Vancouver Vacation 2011!

Well ... so much has happened in the last 2 weeks for our little family. It's amazing how busy summer can get.. i think that's why I typically start getting excited for Christmas right around this time.. when life slows down and drinking hot chocolate by the fireplace with kisses on your cheek just seems so.... perfect.. and I look forward to it. (Sorry, but yes I am so excited for Christmas already!!!).

However, enough about the "the most wonderful time of year" it's still summer, so we are still going to enjoy it! These past few weeks have been a roller-coaster of emotions for both Brian and I. We have been both excited and sad.. have had smiles and tears. Brian has been off of work for the last 2 weeks on holidays which means I was on holidays too!! Extra arms to hold Carter during the day and Brian would even go get Carter in the morning and bring him to see me in bed which was always such a treat! To Start off his 2 weeks holidays, Brian and his brother Steven went on a weekend backpacking adventure through the mountains. So that meant I stayed home with Carter and worried for these two guys the entire time. Night time was the worst... in the 4 years that Bri and I have been married, not only have we never slept without eachother.. but we have NEVER gone up to bed without one another either... so I made sure to hang out with my wonderful mom the entire time and I made sure only to go upstairs to bed when I was so tired that it felt like my eyes were burning out of my head and I was sure I would fall right asleep. I am so glad that they did this together... But i Never want to fall asleep without my love by my side ever again.

On Monday August 1st, we took Carter to Riley Park... his first time there... and my first time there. It was so fun! He L.O.V.E.D crawling around.. exploring as usual but it took him a few minutes to get used to the "cold" water...

He really did not appreciate it at first but after about 5 minutes THEN he started to splash around in the water and enjoy himself a bit more. He is really not a fan of any water that is not AT LEAST "bath tub" worthy.

Our first week was full of exciting things. Aside from Riley Park we also had the chance to go to the Priddis Greens Golf Course.. which is absolutely B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L! I am doing a wedding shoot there in a few weeks and I am totally excited. It's going to be amazing! We also had a wedding consult at the Zoo for a couple of our old high school friends... It was so exciting to see them again after 6 years and I cant wait to photograph their wedding in September.. it is also going to be amazing! And to top it all off they let me bring Bri and Carter along so we could enjoy the zoo with them after. It was a great day!

We took Carter to his very first Birthday party for his 3 year old friend, Lincoln! He had his party at the Calgary Corn Maze.. which was brilliant by the way! You should totally take your kids there... its the perfect place to let them run around and get dirty! We will for sure be going back once Carter can actually run around... crawling is just a little .. to dirty for me (lol), plus we had family pictures that same afternoon right after we left the party. Brian's family wanted to take some family pictures before Steven left on his mission for two years.. so we all met down at Princess Island Park for an afternoon of hot weather and cranky babies... but absolutely beautiful pictures....

... so it was all worth it!

(Dad Reed & Carter)

(Jarren & Lena.. the Bennett Family!)

(Becky & Marsden)

(Our adorable nephew Marsden)

(Ben, Becky & Marsden.. the Grunewald family!)

(Steven... just days away from his mission... he was called to serve in the France Paris misson... and obviously... he will become fluent in french!)

(Mom & Dad Reed & Steven)

(Mom & Dad Reed... one of my favorites!)

(Bri, Carter and I.. the little Reed Family)

(Carter was the only one that would not smile for one single picture lol)

(The 4 greatest siblings! Steven, Becky, Lena & Brian)

It was a busy Saturday, but so much fun!

The next few days were a whirlwind of emotions. Steven left on his Mission on the morning of August 10th.

The days leading up to it were hard. Just incase some of you reading this are not sure of the ligistics of a mission.. heres a really quick explanation.. Young men (usually at age 19) and young women (usually at age 21) leave their homes, their families and friends and go serve the lord in another area of the world. You can choose if you want to serve a mission... it is not mandatory.. but you don't get to choose where you go. Steven was called to serve the people in the Paris France Mission (cool huh!!) You might remember me talking about Brian's mission.. he went when we were 19 too and he was called to serve in the Provo Utah mission. Steven left to the MTC (Missionary Traning Centre) on August 10th, where he will stay until October 10th. In this amount of time, steven will learn to read, write and speak french! Amazing Right!! What some people learn in years of education.. Steven will know in 2 months! We said our goodbyes for the next two years at the Calgary airport bright and early.

It was such a bitter-sweet feeling. We will miss him so much and think of him ever single day but we are so proud of him. He has grown up to be such an amazing young man and every single person who gets to meet him in france will be so blessed and Lucky!!

Carter had the hardest time "letting go" .. poor little guy he will miss his Uncle Steven!

We will have to make sure to always show him pictures! It felt unreal that he was leaving. I don't really think it has hit us yet... but I think the true realization will be this Sunday at Sunday dinner.. with no "Steven Humor" no making fun of me... and no poking carter and waking him up... I hate to admit it.. but I am going to miss that the most. We love ya Stevo!

Now it's time to get our heads into "snail-mail", emails and "dear-elders!" ... this Elder Reed could never get to many letters from this family! Time will fly and we will try our best to cherish every moment of him being the worlds BEST missionary!

To rip the bandaid off fast instead of slow.. we booked flights to leave on our vacation to vancouver leaving 1 hour after we said goodbye to Steven.

As first time parents flying with a baby we were a little nervous that Carter would cry the entire time seeing as he HATES sitting down, cuddling or being anywhere that he can't explore. So we did not have high hopes. However, Carter proved us wrong! He LOVED it.. and did great!

He watched some Treehouse TV...

...fell asleep while watching baby einstein movies and had a little 30 minute nap...

...looked out the window...

Basically.. Carter did amazing until we started to drive in our rental car... probably because it was a Ford and not a Subaru (Just Kidding DAD!! lol)

We took Carter to the Vancouver Aquarium when we first arrived. He LOVED it!

He was so intrigued by all of the colorful fish, big fish and small fish. He just wanted to touch EVERYTHING!

And of course one of the highlights of his day was riding with Kermit!

We saw these absolutely adorable Otter's who were so in love! They were just floating around holding hands... my heart melted!

We went and watched the dolphin show.. which surprisingly.. carter Hated! He was so scared every time the dolphins jumped out of the water (granted we were in the front row) he would cry. Bri and I really loved it.. but poor Carter was not impressed!

It was such a fun day! We loved it, Carter Loved it.... Success!

On Thursday August 11th, we decided to take a stroll in Stanley Park!

IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL!

We enjoyed every second of it, took a million pictures and .. we were in heaven!

Carter loved looking and touching every single branch, twig, leaf and flower!

He was definitely loving life.

I love how much Carter loves his Daddy. It makes my heart melt, and my lips Smile!

Also, on our adventuing through Stanely Park, I found this cute little flower that has a dark side! Yes... it is called a snap dragon! We walked by it and I said.. "look Bri how cute that flower is..." and Brian proceeded to show me that if you swueeze the base of the flower it opens like a dragon mouth!! I loved it! lol

This one is for you mom!! One of your favorite flowers!

I love vacationing with you Brian!

We took Carter on a really cute little train ride through a small part of Stanley Park..

He loved standing the entire time looking around..

It is always such a treasure to see Carter's little personality!

Everything about stanley park was amazing. The lushes brush, the colorful flowers and the H.U.G.E trees!!!

One of the best parts of vacation so far!

Thursday August 10th, 2011, marks an important day to remember! It was Carter's first Haircut Day! We took him to the Kids Market in Vancouver where they are "known" for the best kids haircut at the Hairloft!

And aside from the lighting being terrible for pictures.. it was really fun! Carter had really no emotion at all... I think he was a little confused.

And Voila! Carter showing you his little locks of hair kept safe in a little baggie for mommy to take home and scrapbook!!

You look so handsome Carter! And as a haircut celebration.. we went to the park!

... to be honest, I'm not really sure who is enjoying this more lol.

Friday was our day to go to the Beach and on our way there we stopped at the Capilano Suspension Bridge! (Not worth the money, but it was a cool experience)

Carter Loved picking the flowers... which will probably mean that I will never have a garden outside, but that I will always have an abundance of picked flowers on my kitchen table. And I'll love that!

The beach was beautiful! It makes me wish that we had the ocean in Calgary. Sikome lake is just not the same!

Carter was so content at the beach, just doing his own thing.... eating his cookie! It made a relaxing afternoon for Bri and I... so nice!

So, on our little vancouver vacation, we stayed at a beautiful hotel on the 19th floor and this was what we woke up to each morning..

That is the public library across the street in that really fun building! And then one morning.. I caught Brian doing this...

yes, flying paper airplaines off the balcony lol. Oh Brian...

Every evening, before we got Carter ready for bed.. we took him down to the pool to go for a little swim and to put his little toes in the hot tub.

Like anybody... the initial dip into the cold water is a little... less pleasant..

but once he was in ... he liked it!

And before we left our little Vacation to go back to the daily routines, the early morning alarm clocks and .. laundry... we rented a couple bikes and took once last glance at stanley park.

Bri and I both agree that this was one of the least expensive activity and probably the most fun!

Carter really liked it too! Aside from the helmet... but he forgot about it once we started moving. lol...

Our vacation this year was awesome! We had a great time.. and Brian and I both agree that Vacationing with a baby is definitely .. our style! We loved it!!