Back to the "Grind".

Since we've arrived home from our Chicago vacation things have been a flurry of Dexter-care, laundry, thesis-editing (which is near impossible with a toddler who can't stay away from a keyboard), and nursing the cold I got on the airplane. Aches, pains, and congestion... be gone!

Being out in the city and blogging took a break.

But today I got back into my "grind" by having some bikey family time at Fort Edmonton Park. I say bikey because Don took me down a path in the river valley that I've never been on. We were at the park in 10 minutes!

Everything there is so quaint and period specific.

I would actually highly recommend going to the store at the Midway for presents for kids! They're all 1920s themed and well-priced. I saw two bike-related toys. Both are designed to clip onto your handlebars. One has an airplane with a propeller that will spin once you're pedalling and the other was a big spinning wheel.

Speaking of the Midway, they now have a little amusement park that emulates what a 1920s Midway would have looked like here in Edmonton. It was complete with rides, games, and freak show.

Concession.

And of course, a carousel!

It was Dexter's first ride.

Here is a very Pashley-looking tandem.

Then we left the Midway and took a stroll on the boardwalk.

Lots of people have their weddings down here and I can see why. There are so many great photographic opportunities and running around entire streets accurately themed for 1885, 1905, and 1920 is pretty fun. We were here for an event last year (for the ICLEI conference). People from governments all over the world were down in the park for a big party night and one guy from Finland said he was expecting a theme-park for Edmonton to be cheesy and artificial, but that Fort Edmonton Park was actually really authentic. It's not cheesy at all. Many of the buildings are still original but I believe they have been transported from their original locations within the city.

We looked inside the little telephone museum and noticed the Frank Lloyd Wright influence. Hello, picture rail!

Then we caught the street car! Judging from the sign on the front it looks like one that use to run in my neighbourhood of Belgravia.

Dexter and Dad causing trouble in the back.

Then it was time to head home. The ride down was so fun because it was crazy downhill. The way up was crazy UPHILL. It was a workout but I saw it coming and rode the Amsterdam instead of the Pashley. Phew!

Came home and quickly changed out of my sweaty dress into a non-sweaty dress.

Rode out and met Tom for dinner at New Asian Village.

We had mango lassis and mango pudding in addition to our savoury stuff.

Originally we were going to go swing dancing for a friend's birthday, but it got really windy and started to rain. By the time we finished up with dinner, the dancing in the park had wrapped up. We parted ways as he went to partake in the drinks portion of said birthday celebrations and I came home to see Dexter before bed.

Love the quiet ride home at night on tree-lined streets.

Managed not to get caught in the rain.

Handle.

Dress.

Nice to be back in the saddle. Family and friends via two wheels? Yes, definitely getting back into the swing of things.