The rest of our Toronto trip was very relaxing. On Thursday we were a bit let down by the Distillery District-- we did not find it as interesting as the guidebooks made it sound. But it all worked out for the best, as I was tired and John had some work he needed to do. So we relaxed at the hotel in the afternoon before heading out for a nice dinner and the comedy show. Between dinner and the show, we enjoyed a walk around the St. Lawrence Market area and did a little shopping.
On Friday we packed up and headed back to the US. Our trip over the border was much quicker than the crossing the other way. Either the time and day of the week were in our favor, or we picked the better bridge this time (or both!). We didn't even have to pay any duty on the wine we had purchased. We stopped on our way across Cleveland so John could visit his grandfather at the Cleveland Clinic, then made it to the Maloneys' in time for dinner.
Charlie wasn't sure what to make of us at first-- but he seemed glad to see us. He appeared to have had a really good time while we were gone. He had grown accustomed to the dogs, and even knew their names, as well as the names of all the other family members.
We stopped by the Zimmermans' in Columbus for a visit and dinner on Saturday on our way home from Cleveland to Cincinnati. Charlie enjoyed showing off his new "bike" from the Maloneys, and playing on their swingset. He even used a big boy swing.
On Sunday we started the final stages of preparing Charlie's new room. He helped us assemble his new bed in the room, and afterwards, he did not want to leave. He loves climbing in and out of the new bed, and piled it high with toys. We have only a few more things to do to prep the room for a final move-in.
On our way back to the states on Friday, we received a call from Children's Hospital that let us know that the biopsy of the rash on Charlie's face was to take place on Tuesday (tomorrow!) No one had bothered to call and tell us! Of course, the ointment we had been using since his last dermatologist appointment about 3 weeks ago actually seems to have been working. We have only been applying it on one side, so we can see the difference. I presume they'll take the sample from the other side of his face tomorrow.
We learned this evening that Charlie finally has a new cousin, and he instantly was able to repeat his name-- Wyatt. I'm sure Charlie will be excited to meet him. We've also been talking to him a lot about the coming of his baby brother. Mostly it is intended to steer him away from the talk of his "baby sister" which he seems to tell people about. I can only guess he has been saying "sister" because his closest friends at daycare have baby sisters, not brothers.
Charlie continues to use new words and phrases, and has broken out in random song a few times over the past couple of days. His favorite right now is "ring around the rosy". He likes to sing about falling down.
My latest checkup at the OB went fine today. Heart is beating right along. Next appointment is in 4 weeks, and we'll likely be able to schedule our delivery date during that visit. Time is flying by quickly.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
We're in Canada, eh!
Our child-free vacation has started out well. We stopped in Cleveland on Saturday night to drop Charlie off at the Maloneys, and got to enjoy dinner with several family members to celebrate Uncle Jim's birthday. Charlie even sang "Happy Birthday" to the amusement of all in attendance. After enjoying some Einstein bagels on Sunday, we headed off to Niagara Falls.
It took us about 90 minutes in line to cross the border at Niagara, but when we finally did, we arrived to find our choice of B&B was nearly perfect. Only a 400 yard walk from the falls area and with a view of the river gorge, the location was perfect. Our room was great, and breakfast was delicious. Free wireless internet is always a winner with John.
The weather is even cooler than normal up here, with highs in the low to mid-70's so far this week. Sunny with just a few clouds, and a nice breeze. Upon our arrival on Sunday we walked down to the falls and found somewhere to eat as we waited for dusk and the lights to be turned on the falls. The innkeeper had also tipped us off that there were to be fireworks that night at 10pm, and we just happened to pick the perfect spot to watch them, even though we had no idea where they would shoot them off. We'd brought our tri-pod to take night photos of the water lit up, and John made good use of it to take photos of the fireworks as well. I did the best I could by hand-holding my camera.
Monday we decided to drive up to Niagara on the Lake and visit some wineries. We knew the region was known for its icewines, but were pleasantly surprised to also find a couple of good chardonnays and an inexpensive red that John liked. We enjoyed tasting icewines made from other varietals besides vidal, which seems to be what we see down in Ohio. We walked around the town, had a good lunch, looked at some shops, and enjoyed being able to drive around with the windows down. The flowers were also beautiful.
After a rest at the B&B, we made reservations for an early dinner at a restaurant with a view of the falls-- but away from the cheesy tourist trap atmosphere. The food was good, as was the view, but the service tapered off at the end of our meal. After dinner we made it back to the B&B in time to watch some of the Home Run Derby, but were too tired to stay up for the whole thing.
Today after breakfast we headed out from Niagara Falls and stopped at two more wineries on our way up to Toronto. Tawse Winery is fairly new-- open for only about 4 years. But they made some very good wines. We were impressed with their use of geo-thermal energy, gravity fed processing, and biodynamic/eco-friendly methods. As John will point out, they use sheep to keep the grass trimmed! The other winery sold some wines that were thousands of dollars per bottle. We did not buy anything there.
On the way to Toronto we noted how much we felt like we might as well be in the US, because the cars are all the same, and we saw most of the same retail stores (even passed two - yes, two - IKEAS in the span of a one hour drive), Starbucks everywhere, etc. But we did notice a few key signs that we were actually in Canada. First, there was a Tim Hortons in the Home Depot. Second, Sears appears to be higher end (more similar to Macy's) here-- no Craftsman tools, replaced instead by a Chanel counter and Kenneth Cole and Calvin Klein clothing sections. And of course, there is the obvious use of the metric system.
Once in Toronto and having checked into our hotel, we found our way via the subway to a popular shopping area and ate dinner before catching a movie. Afterwards, we did a little shopping before heading back to the hotel to plan the rest of our Toronto visit and watch some of the All Star game. Tomorrow we have tickets to see the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum, and plan to see another movie in the evening.
All in all, most everything has been working out well on this trip. We've made good choices on where to stay and eat, and uncontrollable things like weather have been on our side. We continue to receive good news about Charlie and photos of the fun he's having back in Cleveland. We're looking forward to the rest of our visit.
It took us about 90 minutes in line to cross the border at Niagara, but when we finally did, we arrived to find our choice of B&B was nearly perfect. Only a 400 yard walk from the falls area and with a view of the river gorge, the location was perfect. Our room was great, and breakfast was delicious. Free wireless internet is always a winner with John.
The weather is even cooler than normal up here, with highs in the low to mid-70's so far this week. Sunny with just a few clouds, and a nice breeze. Upon our arrival on Sunday we walked down to the falls and found somewhere to eat as we waited for dusk and the lights to be turned on the falls. The innkeeper had also tipped us off that there were to be fireworks that night at 10pm, and we just happened to pick the perfect spot to watch them, even though we had no idea where they would shoot them off. We'd brought our tri-pod to take night photos of the water lit up, and John made good use of it to take photos of the fireworks as well. I did the best I could by hand-holding my camera.
Monday we decided to drive up to Niagara on the Lake and visit some wineries. We knew the region was known for its icewines, but were pleasantly surprised to also find a couple of good chardonnays and an inexpensive red that John liked. We enjoyed tasting icewines made from other varietals besides vidal, which seems to be what we see down in Ohio. We walked around the town, had a good lunch, looked at some shops, and enjoyed being able to drive around with the windows down. The flowers were also beautiful.
After a rest at the B&B, we made reservations for an early dinner at a restaurant with a view of the falls-- but away from the cheesy tourist trap atmosphere. The food was good, as was the view, but the service tapered off at the end of our meal. After dinner we made it back to the B&B in time to watch some of the Home Run Derby, but were too tired to stay up for the whole thing.
Today after breakfast we headed out from Niagara Falls and stopped at two more wineries on our way up to Toronto. Tawse Winery is fairly new-- open for only about 4 years. But they made some very good wines. We were impressed with their use of geo-thermal energy, gravity fed processing, and biodynamic/eco-friendly methods. As John will point out, they use sheep to keep the grass trimmed! The other winery sold some wines that were thousands of dollars per bottle. We did not buy anything there.
On the way to Toronto we noted how much we felt like we might as well be in the US, because the cars are all the same, and we saw most of the same retail stores (even passed two - yes, two - IKEAS in the span of a one hour drive), Starbucks everywhere, etc. But we did notice a few key signs that we were actually in Canada. First, there was a Tim Hortons in the Home Depot. Second, Sears appears to be higher end (more similar to Macy's) here-- no Craftsman tools, replaced instead by a Chanel counter and Kenneth Cole and Calvin Klein clothing sections. And of course, there is the obvious use of the metric system.
Once in Toronto and having checked into our hotel, we found our way via the subway to a popular shopping area and ate dinner before catching a movie. Afterwards, we did a little shopping before heading back to the hotel to plan the rest of our Toronto visit and watch some of the All Star game. Tomorrow we have tickets to see the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum, and plan to see another movie in the evening.
All in all, most everything has been working out well on this trip. We've made good choices on where to stay and eat, and uncontrollable things like weather have been on our side. We continue to receive good news about Charlie and photos of the fun he's having back in Cleveland. We're looking forward to the rest of our visit.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Vacation bound
For the holiday weekend we ended up driving to Cleveland to visit with Robenalts. Grandfather was at the Cleveland Clinic and we wanted to stop in and say hi. Great Aunt Sally and Great Aunt Dee Dee were headed up there, too, so instead of going to see them in Lima as originally planned, we decided to catch them in Cleveland.
We had a nice visit, and it was good for Charlie to get acclimated to the Maloney house before his long visit next week. He played with lots of people he called his "friends" because the names were all too many for him to remember. "Margie" seems to have stuck, though, and he now knows "Margie's house."
On Saturday we got to watch a bit of a fireworks display in the backyard, and Charlie learned some new words (like parachute and fireworks). When they got to the bigger ones after dark, though, he got scared from a particularly loud whistling one that came pretty close, and he cried out to go "back inside, back in the house." So we did.
By the end of our visit, he had nearly made peace with the Maloney dogs, also-- Macy and Oliver. They made him very nervous at first-- they don't look anything like Lucy, although they aren't really all that much bigger. They just have a lot more (longer) hair, and you can't see their eyes very well. But Charlie found a common bond with the dogs in tennis balls-- he had lots of fun throwing them around the kitchen for Macy to chase.
On Monday morning when Charlie woke up at home, he said "go back the house" and "more friends," which was a sign to me that he had enjoyed himself and would not mind going back for next week. Last night, though, he woke up from a bad dream in the middle of the night, asking to "go back in house" and I think he was dreaming of fireworks again. Hopefully that memory won't scare him while he's there and we're not around to comfort him. But I think he'll be fine.
We'll be headed out to Cleveland to drop him off for the week on Saturday. That is, assuming all goes well tomorrow for John at the Detroit passport office. After teasing me for a couple of weeks about whether I'd be able to find my passport, he realized last night that his was expired! After much internet research on the new rules that went into effect last month, and several phone calls to the passport office, he managed to get an appointment at 9am tomorrow in Detroit. So he's on his way there now to stay the night and make his appointment. He'll wait for the new passport to be done (could take all day) and then drive home, only to pack up and leave again the next day.
We have reservations at a bed and breakfast in Niagara for 2 nights, then will spend 3 nights in downtown Toronto before heading back to Cleveland to pick up Charlie. We are looking forward to taking some good photos at the falls, and just spending alone time together, on our own schedule, with no child to worry about for a few days. This will be good to do before baby #2 comes in November. We are so thankful to the Cleveland clan for offering to host Charlie for a few days. We are very happy to share him!
We'll try to post some photos from Canada while we're on the road, and photos from the 4th are posted there already.
We had a nice visit, and it was good for Charlie to get acclimated to the Maloney house before his long visit next week. He played with lots of people he called his "friends" because the names were all too many for him to remember. "Margie" seems to have stuck, though, and he now knows "Margie's house."
On Saturday we got to watch a bit of a fireworks display in the backyard, and Charlie learned some new words (like parachute and fireworks). When they got to the bigger ones after dark, though, he got scared from a particularly loud whistling one that came pretty close, and he cried out to go "back inside, back in the house." So we did.
By the end of our visit, he had nearly made peace with the Maloney dogs, also-- Macy and Oliver. They made him very nervous at first-- they don't look anything like Lucy, although they aren't really all that much bigger. They just have a lot more (longer) hair, and you can't see their eyes very well. But Charlie found a common bond with the dogs in tennis balls-- he had lots of fun throwing them around the kitchen for Macy to chase.
On Monday morning when Charlie woke up at home, he said "go back the house" and "more friends," which was a sign to me that he had enjoyed himself and would not mind going back for next week. Last night, though, he woke up from a bad dream in the middle of the night, asking to "go back in house" and I think he was dreaming of fireworks again. Hopefully that memory won't scare him while he's there and we're not around to comfort him. But I think he'll be fine.
We'll be headed out to Cleveland to drop him off for the week on Saturday. That is, assuming all goes well tomorrow for John at the Detroit passport office. After teasing me for a couple of weeks about whether I'd be able to find my passport, he realized last night that his was expired! After much internet research on the new rules that went into effect last month, and several phone calls to the passport office, he managed to get an appointment at 9am tomorrow in Detroit. So he's on his way there now to stay the night and make his appointment. He'll wait for the new passport to be done (could take all day) and then drive home, only to pack up and leave again the next day.
We have reservations at a bed and breakfast in Niagara for 2 nights, then will spend 3 nights in downtown Toronto before heading back to Cleveland to pick up Charlie. We are looking forward to taking some good photos at the falls, and just spending alone time together, on our own schedule, with no child to worry about for a few days. This will be good to do before baby #2 comes in November. We are so thankful to the Cleveland clan for offering to host Charlie for a few days. We are very happy to share him!
We'll try to post some photos from Canada while we're on the road, and photos from the 4th are posted there already.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Busy Bee of the Month
Our little Charlie is the Busy Bee of the month at daycare. This means that they highlight him for the month with a poster of some information about him and his family along with family photos, posted on the wall or the door of the room. I thought I'd share with you all some of the things we chose to write about Charlie for this special occasion.
For his favorite activity, we noted climbing! He does like to climb on just about anything, given the opportunity. We also listed dancing, playing music with Daddy's band, and making animal sounds. For favorite family activities, we included swimming, going for walks in the wagon, looking outside for birds, and helping Mommy in the kitchen (see previous post).
Charlie surprises us with new words and phrases every day. Yesterday at the dermatologist, the doctor noted how many words he had for his age, and he was barely speaking while we were there! This morning he used the word "rain drop" instead of just "rain." This week his favorite phrase has been "look at me!" This usually occurs when he has food all over his face and hands, or when he has just put his shirt over his head, or something silly like that.
We're looking forward to a long weekend away from work, perhaps seeing some Robenalt family. Happy 4th to all!
For his favorite activity, we noted climbing! He does like to climb on just about anything, given the opportunity. We also listed dancing, playing music with Daddy's band, and making animal sounds. For favorite family activities, we included swimming, going for walks in the wagon, looking outside for birds, and helping Mommy in the kitchen (see previous post).
Charlie surprises us with new words and phrases every day. Yesterday at the dermatologist, the doctor noted how many words he had for his age, and he was barely speaking while we were there! This morning he used the word "rain drop" instead of just "rain." This week his favorite phrase has been "look at me!" This usually occurs when he has food all over his face and hands, or when he has just put his shirt over his head, or something silly like that.
We're looking forward to a long weekend away from work, perhaps seeing some Robenalt family. Happy 4th to all!
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