Edmonton Day 4 - Shopping and Fairwell

Today was our last day in Edmonton. The kids weren't ready to come home yet, but most everyone else was ready to sleep in their own beds once again. Unfortunately, throughout the night, some sort of bug or motion sickness hit the men in the family, and Tyler, Jason and Barrett were down for the count a bit. Barrett got the worst of it, spending most of the night in the bathroom and most of the morning as well. Tyler felt pretty sick first thing in the morning, and has slowly felt better as the day has progressed, and Jason was dealt with some queasiness, but has been able to avoid too much bathroom time. Because of all the sickness floating around though, it left the rest of us in a quick pinch to try and get ready, eat breakfast and be packed up in time for check-out. We managed to scrape by. Jason and Ali were on the road first thing as Jacob travels best in the morning, and Scott, Janie, Barrett and Kari weren't too far behind. Barrett wasn't feeling up for much more than sleep and home. The girls and their boys headed to the mall and since Tyler didn't want to be too far away from a bathroom quite yet, we decided to head there as well. Our first stop was at the toy store, where the kids spent some time looking at trains, puppets, dolls, puzzles and pretty much anything they could hope for. I bought them each a magnetic book for sacrament meeting - Mr. Potato Head for Max, and My Little Pony for Lucy. Tyler had a few stops in the mall he wanted to make as well, so while he shopped, the kids and I busied ourselves looking at the aquariums, and playing games in the stores he was interested in. Max's new game right now is to say to me, "I don't like you!" to which I respond with an major tickle-torture session. It's gotten to the point where he can't even get the sentence out without laughing, because he knows what's coming. The kids also enjoyed a stop in the Disney Store, where we saw tons of Princess and the Frog merchandise, as well as their old-time favorites: Cars, Wall-e, Cinderella and Pooh Bear. Lucy saw a set of Cinderella dress-up clothes and said to me, "Mom, this is exactly what I wanted for Christmas! Why didn't you get it for me?" I looked at the price tag and replied, "Because it's 100 bucks!" She doesn't have a good concept of money, but she knows $100 is a lot, so she was pretty quiet after that. We also spotted a GIANT aristocats "Marie" stuffy, which I thought we were going to hear a lot of begging for, but she just gave it a hug, and then moved on. Max was pretty fascinated with the Buzz Lightyear boxing gloves and the character cell phones. We moved on to a few more dad stores and then headed to the foodcourt for some lunch. The kids had their typical A&W (can I just say I'm looking forward to being home, so my kids can eat something other than a burger and fries for every meal?). Tyler and I each got a Thai wrap from our favorite place, Westcoast Wraps and Smoothies. I had been looking forward to this all week, and it didn't disappoint. We met up with Sarah and Janeen and they suggested we check out a place called Urban Behavior which was just off the foodcourt. Being pregnant, shopping is not much of a thrill to me at this point. It's exhausting, for one, and not much fun to look at clothes that don't fit, and won't for a while. We did manage to find a totally cute ivory pea-coat for me though, for only $30. Totally excited. Lucy had moved on to shopping with her aunties, so while we waited for them to finish up in their last stores, Tyler, Max and I sat on a bench and relaxed. I could tell Max was getting tired, because he wasn't really saying much anymore. He sat and ate his SpongeBob fruit snacks and then pretended to paint pictures for us. By about 4:15 we were headed out to the vehicles to head home. Max fell asleep in about 90 seconds (no exaggeration) and we let him sleep just a few minutes before we turned on the kids DVD player with some 'kid-shows'. A 4:30pm nap is not my idea of a good plan. The kids watched their new Backyardigans pretty much all the way home, except for a quick potty stop in Red Deer, where they also got a few treats - cheezies, smarties and gummie bears...did I complain about burgers and fries earlier? This is a much better meal, I'm sure. We got home just before 8pm and the kids ran wild around the house with their dad for nearly an hour, playing with Max's guns. They paused for a brief fuel-up of fettuccine alfredo, that I insisted they eat. We were happy to be home safe, and that our house still existed. When I went to turn on the tub, however, we got another surprise...no water. Not really all that surprising actually. It's been pretty cold this week, and we haven't used the water, so it's not shocking to have some ice. The surprising part was that when we warmed it up, the unfrozen water didn't not flow nicely out of the tap, but rather through the crack in the pipe under the tub all over the floor. Tyler jumped up like a shot and ran out to the well to turn the water-supply off before we had an even bigger problem on our hands. At this point, there has been no solution, except that we know what needs to be done. Hopefully something will be open tomorrow (New Years Day) so we can get some pipe to fix it. We took a few deep breaths and consigned ourselves to a night without water (again...does that sound dejected and frustrated? I'm trying to look on the bright side), and hopes for a quick fix tomorrow. The good news is, this is pretty much the absolute last piece of pipe that hasn't been replaced yet, so hopefully after this...we'll be done. I really need some good news like that. Chant with me: "I love my house. I love my house. I love my house." It's easier to love in July than it is in January. So, with that, we're too exhausted to wait for midnight, so at 11:13pm, I will wish the world a Happy New Year. It's been a great year. 2010 should be awesome too...I mean, when you've got the best family that ever existed, it's not hard. That's speaking of my immediate and extended families. Love you all...and I'm sure glad I'm moving into a New Year with such wonderful people in my life. I have THE best husband in the world who is not only handy...he's handsome too - and my Best Friend - and check out our kids. Seriously, they're awesome. That scripture sure rings true in my mind often: 'becometh as a little child..." Tonight, when my kids found out there was no water, they didn't complain, or even get discouraged...in fact, all the did was say, "Hey dad, we can't have a tubbie cuz there's no water. Can I help you fix it?" As I helped Max say the prayer for Family Prayers tonight, I felt rushed and tired and wanted to get the kids to bed. But as I prompted him with the words to say, my mind thought about how this was the last time we'd say prayers for 2009. The year played through my mind quickly and I realized we have so much to be grateful for. We've had a few bumps, but our family is healthy, happy, and whole at the end of this year, and any other bumps really don't measure up compared to those things. In Max's simple language, I prompted him to say thank you for the blessings of 2009 and to pray that we will remember to be grateful in 2010. Goodnight.

Edmonton Day 3 - Galaxy Land!

Today we woke up and got ourselves ready fairly quickly, but then headed down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast and ended up lounging for a bit. It was a pretty decent breakfast, so we figured, why rush? Once everyone was satisfied, we headed out to the mall full of energy ready to blow it off at Galaxy Land for the day. Being prego, I couldn't really go on any rides, but I was content to be the picture taker anyway. We started out with a nice quiet turn on the carousel, which the kids really enjoyed. Then the big boys wanted a turn on a ride, and headed over to the bumper cars to jar their brains a bit. As we sat outside watching, we each voted on who would win. Lucy said Jason, Max was loyal to his Dad, Janie said Papa, Sarah voted Tyson, and so I voted Barrett, so he would have a cheering squad. Of course, we didn't know what constituted winning, but it always has to be a competition. While Lucy and Jacob headed to the train, Tyler took Max on a ride, that I believe ended up being his favorite. It went up and down repeatedly, like a kids version of the space shot. His first reaction was unsure, but then there was no question whether he liked it. All the kids had a ride on the balloon ride, but it ended up being pretty anti-climactic. Then it was over to the airplanes. Max wanted to ride in the front, simply because that's where the gun was for shooting. He was also the one that controlled the up and down of the ride, but he was so busy shooting, that they basically rode in one position the entire time. We also took the kids on a kiddie roller coaster that looked like a dragon. The pictures are blurry because the things was in constant motion, but Lucy kept yelling to us from the ride, "I don't like this one! It's too fast!" Max disagreed.

Dad decided to go on a 'big-boy' ride and tried out the Space shot with Sarah, Papa and Jason. The best was hearing the audible "UGH!" as they went up. Then Max wanted to show that he was brave too, so it was back to his favorite, and a first for Lucy. The ride broke down partway through - and Max wasn't too impressed, but they gave us another free turn, so that appeased him. The best part was the fact that while the ride was running, you couldn't see Max at all, except his feet, so the only way to gauge his reaction was by how those little black shoes moved. Every time the ride dropped, you'd see his left foot flex in a little as he was obviously bracing himself. So cute.We went on the kiddie train and then decided it was about time for a break and some lunch. The kids weren't keen on stopping, but they were happy to fill their bellies when the food arrived. We promised them a turn in the play place, so we headed back to galaxy land for some free-time. The place was so huge and had so many kids, that it was a bit intimidating to keep track, but we managed. I, gratefully, was able to watch the entrance, so I knew no one was leaving with our children, and Tyler, Jason and Ali chased the kids around. Lucy spent most of her time in the ball pit, because she's not much of an adventure girl. Jacob was EVERYWHERE as quickly as he could get there, and Max was no where to be seen for quite some time. Lucy discovered the rope course, and really enjoyed that, and then spent some time in the bounce house. After about an hour there, we decided to go and see the sea-lion show. Lucy liked the fact that they sang and clapped. Then it was time for the perfect cap-off to a pretty perfect day...The Build-a-Bear shop. Grandma Bourne had given each of the kids a gift-card, so we decided to cash them in. I said to a number of people that if I had gone into the store by myself to choose items out for my kids, I would have chosen exactly what they did...because what else could a little Lucy girl choose besides a purple kitty-cat with a pink dress? And of course, a little boy Max would choose a monkey with 'strong-man' clothes on. The kids got to help stuff their animals, and then they picked out a heart for them. They hugged them, rubbed them on their cheeks, cuddled them up to their ears (so their stuffies would be good listeners) and then gave them a kiss. Then it was over to the washing station, to get them fluffed up before they got dressed. We got to use the computers to fill out their information and choose a name. Lucy's kitty is called Princess and Max's monkey is called Kong. It was a pretty great experience and the kids are excited to show their completed stuffies to Grandma Bourne. After such a full day, the kids and I headed back to the hotel for some dinner and some down-time playing in the hotel with their toys. Dad and a lot of the other more energetic people stayed at the mall to watch Avatar and the tired moms, kids and grandma decided to relax at the hotel. A perfect evening in my mind. Plus, I got to catch up on my blogging, and also 'catch' Max before he messed his diaper. Two days in a row we've gone poo on the potty. Hooray! I'm especially grateful since we've been eating out a lot, which makes for not the nicest diapers. Day 3 is coming to a close, and I'm looking forward to relaxing and having a good night's sleep. We're headed home tomorrow, but not before a few stops, I'm sure.

Edmonton Day 2 - World Water Park

Today was a fun, full day of waterpark adventures. We woke up after a fairly warm night in our hotel room and had some quick breakfast and headed out to West-Ed. The kids were pretty excited about going swimming and were pretty amazed to see how big the pool was. We spent a lot of the morning in the kiddie pool and hot-tub while the dads went watersliding. We all attempted to go on the tube slide at one point and Lucy had a bit of a mishap and flipped on her tube, scaring her greatly (and me as well) as well as scraping up her back a bit. She was not impressed and was quick to tell everyone about it. We did enjoy Carribean Cove - a kids splash park. After some fuel-up lunch, the kids enjoyed some more sliding and playing around with aunties and uncles - mom took some time to sit and relax. Lucy was finally convinced to try another slide and even went down all by herself. What a brave girl. I thought we'd be done and out of there by 3pm, but the kids had enough stamina to last them until 5. We showered up and headed into the mall to check a few things out and go for dinner at 6pm at Old Spaghetti Factory. Grandma was helpful in passing the time by suggesting we play the animal alphabet game. It lasted through dinner and helped the kids wait for their food and enjoy a pleasant meal. As we were preparing to leave, Max asked Uncle Barrett for some money to throw in the fountain. Kari told him he needed to make a wish first before he threw it. He said he wished that he wouldn't drop the money on the floor. Pretty classic. We're all pretty exhausted, but glad we had such a fun day. Tomorrow the plan is to head to Galaxy Land for some rides and to do some West-Ed shopping. Hopefully we'll get to see the Sea Lion show as well.

Edmonton Day 1

The first day here has been spent mostly driving all morning, lunch and then a few hours at Chuck-E-Cheese for the kids. They had a blast. Tokens were spent mostly on the Dad's who wanted to do basketball, football, bowling, etc, and the kids enjoyed the free slides and sitting on the character cars. Max and I also played a game of air-hockey, and we got to sneak a meet-and-greet with Chuck.E himself as he was saying hello to some other kids having a birthday party. After, we did what seemed like marathon-shopping and hanging out in the hotel.

We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Without going into great detail about EVERY single present the kids received, here are the highlights of our morning (as far as materialistic things go):
I woke up this morning at about 8:30am, because my body just doesn't let me lay down any longer than that. Tyler and I chatted for a few minutes and then we decided we would get the kids up. Lucy beat us to the punch and met us in the hallway as we were getting the last few things sorted. We all headed into Max's room for a wake-up call, which he was not ready for. He insisted we leave a number of times and all the talk of Santa and presents could not entice him. Finally, he spent a few minutes cuddling in mom and dad's bed, and then having a heart-to-heart with his dad, and he was ready to go. I headed down the hallway first so I could get a picture of the kid's reaction to our tree and presents. The most obvious was of course Max's new train table, which was too big to wrap and takes up most of the living room. Any thoughts of being sleepy quickly fled out of Max's mind and he got straight to work playing with this awesome toy. It should be a fun thing to have for both of the kids, so we're pretty pleased with the purchase. He was as thrilled with it as we hoped he would be. We opened stockings first and the kids were amazed at how well Santa knew them. Funny how that works.
As we were opening presents, we insisted the kids share an apple with their dad, just to get a few bites of nutrition into them, before they got too hungry and grumpy to enjoy their morning...and also before all the treats and snacks that were inevitable.
Lucy's gifts: A baby doll from Santa; full-length mirror, make-up brushes and make-up case from mom and dad; easy bake oven with mixes and decorating pen from mom and dad; puzzles, coloring books, backyardigans dvd, crayons, and nail stickers from santa; 2-ponies and some kitty cat toys from Max. The best was when she opened her make-up brushes and was instantly smiling and saying: "This is exactly what I wanted!"
Max's gifts: train table from mom and dad; basketball net, puzzles, coloring books, backyardigans dvd, and crayons from Santa; Bumblebee Powerbot and mini-jenga from Lucy. He was absolutely thrilled with the Bumblebee toy and that made Lucy pretty proud to be the giver of such a great gift.Tyler got me (along with the kids) a new scarf and mitten set (which he not-so-secretly covets), a bathrobe, make-up brushes and chap-stick (from Lucy), and best of all...a new camera. This was is small and sleek and quick and I love it! I told Tyler that I feel like I can get the picture that I really want with this camera, instead of the picture 5 seconds after the one that I want. It's awesome.Tyler got scarf and mittens (so he'll stop borrowing mine...except now I have new ones that he wants too), sweaters, a pocket square (that Lucy VERY specifically searched 2 malls to find for her dad), transformer cufflinks from Max and a new wedding ring from me - a wood one, so it doesn't bother his finger, and I get a husband who wears a wedding ring! So kind of a gift for me too.
We started opening gifts around 9:30 and finished just before 11:00am. Grandma and Papa and everyone at 'the big house' were waiting, sort of patiently, for us to come up as they had nearly as equal of a loot to pass on to the kids as we did. We quickly changed and headed up there for more of the same. Stories for another post.
It was pretty awesome to sit with our kids and take it slow, while they savored presents and the experience of giving and receiving. This Christmas has had a lot of build up to it, as Lucy is at the age to really start to understand. They have helped Tyler and I shop and have been really excited about being in on a lot of secrets, so this morning they enjoyed the fulfillment of all their hard work.I loved every moment.

The Mundy's on a Thursday

After the celebrations on Christmas Eve at the Bourne house, we rushed off to John and Marianne Mundy's for their annual Christmas Eve party. The kids were sad to leave Grandma's, and both getting a bit tired already, but perked up pretty good when they saw John and Marianne's Christmas lights. We feasted some more and the kids played with Jacob, wrestling and chasing around the house, while all the adults watch terrified that someone might fall down the stairs. Then it was time for the gift exchange, where everyone brings a gift and piles it into the middle. Playing cards are handed out, and when you card is called, you get to choose a gift from the pile, or steal one from someone else. We limited the stealing to two times this year in an effort to speed up the game. Lucy started with a Febreeze airfreshner candle, which Chandler was kind enough to steel from her, so she could choose something else. She got a cute little Strawberry Shortcake figure and DVD instead. Max walked away with some dollar store machine guns, which he proceeded to shoot everyone at the party with the rest of the exchange. I got a shower radio and Tyler's Christmas was made complete with "Mariah Carey's Christmas" DVD. Max also came home with the Woody doll that Grandma picked out. It was a pretty fun time, but the kids were definitely spent. Max fell asleep on the way home in about 2 minutes and Lucy chatted away, I think trying to keep herself awake in the car, because she was just so excited. Once the kids were nestled, Tyler and I raced up to Grandma and Papa's to retrieve all the presents we had been stashing there. The major one being Max's train table, which still had some assembly required. Fortunately Uncle Barrett was happy to come and play...uh, I mean help. Tyler made the comment that he now appreciates all the work his parents have put into Christmas in years past, as we were up to 1am prepping for what was sure to be an exciting morning.

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Twas the Night Before Christmas, and at the Bourne's house, every creature was stirring...guitar hero brought down the house.

The children were laughing, content in their play, while parents and grandparents did puzzles all day.
All family had gathered, brought in from the cold - and food was the theme, to delight young and old.
The table was laid, with all the trimmings and trappings - and a who-feast assembled, whilst young Ashley was napping.

All the Bourne's down in Bourne-ville, the young and the old, sat down to a feast, and Bumpa, himself, carved the roast-beast.
The presents, how beautiful, the atmosphere, how merry, but that nativity scene, had things old, young a hairy.
Mary and Joseph, narrated by Bumpa, arrived hand-in-hand, while the inn-keeper was cold, despite their demand.Two tiny shepherds, watched over their sheep, while Ashley, the angel, stole the show without peep.
A single young wise-lady arrived with some gold, and the entire nativity story was told.
The children, so sweet, took a bow, and applause - this type of Christmas beats out good old Santy Clause.