Summery Goodness

It has been a jam-packed week or so at the Raine Drop. Auntie Ka-ka, Uncle C, J & R have been visiting from about 20 hours away. We hadn't seen them since J was 4 (he's now 7) and R was 18 months old (she's now 4), and Auntie Ka-ka had never met our babes, so we were so glad to spend this week with them.

They came in early in the week to K-town and stayed at Grandma & Grandpa's for a few days, then the whole crowd came up here to do a few things like the Zoo, Children's Museum, play in the pool, etc.

We got off to a great start the moment they first arrived - R walked right in, gave me a big hug, and screeched "I remember all of you!!!!!" She's quite the character! She took Talia under her wing right away, corrected us whenever we called her Tal or Tally ("Her name is TALIA!") and didn't stop talking the entire time. I just love her.

J has turned into a fun little daredevil. He's such a neat kid. I love the little man he's become. His birthday was just before they got here, so while we were in K-town Uncle Chris took him to the mall and turned him loose in the electronics department - I think he had as much fun picking his new game as he did playing it! We had lots of cannonball competitions in the pool and the river, and when he came in from tubing the first day he had a grin a mile wide and said "This was the bestest day EVER!"

We had so much fun! The kids (mostly) adored Declan, although when he was gassy on Saturday night R did ask "Auntie, can you please put that baby back to bed?" (I'm trying, sweets, I'm trying.)

It was awesome to see Talia hanging out with her older cousins. It's a totally different dynamic than she has with her only other cousin, who is just 6 weeks younger than she is.

We were a little apprehensive about how our bad dog (Ernie) would react to their good dog (Skye.) When they first arrived Ernie was so excited he found a way out of the fence and came tearing over for a good sniff. Skye is huge, and pretty much the best dog ever, so when Ernie rudely barked in her face Skye just ignored him. That's all it took, Ernie settled right down and it was no big deal - I sort of can't believe it. (We were so worried about how the dogs would get along that we considered boarding the boys while our company was here - but since all the seizure business has started, they haven't received their full vaccines, so no kennel would take them.) The boys followed Skye around like little shadows the whole time they were together.

I wish they lived closer so we could have more family time like this. Better start making more frequent trips to the Liquor Mart to bump up the old Airmiles account!!!