Finally

Summer photos! Matt finally uploaded our vacation photos to my computer. So my plan is to share them slowly rather than bombard readers with them.

When we are in Wawa, Matt becomes a bit of an explorer. He loves to find old abandoned mines (there are lots of them) and visit decaying monuments. Here is a view of Clergue Island in Michipicoten Harbour:

Ghost Towns in Canada says:
"Hector Clergue also had a summer cottage on a nearby island, now known as Clergue Island, complete with a footbridge on the mainland that was guarded by two chained black bears."

I had an appointment with my obstetrician on Wednesday. She thought she would be disappointing me by telling me that my cervix is long and only 1 cm dilate, baby has dropped, but only to -2 station (Kira was +2 at this point, and cervix was thin and 3 cm). I'm not really surprised as I haven't been having the same symptoms that I had at the end of my pregnancy with Kira that let me know just how low she was and how dilated my cervix was. Anyway, none of it matters until labour actually starts.

As much as I'd like to enjoy a meal without any heartburn, I'm hoping that this baby stays put until November anyhow.

Bursting with pride

Patrick won the city-wide cross country finals today! He won with about a 150 meter lead on the second place finisher and he wasn't even winded. There were over 400 boys his age running in that race! Everybody was amazed that he not only won, but won so easily. Matt got a photo of him shortly after the start of the race. He got off to a great start, pacing the boy to right in the photo, until he got to the 1/2 way mark. Sadly I don't have photos of his finish this time, I wasn't expecting him to come around the corner so quickly and by the time I got my camera turned on, he was long past me! When he finished and got his ribbon, he went back to the finish line to cheer on his fellow runners.

The last time he won a cross country finals, he was up all night the night before with stomach flu, and then begged me to let him try running anyway. Well last night he played in a hockey game and blocked a shot with his knee. When he got home, his knee swelled up and a nasty bruise appeared. He slept with ice on his knee and other than a bruise, he said it felt fine this morning so he ran anyway.

Damon and Campbell had great runs too! Damon wore the wrong shoes, got pushed down and trampled and still finished 127th out of over 500 runners. In Campbell's very first race, he came in 104th against older and bigger kids, in a pack of over 500. When Patrick was in grade 1, he finished 164th!

Bangs!

Here is Kira after her new haircut. I'll have to take a better photo of it, but you can see that she has bangs! She hates having her hair brushed and won't keep clips in it any more. She was looking more like a street urchin than the princess she thinks she is. And I was having fears about what would happen after I give birth and haircare is in Daddy's hands for a few days, so I finally caved in and gave her bangs and I trimmed 3 inches off of the back. I was thrilled that her curls stayed! And we can actually just brush it and leave it without any clips, ponytails or hairspray!!!!!