Apples!

Is anything better than picking apples? Other than eating freshly picked apples, of course!

Yesterday, our little clan went on an outing to a local orchard. The outing was organized (and largely funded) by one of the local family drop-in centres in Toronto, and our friends David, Angela, and Rowan were on top of things enough to get us all signed up to go. So, we all boarded a school bus (Morgen's first school bus ride!) and took the 45 minute trip to Chudleigh's Apple Farm, where there are, of course, apples to be picked, as well as a variety of other family-friendly activities. We spent some time picking Cortlands, Royal Galas, and MacIntoshes. And then, after a picnic lunch, we headed to the petting zoo, thinking Rowan and Morgen would like to see some animals. Rowan was really interested in all the animals at first, though his enthusiasm waned a bit when the big sheep became a little too interested in him (this picture captures the moment of his tactical retreat).

Morgen, however, had other ideas entirely and missed most of the fun. And Jessica, well, I'm not sure she's ever identified so closely with an animal before.

Happy Baby!

Jess and I have been trying and trying to get Morgen to smile for the camera. But whenever we pull out the camera, we have always ended up with something like the picture above - even though she was smiling and gurgling just moments earlier. Other people (namely, Grandma Lovett) have been able to get a smile on camera, but we have failed over and over again.

Today, however, we finally achieved our weeks-long goal. Morgen smiled for the camera. It wasn't her big I-think-you-are-really-funny smile, but it's the best we have for now. Enjoy (and check out the baby mini-skirt)!

P.S. Apologies for the long gap between posts. Our only excuse is, well, that we have a baby. Lame, I know, but true.

Social Calendar!

An update on Morgen's recent social outings and lessons learned: I over-programmed Morgen's life this week, taking her to a play date every day. Tal and Eowyn on Monday, Vanessa and Yen on Tuesday, Luisa, Emma, and Sara on Wednesday. It goes on. On Thursday, Morgen met her honourary Auntie Nicole for the first time (pic below). And on Friday, we dropped in on our friends at the Toronto Children's Chorus before spending some quality time with Rowan and Angela. On the positive side, we feel extremely fortunate to have so many good friends near by. On the negative side, Morgen has been teething, and her busy social life has had her teething all over Toronto this week. Chewing up a storm in the big city isn't always as much fun as it might sound. Next week will be more sedate. I have more than learned this lesson. I'm also including another picture of Morgen and Gavin at the Junction Arts Festival because it is just so cute. Isn't it? Gavin's post below tells more about our short ramble at that local event.

Festival Time in Toronto

August and September seem to be prime season for many of the local neighborhood festivals in Toronto. Tomorrow, weather permitting, we will be taking Morgen (and Grandma and Grandpa) to Bloor West Village for the annual Ukrainian Festival. Last weekend, though, we caught the very tail end of the Junction Arts Festival. Above are a couple of belated pictures. (By the way, this was my first time "wearing" Morgen. Doesn't she make a lovely accessory?)

The Junction is the area of Toronto immediately north of us where several of the old major rail lines converge. It's not quite as gentrified as Bloor West Village, but it has its own charm. And we had a great, if abbreviated, time. They had a little historical section to celebrate the Junction's centennial, complete with a 1950s Toronto police car (Taxi, anyone?) and a chain gang musical act (of which we didn't get a photo, but Morgen and I danced a little). There was also lots of food and artists exhibiting their work.

On an entirely different note, I just couldn't resist posting the photo below of Morgen and Piper the Mouse. Despite appearances, Piper is one of Morgen's favorite toys. If only I had Photoshop, I could insert a thought balloon. I wonder what I would write in it ...

Slings, Streudel and Sausages

The St. Lawrence Market takes up a city block downtown, and is maintained by the city as a historic site, although the complex has undergone many changes since it came into being. Currently it has two buildings, and although many of the South building vendors offer run-of-the-mill imported goods, on Saturdays a bit of the old farmer's market resurrects itself in the North building. Friendly and close, the aisles are packed with families, and the stalls are simple tables loaded down with yummy stuffs of all kinds. Today we saw one stall almost topple when a customer mistakenly pulled on a big box that he thought held lots of produce but in fact was holding up the side of the vendor's improvised counter. The vendor got there in time and eased his support box back into place...his assistant nervously giggled as she dumped our box of apples into a bag for us. Gavin found the weisswurst, which is not my favourite, but it made him happy. I found the cherry streudel, which is not his favourite, but it made me happy.

Morgen slept in her sling as we toured the market, and once again proved how patient she is - when she woke up hungry she chewed on the upper rail of the sling for a good ten minutes before squealing to let us know she was ready to eat. She had her lunch on a nearby bench, staying streetsmart the whole time, suspiciously watching everyone who walked by us, even after we covered her up with the sling to help her concentrate.

We wanted to get shots of Morgen in front of all the produce, but lunch distracted us, so here's a picture of Morgen with our lunch. Peameal bacon [Americans: read "Canadian" bacon] on buns. I suppose the gargoyle in the background is jealous of us.

SchMorgenbord

Picnics picnics picnics! We're enjoying living near High Park so much these days. These pictures were taken by our friend Jennie on her fancy camera while we looked on and limply said, "But we'd really like a picture of YOU with Morgen..." Jennie said we were welcome to take a few shots if we could work out her camera. Needless to say, Gavin and I have no experience with cameras that look like canons and have multiple gears, knobs, bells and whistles, so we're sadly lacking pics of Jennie and her husband Richard.

In other news, Morgen continues to advance in coordination and thumbsucking technique. Note the excellent nose-rubbing form, flanged lips, and tight left hand grasp of chew toy demonstrated below. She's just showing off with the chew toy, of course, as she'd never seriously chew on anything besides her thumb. Yes Morgen, I'm calling your bluff.