Adventures in the 'Burgh: The weather outside is, well.....

I have never talked about the weather this much in my life before I moved to Canada. I mean, I talk about it more than my 91 year old grandma. Never has the weather had such control over my life either. It dictates my mood, what plans I'll be able to make (or carry out) and what plans I'll have to change. The weather seems to be getting consistently worse each year we're here. The winters are longer and colder and the "beautiful" summers we used to look forward to are practically non-existent. In the winter, I have low expectations. It's cold and snowy, for at least 6-7 months. I expect this. But the summer is a constant source of disappointment because you assume after being cooped up inside for months, you'll finally be outside enjoying nice warm temps. But enough about that...

Friday night was couples' night, planned by a friend of ours. We were going to check out the Taste of Edmonton but when we woke Friday to pouring rain and cool temps, we knew we'd have to go with plan B. We were all disappointed since we were looking forward to being outside and enjoying some nice weather, but what can you do? We headed down to Whyte Avenue instead, a hip, trendy stretch of bars, restaurants and shops down by the university. We had dinner at a fun Greek restaurant, Yianni's Taverna. They even had a belly dancer for entertainment and entertaining she was, dancing close to the patrons with this sultry come hither look and wrapping her scarf around their necks. It was a little intimidating, but fun to watch. She kept coming to our table trying to get the girls to dance with her. Everyone was too embarrassed, saying they hadn't had enough to drink. Obviously since I was drinking club soda, I was by far the most sober one, but I decided to go for it, cause I'm adventurous like that. I look crazy drunk in a couple of the dancing photos, but nope, just club soda. How ironic that the one with no waist was trying to shake her belly. At least I have a lot to shake! After dinner, the clouds parted, the skies cleared and people started coming out of the woodwork. We walked up and down Whyte Ave, stopping in a couple of bars to have a cocktail. We had all packed in my car and with 8 adults, I do mean packed, but it was perfect. Everyone could enjoy their night and get home safely since I was the designated driver home. What a fun night!

Sunday we were blessed with a warm sunny day and we're no fools. If it's sunny, you get outside and enjoy it because it might be pouring the next day. We ventured out to the Capital Ex fair, an annual event in Edmonton. It's like the Heart of Illinois fair on steroids. There are rides, games, live shows, concerts and fireworks and a surprising amount of things for little kids to do. This is our third year going and we've always enjoyed it, but this year was insanely crowded. I guess everyone else had the same idea about getting out to enjoy the weather. After only thirty minutes of battling the sweaty throngs of people, Dayven developed a case of major stroller rage and just started blasting through the crowd. More than once I heard "Ow! That guy ran over my foot!". He didn't care. He said he couldn't take one minute more. The kids still enjoyed it. Wyatt loves the small kiddie rides, like the race cars and the helicopters. Hadley's favorite is the carousel. They even have a cute little fun farm for the kids to pretend their farming. Afterward, we took the kids to dinner at an Italian pizzeria. They each got a scoop of gelato with their meal, which Wyatt barely touched of course. It was Hadley's first time tasting ice cream (can you believe that??) and she was highly impressed. "Hmmmm... Mommy, it's cold! Dis is soooo good". That's my girl!