Fun times with friends and family!

We are back from our trip up north! We left for Edmonton last Friday and spent the weekend there with Brian's family, also making a trip to Martin and Angie's to see them. Lynsey discovered her birthday present from Brian's mom a bit early, so she was allowed to have her new train over the weekend - "All Aboard" was resonating in my head all weekend! We had a great time at Martin and Angie's - Lynsey at first just patted Asher on the head somewhat condescendingly, but eventually they did play together a bit:). We left for La Crete at 5pm on Monday and the drive went really well! Lynsey fell asleep around 8pm and slept pretty much the whole way! What a relaxing drive it was (from 8pm on anyway). We had such a great time in La Crete! I can't remember a week when I have visited so many people - I saw people I hadn't seen in ages and managed to make it to the house of every one of my sisters and brothers up there for a meal! I can't remember when I've eaten so well! Lynsey did so well for being away from home for so long - she had her moments of not wanting to nap, and even had one bad night, but she does that at home, too. The ride home was just as successful as the drive up there, so I think we will continue to stick with the strategy of leaving on long trips somewhat close to her bedtime.

I feel like she's changed quite a bit again in the last week! She is definitely developing a way of communicating with us, shaking her head when she doesn't want any more food, and sometimes it sounds like she's saying "no", although I'm not sure yet if it's deliberate. She makes a lot more sounds in general now than she did even a few weeks ago, especially when she gets excited! One thing that has developed that is not so cute is a bit of an attitude:(. I took her for a walk today and I was going to let her walk for a bit, since she gets tired of being in the stroller, but she refused to walk straight, constantly veering towards the road. When I would grab her and try to make her walk on the sidewalk she absolutely freaked out. Eventually I had to put a screaming Lynsey back in the stroller where she screamed most of the way home. I think part of the problem is that she is getting her one year molars on the left side top and bottom, but I also think she is growing up and growing some defiance while she's at it. I'm not really sure how to handle her little temper tantrums because she is too young to be disciplined, but I feel like I should be doing something to try and discourage this behaviour! I put her to bed as soon as we got home, but she only slept for half an hour and now I hear her on the monitor again. Very frustrating! Oh well - like everything else, this too shall pass!

I posted a bunch of pictures from our time in Edmonton and our visit up north. As you can see, I am hard-pressed to get a picture of Lynsey where she is not squinting like crazy. Every time she sees a camera these days I get this fake smile and I don't know how to get a real one out of her! Oh, well - one day I'm sure she'll find it funny to look back at our many squinty pictures of her:).