Kyle and Jemma's blog
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Kitchen chaos...
Mom and Dad had the brainy inspiration to get rid of the "80's look" in the kitchen... so they got out the sawsall, and ripped away...
Before:
During:
Rewiring...
Measure once, cut a few times.... will it fit?
Oh, yeah!
Daddy was smart enough to NOT do the mudding and taping himself. :) That's a first!
After!!! (and before again) What a difference!
Random post-Christmas stuff... almost caught up!!!
Last but not least, a few random pics to get caught up with...
Ch-ch-ch-chia! Uncle Chia came to visit with our cousins and auntie!!!
Dad like cuddles. It gives him a reason to sleep. :)
This is a contest to see who can see their own brain. Neither won - they don't have any to see.
We had friends over last night, and the girls did my hair then got me dressed up!!! It was great.
These are my friends Allie, (me), Leena, and Kira.
Kyle went skiing again today - he's a pro by now.
Friday, January 02, 2009
Checking his list twice...
Well, next come a bunch of random events and pictures leading up to Present Day. At least that's what we call it... maybe a bit of Churchin' is due before next year, eh?
Bare bottom brushin'...
Mom and Dad hosted a sushi night - big success, and everybody pitched in to roll. it wasn't all pretty, but it was tasty. Mom accosted our neighbor by dumping 1/4 glass of wine on her head, but she barely seemed to notice. :)
We've seen lots of this stuff this winter - and it comes in huge dumps at once.
Lara and Stuart came by too - I think I posted a pic of their kids earlier too... we had a blast, and apparently they did too.
Decorating the tree was fun as always - but the top of the tree got lonely. We're not that tall yet.
Too many decorations...
But the best part comes next - Christmas Day!!!!
DUCKIES!!!! These are my favorite in the bath!!! All zillion of them!
Yes, that is Daddy. Yes, he is hauling a house down the road. No, believe it or not, he's not crazy. The wind blew our house down the street, across the road, and into the farmers field... twice - despite hooking it over the basketball net post. People must've been a bit surprised to see it blow across the main road... and then to see some guy hauling it back!
Our cousins came visit too - we had tons of fun!
Kyle loves his DS - he fits in with the big boys now.
See? He's got that spacey look...
Kyle is learning how to skate and ski now too! He's doing GREAT! Its in his blood as a Canadian.
Going up...
Up...
Going down...
All down... :)
All up again... Kyle going down.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Ash and Thomas visit!
Daddy's friends Ashley and Thomas came to visit us as well! Ash is from Toronto, and Thomas now lives in Japan near Kyoto. it's been a LONG time since they've got together. Ash was nice enough to share his pics from the trip, so here are a few of them. Daddy's now extremely jealous over the camera setup he has - it's tempting him to get a new camera too.
We kids always have dirty faces. You would be disappointed with less, wouldn't you? What detail in that mustard!
Monkey see... (Kyle sometimes looks like Daddy's cousin Greg did when he was young, doesn't he?)
Monkey do!
They were here...
... and then they were gone. Dad has to plan a trip to Toronto for the spring, then off to Kyoto for business somehow.
Friday, October 31, 2008
School starting, through Halloween... lots 'o pics!
Ok... now that we're back on the picture wagon, here are the shots from last September and October. It was a busy month, despite the lack of travel!
First things first... September was a big month for Kyle! His first day of Kindergarden! Cassie next door is in his class too.
He gets picked up by a bus every day... he's a big boy now, and can go to school on his own!
Bye Kyle!!!
Then... a couple hours later they're done with him and drop him back off. Kinda looks the same, don't it?
Did i mention that our babysitter from Belgium came to visit? She was in a few of the pics in the last post, but she was around at the beginning of September too. We went to Niagara Falls with her for a shower. I guess our bathtub was broken.
We even went on the Maid of the Mist - it was cool! Good thing we had practice getting soaked to the bone in Russia!
We dried out at lunch... it didn't last.
Near our new house is a huge fish factory in the park - we're not sure what they do with the fish, but you can feed them and stuff. Next year Kyle and I will go do Catch and Release.
September was pretty warm - we also went to do a Corn Maze (or Corn Maize if you want to be redundant).
It was pretty easy to get around.
They had all kinds of other cool stuff there too!
We even went on a hay ride, and shot a corn-cob cannon!
This was Mommy's shirt when she was a little girl - it's perfect!
Dress rehearsal for Halloween...
Dress rehearsal for Kyle's facial tick.
Mommy doesn't believe in "down time" according to Daddy. According to Mommy however, "down time" doesn't mean sleeping until 2pm on the weekends. To compromise, we do cool family stuff like go visit the local ski resort before it opened.
The chair lift got at least 20 feet off the ground... it was fun!
Again... I'm not sure why they complain about how tough some of these trips are... it's easy!
Next comes Halloween! Or, as we kids call it - FREECANDYCANDYCANDYCANDYCANDY!!!!!!!!!!
In Pittsford, Halloween is a family fun affair. Even the adults enjoy it. Really enjoy it.
OPEN!!!!!! Please!
Kyle got so much candy he couldn't carry it any more. Jemma... well, she went a bit bazurk seeing as there was free candy involved.
Ok, with that out of the way, let's get back to one of Kyle's myriad of sporting activities: Rock Climbing!
Kyle wants to be just like his Cousin Robyn... it'd be cool to climb with her!
Kyle and Daddy went for 6x 1.5 hour sessions, and had a blast. They're going to continue once some of Kyle's other activities are done - there's just no time!
Well... that's that. Coming soon: Daddy's friends visit, and then Christmas!!!
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Settling into Rochester
Well, now that the vacations are over, here are a bunch of pictures from our first while in Rochester. We had lots of visitors come, and we put them to hard work too. Sorry about this too, but I've found a few more random pictures on Kyle's camera so I'll start with those to keep you confused.
First things first... Budapest. Really. I'm really not sure what this is doing on Kyle's camera because he wasn't there. It looks rainy and cold, but I'm told that the spa in the park was AMAZING... and so was the food.
Jemmy on the cruise ship... she suits hats doesn't she?
She suits jewelry too... poor boys when she gets older. Strangely though, she won't let you put ANYTHING in her hair.
Kyle's getting to be a creative photographer...
Jemma loved swimming on her own in the salt-water pool on the cruise ship... and ever since then she's been way less clingy while swimming.
Ok... now that's out of the way, on to Rochester life!
Our first visitors were Uncle Mark and our cousins from Ottawa! We don't have many pictures of this visit because we had so much fun. Mommy and Daddy couldn't take pictures because their hands were too busy covering their ears all the time.
Next came Grandma and Grandpa Cazabon. The moment they showed up, Mom and Dad handed them tools and put them to work building our vacation cottage in the back yard. We kids did most of the hard work though - they were too busy sitting around drinking beer.
After 3 solid days of work it was complete. It's amazing! I'm still waiting for Daddy to put in the heating system and Internet connection, but we're almost there!
They were here for Kyle's birthday too - it was great! Presents!!!
Our babysitter and family friend from Belgium, Aurore, also came to visit for Kyle's birthday! She hasn't missed any of his birthdays since he was born!
Kyle's getting to be a pretty good photographer himself these days. The only way I can tell he took it is the low angle... otherwise it looks just like the 99% of Daddy's shots that he edits out! Maybe he should start looking at the screen when he takes pictures. :)
We truly are best friends...
And while Jemma might LOOK all cute and innocent... we all know better.
One of our neighbours has a pool, and they're amazingly nice about letting us use it.
That's Sherri there, swimming with Mom. Stacey (our other neighbour) is poking her head in the corner.
Grandpa's a good photographer too, but it's easy with models like us kids.
Kyle's very proud of his golf clubs - now he can be like Grandpa! (golfing like dad isn't enough of a challenge for him)
Kyle had all the kids over for his birthday too - along with Grandma, Grandpa, and Aurore! It was a busy household for a few days!
Mmmmm... cake!
The whole crew. I think our barbecue took this picture.
Next, our other Grandma and Grandpa came to visit! Busy month!
Kyle seems to have this face built in... it pops out whenever he gets too excited and you point a camera at him.
Strangely enough, I can't find the other pictures from that visit... but they'll show up shortly in a retrospective I'm sure. :)
However, that's not the end of the visitors!!! Stuart and Lara also came to visit. Remember them from Brussels, Amsterdam, and probably a bunch of other places?
Here we are with our friends Katelyn and Abby!
That brings us to about the end of September... and the end of the pictures that we have prepared. There's still a bunch more to edit, so maybe by this weekend we'll make it to Christmas for you!
Friday, August 15, 2008
Kyle and Daddy go North.
Once things were settled in the house, Daddy and Kyle hopped in the car and drove for about 7 hours to get to North Bay and Sturgeon Falls. There, they met up with Grandma and Grandma Cazabon and visited all the relatives they could find! It was a great Daddy-Son weekend, proven by the distinct lack of yelling.
First things first - Daddy was bound and determined to go fishing with Kyle and help him catch his first fish at the same spot that he went as a kid. Although the bridge was missing, it hasn't changed that much otherwise.
Grandpa - thanks for sharing some of your photos below with us too!
It was a family affair... or a photo shoot... we're not sure which. In any case, everyone had fun - except maybe the fishies.
Dad had a lot of fun playing with the worms.
It didn't take long for Kyle to catch his first fish... then his second... then his fourteenth... he must be pretty darn good. He also almost caught a duck that was interested in his makeshift wine bottle cork float.
For a first try, it was a blast - even though they were all too small to keep and eat.
Next, Grandpa arranged to take them to go visit Aunt Roberte at her Hoo-Hoo Farm! (That's "Horsie" for those of you that don't speak Jemma).
Kyle got to feed and pet a lot of horses, then she even arranged to give him a short horse-riding lesson! He hasn't stopped talking about "his" horse Princess ever since.
Believe it or not, this was intentional. We're not sure why.
Next... Kyle did some swimming in the Big Pool (where he always wanted to go to the deep end), and a little more fishing out in the boat with Daddy.
Daddy needs to work out a little more...
Daddy and Kyle built a stone statue on the rocks behind the cottage. They said it was called something like an "Enough, Chuck"... but I really don't understand what that means.
While in Sturgeon Falls, they had Pogos and then went to spend some time with Great-Grandpa Cazabon!
Kyle gave Great-Grandpa a present - a bonne-homme!
I think they're related...
Kyle spent some time teaching Great-Grandpa how to play tic-tac-toe on an iPod too.
I think Kyle really loves his Great-Grandpa - they even spoke a little French together.
Daddy also went to visit Great-Grandma's grave... we miss her terribly, even though we never got the chance to meet her in person. I'll always have my middle name to remember her by though - I hope I can do it justice!
Back at the cottage, they also spent some time with his other Great-Grandparents - whom for whatever historical reason are still called "Grandma and Fred".
Dad says it hasn't changed... which in his mind at least is a good thing. He has MANY great memories from up there, and not a single bad one that he can remember.
And with that (and a few other visits to great and friendly relatives), the weekend was done and it was time to come home.
Friday, August 01, 2008
Oopsie!
Every once in a while, Daddy remembers (or actually, is reminded!) that he's not the only one in the family with a camera. When this happens, a puzzled look comes over his face while he's thinking about how to squeeze in some great shots for which there already exists a blog post with his own pics - from 7 months ago. Usually, his solution goes something like this:
Time for a retrospective!
This is from one of Mom and Dad's little weekend jaunts up to Amsterdam, to get away from us kids. This trip was with Lara, Stuart, and Misty too - unfortunately Stuart couldn't make it this time.
This is Amsterdam too.
Here's Lara again, with Mom's tennis coach Marcus.
Although the dates on most of these pics are suspect, there's no doubt that the rest of these have been sitting on Mom's camera for a LONG time... bad Daddy!!!
Well... enough reminiscing. Next comes Daddy and Kyle's trip to North Bay and Sturgeon Falls!
