canada 2009

alex still loves the water - big surprise, as you can see. she had a great time in canada this year. the weather started out great for a few days then we had about a week straight of rain (that can get trying with a 2 year old) and finished up with some beautiful days. she got to swim, fish, boat (both motor and paddle), blow bubbles, recycle, dance, shop, catch frogs, and geez a whole bunch of stuff that i'm sure I can't list it all. we had several evenings of dancing to Little Richard after dinner (and we all had to participate - and so did the stuffed bears and moose). we had several evenings of pretending to be animals: alex assigned us each an animal that didn't change and if you didn't want to play she would plead in her sweetest voice "please...be animals." bopey was a monkey, uncle matt an elephant, normy-norm a crocodile, aunt jess a dolphin, mommy a dog, daddy a cat, and alex was a tiger. we never had the whole farm there all at once, but when she wanted to be animals you had to make sounds and body motions of your animal. alex had a pet frog the whole time we were there that she kept in a tupperware bowl that had holes in the top and also had water and a lily pad for the frog which alex named green puppy. every few days john would let green puppy go and catch a new one so they wouldn't die in their tupperware home. one night at the cabin before bed, alex grabbed green puppy and said, "green puppy the little frog, so glad you're here." alex has always loved shopping and it only got better in canada - at the grocery store in parry sound named sobey's they have mini shopping carts for little kids. alex loooooved the little shopping cart in the store (yes she has a fisher price one at home, but i guess it's not as great as having an actual mini cart in the grocery store to use). one time alex and i were shopping with bopey, so alex had her cart and bopey had her own cart. alex was following bopey around the store with her cart putting some stuff in hers and some (that wasn't good enough for her cart, i guess) into bopey's cart and if anyone got in between their carts alex would yell at them, "Hey, that's my friend bopey!" we went to a couple of fairs, a very nice drum one (well, technically it was the day lily festival, and they had some lovely flowers, but the drums were the reason we went) and the rosseau fair which has a playground, but of course the best part of the fairs for alex were all the dogs. she would say hi to all the dogs and when she could she would ask permission to pet the dogs. alex had some memorable quotes during vacation, here are some favorites:

after she expelled some gas, "oh! that's my butt!"

taking swimming breaks and saying we needed to go have a "little drink"

telling the lake "wait here water, i'll go get daddy."

and the all time favorite...

"uncle matt is always making noise...with his body."

you can't beat that for profoundness from a 2 year old.

well, we all had a lovely time and can't wait to go back next year. but alex was very happy to come home to see her friends kaya and chubby, and to return to school to see her friends makenna and grant.