade.

These baboons were CLOSE to the bus. EZ was just so amazed.

Yes, THIS is why we didn't bring the Baby Benz through the reserve. We didn't want an ostrich tapping its beak on our windows. We watched this for almost 5 minutes. Apparently the ostrich saw itself in the reflection of the glass and thought it was another ostrich. In a related story, did you know that ostrich's brains are smaller than one of their eye balls? Fun fact from the farm {I say farm because that's what EZ called it. 'Cuz that's where animals live, dontchayaknow!}

The giraffes...this is where our camera battery was dying. EZ then wore out all the juice by taking photos which we realized later were about 75 photos of the sky and the grass. He's got a good eye for photography, that one!

The fam got close to a peacock. Beautiful creatures up close, but I still have vivid memories of the awful sound a peacock makes when I was at the kibbutz in Israel. That thing started squawking at 4am -- and when you had to get up at 4:30am, it was REALLY annoying. I still get shivers when I hear it!

I missed the elephant show because Little A was sleeping in the stroller and trust me, we didn't want to wake up Grumperella.  The boys said that the elephant show was awesome though!

To top off the day, EZ and his dad went on an elephant ride!

EZ was surprisingly zen about the whole thing. I thought he'd be freaked out or overexcited. But he was all, "Riding on an elephant?! No biggie. I do this everyday!"

I'm putting this photo in because I told Big A that he has to take us to Florida to see more flamingos -- this is me using the Secret to make it happen!

EZ also loved watching the elephants eat lunch. This elephant looked like EZ eating lunch -- getting it on his head, on his hair, and all over the general vicinity -- everywhere BUT his mouth. I think he liked the elephants the most -- he could relate.

So this is the mood the kidlets were in when we left. Overtired, overheated, overstimulated. He eventually calmed down when we strapped him in the carseat in the air conditioned car and fed him pizza.  When I asked him what he liked most about the zoo, he corrected me that it was a farm and he liked the cows, of course. Then he asked to go to his babysitter's house. Go figure.

Poor Little A was a wee bit under the weather, and she was a trooper being schlepped around the park in the heat today. But when her big brother started melting down, so did she. Don't worry she was fine within minutes and happily napped the whole way home :)

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Little A: 7 months

It's hard to believe that Little A is SEVEN months already! 

{Do I say that every time I write her monthly update?!}

Little A is now crawling and scootin' all over the place. We have a big new cozy shag rug in the living room, and it's her new favourite place to play. She loves her toys {well, chewing on them!} and she loves rolling over.

Little A is enjoying her food too. She's probably gained a lb {so she's 15 lbs!} and likes her cereal and veggies. She also started talking a bottle {hallelujah!}.  We're going to start fruit this week - and I'm sure she'll love that too! 

She's very chatty and loves to laugh -- especially with her big brother, EZ! She still hasn't mastered sleeping through the night, but I'm sure she'll get the hang of it soon enough...I hope.

I couldn't decide what photos to post, so I'll put up a few :) Enjoy!

 

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Out of commission?

Hello Bloggy Friends.

In an effort to get fit, I recently started running. Again. I love running, but running doesn't love me back. 

This past Tuesday, as my friend and I were enjoying our jog, we decided to accelerate a bit. My body did not agree with this decision, and I pulled a calf muscle. I heard a pop, but I didn't see any bruising, so I didn't think I tore the muscle.

I've been raised to "tough it out", so I continued to run till I thought my leg was going to fall off.  Later that evening, I took it easy and iced my calf. 

The next day was semi-ok, hobbling around in flat shoes as I ran errands and met friends for lunch. Later on, however, it started to HURT. I iced and rested the muscle, hoping for  quick relief.

The next morning {Thursday}, I could barely walk. Major limping and unsteadiness. I almost fell in a parking lot {luckily not carrying Little A, and it also reminded me of this experience}. I was with my dad at the time, and he insisted I get some crutches. It's also my "bad leg" that still has nerve damage from EZ's delivery fiasco {aka I still don't have feeling in parts of that leg after 2 1/2 years!}. Seriously. Who would have EVER thought that 2 1/2 years later, my nerve damage would STILL cause me problems?!

Anyway, I rented some crutches {major fashion statement by the way! "Injury Prone Chic!} from the same place where I had to buy this gorgeous seat when first had EZ, and went to the doctor. He told me that he thought I had torn the muscle because it was so tender and painful. Interestingly enough, he suggested that I keep moving -- not resting -- to prevent blood clots! Sounds good - shopping will be my cardio!

I hobbled around on the crutches, writhing in pain for the rest of the day. Then yesterday, I felt better. Like MUCH better. Just a wee hint o' pain, but no crutches required. 

It's a miracle! I was scared because I didn't know I was going to manage both kidlets and a bad, painful leg with crutches for the next two weeks! I even went for an "exercise walk" last night with keeling over in pain!

And today, I feel almost 100%. Definitely no crutches and no limping. Hopefully this means that I'm on the mend and I can get back into my regular cardio routine. I sure need to!

I never had an muscle injury before and I've run marathons! Hopefully this won't happen again!

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