This post has nothing to do with marrying, but for some reason I have the song, "June Bride" from 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers' in my head. I love old musicals!
Anyway, this is going to be a long one, so get out your scroll bar and proceed onward!
With the summer weather in full swing, there's often a little throne of pop boxes for Madeline to ensconce herself in. For this particular trip to the grocery store, she also convinced me to let her bring her toy shopping cart. We had a lot of fun with that. :)
We attended Dreamnight at the Zoo for the first time and it was great. It's a special night for children with disabilities to bring their families to the zoo and there are tons of activities and experiences to take part in. We're pretty lucky that Claire lets us tag along.
There were plenty of fuzzy creatures to meet.
I don't know if you can tell, but Madeline was super excited.
We participated in a fun magic show.
We saw the new aquatic area which is really neat.
We got up close and personal with Lucy.
We rode the carousel...
...many times.
We actually ended up going to the zoo twice in one week because Claire and I joined Madeline on her field trip to the zoo. Luckily the weather held nicely for us that day. Note the similarity of the poses...
Ryan can always make Claire smile!
Madeline was able to participate in a musical concert at Claire's school.
This is just awesome.
Madeline had a neat summer nature walk at school and got to attend her friends birthday party at the gymnastics arena.
Madeline and I tagged along on Claire's field day at school. They had lots of fun activities including bubble making, tether ball, parachute games and relay races. It was a gorgeous day!
If you can get the water temperature just right, this will happen. On this particular day, she actually slept through my washing her, getting her out of the tub, drying her, dressing her and laying her in bed. It was pretty funny. She's a tenacious sleeper!
I took both the above and below pictures one night when Ryan worked late, to say goodnight from the girls.
This is definitely a great part of summer!
It was bound to happen some time. I turned 30 in June. Because there was so much going on, I really didn't expect much fanfare, but Ryan went above and beyond and planned a surprise party for me at Greg's house. I really had no idea it was going to happen!
I was spoiled, even getting a fun game of ladderball which I'd been coveting since last summer.
I'm so lucky to have a great family who makes these days special for me.
Since Madeline snuffed out my candle before I got a chance, this picture is totally fake. But the cake was delicious. Raspberry cheesecake from Marble Slab. Yum. :)
We spent a fun day out at Auntie Sheila's farm. It was a good excuse to spend the day outdoors and visit with family.
Our Claire is getting so tall. It's deceiving because not many people get to see her standing up, but she's nearly 3/4 my height (no great feat, but still...)
Madeline had lots of fun with cousins, especially on the new playground structure made out of an old cow chute!
The dogs like to lick Claire's dangling hands and she really likes it. She was quite tired by this point in the day though...
We had a chance to celebrate the dads in our lives on Father's Day with another trip out to Wetaskiwin and a tasty supper of rouladen.
I'm lucky to have had such a great dad...
...and to have such a wonderful father for my children.
Family photo op!
I had lots of meetings this month to wrap up committees for the summer. I had one of my last preschool meetings to run, school council and fundraising meetings to run, a park redevelopment meeting to attend where we met with the landscape architect and an Edmonton Cerebral Palsy Association meeting to attend (where they approved our request to fund a bike for Claire! YAY! Click here for a link.) But I did get one fun evening out with the ladies on the Malmo board when we all had dinner at The Keg and talked about the year. It was a bittersweet time because I'll miss collaborating with them, but will be glad for a little less responsibility in the fall!
This month we had to say goodbye to Steph and Brandon as they headed to New Zealand for a few years while he works as a mining engineer. They invited us all out to a fun farewell BBQ.
We'll miss them a lot!
But we had lots of fun in the sun.
Madeline ran straight for the spray park and wasted no time in getting completely soaked.
Claire is a really good sport and loves the water.
Even when her mother accidentally rolls her right through a fountain!
Yes, we had lots of fun.
We do seem to have a little monkey on our hands. She loves to climb and swing.
Another fun activity we shared with Steph and Brandon before they left was a trip to the waterpark. I couldn't take many pictures because I was in the water with them, but after Claire and I got changed, I snapped a few.
Madeline got pretty brave on the big slides.
We attended Pioneer Days in Wetaskiwin to hear Robbie's band play and discovered a fun children's carnival put on by the Horizon Centre. They did a great job and were very welcoming to us.
While we were enjoying the games, Rob's band played AMAZING songs. It was a really neat atmosphere as they definitely got the place rockin'.
Madeline was brave and went on the roller coaster and her, Ryan and I braved the spinning dragon ride. I must admit, although I used to be super fearless, I have my qualms about taking on the big rides these days, especially in these roving fairs that set up and take down so many times a year. Guess I'm getting old!
After the rides we enjoyed the soothing hot tub.
We saw these amazing cloud formations on our drive back home.
A bittersweet time - the last day of school. Madeline's grown so much in her years at Malmo but she's really looking forward to kindergarten in the fall!
Claire had a fun pioneer day at school. We borrowed a bonnet and an apron from Grandma Patterson to complete her ensemble and it was great. She came home a very tired little trailblazer.
We had a fun field trip for Claire's class at our house. We rented a bouncy castle and 24 kids spent the afternoon here, playing games, jumping and eating. It was a lot of fun!
Each of Claire's classmates wrote a thank you note and they constructed this giant sun for us. She has a lot of wonderful kids in her class!
To take full advantage of the giant castle in our backyard, we had friends and family come over for a BBQ that evening. It was lots of fun.
We even had fun taking it down!
DJ Samurai (a.k.a. Ryan) was in full swing at his school's retro dance.
We all decided to don 80's clothing and a great time was had by all.
On the last day of gymnastics, the parents were invited to come out on the floor and take photos, up close and personal. So that is what I did. We're really proud of her accomplishments. Our motto with her has been "Try new things" and she's really taken it to heart.
Speaking of trying new things, she asked Auntie Natalie to give her a summer haircut and it turned out very cute indeed.
Claire had some neat year-end activities. She had a Fun in the Sun Day with outdoor activities, a Canada flag day where they each got a flag from the Lion's Club and I got to go with her on a swimming field trip to the ACT centre. Unfortunately...I lost my camera and my sunglasses on that field trip and so I have no pictures from the day. I'm hoping that my searches with the pool and school bus company will eventually lead me to their whereabouts, but am not holding out too much hope. :(
Claire great helper and teacher this year, saying goodbye on the last day of school. I think Claire misses the structure and hustle and/or bustle of the school environment! We're looking forward to grade 2 and hope it will be a great year!
On Madeline's last day of her first swimming class, they turned on the waves and she had a great time.
She passed with flying colours.
Ryan enrolled and was accepted in a Leadership for Tomorrow course through Elk Island Public Schools which, in conjunction with beginning his masters degree, will help him gain more opportunities for advancement. He's pretty much the best ever. He also got asked to take on more responsibility at the Apple Store and do more training to move up in the world of computers. He's also been providing professional development for other teachers in the field of technology and is now on the executive of the Educational Technology Council of the ATA. Still he manages to be home as often as possible to do projects and take care of us!
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