Happy Birthday Isla

It is summertime and I have not posted in ages on this blog, but what better topic to blog about than our little sweetheart's birthday! Isla turns four today, that is very hard to believe, and even harder to believe is she will be starting school this fall!
Here are some photos from the all four (five if you count the day she was born as a "birthday") birthdays:
The day that started it all:

First Birthday:

Second Birthday:

Third Birthday:

Fourth Birthday:

Happy Birthday Isla!

Take Care 

Ewan

Thanksgiving 2010

So I have been a little quiet on the blog front but that is because of some little renovations going on in our house have been taking up our time. But more on the renovations later this week, for now I want to focus on is this past weekend, Thanksgiving Weekend.
We went out out to the Cottage for Sunday and Monday. It was a beautiful weekend weather wise which helped as the cottage doesn't have any heat! We had a great Thanksgiving meal on Sunday with Jen's parents, Grandmother, Aunt and Uncle. My parents also made the trip up to the cottage. The next morning we went for a walk at Foley Mountain Conservation Area which is in Westport. Westport is a cute little town on the Rideau Lake system, it is very busy with cottagers and tourists all summer long. Geographically it is right below the start of the Canadian Shield. The Canadian Shield is a massive geographic formation from a long, long time ago (see the link back there if you want to read more about it). Enough with the Geography lesson.... Foley Mountain is actually _on_ the Shield so you can get some pretty spectacular views from some of the trails.
An Example Spy Rock Lookout

It is huge drop off down to the Town of Westport, you can sort of see little Marina in Westport in the Picture
And if you look behind the people in this picture you can see the Town of Westport

Here is a pic of Keir trying to get a little to close to the edge of the lookout:

And of course once Ilsa saw Keir do that she wanted to get down to the edge as well

After spending some time at the lookout, we went for a walk on on of the many trails.

It was a really great morning in a really beautiful location!
Here are some more random photos from the weekend
Mr Frog at the cottage

Keir and Isla

Keir and Isla being silly

Boat at the Cottage


There is a whole bunch more photos here

That is all for now
Take care
Ewan

Sunday Supper (again)

Here we go again, another Sunday Supper Post. This is a good one! Jen's mom and dad came up for the day to visit. Murray (Jen's dad) came up to help me take apart an old laundry tub/ storage unit, he has a bunch of tools that made it very easy and we also had to do some minor plumbing (which is not my speciality). While that was going on Jen's mom was working with the kids on an Apple Pie (with the Apple's we picked)

They made it from scratch, i.e. home made crust!!! The kids ate a ton of the dough and I _think_ they managed to help some what. Here is the almost final product, didn't want to take a pic with the top on (by the way the pie is sitting on some of Isla's art work, more on that later this week)

And then after a little time in the oven:

After the pie came out of the oven it was my turn, on tap was roast chicken, with potatoes, sweet potatoes and sausages.
Starting ingredients:

All cut up:

The peelings from the potatoes made a kinda interesting photo:

Next up some sausages (chorizo and hot italien if you are curious)

And then we add everything together in a roasting pan:

Then on to the chicken, really simple but tasty salt and peper, melted butter and sage

After about 1.5hrs in the oven the chicken was ready:

The potatoes and sausages were ready as well:

On the plate ready to eat, see even some veggies!

The meal was absolutely delicious, it was almost a "Thanksgiving" type meal.
And if you think I have forgotten about dessert, you would be wrong. Home made apple pie and vanilla ice cream!!


That is all for now
Take Care
Ewan (about 5 pounds heavier than he was at the start of the day)

Our Sunday

It was a beautiful weather weekend this past weekend, so on sunday we took the opportunity to go out for a walk and enjoy the weather. There is a short little trail near our house that we went to explore. The trail wraps along the river at the end of the island we live on.

We went off the trail on a small trail that brought us down to the water, you actualy come out at the other side of part of the lock structure, pretty impressive

But right to the right of the structure it is very quiet, quiet enough for a family of Geese

We explored along the shoreline

And then then we decide to climb back up the super steep hill (the one we  went around on the way down) to get back up to the main trail



Isla brought some toy binoculars, which she "used" very well

It was a gorgeous day, but there were some reminders that fall is coming

It was a great walk that actually goes right by my work

After the walk we went back home for supper. It was a real fall meal, Slow Cooked Stew.
Here is a quick pictorial of our Summer Supper
The veggies (Butternut Squash, Potatoes, Carrots, Parsnips)

The meat

The starting cooking

This is what the final product is supposed to look like, according to Mr Oliver

And here is what ours looked like out of the oven

Plated:

Hungry Family + Stew= Empty Bowls

Even the World's Pickiest Eater (AKA Keir)  ate most of his


Another Great Sunday meal!!!

That is all for now
Take Care
Ewan

5 Years Ago today

5 Years ago today my Gran passed away.

Ewan

First Day of School 2010

Today was Keir first day of school for 2010. He is starting Grade 2 (hard to believe)
It was pouring rain for the first day, but Keir was still very excited.

And in case your are wondering what a Grade 2 student has to bring to school:

I think the school supplies lists have gotten a little out of control, that bag must have weight 30lbs! He has enough glue sticks in there to re-attach a wing to an airplane!

That is all for now.
Take care
Ewan

CAKE!!!!!!!!

As promised some more pics from Isla's party. Obviously the one above is the cake that Jen made for Isla. It was an Ariel cake and it was delicious.
There was a bit of a princess theme going on, one of Isla's gift was a princess dress:

The funiest part of the whole cake process was watching Isla try to blow out the candles, here is a pic of her blowing full force:

It was a full day and it certainly took it's toll on Isla, by 6:30 she was asking for bed. She ended up in bed and sleeping by 7
The rest of the pics from the party are here

All for now
Take care
Ewan