Minneapolis Ho!

Well, we are back from our whirlwind tour of Minneapolis. For those of you who didn't know, Carrie, the kids and I and Grandma and Grandpa Potter just rented a Minivan (the very cool 2007 Ford Freestar) and headed off down to Minneapolis, MN for a vacation and to meet Thomas the Tank Engine (who I'll talk about later).

The trip got off to a rocky start Friday with pouring rain in Winnipeg while we tried to load the van which we got 2 hours late due to some interesting credit card problems (not ours) at the rental agency. We finally got the kids, adults and gear loaded up and we took off. We arrived in Minneapolis at about 8:30 p.m., checked into the hotel, and took off for one of my (Gord's) favourite restaurants, Chili's.

The next day we took what felt like a 9 hour drive to the Minnesota Zoo (navigated by Gord "I know EXACTLY where I am" Sheppard) and saw some tigers, some giraffes and a dolphin show. It was fun but a hot and footsore crew loaded back into the van and we headed back to the hotel for some R&R. That night we left Bill at the hotel in the throes of a cold and went to the Mall of America. The main purpose of this trip was to buy this hat at the Hanna Anderson store. I think it looks silly. (Like Gord's opinion on our children's clothing actually matters!)

The next day brought the arrival of the purpose of the whole trip. We were going to 'A Day Out with Thomas'. This is an event that tours different cities in the U.S. and brings an actual life-size Thomas the Tank Engine to pull a local train and take you on a ride. Obviously, this was Ben's favourite part of the trip. It melted our hearts to see how excited he was meeting Thomas and Sir Topham Hatt. The event was great, with tattoos, ball pits, a lego Thomas, a big inflatable slide and train maze, and visits with Sir Topham Hatt all FREE. The only part of the event that had a cost was the train ride with Thomas (although you could take photos with Thomas for free.) I was very impressed with not having to pay through the nose for every little thing. Everybody (staff and other parents) at the event were very friendly and patient. We had a great time! Below the post are some pics of the event.

That evening, while Ben was having a HUGE nap (which was sorely needed) Carrie, Joan, Ella and I headed to IKEA. Fun, but we were all a little tired after traversing both floors of the gigantic store.

Then we headed home the next morning (Monday) stopping at the Albertville Outlet Stores on the way. After one and a half hours at the Border (ick!) we were home and ready for bed! We all had a great time and I'm sure we'll do it again (but not too soon!).

Well, I'm off to shop for minivans online (why, Gord, why?) so I'll sign off now and give you some pics to enjoy:

Ben and Daddy watching Thomas pull into the station:


A lego Thomas and a smiley boy:


Here comes Thomas!


Ben checks out "real Thomas":


Happy, Happy!


Climbing the big slide:


Wheee!


A ball pit action shot:


King of the ball pit:


Climbing into the train maze:


Meeting 'The Man': Sir Topham Hatt


"I love your trains, Sir Topham Hatt!"


Getting on the train!


Don't worry! Ella was having fun too!


There is only so much sensory overload a kid can take until it is time to cuddle with Grandpa!

Mommy's a big bully!

Some friends of ours were having their annual summer barbecue on Saturday - their yard backs onto a big playground, so it was a perfect setup for lots of people, even more kids, and an inflatable bouncer! Anyways, Gord and I were tossing a frisbee back and forth when Ben ran up and wanted to play. I told him to get ready, 'cause I was about to throw it to him, and when I did I knew I was in for some trouble. It honestly felt like it was in slow motion, this frisbee that was headed straight for his head! It clocked him right between the eyes and gave him a little cut on the bridge of his nose! He did that cry where it sounds like I knocked the wind out him, like he was having trouble catching his breath. I felt so horrible! I also found it a little funny - not that he got hurt, but how we could see what was going to happen but we couldn't do anything about it 'cause it happened so fast...

Anyways, apparently I'm the newest playground bully.

Breakfast humor

While eating his breakfast this morning, which consisted of a bowl of AllBran Bran Flakes with no milk, Ben said to his daddy, "Daddy, I'm eating snowflakes!"

We're back (pictures below)

We're finally back from Ottawa. It was great fun! Here's a rundown:

- Arrived Tuesday, July 4th.
- Went to IKEA on Thursday - bought way too much stuff and ended up having to rearrange our suitcases to avoid them being over the weight allowance when we flew home!
- Walked downtown on Friday - ran into my cousin Denise (from Edmonton) while walking down Sparks Street. It was bloody hot that day, so we just walked by Parliament on the way home.
- Garth and Jill's for supper on Saturday - Liz, James and Logan came up from Cambridge for the weekend so we could all hang out. Garth cooked some awesome chicken on the bbq and we had a nice evening catching up with everyone!
- Went to the Valleyview Little Animal Farm on Sunday to meet a cyber-friend (Sherry and Jenna from my February 2004 Playgroup on ivillage.com). Garth, Jill, Liz et al came too. Then we went for lunch. Again, it was bloody hot that day. That was also the day that Italy won the World Cup - on our walk that evening, there was an impromptu Italian victory parade we had to endure - that's what we get for being near Little Italy!
- Monday, we met Jill, Liz, James and Logan for lunch at Dow's Lake.
- Tuesday, we went to the Museum of Civilization in Hull with Kathy and the girls. They have a very nice Children's Museum there and Ben had a blast.
- Wednesday we went to a mall and did a little shopping. Gord and Garth went to a concert that night - the Blues Fest was on and The Grande Mothers were playing.
- Thursday we didn't do much at all.
- Friday we flew home.
- Saturday we drove to Dauphin for my cousin Josh's wedding. We had a really good time! Ben especially...

Since then, we've been vegging at home. We went to the zoo today - we have a family pass for the year - which is always fun! Ben went on a pony ride - of course, we didn't take the camera. Why does he want to do these things when we don't have the camera, I'll never know.

That's it, I'm going to bed. Enjoy the barrage of pictures below. And to those of you who have been bugging me for a new blog entry (you know who you are!), I hope this suffices! :)

carrie

Some pictures...

The kids with Auntie Sheri and Uncle Chris - the day before Uncle Chris ran the marathon!


A cute cross-eyed baby moment caught on film!


Milk Bubbles


Showing off his Canadian flag tattoos - Happy Canada Day!


Playing with the sparkler (before he burned himself)


The Girlz - Ruby, Fiona and Ella (L to R)


Little Ruby Tuesday (as I like to call her!)


Extreme closeup:


Random head shot - I don't know what kind of face he was making!


Fiona taking it all in!


All four Sheppard grandkids! (Ella, Ruby, Fiona and Ben, L to R)


Uncle Gord holding his nieces!


Ben and Logan sharing some toys


Doesn't it look like Ben is going to rip Gord's scalp off?


Ella falling under Garth's spell - "You are getting very sleepy..."


The whole gang at the Little Animal Farm - Liz, James holding Logan, Gord, Ben, and Garth, and in the front, Carrie holding Ella, and Jill


Ben with little cyber-friend Jenna in the back!


They look just like they did in high school! Liz, Jill, Garth and Gord (see Ben's head in there too?)


Sitting in the shade


Feeding the sheep at the farm


Mommy and Ben on the tractor/train ride at the farm


Ben picked this lovely little flower for Mommy!


There are no words.


Me and Ella


Dancing with Grandma Joan. Could he be a future Kevin Bacon? Maybe a Patrick Swayze?

He's a sweetie...

Ben went to Grandma Susan's for a sleepover last night. We got a call from her around 10 - he wouldn't go to sleep for her. He kept coming out of bed and out to the living room. She decided to call us because at one point, he asked when he was going to go home. My heart is total mush. What a sweetheart...

We told her to give it 10 more minutes, and if he wasn't asleep, we'd come and get him. But we didn't get a phone call, so that's good...

So Gord and I took Ella out shopping last night to stock up on some stuff for the house (dog food, cat food, cat litter) and to get some quiet, plane-friendly activities for Ben to have. Yup, we're heading out to Ottawa in 3 days! This weekend will be filled with laundry, cleaning and packing. What the heck, we'll make up for it with lots of rest and relaxation when we get there...NOT!

I'll try to post some recent pictures before we go. The blogging will likely be more sporadic, if not non-existent, while we're gone.

Later skaters.

Ella's 2-month checkup!

She was a good little girl for the doctor today! She got two shots, and only cried a little bit! :(

Ella is...drumroll please...

13 pounds 7 ounces
23.5 inches long

When I told Gord her new stats, he looked at me, rolled his eyes, and said in a mocking tone, "I don't think she's eating enough!" As if I've ever said that. Whatever.

The countdown to Ottawa is on...11 days and we'll be there. Kathy told Gord she can't wait for us to get out there...I hope she's not expecting to put US to work!

Funny little story:

OK, I guess there's 2 little stories.

We were walking home from my cousin Shelby's baseball game last night, andwe met up with this tiny older lady out walking her dog. Ben had approached them first, so we were telling him to go slow with the dog (which he wasn't!), and she told us that the dog was fine with kids. She was this scruffy looking little thing, both the lady and the dog. Ben decided to move on without us, so as we were saying our polite goodbyes, the lady looks in the stroller at Ella, then says, "She's beautiful! No wonder you keep having more!" (points at Ben and nods at Ella) We laugh and say thank you, and she says, "Cheerio then love!" It was a bizarre, but funny little encounter.

This morning at 7:30, I can hear Ben crying out. I go into his room, and he still seems like he's asleep. I ask him what's wrong, and he says, "I lost Auntie!" (I think he was referring to Great Auntie Susan (Shelby's mom) - from the baseball game last night). I told him that Auntie is an adult and that she can find her own way home. He seemed alright with that!

Yay Chris!

Just wanted to post quickly that my brother Chris ran in the Manitoba Marathon yesterday - and he even finished it! He ran the half marathon in 2 hours 18 minutes and came in 2459th place! We're so proud of him, and we hope that he's not too sore today!

What was I thinking?

I left out the best part of Sunday! Ben thrilled us all with his recitation of the "ABC's"! It goes something like this:

"A-B-C-D-F-G-H-I-K-El-Men-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z
Now I know letters
Next time won't you sing with me!"

And he can now count to twelve, but sometimes forgets about '11'. Oh well, he IS only two-and-four-months!

And now for Ella - she is smiling up a storm these days! And she loves to sit up and look around at what's happening around her! She's growing like crazy, wearing some 6-month sleepers! She's a real cutie, in our humble opinions!

later dudes

Things happen in threes, right?

Ben had a bad day today. We went to visit Grandpa Bill and Grandma Joan, and while there, he suffered injury after injury.

Injury #1 - "The Fall"

Ben was standing on one of the dining room chairs, playing with the curtains in said dining room. Beside his chair was a wrought iron wine rack. Yep, he fell into it, giving himself a gash above his left eyebrow and a little cut on his eyelid. Why one of the 4 adults in the room at the time didn't stop him, well, we'll have to live with that. Ben was mighty upset, as were Mommy and Daddy.

Injury #2 - "The Bite"

He must have been bitten by a bug or something behind his left ear (what is it with his left side?!) 'cause I noticed a little dark spot under his ear lobe. I went to see what it was, and here he had blood all behind his ear.

Injury #3 - "The Burn"

He shoved a mouthful of hot wild rice in his mouth at supper and fuh-reaked out. Grandma graciously allowed him to spit it out into her hand. Thankfully, Ben wasn't turned off the rice for the rest of the meal...he loves the rice!

I'm exhausted from this day. Over and out.

Only Pics...maybe I'll post later...

Checking out Grandma Joan and Grandpa Bill - who are these two?!


Getting her beauty sleep...


Snuggling with Grandma Susan!


Ben loves to cuddle with Ella!


Showin' the love!


Ben built (with Mommy's guidance!) a very elaborate bridge and tunnel system for Thomas and Percy!


I don't think she knows what to think!


Bro and sis chillin'


Communal tummy-time!


Is that a...smile?


Yep, definitely a smile!

Ben's happy face!

Rhetorical question of the day:

If your 2-year-old knows the phrase, "...supersized with a coke", does that mean that you eat too much fast food?

Come again?!

Today at lunch (Ben was eating Alpha-getti):

Ben: "What's that letter?"
Gord: "That's a P!"
Ben: "Yeah...Beef!"

What day is it?!

Okay, I'm sorry that our posts are few and far between - I'm losing track of days over here!

Yesterday was Ella's first monthday! Yay baby girl! She is amazingly wonderful and beautiful and we can't get enough of her. She smiles here and there, the best ones being in her sleep, as all babies do. I've really noticed that she's grown - must be mommy's yummy milk! - this past week or so. She's wearing mainly 3-6 month clothes - some 6 month sleepers - depending on the brand. It's quite funny how your child can fit a 3 month size from one store and a 6 month size from another. I always found this with Ben too...he still wears 18 month clothes from Please Mum, but from the Gap or Old Navy, it has to be 2T.

I'm totally going to jinx myself when I make the next statement - Ella's been sleeping through the night! Not every night, but 5 out of the last 9 nights, from 11:00 pm to 5:00 or 6:00 am. I still have my doubts that it's okay, but I called the breastfeeding hotline and they said that as long as she's still eating 8-12 times a day, I can feed her when she wants to be fed. kellymom.com said the same thing. So, I'm going with it.

Ben is a riot these days. He talks so much (just like Uncle Chris) and we can't get anything past him. Ben can also be a real handful - when he doesn't want to do something, he really lets you know.

Here are some random stories from the last week or so...

Ella is a poop machine. One evening, I had to change her sleeper and undershirt THREE TIMES after changing her out of her "day" clothes. All this in less than an hour. Less than half of an hour, even. I am spending a fortune on Baby Oxy-Clean! (But man, does that stuff work!) I'm sure she'll love these stories when she's 16.

Ben had a chocolate milk in the car the other day, while we were on our way to visit with some of my family. Next thing I know, he's puking it up all over himself! Yikes, did it smell! He'd had strawberry yogurt for breakfast too, so imagine a vomit smell tinged with strawberry and chocolate! Blech! He bawled his eyes out. I had to pull the car over to clean him up, and then drive home to do a full wardrobe change on him (and a partial wardrobe change on Ella, the poop-o-matic) before we headed to my cousin's house. What a morning! And it was a hot day, so when we left my cousin's house, the car REALLY stunk. Double blech!

I went to a book party the other night. I spent a small fortune (for us!) on Usborne books, but I can't help myself when it comes to books! I want my kids to have every book I or they see! Is that a crime?

I was a neglectful mommy this morning - when Ben woke up, I put a video in the VCR and gave him a glass of milk and a yogurt-covered-granola-bar so that I could go back to bed for a while (Ella did not sleep through the night last night). Tsk tsk tsk...

Random cuteness

Ben was eating his lunch today, which consisted of Ritz crackers, cheese and yogurt, and as I was finishing my soup, this is what I heard:

"One...two...three...good counting Ben!" (He was counting his crackers.)

Then he started counting his fingers. "No, this one's seven. No, it's this one!"

After lunch, Ben was playing in the living room, and I heard him saying, "He went that way. (points) And he said he went that way! (points in opposite direction). That's coming from Sesame Street - specifically, Journey to Ernie. Big Bird tries to find Ernie, and always runs into the two-headed monster. Big Bird asks them if they've seen Ernie, and they each say yes and point in opposite directions. It's amazing what sticks in his little head!

He has also mastered the perfect hug, and he likes to give tons of them! What a sweetie!

And, might I say, you are all lucky to have gotten back-to-back blog posts from me!

Where does the time go?

Holy crap, time is flying!

Ben seems to age more every day - the things he comes up with! Right now, things are "interesting" to him. And he plays so actively - he likes to head-butt and climb all over us. He likes to jump on the couch, or be thrown onto it! His new favorite book is one called "I Love You Through and Through" and he'll read it to himself in bed, after we say good-night. Adorable.


I can't believe that Ella is going to be 3 weeks old tomorrow. She's awake more and more during the day, but she still stays up really late - like midnight. Last night was her first real night in her crib. Until now, her and I have been sleeping in the living room, her on my chest or nestled in the crook of my arm, while I lay on the couch. Whatever gets her and I some sleep, right? But we decided to give it the 'ole college try last night, and she did pretty good. We swaddled her up (which ALWAYS worked with Ben, but she wasn't a big fan of when she was first born) and tucked her in under another blanket, and she stayed asleep. I put her in there at 1:00 last night (give me a break, we were watching the Survivor finale on time-shift!), and she woke up for a feeding at 3:00, and then woke up for the day at 8:30 or so. Not too shabby! We'll see how tonight goes...

Ella will smile here and there, but so far, we're associating it with gas. Hopefully she'll smile for us soon - she looks sooooo cute when she smiles (has gas)! Imagine her this way, only cuter:


And OMG, can she poop. She's going to cost us a fortune in diapers. And water and laundry detergent to wash all the clothes she dirties. Today, I went to change her diaper. I get it all changed, and she lets another one go. So I grab the next diaper, and as I'm taking the now dirty one off, she starts to pee. So I get her into another clean diaper and threatened her growing wardrobe. She wised up and held it in, until the next feeding anyways! I asked Gord if Ben was this bad, and maybe our memories are a little foggy, but we really don't think his timing was as bad as Ella's is!

Here are some other random pictures of visitors we've had:

Great-Grandma Lil (my dad's mom)


Cousin Ian, who is only four days younger than her:


And to finish off the post, we could not be prouder!

Ella is growing!

We took Ella to her first pediatrician's appointment today. All is well! She weighed in at a healthy 9 pounds 12 ounces, exactly one pound more than she was at birth! Go Ella - what a breastfeeder! She also measured in as 20 inches, which is bizarre 'cause she apparently was 22 inches when she was born. Whatever...we don't know which one to believe. She already can't wear a couple of sleepers 'cause they're too short for her, so I'm leaning towards 22 inches. She also has some baby acne on her face - it looks a lot worse than it really is. Doc said it'll clear up in a few days.

Today was also the day we took Ella to our respective places of work to show her off. Everyone was very impressed with her cuteness. My co-workers also gushed about Ben. He was in rare form today! He was jumping from square to square (the pattern in the carpet) and wow-ing everyone with his verbal skills. He was telling the ladies "I'm Ben!" when they asked who he was. Very charming! He also got to eat two pieces of cake at 10:00 in the morning!

Then at Daddy's work, he got to "play race" on the computer - we go to the Thomas the Tank Engine site and let him play games and do puzzles. Ben LOVES it.

That's all for now. Sorry we don't blog much - Gord usually takes the computer to work with him, so I can usually only blog in the evening, and the evenings are pretty lazy around here. I'll try to do better...and post more pictures.