Happy Birthday H!

It's my niece H's 5th birthday today - if you ask her how old she is, she says "I'm a handful!".

I came late to the birthday party (work) but just in time to put together the giant marble run that she got from her mom and dad. I now understand why my dad didn't want us around when he was putting things together - it's hard to concentrate when kids are climbing over you and trying to play with it already!

Heading back Home

Our last day in Edmonton was another quiet one. Dad and I picked up some groceries for Oma, then had a hot lunch with her. Our flight left in the evening, so we brought along some buns for supper which we ate while waiting in the airport.

I enjoyed my time in Alberta, meeting up again with a lot of the family members. But unfortunately, the cousins see each other so infrequently that we don't have much to say to each other. We all seemed to realize that after the 3 questions (Where are you working/going to school? What are you planning to do? And who's your boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse?), we ran out of things to say. At a reunion where we spend a few days together, we can get into deeper conversations, but when you haven't seen someone for years, it's harder. The next reunion is planned for 2012, and that's probably the next time I'll see most of the family.

Edmonton - The Partying Keeps on Going

The family got together one last time for church at my Oma's church. It's a very orthodox church, and since there was communion, anyone who wasn't a member of that church had to meet with the elders and fill in a form stating that they were a member in good standing of their home church. The list of names is then read by an elder at the start of the service - the poor man who got stuck doing it that day had 35 names to read! (Normally it's only two or three)

We had soup and buns in the basement after the service, then got to say our goodbyes to everyone. Back at Oma's, we had tea then went out for a walk. Supper was at R and C's - a nice light supper of soup and salad. Then it was off to my uncle's house for coffee and more goodbyes (to the same people!).

Edmonton - The Family Party

Dad and I had an awesome breakfast at C's - her husband R made up poached eggs, hash browns and homemade bacon (home smoked pork tenderloin). Amazingly delicious! My dad headed back to Oma's while I went shopping for drinks and snacks for the cousins' get together in the evening.

After getting changed at Oma's, I headed out with mom and dad to the hotel to help set up the room at the hotel, where we had a cocktail reception for just the immediate family (78 of the 115 made it). There were a few speeches and lots of stories about Oma, the graphs of the growing family that I put together were presented by my dad (in 10 years, there will be about 350 of us!!!), and of course, there were a lot of emotional family members. There was a wide selection of hors d'ouvres, which were brought out at intervals - a nice break from the stories when we could mingle with relatives we only see every few years.

Oma went out with 11 of her 12 children and their spouses for dinner while the cousins got together at one of the houses for pizza. After eating, we played a game of guesstures (a bit like charades) - boys vs. girls - and I'm happy to report that the girls won!

Edmonton - Day 4

We had a quiet day - visited my dad's brother in the morning, then went grocery shopping. We had supper at Oma's with my mom's sister and her husband and two of her kids, and another of my mom's sisters.

Edmonton - Day 3

I spent the day with my cousin C, who used to live in the same city as me, so we wanted to spend some time together and catch up. I got a tour of her new house, then we headed off to downtown Edmonton ... by a rather indirect route. Our first challenge was to find a parking lot that would let us pay! At the first two lots, our credit cards didn't work and we didn't have enough change, but the third lot had a person who could take cash.

We had lunch at Three Bananas - a cafe right near city hall. The food and atmosphere with both great. We then hiked to the Shaw Centre and down along the river. Edmonton isn't the most scenic city (especially in November!) but it was nice to get some exercise after all the coffee, cake and cookies!

I had supper at C's, along with her husband and her parents, who were also in town for Oma's birthday. We had a Korean barbecue - strips of marinated beef, grilled and wrapped in lettuce with grilled garlic. Delicious, but loud - the smoke detector kept going off! Her husband got plenty of exercise running around opening doors and windows and fanning the alarm.

Edmonton - Oma's 90th Birthday

For Oma's birthday breakfast, my mom made pancakes with berries and whipping cream. After cleaning up, my dad and I walked over to the mall and grocery store, returning "late" for lunch - my mom hadn't told us that we had to have lunch so early! While my mom and aunt set up the common area for my Oma's open house, I sat upstairs with Oma making a spreadsheet of all the family members and the years they were born. (My dad and uncle had decided that they wanted to see a trend line of the family growth and put me up the job of making it happen.)

The open house was CRAZY! There were over 100 guests, so many that we ran out of mugs and had to keep asking people if they were done so we could wash and reuse them. Oma really seemed to be enjoying herself, she was talking so much she hardly even got a chance to drink her coffee!

We had a quiet supper with Oma, my aunt, and one of my cousins who wasn't able to make it to the family celebration on the weekend, and a couple of uncles came over after for coffee.