Vernon Trip Part II

The last half of our stay in Vernon was a lot quieter than at the start. All of Rob's extended family went home, and it even cooled off a bit outside, so things settled into more of a comfortable routine.
Rob and Ellie working on their pool skills. By the way, Ellie only fell into the pool one more time while we were there. :) And this time with a life jacket on! There's nothing like sunshine and swimming to make you pass out while watching Treehouse!

We had a tremendous thunder storm one night. It was then that we realized that the eaves were blocked. Dad, of course, fixed that problem...

...but not without getting soaked.
We got the chance to visit and catch up with some wonderful friends of ours. Above are the Bortucenes (minus Kristine) who are not only like family to us, but really know how to strike a pose. They had like, 2 seconds warning before I shot this picture. And look at them! World class posers. My kind of people.

Emily is a bundle of laughs. She is entertainment personified. She sweet talked me into coming upstairs to listen to her play violin. Hehe...after trying several different poses she decided the violin was best placed on the bed. Here she is playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star for me and Joshua. The whole thing was one note. Josh loved it. I pretended to. :)

Ellie had a blast with her new friend!

One of my all-time favorite BC friends, Kirsta, flew up from Vancouver to visit. We had a wonderful time catching up.

Random shot of Ellie in Grandma's clogs...and yeah, she still has a soother *sigh*.

The kids totally re-fell in love with their grandparents, just like every other visit.

Joshua looks a lot happier than he actually was for most of the trip! A visit to the walk-in clinic confirmed that he had pink eye (or something like it) and hay fever.

Ellie and Grandma became somewhat attached at the hip! Ellie was most often found tagging along to help Grandma with whatever she was doing. In this case, Ellie's helping to clean the garbage out of Grandma's new bathroom cabinets.
Watering the plants. Ellie didn't want to step on the prickles so she stood on Grandma's feet instead.

Grandma helping Ellie with her watermelon. I tell you, there's nothing like an extra set of willing hands to make a young mom feel like she's had a holiday!

Watching the boob toob. Well, Grandma's watching her little jewels watch the boob tube. :)

Oh yes! Another real highlight was when "Auntie Ancy" (Nancy) came to visit on Wednesday. What child could resist a loving, doting aunt like her? I'm an adult, and I can't! She is most definitely a baby person, and Joshua could tell. :)

After Auntie Nancy's visit Joshua got inspired to learn to sit (I won't tell why, Auntie Nancy!)...well almost.

And he figured while he was at it, he'd get better at standing. And hey, why stop there? After all, he did just celebrate his six month mark...

...he finally ditched the swaddle!! (It would have been helpful if he had chosen to do this at the beginning of the 40 degree week but we all know that babies are non-conformists.)
So after all those good times it was definitely with heavy hearts that we said goodbye. We were greeted at home with the most amazing lightning storm:

Rob and I stood outside with our hearts full and refreshed and amazed at God's handiwork!

Joshua is definitely the happiest out of all of us to be home. I'm discovering that he's a bit of a homebody. He has cheered up 90% since re-entering his own territory.
Ellie, I think, is grieving a little bit. She has woken up every morning since we got home crying or asking for Grandma. I don't blame her.

They are, after all, first class grandparents.
Thanks for the trip, mom and dad! We love you lots!

Uncles!

For the July long weekend a bunch of Rob's extended family came out for a little bit of a family reunion. We had such a great time hanging out with Rob's brothers in particular, especially because we get to see them so rarely. I was a little bit surprised but incredibly blessed at how LITTLE I had to do all weekend!! Talk about doting uncles. It was so wonderful to watch. Above is Rob's twin Tom with Joshua.

Rob's older brother James sharing a moment with his nephew.

Meeting so many new people pushed Ellie's memory to the max, and occasionally she resorted to calling James, "That guy". But she really loved That Guy.

Joshua trying to pluck Uncle Farzad's whiskers. Uncle Farzad really has a gift with kids!

Uncle Tom playing dolls with Ellie. If you think that's heroic...

...well, this isn't a photo of the actual incident, but it does represent it fairly well. On Sunday before we left for church Ellie was playing by the pool, scooping water into a cup and transferring it to other containers on the patio. There were people all around, and we were about to head off for the morning, so she didn't have a life jacket on. I wasn't outside at the time but I was told that she suddenly lost her balance and fell in the pool. Uncle Tom tried to grab her from the side, but when that didn't work, quickly jumped in and lifted her above water so Rob could pull her out. Needless to say, she was a bit traumatized by going under, but loves to retell the story over and over! And even though it's become a bit of a joke, Rob and I feel pretty thankful that Tom was so willing and quick to jump in and save our daughter's life!! What an uncle! We love our brothers.

Holiday or no holiday...

...we jolly jump.

Joshua has finally decided he can bear weight on his legs this trip...only he thinks we ought to be like his jolly jumper and bounce him all the time. Tones the biceps, that's for sure!

Polson Park

Polson Park in Vernon is one of my all-time favorite parks on this earth. Great playground, water park, river, ducks, HUGE trees, gorgeous flowers. I just love it. So we decided to take a little trip there on Canada Day morning. Ellie was pretty pumped about a new playground.

Josh diggin' the swings!
Ogopogo.

We brought along a bread crust to feed the ducks. It started off with one...

...but pretty soon we were swarmed!

A real highlight was when we bumped into Annika, a lovely girl that I used to care for when we lived in Vernon. She can't really communicate, but the tongue out of her mouth means she's happy. I was happy too.

Ellie's first attempt at a bouncy castle. She never let go of the side.

Davidson Orchard

A trip to Vernon ain't a trip at all without a visit to Davidson Orchard!! We go every time. And every time it's too hot to stay long, but we go anyways.

Ellie with Uncle Tom. Or is it Daddy? She only got them confused a couple times.

Joshua trying to stay cool.

Uncle Farzad getting in touch with the farmer within.

And the child within.

Rob has never lost touch with his inner child. :)

Rob and Ellie played on the playground...

...While Joshua tried out his first fresh strawberry lemonade slushy!

Joshua wanted to swallow the whole cup. His hands and face were covered. I declared slushy time officially over.

He was devastated.
We went home.

Dogs

One thing about a holiday with my in-laws...there are always a LOT of dogs around! This holiday is no exception. Ellie loves it! She didn't hesitate to jump into bed with Grandpa and Grandma the first morning after we arrived and get to know their most recent addition to their family - "Little Buddy".

Little Buddy has also been renamed "Snips" by Ellie who shrieks and doesn't know quite what to do with herself when he 'snips' her fingers.

Rosie is Buddy's big sister.

Here's Uncle Farzad and his two boys, Orbit and Skid, babysitting Little Buddy and Joshua.

Orbit (a.k.a. "Ringworm")

Ellie learned a thing or two about taking care of dogs while her uncles were here. Uncle Farzad tried teaching Ellie how to call Skid up onto the couch in a firm voice, but Skid wouldn't listen. Ellie decided to try out this 'firm voice' again suddenly at dinner time. The dogs were sitting by a barrier outside the dining room, longingly looking inside when suddenly Ellie loudly yelled out, "ORBIT! SIT DOWN!!!!" We all burst out laughing, stunned at this new tone of voice. After our laughter had subsided Ellie gently said, "Good job, Orbit."

Swimming

Vernon is HOT. And I mean HOT. We've already had a record-breaking 40 degree day. And my in-laws have a very beautiful, but un-airconditioned home. All I can say is, THANK GOODNESS FOR THE POOL!

Joshua's first swim in a real pool! He has mixed emotions about it...depending on his mood.

Check out that drool. Unfortunately Josh has just begun another bout of teething and is not the happiest camper we've ever known.

Can you tell which twin is which?

If you guessed Tom is in the red trunks, you were right! Here's Josh bonding with his uncle.