Down Day

When we woke up this morning, Nathan was still upset and wanted to stay in the hotel room.  We decided not to push him and instead, Avi and I took Alex out for a walk around town.  We found out the reunion made the front page of the Drumheller newspaper, which was pretty cool.  The article said our family has been in the town for one hundred years, arriving in 1912, which was also a neat fact to know.

Alex got to spend some time at the McDonald's.  He likes their summer advertising campaign of "Only a dollar, all summer" and was thrilled to repeat it for every passing customer.  There are times when the constant repetition wears on my nerves but it's great to see him so happy.

We had a great walk through the town.  It's very diverse scenery with the lushness of the river valley against the scoured stone hills.

It was quite warm and we ended up cooling off in a large fountain.  Alex was surprised when I told him he could go ahead and roll up his shorts and get his feet wet but he didn't waste any time waiting to see if I'd change my mind.

After our cool down, we had to visit Drumheller's major claim to fame: The World's Largest Dinosaur.  It actually is recorded with the Guiness World Record people.  We were a little disappointed to discover that the DQ sign beside it refers to a restaurant over a kilometre away.  Alex insisted on searching the entire parking lot and building to make sure we hadn't missed his opportunity for ice cream.

You can actually go inside the dinosaur and look out from inside its mouth.  Alex was very eager to climb the dinosaur.  I was less thrilled with climbing up four stories of stairs but the view is worth it.

After the walk, Shelby and Avi took the boys for a swim and I got myself a much needed nap after the fuss of the previous night.  That evening we went to Boston Pizza, eager to see if Alex would repeat his pizza sampling.  In retrospect, I should have kept him playing outside while the food was ordered.  It only took fifteen minutes, but it was enough for him to lose his patience.  Avi and Memee took him back to the hotel room and once he was going, Nathan insisted on leaving as well.

That night, Alex threw a tantrum at bedtime.  He did not want to lie down quietly and sleep but I couldn't let him bounce around since Nathan was already asleep in the bed.  Alex kept wanting to look out the window or watch TV but we couldn't give in with a tantrum already in progress.  Eventually he tired himself out but it's going to be another late night and short sleep for me.