Lennard took the day off on Friday and after getting everything packed up and loaded in to the van, we headed to Edmonton. Emma thinks that the drive to Lethbridge takes forever, so we were worried about how many meltdowns we would have. Thankfully, the headphones were a life saver! We put on a movie and they were hooked. Emma had some crayons and a coloring book to play with too. We stopped in Airdrie and wandered around the Cross Iron Mills Mall and got something to eat, although Ben wasn’t feeling good and wouldn’t eat much.
We made it to Edmonton around 4:00ish and hung out at Rachel & Cub’s place. We set up the air mattress we’d brought so that we could be ready for bed, but discovered that it had a hole in it. We ended up blowing up the other air mattress that we’d brought (just in case) and it ended up having a hole in it too. It ended up being a long night, not just because of the air mattress, but Ben was coughing so bad that he was awake most of the night. I ended up going upstairs and attempting to sleep on the couch with him.
The next morning (Saturday), we eventually got ready and headed over to the West Edmonton Mall. Ben was tired and I didn’t want to carry him the entire time, so we rented a double stroller that looked like a fire engine. The kids were excited just for that… and then we walked in to Galaxyland! The first thing Emma saw was the Merry-Go-Round, so, of course, that was the first ride of the day.
The next ride… yup… airplanes! No brainwashing in our family! About half way through the ride, they discovered that if they pulled back on the stick the plane would go up! They both had the time of their lives. I wasn’t able to get very many good pictures, but it was so much fun watching their expressions.
Once they got off the planes, they went on a really basic ride that just went around and around, but they got to pick out which vehicle they rode in. After that it was quads and motorcyles. Ben kept yelling to us as he went around the circle, “I’m beating Emma!” It was hilarious.
We then took them to the play place and they got to climb, slide, and jump to their hearts content. Ben was a little overwhelmed by it all and it took him a while to warm up, but Emma was off and running. We had a hard time keeping track of her in all the craziness! Ben loved the ball pits and eventually started climbing and sliding too. Lennard got in on the action and the kids thought it was great having their dad with them.
It was just about lunch time and so we wandered around the mall waiting for my parents to get there. We finally found each other amongst all the cheerleaders (there was a huge cheerleading competition going on in the mall). We had lunch together and then the kids wanted to show grandma and grandpa what rides they’d gone on. They suckered us in to buying a couple more tickets and going on the airplane ride one last time.
We finally decided it was time to go and, after saying goodbye to grandma and grandpa, we headed out to the van. I was walking with Emma and was watching a guy that was hanging out around the back of our van when I slipped on some ice and went down. I tried to keep Emma upright, but failed. She ended up with a couple banged knees and a muddy hand and I twisted my back badly. Once we got her calmed down and strapped in, it didn’t take very long for both of them to crash. They both slept all the way from the mall to Cabelas (where Lennard bought us a new air mattress), and over to Melissa’s house. Emma woke up when we stopped there, so she came in with me to see Melissa’s home. Ben woke up shortly afterwards and then we headed back to Rachel’s. Everyone that was up for the blessing came over after dinner to visit and play games (Us, Melissa, Mindy, Rachel, Roger, Mom and Dad – and spouses).
Emma and Lauren loved being able to ‘help’ get dinner ready. It was fun seeing them get to play together. They are the only girl cousins the same age. Of course, it was amazing to get to meet Brooke for the first time! She is a beautiful baby and quite the smiler.
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