Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

This was Paige’s first thanksgiving in Canada and it was a great celebration all weekend long. We got to see so many family and friends, it was fantastic! We headed to the big city of Toronto on friday, the Jeep was packed to the roof with all of our stuff and our dogs. As soon as we got into town Mommy took off to her hair dressers and then out for a Mommy’s only night out with the girls, sounds like she had lots of fun with Auntie Amy and a bunch of their friends. I asked Mommy if next time I can come, of course she said YES. Sorry no pics of that! But we did get many other nice pics.

I was super excited to get to see Papa and hang out watching cartoons in the morning, here is a pic of us just chillin together, Paige was still asleep, she was a sleepy head!

The weather was so fantastic this weekend we made sure to soak it all in. First thing Saturday morning we met up with Heidi and Leah at the Pumpkin farm, there were lots of people there but that didn’t stop us from having a great time. We got to pick some apples, pet some animals and go on a wagon ride, it was the perfect day!

All of us kids loved picking apples, the best part was getting to eat them after we picked them off the tree. Heidi and I also learnt the proper way to pick an apple “twist the apple towards the sky and then it will fall off, it it doesn’t then it isn’t ready”, how cool is that!

The animals in the petting zoo were really nice, they all loved being pet! Paige was a little scared but she quickly realized the animals were friendly and just wanted her to either feed them or pet them!

Look at this funny picture we took of all of us, everyone is looking except Paige, she kept trying to look at the picture, silly girl!

Paige took a real liking to baby Leah, she kept playing Peek-a-boo with Leah in her stroller, they both just kept laughing like crazy, it was super cute!

Gigi made us a really yummy thanksgiving dinner and she had the whole house decorated, it was really nice. Gigi is a very good cook, we loved everything!

After eating tons of food and having a great night, Paige and I got all cozy in bed and watched Lion King, it was the perfect ending to a great day!

Nothing like staying in one place for too long as the saying goes, we packed up on Sunday and headed north to Orillia to celebrate thanksgiving with the Hollinger gang. Great Gramma H. and Uncle Gordy splurged and treated everyone to a nice dinner at a restaurant. The entire family was there, it was great to see everyone.

We also got to meet the newest member of the family, our little cousin Gwendolyn, she is just 3 months old and she is really cute. Granny and Pop-Pop now have three granddaughters, they are very lucky! It was so nice out we decided to tackle taking some family pics. Poor Paige was playing a little shy with everyone because she doesn’t remember them as well as I do, but that will get better as she gets bigger like me!

After dinner with everyone all the cousins went swimming in the hotel pool attached the restaurant where a few of us were spending the night. It was lots of fun. Even Great Gramma H. came down to watch all of us swim, if you look closely in the picture below you can see her in the burgundy jacket!!!

My little cousin Presley was there and she is almost three, the two of us swam for over an hour, she is a fish just like me!

Check out this silly picture that Daddy took of Paige. She was playing in Mommy’s suitcase!!!

We had a great time visiting with Granny and Pop-Pop, Tata, Uncle Chris and Gwendolyn. We finished off our visit with a yummy breakfast brunch!

Our last stop on our trip was a visit with Grandmere. Luckily it is only a 20 min driver from Orillia to Victoria harbour so it was really nice to be able to get to see her. She hasn’t been feeling well and we thought a visit from us would cheer her up, plus we also brought her the biggest potted Mum ever just in case our smiley faces weren’t enough, hehe!

Daddy decided to help Grandmere out and mow part of her yard and he gave Paige and I a ride, it was super fun!

Right before we left Daddy took this great shot of all four generations!

Now I know this was a long blog, but we just had too many great pics to share with everyone. I have just one more pic and it was taken for Great Granny, she loves the fall time colour changing of the leaves and we thought she would love this one!

Well, I am pooped, it took us 7 hours to get home tonight and I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed. Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving!

Love y’all,

Emmie and Paige

Fall has arrived…lots of birthday fun!

Last weekend was packed with lots of fun. It was my daddy’s birthday, he is 33 years old, I can’t even count that high! For his birthday he wanted to run a half marathon, yes you aren’t the only one that thinks he is a little crazy!!! Luckily, Auntie Amy is crazy just like him and she had agreed a few months ago that she would run with him. She flew in from Toronto and they both ran a fantastic race. It was a beautiful day, a little chilly at the start but absolutely gorgeous by the time the race was over.

The race started downtown Ottawa right near the Parliament buildings and the 21.4 km circled across a few bridges, into Gatineau Quebec and then along side the Rideau. We met up with Daddy and Auntie Amy a few times along the route to cheer them on. There were 10,000 runners in their race, another 6,000 in the 5km race, there were tons of people!

Also on the very same weekend, it was Sophie’s birthday too! She is one year old already and Auntie Carrie and Uncle Brodie had a big party for her. We had lots of fun at her party, I think the best part was the cake we got to eat, it was very yummy! Paige couldn’t wait for her own plate, she dug right in with Sophie.

We have some great news, our nanny moved in two weeks ago. Her name is Letta and she is from the Philippines which is really far away…she showed me on my globe. She has been taking us to the park every day and I we have met some new friends too, Nora and Olivia, they have nannies just like Paige and I. Mommy and Daddy have been spending as much time as they can with us, it is an adjustment for our whole family now that Mommy and Daddy both work!!!

Daddy took me to the mall one night for some Daddy and Emmie time and I got to get my very own ice cream, it was delicious!

Daddy took Paige, Sophie and I one night after work while we waited for Mommy to get home. Here I am using my roller blades while Daddy pushed Sophie and Paige in the stroller! It was a really nice evening.

Well, it is getting close to bed time for me so I better finish up and say goodnight!

Love y’all,

Emmie and Paige

A great end to a fantastic Summer here in Canada!

It is hard to believe labour day weekend is almost over and summer is coming to an end…a little different than in Tennessee, summer definitely goes well into October! Yes we are missing Tennessee, wishing I was starting at Fordtown this week, I miss my teachers and my friends!

Daddy unfortunately had to work this weekend, taking care of some really sick itty bitty babies, good thing he loves his job because he has to spend lots of time there! Since he wasn’t around Gigi came up for a visit and took Paige, Mommy and I to Montreal for the weekend. What a wonderful city, we had a great time. So much to see and so much to do…great restaurants, shopping, the Biodome and Old Montreal!!! Oh one more thing, an awesome hotel with a really nice swimming pool…need I say more!

 

 

We met up with our cousin Saul for lunch today and he took us to a really nice french restaurant in Old Montreal, it was beautiful. Afterwards Gigi treated us to a Horse Carriage ride through old Montreal, it was really nice and our horse’s name was MiMi!

The BioDome was another really interesting place. It is where the old Olympic Stadium use to be from the Olympics that were held in Montreal in the 70’s. They converted the dome into an indoor zoo with tons of animals, Paige and I loved it!

Check out this beaver, he was so cool…he came all the way up to us and posed for a picture!

I think you can see from the pics, we had a great time, can’t wait to go back to Montreal, maybe next time Daddy will be able to come with us!

We also got to have a really special visit in August from Great Gramma Hollinger, she came all the way from Orillia to our house here in ottawa. It was great to get to spend some quality time with her. Thanks to Granny and Pop-Pop for bringing her all this way. We had a nice visit with the whole Hollinger gang, glad they got to spend some time with us in our new home!

We went to Mooney’s bay one night and had a great time checking out the pirate ship and playing at the park!

We also got to visit some of Daddy’s extended Hollinger/Beck family that live in Ottawa. Daddy hasn’t seen these relatives since he was a little boy. They had a beautiful house in Orleans and they had us over for a really nice lunch one afternoon, it was lots of fun. Daddy’s cousin Gwen brought out a whole bunch of her older daughters Barbie dolls for Paige and I to play with. The coolest thing of all was the really nice pond they had with real live fish, right in their backyard!!! I am hoping we will get to see them again, they were really nice.

I have been learning how to take pictures with Mommy’s camera, check out the picture I took of Pop-Pop with his Jeep when they were getting to leave, not too bad, I even managed to catch a glimpse of Great Gramma sitting in the front seat!

Here is a good picture Daddy took of Mommy and I that day while we were waving good-bye!

Another fun thing we got to do this summer was a go to a Blue Jays game with Papa and Uncle Ryan. We did this for Uncle Ryan’s 29th birthday, along with dinner at a really nice restaurant!

Oh…I almost forgot, I had my very first dance recital. I attended a dance camp with my friend Cassie in Oakville. Gigi kept Paige and I for the week while Mommy and Daddy stayed in Ottawa to work. I got to go to camp every day and on the last day we had a recital. Luckily Daddy and Mommy got to drive up for the recital. Everyone told me I did a great job!

Well, I think that is it for now, I am exhausted and need to head to bed. Hope everyone has a great start to September!!!

Love y’all,

Emmie and Paige