It was Jason's Grandparents' 60th Wedding Anniversary so it was a great chance for us to see the whole family, and so fun to be with them to celebrate such an awesome event. Not many of our relatives up there had ever met Madeline, and I was so glad that both my kids were pretty good to be friendly and not to clingy to Mom and Dad.
We had a blast with our only cousins--Tyler and Jessie. We went to parks, and playlands, and even took Ethan to West Edmonton Mall. He had a blast at Galaxy Land there. For those who don't know this Mall, it is about the biggest in North America complete with a full amusement park, water park, ice skating rink, sea lion show and more. It blows your mind how big this place is, and so much fun. We'll have to go back when our kids are old enough to really appreciate it all.
This is one shot at Galaxy Land. We should have taken pictures of the huge roller coasters and everything that are all right in the mall. Pretty amazing. The next one is the little stroller we got for Maddie. We didn't have room to pack our stroller from home, so we had to rent one at the mall. I wasn't too happy about that, but she loved the steering wheel on this thing. It was crazy. I didn't think she was old enough to really get into that, but she didn't want to get out. So it was worth the $3 or whatever it cost. We might have to mount something like that on our stroller at home :)
And here are the four cousins. They are all looking in the general direction of the camera and somewhat smiling. That is no small accomplishment.
Our trip was pretty short, only a week, but we had a great time.In other news, Maddie is now as mobile as can be--much to Ethan's dismay. She used to be the perfect little sister for him. She would laugh at whatever he did, and be content to play with the toys that were immediately in front of her. If she had something he wanted, he could bring her something else and use what she had. Unfortunately those days are gone. She still laughs at whatever he does, but she now wants to be right on top of him all the time. She can climb over a lot of things that are in the way, and destroy whatever he is trying to do. It is pretty funny to hear him from the next room yelling "Mommy, Mommy, pick up Maddie. She's coming, she's coming!" But that is our life now, and we're loving every minute of it.
Here is a picture at a splash park that is in a neighboring city. We love it there on these hot summer days. Maddie even got into the splashing last week when we went.
This is a picture that Ethan actually took of Maddie. It turned out better than any of the ones I took. Go figure.We went to a barbecue with Jason's work, and the next day his boss told him that Maddie looks just like Boo from Monster's Inc. We totally agree, and Ethan loves that movie, so we might have to work out some Halloween costumes on that theme. Now I just need to decide if I'd rather be Celia or Ros. Hmmm.
This last one is from a few months ago. I don't think I posted it before, but I didn't check. This was when Maddie was in the "I can go backwards, but not forwards" stage. She would often get in funny positions, but this was the best. It was right after a diaper change, and I had to wash my hands before getting her dressed again. I came back to the room to find her like this.
