Canada - Part One

Ella and I arrived in Ottawa safely last Thursday and have spent a wonderful first 6 days with Stephanie, Matthew, Oscar and Alice. The weather has been unusually cold for this time of year and Ella and I have actually borrowed fleece sweaters to keep warm.
Friday, we took the kids to the Children's Museum across the river to Hull, Quebec...
On Sunday we went to Hog's Back Park on the Rideau Canal and the kids chased the geese and Ella rolled down her first hill...
Monday, Ella and I headed back to the canal at Hog's Back Park and walked along the waterfalls. We met a British couple feeding the birds, squirrels, chipmunks and a groundhog. They were kind enough to give Ella handfuls of peanuts and she too fed the 'wildlife'...
Today, we took the bus downtown to Parliament Hill. We did a tour of Center Block and saw the House, the library and the Senate. We saw the war memorial and the tomb of the unknown soldier, watched the changing of the guard, had lunch at an Irish pub, toured the grounds and at the end of a 5 hour day, Ella met a Royal Canadian Mounted Police horse named Ike....

Be Back Soon

Ella and I are off to Canada for 3 weeks... not sure if I'll be blogging at all. Wow! This will be the first time in over 4 years I've not blogged for more than a week.

Have a great few weeks! See you when we get back in mid-August :)

Another Sunday Drive in Texas

We headed out to Lost Maples State Park in the Hill Country and just enjoyed the afternoon looking at all the sites.....Ella climbed her first tree...While wading in the creek, she lost her balance and fell in... it was funny and we're happy she thought so too :)

SAMA

We went to the San Antonio Museum of Art on Tuesday. Ella loved it and after overhearing a lady use the word 'amazing', proceeded to exclaim that everything was 'amazing'!

Paint Playdate

Yesterday we had all the girls over from ballet class to paint and play in the sprinkler. It was so nice to get together and watch the kids enjoy their friends. I bought a toddler pool and we put it at the bottom of Ella's slide - big hit! They also decided to cool off by placing the sprinkler close enough to the playground so that they got wet while playing on the swings.

It was so nice, I got to hang out with friends while the kids were occupied with each other... it was a great, great day!

Here are the girls painting...
When asked, Ella declared she was painting "New York City!"
That's my girl! :)

Sunday Drive

We headed out for a drive to Guadalupe State Park but ended up just driving around and enjoying the countryside...

Guadalupe River....Alpaca Farm?....Sign at the park we stopped at to play in the playground...At home, view from our front porch....

Ella's New Friend

Catching up....

Last week, Ella found this little guy and declared him her pet. She REALLY needs a pet and we plan on getting a puppy when we get home from Canada in August :)...

4th of July

Catching Up....

Our 4th of July was very quiet, just us, some paint, a sprinkler and bugers on the grill....

Ella's First Pedicure

Still catching up...

On July 1st, (Happy Belated Canada Day!!!) I took Ella for her first pedicure with her friend Mia and Mia's Mom, Marisa. We found a cute nail salon that even had mini spa chairs for little girls. Ella was in heaven! I told her if she didn't sit still, we wouldn't come back, but I never had to worry about that because they had a DVD palyer attached to the chair.

Ella is becoming such a little person. I'm amazed and have fun with her everyday!

Botanical Gardens

Can't seem to keep caught up between this and my photography blog so we'll be doing a few update posts....

Last Tuesday:

We met up with our ballet friends at the San Antonio Botanical Gardens. It was blazing hot but the grounds are so beautiful. They are having a playhouse exhibit with 8 uniquely designed houses. The girls spent most of the time running and exploring. It was a great day :)