Galaxyland

We had planned to go to Edmonton's annual summer fair, Capital Ex, with my parents, but when the day came, it was pouring outside!  It was the only day that my mom was able to join us due to her work schedule, so we decided not to let the weather cancel our plans.  Plan B was to go to West Edmonton Mall's indoor amusement park, Galaxyland.  Our kids wanted to go on rides, and it didn't matter if it was at the fair or the indoor amusement park (not only that, Jason does not enjoy going to fairs)!  This year, Jeremy was able to go on many more rides.  We had a wonderful time (and we stayed nice and dry)!

Edmonton Eskimos

The Edmonton Eskimos are Edmonton's professional football team.  They play in the Canadian Football League, and though there are many similarities between the CFL and NFL, there are also several notable differences.  Our friend, Binh, gave us her company's tickets to go see the Edmonton Eskimos play at Commonwealth Stadium.  The seats were fantastic- we were in row 5 at the 55 yard line!  Binh's husband, Neil, came with us, and we invited Sarah to come, too.  It was Jason's first professional football game and though it wasn't the NFL, he says he really enjoyed it (I was half-expecting that he'd sit there the whole night and complain about the "stupid" CFL rules).  The Eskimos ended up winning their 5th game in a row. What a fun experience it was!  

Swimming Lessons

One thing we've done every summer these past few years is enroll Grace in swimming.  It's something for us to do since most people are working while we're up there and our days are always free.  This year, we decided to try Edmonton's newest recreation center, Terwillegar.  It's a beautiful indoor facility with a huge pool (several pools, actually), full-sized skating rinks, several full-sized gyms, exercising gym, indoor playground, classrooms, etc.  This was the first year that Jeremy took lessons.  I woke up bright and early in March when online registration opened to register both kids so that the times would coincide and we wouldn't be stuck at the pool all morning.  At the time, Jeremy did not enjoy being in the water, so we enrolled him in Parent & Tot lessons.  Who would've thought that in just a few short months, Jeremy would overcome his fear of water?  He has loved going in the pool with Jason and Grace.  Unfortunately though, there was no more room in the other 3-year-old swim classes.  It was pretty funny to see this "huge" 3 year old in with the other babies.  Grace did wonderfully, and though she is usually shy and reserved around new people, she even made a friend on her first day (it's a small world- as it turns out, my sister actually knows that girl's family).  Both kids had an awesome swim experience this past summer!

Jurassic Forest

Every year that we've visited Edmonton, we've tried to do at least one new thing.  It allows us to have something to look forward to in addition to doing the "same old things." This year, we visited one of Edmonton's newest attractions.  In the middle of nowhere, about 20 minutes north of Edmonton is a place called Jurassic Forest.  It's a forest with walking trails in which you encounter life-sized, realistic-looking dinosaurs.  The dinosaurs are sensored so they move and roar when you come up to them.   Our kids really enjoyed it. 

 Di Dao took a week off work while we were there, so she was able to come explore with us.

 The kids were excited to finally see the T-Rex (of course, at the very end of the trails).

There was a play area for the kids to play at after we had our picnic lunch.