This weekend...

We had the first truly hot weekend of the year, and we made the most of it for sure. My friend and I decided to go to the gluten-free fair in town, which I honestly thought would be about seven people milling around a conference room at a hotel. I was so wrong. More like 500 people stuck in a conference room at a hotel. You could not even move in there. Gluten-free is taking over. My friend has a mild gluten allergy that makes her face break out when she eats it, and Cohen, of course, is allergic to wheat in the face rash way as well. I think a lot of the people there had celiac disease. For various reasons, lots of people are interested in avoiding gluten. 

Cohen and I were so not interested in being in the packed room, even if it meant free samples. So we chilled in the hotel lobby, eating snacks from our freebie bag that they handed out at the door. We ended up spending a few bucks on gluten-free marshmallows, macarons, butter tarts. I totally realize that marshmallows are inherently gluten-free, but I don't care, I just love homemade marshmallows.

 (Snacking on freebies)

We then went to Bannerman Park for a picnic and a few hours at the huge awesome park they have there. I swear they were having a good time. Mickey and Minnie made an appearance at the park for some type of celebratory event, and these guys were thrilled. Cohen prefers to observe from a comfortable 20 feet away, while his friend was cool with shaking hands with Mickey for a picture.

I watched Cohen and his friend run around our picnic blanket for probably an hour, chasing each other, laughing. Cohen had the hugest smile on his face, and it just made me so happy. When Cohen is happy, I am happy. Motherhood truth.

(typical facial expressions)

After we had enough sun, we headed to the Chapters, then back on the road with cold Starbucks beverages. Our little guys were so good! It helped that my friend drove, and her car is decked out with dvd players. Cohen was definitely in heaven watching Ice Age on the two-hour drive to town.

On Sunday, we headed to our local campground to hang out at the beach on the lake. Dude loved destroying sandcastles as Jon made them, and throwing sand into the water.

 (Eating a popsicle, relaxing on the beach)

Such a good weekend. So tired, so much sun. I think maybe, maybe I can put away our winter gear. We only have a few weekends left in Newfoundland, so we are trying to make them count. Camping at Terra Nova, hiking around Clarenville, watching Jon run the Tely 10, hanging out with friends we probably won't see for a while.

Cohen lately...

We have been having a normal June, with mostly cold days, and maybe two kinda warm days. We have learned that we have to take advantage of those rare warm days, because it can be weeks before we see another one. Warm weather doesn't usually really hit Newfoundland until late July, and sometimes not at all for the whole year. After 5 years here, one thing I am looking forward to when we move is summers longer than a week.

(Thrilled to get his very own strawberry plant) 

(Loving his first taste of apricots. That sweet face) 

(Fav hiding spot during our very frequent hide and seek games) 

(He loves frosting and sprinkles) 

(Very into monkey bars these days...and I love the NL flag in the background)

(He insists on watching his dad fuel up) 

(Fries and ice cream for supper on a random Tuesday) 

(Sometimes we let him have a tiny bite of the cone...despite this)

The local fair

In Newfoundland there is this company, Thomas Amusements, that travels around every summer, setting up a fair in all the little communities. It is such a tradition for people here. Everyone I know here grew up going every single year. In our town, there is not a ton to do, so you can guarantee that every single kid in the community will be going to this fair. It is small, just 15 rides and a few games. They have cotton candy and the famous Saratoga chips, which are just thinly sliced potatoes, deep fried. 

Last weekend, the fair was in town, and Jon was out of town on a kayaking trip, so Cohen and I went both Saturday and Sunday for a few hours. 

 (Very cold on the carousel on Saturday.) 

(Loved the cars.) 

(Chilly on the Strawberry ride) 

(Sunday on the Strawberry again, much warmer) 

 (Very serious about driving)

We went to this same fair last year, and it's really cool to see the changes in Cohen over a year. Last year, Cohen was very reluctant to go on the car ride as parents are not allowed, and ended up screaming for the whole two minutes of the ride. Not fun. This time, he was very happy on all the rides, and only got upset when his beloved fedora hat flew off during a ride. 

I know that Cohen always looks so so serious in all pics, but I swear he is having so much fun! He had the best time, but after a few hours, told me he was all done with rides and he was ready to go home. Being a kid is tiring. 

The 5 surprising things your toddler's dentist does not want your toddler eating (if your toddler's dentist is me)

(water. always water)

I have the exact same conversation with parents of toddlers about five times a day. And I always give them my list of food items that are the worst. I don't include candy, bubble gum, chips, pop. These are obvious. Of course I don't want your toddler eating those things, except in moderation. I am more focused on the surprising things that I think most parents don't even realize are that bad. This list is kind of specific to my area of the world. These are the things that kids I see every day eat a ton of. Maybe elsewhere, kids are totally into different snack foods.

We bought a house

We bought a house. At least I think we did, though I thought we owned it about five times over the last month. When our offer was accepted, when the house inspection was approved, when our mortgage was approved. This does mean that we are about to own two homes on closing day, which is not the ideal number for us. 

This time we only looked at three houses (last time). One was brand new and came with a mandatory $75 lawn maintenance fee, which we kind of loved. It had very very similar finishes to the house we own now, and we really liked it, but it only had two bedrooms. Not ideal for us, as we hope and expect to have Jon's mom visiting on the regular. The second house was nice and old and had three cats running around during our showing. The cats had their very own room filled exclusively with cat items like a cat hammock and a cat climbing centre. It was cool but had super old-looking windows. 

(brand new house) 

(our house)

The third house is the one we bought. It comes with two non-matching fridges, weird flower designs in the tile, a garage, heated floors in the master bedroom, a jacuzzi that is broken, and a view of the river. And so many other things. We love it so much. We have so many plans. I want new counters and new paint and a backsplash and open shelving and rugs to cover up the weird tile design. And then I remember that we are about to own two homes, and realize that we will probably put any big changes on hold while we are paying two mortgages.

We are so excited and we also don't want to have to buy another house for a very very long time.

This kid

(making pretend phone calls)

So today Cohen and I made chocolate chip cookies. The deal was we couldn't try them until after we had supper. Perfect. So I made supper, and we sat down to eat, and he wouldn't eat one single bite. So no cookie. And he was like, can I have something else? And we were like, nope, the kitchen is closed, you can have your supper or maybe a raw carrot. He was like, ok, I'll take the raw carrot. Ok. So I rinsed off a huge raw carrot and gave it to him straight up. And he ate the whole huge thing. And never even asked for a cookie after. 

I just love Cohen's personality so much, and Jon and I really feel so lucky that we get to watch him grow up. These days he loves the show Justin Time on Netflix, toast with butter, noodles with butter, just plain butter all by itself, pretending to drive our car while it's parked in the driveway, his fedora hat, and riding his trike. Lots of days he doesn't get one single toy out of his huge toy box. He would rather play with muffin tins or my polaroid camera. We have started talking about how we are moving to him. So he will get a piece of paper that he pretends is a map and show us where we are moving. And he says that it is near Nan and Gramps. He is very excited. Love him.