Carousel and Hockey Practice

A week before Christmas, Christine and I took Reid and Cash to the mall. To get out of the house and to ride the carousel. The boys loved it. Cash was a bit weary of getting on the horse, but he had a blast riding in the sleigh with Christine. Reid thought it was the coolest. He just said "horse, horse, horse" over and over again the whole time he was on it. Mid-way through the ride he was pushing my hand away from his back. He could do it himself, apparently.

A couple days after Christien got home, we took Cash and Reid to a Flames practice. Christien had researched it the last time that he was home, and it's a free practice, open to the public.We even got to park for free, which was great. Thought that we'd take Cash off Christine's hands for a bit in the morning, so that she could chill out with Chelsea. The boys had a blast, and half an hour is basically their attention span. That might have even been too long, but we still eeked it out for the 30 minutes. If they were interested, we could have stayed and watched the other team practice. When the Oilers come to town, I think that we'll take them again. But for the second half of the practice and we'll all wear our jerseys. Ha ha. It was totally dead when we were there, but looking back, that kinda makes sense. It was a Tuesday, in the middle of the day. Most people are working, I suppose.

Mama's Little Helper

I started my Christmas baking last week. And who knew I had such a keen little helper on my hands. Cleo brought up Christien's apron, hat and oven mitts that he used to wear when he was little, last Christmas. So we pulled them out, and he was all about it. Especially when I put on my Christmas apron. What a blast we had. He was so helpful, and loves helping! Now, every time I take out the mix master, he gets so excited. And he can't stop with the "Num! Num!". He helps to dump and turn the mixer one. It did take me one try to realize that he can't turn it on full blast after I've added the dry ingredients. We had a little mishap, but it was still pretty funny. What a great little guy.

Mama's Night Out

Christien and I went to the Lullabye League mixer in October and found us a couple babysitter possibilities. One of the girls came over and met Reid back in October and I haven't really needed a sitter. Till tonite!! Shannon scored tickets to the Oilers/Flames game and she's bringing me! So excited. I haven't been to a hockey game in so long. And just to get away for one night, without Reid, is going to be so fantastic. I love him to death, but this new screamfest (and waking up at all hours of the night) has just got me worn out. This date with Shannon couldn't have come at a better time. We'll see how the babysitter makes out. She's a bit older, and has lots of experience with kids, so I really hope that Reid doesn't scare her off. When she came over to meet Reid he really seemed to take to her. That was a few months ago, so I hope it'll be the same thing tonite. And then if it's all good, when Christien comes home and is going to school, maybe we'll even use her again, and go out together. Just the two of us. Dinner and a movie? Sounds fabulous. Drinks with friends? Don't mind if I do. For now I'm just really excited about tonite and really hoping that she makes out ok with the little devil! Good luck Amanda!

Big Boy Bed

November 29, 2011. The day we put Reid into a big boy bed. We just couldn't keep him in his crib anymore. He was always crawling out of it and thinking that it was the funniest thing ever. It just wasn't safe anymore. So we went out, and finally tracked down a rail for the convertible crib that we have. The first few days were great. Naps were a different story, but they always are. So I knew that they were going to be as tough, if not tougher then they had been before. We lucked out the first few days with naps. He was actually tired enough to be rocked to sleep. Sleep time is my new hell. We have a routine that we've had for months, and it's always worked. Teeth brushed, book, bottle, rock, bedtime. Now as soon as I lay him in his crib he SCREAMS his lungs out. Over and over and over again. Forty five minutes is my limit. I can't handle it after that and I just leave him to scream it out. I'm sure that I should leave him before that, but I can't take the screaming and the kicking at the door. I've tried everything. It's been so bad that I'm considering turning his bed back into a crib. I don't know what to do. Why does everything with this child have to be at one end of the spectrum or the other. Either he's sweet and wonderful, or he's just the devil. There has to be something that I can do to stop the screaming. Right now I just try to do what I can for 45 minutes and then cry until he stops screaming at the top of his lungs.

Gymnastics

Reid had his last gymnastics class last week. It was a family day, so Christien and I both went with him and played around the gym with him. Christien even got to jump on the trampoline with Reid. He got a little certificate at the end, and I think that he had a really, really good time with mama and dada. Sad that it's over. Now we just have swimming and playdates to keep us busy till Christmas rolls around. Reid is quite the little dare devil thanks to gymnastics. I still blame gymnastics for the reason that he started flipping out of his crib.

Balance beam action shot

Dominican Republic 2011

What a vacation. Sun, sand, surf and beach. What more could you ask for? It was awesome to get away from the impending winter. We had a blast. It was, however, very hard to be on a beachy, relaxation vacation by myself with Reid. I had massive help from my family. Ty, Stacey and my dad played with him in the waves all the time. And my mum took him for loads of walks and put him to bed so many nights for me. It was so helpful, but at the end of the day, it was still me responsible for Reid. If he was fussing, or crying for me, or causing a fit, then I was the one to take care of him. And if you take a baby out of his element for a week, you are bound to get some of those scenarios. It was wonderfully fantastic though. Just missing dada while we were away, that's all. Ty, Stacey and I took a horseback ride as our outing of choice while we were there. It was great. None of us had been on a horse in years. It was right along the beach. Through the water. Took us an hour and 45 to get to the top view, and then 15 minutes to gallop back. It was super fun. SO SORE though. Holy smokes. Didn't think I'd be able to bend my knees once he helped me off the horse. Needless to say, Stacey and I took the next two days off from our workouts.Reid LOVED the waves. They were much bigger then they were in Cuba. On the first day, and the first time that he ventured into the water, he kinda veered away from the surf a bit. By the time he set his feet in there the second time, it was like he was a pro. He would lay, belly down, just past the smallest swell. Once a wave would break, he'd ready himself and then let the wave take him. He totally learned to keep his head up when the wave was pushing him towards the beach. We had to have two people with him at most times. One to make sure that he didn't flip too much by being washed up shore, and the other to make sure that the current didn't tug him out into open waters. He was crazed for the water. People who were walking along the beach would stop and watch him. He was so crazy.There was also a little turtle pond that he loved to visit. It was right at the end of our walkway towards the beach/pool/restaurants/bar. He even learned to say turtle on Day 1 when we were there. One day I went up to get his stroller to take him on a walk/nap and when I got back to the beach he was wearing a turtle necklace. Give to him by a vendor. They loved him on the beach. They were taking pictures of him and chatting with him all the time.

We had a great time with poppa and baba, and Tyyyyyyyyy and aunty Zouzou. Was glad to get home to see Christien, not glad to leave paradise.

Two More Sleeps

Holy cow! We are leaving for the Dominican on Monday! I can't even believe it. It seems to have just snuck up on me. I am really sad that Christien isn't coming with us. And maybe that's why it seems to have come out of nowhere. We aren't all going, so we aren't all anticipating it at home. He's excited that we get to go. And said if mum and dad ever want to take us anywhere ever again, there is nothing that is going to stop him from coming with us. We are excited though. I asked Reid today, if he wanted to go on a trip and he said "otay". And I told him that we are going to see Grandma and Grandpa. And he's been looking for them and asking for them all day.

Now, he calls dad Pappa - which is all his doing. And calls mum - Baba (or something like that) and again, that's all him. My parents seem to think that we had something to do with him calling them something other then grandma and grandpa. What can you do. He's his own little dude. Franklin is "Daydee" no matter what. For two years it's be Franklin and he comes back with Daydee all the time. Yet we're at Christine's the other day and the puppy is all of a sudden Patch. What a guy.

Now it's Saturday. I have most of our stuff laid out on the bed ready to be packed. Lists have been made. I'm starting to scratch a few things off the list, meanwhile adding many things to the list, but I have faith that I will be done by the time our taxi is here to pick us up on Monday night. Then it's off to paradise. I've got some books downloaded. Imagine, to read a book on the beach. Read some magazines and gossip with Stacey? I can't wait. Eeekk... Getting super excited.

Prison Break

Well, Reid can now successfully get out of his own crib. No falling out. He can execute the dismount perfectly. I blame gymnastics.

I put him down on Tuesday. Didn't hear anything out of the ordinary. Went to the basement to work out. Franklin was ripping around the house, so at the end of my work out I put him outside and then turned on the monitor - still not hearing anything from his room. On the monitor I could sort of hear him chattering, nothing much, but I kept checking (I can't keep the monitor constantly on cause it just makes me crazy). Then I heard some jingling/rattling. I ran upstairs and opened his door and there he was. Sitting by the wall shaking his piggy bank. His room was trashed. He had opened the top drawer of his dresser, where all his diapers and wipes are kept and just launched them all over the room. He had a big glob of Vaseline on his cheek and had unrolled a whole roll of diaper bags. I was just dumbfounded. Not only at the mess, but how on earth did he get out of his crib. Especially when I heard nothing. I kinda gasped when I walked in and he looked at me and looked around the room and started making funny sounds as if to say "What? Oh my. Look at this mess. Who on earth broke in here and did it?" I kid you not. Then he got right up and helped me clean it up. I eventually put him back in his crib and sat right there to see how he managed to escape. Sure enough he walked to the corner of the crib, pushed himself up, swung one leg over then the other, then slid right down. Are you freaking kidding me?

Needless to say, nap time has been hard these last few days. He hates to nap and over the last few months he's been basically screaming or crying or yelling himself to sleep. He'll usually only go on for about 5 minutes, but it's just been awful. Now that he's managed to figure out how to get out of his crib, that's all that he does. I put him down, he gets up and goes straight to the corner to plot his escape. I spent an hour and 45 minutes sitting outside his door on Wednesday cause he needed a nap and I didn't want him climbing out of his crib hurting himself. So every time I'd hear him get up and close to the rails, I'd just peek my head in and tell him to lay back down. It eventually worked. Yesterday all I had to do was tell him once. That sent him into a screaming frenzy but he did eventually lay down. And it lasted all of 2 minutes. And then he was out. I took a shower after my workout and after I had gotten out of the shower, I heard a crash. Not the sound of a baby falling out of a crib, but a crash. I ran into his room and there he was, behind the rocking chair. He had pulled the lamp off his change table. I guess he just decided it was time to get up and out of bed.

He's OK at night. He's still up between 4 and 5 at which time I usually get him and bring him into bed with me, cause I know that we'll get an extra few hours of sleep if I do it that way. I think when Christien comes home it's time to transition his crib into a big boy bed. Sigh... Just when you think you've got parts of it figured out, those parts are all awash. What a guy.

New Mattress = Better Sleep

Christien and I bought a new mattress today, and it's been a long time since I was really, really excited about a new purchase. Our old mattress is Christien's old mattress, so let's say it's at least 10 years old. We've tried to revamp it by getting a memory foam thingy for the top, which totally helped. But even now Christien is having issues sleeping with that. We've tried flipping the mattress and memory foam, all to no avail. My back aches every day when I wake up. Christien spied a big sale at the Brick for today and we were there first thing this morning to pick out our new mattress. Of course the sales guy had us try the best of the best first off, and then nothing compared to it. At 50% off you can't really go wrong. Plus a 180 day sleep guarantee. I'm so excited for it to be delivered tomorrow. Reid has gotten better at sleeping longer periods throughout the night, so this is just the next step in getting a better sleep and feeling more refreshed in the morning. Who would have thought that this would cause me so much joy? Can't wait to try that puppy out!

Happy Halloween!!

Reid's second Halloween was much more fun then his first one. He still didn't have a clue about what was going on, but he definitely knew that something was different. He was the cutest little sock monkey ever. A cute gift from his auntie Kerri. I'm super surprised that he kept his little hat on for as long as he did. He definitely liked to be dressed up. He loved the pumpkins, but wasn't too into taking the guts out. Too gross. He thought that it was pretty cool when they were all carved out and lit up. Christien took him around to a few houses in the neighbourhood and he had a blast. He tried to walk right into a few of the houses. Not shy this one.

Poor little monkey ended up getting sick at the end of the night. We first thought that it was cause of all the candy that he was chomping on, but by the time he had thrown up for the third and fourth time in the middle of the night, we realized that there must be something else wrong. I knew that he was a bit off all day. Kinda sleepy way before his normal nap time. Kinda fussy. Then in the evening after his nap he seemed to perk up. That didn't last for long. Poor poor guy. He was red, but not feverish all day today. We all just took a sick day and cuddled on the couch and watched movies and he napped a bit. He seems to be feeling a bit better now, but still not himself.

Beyond Exhausted

I don't know what to do with this little guy anymore. He just refuses to sleep, hates to nap and definitely is not close to sleeping through the night. He's so active. And I get him outside as much as possible to pump all that fresh air into him and still. It's a massive battle at nap time now. And he's just not quite ready to cut it out of his routine. Not only is he still tired (cause he'll sleep for at least an hour an a half), but I can't imagine not having that little bit of down time to myself. If you thought I didn't keep a clean house when he was napping wait till we're on the go from 6am to 8pm. Well, today he decided to be up at 430. It was awful. He was so crabby all morning. Then I went to put him for a nap, fell asleep in my arms but the second his head touched the pillow he was up and screaming. And for those of you that think, when I say screaming, I mean that he was just loud crying, or you might even think screeching. Also, no. He was full fledged, at the top of his lungs screaming. It sounded like someone was being tortured. I am beyond surprised that nobody called the cops. I just don't know what to do with him anymore. How can I be the best mum possible if I wake up exhausted and crabby every morning? I think that Christien feels the same way. He mentioned that Reid's lack of sleep is really interfering with our relationship. And on top of that, how am I so exhausted and he's just fine all day. I don't get it. I need a sleep class. I need someone to come into my house and tell me what's wrong with my baby. Until then I might resort to sleeping in the basement. Cry it out little boy. Cry it out.

Pumpkin Hunt

Reid went on his first pumpkin hunt on Sunday. We went this early so that Christien could join us and so that we could beat little Miss Dunhams arrival. It wasn't the most beautiful day to spend outside. Kinda windy and cold. However, we still had a blast. Cash and Reid both found super great pumpkins! And we got to check out a few of the animals and we had a tractor ride to the pumpkin patch. Good times. Good buddies. Fun Sunday.

Found one dadaCash too!Reid's first pumpkin huntAnd with mummyWagon ride back to the farmMomma and Cashy boy

After the hunt we sent the boys home for a nap and then the Shorts joined the Dunhams and the Hassmans for Thanksgiving dinner. Was a great afternoon. Cash and Reid had their first bath together - momma Dunham got some incriminating pictures of them. And we just walked that little baby out of Christine. Well, we tried too. And today she made her I cannot wait to meet Miss Chelsea Lynn Dunham!! Congrats Brian, Christine and Cash!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving! Seeing as it's a nice time to reflect and to give thanks to what and who make us what we are, please indulge me....

I'm thankful for my amazing husband. He'll do anything for his family. He loves us unconditionally and is always open to try out everything with us. He will support us no matter what and that's always the first thing in his mind. We love him with all our hearts. "Oh dada..."

I'm thankful for my lovely and sweet little boy. He is the most amazing person I have ever met. So smart. So cute. So fun. I might not be thankful to his inability to sleep, but I am thankful to have him in my life. I would be lost and sad and lonely without him.

I'm thankful for my parents and my in-laws. They offer so much support and love. I'm really very lucky to have been born into and married into these families. We love you with all our hearts and appreciate everything that you do for us.

I'm thankful for my brother and sister in-laws (that includes you Miss Stacey and Miss Kerri). The love and support that you have always shown us is unbelievable. We love you to death and would do anything for any of you.

I'm thankful for my honest friends. Not my facebook friends (although some of you might fall into that category) but to my real friends. Friends who have always been there for me with a shoulder to cry on, or an ear to listen, or glass of wine to share. I hope that you know who you are and I will love you always.

I'm thankful that I am able to stay home with my son. The first year of his life was great and very documented (thanks to a lovely camera... that I still don't know how to use, but stay tuned..). Now that I get to take him out of daycare and stay home with him indefinitely.. I can't even tell you how amazing this is. We are able to do so much together. My mum was able to stay home with myself and my brother when we were young and I think that was a great opportunity for us. I'm very grateful that I'm able to provide my son with this opportunity as well.

I'm thankful for my health and the health of my family. We all suffer through our droughts but so far we've all come out on top. Fighting and stronger then ever. For that I am grateful. Because as you fall, you learn, and you become more and more grateful for what you do have rather then wanting for what is beyond your grasp.

I'm thankful for the sun that shines on my face and warms my body. I'm thankful for those senses. I'm thankful for the rain that helps my tulips and grass to grow. And for the snow, that I know we are going to make many many snow angels in this winter.

And finally I'm just thankful for my life. I'm bound to falter every now and again, but when I take one step back, how could I not embrace this. My husband, my son, my friends, my family and my health. I love you all and thank you for making me thankful for being me. Hugs and kisses, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Surprises Surprises!!

Well, we pulled off a few good surprises last week. For one, Reid and I flew home to surprise mum for her birthday. I've been planning it for a few months, and have had my tickets booked for about a month now. Dad was in on the surprise, so he's been quietly getting gear together for Reid. A crib, car seat, high chair, all the while trying to keep the secret from mum. Which was hard, seeing as he works from home, and mum is retired so she's around the house a lot with dad. He did manage to pull it off. A few secret phone calls and e-mails later and we were back home. Mum was really shocked when we showed up. We let Reid in the house first and mum was in the kitchen. She didn't even recognize Reid, cause she wasn't expecting him. She just said "hello there" to him, then it started to hit her and dad and I walked in. I was really happy that I was able to bring Reid to my childhood home before mum and dad move. He won't remember, but we made some really good memories while we were there. Dad raked the leaves (Reid helped) and then he jumped into the piles (Reid, not dad). On top of that, we had a surprise visit from dada Monday night. Dad knew he was coming and at about 8 the doorbell rang and "surprise". He even got to stay overnight with us. Too bad he had to be up at 4 to head back to work. It was great to see him, and helped break up his two week stint.

We drove down to Edmonton on Thursday. Reid was really good in the car. Maybe because it was a different car seat, or maybe because I was in the back seat with him. Who knows. But it was a decent ride. No freak outs at all. Only slept for half an hour or so, but as long as he isn't screaming, then it's all good. Visited with my friend Trish and her daughter Rylan that night, and then headed to Ty's for the weekend.

It was aunty Sandy's birthday on Friday, so us "kids" all went over to surprise her for dinner. Her two kids, and three grandkids, plus Ty, Stacey, Reid and I, and mum and dad. Made for a good surprise and a nice dinner. The grandkids all went out back after dinner and cleaned up all the apples that had fallen off the apple tree. They each got a dollar too for all their hard work. His first paid job. LOL.

We pulled together a surprise party for mum and aunty Sandy at Ty's place on Saturday. Neither of them had any idea and it went off without a hitch. We all had a really great time. Especially the kids. So much fun running around and playing with each other. My aunt and uncle, who I haven't seen in about 16 years, showed up a little later in the evening. They missed mum and dad by half an hour which was really too bad. But it was great to see them and catch up for a bit.

Extracurricular Activities

Swimming starts tomorrow! It's his second time for lessons but this time I think he's more into it. So excited to learn how to teach Reid to kick and breathe and float. He loves the water. He's going to go crazy. I finally got him enrolled in gymnastics today. It's been crazy trying to get ahold of them and figuring out what times work best for us. We wanted to be in classes with Cash, but they were full by the time I called. Finally figured out a time that would work for us and got the last seat in the class. So looking forward to it. Reid jumps on the couch enough, the trampolines should give him an outlet. Christine and I are going to try to get in a class or two from Gymboree (music I hope) before her next little bundle of joy arrives.

Butterfield Acres

We visited the farm! It was so much fun. Grandma Cleo and aunt Bernie came with us to see the animals. I knew that Reid would have a blast considering he is such an animal lover. We showed up and it was a beautiful day. Too bad all the adults didn't have the appropriate footwear. Luckily they let us stay and just advised to thoroughly clean our feet once we got home. Sheesh, you'd think "close toed shoes are a must" would be something that they would post on their website. Anyways, Reid had his kicks on so we were all good.
He went crazy when he saw the goats. Two footed jumping. And man, those goats were a bit aggressive. I would guess because they are so used to people bringing them food. But they were babies and pretty cool to touch. The lambs were my favorite. So soft. Reid cuddled into them too. They were pretty chill. The piglets scared the crap out of me. First there is this barn, and you look into it and there is a hog the size of I don't even know what. She's like 300 or 400 lbs, and she just snorted as me as soon as I looked into it. Assuming I was going to see some cute piglets, well... That made me take a step back. The piglets rushed us once we figured out that they were sleeping and kept licking our legs and feet. Yuck. Then one got out while we were trying to make out way out of the pen, and instead of coming to the aid of his wife, mother and aunt, Christien and Reid bailed out the back way. They had a beautiful black stallion that just let us pet her. She was amazing to look at.

And Reid had his first pony ride. He was so serious the whole time. Holding on really tightly and just concentrating. He finally gave a bit of a smirkey smile once we got to the end of the ride. Very cute and I'm sure his aunt Kerri will be so proud that he was on a horse at such a young age. We rounded the day out with a tractor ride on Old Blue. It was pretty cool being pulled by such an old tractor all around the farm. We've also purchased tickets for the Pumpkin hunt. It'll be Christien, myself, Christine, Cash and Reid. I can't wait to see the two of them hunting for pumpkins and petting the animals. We're going at the beginning of October so fingers crossed that we'll still have some nice weather and that baby Christine is lugging around doesn't come too early.

Greek Dinner with the Aussies

With Christien's aunt and uncle being in town from Australia, and staying with their nephew, Super Dave, we obviously wanted to have them over for dinner. And after the great moussaka at Jasmine's the other night, I was dying to try out a recipe from my Greek cookbook. I kinda went all out on my Greek theme night and was very proud of the results. On Sunday we went to the Farmer's Market and I got a few olives and breads from 2 Greek Gals, then on Monday (which went from Date Night to Date Day - thanks Grandma and Bernie), Christien and I went down to the Greek grocery store. Greek grocery store, you ask?? Yes, I had no idea that Calgary had one either. Not only did I find it on my first try with Google, but all I read were great reviews. Obviously had to go there and get some hard to find items. It's downtown, just off 11th Street. Just a little place on the corner. It was JAMMED packed. You had to walk sideways down most of the aisles. But man, did they ever have some great stuff. To start off, on their cheese menu, the first two cheeses listed, which are very hard to find, were the two that I needed for the moussaka and the saganaki. Perfect. We bobbed around the store a bit. Picked up some baklava for dessert (oh my) and found the honey that Christien fell in love with in Greece. When we were there for our honeymoon we would get breakfast brought to us in our room. It was always about half a dozen (or more) fresh buns/pastries, cheeses, meats, sometimes eggs, juice, coffee, tea and honey. Christien would eat all the honey, every morning, simply spread on a fresh roll (or two or three). Needless to say, he was beyond happy when he found it. Pricey, but worth it. I also sought out our sommalier friend, Mike and inquired where I could get some drinkable Greek wine. Now, Greece has vineyards. They are definitely different from what you are used to in North America, but they have them. The wine in Greece left something to be desired though. Mike made a recommendation and told me that it was actually a pretty nice wine. It turned out that it was definitely drinkable and went really well with our dinner. We also picked up a 6 pack of Mythos (for $15.99 - sheesh) to round out the evening. It was a blast. The food was great, the company was great, but not only that, it was really fun to go and pick up all this stuff with Christien and reminisce about our honeymoon. Six more years and we're going back. I can't wait!!

Visitors

Christien's mum arrived yesterday for a visit with us. She hasn't seen Reid since Christmas, so she's seen quite a change in the little mister. I think she likes him. Enough to take him back to Halifax with her? We'll see. I kid. She does seem to be having a good time with him. He is a lot more fun now, that's for sure. He was pretty good at Christmas too, but now he's just got more words, is down to one nap a day so there is plenty of time to actually get out and do things (he's always been an awful car/stroller napper). We've got a few things planned so I hope that this weather clears up like it's supposed to. I want to take Reid out to Butterfield Acres. I think that'll be a hoot. It'll definitely crack us all up.

We were just at the airport this evening welcoming in Christein's aunt and uncle from Australia. They are on a month long tour of Canada (home) and have just spent the last two weeks in Newfoundland doing their rounds. They are in Calgary for the next two weeks now and staying with Super Dave. We didn't get much chatting done at the airport as their flight was late and it was so hot in there, and Reid was starting to show signs of falling apart (which he did promptly when we got into the car). So we'll be seeing them again tomorrow for a get together that Dave is planning. Sounds like it's going to be quite the party. Cleo and Bernie are going to babysit Reid for us on Monday so Christien and I can head out on a date. Not sure where or what we're doing but looking forward to it. And I've decided (after the marvelous moussaka at Jasmine's) that I'm going to have them over for dinner on Tuesday and do a Greek themed night. I didn't even realize that Calgary had a Greek market. I'm off to check it out on Monday. Hopefully I'll find some magnificent things and Christien will finally get his cheese saganaki.

The Enchanted Forest

Our final stop on our trip to the Okanagan was The Enchanted Forest on the way home from Kelowna.



It was a perfect stop in our trip. Reid was just waking up from his nap, and it was pretty close to lunch time. We were planning to stop there ahead of time, so we were excited. Reid was also very excited. Jumping up and down and running around like a loon. In and out of houses. Having tea with wolves, meeting Pooh and his friends. It was definitely worth it. It took us about an hour just to walk through it. Reid was amazed at the giant swing from the zip line place. He's just too little right now. He's going to be quite the daredevil when he gets old enough. There were ducks in the pond at the end of the walk as well. Again, he went crazy over them.

Speaking of birds, we met The Dunhams down at Prince's Island this weekend and we let the boys run around the park for a bit. They spied a duo of geese and made their way straight towards them. Just chasing them all around. By one point Cash was at the bottom of the hill running up at them, and Reid was at the top, running down at them. Those geese were trapped. Good skills from the boys. I had to grab Reid and get him out of there. Those geese gross me out.

Kelowna

The continuation of our travels this summer...

We left a great weekend in Kamloops to spend a few days in Kelowna. Joined, after a day or two, by my parents. We rolled into Kelowna a bit later then expected, so we didn't get to meet up with Christien's buddy and his family. We just made our way to my aunt and uncle's place. It was, of course, the most beautiful weather. The next couple of days we spent a lot of time during the day with our little family and then came together with our extended family at night. Couldn't' have asked for anything better. We went to the H2O Center in Kelowna a couple of times. One day we went in the morning to work out, took Reid and put him in "child care" and then after our workout we went swimming in the splash pool. So much fun. The real fun stuff wasn't open till later in the day so we went again the next day after the vineyards and Christien got to try the wave runner out (indoor, standing surfing) and a water slide or two. It was lots of fun. I loved the lazy float river. Reid loved the slides in the kiddie part. **Christine, you have to take Brian and Cash when you are there next week**

We, of course, went to Cedar Creek. I have to go back there every time we are in Kelowna. Holds so many special memories for me, as that's where we were married. Funny, we never go back to the Manteo. I guess that's where the party was, and the vineyard is where the real stuff happened! We checked out the Last Straw vineyard this year. I loved all the wines from there. So great, and so cute.

Four Years Later

Me and the munchkin at Cedar Creek

Little Straw Vineyards

Ding-A-Lings

With grandpa

Push up contest - Reid is the winner!

Reid is coo-coo for water so we had him at the water park and city park. Once my parents got there, we spend one day at Gyro beach (my favorite) and Reid just had the best time. He found this stick and would hold onto the ends, while Christien held onto the middle and just spun him around and around and around. He just killed himself laughing. They also did some balancing tricks in the water. Christien would pop Reid up on his hands and he would balance and then he would push him up at high as he could and then drop him into the water. Again, another thing that made him giggle uncontrollably. I think that he's starting to get his "water legs".