Elle's Happy Birthday !

                            What were you doing at 5:30 am the Friday before March break started? Our family was falling out of our beds and tumbling into the van for the 50 min drive to Crystal Palace in Moncton N.B. to celebrate Elle's 6th birthday with 10 of her cousins!!! Crazy????Probably ,but it was so much fun! Every year the Friday before March break from 6-9 a.m. the indoor amusement park in Moncton has a customer appreciation event which means all the rides are free and a free breakfast is included also. Well,  we were there with bells on!! My brother Josh and his family stayed the night before with us and we traveled together in the morning, and Terry and Jenny with their 6 girls met us there for a few hours of fun!!

                                    Ryan and Elin having lots of fun!!

                                       Emily and Charley were big enough to go around together this year without a parent.....they were so happy!!

                            Jenny and baby Cameron

                                         Kaleigh, Elin, and Eva waiting for their turn on the Merry Go Round

                               I thought Elin would be too scared to get on her own horse, but she wasn't!! She didn't even want me to hold on to her...Crazy kid!!

                                            Elle and the rush to find the perfect horse!!

 

                                                    Happy bespectacled Eva

                                                    The sad pirate and his too short princess!!

                                               After our few hours of thrills and stomach butterflies, we headed across the street for the par-tay!! There is a huge MacDonalds with a big playroom, and boy did we ever have ourselves a time! You would think that the kids would be all worn out from getting up so early,running their little legs off for a few hours going from one ride to another to want to play some more, but you would be wrong.  Here is Jenny and Andrea having a rest while the kiddos were off playing again!

                                            Elle wanted a snake cake...I improvised a little to be able to get it from our kitchen to MacDonalds, but she was happy enough with it.

                                                    Happy baby Cameron

                                               Thank goodness they didn't fill in the maximum !! Between our 3 families we had 15 kids (we Skalings brought an extra little guy from our church to the fun that day too)on the play equipment , and there were other families there eating breakfast as well.

                                     Elle opening her gifts

                               

                                           Cupcake fun

                                            The blessings of cousins!!

                                       

                                     Me desperately needing that caffeine to kick in!! 

                                                     

                                                  New toys! It was such a fun, crazy few hours, and we were so happy to have been able to get all together, and Elle thinks it is the best party a girl could have..really 14 friends/cousins going to an amusement park with you? That is quite a party!!....anyone up for it again next year? We plan to be there!!

Going Home

                               After a great night of sleep (and lots of snuggling with Mommy!) Elin was one hungry girl!! She was so excited to see her breakfast tray arrive.

                                            She was in much better spirits and really  starting to feel like herself again

                              Uncle Terry, Aunt Jenny and Elin's 6 girl cousins gave her a very fun care package, which she was finally feeling good enough to get into after breakfast.

                                                    Dora stickers,..lots of love..get-better-soon notes..snacks and treats..She had so much fun looking through all of the loot.

                                                                      

                                                      After her wonderful Doctor came for his final visit, and gave us the a-o.k. to take our little one home, we started getting ready to go

                                                    Elin getting her special scarf on and helping me with my boots

                                   As we were pulling out of our parking spot, we noticed Ryan's good friend Jeff Woodcock pulling into the parking garage. He had come to visit us and see how we and Elin were doing. We were so happy to see a familiar face, and were glad we had not missed seeing him.

                                When we got to Jenny's house where the rest of our girlsie's were  happily staying we arrived in time for supper, and a fun get-to-gather for my birthday which was the next day. T.J., Sandra ,and their family came too.

         Elin loved her little cousin Tara. Notice Elin all climbed up on the table....she was supposed to be  mostly sedentary for a few more days, but do you think we could keep that turkey still?

                                    Lots of love and kisses for the baby.

                                        So finally that is behind us. We are so thankful for how the Lord took care of us, provided for us, and looked after Elin every moment of those 3 days. He is so good!!