Monday, August 13, 2012

Vacation with the cousins

Every summer we try to take our vacation time at the same time as Jo.... so we can make sure the cousins get some quality time together! Monday the 6th, Jo and the boys arrived after supper. We started off with a bit of play time to kinda break the ice!


Brennan was turning 3 this week so Maelie had wrapped a bunch of presents! We figured this would be entertainment for the week.


Everyone enjoyed going hunting for frogs in grand-maman's river. It was a bit chillier than last week in the water!

Grand-maman's neighbor Dominic has a ladder by his place, and I thought this picture was quite awesome! The perfect reflection in the river. It was VERY still that morning!

Walking back towards the deck with a few frogs in tow.....

Lucas was the only one who got completely wet!!


Brennan gently touching the little frog.... (I won't show you the treatment the frog got from Nathan though!)

Say cheese!


Lucas has got to be the king of posing for the camera!

Grand-maman got a bunch of tools for the kids and they had the most fun with the magnetic sticks.

We spent one afternoon on Jo's childhood friend Anie's boat. Maelie was quite nervous at first not thinking the boat would still float with all of us on it.

Ahhhhh... mother-son love :)


Our gracious hosts.


Almost the only place we could get a "still" picture of Nathan! :)

This little guy will for sure grow up to get anything he wants just by using his charm!

On Wednesday, we figured now was our chance to head out to the Granby zoo for an adventure as we were not sure there would be sun for the rest of the week! We had a pic nic across the street from the zoo at IGA!

Maelie and I had been to the zoo last year by ourselves, so it was nice to be able to share it with the cousins :)

The goats were as funny as ever,

Lucas' face is obviously looking at a goat poop!! Whereas Nathan is looking at the train overhead!

Maelie was the perfect extra set of hands to handle the Nathan!

Brennan also on the pony....

We stopped by to visit the rays... Nathan loved touching them! He wondered where their teeth were.


Our favorites last year were the birds... and they still were our favorites this year!

Look at the face of the girl behind Maelie. She looks like she is going to freak out!

I love hands on time with the animals... and I think Nathan does too!

Just chillin' with the birds!

you're in my personal space....!

After walking around the zoo, we were all quite happy to get refreshed in the Amazoo area!

Even grand-maman seemed to enjoy the lazy river!

Ahhhhhhh.... much cooler! I didn't take many pics at the Amazoo because I was in the water as well. The boys loved it though and were SO sad to leave!

We stayed until just before closing. We had a little bite to eat across the street at Valentine, and then headed off for the quietest 2.5 hours drive home!! Everyone was sleeping pretty soundly. Bye bye Amazoo!!


Grand-maman put the littles to work painting her chicken coop. They don't quite understand the idea of not wiping your hands on your shirt.


Maelie also decided to venture out and do her nails! Of course... 2 curious little boys wanted their nails painted too!

Nathan instructed her which colors he wanted.

Brennan also wanted his nails done so she put some blue on his toes!

Nathan of course wanted colorful toes too!

Maelie ended up doing 20 little toes...!

Lucas doing the pre-teen thing: i-pod touch!

On August 9th was Brennan's 3rd birthday!! 3 years ago, I saw his birth, cute as can be. That will always be a special moment in my heart!

Lucas trying to get Maelie to pose for a picture!


I got the boys to work making peanut butter spaghetti for the racoons! It's never too early to learn how to cook!

A bit of peanut butter went in the spaghetti and a bit went in their mouths!

Here they are delivering the goods on the birdfeeder (which has obviously become a racoon feeder).

MMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

All this while, Maelie and Lucas were getting a face mask done. Ah... the spa!

We ended up getting quite a bit of rain, which is perfect for mud puddles! Riding the ATV into the puddles has got to be the best thing ever! Here is Maelie going for the mud!

Here is Jo driving the littles through the mud!

For lunch, we went out with grand-papa and Lucie! I hadn't seen them yet this visit, but the kids all had a coupld days before. I don't have any of the pics as I wasn't there. I will have to wait for Jo to send me some of the pics she has.

Brennan had SOOOOO much to say to grand-papa!!

Nathan was quite interested in the sharpener. Figuring out how things work seems to be his number 1 hobby!

After lunch, we went to the park and water games. The sun came out for a bit so it was nice!

I managed to bribe Maelie to get a picture with the flowers!

At least there is no bribing needed for the action shots!!

Everyone was SO happy running around in the chilly water!

I absolutely LOVE this picture of Maelie! It's refreshing just to look at!
After the water park, we had an ice cream cone with grand-papa and Lucie at McDonald's. I forgot to take a picture!!

Here are the 4 grand kids looking adorable as usual! :)

The two eldest!

How cute is this little face?

Grand-maman and her 4 grand kids.

Grand-maman and her 2 girls!

What a wonderful vacation :) Sadly enough, back to real life! Maelie and I headed home yesterday. She was so happy to see her daddy! She had been gone for 17 days. Jo is on her way home today to PEI. I will miss my nephews! Hopefully I can see them sooner than next summer.

It is now officially back to school season! but summer is not over yet... moe adventures to come!