Since July........

I am not so good at this blogging thing. July was over 3 months ago. Needless to say alot has happened in the Dry family over the last 3 months however here are just a few:

* Elle and I went on a little vacation to my parents cabin on Vancouver Island for a week in August, Elle had a blast in the Lake and the boat and hanging out with all her little cousins.

* We went to Fairmont for the September long weekend with some of my family that live in Cochrane. They are always a fun bunch to be around and Elle enjoyed wearing everyones shoes but hers around the cabin, a fun hobby of hers!

* Elle turned 17 months, then 18 months, then 19 months and now is about to turn 20 months old this month!! Can't believe it.

*I started back at piano lessons in September after the summer break. I am really enjoying my lessons and it is great to feel like I am making progress. I have started a Christmas song for the Christmas Concert. I can't believe how fast Christmas is coming.

*Elle was a little skunk for Halloween and had a long day of trick or treating and visiting with all her family and friends. She especially likes to fill her treat bag from the candy bowls herself. And the best part is shaking and dancing with her boxes of smarties.

*The Dry Family will be expanding come April. We are expecting a new arrival April 15th . The pencil test says it is a little boy so we will see if it is accurate for two babies in a row.
Stay tuned for some updated pictures.

Cousins

MMMMM... Cookie! Elle and her cousin Emma had a great time visiting together when my sister and Emma came from Victoria over the summer. My sister Shannon came for a visit with Emma and we went and experienced a few of the great attractions that Calgary has to offer. These pics are from Heritage Park. I was very disoppointed with this outing as the boat ride was closed for repairs and that was the one thing i was most excited about...and of course no rain cheques.. .

Heritage Park

This is the Heritage park Train ride.

The Calgary Zoo being little 'Joey's'

Emma at Calaway Park way up high.

Me and my little rider

The girls checking out the view!

Emma and Elle are only 6 months apart so we are already seeing how as they get older that gap begins to get smaller and smaller as Elle catches up. I think these two are going to be really great little friends. We can't wait till Elle is old enough to travel for summers to Victoria and for Emma to come to Calgary to play. What fun it will be.

Elle & Dune Buggy's & Sand & Sun..........

(If you haven't already noticed I am a bit behind on the blogging.. so you are getting lots of posts in chronological order over a very short time, so I can catch up on everything that we have done in the last month.)

The Dry family went on a road trip to Utah in May! Some who know Curtis may know of his not so fond attitudes towards visiting Utah but this trip brought Utah out on top in his books! He even said that he would now rather visit Utah than Edmonton! (Sorry Katie)

We left and drove all night this way Elle was able to sleep all night and that always makes a road trip with a little one way easier. We arrived on May 16th a Saturday morning and the plan was for my parents to get into town from Victoria on the Sunday. We stayed with my aunt and uncle who I haven't seen in almost 2 years. It was great to catch up and we really enjoyed spending time with them. They hadn't met Elle yet so that was fun to introduce her. .
Now, we had only heard many, many, many great stories from my family about Sand duning so we were dying to see what all the fuss was about hence the big reason for our trip.

My Dad has a dune buggy and some ATVs that he keeps in the states, and my uncle who we stayed with also has a Dune buggy and AT V's as well. So off we go with our Caravan of toy holding trailers behind us. We travelled a couple hours before we arrive at our destination, or to what appears to be a humongous parking lot of sand with no one in sight, wind blowing so hard you can't even open the car door, and when you do you are completely exfoliated by all the sand blowing everywhere. I have to say my first impression of this leisure sport was not what I had expected. You could see the disappointment in my dad's face as he looked on our faces and told us how he had never seen a day like this before at the dunes... of course it would happen to us!

Thankfully the wind quickly passed and we found a camp spot with running water and flush toilets and we soon fell in love with the sand dunes. It was such a blast and Elle was also on board with the adventure of it all. She had her first ATV ride with Daddy, and then she had her first Dune buggy ride with Grandpa, Grandma and Mommy. You can tell from the pictures that she was so excited she fell asleep riding in the dune buggy every time. Puzzling since these machines are not quiet and it's not always the smoothest ride. When she did wake up there was always a smile on her face or I would hear her talking to herself in delight. It was so hot she was always slathered in sunscreen so she was always coated in Sand since those two things like to stick together. She has never been SO dirty but as all kids do, she loved it. There is one place there called "Sand Mountain" It is a700ft mountain and it is straight up. My dad took me up it in his dune buggy and the whole way up you are looking straight at the sky. It was a real thrill. Unfortunately for Curtis who was riding the ATV behind us, my dad forgot to tell him that he wouldn't be able to make it up this particular mountain on the ATV. We had to watch him as he gets halfway up and powers out and then realizes that he can't go up any more and he is going to fall off the mountain backwards. He stops and balances, his tires drop in the sand and he manages to jump off without catastrophe and pull the machine around and drive back down. Not an easy maneuver. That was nerve wracking. We all came away unscathed, though up until a couple weeks ago we were still getting the sand out of our ears! The pictures really don't do the dunes justice. It was so much fun. Curtis has even been dreaming about it.

Also while in Utah we were able to visit the Salt Lake temple. Curtis got a really cool shot of the temple but it is actually a picture of it reflected on a big fountain pond. See if you can spot it on the slide show.

Excitement in Edmonton

At the beginning of May Curtis had a work conference in Edmonton. Elle and I got to travel along with him and we made a weekend of it so we could visit with Mike and Katie~! We got to stay in a hotel for the duration which was nice to have someone else to clean up after us. We had a great time and after my most favorite stop: 'Bath and Body Works' (it's a serious addiction of mine, and is going to be bad when the store arrives in Calgary this summer) we even visited the West Edmonton Mall Amusement Park. Who would've thought an indoor park could be so much fun. It was not fun for Elle however, when she saw her daddy and mommy shooting up in the air and dropping down to the ground in no time and heard me screaming from losing my stomach up at the ceiling.....whoops. She was so upset and cried as if something awful was happening to us. She can be a bit sensitive and it is cute because it shows me just how much she loves us. She also does the same thing when Curtis 'tries' to wrestle with me. That's right Daddy...don't mess with mommy!

Elle's Leisure Suit

Just had to share some pictures of Elle in her Leisure suit. I think she looks pretty cute. Ready for a major kiddie workout! She got this outfit as a gift for her 1st birthday.

Elle's First Easter!!

Elle had her very first Easter this year. We spent it with friends at the Family Cabin in Fairmont. The Easter bunny brought Elle a big basket with lots of treats and toys. She also got a new swimsuit. Picture number six is Elle with a mouthful of smarties. I made the mistake of offering her one and she didn't take just one, but the whole handful. Before i could stop her she had them all stuffed in her mouth! She is a big fan of Easter.

Move over Cookie monster!

More Birthday Updates:

Elle loves cake..... what a shocker! We have been blessed with a baby who thinks asparagus, shrimp and peas are a real treat, so the only worry we had was that she might eat the whole cake and have a really awful tummy ache. Elle will eat anything(knock on wood) including an adult sized peice of cake. Here are some before and after shots. The video is yet to come. And in case you are wondering.. The tummy ache we worried about was replaced with a glazed over look we like to call---- Cake Overdose!

Happy Birthday Elle!

Yeah, Elle is 1

I can't believe how fast the last year has gone by. It was Elle's 1st birthday on March 27th, (Friday) We had a big bash on Saturday to celebrate. We have a ton of pictures and video that i need to get organized and then I will have a great new post with all of the excitement from the weekend, so stay tuned! Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate with us and spoil Elle rotten!

Elle's got some new tricks!

So alot has happened to our once very quiet and slower moving household since just before the new year. Our little baby has turned into a very quick and clever monkey. I guess we have been able to tell she was a monkey since the beginning, but now we really know it without a doubt. Among Elle's favorite new tricks is to sneak off to the stairs when Mommy and Daddy are occupied with something important and climb up all the way to the top... or wait on about the fourth step up and look back waiting for us to notice her, so she can give us that cheeky little grin that says... "look at me i am climbing the stairs and I know you will give me a good reaction". That reaction is running to the stairs before any accidents happen when Elle laughingly climbs up as many more steps as she can get up before we catch her. Instead of being stern or saying no we are broken down by her laughs and giggles because she is so excited about her little game. It is Sooo hard being angry when she thinks its so funny and is so proud of herself. Needless to say we are now outfitted with baby gates at the Dry household. Other pastimes Elle now enjoys are helping Mommy with the dishwasher. Let's just say this is more a hindrance than a help. She especially likes the knives and dirty spoons. We also have alot of fun playing music on Mommy's piano. Mommy cannot play a single song without her accompanist Elle! For Christmas she got her two front teeth and boy are they big and sharp she uses them to bite mommy, chew on her crib( I think she is going to chew off all the stain) and chew on pretty much anything else she can get her hands on. You know when you say "Oh, I just can't wait for them to start crawling and walking"..... Well you never quite know what your missing out on until it hits and then you can't even remember the days when you plopped them on the floor and gave them some toys and they were content to just sit there and play. Gone are those days! Elle is well on her way to walking. She stood on her own the other day for a good 40 seconds or so and we keep catching her testing herself to see how far she can reach to get somewhere standing up. She is trying to talk as well. Curtis or I will say something and then we will hear it being repeated and we will look at each other and try for 10 minutes to get her to say it again but she won't of course. We heard her say burp clear as a bell the other day. She also loves to say Dadda and will only say Mommy if she really wants to, or really wants my attention. If i try to get her to say Mommy she usually just smiles and says Dadda. She also uses sign language to communicate. She signs for milk or a drink, and signs for more when we are eating and signs for all done when we are eating. She loves music and will move to music if it is on. If i start to sing " If your happy and you know it" she claps her hands right away and gets all excited. She loves bath time and has also discovered how to flush the toilet all on her own. It just reminds me that they are always watching no matter how little! Stay tuned for more new developments

Our Christmas Adventures!

Here's a snipit into the Dry family christmas. We had a great time visiting all our family in Victoria for the holidays. Elle did lots of things for the very first time. Ice skating, building a snowman, sledding, making snow angels, her first christmas and staying up till midnight on New years just to name a few. We were tired out by the end of it all.