Back to blue

I missed the old blue template, so we're back to that ...

It is cold in Cold Lake today ... -40 with the windchill ... good day to stay indoors with a baby who has a cough. Except, we had to go OUT doors this morning at 5:40 am to drive Peter to the base, so he could catch a bus at 6 am to drive to the airport in Edmonton. Not good ... at least Ainsley & I were able to come back home and go back to sleep until 9:00! She's such a good girl letting Mommy sleep in ; )

Peter is on his way to Germany for the week, he'll be back on Friday afternoon. Then, he is off until the second week of January! Oh, and did I mention that when he goes back to work he will be starting off the new year with surgery?! Yes, he has a hernia ... which apparently he's had since he was a teenager. He can remember feeling the bump inside his tummy, but it was never an issue. Last weekend though, he played road hockey and took a few too many hits to the stomach I guess. He was in pain all weekend after that, and finally saw the doctor and base surgeon on Monday ... they were a little surprised that it had gone unnoticed, especially since he is aircrew - technically it would be okay if something happened to him mid-flight because someone else is responsible for flying the plane! Anyway, the hernia will be repaired soon and hopefully we won't have to worry about it again.

In the meantime we are planning on enjoying a nice fluffy, white Christmas here in the west. We got quite a bit of snow last weekend so the ATV's are put away and the snowmobiles abound! Snowmobile parking at Tim Hortons' now open .. seriously. The roads have been pretty slick lately and I've been passed by several skidoos while cautiously driving into town!



We wish so much that we could be closer to our family this Christmas, but we're pretty excited to begin our own family traditions with Ainsley and watch her tear open her presents (and then eat the wrapping paper!)

That time of year ...

I am so behind in my blogging! It has been pretty busy around here. A few weekends ago, Ainsley & I drove to Edmonton to pick up Peter when he got back from California. We had a fun weekend shopping at WEM and eating out!

Last weekend we went to the Santa Claus parade in downtown Cold Lake. There was quite a turnout, the streets were lined with people and there were lots of floats too ... we were impressed! The neat thing about small town life is that, though there were alot of people out for the parade, we still saw several people we knew and their families.


On Saturday night we put up our Christmas tree and decorated it, while drinking eggnog of course. Ainsley enjoyed playing with what soft ornaments I could find for her to chew on and throw! Then, on Sunday we went to Moose Lake Provincial Park and went for a very long trek through the woods ... we were exhausted afterward, with the exception of Ainsley who got to nap for most of the hike :)

(They relaxed while I decorated the tree!)


This weekend the Christmas celebrations are starting. I have a Christmas dinner on Friday night with the girls ... then we have a Tacky Sweater Party to go to on Saturday night ... and then Sunday is the church Christmas potluck. The list continues ...

I am excited for Christmas; Ainsley already has a pretty good stash under the tree, and its going to be lots of fun watching her tear away (and probably eat) the wrapping paper.

Speaking of Ainsley - she is growing so much. She is 7 months old as of yesterday, and weighs 16 lbs., 3 ozs. She is sitting up and clapping, and able to put small pieces of food in her mouth by herself - with Mommy's supervision of course! She is also getting very good at handling her pink sippy cup and likes to drink her water from there. Also, she seems to be getting close to waving, but we're not sure. She & I will be heading to Ottawa in late January for a 2 week visit - I am very much looking forward to that! It will be interesting to see how the flight goes however ... I will be one of those people on the plane going back and forth down the aisle with the baby to keep her entertained! She is just the best little girl, sleeping very well (up to nearly 12 hrs. straight at night!), happy most of the time and curious about everything!!




I will try to keep up a little better ... not as much spare time as I used to have ; )

Team PM & Ainsley

Winter is here!

I think its safe to say that winter has come to Cold Lake. We had a bit of snow a couple days ago, and then got some more today ... about 8 cms. altogether. Fletch is loving it - and so am I - now when he comes in from being outside he's just wet, not muddy!

Today Ainsley had her 6 month immunizations and her flu shot. She did pretty well - just cried for a few seconds when the needles went in; almost made Mommy cry too!
She is up to 15 lbs., 11 ozs. and 26" long! She is growing so quickly! She is able to sit up on her own now for a few seconds at a time, and is rolling over lots.

Here are some shots of us getting ready to go out.





Ainsley is learning to sit up on her own ...


She likes to lunge at the camera though, and doesn't know how to stop and ends up rolling forward on to her tummy!


She has also figured out that when we pull out the camera, its time to smile and put on a good show!



She's a keeper : )

On Saturday Ainsley & I are heading to Edmonton to pick up Peter at the airport. Its been a long two weeks without him! Although he's been having a pretty good time away (he's on a night vision testing course in California), he misses us too. He said that a baby was crying in the restaurant he ate breakfast in this morning and it made him miss his munchkin : )

Team PM & Ainsley

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

Fall is here

Yesterday after church we took Ainsley & Fletch to the Provincial Park for a nice walk. It was perfect weather and a nice day to see the myriad of pretty fall colors.
But, of course, a walk wasn't adventurous enough - so Fletch decided to make it interesting for us. Upon first arriving at the park, one must first walk past the beach area and up a very steep hill to the nice walking trails ... so we did that ... and when I say steep hill, I mean so steep that you almost feel like you might fall backwards! I had Ainsley in the baby carrier on my chest, and Fletch was off leash chasing his ball. After a few minutes of walking Fletch disappeared into the woods .. we thought to retrieve his ball. Well, he got his ball and then decided to navigate through thick woods and steep terrain all in order to get down into the water! He made it down there and was swimming before we even got close enough to the edge to see him! Peter then had to navigate his way down to get him out of the lake. Ainsley & I waited patiently at the top, watching ... and accidentally scaring some ladies when we surprised them by emerging from the forest and back onto the path - oops, at least we don't look too threatening.


Eventually Peter and Fletch made it back up to us .. the amazing thing, I found out once they were back, was that Fletch somehow also managed to get down a 6-8 foot drop to the lake, after scaling the steep hill! What a crazy dog. He was not injured at all, but very wet. And, as punishment he had to stay on his leash for the rest of the walk! All drama aside, it was a very pretty walk complete with leaves and pine cones crunching under our feet - I love fall : )





Ainsley managed to stay awake for most of the walk, and was lulled to sleep sometime towards the end.



Team PM & Ainsley

A day in the life ....

These pictures weren't all taken on the same day, but they still portray a day in the life for our little Ainsley ... who seems to always be the subject of these blog postings now ; ) She kinda consumes my day, so you can appreciate me having a lot to say about her!

Here she is watching Baby Einstein ... she loves it and as you can see, she is quite intent on it!


More tv watching - she doesn't do it that often, I promise! She just looked so cute sitting there that I had to snap some pictures of the back of her little head - love that bald spot!


In the evening Ainsley & Peter have some play time. She & Daddy were practicing standing, though she was more interested in sucking on his fingers.


This was either pre-bath or just after bath ... anytime she can get those feet in her mouth she does. This was the first time she really figured out that she could grab them and munch away.


And, oh so cute in her outfit for church! She looked up and smiled at the perfect time.



We are enjoying fall in Cold Lake. I have to say that I am very impressed with the weather here these days. Crisp and sunny during the day - blue skies forever - and hardly a rainy day. The trees have turned color and the lake is very blue - it is quite pretty. I know that someday when we move from Cold Lake I will be sad to leave behind the lovely weather. Now, I might not be saying that in January - but Spring, Summer and Fall are so great here - I love it. And really, winter isn't that much different than anywhere else - except they don't plow the roads!!

Ainsley & I are off to pick up Peter from work.

Team PM & Ainsley