July Celebrations

July started with Canada Day on the 1st.  It was a Sunday, and I was working that day, so we didn't have any big plans.  We did coordinate for church thought! - Jared and Gavin both wore white shirts with red ties, and I wore a white shirt with read accessories.  We had a nice dinner after I got home from work, and after Gavin was in bed Jared and I watched a CBC Special online of the Canada Day celebration on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.  It was commemorating the bicentennial anniversary or the War or 1812, and how this event really helped in shaping Canada's identity as a nation.

Thank goodness for Gavin's fridge magnets so that I was able to put a sign on our front door!

July 4th was my first day off of work.  We woke up early (Gavin wasn't so happy about that) and headed over to watch Balloon Fest.  We got there a little late so some of the balloons had already taken off and we didn't get to walk around and get up close as they were blowing up, but it was still fun and Gavin LOVED watching all the hot air balloons.  Of course he also loved the cinnamon rolls and chocolate milk we had for breakfast!

This was maybe my favourite balloon.  Notice the Canadian flag?!

This balloon went right over our head - we were able to straight up inside

Gavin loved waving his two flags around all day

After Balloon Fest we headed over to University Ave. to find a spot to watch the parade.  Gavin loved all the floats, the firetrucks, bands, and horses!  The army vehicles, with their guns and other loud noises, did scare Gavin a bit.  Anytime a green vehicle came by, whether it made any noise or not, Gavin would cover his ears and worn us to do the same.

 And of course I had to put a sign up for the 4th as well!

After the parade we all came home and had a long nap, then did some poppers, snakes, and sparklers before heading off to see the fireworks in the evening

Gavin doing fireworks with Jared.  He kept saying, "HOT!" and tried to blow them out

On our way to the show we picked up a Jamba Juice to share

Watching the show - Gavin loved staying up till close to midnight

I love Fireworks!

It was a fun week of celebrations!  I am so grateful to be from such a wonderful country, and grateful to be able to live in such another wonderful country.  We truly are blessed!  It was cute to see Gavin waving both his Canadian and American flags around, and I'm glad he gets to claim both these countries as home!

California Trip

Once again we had the annual Edgel Family California Beach Trip!  I'm so grateful for wonderful in-laws that plan this trip each year.  This was our fourth year (Gavin's third) and like always it was a fun trip.  We were on Mission Beach near San Diego, and our beach house was just a short walk from both the ocean and the bay.  Although I love the sound of the beach and waves, we spend alot of time on the bay side where there weren't any waves to scare Gavin.  The first time I took him down to the beach, we were watching a big wave come in, and next thing I know Gavin starts booking it up the beach back to the bike path yelling, "Coming! Coming!"  Later Jared took him down to show him that the waves stop and won't keep coming after him.

Unfortunately Jared somehow got a bad scratch or something on his eye the day we drove down, so he was stick inside alot of the trip because of how sensitive he was to light.  When we got to San Diego we went straight to an urgent care clinic, and from there they sent us over to the hospital ER.  Jared is such an amazing sport about things thought, and just kept saying, "It it what it is," and he made the best of it.  Luckily his eye is doing better now, not completely back to normal, but pretty close.

Here are a bunch of pictures from this years trip!  Enjoy!

Birthday gift for Gavin from Grandma and Grandpa 

Gavin loved going on bike rides most mornings.  It helped kept the house quiet until people were up

Playing football with uncles and cousins

By the end of the trip Gavin was actually really good with his squirt gun

Playing gameboy with Uncle Jayden

Digging holes with Grandpa

  

Down by the Bay

Tyler and Breanne (my future sister-in-law) were able to make it up for a few days which was fun.  Here they are with all the nephews

Catching crab thingy's at the beach (not sure what they're really called)

Playing at the park

On Sunday we walked outside the temple.  Apparently angle sounds like Rachel, because after telling Gavin there's an angel on top of the temple he thought it was Aunt Rachel up there!

After the temple and lunch we went to San Diego Old Town to the Mormon Battalion Museum

Gavin and Baby Logan

 Out for giant ice cream cones - Gavin thought this was the treat

Going To The Zoo!

About a month ago we took a trip to the zoo.  The new exhibit, Rocky Shores, has bears, seals, sea lons, and otters.   When I told Gavin we were going to see a polar bear that's all he could talk about the WHOLE drive up.  And the polar bear definitely was the highlight of our day! 

I love how they have the window both above and below the water. The seals were putting on a show for us

The polar bear would swim under the water right up to the window then push up off the window, out of the water and splash back on his back.  He kept doing this over and over, and Gavin got the best view!

Gavin was our navigator for the day...even thought the map was upside down most of the time!