Train Ride

Besides the Reynold-Alberta Museum, we had another fun adventure while grandma and grandpa were here for spring break.  One morning we rode the light rail downtown and back again.  Ethan loves trains and loved the train ride.  I think I found a new source of entertainment if I run out of ideas.

Reynolds-Alberta Museum

Saturday we traveled to Wetaskiwin, Alberta (less than an hour southeast of Edmonton) to visit the Reynolds-Alberta Museum.  According to the website the museum "interprets the impact of technological change in transportation, aviation, agriculture and industry from the 1890s to the present".  The museum had cars, bicycles, motorcycles, trucks, tractors, agricultural equipment, and airplanes on display.  There was also still part of a special exhibit called "Dinosaurs of the Field: Tractors That Built Alberta" which had several giant gasoline tractors that were used in Alberta from 1906 to 1921.  The museum is also home to Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame.  Everyone enjoyed the museum and agreed it was worth the trip.  Here's a few pictures from the museum.

 

There was even a little bit of Kansas there as one of the planes was built in Wichita and was named the Wichita Wiggler.

Too Much Snow

We've been noticing the slow progression of snow melt...first the primary streets melted, followed by the secondary streets, than we were seeing some curbs around town, and even a few spots of street in our cul-de-sac. Then we got hit by two heavy snows.  The first one was a slow storm and lasted for 3 days and dumped about a foot.  Then less than a week later we had another storm move through.  This was a quick storm and was only around for a day but was the heaviest snow we have seen since we've been here and gave us about another foot of snow.  I ventured out to the patio table to measure the snow because it looked really high although 14 inches wasn't as deep as I thought it looked (keep in mind all the snow on the table was melted 8 days previously and it did melt some between storms).

Those two feet of snow on top of what we still had means the piles on both side of our driveway are really tall.  We quickly figured out what to do with the snow at that point, you just start piling it in the street. 

The city started plowing residential streets between storms but with the second storm that was put a couple days behind schedule.  With the extra snow in the street, I'm sure their snow pile will be extra large when they do make it to our neighborhood next week.

Star Wars Identities: The Exhibit

A local museum has an exhibit nearing the end of its run that Wade was interested in visiting.  A couple weeks ago we decided to check it out.  I'm not a big Star Wars fan but I agreed to go anyways (I figured Ethan would wear out before me so I figured I was safe).  It wasn't that bad and I did think the displays that showed the development of the characters was interesting.  We also were given a special wristband that we used to answer 10 questions and come up with our Star Wars Identity.  I think Wade enjoyed it although he got really tired of carrying Ethan (his choice, I would have made him walk).  It was crowded and the lighting wasn't the best for photos so I didn't get carried away but here's what I took.

Daddy's Gift

This morning I told Ethan we needed to go shopping for a Birthday present for daddy.  Of course,  Ethan asked about his birthday and I had to explained several times it wasn't Ethan's birthday but daddy's.  I asked Ethan if he had any ideas what we should get daddy and he suggested a car.  I reminded him that daddy just got a new car.  Then he said "a pretend car, a Hot Wheel".  We started our shopping day with a stop at the mall for a little shopping.  When we got back to the car, Ethan reminded me that he wanted to get a gift for daddy, a car.  Finally after a couple more stops and Ethan insisting on still getting daddy a car and me not being able to talk him out of it, I caved and we stopped at Wal-Mart to pick out a Hot Wheel.  I tried to get Ethan to go with a cool sports car but he insisted on a truck that has a ramp to carry another car.  Then the last couple stops, Ethan kept asking to open the daddy's car.  Not sure how much Ethan is actually going to let daddy play with the new car but I'm sure daddy will still like it.

Making Roads

Ethan's favorite thing to do in the snow..."Make Road".  He's able to do it when shoveling the driveway or playing in the yard.  He gets a little upset with me for messing up the roads on the driveway but he gets over it quickly.

Two big things finalized

Exciting day today as we were able to finalize two big things that have been on our list for the last month.

1)  We got Ethan enrolled in preschool starting next fall.  We've looked at several schools and our favorite had a later enrollment so we were hoping that if we didn't get in, there would still be openings at some of the other ones.  Wade was able to get our online registration submitted quickly last week (Ethan and I were at swimming lessons).  It was first come first serve so we thought we would probably get in and today we heard we got in the Tuesday/Thursday class.

2)  We were able to get our cabin booked for our summer vacation.  We are doing another vacation with the Hansen family in July.  We decided on South Dakota and we were able to find a 6 bedroom cabin that was still available for dates that worked for everyone. 

Finally a snowman

The snow has been slowly melting and we haven't had to shovel in a couple weeks so we have hope that spring might be coming soon although I'm sure it's not the end of snow yet.  Last night we got a couple inches of snow and it was finally wet enough to make a snowman.  The snow wouldn't roll so it's not the best looking snowman but it doesn't really matter.

Delivery Day

Friday was an exciting day around our house with two big deliveries.  Our fridge had been making noises since we moved in and had progressively gotten worse.  Our landlords were able to find a good deal on a fridge and it was delivered Friday.  We are now enjoying a nice quite fridge.

While Ethan was napping we got another delivery, a care package from Grandma Carol and Grandpa Charlie.

Visitors - Round 1 and Round 2

Yeah, I've been slacking a little on blogging....

Wade's parents came up for a long weekend a couple weeks ago.  I think everyone had a good time and I know Ethan was really excited to play with grandma and papa. The weather was nice for most of their visit and we showed them a few things around town...West Edmonton Mall, Old Strathcona Farmers Market, Wade's office, and the downtown area.  Thane was nice enough to babysit one night so Wade and I could go out to dinner.  We ate at a very cozy restaurant called Niche.  The food was great although the highlight was the dessert.  It was called Breaking Coffee Cup and it was a small cup made out of chocolate filled with chocolate mousse.  They covered the outside of the cup with caramel liquor and lit it on fire.  All 5 of us also had a wonderful dinner one night at Normand's.  Thane had requested a restaurant with wild game and Normand's delivered and we ate wild boar, bison, lamb, and caribou. 

The following weekend we had our second visitors.  Some friends from Calgary came for a weekend visit.  Ethan had played with Erik's toys when we passed through Calgary on our drive up here so now he got to repay the favor.  The boys had a good time playing and it was a nice relaxing weekend.