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!
After a perfectly miserable rainy, stormy weekend the sun shone brightly, the wind died down, and it the temperature was just right!
Mom suspected something was going to happen (since we all ignored her birthday on June 30 and suddenly my sister Leila from Regina was out), but she didn't really know we'd planned a BBQ at a nearby lake. We decided against a big party because Mom is more a small family party kind of lady.
I couldn't be more grateful for my mom. Not only does her love for her grandkids bubble over all the time, but she's one of my best friends.
It was so hard to find a gift that would show mom her value! We settled for a vase, but then put our heads together and made her a list of 50 things we loved about her. (oops, did I give away her age? shoot.) She, of course, had to read it later because she hates crying in front of us. :) Mission accomplished!
(Time out. :)
