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".