The Edmonton Valley Zoo

Chris' social club at work put on an evening at the Edmonton Valley Zoo at the end of May. We got in at reduced admission one Saturday evening and had the Zoo all to ourselves! We had fun walking around and had a special presentation with Lucy the elephant. We also got free drinks and snacks!

 We got to ride the carousal as well, and would have got to go on the paddle boats if we didn't get a down pour of rain just after the elephant presentation. We waited it out for awhile in the reptile exhibit and then headed home early. Too bad, it was a fun night and we hope they do it again next year.

Backyard Fun

 Rachel, Isla, Tessa, Stella, and Macy.

 Gotta have a goofy one!

We love our backyard! It has 'been under construction' as Macy would say for the last month and we are missing it! (We brought in more top soil and seeded it again, so we can't go out and play). Here is some backyard fun we had one sunny day early in May with our friends Isla and Stella.

Canmore, AB May Long Weekend

I'm going to start by saying we had the nicest and warmest spring ever. I'm talking +28 C in April. Of course May long weekend usually brings bad weather and we usually don't care since we never do anything. This year though, we had plans to go to Canmore with our friends the Fixsen's, and were sure the weather would be more of the same, hot and sunny. But nope! However, rainy and cool weather didn't stop us. We had the best weekend!

We drove down Thursday night after Chris got home for work and arrived at the Fixsen's condo around 10:30 pm. Friday morning we went for a bike ride and played at the park. 

I love Stella's fake sleep!

After lunch we went hiking at Grassi Lake. The cool weather was perfect for the way up.

Wyatt made the girls a picture scavenger hunt of things we would find on the trail, one was the twisted tree!

 Macy, Wyatt, Isla, and Stella.

Grassi Lake.

After we made it to the top, the guys hiked a little further to get better view and the girls explored some of the caves.

After the hike, Chris and Brett went mountain biking and later Leslie and I did some window shopping around town.

Saturday morning we went swimming at Elevation Place. After lunch, Chris, Macy, Brett, Wyatt, and Isla went back to do rock climbing.

After dinner we did the park again and then hit up the ice cream shop.

Sunday we did church in the morning and Banff Hot Springs in the afternoon. The cool, rainy weather was perfect for the hot springs. However, I've been spoiled by the Bozeman Hot Springs and these weren't as great...but still fun.

Monday we did the Candy Store and packed up. It was a super weekend. The kids traveled and slept as well as could be expected. It was a fun mini holiday in the middle of May and we're so grateful the Fixsen's are so awesome and invited us along!

Rachel and 1 o'clock church

My kids never fall asleep in their high chair, they have each done it maybe 3 times total, but no nap and 1 o'clock church took it's toll last Sunday!

Rachel is still our spunky little gal. She is learning more and more words daily and her communication is getting better, but I still look forward to the day when we'll be able to understand everything she has to say. She does still nap, but that is mostly because I prefer the break. The result is that she stays up late, but she mostly entertains herself in her room and doesn't bother us. Macy and Rachel have been sharing a room since last October and there has been no problems. Just a couple weeks ago I checked in on them before I went to bed and they were both asleep in Macy's bed, one on each end, and one time they switched beds, but usually they are both great. Rachel still prefers to be sans clothes. She is better on leaving them on in the day now, but still takes her pajamas off nightly (but keeps her diaper on)! Rachel loves to read, her favorite is still "No David" but she loves all books. She loves the music from the movie "Home". She loves watching "Frozen" and "Paw Patrol", but also enjoys watching "Daniel Tiger" and "Arthur". She loves to play with the big kids, and does a pretty good job keeping up. She can ride the tricycle by herself now.  

 She definitely keeps life interesting!

Tessa and solids

Tessa is now eating solid foods! She didn't take to them that well. We tried when she was about 5.5 months, but she wasn't interested, so we waited until 6 months. She has only now just started to get the hang of it. Macy is anxious for her to get good so she can feed her!

 I just love the above pic.

What's this??!

So far it's just been rice cereal, peas, squash, and sweet potato.

In other Tessa news, she got two teeth just before she was 6 months, the earliest any of my kids has got them. The bottom two came up at the same time. She is pretty great at taking two good naps during the day, but still wakes up pretty frequent at night. She loves the exersaucer and will sit in her high chair watching the craziness around her. She loves playing with her baby toys and chewing on whatever she can get her hands on. She likes to talk and loves when you talk to her. She has a great laugh. She can almost sit up by herself, but not quite. At her 6 months shots she was 15 lbs 15 oz, and 26 inches. She is 50th percentile for weight, height, and head circumference.

Macy Jane

Macy likes to have us take pictures of what her hair looks like, I guess it is easier than looking in the mirror. Here she is before bed. This kid has grown up so much in the last two months. She is thriving at school and her reading has improved so much. She lost her first tooth and rode a two wheeler bike within the span of 2 days. All of a sudden she is this big kid! I recently took her to the International Children's Festival and while we were sitting waiting for the show to start, she instantly becomes friends with the girl sitting next to her, who was in grade three. They started up their own conversation with no prompt from a parent, learned their names, talked about missing teeth, and played a game of ISpy. I love being her mom and watching this fun and friendly girl grow up.

Tessa 5 months

Just another shot to show off this gorgeous babe!

Grandma Cutts gave us this cute outfit when Macy was born, but it never worked out to fit at the right season, neither with Rachel (although they both still wore it, just with tights). We had such a warm and early spring, that even though it was the middle of April, the weather was hot and this outfit was a perfect fit!

Matching

I love matching-ness! These girls are the greatest!

Day Trip to the Calgary Zoo!

My friend Leslie and I were looking for something extra fun to do with our kids during spring break, so we decided to hit up the Calgary Zoo! Everyone fit in the van, me and my three girls, and Leslie and her three kids, Wyatt, Isla, and Stella. So Thursday March 31st we took our trip.

Warning: There are a LOT of pictures, but it was such a fun day, I couldn't leave any out!

We were on the highway just before 9 am and had a smooth ride down. Tessa slept the whole time, and everyone else either had devices to watch or friends to play with (mostly devices to watch :).

We stopped at the Cross Iron Mall just outside of Calgary. They have a great nursing area in their bathroom. We ate lunch at the food court and then headed to the zoo.

 Rachel had fun playing 'peek a boo' with Isla while they waited for me to feed Tessa.

 My little angel!

 Poor Wyatt was the only boy, but he was a great sport about it and helped out tons with Rachel.

 By the time we ate and got to the zoo entrance it was 1 pm. We stayed all afternoon until they closed at 5 pm.

Macy, Stella, Wyatt, Rachel, Isla.

 Looking at the penguins.

 

 Stella is one year older than Rachel and Macy and Isla are in the same kindergarten class.

 Wyatt enjoyed pointing out the dead chicks they leave around the owl's pen as food for them.

 

 The carrier was great (we had it for Rachel and never used it once) and let Tessa get a break from her car seat.

 Wyatt and I discussing the movie 'The Ghost and the Darkness' about man eating lions while we check out the lion exhibit.

 Snack break! We love Leslie for all the goodies she shares!

 We didn't quite get the pose right!

 

 T-Rex!

 They have a cool dinosaur exhibit with animatronic dinosaurs that move and make sound. It was pretty neat. Macy was 'scared' of them and Rachel loved to roar back at them.

Leslie was in charge of taking photos for the day and she did not disappoint!

 After the zoo we drove a little bit north and stopped in Airdrie for Five Guys. We left right at rush hour, so it took a little longer than we expected and Rachel had a little power nap.

After dinner we made for home. We did stop twice for quick bathroom breaks and to gas up, but Tessa was dreamy and slept. Nobody else fell asleep, even though I'm sure they were exhausted! Rachel's only meltdown was when we dropped the Fixsen's off around 9:45 pm and she couldn't get out!

 All 6 kids!

 Watching 'Frozen', which has been her movie of choice lately.

It was an awesome trip. The kids were great and I had a great time visiting with Leslie. So glad we went!