Great-Grandma and Grandpa's House

We headed over to Great-G-ma and G-pa's house for a change of scenery and to play!!! G-ma and G-pa have a nice backyard!

Duke is getting better at walking but he'd rather hold your hand or be carried. 

Such handsome men!!

This is a monkey that I gave G-pa for his birthday probably 12 years ago. G-pa believes that we came from apes and so we would always say "there's your uncle" whenever we would see a monkey on T.V or whatever. Anyways it was a funny gift, you had to be there. This money means a lot to G-pa so it was cute that he let Duke play with it. 

There was moss and mushrooms on the tree. Totally strange now that we live in the desert. I'm sure I'll get my fill of green in Nashville! 

Oma had lots of kisses for Manfred.

I love this picture! And they match!! :)

Ethnie was busy exploring and eating all of G-ma's treats!

G-ma always has the prettiest flowers! Yellow roses always remind me of her.

One afternoon we headed over to take some pictures of a tree that was in G-pa's yard. Sure I thought I'll snap a picture or two and then we'll be done. Wrong. G-pa put me to work! 

I was cutting down branches and scaling trees.

It was fun working with G-pa. He was very concerned about my saftey and wouldn't let me climb too high. It was cute. 

Little man is standing more and more. He just doesn't like it when Mama is close and won't pick him up. 

She loves me, she loves me not....

She loves me!!!!!

Then Ethnie found G-ma's jewelry. She was very excited to wear her pretties. 

Time to go home! We had such a wonderful time at G-ma's and G-pa's and a wonderful time in Canada. It was nice to go back and be in the True North Strong and Free! It's time to head back home to Vegas and get ready from Duke's Birthday!!!!!!

Woofs

Some of you may remember my dog Tigger. He was my best bud growing up. This trip I could really see how much he's aged. He's 14 now and you could tell. Poor thing!

At first Ethnie wanted NOTHING to do with him. She wanted to be carried everywhere in case "woofs" was near by. She also called him Woofs. After a solid three hours of being terrified Woofs was Ethnie's new best friend. Tigger didn't feel the same however but that's what happens when you get old and have a two year old chasing you.

We had to remind her to be soft.

They were precious together. I look forward to the day that we get a dog. It will not be for a long time, no fear! But I'm excited for the kids to go pick one out and name it. I sure do love my dog and my little girl. :)

Especially because she likes to wear arm rest covers as hats. :)

Fall

 There were still lots of leaves on the ground and since we don't get leaves in Vegas I wanted to get some shots of E playing in them. It was dusk when she woke up from her nap so most of them were pretty blurry. I still think these are adorable, however, I might be a little biased. 

 E just LOVED Tigger! Any time he would come around she would just start laughing. He'd bark and she just giggle away. He didn't like her "petting" him but he was so good with her. I was tempted to bring him back home with us. 

 I made her a sock monkey hat of her very own to protect her from the chilly weather and she wanted NOTHING to do with it. So sad. At least we got a picture. It did look super cute!

I do miss the seasons but I must admit, I love that Canada's fall weather is Vegas's winter. E loved eating the leaves. What a sweetheart we have.

This Beautiful World

 

 Ethnie and I started out the day by singing with Great-Grandma. G-ma and I would sing all of the time when I was little. It was about time that I recorded her. (It's too big to post unfortunately. Note to self: make videos on cell phone.)

 Chris and I were just about to head out for a walk with Ethnie and Tigger when we noticed G-pa standing on top of the ladder, by himself again. I tried reprimanding him saying that he isn't as young as he used to be and he replied with "I've been on a ladder more days than you've been alive." Nevertheless Chris and I set out to help him do what ever he was doing. What a silly old man :).

 We eventually set off on our walk and it was a beautiful day! 

 This is a wild rose. It is the provincial flower of Alberta.

 It's too hot in Vegas to go walking now and though I do love the heat it would be nice if it would stay cool enough to walk in. Ethnie loved being outside!

 Another picture of the tree canopy. So beautiful. I'd like to get a picture of them in the fall. 

 The teachers were watching me suspiciously as I was taking pictures of these kids playing mini stick hockey. I suppose it might have looked bad, random lady, bigger camera, taking pictures of kids? I just wanted to capture some of the heart of Canada, hockey.

 We met up with Oma at the park so we could play a little bit. Ethnie loves to swing!

 "Higher Oma, Higher!!"

 Three generations just swinging life away. 

 Peanut also enjoys flying over your head. My arms are getting a work out lifting her up all day. I love her precious smile.

 

It doens't get much better than a milkshake after a long day. Cheers!

  

Alberta's weather is a little bit fishy. One minute it's warm and sunny and the next it's pouring rain! 

 

 So naturally Mom and I headed out to get pedicures. It was Ethnie's first time (don't worry we didn't paint her toes.)

 Chubby cheeks.

 Tigger trying to figure out what all of the fuss was about.

 

Laughing at Uncle Chris. Ethnie had her first belly laugh on June 14th. She was giggling at Oma with a stuffed sheep. It was adorable!

Night Night everyone!