Toronto Zoo

 Our membership at the Toronto Zoo expires this month, so, being Dutch at heart, we have been going there as much as we can as the last month ticks away.  That way us monkeys can bond with their monkeys. :p  We usually head out for an afternoon-and then the zoo is nice and empty! :)

 We have been checking out parts of the zoo we haven't seen as much, and this time we saw the capybaras!  They really are big rodents!

 We also looked at the spider monkeys-and they are one of the few monkeys we've seen at the zoo that actually use their tails climbing.

 Flamingos were cool too-standing on one leg was fascinating, we thought!

 But cooler, by far, were TREES!

 Trees that could be climbed. 

 They were just sitting there, waiting to be climbed.  So we did it!   (Three boy monkeys in a row!)

 Melanie was miffed that her tree was stolen by a bigger monkey than her-but she did end up finding a subsitute.

 Indoor displays are pretty cool too.

 And you'd never believe what we found in the gift shop!  The cutest ever little baby zebra!  So we sold our van, bought it and took it home on the bus! :)

Not much grass here for grazing!

Nathan

 Eight years have flown by!  Nathan is the thinker in the family, and is very observant.  Yesterday he saw birds trying to nest in our entrance way light.  "Mom, guess what I saw? (He doesn't pause for any guessing) "Some birds are bringing grass into light.  I think they're making a nest there."

"Why does Eveyln have a white spot on her head?" 
He also has a soft spot for the kids, the smaller they are, the bigger the spot.  He treats them very gently, and loves to try cheer them up.

 Nathan often helps out a lot around the house, which we appreciate very much.  He decided to work in the gardens one afternoon when he had nothing else to do.  Maybe he finds our mess a bit embarrassing. ;) But there are times when he's not interested in helping or being sweet...thankfully that's not too often. :o 

Nathan has turned into a boy.  He's much heavier built.  Has interests that are different than a year ago  And has that boyhood competitive nature now too.  And still, a keen sense of the unfair.

Lunch

 A healthy lunch is good for you.

Would you like to try some too?

Everybody love Evelyn!

 Evelyn is smiling a lot now-and is much easier to catch on camera now!

 It's such a blessing to have a child who unreservedly smiles at a word from you!  (I'll try keep those precious smiles in mind when she's grumpier later in life. ;)

 She has discovered her hands a few weeks ago too-and she can spend up to half an hour chatting to her fists-and sometimes even figures out how to get them to her mouth so she can suck on them!

 Occasionally I remember to give her tummy time.  Like all my kids, she's not a big fan of it.

 I like to take her around the house to do chores-that way I know she's safe from her siblings.

(My Mom put me in the laundry basket!  I can't believe it!  She better pick me up when I show her my cute bottom lip pout!)

 Jennifer likes to give her special bunny to Evelyn.  For a few minutes, anyways.s

 All the kids love to chat with Evelyn and have her coo and smile at them.  So it isn't often that she is alone with just her hands for company.

 I still swaddle Evelyn at nights-and for the hot and muggy nights we've had, I've just swaddled her in a receiving blanket, but it couldn't do her arms and legs both-so I just did her arms. 

Very cute little legs poking out!

Evelyn is such a cheerful sweet girl!  She is only fussy for obvious reasons, and with her needs addressed, is set at ease very easily!  No, she does not sleep through the nights yet-only occasionally.  But since 4 out of 5 on my kids waited 'til 6 months to do it, my expectations are really really low!  (And that helps me out-no need to be disappointed at getting out 1, 2 or even 3 times-'cause I was counting on it anyways. ;)

Walk along Rouge River

 We picked a very hot day for an afternoon walk on a rugged trail.  This may be the trail where we wrecked our previous bike stroller.  The stroller survived this trip-but maybe next time we should bring packs for the kids instead!

 We stopped in the shade so I could feed Evelyn-and the mosquitoes joined us.

 I carried Evelyn-and the fresh air was lovely-though hotter than I prefer.

 It was lovely and green, and hardly a person to be seen.  Just how we like it!

 Philip had fun with the stroller-this was a tame section on the trail-there were places Nathan had to life the front wheel over a big root or step, or onto a rickety bridge.

It has been much too long since we've done this walk (or any other, for that matter!) and we should do it again sometime!  The kids all had a good time-most of the time.  Daniel did not like being in the stroller for the treacherous stretches.

8 Years!

 For Nathan's b-day, I was very ambitious and made him a treasure hunt.  I also let him have two guests (brothers) instead of our now usual one guest.  Last year his party got cancelled last minute-so he got two parties worth of my effort this year!

I made 7 clues, which took them over an hour to solve!

 They found the treasure in the garden-although Nathan was hesitant to dig it out.  He looked at me first to be sure that it was really okay.

 I had found a mini wooden chest and chocolate money at the local dollar store.  I didn't dare take off the plastic (which would have made it look more real) and good thing I didn't 'cause we had a thunderstorm and pouring rain on his birthday morning.  It was a great relief to see it dry up for the party! :)

 I had swords hidden for one of the clues-to keep the ones who found the clues too boring occupied.

 The other activity I set up was a plank-they had to walk blindfolded along it-and they decided to chop the person if they fell off-and if they made it to the end safely they would still get attacked, but then they could take the blindfold off first.

 Evelyn didn't get to play any of the games.

 It's always fun to watch the response when presents are being opened.  Especially when they open something that doesn't make sense. ;)

Here are all the clues (plus a cheat sheet in case one got lost) I made for the treasure hunt.  Evelyn helped me. ;)  But by the end she was very mad because I was ignoring her and just trying to get it done!   One of the clues almost got attacked by a weed-eater!

Play and the elusive baby smile