Our Trip to the Toronto Zoo!!

One of Kellen's favourite places at the zoo (which is an amazing place to take your family!!) was the butterfly pavillion...he was just fascinated with all the butterflies flying around....here he is studying a beautiful butterfly that landed near his foot.

There were thousands of butterflies all flying around...it was beautiful!! Here are Shawn and Kellen taking it all in....

Kellen noticed this bird in the butterfly pavillion and became super excited! He wanted to share his snack with the bird (if this picture had sound it would be of Kellen saying "Here birdie...I share with you" and "You hungry, birdie?")

Hello Mister Tiger! Kellen's response to seeing the tiger "Wow - that's a BIG cat!"

Kellen loved the elephants! They were doing their exercises when we got there (did you know that elephants have to do daily exercises...like leg lifts!??!?)

WWEEEEEEEEE!!!! Here is Kellen hanging out while I ordered our lunch of hotdogs, french fries and Dibs (little ice cream treats)....as you can tell we were being very healthy!

Three cousins enjoying their time together (and a little food!)

Kellen is always in complete awe of Alyjah...here is Kellen listening to Alyjah tell a story about the polar bears (which are sooooo much fun to watch when they are swimming!)

Kellen couldn't run fast enough to get right into the splash pad!! It is an amazing splash pad...it was huge!!!! We were all soaking wet in about 30 seconds!! Kellen absolutely LOVES splash pads (or anything else that splashes water!)....we played here for about 45 minutes!!

Alyjah had lots of fun too!! Here he is about to soak Kellen with a spray machine!!!

A cool new area at the zoo is the stingrays and shark tank (just little tiny sharks!)....Kellen was not afraid at all! He wanted to touch the stingrays and was super excited when the swam up to where we were standing.

Mommy and Kellen petting the stingrays....

The cutest part of the entire day was when Kellen went on a pony ride! He was soooo cute!! He became super serious and was holding onto the handle with all of his strength! It was about a 5 minute pony ride and the best part was that Shawn was allowed to be his guide!

....off for their walk!!! Kellen kept petting the pony and saying "It's so cute!!"

About 5 minutes after we left the zoo, Kellen was fast asleep! We left around 1:30 (and his nap is at 1pm) so he was pretty tired!!! Luckily for him, we got stuck in traffic and it took us over 1 hour to get home (the zoo is about 15 minutes away from our house!). We treated Kellen to a little elephant stuffed animal - he hugged it the entire way home!

Kellen has a great sense of yummy food....he must have sensed that Shawn and I were going to Dairy Queen - the moment we drove into the parking lot, he woke up! Here he is thoroughly enjoying an ice cream cone!!!

Yummy Snacks at the Mall

When it is too hot outside to play, we sometimes go to the mall. Kellen loves to ride up and down (and up and down...) the escalators, as well as visit the pet store and toy store.

Here are some pictures of Kellen eating some yummy popcorn as well as sharing Mommy's frozen yogurt (and of course, giving me his signature smile!!)

My Elephant Pool!

We bought Kellen a little pool for the backyard....and it comes with this cool elephant slide that has a water spout!!! Kellen LOVES water, so he has had a blast playing in his pool....every single day!!! Here he is showing us how he can climb up the slide ... he has no fear! He pushes himself to go down the slide super fast and pretty much wipes out in the pool! He then gets up and says "I okay Mommy!" and does it again!

Here are Shawn and Kellen in a friendly game of tag!

...and now Kellen is cooling off again with a quick dip in the pool!

"I love water!!"

Golden Beach Resort!!

Last weekend, we went up to Golden Beach Resort for a long weekend getaway with the Moore Family! It was so much fun! It was only about 1 hour from Ajax and the kids got along sooo well!! We all had a blast!

On our first day there, Kellen immediately felt super comfortable going into the water....here he is (fully dressed!) playing in the sand and trying out the water....ahh, my little fish!

Here are Kellen and Caden digging holes in the sand....

....Kellen has already lost his shirt...next, the pants! Honestly, he just LOVES water!

On our way to the beach - Kellen found Shawn's sunglasses and put them on.....I thought he looked pretty darn cute!!

Kellen and Caden in deep conversation and anxiously awaiting for the door to open so that we could head out to the beach!!

YIPEEE!!! We are going swimming now!!!!

Building "high tower" (Dora the Explorer always has to go to High Tower...so now whenever we build something with his blocks, he calls it High Tower).

Showing me his noodle for the pool....you had to watch out once he had this in his hands because it is so long for him to control!

Posing with Daddy near the main building.

Kellen loved building "castles" in the sand, as well as making big holes....he sat there by himself doing this for about 30 minutes.

Building a sand castle! (with a dripping nose....hence, the weird smile!)

Digging for rocks in the water....

Sitting with Shawn on the beach....Kellen just LOVES water...he would just sit in the water, collecting little rocks or digging his hands into the sand - I love how comfortable he is with water.

Checking out the big tires at the playground....Kellen decided they were too big to pick up...I agree, Kellen!

The swings and the field.....

The pool and the wading pool....for when we didn't want to play at the beach anymore...

Mommy and Kellen.....boy, do I love this kid!!!

Kellen and Mommy...having lots of fun playing!

...and posing with Daddy!

...and posing for a family shot....I love this picture!

Sharlene and I hanging out and enjoying the weather!

Shawn and Kellen eating a yummy ice cream snack....the best way to end a long day at the beach! Kellen is actually getting pretty good at eating ice cream from a cone...it's just a little on the messy side!

....literally, about 10 minutes after the picture I took earlier (of them eating ice cream)...we look over and the two of them are fast asleep! This is what happens when we don't have a nap!

Since the boys had to go to sleep super early (because they didn't nap), we couldn't keep them up long enough to have a campfire....so, we made smores for after dinner (in the microwave)....here is Kellen digging into his smore....yummy!

Here is Caden running super fast, and Sharlene packing up the last of our things.....the kitchen was huge!! On the other side of the kitchen was the family room (which was a good size...and it had a television!)...and it had three huge windows looking out to the water. As you can see, the bedrooms were off of the kitchen and down the hallway (where the bathroom was at the end of the hall)...overall, great cottage!!

SMILE!!! Kellen had a blast running around the playground area (he would go between the playground, the pool, the wading pool, and the beach.....all day long!)

On the way home from the cottage, Kellen watched his Dora and Diego DVD's...I don't think he blinked once!

...but he did look up long enough to give me a smile!