18.3.12

Ty's Birthday

We celebrated Ty's second birthday yesterday. We cannot believe this sweet, joyful boy is two! I know it is so cliche to say this but the time has really flown by! Although if you asked Ty this week if he was turning two, he would respond with a very exuberant, "No three!"



Marc and I enjoyed our second year in a row of decorating the cake together.  He brings the details and precision, I bring the stress and the neuroses.  ;) Ty and his friend Quinton enjoyed the beaters, as evidenced by their dirty faces and sleeves.
This was the moment that Ty realized this really was HIS party.  He was very happy to blow out his candles and eat ice cream.  (Yes we made the entire cake and he didn't eat any of it.  Crazy kid!  What kid of kid doesn't like to eat cake?!)


 

Similarities between last year and this year:  Cakes are both green and March Madness is on in the background.  Differences:  Large appendage seems to have sprouted in the front this year.

We played pin the leprechaun on the pot of gold.  Ty was A LOT more into the spinning around blindfolded than the pinning.  He takes after his mother!


Our new window seat was a hit with all the kids!


Opening up the presents.  I certainly felt trapped by the masses of under 4 year olds.  Ty was a bit confused with the present opening as he would open one and just want to play with that one rather than moving on to the next one.

We had a great party with great friends and are looking forward to this upcoming year and all it brings.  Happy Birthday Ty!  We love you very much!!
Onwards to three!

14.3.12

My Winter Vacation by Tyrn James


It has been a while since I have graced this blog with my writing and I must say my writing has vastly improved since last time.  I spent the week with Grandma with visits from Grandpa and Brad (or Bleh as I say) and Raquel and Maria (ya ya in my books) and then moved on to Nana and Papa's with Reen, Thht Thht and Lowell. 
After my bath, with Grandpa

Grandma made Valentine's cookies with me and I played in the snow.  I am a BC boy and not a fan of cold weather but even though my hands got cold I enjoyed my time outside. 




"Come on Ya Ya!"



I moved on to Nana and Papa's at the end of the week and had lots of fun there too.  I had art morning with Carlynne, I even "helped" her with some details on one of her paintings, baked with Nana and went in the hot tub with Lowell. And visited with some strange fellows . . .

"Ummm Thhht Thhht do you know this strange man you are holding me dangerously close to?"
 

I was very happy when mommy and daddy returned tanned and rested from their tropical vacation!  We went swimming, had lots of fun visits (Thht Thht wrote about these here and here) and sang the new songs I learned. 


Auntie Julie and Uncle Lowell used their photographic skills to take fun pictures of Auntie Shareen's make up skills as well as cute cousin Fraser and I and Mommy and Daddy!


Can you believe this revolutionary in the making will be two next week?? ;) Me either!

4.3.12

playa sirena


we hadn't planned on flying to the island of cayo largo del sur.  our first four days in cuba were booked beforehand; we thought we would figure out the last four on the ground.  my first choice was to rent a house off one of the beaches near havana.  kylie's first choice was a few days at one of the resorts on varadero.  too bad for both of us, everything was booked.  we found a great travel agent in hotel valencia (a lovely place) who found us what seemed like the last free resort room in cuba at the hotel sol cayo largo.  cayo largo is the second largest island in the canarreos archipelago, with 26 km of beach, around 5 resorts and an airport.  it is essentially a tourist island, which means the land between the resorts is undeveloped sand dunes and mangroves.

 there are many iguanas, turtles and sparrowhawks.  we didnt see iguanas, but we saw lots of sparrowhawks.  they were not afraid of people and would tolerate extremely close proximity.


we spent 2 nights at the resort, but because we arrived at 8:00am (a trip involving an alarm set for 4:10) and did not leave until 4:30pm we enjoyed 3 full beach days.  our time was spent reading, swimming and walking.  i even went for a run down the length of playa sirena, past all the nudissimos.


the resort itself was clean and well maintained.  they made fantastic cappucinos and of course excellent mohitos at the lobby bar. 

funny, when friends talked about all inclusives, i never processed that unlimited drinks included unlimited cappucino and esspresso.  mmm... it was a resort that caters to italians so the coffee was excellent.  freshly roasted and ground right in front of you.

the beach was magnificent, and 3 days was about right.  previously we have been on beaches and felt that 10 days was too short, but at this stage in our lives, without ty along, after 3 days it felt like time to get moving again.  lucky for us we were headed back to havana for another full day, and havana is always moving.

our flight back, which included a bus to our hotel, had us checked in and ready to hit the town by 7:30.  we went for a walk down the malecon or promenade by the ocean, and then out for a nice dinner.

on our final day in cuba after a nice breakfast we caught a taxi to old havana to peruse the streets and visit a few old landmarks we missed in the first few days.
the museum of the revolution.  previously a palace, it was stormed by revolutionaries.  there were some interesting artifacts on display, but minimal english, so we didnt become particularly informed about the revolution.
we did see these two homemade tanks used by the underfunded revolutionaries.  each built on a 1950 tractor by adding steel plates and a flamethrower.

 our last evening we went out for a lovely dinner at los nardos, across from the capitolio.  the food was plentiful, tasty and cheap.  below you can see my meal.  fried local root vegetables, beans and deep fried chicken cordon bleu, each piece about 1.5 times the size they typically are in canada.  and with twice the cheese.  and battered and deep fried...  mmm...

and then, to continue the trend, kylie and i shared a huge serving of deep fried ice cream for dessert.

for our last evening in cuba, we hailed a beautifully restored convertible taxi and took it for a tour around town at night.  we stopped and picked up some rum and cigars, then returned to our hotel to pack up and head home.
and so, after another early morning we took another taxi to the airport, (where we received a lot of information about living in cuba from our driver angelo, who was taught russian in school, but taught himself english) and boarded a flight back to canada and back to ty!  goodbye cuba.  hasta la vista.