Off to Fintry...

Off to pick Big Sister up from school soon...and then to check out Fintry Park (& waterfall!!) 

There will be NO photos...I lent my camera to a friend so she can can take some "Trash the Cake" 

photos of her 1y old...I feel like I'm missing a Limb! :-/...

But I'll "steal" some photos off internet and show you were we went! Haven't  been there before so I'm excited...

Oh have I mentioned there is a 150 stairs to climb to get to the waterfall viewpoint!/ 

Not  so excited about that one.... 

Don't forget...I have 16 extra pounds to carry  aka Baby! But I'm sure I'll feel great about doing it...once we are at the top!

Update: Fintry was great...Beautiful area....lots of history...pretty waterfall....Oh and whoever said there are 150 stairs - LIED! There are close to 500 stairs to climb to get to the top of the waterfall! But it was worth it!We all had fun as we always do when out exploring the nature...This was Sequoias 1st hike as well...I carried her in her Snugly...so she was able to look around and see everything...she loved it...After coming back down we went on to explore old buildings of the Fintry Estate....There is an old barn...round milking house...They are in a pretty bad shape...and I don't understand why local authorities aren't taking care of these old historical treasures? Only house thats in a good shape is Manor house....there is also meat packing house...pretty scary, haunted looking place...Whole place has a weird vibe, maybe because its so old...maybe cause it was cloudy out...but it felt slightly eerie..

Hmmm...Not much happening here...We are having a Gorgeous weather still...They call it "Indian Summer". Temperatures are in mid 20s...Sunny...Can smell fall in the air...Leafs are slowly changing color...Evenings and mornings are chilly...I love this time of year...Feels cozy...

We went to farmers market today. Love it...I use to go with my mom all the time when I was little...We got zucchinis, carrots, squash, pears, parsley etc. Was looking for eggplant to make MY Eggplant Parmesan! (I say "My" because I invented a slightly different recipe...Instead of just eggplant slices...I add slices of zucchini, mushrooms, tomatoes...made it the other day and it was De-licious! Couldn't find any eggplant....bummer.  Love seeing all the different kinds of people there as well...Young, older...kids...hippies...."organic" people I call them....You know long hair, no makeup, organic clothes wearing, totally natural type of people...It's a refreshingly colorful and vibrant atmosphere. There were also a few musicians today as well. They add a lot to the whole Farmers market "scene" Trying to eat healthier these last few weeks...More veggies and fruits and less meat and processed foods...It already feel great!

Sequoia is getting over her very 1st cold....she did great! Even when she is sick she is still smiley! She got crabby few times but that's understandable...Feeling much better now...

A friend sent me some photos of my parents! She was walking by their house and she snapped a few pics!
Im Not gonna put up those but here is a better one of my mom & dad!

Not the best quality but good enough. That's our famous Balcony!  And its famous because everyone LOVES coming for a visit and sitting there...Its on a main street, 1st floor of our building...Great location...It's just a great lil place! I use to jump off that balcony ...lol..just for fun...Or if forgot a front door key I'd climb in and wait for my parents there to come in and open the door, one time my dad and I painted it this dark gray color...We liked it but everyone else Not so much...so I see that they went back to nice yellow!....I can't wait to go there for a visit after all these years and to take Jeff and Sequoia w me and show there where I'm from!! Show them my Tuzla and whoooole Bosnia and croatian coast where we usualy go for our summer vacations! I know they will fall in love with it! You just can't describe it...you have to go there and  visit all the beautiful places, meet all the friendly people, taste the food, drink homemade rakija....(that's plum brandy!)

City of Tuzla - My home town

I wonder what  it will feel like to go back after more than 6 years...Hmmm....I'm sure it will be very emotional experience! Cant wait!! Fingers crossed we get to go sometime soon! Here are some more photos of my hometown...Enjoy!

 Here is what a fellow blogger wrote about Tuzla:
"We arrived to Tuzla by night, it was hot somewhere in the 30+ centigrade and as we drove through the streets I quickly came to realize what a lively and young city this was. Young people walking around, filling the streets & hanging out at local 'go to' spots. "Tuzla" is the Turkish name for salt and was given this name due to the tremendous amount of salt found underneath the city and is home to Europe's only salt lake (Pannonian Lake) which are frequented by some 100,000 people yearly. After Sarajevo and Banja Luka Tuzla is the third largest city within Bonia and Herczegovina with 120,000 inhabitants.

Years of extracting salt from underneath the city have made Tuzla's city center sink,  it is quite interesting to see when looking from up high. In the early morning hours on a small side street we walked to find farmers selling their produce on the street; fresh cheese, milk, tomatoes, cucumbers, all for very little. We purchased some fresh kajmak which is a delicacy made of milk fat (about 60%) and I don't think we could have been happier. Our days seemed to revolve around delicious food, good company, history and beautiful architecture things which we will never forget.

I also happened to breeze through on the hottest day through Hamet's Bazaar where I bought books by a local author Meša Selimović who was born in Tuzla as well as Ivo Andric and some others. I'm really excited to get into some reading on my train rides in the next few days. I hope you are enjoying these posts as much as I'm enjoying my time being a part of this amazing culture" 
Visit her blog here: http://fleurish-fleurish.blogspot.ca/2012/08/tuzla-by-day-tuzla-by-night.html

Love how this blog post took it's own turn...I had no clue what I wanted to write about...But I'm glad I got to show you a bit about where I am from.

Noisy!

Here is our lil' Sequoia!! This is what she does every morning as of recently! She squeeeeeeeals in delight! at 6 or 7am!! Best alarm clock ever! lol

Mission Impossible!

So this pretty much sums it up! Thais baby must have forgotten how to Nap! What happened!? She use to be a great napper! Up and alert for a few hrs and then asleep for 2+ hrs...well, NOT in the last 2 days! yesterday she was up pretty much whole day....and this morning she woke up at 6 am...I tried getting to sleep a few times but no such luck...so here I am blogging away while rocking her w my foot...while she is in her car seat on the floor lol


Update! Look who finally fell asleep!!!

Ok, now to eat some breakfast.....at 11:18am!

Major Update!

So my last post was sometime in January...so 8 months ago...ugh, I really have to do this blog "thing" more often! I want to write down whats new...everything we do so we can go back one day and read it and see photos...Kinda like a Diary...just Better!

Ok Soooo.....Big thing that happened since last post is that our baby girl Sequoia was born on April 29th!!! Just one day after her due date! And after 33hrs of labour 8lbs9oz baby! Pretty big they say!...

 

  Sequoia, few hrs old

 

 4mths

Healthy, happy baby....She is 4mths now and is the most amazing thing that ever happened to me...I can't stop looking at her!...She is amazing little girl...she smiles all the time(she gets that from Me hehe)....laughs, giggles, squeals early in the morning(not crazy bout that one lol)...is amazingly strong for a 4 mth old...Has 2 teeth already...She is alert, curious, friendly, loves people...
I knew I wanted to be a mom, and was ready for it...But I could have never imagined that I would Love it so much! Ok, I gotta say....it wasn't all lollipops and rainbows at the beginning..It was hard...it was a Huge adjustment..I was exhausted, trying to learn how to breastfeed...dealing w all hormonal changes...It aint pretty! But everything is back to normal now! I feel like my old self and enjoying every single minute of motherhood.

This is my sweet hubby Jeff! Best daddy ever! I knew that even before we had Sequoia tho....I saw how he was with his older daughter Sienna...I met him when she was 5 and now she is almost 12! He is caring, funny, goofy....always ready to play...run around the park, do things that make her laugh....Just what type of  dad I wanted for Sequoia! <3                                                            

                And she is a Big sister now! - Sienna holding Sequoia few hrs after she was born!

This beautiful young lady is Sienna! Sequoia's Big sister and my stepdaughter! She is funny, smart, caring...and loves her lil sister! My heart melts every time I see two of them together! Sequoia has the biggest Grin on her face when Sienna walks into the room! and Sienna loves looking at her....carrying her around...playing w her....I was ready for some type of jealousy outburst at some point...because she was the only child in our house for almost 12y(she has older brother and sister from her moms side)...and that would be totally normal...having a new sibling is a huge change..But nope! She is as happy as always...I guess it was a good timing for her to have a baby sister...as she is becoming a young adult and is out of that baby stage herself. I fell so blessed to have these 2 amazing children in my life!

 Gramma Ceil and Grampa Bill came for a visit from Toronto when she was only One week old!! I am so Glad they did!! They were enormous help in those 1st few weeks!! They are amazing!!

And then after G&G left Auntie Barb came for a visit (from Toronto as well)....I love this woman! She has a special Way of doing dishes, and I was happy to let her do it her way while she was here!...She can be Bossy at times - But its Nice-bossy and I know its because she loves us and I don't mind her bossiness at all! Oh and she makes KILLER chocolate-Everything!! She loves chocolate and loves making desserts!...Only thing is I wish we all lived closer!  :-(