My niece Zoe turned 3 years old in May and she really has grown into a little girl. From the little baby that kept her mom and dad up constantly to the little toddler who was shy around her Aunty and Uncle to now this little girl who has such confidence and big smiles for everyone.
We all went to Airdrie for Zoe’s birthday and since we were travelling we decided to make it into our first mini-vacation of the year. We took an extra day and drove to Calgary to see the Calgary Zoo; specifically Dinosaus Alive, a special dinosaurs section where the dinosaurs move and roar, as both Owen and Brandon are all about dinosaurs right now. Owen asked about the dinosaurs all the way to Calgary — who ever thought that putting a DVD in and hoping for a peaceful and quiet drive to Calgary didn’t meet our kids! Owen chattered about dinosaurs, Brandon slept on and off and then the two of them played with toys, dropping them most of the time and needing Mommy to pick them up — good thing for long arms!
Once at the zoo, we headed straight for the dinosaurs, of course! The first couple made Brandon a little unsure but soon enough he was feeling a little braver was able to get a little closer. Only the first roar from the dinosaur made Owen jump, after that he was running right up to them, watching them roar and swing their tails, move their heads up and down. At one point Owen laughed and said “Mommy, the dinosaurs is talking to me!”
After the dinosaurs exhibit, we wandered through the rest of the zoo, specifically looking for elephants, monkeys and ice cream. We got a quick glance at the elephants, didn’t see the monkeys but found ice cream. It was a welcome break for everyone. While Owen loved the ice cream and patiently sat and licked his cone till it was done, Brandon dropped his right off the bat (the cold ice cream hit his hand and it upset him) and would not look at it, touch it, eat another one. Brandon opted for mini-Ritz and Goldfish crackers instead.
After the zoo we headed to Uncle Derek, Aunty Colette and Zoe’s house where we ate pizza for dinner and the kids played outside on Zoe’s birthday present — a play structure (those wooden ones with the climbing wall on one end, a ladder on the other and a slide and swings). Owen and Brandon loved it and played all night (while Colette and I headed to the new mall — well new for me — CrossIron Mills).
The boys also enjoyed the many outdoor toys Zoe had; golfing, skipping rope and blowing bubbles. It was a warm spring evening with lots of green grass to play on.
Saturday was a busy day, Uncle Derek, Zoe and the four of us went to Heritage Park in Calgary to see Thomas the Train. It was a special event where Thomas the Train pulled us around the train track a few times; then there was photo opportunities with Thomas (the boys were excited at the idea but once we were there, they didn’t like the idea at all!). There were tents set up with Thomas the Train toy sets, temporarty tattoos and of course ice cream. We were in the first group of the day and thank goodness we chose to do the first group, it turned out to be hot and busy at the park.
It was a busy morning with Thomas and the sun was out and hot. The combination of all those things made for some very sleepy boys on the drive back to Zoe’s house. They were asleep before we left the parking lot — Brandon was actually asleep in the stroller before we got to the van. Owen and Brandon had their power naps in the van and were ready to go once we got to Zoe’s house — there was the slide and climbing wall and swings and toys to play with outside, no time for napping!
Late afternoon Zoe’s 3rd birthday party started up! Owen and Brandon were too distracted with the outdoor toys to pay much attention to the gifts, cake and pinata; it took quite the coaxing and convincing from Mom and Dad to get them to stop and join in; but once they joined in they filled up with cake and candy and thought Zoe’s birthday gifts were pretty cool. Zoe had a Tinkerbell birthday party with rainbow colored cake that Aunty Colette baked and a Tinkerbell pinata that Uncle Derek and Dave were brave enough to hold up for everyone to get a few pulls in before it burst open with candy and treats.
By dinner time you could tell Owen and Brandon were getting tired — they were crying over everything, irritable and Mom and Dad were slowly finding their patience was being tested. We decided to drive home that night (well Sean decided he would be up for driving home that night); we figured Owen and Brandon would get a better sleep in their own beds and boy did they ever! We were home by midnight, Owen slept till 7:30 am and Brandon slept until 9:45 am. They were in excellent spirits when they woke up and by noon they were down for a 2 hour nap (skipping lunch) and then in bed for the night by 7:30 pm. It was a busy two days that we all very much enjoyed but something Owen and Brandon are not use to….it caught up to us quickly.
Since our trip to Airdire, Owen talks about Thomas the Train (and how he pulled us along the train tracks) and the dinosaurs (how they talked to him) and Uncle Derek’s house quite a bit now. Brandon agrees wholeheartedly with Owen on every point!