Today was a......headachy, messy, snickers pooped on the floor, lose a truck in the snow and freak out, fort building, cookie dough disaster in the kitchen, train playing, firetruck playing, sledding, snowstormy, mommy wishes she could just have 5 minutes of peace, big brother teaching little brother to throw his food, rice krispie squares stuck to everything........kinda day.

H was not too impressed to be outside at first

Drew clearing off the snow from the slide for Hunter

Drew clearing off the snow from the roof of the playhouse

Beach Vacation

Our family vacation this year was spent at the RIU Bachata in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.  We went January 2-9, and spent the week with my parents and brother.

Our flight was scheduled to leave at 6:20am Sunday morning, which had us at the airport at 3:30am.  We were all standing in this huge line that seemed to be taking forever when James noticed the priority line.  We were given the "silver service" package, for whatever reason (we're not sure why), and that package included priority baggage handling.  Hellooooo shorter line.

After our bags were checked, we headed through security and then to the playground right near our gate (Terminal 3 at Pearson).  The playground is just a climbing structure with a slide, but it kept the boys happily playing for quite some time.

Our flight left 10 minutes late, but went pretty smoothly.  Hunter slept for the first 2 hours and Drew fell asleep on the descent (making getting off the plane tricky).  The flight was just over 4 hours (not sure I could handle a longer flight with the boys).

Once at the Puerto Plata airport, we went through customs, gathered our bags and met a bus that was waiting there for us to take us to our resort.  The bus ride was 45 minutes long, and we were greeted with some drinks at the entrance to the resort.  Happily, our rooms were ready for us, so we headed straight to them to get unpacked and change into our swim suits.

We had a quick lunch and then Jamie took Drew swimming while Hunter finished eating, then we all met up at the pool.

The week was essentially a repeat of that.  We'd wake up, head for breakfast, swim, play in the sand, eat lunch, Hunter would have a nap (sometimes Drew would too), then we'd play in the sand/surf, maybe swim some more, and then dinner time and bedtime.  

Most nights, Nana came to our room and read the boys bedtime stories, and some nights, James and I sat on our balcony and watched movies on one of our phones.  

My wonderful husband booked me a massage on the beach which was the BEST massage I have ever received.  I just went for a shoulder/back/neck one (the cheapest) but it was wonderful.  

The boys kept us on our toes the entire week.  Hunter would wake up like clockwork at 3:30 each morning.  We'd stick a bottle in his mouth and bring him into bed with us,  most mornings he would fall back asleep.  Drew was exhausted the entire trip, and was therefore a wee bit cranky in the evenings.  He napped most days, which helped, but I think all the swimming and playing in the sand really knocked him out.  Plus, I'm sure Hunter waking up screaming didn't help the situation.  Drew wouldn't eat there either.  He would have a good breakfast, and then would hardly eat anything for the rest of the day.  By the end of the trip, we stopped fighting with him and would just let him eat whatever he would eat.  He really loved the Pina Colada "smoothies" (non-alcoholic).

All in all, it was a great trip.  We had to put my brother on a bus on Saturday night.  There was a big snowstorm here in Toronto that weekend, and his flight home was slowed up a bit...he was catching a flight a few hours after he landed (at 8am) for his training in Regina.  I haven't heard the whole story, but I'm sure it was kinda stressful being held up on your flight home, when your other flight is so close.  He made it though.  When saying goodbye, Drew gave him a big hug and told him he would miss him.  None of us cried, although I had tears in my eyes.  We miss him already, and can't wait to see him!

Our flight home was delayed 2 hours (supposed to leave at 12:20 and left at 2:30).  We were in the waiting area of the airport when we found out, and I nearly started crying.  We heard some people talking about the VIP lounge, so James nearly sprinted to find out what it was all about.  5 minutes later we were sitting in the VIP lounge, sipping our drinks, eating snacks and watching cartoons.  Stress levels severely reduced.  It cost us 25$ each (the kids were free) and we got unlimited drinks (alcohol included), sandwiches, chips and cookies.  It was an enclosed area (kids couldn't run away), clean bathrooms, comfy chairs, english cartoons, and free internet.  AWESOME.  Suddenly we didn't mind being held up.

Our flight home went smoothly.  Hunter slept for the first 2 hours.  Grandma and Grandpa met us at the airport to say hello for 10 minutes, and then we took the boys to McDonalds for dinner.  

Fun times had by all!

Here are some more pics from the week...

check out my brothers socks.  His sandals hurt his feet, so he had to wear his "dress" shoes and socks around with his beach wear for a day.  Stylish!!!

I'm in the little cabin near the top of the photo getting my massage in this photo!

Our building

Bestest Christmas EVER!!!

The past few days have been a whirlwind of activity, it's gone by in the blink of an eye, I'm still trying to catch my breath.

On the 23rd, we went to Brampton in the afternoon to have dinner with the Bonneys and the Leungs at James' parent's house.  The cousins had a great time together, playing with their new toys and trying their best to trash the grandparent's condo.  The boys had fun too.  N gave us and James' parents the apple TV system, so they had fun setting it up, and discussing the benefits to it.  We've got it set up here, and while I can't figure out how to use the damn thing, James and Drew can do it...it is pretty cool!

The next day (Christmas eve) Drew and Hunter opened their last advent surprise in their Lego and "mommy and daddy's" advent calendars.  The Lego one was Santa Claus driving a train engine (just imagine how thrilled Drew was!) and ours was a Christmas book for each of them.  Drew got "David's Christmas" (he had been asking for it all month) and Hunter got "Mouse's first Christmas".  This was the day we had been counting down to all month, as we had plans to go to Nana's and sleepover.  It was all very exciting, and I thought Drew's head was going to pop off from all of the anticipation. 

We decided to allow the boys to open their gifts from us at this point.  We had two reasons for this; 1) we didn't want to lug the gifts to my parents, only to have to bring them back home again.  2)  We were hoping the new gifts would keep them from bugging us every 2 seconds with, "when are we going to Nana's?"...which they had already started in on after the excitement of their advent surprises ran out.

Notice the toilet in the background...Merry Christmas to us!!!  LOL

This cash register is awesome.  It is, however, broken already.  James is attempting to take it back tomorrow.

Thankfully, the gifts kept them entertained for a little while.  James had a little surprise for me on this day.  His parents showed up allowing James to take me out to a movie!  We saw "Little Fockers" and followed it up with some last minute shopping.  As soon as we got home, it was time to pack up the van and head to the Glen.

We spent the evening with my parents, brother, aunt, uncle and three cousins.  It was wonderful.  Drew was thrilled to have his cousins there, and was showing them around, and sharing his toys.  Hunter had a great time following them around.  We ordered Chinese food (WAY too much Chinese food....so much so, that we had it for dinner the next day instead of the turkey and STILL had tons of leftovers!  It was delicious though).

Michael, Drew and Jayden reading some books in the "sleepover" room...as Drew calls it

Hunter and Crystal playing "wii"

A Leapster!  Thanks guys!!!

Once the Archdekin's left, we gathered up all that we thought Santa would want when he payed us a visit.  We had made him peanut butter cookies earlier in the day, we left milk and a few carrots for his reindeer.  I then sat down with Drew and we wrote Santa a note.

"I have been very good...please leave lots of presents....my brother has been good too....he likes trains...."

They had matching jammies, but I did not put H in his until morning in case he barfed on them

Bedtime went fairly smoothly.  A lot better than expected anyways.  James and I read them stories, we put H in his crib and lied with Drew.  H cried for a few minutes, but then drifted off to sleep (it was pretty late by the time we got them into bed)....Drew kept asking for Nana, so once H was asleep (we were all in the same room), James went and got Nana and she lied with us while Drew went to sleep...which didn't take too long, considering his excitement!

Once the boys were asleep, Nana and I headed out to prepare for the morning.  Santa came while we were trying to get everything ready...man, that guy is quick!  ;)

The loot from Santa

James and my dad helped Santa set up the big "wheelie" car thingy that H got, while Nana and I finished wrapping the last of the gifts from her and papa....there were a lot.

H woke up at around 4:30, I'm surprised he lasted that long.  Drew picked up a really bad cough and was coughing all night.  It kept James and I up it was so bad.  Once I heard H, I picked him up and took him out to the living room, where we lied on the couch together and watched TV (and both drifted back to sleep).  Drew woke up at 7, and went straight to the fireplace to see if Santa had come.  He then found me and H on the couch and says, "mommy, mommy, Santa came and left some presents....but I didn't open any because I didn't know which were mine....can I go wake Nana up now??"

Off the little feet went to wake Nana up and then straight to the Santa gifts.  Our rule is that the Santa gifts can be opened with just me and Nana, if need be, but all of the other gifts have to wait until everyone else is up.

When Drew saw the car set, he was confused.  It was unwrapped, and was similar to the one we had given to Michael.  Drew asked if Michael was still at Nana's and when I told him he had gone home, he looked really concerned and told me that he had forgotten his car set.  "No, no, hunny, Santa left it for you"....."REALLY.....ALRIGHT!!!!!!"

Once all of the Santa gifts were opened, Drew went and woke everyone else up, while I put some cinnamon buns in the oven.

We spent the rest of the morning opening gifts and playing with them.  It really was a wonderful experience.  The cinnamon buns were delicious, and once all the gifts were opened, James made us waffles for lunch.

James and Jamie took Happy and Drew out sledding (along with the rest of the neighbourhood.....an annoyance that I will get into in a later post) and once I got H changed, we joined them.  It was SOOOO fun.  Not much snow, but just enough to make you fly down their hills.  Happy was very cute, so very protective of my boys, especially around the other dogs (!?!?!?) that people had brought onto the property.

H had a 3 hour nap this day, which was very impressive for him.  We had left over Chinese food for dinner (which we had kept in the truck over night, there seriously was a truck load of the stuff).  It was delicious, but I don't think any of us want to have Chinese food again for a very, very long time.

Here are some shots from the day;

My brother's hilariously inappropriate gift tags.  James' said, "Merry Christmas, motherfucker"

So Jamie did a scavenger hunt for Drew's gifts.  Drew's first clue was a dog treat.  I WISH I got a photo of Drew's face when he opened it.  He was not impressed.  Totally thought the dog treat was his gift.  The clue was, "she would be HAPPY to receive this"....once Drew caught on, he LOVED following the clues....just had a very rough start.  Honestly thought he was going to punch my brother...or start crying.

So, that's it, another Christmas come and gone.  This was the best one yet.  Drew was SOOO into it.  He's very sad it's over, and is already counting the days until next Christmas.

I should talk about my brother a bit here.  On Christmas eve Drew had a bit of a breakdown.  It was right before the cousins arrived, and he was playing with Jamie.  Suddenly, I heard Drew yelling at my brother and storming into my parents room.  I head into the room and find Drew sitting on the bed.  I ask him what's up and he just starts bawling...."I don't want him to leave, why can't he stay here...etc, etc".  We had a long talk, I ended up in tears too, and I'm not sure I really helped the situation any.  I knew Drew was upset, just did not realize he was that upset.

My brother has accepted a job with the CP rail police, and is heading to Regina, SK on January 9 for training, when he is done the training in May, he will be moving to Golden, BC for who knows how long.  It is very exciting for him, and he will probably have a great time....it's just hard to see someone you love  move so far away.

That night after the boys had gone to bed, Jamie had me listen to the gift he had made for Drew.  It was one of the recordable books from Hallmark.  Of course, I ended up in tears after listening to it.  Drew LOVES it,  mostly because Jamie calls one of the characters dumb in it....we have to listen to that part over and over again.  It's a wonderful gift, my parents did one too, and they will be listened to alot this winter, I'm sure.

With all the excitement of Christmas, Drew seemed to have forgotten his anger towards Uncle Jamie, until it was time for us to leave.  I told him to go give Uncle Jamie a hug, and instead of hugging him, he starts yelling at him, telling him to never buy him gifts ever again.  I was appalled.  I was embarrassed, I had no idea where that was coming from. They had such a great day, he loved the gifts Jamie had got for him, WTF???

The next morning, Drew comes to me and says, "mommy, I don't want Uncle Jamie to buy me anymore gifts.  If he doesn't have to buy me anything, he doesn't need a job, and he won't have to go away anymore"

My heart broke in half at that moment.  The poor little man, it's so hard to understand.

Needless to say, there is a wee bit of stress around our houses, as we try and help Jamie get ready to go...and try to get our heads around him leaving. 

I will say though, it was the best Christmas day we've had as a family yet.  In Christmas' past, we've spent the day driving to various places, spending a few hours here and there at different relatives.  While it was nice to see everyone, Drew (H was just a baby last year) never really got a chance to play with any of his gifts and we never really got a chance to relax.  Spending the whole day at the Glen was perfect, I'm so glad we decided to do it that way this year.  Hopefully, it will become tradition.

Merry Christmas!

Mini Vacay

Sunday, we joined N, L and the girls at Blue Mountain for 2 days of snow fun.  I'd never been there before, and I was blown away.  It was gorgeous.  We stayed at the Westin Trillium House at the foot of the ski hills.  It was a wonderful resort situated right in the village.  Each family had a 1-bedroom suite, consisting of a separate bedroom, living area (with gas fireplace), kitchenette and a giant bathroom.  It was perfect. 

I did not take this photo

Our drive up was perfect too, until we were about 20 minutes away from the resort and Hunter puked all over everything.  We seriously should cover that child of mine in plastic for long road-trips...it's getting to be quite the habit!

As soon as we got there, we unpacked and James, Drew, N and K went for a swim in the heated outdoor pool.  Yup, OUTDOOR pool. Crazy.  They had a blast though, the kids were going nuts.  They came in and warmed up in the sauna and then straight up to the rooms they went. 

L and I went for dinner at Oliver and Bonachini....we both had salads, enjoyed a quiet dinner without flying forks and food, and felt quite relaxed when we returned to our men/children.

After dinner, we spent some time at the arcade (with the kids) and then bundled them all up and went and checked out the village.  I LOVE the village.  We had Starbucks hot chocolate, played in the snow, ate beavertails, browsed the cute, overpriced shops and enjoyed the snow falling as we walked around.

Hunter LOVING the beaver tails....so yummy!

Bedtime was easy, as both boys were exhausted and fell asleep while I read them stories. 
James and I stayed up, drank wine, ate bread and hummus and watched the survivor finale beside the fireplace.  It was seriously the perfect ending to a wonderful day.

The next morning, we got ready for ski-school.  L and N had signed Drew and K up for it (K did a full day, Drew a half-day).  I wasn't sure how it would go, as Drew has never been on skis before...but he had seen an episode of Emily Young where she went snowboarding, and really wanted to try it.  Alas, you have to be 6 to try snowboarding, so skiing it had to be for my little 4 year old.

Drop-off went well.  He was excited, and seemed pretty anxious/nervous about the whole thing.  We weren't allowed into the area where they outfitted him with skis, so we went outside to wait for him to come out.  Once out there, he was standing by himself for quite sometime while they figured out the classes.  I don't think this helped the situation, as he had time to think about what was about to happen. 

The first thing they did was take him up the hill on the magic carpet.  He really liked this.  Once he was up there, we couldn't see him anymore, so we left to go and pack up the room (we had to be out by 11).  It should be noted here that we gave them both of our cell numbers AND our room number.  They told us that if there were any troubles, they would give us a call.  We did not get a call.

At noon, I went to pick Drew up at ski school, and James/Hunter went to get us a table and order us lunch at Wild Wing.  I waited for what seemed like forever, watching all of the other kids come down the hill and go into the chalet (the full-day kids eat lunch together in the chalet).  Did not see Drew.  I was all ready with my camera to get a shot of him coming down the hill.  No Drew. 

After a few minutes of silent panicking on my part, I finally see him come out of the chalet.  The teenage boy who brought him out to me seemed to be in a hurry to be "rid" of him.  "How did he do?", I ask....."Oh, he did fine"......long pause......"but we had to bring him in early because he was quite upset and really wanted you".....

"Perhaps you should of called me", I say.

Drew was still quite upset at this point, so I just start walking with him, taking him to wild wing.  Along the way, he tells me it was him and 2 other girls who were sitting in "the room", waiting for class to be over.

So, while I'm sure they probably tried hard to help him like the sport, I am quite disappointed that they did not call me.  I would have rather picked him up early and done something fun with him, instead of having him sit in a room waiting for the time to end.

All in all though, we had a great time and really want to go back.  It was a beautiful resort, we had beautiful weather, and aside from the ski school, Drew and Hunter both loved it there.  Thanks L and N for a great mini-getaway!