Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Big Boy in the Toddler Room

I thought I should get a few more pics of Matthew at school before he is home with me in a couple of weeks. He always has a great time and cheers - yay school - when we are getting ready to turn into the parking lot. At the end of the day he says bye to all his teachers and friends.
Matthew often enjoys showing us all the toys at school :-) In fact, lately when I pick him up he runs over to give me a hug, then says bye to everyone, but then goes back to playing with his toys. He is going to miss coming to school every day!

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Chad's Last Triathlon 2008 - Bala, ON

Today was Chad's last triathlon for the season, and it was his longest one. He swam 750m, biked 30km, and ran 7.5km - all in 2hr 1min. Matthew and I were so proud of him! Here is Chad before the swim. Matthew and I were very lucky to hang out with Jenny and Kuma during the race. Matthew loved Kuma and gave him lots of hugs!
Chad and Spencer were all smiles before the triathlon - great job guys!!

Chad just finishing his swim...Matthew cried as he ran by, but was then comforted by a snack :- )


Here comes Chad to the finish line (we only saw Chad during transitions so there were no good bike pics) - yeah Daddy!!

Chad and Matthew just after Chad finished - Matthew was very happy to see his Dad! Here comes Spencer rounding the final corner - go Spencer!

Smith family post race.
Matthew is all smiles :-)

Bracebridge, Ontario

This weekend was Chad's last triathlon - it was in Bala, which is in Muskoka. We stayed at a little motel between Gravenhurst and Bracebridge and spent Saturday afternoon touring Bracebridge. It was a beautiful day and we really enjoyed exploring the town!
After our tour of the town and lovely lunch, we headed to the park and walked to the Bracebridge Falls. This picture gave us a chance to try out the timer on our new camera (our old one recently died...). The timer worked great!
Chad and Matthew stop for a nice father and son pose on the path to the falls.
After our walk to the falls, we stopped at the park to play on the playground.

Matthew loved riding "neigh neigh" at the park!

Sunday, July 13, 2008

A boy and his books...

Tonight we had our most comedic bedtime moment :-) But first, a little bedtime background. While Matthew loves to cart "affe", "roar", "fish", "bear", and a zillion books up to his room at bedtime, he very rarely will allow anyone/anything but Teddy to actually be in the bed when it's time to go to sleep. On rare occasions he likes to sleep with a ball and sometimes he likes to look at a book (but he is specific about which book that can be - the book varies) as he drifts off. Also, if he gets out of bed it is only to go directly to the gate and call for either Mama or Daddy to come back. Even this isn't that often. The boy rarely gets out of bed. Even when he wakes up in the morning we always find him still in bed waiting for us.

Anyways, as Chad was finishing with bedtime stories I settled into the tub. Usually I would hear Matthew gibbering away for a while until he fell asleep, but tonight was oddly quiet - I thought it was nice. About 15 minutes later I start hearing these little thumps, that sound like they're coming from Matthew's room (his room backs onto our ensuite), but I don't hear his voice so I think it must be Chad. Another few minutes go by with the noises and I'm beginning to wonder what's going on. I then hear "Mama" followed by the distinct sound of toddler feet running. I'm envisioning that he has knocked over the gate, is hurt, or is ready to pummle down the stairs (he is very careful on the stairs, but still the thought crossed my mind).

I get out of the tub as fast as a very pregnant woman can (not very) and race (err, waddle) to his room, just as Chad gets up the stairs. He gets to the doorway first and smiles, then points to Matthew who is sitting by his bookshelf trying to get a book off the shelf unsuccessfully. I smile and am relieved. Then Chad says "look at his bed". And on his bed is about 20 of his books. We couldn't help but laugh, as he is just sitting on his floor as if this is what he does every night. It would have taken him many, many trips to get all those books to his bed, I can't believe how quietly he did it, and that he didn't talk and give himself away :-)

Well, Chad and him cleaned up the books and Matthew was allowed to choose one book for bed. Bob's Busy Saw was the winner and I am happy to say that he is in bed and quiet...or so I think :-) Unfortunately the camera needs batteries so I missed the Kodak moment.

Lake George Provincial Park

Matthew just loves the water, so the Smith's and Barker's decided to head to Lake George Provincial Park for an afternoon of fun! It took no effort to get Matthew in the water and pretty soon he and Grampy were off chasing the ducks!
Matthew had a great time wading around with Grammie and Grampy.

Three generation of Smith "men"

Smith family at the lake :-)

Group photo - what a great day!

Oaklawn Farm Zoo - One year later

As everyone knows, Matthew loves animals. So off to Oaklawn Farm we went almost a year after his first visit. He had a great time looking at all the animals and especially loves the zebras, monkeys, lions, and feeding the deer.
It was nice that this year Chad could come with us! Matthew enjoyed most of the visit being transported on Dad or Grampy's shoulders!
Matthew is a lion - roar!! We have this same picture from last year. We'll have to get another one next summer :-)

Matthew is asking to give "roar" one more hug before he leaves :-)

New Recruit

When we were home for a few days Matthew got the chance to explore the fire trucks! They were a big hit and the fire truck book soon became a must read at bedtime!
All smiles as he checks out the front seat!

Matthew must have received a good driving lesson from Grampy because here he is ready to take off!