Going Back Home

The weekend was coming to an end and so it was time to head back home. We had a fantastic time visiting Dad and Wanda. It was wonderful getting to see everyone. However, Steve had to return back to work Monday morning and Tyler to preschool. Steve packed up the car again and we got some nice photos of Tyler with his grandparents. Then before saying goodbye, we all went to breakfast together. Kamrin joined us. Soon it was time to start our trek back home. Since we were passing their house on the way home, we made plans to meet up with Larissa and her family. Larissa and I had another knitting lesson, while the kids played and we watched a movie. Then Larissa gave us the grand tour of her beautiful home. The time passed quickly and it was time to get on the road again. Unfortunately, our drive back wasn't so pleasant. I ended up getting sick, Tyler had lots of potty breaks, and the traffic was heavy. However, overall it was a great weekend filled with wonderful memories.

Great Walk By Day & By Night

After breakfast, we decided to do some geocaching. We brought Kamrin with us who hag never gone caching before. Steve taught him the basics and how to use the GPS amd it wasn't long before Kamrin was a pro at the game. In fact, Kamrin found our first cache of the day! There was a series of 5 caches on a trail located near Walt and Wanda's house. It was the first time we had been on this well marked trail; it even had some bridges and a boardwalk. Even though it was a bit chilly and windy out, the trees blocked out the wind and the sun provided some warmth. Later that night we made plans to go see the Christmas light display at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in Attleboro, Massachusetts. The true story of La Salette is about the children in France who saw and spoke to the apparition of the Virgin Mary in 1851. This shrine is dedicated to Mary and her message. For the past 40 years or so, the shrine has hosted the annual Christmas spectacular where people from all over come to view it. The display was quite amazing! The lights were absolutely beautiful. There was over 300,000 lights spread over 10 acres of the worship grounds. Not only were there an overwhelming amount of Christmas lights, but there was also a carousel for the kids to enjoy. Grandma bought tickets for Tyler and Kamrin. After we finished our beautiful walk throughout the Christmas lights, we went inside and warmed up with some nice hot chocolate and apple cider. Also inside was a room filled with a huge nativity scene that you can see from the photo, they put a lot of work into making it. Other much smaller nativity scenes were also on display. These were donated from all different parts of the world. It was really neat seeing the different ways and materials used to make them. Overall, we had a wonderful time at La Salette. It was the really an incredible experience! Thank you again, Walt and Wanda for taking us here!!!

Carlo's Bakery AKA Cake Boss's Bakery

If you have ever seen the show 'Cake Boss' (Monday nights on TLC), there is no need for me to tell you about the incredible cakes Buddy and his family create. However for those of you who may not have seen the show, let me quickly explain. Master Baker, Buddy, and his Italian family create not only cakes, but rather edible master pieces. They go way beyond the typical birthday/wedding cake. They get customized orders from customers and sometimes they are out of this world ideas that they have to design and make into an actual cake. For instance, there was one show that Buddy and his crew had to create a cake with a real fireworks display attached. Another cake was a Leaning Tower of Pisa. Being a cake decorator, I am in awe of his work and a huge fan of the show. So when Steve said we were going to New York, I looked up online to get the address of the bakery. Turns out the bakery is actually located in New Jersey just 16 minutes from where our hotel was. Steve and I couldn't pass up the opportunity of checking the bakery out. So this morning, we ventured out and found Carlo's Bakery! When we first entered the store, I noticed two people featured on the show. The blond girl (one of Buddy's sister) and one of the younger guys. The cakes were incredible and I just wanted to take a picture of everything, but I was too shy. Steve asked if I wanted to get a cake and of course, I said sure. We picked a pretty Thanksgiving cake out. It cost $44 but it was so worth it! It was vanilla and chocolate with fudge filling, and it was divine!!! We also got to talk to one of Buddy's sisters. She was so friendly. We told her we were a huge fan of the show and she talked to us for quite a bit. She said she spent yesterday watching the Cake Boss marathon with her mom (also featured on the show). Tonight we enjoyed the cake with Walt, Wanda, Aunt Nancy, Cita, Wanda's parents, Kamrin, and Wanda's son. We may have to make it part of our normal routine to stop at the bakery while on our way up to Rhode Island. :)

Turkey Day in the Big Apple

What an incredible Thanksgiving we experienced this year!!! By far, this has been my favourite Thanksgiving. The main part of our trip to New York City was to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. We arrived early in the morning after our 10 minute train ride from New Jersey. It was an awesome beginning to the day because it was Tyler's very first time on a real moving train, so you can imagine his excitement. After a short walk we decided to see the parade in Times Square. We couldn't have picked a better place. There was all kinds of huge screens to help keep Tyler entertained while waiting for the parade to start. The parade was incredible!!! It was hard to believe the parade we watched on television for so many years, was happening right in front of our eyes. It was so much fun being part of the crowd also experiencing the magic of the parade. There were so many awesome floats with celebrities that we had no clue who they were, except for the people from Sesame Street which was really cool. Tyler's favourite balloon was Spider Man. Once the parade was over, we had the whole day for sightseeing. New York City was more than we ever imagined. There is just so much to see and do there. It is really overwhelming. The city was even more amazing because most of the buildings were decorated for Christmas. We walked on Broadway, 5th Ave, and Central Park. We walked through out the city to see as much as we could see with a 3 year old in a stroller. Then we decided it would be much more fun and we would see a whole lot more on a double decker tour bus. Tyler really enjoyed this. We got off the bus and walked to Ground Zero to see them reconstruct the new building and then we walked to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty. Tyler was starting to get tired soon after, so we got back on the double decker and proceeded with our tour. It wasn't long, however before Tyler fell fast asleep. We enjoyed some more amazing sites on the bus and then got off to get something to eat. By this time it was dinner time and since it was Thanksgiving, we found this great restaurant that offered a four course turkey dinner. The restaurant was called 'Don't Tell Mama' and the food was delicious!!! The first course was a salad with walnuts, chocolate and cherry sauce with little cut up beets with a sprinkle of cinnamon. It was the most tastiest salad I've ever eaten. Next was gelato to clean our taste palate, followed by an amazing turkey dinner and then an scrumptious piece of pumpkin pie. The dinner also came with a glass of wine. We were quite stuffed when we finished and the combination of eating so much and our early morning, busy day we were quite tired. However we still had 2 hours before our train back to the hotel. So we took our time walking back to the Grand Central Station and took in some more sights with lots of pretty lights. Times Square was awesome all lite up at night. We also walked by the Empire State Building, which was also decked out for Thanksgiving. Our trip was complete when we headed over to Macy's to show Tyler the store windows all set for Christmas. This trip to NYC was absolutely incredible. What wonderful memories were made and we are so thankful that we could be together this year.

Hello from New Jersey

After several hours of driving in slow, heavy traffic we are finally here at the hotel in New Jersey. We upgraded to an executive suite which is really nice since we'll be here two nights. We are boarding the train early tomorrow morning and heading into New York City to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!!! As you can imagine, we are quite excited!!! We promise to take lots of pictures for you all.

Tyler Says the Darndest Things

Tyler made this Thanksgiving hat and place mat at preschool. Ms. Angie, his teacher, added a photo of Tyler to his place mat and laminated it. When Tyler noticed his photo on the place mat he said, "Wow! How did Ms. Angie get my photo on my place mat?" . Then he said, " She must have used Photoshop!" LOL

In Stitches

A few weeks ago, I found out that Larissa knows how to knit. Although I've attempted crocheting before and was very unsuccessful, I've always wanted to learn how to knit. My dream is to one day be able to knit either a pair of mitts or a sweater. When I heard Larissa knew how to knit I asked her if she could teach me someday. She surprised me last night by presenting me with a beginners kit and a HUGE big ball of yarn. She patiently showed me how to do the stitches and I tried my best to follow through. There were some hair pulling moments, but over all it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be...thanks to Larissa's good instructing. Over time and with A LOT of practice, I think this new hobby will be fun. And most importantly, I am thankful that Larissa is getting stationed with us in Norfolk because I'm sure I'll need extra help from time to time. LOL

Sunday Funday

This morning we met Jack and his parents at the movie theatre where we watched 'Planet 51'. This was the first theatre movie that we saw as a family. After the movie, we went for a stroll on the newly built boardwalk near the mall. Since we were near the mall, we went decided to go inside and check out the sales. We managed to find some great deals on kids clothing and got Tyler a bunch of new clothes. By this time, we were starving and Steve suggested we try the Boston Pizza just down the street. It was the first time we had seen this Canadian franchise here in the U.S. I've been to Boston Pizza several times before since they have one in my hometown. However this one wasn't that great. It was then time to head home and await Larissa, Corey, Aya and Danielle's return to our apartment for the night. Tyler couldn't wait to see his buddies again!!!

The Return of Larissa & Fam :)

Last night, our good friends, Larissa and Corey, along with their beautiful daughters arrived at our place. They stayed overnight while on their way to Norfolk, where Larissa will be stationed. Tyler was especially excited to see the girls. He decided that he was going to stay up until they arrived. He ended up falling asleep on the sofa about 30 mins before they got here. So this morning, the kids were happily reunited. After breakfast, they spent the morning playing Hide & Seek and playing with Thomas the Tank Engine. Meanwhile, us adults had a great time catching up. It had been a couple of years since we had seen Corey, so it was really nice seeing him again too. They ended their short stay with us after going out to lunch together. Words couldn't possibly express how happy we are to be soon stationed with such good friends again. We hope to see them again tomorrow night while on their way back home.

Play date with Jack

This morning Jack came over for a play date. It's been a long time since the last time we had seen him. In fact, it was at Tyler's 2nd birthday. Jack's dad works with Steve and so we thought it was time that the two boys got together for some fun. Jack is only a month older than Tyler, so the two hit it off immediately. They spent the morning playing Cars, Thomas the Tank Engine, Candy Land, as well as watch some movies. However it was soon time for Jack to go back home. Tyler wished he could have stayed longer, but I'm sure we'll be seeing Jack soon. It's just a shame we waited this long to get the two together.

A Big Thank You to Steve!!!

Perhaps you've noticed that lately, I've been posting several videos instead of posting with photos. Well, there's a reason for that; a button on my camera broke and all that remains in working order is the video. However, Steve was kind enough to order me another camera so that I can once again take photos. :) The camera, pink in colour, arrived this morning! I absolutely love it!!! Steve even bought a cute pink carrying case for it. Tyler was just as excited as I was when it came this morning and he was ever so glad to pose for some first few shots. He probably knows that he'll be seeing a lot more of this camera, since he is the main focus on our blog...and our lives. :)

Playing in the Stream

Finding Tyler

This is part of our nightly routine after bath time that originated from our time at Nanny's house. The hiding place never changes. LOL

Caching video that Steve took from today...the things we do just to sign a piece of paper. LOL Meanwhile, Tyler and I are waiting on the shore.

The Capitol Building Tour and Flash Mob

As you may recall from last Saturday's post, we visited the Capitol Building. Since then Steve made arrangements for us to return for a guided tour. This morning we arrived at the Capitol to take part in our tour. After registration and a short wait, we gathered up with our group and headed into the theater for an informative movie about the beginnings of this magnificent building. Tyler did pretty good staying still and watching the whole thing. Then we left the theater and were put in even smaller groups and assigned a tour guide. The tour guide did a pretty good job showing us around and answering whatever questions we had. Even though accessibility was to only a few rooms, it was really amazing to see. Basically we got to see the original rooms where bills were made into laws and the office of early congress. It was a morning full of learning history. After our tour and we had lunch, we headed on over to the World Wide Flash Mob. If you are a frequent reader of our blog, you are probably aware of what this is based on past blog posts. We basically meet other cachers at a set time for a group photo. After the event, we took advantage of the great caching area and found another 15 caches. With being busy with the sale of our house, our caching activity had been pretty slow, however last weekend we did manage to find a couple to reach to a new milestone of 2000 finds.

Tyler's Preschool Fall Festival

Watch the girl in pink beside Tyler. All throughout each of the songs they performed, she was so loud that she was screaming the lyrics to the songs out. Tyler had to keep covering his ears and the other little ones kept looking at her. Then when each song was done, she would do a pose. It was the funniest thing. Everyone was laughing hysterically. I was laughing so much I had tears in my eyes and the camera was shaking. This was the video that Steve took with his camera. Enjoy!

Train Day

About a week ago, our good friend Katherine asked whether we would like to join her on a trip to the Baltimore & Ohio train museum. She knew that Tyler absolutely loves train (inherited from his Grandpa Smith) and was sure he would enjoy it there. She was meeting with her grandsons, Liam and Shawnie, who are also into trains, along with their parents. Katherine's son, Rick, also joined us for a day of trains. If you haven't visited the Baltimore & Ohio train museum and you like trains, this is must-see. There is an overwhelming amount of trains there. Trains from all different periods of time that are in perfect shape. There is even a train ride that you can take! The main part of the museum is in an actual round house from the 1800's. The tracks are still present and the mechanical parts still visible in the middle of the building. Just when you thought there couldn't possibly anymore trains, there's MORE!!! They have a several trains outside that you can walk through and explore. It really puts into perspective the life of a railroad engineer, especially back in the 1800's when they had to operate those massive engine with practically no visibility of what is in front of you or on the track! Tyler really enjoyed seeing all the mechanics associated with the big old engines. He was asking us questions about what all the knobs were for and what they did. Liam and Tyler were in their glory in the train museum. It was a little boy's dream come true to see so many trains up close and to actually go on them. However what was a big hit was the little Thomas the Train Engine track set up in the round house. At first, we didn't notice it amongst all the massive trains in the building, but once the boys laid their eyes on it, they just had to go over and play awhile. After all, this is probably what brought their interest in trains in the first place. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to the B&O train museum, however after a couple of hours we were starting to get hungry. So we all met up with Katherine's daughter, Diane, who works in the area. We ate at a market that was like a really neat food court, but cooked everything fresh. Everything looked so good, but Steve and I, chose the lump crab cakes recommended by Katherine. One word to describe them is YUM!!! They definitely hit the spot. After we said goodbye to Diane, Liam, Shawnie and their parents, we drove back to Katherine's home where we warmed up with hot beverages and Tyler made some train cookies with train cookie cutters. He did a really good job! They turned out really good. Then we enjoyed a really nice dinner at the Texas Roadhouse. We sat by a mural on the wall with a painting of a train. How perfect to end our 'Train Day'. Thanks so much, Katherine, for a wonderful day!!!

Play date with Trevor

The first words out of Tyler's mouth this morning were, "Are we going to Trevor's house now?". Trevor is Tyler's bestest buddy in preschool and apparently the feeling is mutual. I've been waiting for Tyler to start mention his new buddies in his class for awhile now and for the past month, Trevor's name has been the main guy. During the Halloween carnival, I had the pleasure of meeting Trevor and his grandmother and we've been friends ever since. His grandmother said that Trevor calls Tyler 'The Little Tyler' (LOL) because Trevor has an older brother by the same name. So it's now 'Big and Little Tyler". Trevor's grandmother graciously asked us over to their house today for a play date. She kindly prepared lunch for us and then the boys had their fun playing with the large amount of toys Trevor owns. Meanwhile, his grandmother, Sandy, (yes, Trevor has a grandmother named Sandy too :D ) and I sat and talked while we watched them have a good ole' time. They had so much fun that Sandy and Trevor invited us back again. We're going to try to make the most of what little time we have left here. These buddies are definitely going to miss each other, although Sandy said even after we move to VA we are more than welcome to continue to visit. What wonderful friends!

Re-runs for Wee-Ones

Since we are only living in our apartment for a short time, we have decided not to get cable. With this being said, Steve dug out our big box of DVDs out of storage the other day. Today while I was organizing and putting them in our book shelves, I came across my Mr. Dressup DVDs. If you're Canadian, there's no need for me to explain who Mr. Dressup is, but for those who don't know Mr. Dressup is basically the Canadian version of Mr. Rogers. Like most Canadian children of the 70's and 80's, I grew up watching Mr. Dressup. This afternoon I put on one of the DVDs and Tyler and I watched it together. It was nice reliving some of the episodes I remember watching when I was about his age.

Eastern Market & The Capitol Building

During the past week, one of Steve's co-worker's introduced Steve to a few restaurants in downtown D.C. during lunch break. Steve liked it so much that he wanted to show Tyler and I. Also since Aunt Nancy and Uncle Jerry were visiting for the weekend our cousin Kara, who lives in D.C., it gave us another reason to go downtown. We met up with them at the Eastern Market. It's funny because even though we've lived here for over three years, this was our first trip to the market. Steve and I liked it there very much; there is everything imaginable at the market. We walked around for awhile and then grabbed a coffee at a nearby cafe so we could sit down and catchup. After saying goodbye to Aunt Nancy, Uncle Jerry and Kara, we headed towards the Capitol building, where we were going to do our 2000 cache find. Instead we got caught up in sightseeing the area and never did the cache. We walked around the Capitol and noticed an area where you could actually enter and tour some of the exhibits inside. Unfortunately we could only stay a short time because we had to go put more money in the parking meter, but while there we noticed that they were giving tours. So perhaps next weekend we may come back and take advantage of one of the tours. After we put more money in the meter we where getting hungry, so Steve took us to this cafe that has really tasty sandwiches. In conclusion, it was a great day spent in our nation's capitol.

Fishy Finger Puppet

This afternoon Tyler asked me if he could make a finger puppet, of course, I said yes. So we got out the paper, markers, safety scissors, and tape. Tyler wanted to make one all by himself. He drew some shapes on a piece of paper and then attempted to cut them out. Afterward he added some shredded pieces of paper and taped the whole thing together and called it a fish finger puppet. As you can see from the photo, he coloured all his fingers to create more of a dramatic effect. LOL After he played with his puppet for a few minutes he said he wanted to draw the puppet's name on the paper. So with a little help from Mom with the spelling, he wrote out the word "fish" all by himself. He was pretty proud of his work. It was a great way to spend a quiet afternoon inside on this chilly fall day.

Tyler Says the Darndest Things

While going through the drive-thru: Daddy: I would like to order two milkshakes and a small cone. Tyler: And ice cream for the cone.

Sooo Big Now

Apartment Living

For the most part we have no complaints with living in our new apartment. It's really quiet here and we are close to all kinds of shopping. We are quite proud with how Tyler has adjusted to moving out of our house and into a new place. We weren't quite sure how he would cope, but he seems to love it here. The first night we were out late and he fell asleep in the car. When we got back in the apartment, he woke up and walked straight to his new room, crawled into bed and fell right to sleep. The greatest thing Tyler really likes is the size of his room. Compared to his bedroom in our old house, his new room is about three times bigger. Before the only place big enough to build his train tracks was the living room, however now his room is plenty big enough for all his trains and other toys. One other feature we really like about the apartment is the huge walk in closets. As you can see in the photo, Tyler's closet is the whole length of his room. He loves walking through it. For the amount of time that we have left of our tour, we are really enjoying our temporary living quarters.