We brought Adeline all the way home from Vietnam without incident, but for some reason I was really dreading last weekends big car ride out to Ucluelet. It was about 5 hours each way with just a brief stop at Nana's house to eat a banana, play a bit and snuggle the world's most kid-friendly cat. The idea of a 5 HOUR road trip gave me the shivers, as it's only quite recently that Adeline stopped crying and thrashing every time she was put in the carseat. Our girl was great though - when she wasn't sleeping she played with her toys, listened to music, practiced her signing, hugged her stuffie, played peekaboo with herself and looked out the window. She only got really crabby once, and passing back a cookie solved that problem pretty quickly. It was only her third cookie ever, so it immediately took all her attention and concentration as she found it VERY delicious and didn't want to waste a crumb. There was no way we weren't going though, because this was the weekend of Adeline's...oh I don't know...second-cousins-but-more-like-aunt-and-uncle's wedding. It was a perfect west coast wedding on a glorious sunny autumn weekend, with a beach fire rehearsal dinner and a barefoot ceremony on the beach complete with the bride being rowed to shore by her father and then rowed away by her new husband. The reception was likely a very good time as well, as it was beautifully decorated, it was a great group of people and the band was just setting up, but unfortunately right after a tasty Mexican dinner we had to go, as Adeline was getting a little freaked out. Every time there was glass clinking and hooting (which was pretty often) she would get a bit panic-y and start to cry. She was already on edge and then well-meaning people tried to touch her and that set off a huge must-hug-Mama cryfest. Once my shoulder was completely wet with my poor girl's tears we knew it was time to go. Adeline hadn't had her regular naps and hadn't eaten well and wasn't having much fun, so we left around 7 for some quiet time back at the cabin and a long sweet sleep for everyone.
Some pictures from the weekend...

Adeline really loved the beach fire on friday night. Here she is having a sand appetizer before she enjoyed her very first hot dog. There were a lot of dogs there that night (canines, not wieners) and Adeline found this VERY exciting. She kept doing the sign and yelling "dog" and saying "woof woof". The dogs were a little less thrilled with her.

The beautiful bride being rowed to shore and the ceremony which was so perfect for the couple and brought tears to my eyes and reminded me of how lucky I am to have found my one true love. I don't usually post photos of people without their permission but hopefully they won't mind.
Here's Adeline after the ceremony standing by the driftwood and salal arbour. I'd like one of these beauties for my garden! Adeline can't won't stand by herself yet, but she was leaning just right to give the illusion that she's up on her own two feet. She enjoyed the ceremony a lot and had a great time meeting her big cousin who was so kind to her and walked her all over the beach and took every rock she gave him as if it was a jewel.
Here's Adeline already looking a little tense at the beginning of the reception. At least it distracted her from trying to pull out her hair clips. I'm just not ready to give up on hairdos even if Adeline would rather her hair was always unadorned (and uncombed too, if she really had her way). Soon I'll work up the courage to try pigtails again. She was soooooooooo upset with me the last time I tried that I've been reluctant to put either of us through that again.


Adeline had a fabulous time at the big beach at Wickinninish. The crashing pacific rim surf made her a little wary at first but within a minute she was right at home. I have so many great childhood memories of spending time on these beaches and it was really special to see Adeline enjoying them for the first time. We live just a few blocks from the ocean and go to our civilized city beaches, but they're just not the same as the wild west coast. Della got sandy from top to bottom and explored all sorts of kelp, driftwood and assorted flotsam. The rottener it was the more interesting she found it... Our reluctant walker (she gets jelly legs as soon as you try and put her on her feet) was happy to trot all over the beach holding one of her Nana's hands and with a huge chunk of slimy and sandy bull kelp in her other hand. She was practically running and had a huge grin on her face. Adeline really loved that piece of kelp but her family said NO to bringing it home as a souvenir, even if it was a great motivator to get her to walk.

It was a great weekend...no one wanted to be home on Monday and we all wished we were back at the beach.