People Who Love Me: the Rempels

Mateo yawning on Mami's lap

Welcome home, Julian! Awww... Julian loves his Mami!

Let them eat cake!

Mateo & Stephanie

Hillary & Mateo

Zachary & Mateo

Andrea & Mateo

The Dunns come to Winnipeg

For the first time, David, Mateo & I travelled as a family to Winnipeg. And while we were there, my cousin Tracy, her husband Kevin & their three children, Liam, Caleb & Olivia came to stay as well. It was a full house (!), & so of course a few mishaps had to occur, like a major water main break on Slater Avenue, the dishwasher kicking the bucket & days and days of rain... but you know, it was all a lot of fun. We spent one day they were there at the Children's Museum & the Forks, hours of Playmobil time, colouring, drinking coffee & eating delicious food prepared by my parents. It was so good to see you again, & to meet Olivia & have you meet our Mateo!

chatting in the living room

The Dunn family: Tracy, Olivia, Kevin, Caleb & Liam

Seriously guys, I just know you have the camper trailer somewhere!

making faces with Mister David

Keith, living up to his name of the Cake-Finisher-Offer

Evelyn & Tracy, who managed to get a little bit of cake, too

Everyone's favourite barista

Kevin

Nadine & Olivia (notice her shiny little tooth?)

Liam posing on the Lookout Tower at the Forks

enjoying lunch at the Forks

Caleb & Aunt Dorothea

Mateo (4 mos.) & Olivia (9 mos.): can you tell who's older?

Buddies :)

ANNOUNCEMENT: New Spokesperson for le gallery in Toronto

Before Mateo was born, Will & Vinna gave him a suitcase filled with beautiful & terribly cute clothes. One of them was this sweatshirt with the n

ame of the gallery Will runs on it. Now Mateo is the right size for it. Here is a sequence from our "couch photo shoot."

The site for Will's gallery can be found at http://le-gallery.ca/ Be sure to visit if you're in Toronto.

Mateo is so upset that people aren't buying art anymore. Please help him cheer up & go to le gallery & by some art. ;)

3 1/2 months

Mateo & Whoozit making friends with Frog Prince, the Teether

Managing to fall asleep on the couch

Growing every day - now he even wears button up shirts

Mateo's University Friends... making him smarter one cuddle at a time

Mateo hanging out with Laura in the Grad Room at the university.

Maria holding Mateo in our backyard

Mateo & the Whoozit

Mateo received a Whoozit from Myriam (from my program) & her partner Mathieu. It has since become his very favourite toy by far. He loves to track it, & he's learned how to hold it now, so he sits in his swing and chats with it. It comes with us wherever we go, and ranks with Winnie & milk as his favourite things in the whole world. ;)

Mateo's Adventures in the Hundred Acre Wood

Mateo's best friends: Winnie, Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore & the Honey Pot

Winnie can always make Mateo's day!

Camping at Algonquin

On Sunday, David, Mateo & I drove up to Algonquin Provincial Park, which is up in northern Ontario. We met up with Ellen & Gord, who were camping there. Gord set up Opa Albrecht's roomy five person tent for us, and we set up Mateo's pack-n-play on the one side and our comfy air mattress on the other. It was practically a house. Even David could stand up in it. ;)

It was so nice to be out in the "wilderness," as wildernessy as electric camp sites can get. Take, for example, Uncle Ed's enormous RV, which has a television that is bigger than ours, and in which you can bake pizza in the oven. Not very wildernessy. But it was convenient for them in the rain!

We managed not to get wet, though, either. David & Gord rigged up a tarp contraption over the middle of our site, close enough to the fire that we could sit around it without getting wet. The site was a little dangerous though, with all the tarp lines everywhere. People who cut through our site nearly got clotheslined more than once.

To combat the rain, we played with Mateo in the tent, went to the cute little museum at the Visitors' Centre, and read. When it wasn't raining, David & I went to the Logging Museum, which is an outdoor museum that chronicles the history of logging in Algonquin Park. We also took some walks around the camping area.

It was too chilly to go swimming, so Mateo didn't get that "first" this time around. We didn't go in either. There was lots of Oma-time, though, which especially Oma herself enjoyed. Patricia, Uncle Ed's daughter, also enjoyed spending time with Teo, and even changed a few diapers for us!