easter weekend in sarnia

Our Easter weekend wasn't exactly the most food-centric. However I did capture this adorable moment Owen decided Great Grandma's angel food cake looked delicious even before its final coating of whipped cream!

Really, this whole weekend was about Owen and all the changes we've been seeing. As a parent you find there are just some weeks your baby/toddler seems to grow more in one week what you'd expect to see over the course of a month. Here are some of the new discoveries we had over the weekend.

While staying at the hotel, Owen showed us that he wants to walk Hot Tot and has been picking up her leash. So he took her walks up and down the hotel hallway. For anyone who's crazy enough to be 'those' people who stay at hotels with babies and dogs, you learn pretty quickly that you've struck gold when you find a way of keeping the two occupied simultaneously.

This was Owen's first moment walking on the grass. I know, strange to think. But Owen learned to walk just as it got cold, so we never had him playing in the yard. He spent the first 3 minutes getting used to the feeling of it.

Before long he was free as a bird!

I always said Owen's going to be my roller coaster buddy. He's a pro with the swings which we discovered at the tender age of 6 months, but now he's on board with slides. 

 Over and over again. He started out sliding with our hands guiding him down the slide, but soon enough we just let him rip right down.

 Then there's the playground equipment he needs our assistance with.

Owen's convinced he's a master at the stairs. As you can tell I'm not as comfortable as he is with this, especially outdoors.

But he's a cool little cucumber at the playground. Looks like we have an upcoming spring and summer with lots of playground fun!

We were so pumped about taking him to the animal farm since he's now calling animals by name and sounds. We expected to see him full of wonder with all the animals he reads about. But it wasn't what we expected at all as he seemed quite bored with the whole experience. Instead he loved to chase the nasty Canadian geese around. 

Geez, we could walk 10 steps to the Welland Canal Parkway and get the same experience!

I had trouble imagining how Owen would take to an Easter Egg Hunt. Our Easter Egg Hunt plan was to hide his Batman eggs in plain sight, give him his soft basket and see what happens. What could he possibly do without chocolate as motivation? I thought he'd pick up a random egg, put it in his mouth and then chuck it. 

Nope!

Much to my surprise, he got right on the idea of the hunt and picked up every single egg and in minutes they were all in his basket. 

 Then he dumped it and did it all over again.

OK, I'm not going to play innocent here, all along I said that I'd reward Owen with one chocolate Easter egg. A Reese Peanut Butter Egg to be exact. One taste and he was in love!

Traveling with a toddler and dog is not for the faint of heart. Owen's passed out pose here pretty much sums up how we felt come the end of the day Sunday. But it was an awesome weekend!

I don't keep a baby book and I guess this blog as the closest thing we have to one. In a few short weeks Owen will be a year and a half. But within just this past week we've seen Owen begin to sing songs with lyrics "mama & dada", dance up a storm, eat his whole meal with a fork, move onto a booster seat for meals, travel up and down stairs by himself (kinda scary, but he's quite successful), play with puppets and toys on his own using his imagination (even giving them voices). It's lots of fun watching him grow and it all feels so perfect just in time for spring!