Long overdue picture updates

How did I manage to go so long without any photo updates here. Life is busy I guess. Here are some shots of the end of the summer and hopefully later I will post some of our trip to Tobermory. I'll leave the updates on what the boys are up to now (in later October) for when I have the photos of the fall downloaded. Hopefully it won't be Christmas before that happens!!!

Brycen was greeting a goat in the Mitchell park. It cracked me up that he and the goat had their heads angled the same...and almost the same expressions on their faces!!!

This is Cameron going for a wagon ride at my parents farm. Summer was very busy for Cameron as he learned to RUN!!! It was and remains to be very hard to contain this little boy. I think he likes to remind me that he carries his twin brothers spirit within him!!!

Brycen learned to ride a two wheeler this summer without his training wheels. He was so proud of himself...and took off like a pro!

Cameron LOVES the water and loves to splash anyone and everyone near him! Swimming was a big thing for him this summer...hopefully he still loves the water next year!

Zack's big thing this summer was fishing. He can bait his own hook and cast off but really enjoys just putting the line in where there are tons of tiny fish and catching anything that will nibble.

Geoff took this shot of Brycen at the park in Stratford. Brycen was hunting for trolls in this big tree!

It's not often that we capture Cameron at rest....he's a very busy boy who's running, laughing and talking up a storm these days.

Random pictures on the new camera

The boys fond a toad!
I love some of the effects this camera will do...this shot looks so cool with the butterfly bush blurry up front but focused in behind....kind of like life!
Cameron was climbing above me here..such a clear shot for a time when I was pretty nervous that he might fall !!!

I don't 'think' he's eating sand!!! He had no idea I was taking his picture... I was atleast 25 feet away from him!

This I took from the bottom of the slide. The camera has a an LCD viewer that moves out from the camera....like some camcorders do. I didn't even have to stick my head in the slide...just the camera.



Again another shot I took from 25-30 feet away with no one realizing I was. If he'd realized it he would have turned and said 'chee'!!!

This is in a garden behind the park.... again taken from a good 30+ feet away...I LOVE this camera!!!
Could be in a perennial magazine I think!!!

Family Photos

I just needed to post these pics so my friend Jenn will have something new to look at when she gets her internet up and running in England and checks out the blog. She was hoping I'd post pics taken with the new camera (our van was broken into and our camera and a bunch of stuff was stolen).
These pics were taken by Mark Stephens of Exeter as a way to build up a portfolio. They turned out great...he's an amazing photographer.
The tall lovely blond, for those who don't know, is the exchange student we had last school year, Edith. She is from Estonia and left about a month ago to return home.

Summer Fun!

Lots of summer fun with the Tummers' Boys. They are all very busy and having a great time. The younger two enjoyed some 'splash pad' fun....


though Cameron wasn't too sure what to think of it at first.

But Brycen was very into every drop of water!!!

And he helped Cameron explore and enjoy the water!!!

So soon Cameron was having just as much fun too!

I just LOVE this picture...

And while all the above fun was happening, Zack was taking swimming lessons in the Mitchell Pool. He did great and after 2 weeks he passed level 2!


Swinging on Grandma and Papa Ireland's tree swing.

For a number of summers we've had an ongoing 'playground' project. When Brycen was 1 it got started and we bought him a baby swing for his birthday....thank goodness we had more children...he's WAY to big for it now!!!

Zack loves to swing and loves that he can do it at home all the time now. Incidentally for those who didn't know, our playground is right in front Cole's garden and it's nice to have our boys together outdoors.

And didn't I say it was good that we'd had more children to enjoy this great swing!!! Cameron loves it!

We took another camping trip with our friends the Angst's and the Nelson's. We went to Lake Huron Resort near Goderich and I have to say...there's nothing like a Lake Huron sunset....






Cameron wasn't so sure of the sand and the water at first so he hung out with Daddy while....

Zack and Brycen ran up and down the beach discovering shells and rocks and having a great time!



Play hard....sleep harder!!!


The next day we spent some more time on the beach. Brycen was a riot to watch playing in the waves. He'd sit in the water and then when it touched him he would shriek, jump up and run screaming up to shore!


Cameron was much more subdued and enjoyed time playing in the sand. He especially loves to stir the sand in his pail...fascinates him for a good 2 minutes!!!!




Cameron enjoyed his first ever feed of 'cob on the corn' as Brycen calls it. He LOVED it, so much that when he was finished his first cob he threw it at us and started signing more please!
Incidentally, Cameron has a few signs... more, please, cookie, drink, shoes, out, up etc. He isn't really talking too much yet...he was Da, Ma, Za (Zack), DoDa (Koda the dog), uh oh (his first word and still his most prevalent!!!), uh huh (for yes) and Ba (for bye). He's running now...forget the walking. He's also climbing, everything he can find! He is very sneaky and silly and loves to play games, laugh, read stories and really is joy to be around. He still weighs 22lbs...he hasn't gained anything in about 6 months but since he has gotten so active that isn't surprising. And he's short...no big surprise there either!

On Monday our family took a trip. A trip down memory lane for some of us but most of all a trip to deliver a very special gift to a very special person and place. We traveled to Toronto to give Dr. Ryan, the Fetal Therapy program and Mt. Sinai Hospital the donations that we gathered on their behalf from our friends and our family and our amazing community through our fundraiser held in late May.



We met with the staff from the foundation and were shocked to see that we weren't just meeting with their director of development. Instead it was a group of 5 or 6 staff members...PR staff, communications staff, special events co-ordinators. It was rather amazing and we felt like we'd made a huge contribution to them. They brought a huge cheque in and we filled it out.

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And then we got to meet with our hero, the namesake of our very special twin sons Cameron Cole Gregory and Cole Edward Ryan, Dr. Greg Ryan...the man who saved Cameron's life.



We spent a lot of time talking to Dr. Ryan. He as amazed at how well our little miracle is doing. He admitted to us repeatedly that he really was impressed with Cameron and that odds Cameron beat are pretty astronomical. He just kept saying 'I can't get over how well he's doing'. He even looked at Cameron's scar and gave us his best guess as to what caused it...amniotic band syndrome...and one more reason why it is just amazing that Cameron is here with no real issues affecting him. Though it was good to hear all these things, it was also another moment for me to realize how close we came to having a different result. Dr. Ryan told us that he really didn't think our outcome would be as positive as it was though he also admitted that upon seeing our initial admittance results when we arrived, he also hadn't thought we'd lose Cole either. It's good to hear that he's so pleased with the results of all our hard work but also very emotional to know that the doctor who was responsible for saving your son's lives wasn't sure he'd save either of them.


Dr.Ryan was also amazed at how well our fundraiser had gone. He asked tons of questions about how we raised the money and who the donations came from. He is pretty sure he's never had a 'tractor square dance set' sponsor any of his programs before. He was so very touched that we did this for his program and he has the perfect place for these funds....a new fetal scope (the instrument used in the surgery that was done to stop the connections in the placenta that caused the TTTS).



And then we presented him with our cheque...in total $3800. Truly amazing...we all felt this. Me, most of all as I had projected raising $2000 or less.
So thank you to everyone who helped us with this event...it was truly an event to remember from start to finish!
P.S. After some more totaling and our donation that I thought was in the envelope but was here at home...therefore not counted....the grand total is $3975!!!