4 years and 6 months!

Year four didn't exactly start off like the magical year I thought it would be. But it did work it's way there! Four has been great these last few months. The boys are so fun and they still don't need anything fancy or expensive to have a great time. Just give them some sand and they have a blast! They are generally well behaved and there is much less fighting than ever before. They are never bored (never have been for that matter), all they need is each other and they keep busy all day long. We can take them to restaurants even ones that don't have kids play areas and people admire how well behaved they are. It is so funny to hear them talk both because they say just the random-est things and because they have full on toddler accents. They are still so cute, not in a baby way but because they do and say cute things all the time. I really wouldn't say this about any other stage of their lives but I wouldn't mind keeping them four forever : )

CET exactly 4.5 years old!

Jumping zoo animals

CET

Caleb looking very sweet

Eli

CTE

Niagara Falls USA!

After we left Toronto we drove to Niagara Falls U.S.A. (not to be confused with the other city of Niagara Falls in Canada, which we also visited later on). We rented a humongous house there with all of Phil's family (all his brothers and sisters including their families, his parents, an aunt, and a cousin). It was a beautiful historic house with like 8+ bedrooms and bathrooms, its was such a nice place for us to stay in.

The house we had so much fun in!

Just a little peek of the inside : )

Here is a view of Niagara Falls from the US side, there was so much snow!

The boys with their cousin Sam

Family picture

Down stream

Boys, Sam and aunt Candy

Caleb

Thomas

Toronto

Our last three days in Toronto...

We walked to St Lawrence Market which was really awesome and I bought a ton of fresh seafood to make soup that night.

After the market we walked to the Harbor Fronte and I felt just like Lake Ontario, frozen!
Now we know that 30 degrees and overcast is too cold for us to walk around in!

The next day we met up with some friends for breakfast after we went to their Sunday meeting.
It was such a "warm" day at 40 degrees that we walked around this area of Toronto called "beaches" for quite sometime.

Our friends Kim, Kyria and Kendra were in the same congregation with us when we lived in Berkeley, CA (Kyria's roommate, hung out with us too, far left). They moved back to Toronto shortly after we left for Portland.
It was good to catch up!

Our friend Kim got the boys mustaches.
They wear them well, ha!

The day before we left we went to the aquarium

The boys went for a swim : )

Toronto was a really cool city with many charming neighborhoods, we could have driven around all day just looking at them!

ROM

Sorry for the blog silence! I've been on vacation and didn't have time to update. We've been home since late Monday and I've had to catch up on life!...I'll start with our first two days in Toronto, Canada.

The day after we arrived was super cold (the high was like 15-18 degrees F) but it was ok since we couldn't do anything fun until we went grocery shopping to fill up our apartment rental with yummy food! Later that same day Phil took the boys to play in the snow at a little park nearby, I happily stayed in the warm cozy apartment : )

The following day it warmed up a bit to about 25F, still too cold for us to walk around much so we spent the day at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM).

Our heavy winter clothes that we hardly used this year in Portland came to good use in Toronto.

A "dinosaur bone" digging exhibit for the kids.

The boys have been pretty obsessed with raccoons ever since our cat was wounded by one several months ago.

Under a T-rex!

Triceratops (I think?)

Stegosaurus

The had such an impressive dinosaur fossil collection it was everyone's favorite part of the museum!

Caleb and Thomas found a corner to play fight while Eli showed me his impressive jumping skills.

Eli showing off.

Confused

We're on a very confusing trip. Confusing for the boys that is. Let me explain....

So from time to time we show the boys where all our family lives on maps or globes. The boys know that uncle G lives in China, mama Elda lives in California, aunt A lives in Australia, and so on. Well several months ago we found out that uncle G was engaged and the wedding would be in Buffalo NY (the bride to be is from Buffalo). Phil and I took the opportunity to plan a vacation around uncle G's wedding and visit Toronto as well since it is only a 2 hour drive from Buffalo. We explained all this to the boys and man are they confused!

On our flights to New York Eli kept saying we were going to china to see uncle G We tried to corret him but it may have just confussed him more. When we arrived in Buffalo we told the boys that uncle G is in New York now but he doesn't actually live here. Also that we woulnd't see him quite yet and that we are first drivng up to Toronto to just explore and have fun But they really don't get why we are here. Why are we in Toronto?

So we have been in Toronto now for a couple of days now staying at a vacation apartment we rented which the boys think is uncle G's house....oh my so confused!

Our travel day went very smoothly but it was EXHAUSTING! Our flight left PDX at 6:40 am so we were up since 3am. From the anxiety of all that the next day held I slept approximatley 3 hours in which I spent all that time dreaming that we had missed our flight. We landed in JFK (the day before that plane skidded at laguardia [the other airport in NY city] that closed the airport!!!). Next we flew into Buffalo and got into a minivan we rented and drove two hours to Toronto. We arrivedat 10pm so it was a loooooong day! Why we didn't fly into Toronto is complicated and it mostly has to do with getting the most out of our frequent flyer miles (international flight vs domestic) and the boys would need passports to fly into Canada but not overland. 

On our way!

Mr T fell asleep on our second flight, boy was I jealous!

15 degrees F, this will be our coldest day out East (I think and hope)!

At the Royal Ontario Museum, it was such a cool museum!

4 yrs and 5 mo

TEC (oops out of birth order for the first time!) are 4 years and 5 months old

Looking sharp in their Sunday best!

Silly faces

Thomas insisted that his tie should go outside of his suit coat, ha!