Baby tales

It seems that my schedule is becoming too full of play dates, and invites to go here and there, ... all in the name of Ainsley! Cold Lake is seriously the best place on earth to have a baby. There are so many activities, and due to it being a small town you always see the same Moms - which means you actually get to know people! Its really great. A few mornings ago Ainsley & I went to our first day of 'Rhyme Time' at the Cold Lake public library. Ainsley's buddies Joel & Olivia were there (and their mommies) ... we sang songs and looked at books and did all kinds of fun actions. It was very cute! On Wednesdays we have playgroup at the Public Health Unit, this past week we dressed the babies up in their Halloween costumes - Ainsley was a cow!




Also, recently Ainsley has been eating baby cereal - she has it twice a day and she started carrots this past week. Mealtimes are becoming messier : )



She got a new hat and mitts in preparation for winter ... which isn't here yet, but we're sure it will be soon!




Yesterday Ainsley had her 6 month pictures taken at the Wal-Mart portrait studio. She looked SO cute and the pictures will be sent out as soon as we get them : ) I know I say it all the time, but its hard to believe my little baby is half a year old tomorrow!! She is growing so fast, and we are enjoying every moment of it! Especially the 11-12 hours of sleep she has each night ; )

Team PM & Ainsley

Sunday hike

I just had to post this picture - I took it yesterday before church. Ainsley is smiling just the perfect little smile :)


Yesterday we went for a 6 kilometer hike. We drove to Meadow Lake Provincial Park, about 40 minutes away and hiked around a lake and up to a lookout tower. It was so remote that we didn't see a single other human, or car for that matter. BUT, we did see several deer on our drive - about 8 crossed in front of us! We tried to get some pictures but didn't have the camera ready most times. We also saw a snowy owl in a tree - but he flew away before we could snap a picture. We were also on the lookout for a bear ... didn't see any of those ; )

This is one of the deer that we were able to get a picture of ... he jumped when my flash went off.


Ainsley was comfortable in her carrier and spent most of the time chewing her fingers.


The tower gave a really good view of two lakes - the larger Pierce Lake, and tiny little Lake Humphrey. We kinda wish we had done this hike a week or so ago since all the leaves are gone now!





Cold Lake is great for hiking and outdoorsy stuff, we are so close to countless trails and lakes - we will definitely miss that when we have to move back to a bigger city one day.

Team PM & Ainsley

Happy Thanksgiving!

It doesn't seem like that long ago that Peter & I packed up our little Renault and headed to Milton Keynes to spend Thanksgiving with Dave & Kristy ... and yet it has been a year! I can't believe that we are here at this time of year again ... one year ago this weekend we announced our exciting news that we were expecting a baby - and now she is 5 months old! (Unfortunately we don't have any exciting news this year, sorry.) We are sad to be spending Thanksgiving without family, again .. but we are very thankful for our great friends here in Cold Lake - many of whom are also very far from family (some are from as far away as South Africa!) We've decided to have a big potluck turkey dinner on Monday at the church, so we will get our fill of turkey - just sad that we won't have any leftovers. My mom makes the best leftover turkey sandwiches ... oh well.
Peter was off yesterday and also took Tuesday off so he has a very long weekend ... he is busy getting the sprinkler system winterized and finishing up a few details on the deck before the snow comes. We had our first frosty morning today ... that first frost always scares people when they look out their window and think the white stuff on the neighbour's roof is snow! Thank goodness it was just frost .. but I think the real white stuff is not too far away ...

I, of course, have some new pictures of Ainsley. She loves to read her bedtime story with Daddy ; ) She often looks up at him when she hears his voice while he's reading .


He's trying to teach her early about trains. I'm pretty sure his Dad didn't pay him to do this ...


It seems like she is trying to point out something or is taking a keen interest in the story, but really she is just trying to figure out a way to get that book in her mouth!


Ainsley & I went swimming last week with some other babies and their moms ... lots of fun! Another day she helped me bake in the kitchen : ) Fletch came to see if there were any scraps ...

Hope you all have a great weekend with family and friends.

Happy Thanksgiving from Cold Lake ... Team PM & Ainsley