Happy Halloween!

Do you think she likes the Jolly Jumper?

This is the way the cowboys ride...

After Jeff and Collin's weekly bike ride Collin had his hands full doing horsey rides for the kids:

Feist!

Football playoffs

Travis' team played their first play-off game this last weekend in St. Albert. They won 24-0. Congrats, you played awesome, buddy. The only drawback of doing well is that we have to watch in the cold and soon the snow.

Anna's first foray into food

Anna has indicated that she is interested in food (by pulling my water glass, by grabbing at silverware and just generally being mesmerized watching me eat). So this week we gave her some pear in this mesh contraption. She was loving it, but having a challenge keeping it in her mouth. Co-ordination will come soon enough...

Thanksgiving

My return from BC was followed by three nights of Thanksgiving dinners. I managed to get the camera out at Maureen's:

Vancouver Part Three

Anna and I walked onto the ferry at Tsawwassen. It was a lot quicker than by vehicle, as we arrived 20 minutes before departure and hopped on and then we were off (when we caught it in Victoria last time we missed the sailing and had to wait in the rental car for a couple of hours). The trip to Duke Point (Nanaimo) was 2 hours. It was a bit tricky navigating around with a stroller, baby and a couple of bags, but eventually I found a seat. Anna enjoyed watching the water hit the ferry. Jesse and Sarah picked us up and then we drove to Courtenay, picking Koah (who is 16 days older than Anna) up on the way.
It was a pretty relaxing first couple of days. We went out for breakfast, walked around town, and went for a nice walk just outside of town. Unfortunately we were all at different stages of sickness during the visit, but we still decided to make a trip up to Tofino for an overnight stay. The drive went great, we only had to make one pit stop. It was windy the first day, but we had sun both days, so it was awesome to hang out on the beach. We stayed at the Pacific Sands hotel and got a rocking rock right next to the beach on Cox Bay. Before we left we spent the afternoon at Long Beach. The ocean air was refreshing. The drive home was a bit more stressful, but we made it in one piece (my motion sickness was getting the best of me, and Anna was melting down). And that's the trip in a nutshell. Can't wait to see everyone again! Thanks for having us.

Anna and the Jolly Jumper

Anna discovered her love of the Jolly Jumper in Courtenay. At first she was more interested in eating it, but she eventually got into jumping. She likes to move her legs really quickly - it is super cute. Enjoy!

Vancouver Part Two

Friday afternoon Michelle drove me out to Surrey to meet Cristin and Mike at work. Thanks so much for braving the drive across the dreaded bridge on a Friday afternoon (I hope the return trip wasn't too nasty). Anna definitely got better about car rides on this trip, which was nice, because we moved around a lot. She didn't have too much of a meltdown on this drive, and she has started to fall asleep in cars, which is a relief. From Surrey we headed to Langley to pick up their little one from Montessori. For dinner we indulged and had Fatburger, which was a nice treat. The weekend was spent relaxing at their place, and at the demand of Cassidy, watching pop-pop (Mary Poppins). The visit was short, but it was great to catch up and to see how much Cassidy has changed. Sunday afternoon we headed to the ferry for the final stretch of our vacation...

Vancouver Part One

Anushka and I left on a Tuesday morning for Vancouver. The flight went quite well. Anna fell asleep on the tarmac before we took off, so I didn't have to worry about her ears. Westjet was awesome, they were accommodating in every way. I was able to take her car seat and stroller right up to the plane, which made navigating the airport alone possible. The only tricky part was lifting the stroller onto the x-ray machine while holding Anna. But my mom skills are finely tuned, so it worked out. The descent into Vancouver had a bit more crying, but I was able to breastfeed while we were landing, so it wasn't too traumatic. Michelle and Beatrice were there to pick us up and we made a quick stop at the Avalon Dairy to pick up organic milk (which I later enjoyed!).
The rest of the week was spent hanging out with Michelle and Beatrice (and Tom in the evenings). We got out for some nice walks (some in the rain, of course) and visits to the parks around their house. Our major outing was the Aquarium, where we got to see the new baby beluga (adorable to watch follow her mom around the tank). I also got a bit of shopping in at the HT Naturals outlet store. Michelle took me to a yummy parent oriented restaurant one day, too. Thanks for a wonderful visit. It was nice to relax and chat and enjoy the area!

BC Album

I have made an album from my trip (underneath Anushka's). I will add details of the trip over the next week, but enjoy the pictures until then.

Happy Birthday Rockband Style

Melanie and I shared birthday parties. We had a yummy Greek themed dinner and then rocked out on the Wii.

Anna meeting Mitchell for the first time (he is only a few days younger than Anna).

A visit with Auntie Laura

Anna and Anna

Before my trip I got to hang out with two Anna's for a day. Wow, a toddler and a baby are lots of work - and we didn't even go anywhere.

Birthday camping fun

We got a last night of camping in September near Rollyview. We were celebrating Colin & Keri's 40th birthdays. We had a great time visiting, playing board games and hiking.

Before BC fun

Kristi & Armande had us over for a corn boil:

The mid-September weather was awesome, and the Taber corn was delicious!

Anna having an after dinner nap on Auntie Kristi.

BC Bound

On a last minute whim, Jeff got me a ticket to Vancouver for my birthday. I have been visiting with the Carchrae's and will be heading to visit more friends until Thanksgiving. I will update when I get back. I have lots of fun pictures. We have mostly been doing chill stuff like heading to the park, going for walks and today we went to the Aquarium.