What a busy weekend we had (and, in Dylan's eyes, probably one of the most exciting ever!)
Friday afternoon we were off to a wedding at St. Ann's Academy downtown (excitement #1- going DOWNTOWN!) Alan's workmate JV was getting married and we were invited. It was a lovely wedding, what I saw of it anyway. Dylan was doing really well at sitting quietly, until the bride finally arrived 30 minutes late. Then he started shouting, "Bride! Bride!" and jumping up and down on the pew. Eventually I took him out into the vestry (?) so people could actually hear the ceremony. Fortunately, there were several other toddlers in attendance, and we weren't the only ones who had to sneek out... As our good luck would have it, there was a huge construction site across the street, so we happily watched the "BIG crane" until the ceremony was over.
Between the wedding and the reception we went to Munro's Bookstore (Dylan loves it there, and enjoys pointing out all the books he already has at home) and Murchies coffee shop (one of my favourite Victoria locales). Alan, oh so wisely, shared a chocolate chunk cookie with Dylan who wiped it all over Daddy's clean cream-coloured trousers and his own dress shirt. I don't think I've ever heard him say "YUM" with quite that much enthusiasm. He was pumped full of sugar and ready to party the night away.
The reception was great. A real party atmosphere, with lots of music and dancing, and little kids galore. Dylan had the time of his life, racing around in circles and rocking out to the ukelele band (it's a long story)... And would you believe that my two-year old son caught the garter?!?! Unbelievable. When we finally got him home and into bed he was exhausted, and slept until 8 the next morning. What a treat for a v. tired mum!
Saturday, Dylan got to investigate our new dresser and chest of drawers and help Daddy and Grandpa assemble our new bed (I was out enjoying a belated birthday breakfast with Erie so missed the arrival of the "new" furniture into the house). It was a huge thrill for him, and the past two mornings he's come into our room to inform me that he "put new bed together with Daddy's screwdriver. " (as an aside, I am thrilled to have a real bed with an actual headboard, and two matching dressers!!! now if I can just get find a sale on some nice bedding and get a few prints up on the wall, it'll look like a real grown-up's bedroom! until the cradle comes in of course... and all the baby paraphernalia...)
Sunday was another day for digging in the dirt outside. We were just heading outside when Grandpa arrived for an impromptu visit with his tanker truck from work. Dylan was thrilled to see it, though a bit wary of getting too close ("too loud!") He really liked the big tires, and was happy to have Grandpa lift him up so he could take a peek inside. He just didn't want to get in there himself. After Grandpa left and we waved goodbye, we headed for the back garden. As I've said before, Dylan is wild for helping Daddy dig, move rocks, dump out the wheelbarrow and get filthy dirty. They accomplished a lot on Sunday. The retaining wall for the raised vegetable garden is up, the ground is level, the rocks have been moved to a new location (Alan plans to build something with them) and a lot of the wood has been shifted so it's not taking up so much of the driveway. I couldn't tear them away from the rubble to have lunch, so we had a picnic in the dirt instead. Dylan thought that was great (though he wasn't so keen on having his hands and face scrubbed clean before eating...) After nap time, it was back outside for a few more hours of fun, then we went to my mom and dad's for a hot dog roast (sitting around the firepit in their yard, bundled up against the breeze was v. reminiscent of camping) Dylan and Thomas had fun playing with the trucks, and being pulled around the yard in a wagon by big cousins Mercedes and Jaydin. It was another late night to bed, but I got him down in time to watch Desperate Housewives and eat a (small) bowl of chocolate ice cream before heading to bed myself. (and bless Alan's heart, he put away all the dishes so I wouldn't be tempted to get up at every commercial break to do it myself)
Whew! What a weekend. Long, busy, fun, exhausting... Thank goodness it's Monday! I need a break.
Erin
