Kamloops

Well, we are back from our week long trip out to the Okanagan. It was a blast. And the trip itself was so much better this year with Reid. He seemed to be more relaxed in the car. I think, round trip, we did 18 hours total of driving, and he fussed for maybe 3 hours total. While still frustrating (try driving for an hour with a screaming baby that you can't calm down), it was much better then last year's drive out to the coast. Seeing as we have loads of pictures, I thought that I would break up the blog posts so that it's less like a novel.

We made it to Kamloops in pretty good time, 7.5 hours. Considering we have a baby that we had to stop a few times for to let him out to stretch his legs, that wasn't too bad. And man was it hot when we got there. We opened the windows as we were rolling down the highway and put our arms out and it was just heat. I think that it was about 35 the whole weekend that we were there. Dale and Kristin and Mackenzie showed up a few hours after us. Seems they had the kind of trip that we had last year becasue Dale got out of the backseat with a screaming baby. Ah the joys... We had a good visit with the Witzaneys and the Lockharts. Christien started this "push up contest" at work. It basically includes challenging someone to a push up contest. Whoever goes the longest wins and then they can challenge any duo of dudes to do a contest and so on and so forth. So of course he had the boys in on it on the weekend. They did it so often that even Reid caught on. He would say, "You, me, push up contest, right now" and Reid would fall to the ground on his stomach and just wait for someone else to challenge him. Then he would do one "push up" and proceed to run and jump on his challenger. Needless to say, he was the winner every time. We hit up the beach and the waterpark while we were there. And celebrated Jenni's birthday. Good times with good friends.

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Say My Name, Say My Name

Reid started saying his name today. So cute. He basically says "Reeeee", but that's his version of it for now. He's slowly adding more and more words to his vocabulary. I thought that we were going to have a "B" issue on our hands. Ball was his first word, and he does dada all the time, but we were looking at the fish and it kept coming out "bish". It has now progressed to "fish" so he's catching on. It's crazy how fast he's picking things up. Sounds and grunts and groans. We have to be careful what we say around him now. I think it's time to bring back the swear jar. If we start saving now, I'm sure we'll have enough for Disneyland when he's 5!!

We're off on holidays starting tomorrow! So excited to head out to the Okanagan for a week. Didn't think that we'd be able to do it this summer, but once I quit my job, time just seemed to open up and Christien suggested we head out there. We're going to be spending the weekend in Kamloops with the Witzaneys! And we just learned last night, that we're having an impromptu visit on the Saturday night by the Lockharts!! Just got better and better. We're all staying with Jenni and Ryan. It's going to be quite the packed out, but that always makes for the best times. I can't wait to see everyone again. Christien is quite lucky, as he's gotten to see his best buds three times in the last two months. That's saying something seeing as we all live about 8 hours from each other.

We head to Kelowna on Sunday and are going to meet up with a guy that Christien works with up in Firebag and his wife and two daughters for the afternoon, then we head to my aunts place. Going to have a nice visit with them for a few days and then my parents get there on Wednesday. We're hoping to hit up the splash park and the beach a few times. Reid is going to love the beach this year. Lake Okanagan just goes out for so far and doesn't really get that deep. And it's warm! I've already got his beach kit packed! Full of buckets and shovels. We're going to stop at the Enchanted Forest on the way home. Reid loved camping so much, and loves it outside that I think he'll get a kick out of it. He won't really "get it" - with all the references and stuff, but he's still going to love being outside and walking around I am sure.

We get back on a Friday night and are planning our annual patio party for the Saturday. I am so happy that we're having it again this year. And surprised that Christien didn't put up more of a fuss. He's never one for the planning of the parties, but he always has the most fun out of everyone. I actually, finally, convinced him to get a new BBQ (smokin' deal cause it's "end of the season, even though I bought it in the middle of July). So we're just going simple this year. Burgers and dogs. A friend offered to bring a salad and I might try to recruit a couple other buddies to help with the snacks. We're just wishing for the sun this year. Last year we got rain and Curtis ran to the store to pick up some tarps to cover the deck so we could actually BBQ. Great guy! Totally helped too. It wasn't really cold out, just rainy. So we did get to spend some time out on the deck. But we don't want that this year. We want a nice day, full of sunshine. I think that Christien is most "cool" about the party this year, cause he really doesn't get to see our friends all that much with him being away. When he comes home, we really try to spend most of our time together (and with Reid). I think (even though it's the best spending time together as a family) we need to remember that we have a lot of amazing friends out there, who we love and miss and want to spend time with. We just have to make it more of a priority and remember that we're still doing it together.

I can't wait for this vacation to start! Love to you all, and have a great week!

Last Day of Daycare

It's Reid last day of daycare today. I'm going back and forth on this. Are we making the right decision? I know that we are, but then I question myself sometimes. Am I being selfish by wanting to stay at home with him? That doesn't make any sense. All I want to do is raise my son, instead of having someone else do it. Is he going to miss all his friends? He seems so happy when I drop him off. Running and laughing and holding hands with his buddies. Will he be socialized enough when it's just the two of us? The ladies at daycare are going to miss him so much, and that's all that I've heard over these past weeks when I pick him up. And then I start to feel guilty for wanting to take him out of daycare to stay home with me. We're going to have so much fun together. I've got so many things researched and lined up for him and I to do together. Plus it's summer and a lot of my friends from baby class are teachers so they have the summer off. So there will be play dates. I know that it's the right thing to do for him, and for us. And then sometimes I think that I'm robbing him of this opportunity.. to be in daycare... Agh. I guess it's just cause it was such a big decision to make and there were a lot of pros and very minimal cons. I am very excited to start this next chapter in our lives and I vow to do right by Reid and be the best stay at home mum that I can be.

Counting Kisses

One of my most favorite things of Reid's, as of late, is his kisses. It's just the sweetest thing. He started off blowing kisses, and how can that not melt your heart. He'd blow kisses to me when I dropped him off at daycare, blow kisses to the daycare ladies when I picked him up, blows kisses to grandma and grandpa when we are on Skype. It's just so cute. From there he progressed to, coming right at ya, mouth open, suck on your face kisses. Gross, I know, but also so sweet. We were in Lethbridge a few weeks ago, and the three of us were laying down trying to have a nap. Reid in the middle, and he kept going from Christien to me, with big wet kisses. Actually, come to think of it, that's when his kisses started coming a bit more under control. Now he's give little becks. That's the best word I can think of to describe it. He can make the kissey smacking sound and as he makes that sound he bounces off you. It's so cute. He kisses Franklin, and the dog next door (Chewy) and the cat next door. And me, and his dada. He's one sweet little boy. Two more days of daycare and then it's just the two of us....

Another Week

It's Reid's last week at daycare next week. The ladies are already going on about how sad they are that he's leaving and how much they are going to miss him. I feel bad that I'm taking him from all the ladies at daycare and his friends, but like everyone I know who has kids, I want to raise him, and spend time with him. I'm excited. I don't have much of a plan of attack list for next week. A few things need to be cleaned out still, and I might start either making meals and freezing them, or at least getting a meal plan done for a couple of weeks out so that it'll be easier, and more productive when I do grocery shopping.

I've got a few things lined up for when he's done daycare and it's just the two of us. Art classes, music classes, swimming lessons, and gymnastics (I'm still waiting for some information of those classes from my friend... hint hint...).

We went to a great splash park that's real close to our house today. It was so nice out and Reid loved it. I could have used an extra pair of hands, cause he needs to be followed and monitored at all times. Even with me right with him, he still had a couple of spills on the slippery ground. He loved it there. And there is a great park right there as well. He almost fell asleep in the swing. So tuckered out.

One more week then Christien's back! Yay! Then we get to finalized our plans for our week long trip to the Okanagan. Can't wait.

Four Years and Counting

It was Christien and my four year anniversary yesterday. We didn't get to spend it together, again, as he was working. We did celebrate a bit before he left with a nice dinner and some bubbly. We always try to get each other traditional wedding gifts. I'm so glad that we've decided to make that a tradition because it always results in some cool ideas. Last year was leather and I got a beautiful bracelet, that I still get compliments about and Christien got a new strap for his guitar. This year the traditional theme was "flowers and fruit" and the modern take on it was "china, silk and appliances". I got Christien an edible arrangement. For those of you that don't know what those are, they are big fruit "baskets" that are shaped to look like a bouquet. As well as a little, single burner camp stove. Funny though, he was going on and on about us needing this stove for our camping trip. I thought that we would do fine without it. Then I was shopping for food for the trip and found this little one burner for a fairly good price, so I picked it up for him. Not realizing that it was a good fit for the modern aspect of our gift giving. So that worked perfectly (as a gift and for our camping trip). Christien gave me a beautiful tea mug with flowers on it (creative) and a Gordon Ramsey electric tea kettle. I love it. I hated that old, ugly tea kettle that we had on the stove. And this one works amazing. The box said that they are "appliances you can swear by". Ha ha ha. I also love Gordon Ramsey. I'm addicted to Hell's Kitchen and MasterChef. We also enjoy Kitchen Nightmares.
We also got two beautiful bouquets of flowers from my parents. Dad cooked for me last night. Made my favorite dinner and we shared a really nice bottle of wine. We look at my parents, who have just celebrated their 40th anniversary and think, wow... they've been married 10 times longer then us. I can't wait to get there. It's been a great, wonderful, loving, sometimes hard, but mostly superb 4 years. I look forward to the future with my husband and our family. I love you Christien.

First Family Camping Trip

We went on our first camping trip this weekend. Took the family to Two Jack Lake out in Banff. We weren't sure if we were going to go for one or two days. Christien was initially leaning towards one night, so that's kind of what we were planning for. We got out to the entrance to Banff and started talking to the lady about camping at Two Jack. She asked us if we had a reservation, which we didn't cause you can't make reservations out there. So we took our chances. We got out to Two Jack LAKESIDE and it was full. There were no real signs indicating that there was another site, Two Jack MAIN that was, definitely, not full. We drove down the road anyways, and ask the girl at the counter and she said that they never fill up and that they have 300 campsites. We went from depressed to relieved!! We got it, set up camp and then headed out for a hike at Stewart Canyon. We borrowed a walking backpack to throw Reid in and it worked out great. He loved being in it. And carrying a 26lb baby on your back is definitely more of a workout then the hike itself... We spent the rest of the afternoon around camp. Reid loved running around in the woods. He learned that fire it hot (new word). I think that he had a great time. We put him to bed at his regular bedtime and he did not want to go. However, I just left him in the tent, and he cried for about 3 minutes then he was out. So much fresh air. He woke up in the middle of the night screaming and crying. It was hard to get him back down. And then we were up at 6:30, but that really wasn't all that bad.
Setting up the tentCar campingFirst hike We did decided to pack up and head home that day. We were going to go on another hike but after the two that we did the previous day, my ankle was really bothering me and pretty swollen, so we scraped that plan. Instead we drove into Banff and went to the hot springs. Reid said he's never seen a bathtub that big. He loved splashing around in it. He liked to crawl out and then jump back in. He had us running around like mad making sure we were there to catch him. Then we hit up a little lunch and the candy store - Welsh's. He yammered on in the car for a bit and then boom, was out like a light. Didn't wake up till we pulled into our street. This baby loves it outside. We would have liked to stay for another night but a) we only packed enough food for one night and b) Christien has to go back to work today, so coming home on Sunday and doing everything that we did on Saturday just would have been too rushed. It was nice to be able to have that extra flex day before he heads back to work.