Tag Archive | beach

Happy Birthday Miss Echo

6 years old… where has the time gone? My wee bionic baby is now 6 years old!! (for more on the journey that was her heart surgery go HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE) Since she is now a self proclaimed BIG GIRL she was in charge of planning out her wish list for things to do.

First of all, Wednesday before she joined us for shopping at Sam’s Club so she could pick out her very own birthday outfit. She settled on an adorable dress that cost me less than 6.00! Score! Then on Friday we went all the way to Target so she could pick out her own cake, candles, and icing for Daddy to write on the cake with… Pokemon, pink and white and pink.

Sign by Trinity

Her requests were pretty simple… but first she had to FaceTime with Nana and Baba and open her present from them and THEN talk to Grandma on the phone.

Next was the all important task of going to Toys’r’us to get the one thing Echo has been asking for for almost a whole year – her very own 18 inch doll. With 12 options it was a VERY serious decision!

After that was accomplished it was off to McDonald’s. Specifically one with a PLAY AREA. Ken and I had forgotten how loud those places are! She was so pleased. (we made sure to pack socks)

THEN it was off to the pool… which turned out to be closed for filtration issues… so we brainstormed with our homeschool buddies who were joining us and headed over to our favourite beach for presents, playing and general fun stuff.

Our evening was topped off with a visit from our friend Anthony, Chinese for dinner… CAKE of course…

And a most awesome costume gift!

Batman Girl with BATTLE SWORD

Playing VIDEO GAMES

I think we did good. She snuck into our closet at bedtime with her sword and her doll under the very blanket she was given post surgery. Happy Birthday little darling!

A Long Awaited Recounting…

Aug11

Ok so NOT as long awaited as DECEMBER… which I WILL cover BEFORE this December comes about… I hope! But I figured before I shared my Mom and Step-dad’s visit I REALLY should cover Karyn and Lauralee’s. The intrepid duo drove from Red Deer, Alberta all the way down to the Grand Canyon and back again. With a stop off of a week at our house in sunny Minnesota – in the summer – when Karyn is NEVER here (for some reason MOST of her visits occur in the middle of winter… who goes from ALBERTA to MINNESOTA in the winter? Well one of the most amazing aunties ever of course!).

We made sure to show them a little bit of the state – our favourite beach of course.

Karyn and I ducked out for our usual extensive Mall of America shopping – sadly one of my favourite stores is gone now BUT we did manage to find some hidden gems, spend a little cash and walk ourselves into the ground. SO – good day!

Did NOT purchase

BUBBLE TEA

We 3 adults joined Ken for an adult lunch. And some MORE shopping (poor Lauralee).

On my birthday (June 24th) the ladies watched our kids so we could go out for a lovely dinner.

First flowers that are REAL since our wedding!

Karyn drove us to the YMCA a few times and spoiled us horribly. So workouts and playing did not falter. Seriously, this has to be the healthiest summer EVER for this family – 2 miles either way, lots to do while there. ALL GOOD!

Karyn brought us a marvelous car full of gear. Canadian stuff, stuff from her childhood. Which put Trinity right over the moon. (the shirts she brought for us are in our Canada Day pictures on the post for Canada Day of course.)

We checked out the Como Zoo – because really when we did a comparison the animals at the pay zoo were not enough to make the donation only zoo less impressive. PLUS they had BUTTERFLIES!!!!

Trinity snuck off with her god mommy and Lauralee for ice cream and Mommy snuck off with Karyn and Lauralee for frozen yogurt. So there was even some sneaking around!

It was a wonderful visit, and as usual, not long enough. But then again, I doubt there could be a visit that we would feel was “long enough.” I am just so grateful they added us to their pilgrimage south. Now enjoy the rest of our pictures! I couldn’t resist adding more!