Liam and the Busy Edmonton Weekend

During the summer my nephew Liam from Saskatoon came up to spend a week with my sister Monica and myself. Most of the week he hung out with Monica's family doing cool stuff like hanging at Galaxyland, Launchpad, Vertically Inclined, and watching the Guardians of the Galaxy movie. As the weekend approached I scooped him up to accompany me to a couple of events going on in the City.

Under 20 Women's World Cup Soccer

During August, Edmonton was one of the host cities of the U-20 Women's World Cup soccer tournament. On a rainy Firday night Liam and I attended a big double-header Group B matchup.

The steady rain led to a bunch of empty seats as the masses headed under the overhang of Commonwealth Stadium. Liam didn't seem to mind the rain so we ended up hanging out near the edge of the playing field for the barn-burner 5-5 draw between China and Germany (Eventual Gold Cup winners) and the slightly more tactical 1-0 USA win over Brazil.

Aside from the actual games their were multiple soccer based activities in the fan area including an impromptu pickup soccer game (Liam had a couple goals) and penalty kicks.

Downtown and Whyte Avenue

Probably my favorite summer activity and what I consider a "must do" for any visitors to the city is a trolley car ride between the downtown and Old Strathcona. 

In Old Strathcona we checked out the Farmer Market for deals and stopped off at Hub Cigar for a Pop Shoppe before heading back downtown. I think Liam picked a Lime Ricky just because it matched his Brazil shirt.

Getting off the trolley we stopped at neighboring Legislature Building and it's fountain to cool down.

Cariwest Parade 

From the Legislature Grounds we headed straight north upto Jasper Avenue to see the Cariwest Festival Parade.  As an impatient man I forced Liam to walk the parade route with me as opposed to sitting in one spot and watching it go by. He took no issues in my parade watching approach - apparently I share the same attention span of a pre-teen :)

Miss Cariwest 2014

Liam the ladies man

We finished our walk before the parade hit it's end point of Churchill Square so as we waited for it to finish we had a quick game of HORSE in Centennial Plaza.

The kid put up a good fight but after my 2 consecutive wins I took mercy on him and we proceeded back to the Cariwest festivities.

The Square was beyond packed so we only stuck around for a couple stage shows concluding (for us) with a capoeira demonstration.  

Animethon

Walking around downtown over the weekend you would occasionally run into young folks walking around with a tail pushing out of the back of their shirt or fuzzy elongated ears. The proliferation of cosplay steadily increased the closer you would get to MacEwan University. This could mean only one thing: Animethon!

I know nothing about Anime but I do love a good costume. So, Liam and I took a walk to people watch in the plaza area along 104th Avenue in front of the University.

Hanging with the Family

After power walking the centre of the City we headed back to Monica's place to meet up with her family, Chrissy and the recently arrived Stephanie. 

Not soon after arriving I was challenged to a water fight. My aqua warrior honor dictated that I accept. While I put on my gameface, Ren didn't take it quite so seriously.

Water fill up break for Liam; Chrissy chooses another liquid.

Stephanie wasn't too enthused about the water fight, she had her eye on another backyard activity: Playing on the Geodome. 

Very impressive Stephy! I think I can safely say you would make the best gymnast out of all of us siblings.