Canada

Brace yourselves. I've been gone for a while and there are A LOT of photos to share. We left for Canada on July 4 (some say this is un-American, but we decided to take advantage of the holiday). Caroline and I were great travelers and I arrived in Prince Edward Island to find my cousin Bates at the airport. I was so excited to see him! It has been two years since we last saw each other in person, but we took to each other like long lost friends-- we're only four months a part in age.

Initially, the weather was not very warm, but we kept busy visiting with Grampy Bear and Pammy and running around like maniacs. Grampy took us to breakfast and to see his horses. We went down to the water behind his house and swung on the big swing together.

On Saturday Grampy, Pammy, Dad, Uncle Dave and Aunt Suzie all played in a golf tournament. Mom, Caroline and I spent the day with Jamma and went swimming at a terrific indoor pool (where camera's were not allowed). They had a huge waterslide and Mom took me down it about 15 times and I kept saying "Again!" after each time. The water was only 5 feet deep at the bottom, so Mom could come off the slide and land on her feet, holding me up so my face didn't even get wet! That night Caroline and I slept over at Jamma's cottage and had a great time.
We had our usual get-together with Dad's childhood friends, Brad, Dave and Scott. Between the four families there are now 10 little girls. At our last visit two years ago there were only 5, so everyone has been busy. If you're looking at the photo of us all by the swingset below, you will notice that Brad is not in the photo and the littlest addition to his family was sleeping inside.

On Monday we went to see a musical in the park with Jamma and Bates and then went to lunch where Bates and I liked to hug Caroline. That night we moved from Grampy Bear's house to our friend Lorie's house. You can see I made myself right at home on the ottoman in front of the fire. Monday night Grandma and Poppy arrived from South Bend and moved in with us. We were busy all week with the beach, dinners with family and the men played some golf.
Thursday night was the wedding rehearsal in Grampy Bear and Pammy's backyard. We did our practicing and tried to attract attention away from Uncle Shane as he asked us to do! Caroline and I had the rare opportunity to get our picture taken with all five of our grandparents and then we were off to the rehearsal party. There, Caroline was quite enamored with everyone's beer bottles.

On Friday we went to Jamma's for another party hosted by Great Aunt Charlotte and Great Uncle Robbie to catch up with the MacKeigan's and see Jamma's friends. Bates and I were very busy running all over the place and "eppercizing" by jumping on the stools.

Saturday was the big wedding day for Aunt Suzie and Shane. Dad spent the morning trying to get me tired out (we had breakfast, went to see Grampy's horse, swam, jumped on the trampoline, and went to Old McDonald's for lunch). I had a great nap and then woke up to get ready for flowergirl duty. Since I had gotten a fat lip the day before, this included make-up application, which I was quite pleased about.

Bates and I did a great job, but took turns deciding that we didn't want to stand at the front any more. Afterwards there was a champagne reception in the yard while we did pictures. We ran all over the place and thanks to the kindness of many people we were kept entertained until it was time to go to the reception.

We had a terrific time dancing and I kept it up until I was a zombie. Caroline had a nap in her stroller on the dance floor, but then popped up awake to do some dancing herself. We both were exhausted by the time we left with Grandma and Poppy. Everyone said how good we were, but as you might guess there was a price to pay on Sunday.

In between meltdowns we spent the afternoon at Jamma's cottage and flew a kite and played on the beach. Then we ended the day with dinner at Grampy Bear's to visit with our great grandparents and Great Aunt Mo.

We were all very sad to leave Monday morning and I want to know when we're going back!

Much love to all of our family and friends in PEI. We wish we could see you more often.