White Christmas?

Houston got snow yesterday! For those who live in Utah and other snow-common areas, that may not be a big deal, but it rarely dips below freezing and/or snows here. It was the big news of Houston for everyone, and we were surprised that we actually got to show Eli what snow is. That's the first we've seen since we moved here. Unfortunately, snow is usually accompanied by very cold weather, and it was freezing last night. Of course, you wouldn't know it today. The sun is out and the temperature is about 20 degrees warmer than yesterday--much more my style. However, it is nice to have snow for Christmas, and though it's gone today, it was fun to see yesterday.

Thanksgiving in Gig Harbor

Though I'm sure he loved visiting Grandpa and Grandma Pratt, I think Eli will be grateful he won't be remembering his first Thanksgiving. I certainly have a lot of gratitude for a generally happy and pleasant baby. Unfortunately, Eli was not his usual on Thanksgiving. He left Houston with a cold, which got worse until he was running a fever and screaming all morning on Thanksgiving. Eli's happy temperment was overshadowed by his obvious pain for the majority of the trip. We did manage to take this somewhat deceiving picture on Thanksgiving as he managed to eat about two bites of squash. In fact, he must have lost his appetite because he wouldn't eat hardly anything while we were there. He's gradually getting his appetite back now that we're home, but he still seems to be fairly picky about what he eats. Before we left, he loved sweet potatoes, squash, etc. Now he barely touches them. If it doesn't have banana in it, forget it. Maybe it's just a stage, or maybe it's the after effects of a trip in which his mommy felt she was starving him. He finally ate some banana on the plane ride home, and he's been loving it ever since. As for the plane ride home, it was not a fun experience. On the way to Gig Harbor, some ladies told Josh that Eli gets the "best baby on a plane" award because he was so good. I guess we should never have accepted the award because it was a jinx. He definitely did not earn it on the flight from Seattle to Las Vegas. It was all Josh and I could do to keep Eli's crying to a minimum and avoid the stares (evil ones probably). I was tempted to call my parents during our two hours or so in the Vegas airport and have them come get Eli. No, just kidding. I was really thinking that it might be nice to avoid at least one flight on our way to St. George for Christmas, but we'd miss Josh too much. As a result, we will be flying again in two weeks, and I REALLY hope that it's much better. Otherwise, I may be saying NO to flying for a while. If you want to see Eli (since he's really the reason people want to see us nowadays) :-), you'll have to come to Houston. At least the flight to Las Vegas is much shorter than the one to Seattle, so here's hoping (fingers crossed) and praying (literally) that Eli lives up to his once earned award.

Five Firsts

We've been experiencing many firsts around here lately.

1) First Babysitter--technically Eli's first babysitter was back in May when he was about six weeks old and I needed to go back to work to finish out the school year, but he wasn't aware of a lot at that point. We haven't had a babysitter since, and it was the first time we got one so that Josh and I could go on a date (it's more difficult when you don't have family around). Carolyn, a woman that I visit teach and Josh home teaches, babysat Eli for about two and half hours on Saturday night. It was a much needed date for Josh and me, but we learned why so many couples think about their baby when they're out. As we were leaving the house, Eli gave us this really confused look like he was asking, "Where are you going, and why are you leaving me?" It melted our hearts. Fortunately, he didn't cry, and Carolyn said he did just fine, but he was very excited to see us when we came home.


2) First Time Sleeping Through the Night--that same night we got a babysitter, Eli slept through the night without waking up even once. That's never happened before (yes, many of you can count your blessings now). Unfortunately, it was a one time occurence so far because he hasn't done it again. Maybe we need to get a babysitter again?


3) First Cold--I've had a cold for the last several days, and unfortunately, Eli got it too. I feel so bad for him! Of course, he has a lot of congestion, and I'm continually wiping his nose, which he hates. I can tell he has difficulty breathing at times, which may be one of the reasons he hasn't repeated sleeping through the night. Hopefully we'll both get better before going to Grandma and Grandpa Pratt's house for Thanksgiving next week.


4) First Time Saying Dada--Eli has been babbling a lot more lately, and last night he said dada about three times, much to Josh's delight (okay, I was happy too, though I had to remind Josh that it's easier to say than mama, and Eli still doesn't know who dada is yet). : )


5) First Time Pulling Himself Up into a Standing Position--Eli surprised me the other day by pulling himself up onto the stereo. Later he pulled himself up onto a filing box, and he tries to do it now with the coffee table and couch. So far the coffee table and couch are a little too high, but if my leg is in front of the coffee table, he can pull himself up by getting on my leg first. Here's a picture of him when he pulled himself up onto the stereo:

Indecision

The other day Eli seemed a little confused about which pacifier he wanted and which way he wanted it in his mouth. I thought it was funny and got lucky enough to capture it on camera.

Halloween Trunk or Treat

Our ward had its annual trunk or treat, so we went with The Wizard of Oz theme this year. Eli was the lion, Josh was the scarecrow, and the trunk was decorated with the emerald city, including the yellow brick road. It was a lot of fun to see all the children and their costumes!

Earlier in the week for FHE, we carved a pumpkin.

Eli ended up having red eyes in this shot, which sort of makes the picture even more funny. He was having a good time. He even had his lion growl down pretty well--no cowardly lion here.

Later that night, he tried to eat the rainbow from the emerald city (he'll eat any paper), and he ended up with a pretty funny joker mouth from the markers.

Honest Opinion (a.k.a. unpopular blog post)

(Warning: Please do not read if you get easily offended. I do not want hate mail, mean comments, or my apartment burned and my family ransomed.)

I guess it’s fitting that I finished a book about vampires on the day before Halloween. So, what did I think? I think I better preface my remarks first so that I don’t offend anyone. It’s interesting how something can be sickening to one person and loved by someone else. For example, Josh and I watched the film The Village when we were dating. He felt so sick in the middle of the movie that he had to leave the theater. I sat in my seat perplexed, wondering if I should follow but not really wanting to. I felt kind of bad for liking the movie since it was so obvious how he felt. A couple of years later we watched the DaVinci Code together. He had previously read the book but I had not, nor do I ever want to. I started feeling very sick in the middle of the movie, and when I asked Josh at the end what he thought, to my surprise he said he liked it. Several weeks ago Josh and I watched part of an episode of The Office. Everyone seems to rave about how great this sitcom is. Since we missed the first season of it, we were naturally curious to see what all the hoopla is about. We had to change the channel halfway into it, and we still don’t understand why everyone likes it so much.

With that said, I think most of you can guess by now that I wasn’t obsessed and addicted to Twilight like so many others seem to be. I can’t honestly say that it made me sick to my stomach, but it did have its moments where I was very disappointed, and I’m not eager to read the next three. I guess I would describe it this way: It’s pretty good for what it is, but what it is is somewhat questionable. In other words, it’s basically a 21st century equivalent of a gothic novel. If I judge it by those standards, I have to say that it’s good. It has romance/passion and terror—both essential in gothic literature as it evolved—and it keeps the reader excited and interested...mostly. Meyer sets up the novel well, and I have to admit (to my surprise) that she hooked me into it initially. Unfortunately, the novel then reveals that Edward is a vampire, and it starts to go downhill from there. Sure, I already knew Edward was a vampire from the beginning (How could I not with everyone talking about it?), but after he reveals he’s a vampire, the romance portion of the story takes over, and I’m afraid that’s what disappointed me. I almost stopped reading it then (and I did for a couple of days), but I continued more for closure (and under the notion that it couldn’t be horrible if LDS women were recommending it to me). Edward is a likeable enough character (he has his moments), though he’s certainly not perfect as Bella seems to think he is. Bella, on the other hand, is irritating to me. I liked her at first, but then she becomes a lovesick idiot, and it turned me off. It did get a little better for a couple of chapters at the end with the suspense of the tracker vampire James, but then it fizzled off again and didn’t end so well.

Truly, I cannot just judge this book by the standards of a gothic novel. Books are written and read in context, and I have to question why so many LDS women are hooked on this book and the others in the series. It may have been written by an LDS woman (which I also question), but Twilight was sensual enough, and I have to think that the other books in the series are much worse (I hope I’m wrong). I wondered before about the obsession with these novels, but I wonder more about it now. What is it exactly that is so appealing about them? If it’s the romance, count me out. I’m in no hurry to read the rest of the saga.

One final note: the novel has undertones of the Adam and Eve story (even the book cover gives that away), but it’s so twisted and somewhat blasphemous to me.

Austin

Josh had some time off last week, so we finally decided to take a trip up to Austin. We've been wanting to go for a couple of years because we've heard it's a great place for camping and outdoors. Plus, we didn't want to leave Texas without seeing the capital city of our state. It wasn't a long trip--just Thursday and Friday--but we had a good time and enjoyed what we saw.

On Thursday, we first toured the capitol building and learned a little more about Texas history. I was surprised by how many women have served as governor, senator, etc., even way back in the day when that wasn't too common.

Austin has a big park called Zilker Park. There are a number of things you can do within the park--swimming, hiking, etc.--but since our time was limited we just went to the Zilker Botanical Gardens.

We camped for the night at McKinney Falls State Park, and I decided that it's very deceptive here. I know it's almost November, but believe me, it is still very warm here this time of year. During the day it's usually in the high 70s to mid 80s, and I know it cools down at night, but I'm usually sleeping in my warm apartment. It's true that Austin is probably a couple of degrees cooler than Houston, but even Austin was very warm during the day while we were there. As a result, I was not expecting to freeze while we were camping, but I did. Fortunately, Eli seemed to be warm and just fine, but Josh and I had a long, cold night. I guess I need to get me some warm footsie pajamas like Eli has. It also didn't help that there was a burn ban, so we couldn't start a fire. I'm used to having a fire while camping. Anyway, we did enjoy the experience, even though we were cold.

The cold night on Thursday, however, turned into a hot day on Friday. We went hiking in the park and saw a couple of small waterfalls, an Indian cliff dwelling, and tons of turtles. We had some other things planned but decided to keep it a relaxing day, which it was. Overall, it was a great trip!

(P.S. He's not actually eating the pear. He just likes to bite on it because it soothes his gums.)

Growing Up

Eli doesn't like sitting around. I was told that he would probably sit on his own before he'd start crawling, but I guess Eli is determined to be different. He can sit up for a little while, but he soon topples over. On the other hand, he has carpet burns from moving faster and faster across the room and into the next. We really have to watch him carefully. I think he'll learn how to sit from crawling rather than learning how to crawl from sitting because when he is in crawling position, he sometimes leans back far enough that he is nearly sitting on his own. Go figure!

He's also understanding cause and effect a little better. We have a mirror in his room on the floor against the wall. He used to lunge into the mirror all the time trying to get at the boy in the mirror. I tried to help him understand that he would never reach the boy and would only get hurt instead. I think he's finally catching on because he doesn't really lunge forward into the glass anymore, though he'll still stare and occasionally lick the mirror.

His form of communication has changed too. He still has high pitched squeals, but he has added deep guttural sounds, what we like to call "monster" noises. Just recently he has been showing off his command of specific sounds such as the "ga" sound in the letter g and the "ba" sound in the letter b. He also seems to understand some of what is being said. He will respond and turn his head when I call his name, and when I tell him I love him, he will get a sheepish grin on his face. The best is when he gives me a very tender look and makes a specific noise that he only makes when he's looking at me that way. I'm probably reading too much into it, but it's as if he's saying I love you too.


Finally, he is sort of eating solid foods. We started with rice cereal, but he doesn't really seem to like it. He will eat bananas and carrots a little better, even though half still ends up on him rather than in him. That's all we've tried so far, but we will be adding others as we go along. I knew it would be a messy process, and I was right, but he does look really cute in his bib and high chair. He lets us know quite forcefully when he's sick of being in them. Remember the little baby Jack-Jack in the Disney movie The Incredibles? When Eli has had enough, he exhibits characteristics similar to Jack-Jack's superhero powers. He'll always be my angel, but he lets us know how he feels.

Hurricane Ike

I'm not going to include any photos with this because I'm sure the damage has been seen all over the news, but I wanted to share my thoughts and our experience during the hurricane. Basically, I don't really want to go through another hurricane again, although that's the risk we take living in Houston. If Ike was just a category two (though nearly three), I certainly wouldn't stick around for a four or five. For those who like adventure, it must have been a blast. For those like me, it was pretty scary. I couldn't sleep all night and realized that ear plugs are a necessity in our emergency supplies. Because it happened during the middle of the night and our power went out like everyone else's, we didn't see a whole lot, but we heard a ton. Banging, popping, creaking, crashing--you name it. I was just praying the whole time that our roof would not suddenly rip off. Eli was a little frightened when the eyewall first began hitting us, but we were fortunate that he slept through most of it.

When the worst of it passed, immediately around us the damage consisted of broken branches and fallen trees, ripped off shingles, broken fences, downed power lines, hanging traffic lights, and broken signs. We were thinking that wasn't too bad given what we had heard. Keep in mind that we couldn't see anything on television because of the massive power outage. All we had was a little battery-operated radio. It wasn't until Wednesday or Thursday that I actually saw the extensive damage to Galveston and the Bolivar Peninsula.

Of course, the worst for us and the millions of other Houstonians was (and still is for many)probably the lack of power. We were very fortunate that we never lost our water. The pressure was low for the first couple of days, and we were told to conserve, but we were still able to shower. Granted, it was a very cold shower, but at least it was a shower. I was preparing to revert back to my mission days where bucket baths were the norm.

I did, however, have to revert back to the candles and flashlights and lack of air conditioning. I was painfully reminded of how uncomfortable heat and humidity can be without AC. But once again, the Lord blessed us by sending a cold front, so the heat was only bad for the first two days after the hurricane. Once the cold front came, we opened our windows and doors and cooled down a bit. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes then became a problem. Poor little Eli!

One of the families in our ward that Josh home teaches got their power back the day of or the day after the hurricane and allowed us to use their freezer for our frozen goods. That was a blessing! We then put our refrigerated goods in our freezer that Josh had previously filled with ice, and most of our refrigerated items kept okay in the freezer until we got our power back on Wednesday afternoon (a great gift that we were given on my dad's birthday).

Even as I write this, there are many people without power still, even in our ward. Our church building still does not have power. Meetings were obviously cancelled last week, and I hear that they're trying to get a generator so that we can at least have sacrament meeting tomorrow.

Despite the problems, I have counted many blessings that we have received amid the chaos of the storm and its aftermath. Our lives were unharmed. The rain didn't linger, so we didn't get as much flooding as we could have. A cold front came in. Damage could certainly have been worse. Most of our food did not spoil. We never lost our water. Our power came back fairly quickly compared to many others'. Unlike many other emergencies and natural disasters, we were given warning of the hurricane's approach. We were given service opportunities. We got to spend more time with each other. We have a better idea of what we need in an emergency but were prepared for almost everything. We received word that Eli's cousin, Sophee, was born.

Random Thoughts and Photos

I wanted to show a few more pictures of Eli that I thought were cute and/or funny: http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/456459.a6c2a719489/overview He's really trying to crawl; he gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth. I find him half way under the coffee table or his swing, etc. It probably won't be too long before he makes me chase him down. He also loves his jumper right now. Josh and I find ourselves laughing as we see him jumping like crazy in it. Furthermore, he must be teething because he tries to chew on everything--coasters, coffee table leg, the hard part of his pacifier, etc. He's also showing signs that he's ready for solid foods. I have to be careful when I'm eating because he reaches for almost everything I eat. I'm going to wait a couple more weeks and then try him on rice cereal. He'll be six months by then. Wow!


Well, it looks like Hurricane Ike is definitely headed towards us. Whether we get a direct hit or not, we will certainly see a lot of rain and wind (and possibly tornadoes, they say). I sure hope the power doesn't go out. Fortunately, we are prepared, but I really don't want to use what we've prepared for. I went to the grocery store this morning to do my regular weekly grocery shopping. The stores were crazy. I'm glad we have our food and water storage and don't have to worry about that at the last minute.

Seven Wonders

Then there was one. A couple of days ago, on the 27th, I celebrated my 29th birthday. Only one more year in my twenties. Wow! As usual, my wonderful husband spoiled and surprised me. He loves surprising me; I just have to make it clear that there are some surprises I would not enjoy, which would make for a very unhappy birthday. Fortunately, this surprise was welcome.


After he came home from school, he gave me my first clue and said we were going to see the seven wonders of downtown Houston (according to Josh, of course). After we reached each destination, he gave me another clue and a gift. We ended up seeing some pretty interesting places downtown that I would probably not have seen otherwise. Wonder #1--an art waterfall exhibit. Wonder #2--the underground tunnels that lead to a whole bunch of shops, etc. Wonder #3--an amazing view from supposedly the 2nd tallest building in the U.S. Wonder #4--a beautiful park. Wonder #5--an interactive art bubble, which we actually never found because in typical Houston fashion it started pouring all of a sudden, and we had to take cover. Wonder #6--actually called the seven wonders, they are seven tall artistic pillars. Wonder #7--this was actually a sweet card and a kiss. Unexpected Wonder #8--a parking ticket. We didn't see the very high sign that said there was no parking between 4-6 pm.







At home, Josh surprised me with another gift--a food processor. We've been wanting to make our own baby food, so this is perfect. Plus, I hate cutting vegetables, so I hope this will save me some time preparing meals. Here's a link to what it looks like: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Magimix-4200-food-processor-white/dp/B000BWH8P2


We had a yummy cinnamon streusel cake. If you like them, you should try this one: http://www.mccormick.com/recipedetail.cfm?id=12545 The only problem was that we couldn't put candles on the cake because of the crunchy streusel layer on the top, so Josh held some (not 29) lighted candles while I blew them out.

Thanks to everyone on both sides of my family for the phone calls, cards, and gifts! Even Eli tried to give me one of the gifts I wanted the most--an uninterrupted night's sleep. He didn't quite make it, but he did very well that night. The problem is that I've been sick with a cold for the last couple of days, and I've been waking up around 3:30/4:00 every morning with congestion, and I've been unable to get back to sleep. What irony! Even more ironic is the fact that school started this week, and I'm not teaching, but I'm still sick. I guess I can't blame it on my students this time.

I am learning what it is truly like to be a mommy--there are no sick days! Eli has been very good, however. Either he isn't feeling well himself, which is a definite possibility, or he sympathizes with his mom. In any case, he has been trying to let me rest. For example, he woke up this morning at about 7:00, which is usual. I was feeling horrible and wanted to keep sleeping, of course, but I got up and bathed Eli. I started to play with him as usual, but he quickly went back to sleep and gave his mommy two and a half more hours of sleep. I was very grateful, and I'm hoping that it wasn't because he's coming down with what I've got.

Bigger in Texas?

We went to George Bush Park over the weekend. It's about half an hour from where we live. Josh loved it, but I wasn't a big fan of the creatures that were there. I thought my mom would enjoy the picture of the spider since she loves them so much. : ) We actually saw many--too many--but the camera was focusing on the background instead of the spiders on their huge webs, so this is the best one we have. We couldn't believe how big the snail was. Yes, that is a snail, not a small turtle! Maybe everything is bigger here in Texas. And we doubted! There was a dog running in the park that ran right in front of the snake without realizing it. A few more inches and.....well, good thing the dog was fast.

Startling Moves

Both to Josh's chagrin and amusement, I startle quite easily, and last night was one such occasion. After putting Eli to bed, I thought I heard some movement, so I went in to check on him, and that's when I screamed. There he was in his crib staring at me, similar to the picture below.

Sure, you say, he looks perfectly fine. Why scream? Well, I was expecting a sleepy baby who was lying on his back with his head in the opposite direction. He managed to do a 180, roll himself over, and prop himself up on his arms. He seemed quite eager to crawl himself right out of the crib. Normally the scene would have been suprising but fine, but in the dark, when I was expecting something else, it was very startling to see a face staring back at me like that. After all, remember, I am a girl who startles easily. Of course, my screaming then startled Eli because he started to cry. Poor guy! I guess he is no longer content to stay on his back when in his crib. He is quickly telling us that he is eager to move.

Astros Game

On Friday we took Eli to his first baseball game. We met up with Mike and Marci Freeman at Minute Maid Park for a game between the Houston Astros and the Arizona Diamondbacks. I'm afraid the game wasn't too exciting since the Astros were slaughtered (the final score was 12-2), but the atmosphere of the baseball game was still fun, and of course, it's always nice to be with friends.

After the game, they had Friday night fireworks, which were almost as good as the 4th of July. Eli was awestruck by the loud noises and bright lights. Truly, the noise was probably too loud (we tried covering his ears, but he didn't like it). Obviously we kept him up past his bedtime. Still, I think he had a good time. After all, he just loves going out and being with people.

1) 2)

1) Mike Freeman with his daughter, Ella

2) Outside Minute Maid Park

3) 4)

3) Past his bedtime or bored with the game?

4) Awed by the fireworks

Josh's Birthday

I said I was behind, and this proves it. Josh's birthday was on the 26th of July, which was just a few days after we got back from our trip. He turned the big 30. Of course, I can only tease him for a year because I will soon follow.

In the morning, we went to the Houston Temple, which is about 45 minutes North of where we live. I had thought about getting a babysitter for Eli, but because we extended our trip, it just didn't happen. We ended up just walking around the temple with Eli. It was still nice even though we didn't go in, but it was definitely hot, especially when compared to the Northwest.

For lunch, we went to Josh's favorite Mexican restaurant, which is nearby the temple. He likes it because you can get really good fajitas for two at a great price--$13.25. Believe me, we are stuffed by the time we finish.

Because we were still exhausted from our trip (time zone changes), Josh just wanted to rest, so I let him nap for the afternoon. Later in the evening, we went swimming. I was going to take him out to dinner for Greek food, which he loves but rarely gets, but we were too full from lunch. We did, however, open gifts and have birthday cake--angel food cake with cream filling and homemade blueberry sauce (made from the bluberries we picked in Washington). Yummy!

So, we didn't do anything big, but we did enjoy each other's company. Priceless!

Gig Harbor/Victoria Trip

We came home last week from our trip up to Gig Harbor and Canada, which was so much fun for all of us. Eli absolutely loved the adventure, and we all enjoyed being with family on both sides. Thanks to both sets of grandparents for making it happen for us!

We were a little worried about the flight with Eli, but he was such a good boy. He slept a lot of the way there. On the way back, he had a couple of accidents--one in which we had to change clothes--but he was still charming everyone around him as he likes to do. The flight attendants were in love (one offered to trade me my glass of water for Eli) and rewarded us by letting us take a picture in the cockpit of the airplane.

Everyone on the Pratt side of the family has now been able to see Eli, and he got to see his cousins for the first time. Two of those cousins are twins--Camden and Brennen--who were born just three weeks before Eli, so it's nice that he has cousins his own age (soon he will have another cousin--Sophee--close in age on the Grant side). Of course, Eli doesn't realize any of this at this point, but he will appreciate it some day. For now, we just get to look at the cute pictures of them together.

Eli also got to see his one living great grandparent--his great Grandma Rosie--and we were able to stay a night with her while we were in Gig Harbor. Josh and I love to hear her stories and marvel at her experiences. We love you Grandma Rosie!

Before going to Canada, we celebrated Dad Pratt's birthday, which was on the 13th. After coming back we had a birthday celebration for Josh, whose birthday was on the 26th (more about his birthday here in Houston in the next blog--sorry I'm way behind in my blogging). For both birthday celebrations, we did some grilling with the whole family. We surprised Josh with a banner and balloons, and we blindfolded him so he wouldn't know where he was going when we took him blueberry picking, which he loves to do. Actually, we didn't go blueberry picking until the next day because of time constraints, so initially he was blindfolded to go to the grocery store, which he easily guessed. Josh loves to ruin surprises :). However, we had a good time eating homemade ice cream and cobbler and picking blueberries. We later went to Point Defiance as part of his birthday too. He was able to do a little bit of hiking there, and we visited Fort Nisqually where we saw and heard about the settlement there. Because all of this pre-birthday celebration took some time, we ended up extending our stay in Gig Harbor by two days, which we didn't mind at all. Thank goodness Southwest lets you cancel flights, and thanks to Mom Pratt for rapid rewards!


We went up to Victoria, B.C., Canada on Monday the 14th with Mom and Dad Pratt and Megan. We drove about an hour and a half to Port Angeles, where we took the ferry. It was freezing out on the deck because of the wind, so I went inside and ended up falling asleep since I was still tired from time zone changes. It was about a 90 minute ferry ride to Victoria, and when we got there, we had to wait in a long line of cars to get through customs. When we finally got through, Dad Grant was waiting for us. He showed us to the hotel where we had a beautiful view of the water. Thanks to Mom and Dad Grant for such a nice place to stay!

Monday evening we ended up taking a stroll to downtown Victoria. On Tuesday, we visited the Parliament building with a big statue of Queen Victoria on the outside. Just because politics are so interesting to me, this was one of my favorite things to look at in Victoria. We got a brief history of the architect and how the building came about and a small introduction to parliamentary procedure. Basically, the architect was a fraud, the edifice was way too expensive, and the stained glass windows show the sun setting on the British empire, which was a no-no back when Great Britain was king of the hill.

After touring the Parliament Building, we visited Craigdarroch (meaning "rocky place") Castle. It, too, was interesting to me because I've always wanted to tour a castle. The history there showed that money does not equal happiness. It was a huge place with tons of rooms that were unfortunately not enjoyed by the whole family.

On Wednesday we went to Butchart Gardens. The gardens were absolutely beautiful, though the price was definitely not. My favorite were the Sunken Gardens and the Italian Gardens. On the way there, Eli had a blowout, which is somehow much worse when traveling. Fortunately, the sun was able to get out any staining. Most of the day was spent at Butchart, but in the evening, we went up to Sydney (known for its many bookstores). Everything had basically closed down by the time we got there, but it was a quaint little town with a nice view of the water, and we ate fish and chips.



On Thursday we went to Beacon Hill, a beautiful park with lots of ducks and a petting zoo. Eli loved to watch the ducks, and the flowers were just as beautiful as those enjoyed in Butchart Gardens. After Beacon Hill, we went to the beach, rocky but beautiful. Finally, we went to Chinatown where they supposedly have the smallest street in all of Canada. I think this was also the day (or maybe it was Tuesday) when Eli got a sample of the hotel swimming pool. He discovered that Houston swimming pools are a little bit warmer even though they aren't heated as the hotel one supposedly was. Needless to say, he was not a happy baby, though his swimming time only totaled a few minutes. The sauna on our room's balcony was a lot nicer, but Eli didn't get to try that for obvious reasons. Mommy and Daddy enjoyed it though!

Friday was Josh's favorite day as we did a little bit of hiking, which he loves to do. We went to Goldstream Provincial Park. Josh told us that the hike would be about a mile, but I swear (and so does Megan and Mom Pratt) that it was more like two or three because we kept going and going. Eli really seemed to enjoy it with his Daddy, though. Unfortunately, we lost Eli's hat (the really cute one that Uncle Kendall gave him) somewhere along the way, and we accidentally taped over the video footage we took of it. However, we did see some beautiful waterfalls at the beginning and end.

After hiking and eating lunch, Josh took us on a car ride to the end of the world. He, along with Mom and Dad Pratt's GPS system, got us where we needed to go though. We ended up at a lovely beach with a beautiful view of the ocean. Josh loved this, which explains why he wants to live on the coast someday.

On Saturday we (except Mom and Dad Grant, who went inside) took a look at the outside only of the Emily Carr House (she is a known artist and writer in Canada) and looked around a thrift shop (Josh's all-time favorite type of store) before we had to catch the ferry back to the States. Mom and Dad Grant caught a later ferry and met up with us on Sunday in Gig Harbor.

All in all, the trip was an adventure and one for the memory books. Unfortunately, Eli will not remember it, but he had a great time, and we always have the pictures and video footage. In fact, some of the footage includes Eli laughing as Grandma Grant tickled him. It was his first sustained laughter and still very rare (either he's not a laugher or he needs more time). We also caught him smiling on camera. Precious footage and photos. Great memories. Tons of fun.