Uncle Tim Visits

Prepare for a long post. I have lots to share.

On Tuesday, Ethan had his vaccinations. He was 18 lbs, 8 oz and 28 1/2" long. This puts him in the 30% for weight and 75% for height. I thought he was 20 lbs for sure. He eats so much! But, he is still well under that mark. Ethan did well and did not have any real reaction from his shots. He has started to eat cheerios and rice crackers. He loves to feed himself and seems quite proud of his accomplishment.

Evelyn has progressed from just dressing herself up to dressing her rocking horse too. She put boots on the runners and a hat and necklace on the head. It was pretty cute. She has also started to try to build animals with her Duplo blocks (not just towers). She will build what looks to the untrained eye like a thick tower and say "Look at my horse! I made a Horse!"(or dog, or cat, or pig...)

On Wednesday, we went and picked my brother Tim up from the airport. Evelyn made him a little sign saying "Welcome to Alberta, Uncle Tim!" This was his first flight and he enjoyed it. We then drove to West Edmonton Mall (WEM) to mostly window shop. Ryan played a couple games at the midway, Tim, Ella and I checked out the pirate ship, I bought a nail buffer kit, (shiny nails without painting poison on my nails) we looked at a lot of DVD's and video games (The girls were outnumbered - what could I do?)

After the mall, we went to Chuck E Cheese for dinner. I had never been and always wanted to go. It was fun! I think we will visit again. The whole meal, drinks and 30 game tokens (one token for each game) came to about $34. Evelyn and Ethan loved the Merry Go Round and Ella thought her ride with Barney was pretty neat too. Whenever the Merry Go Round music started, She would run over and try to climb on and share the other kids ride. After dinner, Ryan and Tim went to see Transformers and I took the kids to Ikea. Then, we spent the night at the Sahota's.

Evelyn and Casey played together really well. They played with Casey's little animals and Evelyn tried out the trampoline (with a very nervous Mom watching her closely). Shane even played his didgeridoo for us! The next morning, after some of Bettina's yummy pancakes, we went to watch a baseball game.

This was Tim and Ethan's first baseball game. I love the experience of a live game. The stadium was really nice and looked pretty new. We watched the Edmonton CrackerCats vs. Kansas City. This is the North American league and is outside the Major League framework of teams. I think the level of play would be AA or A equivalent. Evelyn called the mascot "kitty" and said hi to it in kitty language (Meow, Meow!). There was a lady dressed as a bumblebee clown who juggled. When she came near us, Ethan stared at her - totally entranced. Until, that is, she looked at him and spoke. Then, he got really scared and cried and cried. All the while, he could not take his eyes off her! Ah, poor kid. He was really tired at that time too. Evelyn had fun clapping and cheering along with the fans.

After the game, we went to Costco (we just bought a membership) and Walmart and headed home. We have played a lot of Wii the past few days and Ryan has reduced his Wii fitness age to 32 (down from 40-something) The Wii is kind of cool in that you have to move around to play. When you play tennis or baseball, you have to actually make the pitching and hitting movement. After a while, you feel tired and even a bit sore! Kudos for Nintendo for developing a game system that forces kids to be active! I taught Tim how to change a flat tire (Our Honda is plagued by flat tires) and we signed out a few videos from the library in Boyle. Evelyn has really enjoyed her new playmate in Uncle Tim and has made him play ponies and trains with her. Just daily life stuff....

On Sunday, we went to Long Lake Provincial Park for a church picnic. Shane and Bettina, I have found the perfect place for you to day trip to. This was the nicest lake I have visited EVER! Nice groomed, sandy beach, large, shallow wading area for the kids, nice playground, concession, showers, warm water, soft sandy lake bed with almost no wood splinter debris in the lake (no splinters to dig out of little feet). It was great. And, most important, NO ITCH! The lake is about 30 min from our house. I think we will have to visit again! Evelyn and Elizabeth had a blast splashing and floating in the shallow water. Evelyn also made a sand castle and got partially buried in sand by Daddy.

Last night, we played the bean game (correctly called Bonanza) with Tim (I won!). And, Tim and I played Guess Who and Mancala. I have to remember to bring the bean game to the lake next year. It is a fun game of trading, wheeling and dealing to get the most coins by harvesting your fields of different beans.

This morning, Ethan started saying "Ma Ma" He almost seemed to use it in context. He said it on two occasions when he saw me and was trying to get my attention. We shall see, I doubt it is actually a first word.

Tomorrow, Ryan helps one of his co-workers move out of his apartment. Tim and I will check out LLB and I will visit the chiropractor. We may visit the LLB Mission too. They filmed an episode of 'Creepy Canada' there and Tim is interested in seeing the real place. I took some neat pictures there a couple years ago when we first moved to the area. It is a neat collection of original buildings and hosts one of the most extensive collections of Vestments in Canada.

That's all folks!