Edmonton

After our time in Saskatoon, we were off to Edmonton. Erik gave me full permission to book a cheap hotel online, which I did.

I think Erik regretted it a bit when we showed up in Edmonton... They upgraded us to a "renovated" room b/c the elevators were broken, and let's just say that I wouldn't have wanted to see an UN-renovated room. And the surrounding neighbourhood was more than a little bit sketchy.... but I had a good attitude about it and figured that the room was really just for sleeping...

All the fun stuff was going to happen at the mall!

Watching skaters at the ice rink:

Taking the train ride at Galaxy Land:

Wish I could bottle the affection in this picture and save it for less-affectionate days...

Micah let me take him on his first roller coaster. And once he got his first taste of the thrill of amusement rides, he was hooked!

Our 2nd day there was our designated water park day. However, just moments before we headed out the door we had un unfortunate accident. Silas was pushed off the bed by his *adoring* big sister and hit the back of his head on the edge of the bed frame. It immediately started bleeding a lot and we decided to take him to a nearby walk-in clinic. The bleeding had mostly stopped by the time we arrived but Erik was brilliant enough to bring in the blood covered towel. One look at the towel and the crying baby and we were "fast-tracked" to a quick appointment. Erik overhead the receptionists talking about the baby with the "head laceration" and we were in and out of there in less than 15 minutes! In the end, the doctor decided it would be too tricky to stitch up a squirmy 17-month-old's head (even though he said it could've used 2 or 3 stitches) and recommended that we let nature do the healing. He will definitely have a scar, but thankfully it should be hidden in his hair.

As for the waterpark, the doctor understood our family's dilemma in only being in Edmonton for a short time. He said that going to the waterpark wouldn't be the worst thing we could do. So, we went. We took a little extra care with Silas' head and still had a great day.

(You can kind of see the wound here - on the lower left portion of his head.)

Micah and Keziah had so much fun. There was a new (to us) kids area that had an amazing splash park - er, make that a no-way-you-can-stay-dry park - with a big climbing structure and some really great kid-sized slides. So perfect! And as much as the kids would've been content to stay in that area all day, Erik decided to take Micah down some of the "grown-up" slides. The roller coaster at Galaxy Land was just a warm-up for the adventures Micah embarked on at the waterpark. He surprised us by loving all the big slides - even if he had to ride down alone in the pitch dark! He definitely has his daddy's love for thrills!

And the pool was a big hit too. When the horn signals that the waves are starting and all the kids scream, Micah and Keziah were right in there :)

We saw the sea lion show for free from up on the second floor. It was really good!

And that is the conclusion of our amazing summer adventure! I have no doubt that there are many more adventures to come...