The month of August seemed to fly by with Jonathan having a week and a half off, us taking vacation, and then trying to cram the last days of summer in by spending time outside and running the last of our summer errands. It's hard to say goodbye to summer fun and heat! The thought that kept racing through my head was that Jessa had only one more year before starting kindergarten and I just wanted to cherish the last precious moments of having her as a little!
Our family vacation therefore started with a bang! As soon as Jonathan finished work we ended up off and running. We decided to visit an outdoor pool that was about half an hour from our house so we took off on an adventure. I was really proud of Jessa and how brave she was when we got to the pool. She was willing to go with J into the deep pool with a life jacket on and jump off the side into the water and even climb up the big slide by herself and go down with jonathan to catch her! It was amazing to see how far she has blossomed and come out of her shell to try things that I wouldn't have ever tried. With a little encouragement from daddy she was willing to give it a go and I really applaud her for doing so. Adaya kept me on my toes because she wanted to be in the deep pool with Jessa but hated the cold. She would go for a short while only to come out ago and go running for the towel. She also decided to take off her life jacket to play in the kiddie pool only to book it and try to jump into the deep pool. Thankfully we made it to her before she jumped over the edge for that I am grateful!
On the Saturday we had the priviledge as a family to attend both a wedding and the reception. It was wonderful to teach the girls the importance of marriage and a good reminder to hear vows and realize the reasoning for things that we do. It was as if there were things that I myself needed to be reminded about as the priest reminded the people that rings signified the vow that love should be everlasting and that it was an outward symbol that showed the commitment you had to your spouse. It was neat to see the groom be so excited that when he received his ring he wiggled his finger to show his family and then winked at them. Marriage truly is such an important decision to commit to in your life and I hope my girls are able to remember the opportunity of being able to be apart of something so sacred and special.
Since the time between the wedding and the reception was about 4 hours, we decided to take that time to do some exploring around Sherwood Park. We ended up going to Marshalls and buying new outfits for the evening and then stumbling upon a playground that also was home to a small spray park. Jessa was not into getting wet and decided instead to play at the park but Adaya found a broken bucket and was running around trying to fill it with water. I sat on a bench and took in the glorious joy you feel as a mother watching your children build precious special memories as I nursed Annalina.
We headed over to the reception afterwards and it was a blast. When we first arrived we got our picture taken and placed in a photo album as their guest book! We then sat down at the table and found out that it was an open bar!! What a great time to introduce the girls to fancy drinks!! So I ordered us all a round of Shirley temples which is my favourite drink to have when I feel like being fancy! Jessa and Adaya both had a blast because the table had colouring books (paw patrol for Jessa and Minnie Mouse for Adaya) Along with dinosaur stickers for the evening. But wait, who can't pass up the cute little packets of cookies they had offered also.
It was a changing moment for me that evening when a man approached me when I was going back to the table. He thanked me for bringing my girls to the wedding and reception commenting on how his own granddaughters were there for the evening. He said to me that, there are too many parties where children are not invited and so either the parents stay home or the children miss out because we are not teaching the younger generation to behave in social settings or situations. It was such an amazing and comforting thing to say and do for all the negative comments I have received for always toting my girls wherever we go when invited somewhere has made it all worth it. My girls are so so so important to me and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to share in such a fun and magical moment. The whole evening the girls were so well behaved! We took them out in the hallway to run off their excess energy while the speeches were happening and then we went back in for the dance. The girls had a blast dancing the night away and Jessa kept begging us to stay for just one more just one more! There was a really sweet cousin of the bride there who danced with the girls. She was so smiley and just so fun to dance with that the girls really enjoyed her. When Jessa had to go the bathroom she commented about it saying can we go dance with that pretty girl again! It is moments like these that melt my heart in the fun Jessa has and the moments that she will hold dear and precious in her heart! On the dance floor I even got whisked away into the dance floor by a loving Portuguese grandma when I was trying to follow one of their songs! She danced about half way around the dance floor looked down to notice that I had Annalina tucked in the wrap and shooed me to go dance with Jonathan! It was such a dear and precious night for me. The night became even more specia when I realized that my greatest desire in life was to have close relationships with my daughters that no other relationship mattered ( other than my husband's of course) as much and that became so freeing to me. It has literally changed my life allowing me to weigh the importance of how I should behave or act. I don't have to always please others because I want everyone to like me. We ended up staying at the wedding until 11:30 where I totes out a zonked out Annalina and Adaya. Jessa walked to the van but was asleep within minutes as we started our drive to calgary!
Jonathan bless his soul was kind enough to drive while all us girls slept the entire way with no breaks! We got to Jonathan's parents house around 2:30 and al went quickly back to slee. We ended up just sleeping the entire next day and then heading to my mom's for supper! The girls has a blast chasing Jessie the cat around and performing dances for grandma and Bumpa! It was there that Adaya discovered her love of Go (we have another frozen fanatic on our hands) and constantly has asked since then for go! She points out anything frozen and excitedly squeals go!! I love her excitement and passion for singing and dance and now anything frozen!
On Monday we decided to hit our Banff and Lake Louise trip! We headed straight out to Lake Louise as I had never been there before where we took pictures of the lake and let the girls dip their toes in the water! Jessa said that was her favourite trip of that day trip was dipping her water in the freezing water! We ended up getting ice cream and looking around the beautiful hotel there. We even went to the bathrooms to try the water to see if glacier water tastes any different! Jonathan said he was busy putting his head under the faucet to drink some when a prestigious man in a suit walked into the bathroom. Jonathan said he looked at Jonathan adjusted his tie stuck his nose up and went off to the bathroom! Jonathan's report of the water is that it tastes the same as any other water and I would have to agree!
We ended up stopping for some ice cream before leaving because it was so hot. While Jonathan and Jessa went to get the ice cream Adaya and I stayed outside. Annalina of course was my little Joey tucked into her little wrap all smug and tight! Adaya was getting a bit fussy so I decided to sing her the zoom zoom song. Which happened to make a lady stop and have a conversation with us. She ended up telling me after walking past us on the way out hat thank you very much I had gotten zoom zoom stuck in her head. So I jokingly relied to her, great now you have a song to sing to any babies you are around!!
After leaving lake Louise we had to hike down the side of the mountain and it was quite an adventure. We had brought our sit and stand stroller and it seems to be a bit aide heavy so when the firs lean to one side they seem to top it quite easily if you are on a decline. We almost toppled once when shopping so imagine my chagrin when Jonathan and I are faced with climbing down this mountain with two tuckered out sleet girls! It was a white knuckle keep praying Sam the whole way down and Adaya lady us giggles as we ran down the steepest part an she wild throw her hands up in the air exclaiming wheeeee!!! Only to fall asleep mid whee!! She is such a hoot and I love how much Jessa enjoys Adaya and how much she makes her laugh!
Before leaving on our trip I had introduced Jessa to the magical world of Robert Musch! One of her favourite stories appeared to be Ihave to go!! Because she kept saying it as we drove to Banff! We stopped once on the highway where I took her behind some random cement highway divide! She peed a few droplets! About twenty minutes later she again said she had to go pre so we told her we were almost there and to wait' we thought that she would be okay with that answer but little Jessa is too smart. Before turning into Banff there seems to be a turnoff where you can take pictures along with some rest rooms! We drove past it as we were really not all that far away from Banff! But Jessa exclaimed there's a bathroom!!! Turn back so we can use that one!! Jonathan and I both looked at other in astonishment!! Nothing gets past little missy! So we get into Banff and Jessa again says she needs to pee so Jonathan stop and took her in the sports arena! It was such a funny moment that I will cherish forever!! I have to go pee guys!!
Banff is always magics for me when we go because I absolutely adore the spirit of Christmas store. I love how magical it always fees and I am grateful for the amazing time we have whenever we go there! For us Banff will always be a special tradition we will do each year I am sure so I can go to my Christmas store and Jonathan can get his beaver tail ice cream! We had considered staying the night but found out all the hotels were booked so we drove home late into the night!
On Tuesday we ended up sleeping in late and going back over to my mom's house for supper!! It was nice to spend some more time over there and I was grateful for the memories the girls have of going and playing at gramma and bumpa's house.
On Wednesday we ended up going shopping at Cross Iron Milks and just taking in the fun of seeing what the girls enjoyed looking at and domingo. We ended up stopping at he Dino play pace and the girls were tickled pink when we let them climb up and down and all around! We spent the day engaged no phone distractions, no computers, no electronics just us and them! It was such a wonderful day and the girls enjoyed that instead of rushing through that they got to spend three hours just looking at everything they wanted to! It was a special day and I loved it a lot!
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