West Edmonton Mall Waterpark FUN!

It's no secret that Jackson LOVES water.  We were SO EXCITED to take him to the Waterpark for the second time in his little life!  I am actually shocked we don't go more often with the deal they have that gets an adult in with an infant for a steal of a deal.  I blame it on time and daily tasks that prioritize fun days like yesterday!  We will make a better effort!  It was awesome...we got to spend time with the Cottons who also shared our first Waterpark trip with us!  The boys have grown so much!  I am amazed at how completely opposite they still are!  They have always been so different...and it's just who they are!  We LOVE it.  It makes it fun to watch them together!  I love and miss Aidan, and June & Shaun.  We used to have so much more time to spend together, but it's been much harder lately with work and responsibilities getting in the way!

Jackson really really surprised me yesterday.  He usually has no fear and loves the water, but he was super adventurous and far more intuitive than I had thought.  We soon realized that he really didn't want to have the life jacket on to go deeper with us.  He wanted to be able to touch and explore on his own.  He would walk as deep as he could go so the water was up to his chin.  He tried kicking his legs...and swimming - which was just so interesting to me!  We were with him the whole time, but he was so solid and sturdy in there, he really didn't want our help (surprise, surprise!).  

We were quite disappointed that the spray park portion was closed for renos.  It was by far the hit of the trip last time and we were looking forward to it!  Oh well...it just gives us an excuse to go back!  

I loved Moose's initial reaction to the wave pool.  He just walked right in, sat down and began splashing.  It was like a magnet! The joy it brings him warms my heart to an unexplainable place!

Surfs Up!

Like a magnetic reaction!  I really wonder how he sees that big open body of water!

Stopping for some eats!

Walking walking walking.

This was when he was happiest...as deep as he could go...blowing some bubbles...walking...kicking his legs.  So surprising to me!  Maybe mostly because of how sturdy and controlled he was!

Underwater shot!

 Special shout out to Casandra who so very kindly gave us some passes she had so we could have this adventure for free.  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

Snap Shot of Yesterday

 

Yummy lunch yesterday!  I may have also shared some of ice cream sandwich with him!

And then there is the disaster that is my house lately...I try to tell myself that it is temporary chaos - but it's starting to get to me!  I hate have to purge stuff, sort through stuff, and organize stuff I've been avoiding for far too long!  BUT, this is the joys of the beginning of the development of our basement...we have to clear it out first!  Oh the joys!

This little critter has been handling it great so far!

Ho, Ho, Ho

Chalk-a-Doodle

We have been letting Jackson use the chalk to color on the lower half of the pantry door.  He seems to like it...and so do I!  He's very responsive and catches on quickly to the 'rules' - like we told him only on the black part he could color and reminded him 'no' if he got too close to the white...and he's been great with it.  I love watching him be creative, or initiate creativity by pointing at the chalk, hauling paper to the floor and pointing at markers, etc.  We got him a Cars Aqua Doodle for Christmas, I'm pretty excited to color on it with him!  He seems to like to hang out in the pantry lately.  The other day, he closed himself in there with book and just sat there 'reading'. I opened the door to check on him and he gave me 'the look' and closed it on me.  Privacy P-l-e-a-s-e Mommy!

 

 Sorry for the crappy photos...still getting used to the settings on the point and shoot!

Adventure with Auntie

On the weekend, it snowed!  Yippee!  I love it when it snows...and finally...I'm not the only one!  Moose loves it too!  We were pretty hurtin this weekend as the flu had blown through our house and knocked us off one at a time...so Moose got to go on a special sleigh ride with Auntie.  It started as shoveling snow, but that didn't happen!  An adventure was waiting!  He has definitely gotten better at walking in his winter boots...and so far doesn't fight us on the mittens at all.  I think he's just so happy to be outside, he doesn't care what he has to wear! 

Makin a run for it from the driveway!

Peakin up at the bonus room where Mommy was waving bye to him!

Whatchyou lookin' at!?

Snowflakes keep fallin on my face :)

Rosy cheeks!

On the way home :)

 We splurged and took advantage of the black Friday sales and got a new point and shoot camera.  For the life of us...we can't find ours...so we made sure to get something a bit different this time.  We went for a waterproof one!  It's exciting.  Auntie took it with them so these were the first photos with the new camera...and she didn't even have to worry about dropping it in the snow!  The amount Moose loves water and outdoors, we thought it would be most versatile! 

Monkey See, Monkey Do...

Moose is a total copy cat lately!  He watches everything we do and wants to be involved.  It's pretty cute.  He sees things we do out of habit (i.e. shut the doors to rooms we aren't in) and if we forget to do them...he will be zooming around, stop what he's doing, go - shut the door, and continue zooming around!  A big thing for him is helping us clean...vacuuming, washing floors, it's a disaster if we take it away from him...so we just let him help!

Eatin with Auntie...

GOOD EATS!

Spring Time Ride!

 

This boy LOVES his bike.  Every time we are in the basement, it is like a magnet for him!  He has now learned to get up on it on his own.  He uses the training wheels as a step and gets right on.  His foot almost touches the bottom petal!  Sooooo close! By Spring, he'll be zooming around!

'Tis the Season

 

Yup...that is a picture of 50 Christmas cards...all signed, sealed, and ready for delivery!

A Boy's Gotta Do...

...What a boy's gotta do!

We had put Moose's drums in the basement when we put the tree up...but he found his drum sticks and improvised.  Nicely done!