If you go out in the woods today.....

This week was a week of firsts for the Yost clan. Teresa rode her trike for the first time, Frances rolled over for the first time and the family attended their first Teddy Bear's Picnic. And while the trike (video to come soon) and the rolling over were very exciting, the picnic wasn't exactly what I expected. The day was lovely and we had a picnic lunch while watching some dance groups do their thing on the Lyric stage, then we waited in line....for everything. Most booths were giving out free stuff, always nice, but you would wait 20 minutes in line so that your kid could spend 5 minutes doing some colouring, or a small game. The wait to get your teddy check-up was in the hours, and after a quick cost benefit analysis, I decided the benefit was not worth my time, or Teresa's. It is not fun to wait in line, especially when you are two. Will we go back? Probably, when Teresa and Frances are both older. I think we will plan to go with other families, so that the kids can run around and play. Not that there weren't some fun moments....

Here we are, on or way into the mayhem....

Frances with her teddy. She has not picked a favourite yet, so I chose for her.

My girls and I.

Rowdy contemplating a nice light snack:)

Teddy Bear Ken

And Frances

Teresa meets Dr. Goodbear

And Goldie, our baseball teams' mascot.

Teresa also saw her favourite TV show character, Super Why. She refused to hug him though, already showing signs of mascot fatigue.

Frances was totally wound up by the excitement.

Teresa was a little too comfortable in the back of the cruiser....she is indeed buckling her seatbelt.

Officer Yost?

Some of you may recall that I spent a summer as Louie the Lightening Bug, this one was okay... 

More Beach Stuff...

Well, I finally have an opportunity to stick my nose into the blog again so I figured why not...

Cara posted some pictures from our beach extravaganza last weekend, but I figured I would add a bit more about the weekend.  We had a great weekend, although I think we finally figured out what our normal stress at the beach is.  I am a beach person, I want to be by the sand and water playing and relaxing.  Cara is a cottage person, and is perfectly happy being in the cottage all day.  Anyhow due to the weather Cara won this weekend's eternal battle.

This is not to say that the weather wasn't nice, on Sunday in fact it was beautiful.  Unfortunately though on the long weekend there was a snowstorm and ice was still on the lake (Bill Evans informed me that when they drove up they passed snow plows and at the front beach you could walk out 100 feet on ice that weekend).  This of course led to a cooler breeze coming off the lake.  Saturday we played on the hill, then lounged and napped with the girls.  Once that was done Teresa and I went down to the lake.  She stayed in the iciest water by lake edge up to her calves for a good 10 minutes playing with a boat.  We built (and smashed) sandcastles, and I convinced Teresa she was a dragon, as we put a princess (driftwood) in the castle and the dragon of course smashes the castle in The Paperbag Princess.  We spent a good hour and a half lakeside and then went back to the cottage, with a pitstop at the play area.  Saturday ended off with a walk to Lanky's, with Teresa walking most of the way herself, then I stayed up and marked into the night.

Sunday we got up early and played on the hill before we went to church.  After church we went on the hill again and up on face rock, all the while making Rowdy run & swim for a tennis ball.  By the end of the weekend, Rowdy actually looked back at me when I threw the ball in the water with a scathing glare as though to ask "Really?  You want me to go out there again?" and then got it and went up onto the hill to lie down.  Sunday after the nap the whole family went down to the beach and walked the boardwalk before Teresa, Frances & Cara played while I went in for my dive which was pretty nice considering what I had encountered Saturday.  The sun all day had helped out.  We had our fun then went home, packed up ate dinner, ran on the hill again and chatted with Bill.  It was a great weekend.

To me though the highlight of the weekend was seeing how much fun Teresa was having.  She loves running up and down the hill, loves chasing Rowdy, loves climbing on the rocks in front of the cottage and most importantly I taught her how to roll down the hill, which is cute & hilarious!  I think that the hill will be a primary feature of the beach for the next while...

People who know me well should know I am conservative, and not just in my political leanings...  Change isn't easy for me to accept when it is part of my long standing memories, and there was all sorts of distressing change at the beach over the winter.  First, they will be knocking down the round bathrooms right at the West side of the beach, which isn't bad but will create congestion by the 2nd concession.  Lanky's has picked a new ice cream provider, increased their prices, changed their cones (two scoops sit horizontally, not vertically) and eliminated their baby cone option.  The ice cream still is good, but I am wary.  Lastly they have taken apart the playground by the second concession.  Why did they not consult me about this?  I had talked it up to Teresa all Sunday and BANG I had to come up with a new idea for what we would do on the front beach on the spot.

Sadly we forgot the camera for Frances' first front beach trip, but we will have one next time I assure you, sadly though that must wait until Father's Day due to wedding & ordinations over the next few weekends.  I will though leave you with a picture of Teresa having given Rowdy a 'hat'.  Teresa sometimes literally doesn't know when to leave a sleeping dog lie, but 95% of the time he enjoys the attention.  The embarrassing part of the picture though is that I got the camera and Rowdy got up after holding still for 30 seconds, so I had him sit and I got Teresa to put the hat back on.  I am an evil dog owner.

Yost Beach Weekend

This past weekend we spent a lovely weekend at the cottage. It was a little cool out, but it was sunny so there was much playing outside, and a family walk for ice cream. It was great to just spend some quiet time together, which doesn't happen as often now that Ken is in class in the evenings. I could blather on some more, but there are cute pictures to view.

Shenanigans in the pink boat

This is for the Yosts...I present your new cushions!

Playing with Rowdy on the front lawn

Teresa making Frances "all cosy"

Cute group shot

Miss Frances

Study of toddler...up close and personal

Ken and T on happy rock.

Total Request Live (Mom Edition)

I have always been serious, well, more serious than your average bear. When I was a kid I used to budget my own allowance with no prompting or arguments. I never did anything really silly in my teenage years (except drive the car into the end of the garage). When I look back at pictures of myself as a kid, I see the same look I find myself giving Ken and times, when he is being a bit over the top, or not taking the situation as seriously as I am at the moment. There has never really been a time in my life that I was just silly. I had fun sure, but silly was never in my nature. I remember speaking to a priest when I was 19, it was just after Ken and I got engaged, about one's responsibility to live the life, make the choices God intended for me. My priest shook his head, took my hand in his and said "you are too young to be this serious, go and enjoy your life." While there is some truth to that, I just couldn't, how does one change the essence of their thought process. Well, they have kids.

The thing I love most about being a mom is that I am learning to be silly, in fact, it is a job requirement. In Teresa's mind right now, silliness=fun, and I am more than happy to oblige. Whether we are singing, doing the pigeon dance or being princesses (I usually get to be Cinderella) silliness is the order of the day. It is very freeing to abandon that serious side of myself for chunks of time, and the bonus is I am allowing myself a second childhood by seeing the world though the eyes of my children. I now love doing things for no reason other than "just because". Like this conversation:

T - "Mommy"
Me - "Yes Sweetie"
T - "Mommy, take my picture with my mouth wide open!"

Okay honey:)