Over fifty extended family members gathered in Edmonton over the Mother’s Day weekend to celebrate the  life of my Grandmother, Addie Manning, who turned 100 last October and passed away on February 1st, 2015. It was quite fitting that our events were based out of the Fairmont Hotel Macdonald, which was also celebrating it’s 100th year.

The best part of the weekend was the chaos of immersion with family. It was the first time that Hunter, Robin and Justin (a new addition to the family) got to hang out together and they were quickly dubbed the 3 amigo’s as they were always together – basically a 48 hour sleepover. We had an intimate ceremony at the gravesite and a joyful lunch with 50+ family and a few close friends, most of whom had travelled to be there for the weekend. It was a wonderful reminder of the reach and impact that we can all have in our lives.

No trip to Edmonton is complete without a stop at West Edmonton Mall. We ended up doing 2 visits – one with the greater gang to catch an afternoon at GalaxyLand and a second one to experience the rest of the mall and do a little shopping.

Hunter definitely enjoyed the mall – it was a toss up between all the neat things to do and the fact that he was wearing his Heely’s and had so much smooth surface to glide on. It was a fairly hectic whirlwind of a weekend and not our usual style yet still fun to catch up with everyone and make plans for this summer.