And then there were four ...

It's over ... the family is gone.

It's amazing how smoothly things go when you have 4 or 5 adults around. One to play with the kids full-time (Uncle Jimmy!), one to do house repairs, awesome kitchen cleaning and constant coffee (Boppa!), all-round cooking, laundry and child-discipline advice (Nana!), and one to stand back and laugh/sob at how much easier it is with the village here.

The visit was great except for the constant, dreary rain. Really, my new province did not exactly put her best face forward.

On the positive side, if I was going to have to be stuck inside with the kids for two weeks because of bad weather, thank god other people were here to help!

And now the slow process of mourning their absence begins (Mela feels the separation from Nana most keenly) and learning how to parent again without others.

At least the weather's cleared ...


Say click:

After dinner at the driving range. Nate shows off this season's fashionable prints:

Uncle Sam has to hold Nate back to protect him from Daddy's monster swing: The lady tees up: Mela goes to her first movie (Oceans, of course!). The kitties sneak in for free. The second she enters the theatre, Mela is entranced by the giant TV. And a life-long love affair is born ... Guess who's three?! Playing with Uncle Jimmy:
The lady goes shopping ...
Cheerio face:
Nate checks Mela. "Seeping? Mimi seeping??"
Maybe I'll smack her butt to find out ...
On the last day, this is what we did: Mela and Nana read Blueberry Girl ...:
... and the men talked tools!
With the family gone, the big girl tries out the new bike ...

... and after a few turns, she decides that legs are good for now:
Monkey see, Monkey do: The sun returns ...: ... while we remember all the good times with our family: