Now with Video!!! (In Technicolor)

Okay,

Let's see if this works. We've just posted a couple of movies of Michaela. We not 100% sure whether she's expressing herself or simply being morbid...

Enjoy!

Cute Quotes #2

This is Roebee the Toucan. He’s a permanent resident at our local pet store. He’s the first animal you see when you walk in the doors. Now, we go to visit the pet store almost every week. It’s like going to the zoo, and every single time we go, there is a repeat of this exact conversation:

Mommy: Look Michaela, look at the toucan.

Michaela: Oh cool!…..Where’s the other can?

Cute Quotes #1

Today while I was making Michaela her supper, she turned to me and said, "It's quiet....a little too quiet." I thought that was really cute. Don't know where she heard it, but I laughed.

Sweet Retirement

Our "old" digital camera has just gone into retirement. "Cammy" plans on getting some reading done (pictured here with Luther's Ninety-five Theses), spending more time with her 128mb SD card, take up chess and possibly travel.

For our part, Cara and I are going to miss replacing spent batteries that were completely charged only five minutes before. We're also going to pine for the minutes (which felt like days) that Cammy would spend "processing", unable to take another picture. Her grainy video will still warm our hearts (or at least our blood) and bring tears (of frustration) to our eyes. We're not sure how were going to cope with not having to download media to the computer every few minutes because she ran out of storage space...

Fond farewell.

From interest to fascination to obsession

Michaela has really gotten into a BBC documentary series narrated by Richard Attenborough called "Life in the Undergrowth". It's all about insect behavior using close up videos that have only been recently made possible by new camera technology.

Michaela's familiarity with "the circle of life" is taken a turn towards the morbid. She'll often say the following while playing with her plastic bug collection:

"He's going to eat him, gulp, yum!"

or

Michaela: "Oh no, he's going to sting me!"
Mommy or Daddy (saying for the hundredth time): "Don't worry, he won't sting you."
Michaela: "No? Well, he might still try."

or

"When the wasp egg hatches, the larva consumes the spider and then pupates; the next spring the adult emerges to complete the life cycle."

Please note: She didn't actually use those exact words for the last one, but pretty close.

Pet Store Pics

Josh has commented that he hopes to set Michaela up with her first fish tank. She seems to have picked out one that she likes. What do you think Josh, is a Lionfish a good choice for a beginner? After all, the venomous fin spines are rarely fatal...

P.S. Michaela would refer to it as a "Lion King"-fish.

Beep!

#2 in the "Remember When" series. Oct. 2004

Happy Birthday Canada!

We went with Marthe to the Pointe Claire fireworks on Saturday. It was a very late night for Michaela, but she had a lot of fun. It was so cute, the way she oohed and aahed over each one. Saying thing like, "It's wonderful", and "It's amazing".

Nine Long....I Mean "Wonderful" Years

On Thursday we went out to dinner to celebrate our Ninth Wedding anniversary. Jonathan's mother, Marthe, his Uncle John and Aunt Shelley and our cousin Sara came along as well as Auntie Donna, Uncle Rick and Suzanne and Lucas. I only met John and Shelley back in February because they only just moved here from B.C. And it was our first time meeting our cousin Sara. The Neufeld, Lajoie, Vanns and Santos hit it off splendidly. We all had a fabulous time.

And on a separate note, Michaela's most favorite person in the world seems to be her Uncle Lucas. She talks about him all the time, and follows him around whenever she can. I can't tell you how long it's been since she has fallen asleep on someone. I think I can tell you his secret though...The other day Michaela was balancing in my knees, and said, "look at me...I flying. Like Uncle Lucas." You see, Lucas always picks Michaela up and flies her around the room like an airplane. She loves it.

Another Cute "Michaela and Newt" Picture

This looks familiar.......

Michaela recently discouvered her "dress-up box". She's absolutely thrilled with it and loves putting on all different sorts of costumes. This picture reminds me of something.....

....something that happened recently.....

can't quite put my finger on it..........

...oh well.

Bugs, Glorious, Bugs!

Here are some of the friends we met. Beetles.......

Cockroaches.......

Tarantulas.........

Fun was had by all..........

We now come to the end of all Father's Day related pictures. Coming soon...... more pictures of Michaela!

Not Quite Kicking and Screaming......

Getting Michaela out of the Insectarium was much more challenging than getting her in. Below, please find a transcript of our conversations towards the end of our time there.

Jonathan and Cara: C'mon Michaela, it's time to go!

Michaela: "Hod" on, I wanna show you "somting".

.... A few minutes go by...

Jonathan and Cara: Okay Michaela now we really have to go.

Michaela: Wait a second. Oh my gosh! Come "look-it" this!

The Insectarium

Jumping Back a Little......

Finally getting around to post some great pictures of our Father's Day. Here we are enjoying a delicious breakfast at Barbie's.

Once the water became (barely) warm enough so as to not cause hypothermia when immersed, we strapped some arm floaties on Michaela and let her loose in the pool.
It's interesting, at the start of last summer, Michaela was nervous about being in the water. She had lost the confidence that had developed while in the water the previous summer. The same thing happened this year, even though now she's tall enough to touch the bottom of the shallow end of the pool.
However, she's since (again) got over her fears and is swimming strongly (with wings on).

Gracefully Searching for Bugs.

Fun in St. Anne's

Here we are enjoying the same park Mom and Dad used to take us to when we were little...Ah, the memories....

What Fun!

On the Saturday we took Michaela to the local store where they were having a fun day with inflatable playthings, balloons and free pony rides. It was great. Michaela got to ride on her very first pony, she loved it and wasn't even a little scared. We were so proud of her.
There was also a mascot. For some reason, Michaela loves mascots. As soon as she saw him she squeeled with delight and ran to him for a hug. It was really cute.
And here's the family, sans Cara of course who, as usual, was behind the camera. It's funny, I, Cara, used to take all the pictures because if I didn't, no pictures would get taken. Now I take the pictures because if I let Jon have the camera, he'll take 100 pictures of Michaela in the course of a few minutes. It's cute really. I'm a firm believer in taking no more then 80 pictures a day....tops!

Funniest Picture Ever!

My parents came for a short visit last weekend. Because they were getting so restless we decided to take "the boys" to the park. They had a lot of fun, and cried when it was time to go home. Michaela took this picture...

...just kidding.

Beer! Wonderful Beer!

Jonathan here: I know what you're thinking, I've started my own Meth lab. Well, no; I keep the Meth lab at work.

Actually, I recently bottled some beer to enjoy over the course of the summer. This time I went with an Irish Stout. I made some last year (Canadian Lager) and it didn't turn out too badly. Even some of the other people who tried it, liked it.

Of course, brewing alcohol is somewhat of a family affair. While Cara disinfected the bottles, Michaela would dry them and line them up to be filled. Thanks to their help, we have 23 litres of beer (at a cost of 20$ CAN, taxes included).

Note: The downside, it's a lot of work and it takes quite a while to do. I had to miss an A.A. meeting just to bottle everything.

Update: Rick (Vann) and I tried the beer and we were really happy with it.

Best Father's Day Ever!!

Jonathan here, okay, here's how it went down:

At around 8:00am, Cara suggested that we go out for a Father's Day breakfast. We all walked towards Chez Cora and came upon Avis Car Rental on the way. Cara had a car reserved waiting for us.

She then gave us directions to a secret location somewhere north of Montreal. It turned out to be the St. Eustache flea market. It was an interesting experience and we found a couple things that we could use.

After that we whisked off to another secret locale. We ended up at the Montreal Insectarium to indulge Micheala in her recent fascination with anything that crawls.

After which, we were quite tired and in need of a break so we headed back home for a dip in the pool. Then, we picked up a babysitter and Cara and I went out for the evening. We went out for supper at an Indian restaurant called "Sahib's" on Hymus. The food, decor and service was fantastic. Afterwards we went to see "X-Men III: The Last Stand", very entertaining.

All that having been said, I also got some gifts as well. Cara got us a couple of wireless controllers for our X-Box and coolest of all...

... a epoxy-plaster cast of the Archaeopteryx lithographica believed to be from the late Jurassic period (150 million years ago).


"Fewer than ten fossils of Archaeopteryx have ever been found. Of these, the most famous is on exhibit at the Humboldt University Museum of Natural History in Berlin. Found in 1877 in German's Solnhofen Limestone, the Berlin specimen remains the best preserved Archaeopteryx of those so far discovered. From the claws and feathers on the wings to the teeth in the tiny skull, the Berlin skeleton is a window on bird evolution."

Nameless No More!!!

Yes, we have finally settled on names for our little friends. We received a lot of GREAT suggestions and in the end Mom and I put our heads together and came up with the perfect names for them. When I got my first gerbil as a child I named her Ginger, because her fur looked like the spice. Reminiscing with Mom gave us the idea of naming our new gerbils after spices as well.
I have the distinct pleasure of introducing you to Peppercorn and Poppyseed!
This first picture is of the larger of the two gerbils, Pepper. She's more shy and skittish than her sister. Hopefully with patience and training, she will grow to enjoy playing with us outside of the cage.

This little sweetie is Poppy. You can tell her apart from her sister because she has little white patches on her paws, which make her look like she's wearing gloves. Poppy is small, but spunky and adventurous. She's not fully trained, but loves to come and eat sunflower seeds out of my hand.

Well, that's that. Thank you to everyone who helped us with names. I loved all your suggestions.

I love "potato" soup!

Today we decided to prepare an easy supper for Michaela. Her suggestion: tomato soup which she calls "potato soup".



Between spoonfuls of soup, Micheala would burp with gusto saying "I burp like Grandpa!!!".

When I asked her who it was that taught how to burp (which she learned during a weekend spent at Grandma and Grandpa's), she did mention Grandma but honestly...

... I think that she's covering for the real culprit. Although, I'm not sure what this person might have offered Michaela for her silence, he should know that there is no statute of limitations for such an offense.

One day, he'll slip up and we'll get him.

With that thought in mind, I've just thought of the most appropriate punishment. Simply unleash a "gaggle" of toddlers to go crazy on one of his screened doors and make him watch the damage, as it happens. The advantage: it's cruel AND unusual...

Wine! Glorious Wine!

Jonathan bottled 4 batches of wine this morning (that's 128 bottles). We've gone in with a bunch of people to defray the cost.

So, we've gotten some Cabernet Shiraz, Verdicchio, Valpolicella and Ruisseau Blanc. We're only getting 6 bottles of each though.

Settled a debate for us? Does it look more like the "Tower of Babel" or the alien monolith from "2001: A Space Odyssey"?

Thesis Update

Cara has mentioned that A LOT of people are asking her on a very regular basis about what's going on with my thesis.

Here's the deal: I have a draft version of the thesis ready. My supervisor and I have finalized the analysis of the data. The next step for me is to rework the draft in light of the new results and fill in some of the missing blanks.

And so, now is the time where I'll begin recruiting "guest editors" to read over the sections for clarity, flow, logic, basic grammar, repeated words, spelling and repeated words. Anybody interested? Oh, and another thing, I'll be submitting my thesis as a manuscript (which means that it has to be short and sweet), therefore don't worry about being sent a 200 page Word file.

What a difference a year makes

Comparing some pictures from June of last year, you can really see the degrees to which Michaela's changed and grown.

Ugh... What time is it?

Michaela woke up especially early (5:45am) on Saturday, which if you think about it, is 2:45am in Vancouver. We explained to her that it's still night time and that she should go back to bed, which to her credit, she did. However, the damage was done, Jonathan couldn't fall back asleep. Michaela ended up staying in bed until 6:15am.

Anyway, concerning the post, Cara bought Michaela a "revolving plug in fish light thingy" which Michaela appropriately calls the "fish movie". She's enthralled. She likes to point to individual fish and call out a combination of the following:

"Oh, it's Nemo!!!"
"He's swimming just like Michaela."
"There's an angry fish!"
"Uh oh. He wants to bite me."

"There's Nemo's daddy!"

P.S. She's pictured here wearing her princess costume. We're trying to get a picture of her curtsy-ing. With any luck, it will be up shortly.

Quality time with the Gerbils

As a new bedtime routine, Michaela gets a few moments of (supervised) time with the gerbils. Here she is being tickled by one of them (we're not sure which one yet).

Michaela's Friday Night!

We've tried to keep Friday nights special by making them especially for Michaela. This means that she gets to spend the evening watching whatever she wants and gets to have as much popcorn as will fit within her small frame. Previous nights have included watching "Gummy Bears" episodes and even old episodes of "The Muppet Show" (we have them all). Tonight's selection was a collection of Donald Duck cartoons. Michaela thought he was really funny.

Ah! Nature

Michaela has this delightfully annoying ability of turning a 5 minute walk home from the bus stop, into a 30 minute stroll, in which she picks and blows every dandelion, finds every single bug, examines every ant hill, picks up every stick, and yet somehow can't seem to notice any one of the many piles of dog poo before stepping in them. Thankfully, that is the ONLY thing I am looking for, so I've gotten pretty good at warning her in time! Michaela has redefined the term "doddling". Ah, but I love to see her enjoying nature, and the wonders that it holds.

On a completely different topic......where are those gerbil name suggestions!? So far only Josh and Mom have come up with any. Josh came up with the names "Peek" and "Boo", which we thought were very cute. And Mom's very witty suggestions were, well, to quote her, "You could call them Geraldine and Wilhelmina. Well, that's a mouthful for a 2-year-old, so you could shorten it to Gerry and Billy, or how about Ger and Bill." Very cute as well. So, if you don't feel creative enough to compete against these suggestions, then at least put your vote in for which you like better. Thanks. Let's not keep those poor gerbils in nameless limbo much longer!