Catch up Time - Summer 2012

I have so much to tell you about and I plan to do it all in one blog post...sorry if it gets a little long, I am just so excited at all the fun and interesting things we have been upto in the past 4 weeks. I love summer time!

So where to begin, how about our trip to Gigi and Papa's after we got back from Tennessee - Mommy started her first week at her new job with Chartwell, at their head office in Mississauga which meant we got to hang out with Gigi for the week. Things started off with a bang, I got to open the Disney store in the mall one morning, everyday they let one special kid open the store, lucky me! I even got to take home my very own key, it was quite the experience...

During the week most of my friends in Toronto were at school or daycare but not everyone...we got to visit with Rebecca. It just so happened to be Rebecca's birthday while we were there, she turned 4 just like me. To celebrate Gigi took us out for a girls spa day, then we had a sleepover and the next day we had a birthday party at her house with all her sisters, it was so much fun!

Yes we are all wearing matching dresses in the above picture, I believe the response is "they were on sale", take a guess who said that!!! Thanks Gigi!

Next up was an adventure to see Grandmere up in Victoria Harbour. It turned out to be a nice day so we decided to check out this local castle and it was fantastic. There were the houses for a whole bunch of storytales, we had a blast!

 Check out Grandmere and I at the front gate of the castle, we are posing together!

 This was Goldilocks and the three bears house, they weren't home but we could see their table and chairs and all their beds inside!

The end of our stay in Mississauga was finished off by Paige and I going off our separate ways for a whole day. I got to spend a special day with Auntie Sarah and Paige got to a spend a fun day with our cousins Lynn and Larry. Auntie Sarah took me to a whole bunch of different parks where we fed the ducks, painted, played with water guns and went up and down on slides and swings, it was awesome.

Paige and Gigi took off to Oakville and spent the day with cousins Lynn and Larry. Larry and Paige decided to venture off on a hiking adventure in the woods behind their house, it sounds like they had lots of fun!

When we got back to Ottawa it was the start of my soccer season. I am playing with the World Soccer Academy and it is lots of fun. Daddy gets to help out with the training drills and then the last 20 mins we play 3 on 3 games, it has really helped me to learn how to play soccer. Actually, two weeks at practice the coach told Mommy that I am a natural and he asked me to show all the other kids how to do some moves...pretty cool!

Two weeks ago we had surprise visitors come to see us in Ottawa...Granny and Pop-Pop finally made their way north after their winter away in the warm USA! They came and stayed with us a for a few days and we had a great time doing lots of fun things, including going to a water park and an outdoor picnic. The picnic was something sponsored by Daddy's work, CHEO. Daddy was volunteering at the CHEO Teddy Bear Picnic, he was asked to be a surgeon and help fix little kids teddy bears. It was a beautiful day and there were lots of neat things to check out and do!

Here is Daddy checking out my Fozzie bear, he had a fever, cough and sore belly!!!

 Paige is very happy that Daddy was able to fix her bear and give her a clean bill of health! Daddy saw lots of bears that day and actually if you go on the Governor General of Canada's website and search the CHEO Teddy Bear Picnic you will see a picture of Daddy with Governor General and his wife. They brought their bear to Daddy too and he was able to fix it, way to go Daddy!

All of the Army and Police men were there with their trucks, cars and motorcycles and they let us get on them and turn on the lights and sirens, it was super neat!

At this picnic they also had a whole bunch of carnival rides, I loved all of them but Paige wasn't a big fan of the roller coaster, I think once she gets big like me she will see how much fun they are, she is still little!!!

 Here we are on a ride with Granny and Pop-Pop, it was the spinning strawberries, we were going really fast, it was so much fun! 

Well I am pooped, takes a lot to think of all these fun things we have been doing, we really are quite busy this summer. Of course I still need to blog about our wonderful Canada Day weekend but that will have to wait for another night, off to bed for me.

Good night y'all,

Emmie and Paige

Tennessee Here We Come - May 2012

We decided that it was time we made a trip back to Tennessee to see all of our friends. It has been one full year since we moved and we really miss everyone. Gigi, Mommy, Paige and I loaded up into the van and hit the road for the long drive. We spent the entire day on Gigi's birthday in the van and drove for 12 hours, but we made sure to stop for dinner to celebrate! After one 12 hour travel day and a second 4 hour day we finally arrived at our resort in the Smokey Mountains. It was a beautiful place, we had a really nice condo with tons of things to do.

Close to our resort was an outdoor race track and amusement rides area. I am now big enough to drive a go-kart all by myself, check it out below! Mommy said that it was so weird watching me drive a car all by myself!

Here is Mommy and I driving a water bumper cart, it was really neat, we managed to make it around the waterfall without getting wet due to mommy's goo driving skills!

 Our resort was only 1.5 hours from Johnson City so we were quite lucky to be able to have some of our friends visit us during the week. The first to visit was the Howells'; Ava, Sophia, Brigitte and their cousin Luke. We had so much fun hanging out at the many different pools at our resort! We are all great swimmers, I practiced so much on vacation that I can now swim with no water wings and I can jump in, go under water and swim back to the side in deep water, yeah me!

After a long day swimming, Sophia and I passed out in  bed together, we were pooped!

 The day the Howell's left our friends the Prudhomme's arrived; Kayla, Sadie, Bryley, April and their Nonnie! We hadn't met the newest addition, Bryley, she is super cute. It was so nice to have them come and visit with us at the resort. We did some swimming and we got to sit by the fire to warm up at night, it was awesome.

 The weather was beautiful while we were at the resort, check out the nice sun set we had one night!

 To finish the night off, Gigi made us all popcorn and we watched a movie, then off to bed we all went, took us a while to stop giggling but eventually we did!

 One place we love to go with the Prudhomme's is Dollywood, they first introduced us to this amusement park two years ago and we love it. It is set in the mountains and there are tons of fun rides and things to do. Here are all four of us girls meeting a beautiful princess, she was kind enough to pose for a picture with all of us!

 Paige got a little tired from all the running around, good thing is she will still take naps in the stroller, doesn't she look funny with her finger pushed up against her cheek, silly girl!

 Here is Kayla and I on the bumble bee ride together, we went on so many rides together, it was so much fun!

 While we were standing in line for a ride, April and Mommy kept telling us not to play on the metal bars because we will get hurt. Sure enough Sadie fell and split her chin open, there was blood everywhere and April had to leave the park with her and take her to the doctor to get stitches, poor Sadie. Sadie is really tough, she came back afterwards and got right back on the rides, no problem!

 After our fun adventures at the resort we headed into Johnson City for a few days, this is when Daddy got to meet up with us. He flew from Ottawa to Johnson city after he was done righting his last exam, he was really happy to see us! Our first night back in town, Jeff and Brigitte had us over for a BBQ and the girls and I played dress up and drove around their backyard on their riding tractor and four wheeler, it was a great night.

One night a whole bunch of our friends came out to a "Cookout" that April and Brigitte put together for us at the Prudhomme's new and absolutely wonderful home. It was so great to see everyone and get to meet all the new babies!!! Below you will see a picture of Dr. Kristin and her little guy Bodie, look at those blue eyes, aren't they adorable...

 There is Paige playing with baby Bryley, she is quite the jumper, she loves to bounce and Mommy kept saying she is the best baby ever!!!

 Last but not least is the newest addition to the Battel Family, baby Elsey, she looks so much like her daddy Chris! She is super cute and very happy too!

 This is a great picture of Miss Heather with her youngest Carson, she had the whole gang at the cookout, it was great to get to see everyone!

 Of course I was really happy to get to see my buddy Fisher! Here we are posing for the camera together, don't we make a cute couple...

 Here is baby Grant (not really a baby anymore) sitting with his mommy Brigitte, he too looks so much like his daddy! It was funny to see Grant and Paige together, as you might remember they were born just 12 days apart and they were cute little buddies when we moved!

 And look at this little man, this is Atley, he has gotten so big, hard to believe he is only 3 weeks older than Paige, he is super cute!

 Gigi and Paige hanging out near the end of the night, they were having lots of fun!

Our last day in town we went to one of our favourite places, Warrior path park, it was a beautiful day and we had a great time. There were lots of my friends there, it was awesome!

Here is what our van looked like on the night we hit the road back to Ottawa, we did so much shopping that we needed to add the roof rack! Mommy and Gigi love shopping at the outlets and of course Target/Kohl's!

We had a great last night in town with a bunch of friends at a restaurant on the water that friends we know now own. It was a great way to say goodbye. You will see below pictures of a dock with all of us kids standing on it, we were feeding the fish, there were tons! Of course at the very end of the night, one of us fell in the water...my buddy Fisher slipped and fell in, luckily Kayla and Ella were able to grab on to him until an adult could come and help, silly boy!

 Here we are all ready to go, Gigi and Paige in the back together, I was in the middle and Mommy and Daddy were in the front. Daddy drove for 9.5 hrs straight, then Gigi took over for a few hours and then Mommy finished off the drive!

 As you might be able to tell from the picture of me below, I really didn't want to leave, I kept asking if we could just buy back our old house and stay in Tennessee, I miss everyone so much!

 Look at this funny picture of Paige and Daddy sleeping!

Well, that pretty much sums up our vacation. We had a fantastic time, we can't thank everyone enough for their wonderful hospitality and for making the time to see us and create some more lovely memories. I already can't wait to go back!

Love y'all,

Emmie and Paige