Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year, other than everyone being sick with colds! We headed over to Grandma Patty's for Christmas brunch & presents, then over to Grandma & Grandpa's for more presents and dinner. Addison played all day with her new toys, she wasn't really interested in opening all of her presents though, so we opened a few every day after Christmas too! It was our German exchange student, Julia's first Canadian Christmas too. She's been staying with us since August and will go home at the end of January.

Helping mommy blow out birthday candles on Christmas Eve. Colouring with Julia

Hiding under the table with her new friendGrandma & Grandpa's Christmas treeMmmm! Cookies!Addison thinks she is small enough to fit in her dolly's crib...we had to take it away for awhile after this.

Reading a Christmas book with Julia

Snow!

Addison was so thrilled with the snow this year, since last year she wasn't even walking or old enough to be interested in it. She didn't want to come back inside!

Christmas Card Picture!

Here is our official Christmas card picture! (courtesy of my sister, once again!). Addison was pretty grouchy this day, but we did manage to get a good one. Hope you are all having a great December!

Halloween

We had a very busy Halloween this year. Addison helped carve pumpkins for the first time...she wasn't so sure about touching the insides at first though! Our German exchange student, Julia, had her first Canadian Halloween. It's not anything the same in Germany, so she was quite excited.

We made quite the trek that night though - first to the mall for some trick-or-treating...Addison's first time doing that too. She figured it out pretty quick that if she lifted up her pumpkin basket, that she would get a treat put into it.

Then it was off to Grandma Patty's, and trick-or-treating at the clubhouse at her complex. Then off to Grandma & Grandpa's for some more treats and fireworks.

Fall 2009

I must apologize to anyone following that I am not a very good blogger. As soon as I am back to work, many things just seem to get put at the bottom of the list! I am teaching a wonderful grade 7 class this year in White Rock 4 days a week, but free time for me just does not happen anymore!

Anyways, here are a few pictures taken by my photographer sister. They really bring out Addison's personality. Addison has been changing so much lately - she RUNS as fast as she possibly can, and if she wants something, will take one of us by the hand and lead us there. She is very strong willed! Taking away the bottles is going to be tough for all of us, I have been seeing this for the past few months! So far she's down to 3 a day. Wish us luck!

Last week she had a fever of 103.5 degrees, so we took her to the doctor right away, and got her on the Tamiflu medication. The next day she was pretty much back to normal, but we STILL haven't gotten her test results back, 8 days later.

On the luggage rack at the hotel in Whistler


She's a comedian!

Bathtime is her favourite time of day!

Do you see this? Hair!! Hair that was not there 6 months ago!

Mischevious as usual...

Seattle - August 7-9th

We had been looking forward to being able to take Addison to the Woodland Park Zoo there for a long time - I HIGHLY recommend it. It's much better than our zoo in Vancouver, and my season's pass for our zoo gets me in free down there too. Their zoo has actually been there for over 100 years, so it's quite the sight. We're hoping to go back again before the summer is over.

Addison loved the African village they had. We're hoping Grandpa can build her a little thatched hut like this one!

First ride on a carousel - she didn't like the horse that went up and down, so we had to switch to a stationary one.

Pike Place market - BUSY on a Sunday!!

Mmmmm, fresh raspberries!

Addison loved the Dixie band. She was dancing along....

A day at Stanley Park

We decided to go to Stanley Park on one of the first days of the heat wave. It was busy! We went to the Aquarium but the line up was huge, so we decided to cool off at the water park for a bit first and come back later. Luckily the line up did get shorter, and we went for a few hours. Addison LOVED all the fish, especially the floor-to-ceiling fish tanks. And the beluga wales ("Baby Beluga" is her favourite song...just like mommy's was 27 years ago!).

I think I forgot to mention in the last post, but Addison started walking June 29th. She is pretty quick now, and getting into EVERYTHING. As soon as I clean up one mess, she is making another. I took her to the pediatritian she's seen since she was born, and he's extremely happy with her progress, and doesn't need to see her anymore. She is above the 75th percentile for all her measurements and her weight (this is for her corrected age of 15 months).

She seems to understand a lot of what we are talking about. Her first word, of course, was "woof". She sometimes sits up in her sleep, says "woof", and lays back down. It's quite hilarious. She also knows signs for "baby" and "more". She knows names for body parts, noises animals make, and different toys. It's amazing how far she's come in the past few months!

Vancouver Island

We went to Vancouver Island for the last weekend of June. My mom entered us all in a draw to win a gift certificate to the Long Beach Lodge in Tofino, and both her and Greg won. So we stayed at Tigh-Na-Mara in Parksville on the Friday night, and in Tofino on Saturday night. On the way home we stopped in Port Alberni to visit my family's old dog, Bentley, who was adopted by a family there.

On the ferry to the Island

In Parksville

Reading a book to herself

In Port Alberni - petroglyphs on Sproat lake

The Mars Water bombers have been kept there since the 1960's.This is our old dog, Bentley. We couldn't have asked for a better life for him! He LOVES the water!Captain Addison