Country mice in the 'Big' City

So, we drove in to Prince George for a couple of nights this week.

A few observations....

1. It is beautiful up here this time of year. It was sunny and clear for the drive both ways. The colours were gorgeous - cottonwoods and aspen were bright yellow all along the route.

2. After 6 months of Smithers, I am not used to traffic noise. Or malls. Plus our chariot-built-for-two stroller does not fit on the bus.

3. I loved Fort George Park as a kid, and it held up well to adult scrutiny! The fire truck is still there (or there is another one now), plus there's a great little museum that we spent a good couple of hours at.

4. Babies like swings!

5. Ben was re-introduced to Treehouse TV in our hotel room. His brain dissolved away after about 5 minutes. It was truely amazing to see. He literally could not take his eyes off of the TV set. (and it's not like he's completely deprived of tv at home!)

Ben at Fort George Park - Sept 07

Laurel at Fort George Park - Sept 07

Music in my life

Ben has a little song to share with everyone:

poopy baby girl
you're so poopy
poop poop poop
poop poop poop
icky little baby
you're so icker
ickick ICK ick
such a stinky baby
I love my baby girl
ick ick ick
poop poop poop
(repeat (and repeat) and fade out as he is sent to his room until he's had enough)

In related news, Laurel started solids last week, thereby closing the chapter of our lives that involved (relatively) sweet, breastfed-baby poop.

We are coming down soon

For those of you on the coast, we will be in town from Oct 8-15. We will be in touch with many of you soon to arrange for visits and playdates.

Ben is especially excited about getting to visit with his cousin Emma and friends Andrew and Tova. He's also looking forward to the Aquarium and Pumpkin Patch.

Ben at the pumpkin patch - October 2005

Laurel is still waking up a couple of times in the night, so at least I don't have too many concerns about screwing up her sleep schedule.

Unfortunately, Darren won't be able to make it down this trip due to work committments - he's looking forward to a really good sleep schedule for a week!

And me? I'm really, really looking forward to spending 2 hours on a small plane with 2 small children. At least no one will be sitting directly beside us (Dash-8 airplane seats are 2 by 2). Thank goodness for breastfeeding, portable DVD players, and mini packs of smarties.

Ben and Laurel - September 2007

Happy first day of school!

Oops, its been a while, but things have been busy.

Today, Ben started preschool for 2 mornings a week today, so things are a bit less busy now. That's right, 6 hours per week of just me and one child. Who can't move yet, and likes to nap. Wheee!

I mean, how easy is this? If she's awake, I can sit her on the carpet and she stays there and doesn't even really whine. I can go make myself a cup of tea and when I come back she's still there and hasn't even really been able to make much of a mess. She's currently been napping for almost an hour and a half, and I've gotten more done this today already than I usually accomplish in an entire week. And this is with about 7 hours of broken sleep!

(For those of you with only one child, I mock with love. One child blew me away too. And really, two is nice too. Just waaay more work and less (I mean zero) downtime. For those of you with no children, I'm sure you're very busy too. And as for those of you who have more than 2 kids, wow. )

More posts soon, with pictures and everything!

Oh, and happy back-to-school for those of you who are schooly/teachery types (hee hee hee)