A Great Reunion

Upon returning to the great white north that we call home, we were very excited to be reunited with our dog Pepper. Patrick's parents were kind enough to babysit him while we were gone so we had to make another trip out of town to go and pick him up.
Right after Patrick returned home from work on Friday, we all jumped in the car and headed down to Innisfail. We were so excited to him again (Grandma and Grandpa too of course).  I think Patrick was the most excited to see his puppy. In fact, I almost got booted out of bed by our furry little friend. Good thing I love him too! ;)
We are so happy to be back together again. Thanks Ken and Deb for taking such good care of him!

Cool Runnings

I can finally relate to how the Jamacains felt when they got off the plane in Calgary for the 1988 Olympics.

When we got off the plane last night to all that fresh snow and wind and cold temperatures, I thought we were going to die. After being in weather that never got lower than 25 degrees Celcius it was devastating to come home to all that snow. I looked at Patrick and he looked at me and we both sighed.

Don't get me wrong, we are happy to be home but we sure miss the warm weather, the family time and all the adventure that Florida provided! One of the things that I missed the most this morning was the birds chirping outside my window. (Couple more weeks, right?!?!?!)

Yes it is cold but at least it is fairly mild and it is even supposed to be above zero by the weekend. It's no +25 but it is way better than -25. 

The last day ... Wahhh, we don't want to go home

We could not find face painting in Disney's Magic Kingdom, so we had to make a trip back to downtown Disney to fix up a broken-hearted Dillon. So we dressed Leah back up in her princess dress and headed off to find some face painting and generally just enjoy our last full day of Florida weather before we head back to the frozen north. We may just miss our plane ... by accident of course.

 The kids got some hats yesterday, now it was time for the adults to let their inner kids out and play dress-up. We all claimed to be preparing for Halloween. Whatever excuse you need.

The good,

 the bad,

 and the happy.

 We saw a sky writer. Leah was very impressed with the message. We do not see this in Alberta, winter is too cold, summer is too windy.

Lunch time at the T-Rex cafe. The only question is who is doing the eating.

Guess where the kids went after that. Yup, you guessed it! Straight to the pool.

Uncle Peter made a fantastic supper for us and inspired Dillon to be a chef when he grows up. He decided to start now and Uncle Peter just kept handing him whatever he asked for...bread, yogurt, oranges, mushed bananas and then put it in the oven for him.

Then Dillon wanted everyone who finished their dinner to have some. Dang, I should have left some in the bottom of my bowl. Come on Kim, mom up and try some :)

Much to our collective relief, it actually turned out to be quite tasty. He may have some potential as a chef.

We will sure miss Florida and our wonderful hosts. One week is just too short. We have really enjoyed getting to know some relatives that we have not had a chance to spend much time with. Leah and Dillon could not have picked them out of a lineup before this vacation and now I think that Aunt Heather and Uncle Peter are contenders for the coveted favorite Aunt/Uncle title. We need to do this much more often. Maybe next year?!

We Survived Disney and LOVED it!

 When Aunt Heather and Uncle Peter decided not to join us at Disney World I thought I saw fear in their eyes, but didn't really think too much of it. That is until we waited in line for over an hour to get a picture with Ariel. I do not think I have ever seen that many people in one place before. We had a great time in spite of the crowds. I really want to thank the guy that invented the fast pass, it made the experience quite enjoyable. It is not only a big time saver, but it is also quite satisfying to skip past the masses of people in line. With Patrick running around the park gathering fast passes we were able to avoid lines almost entirely and Patrick honed his skills of running through a crowd. Overall we had a fantastic day.

 This was first thing in the morning before the place started to get crowded.

While waiting for our Buzz Lightyear fast pass to kick in we decided to hit the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. The kids and Kim made it on the screen and we learned quite a bit. Did you know that the capital of Canada is `C`?

 We lucked into a short character line with Stitch.

 Finally time for the first ride. They were pumped.

 Then off to Philharmagic. This was one of the highlights of the day.

 This was what Dillon thought of the Pirates of the Carribean.

 Leah was a little less enthused about the idea but she was brave and enjoyed it in the end.

 We stumbled on the dance party in the street.

 

 Waiting in line for Ariel we met some new friends.

Apparently we need to let Leah watch the Little Mermaid again. Ariel made a comment about letting Leah borrow her dinglehopper. Eric had to explain what a dinglehopper was.

 The parade was another highlight. We decided to brave the sun rather than the people. The other side of the street had shade, but it was packed. Leah was very excited about the princess float, as you can see.

 And the mandatory hats. We should have bought these earlier, they made tracking the kids much easier.

 

 We finished the day with a nice ride around the park on the steam train.

Again I must finish with the credits. Thank you Uncle Peter and Aunt Heather for making our dreams come true!

A Quiet Sunday in Orlando

It was a good thing that Sunday came in the middle of our vacation. We really needed a day of rest after the busy introduction to Orlando that Aunt Heather and Uncle Peter gave us. We were having some trouble keeping up with them and Sunday was a good excuse to slow down and catch our breath. We started off with a nice walk (without winter coats).

Uncle Peter helped Leah with her collection. She is determined to collect one memorable thing from each day.

 We decided that a trip to see the temple would be a nice way to spend Sunday morning.

 They had some trouble deciding who was going to kiss who's cheek and we almost wound up with a very funny picture.

Orange trees are a bit less common in Edmonton and one of Leah's main goals of this trip was to see a real orange tree.

 Then we spent the afternoon in the pool. As mentioned earlier, we had some trouble keeping up with Aunt Heather and Uncle Peter, you will notice that Patrick is not in these pictures. He needed a nap :)

 Leah tried to keep up with Uncle Peter in making a big splash.

 I think she lost.

One Fiss and two Fisher's. Perfect Picture!!

Thanks again to our wonderful hosts for another great day in the sun.

Sea World

Day three was another one full of adventure! We woke up bright and early and hit the road en route to Sea World. We arrived just as the gates opened so we didn't have to fight the crowds.

Leah has been looking forward to seeing the dolphins for weeks so that was the first place that we decided to check out. On our way to the dolphins some of us got to give high five to and feed the sting rays. When we reached the dolphins, Leah was hooked so we bought her a ticket to feed them. She was given a carton of fish and she had the opportunity to feel the dolphins while she fed them.. She was in heaven! After she was done feeding them, one of them jumped up and splashed us...absolutely soaking us. I guess that was his way of saying thank you!

After we fed the dolphins, we went and watched the dolphin show. It was probably one of the most amazing shows that we have ever seen! The trainers were fantastic and the animals were out of this world! It was outstanding! Leah was determined to get wet so we sat front and center and just like the signs promised we got soaked!

Then off to see Shamu...

Then off to the sea lions, otters and walruses...

We had an INCREDIBLE time! Sea World is so much fun! Thanks so much for taking us Aunt Heather and Uncle Peter! You Rock!