At Aunty Jilly's House......

One of the main reasons that I make a point of going back to Ontario as much as financially possible is so that my girls can continue to have a strong relationship with their cousins.  I think that with the distance between us physically, the relationship and the bond as family needs to be nurtured and the girls need to be reminded of their special connection as family.

I think we've achieved success through the wonders of technology and media such as Skype and Facetime, but being able to touch and feel these delicious faces all the while hearing them makes it sooo much better. It had been one year since we were last in Ontario...and my how our babes have grown up.

Much of the time we spent in Ontario ended up being with my sister Jill, Rachel, Cordelia and Kinglsey.  I love going to my sister's house because its like a kids heaven compared to our home.  She has three children and has been gifted with every "kid" thing going.  You think of it, she's got it - from books to dolls, games, crafts, a sandbox, a water table, swings and a play house.  Inside, outside - its like a play centre - they've got it all!

 I love how Cordelia crosses her legs on the swing.  Such a lady! 

They even have an iPad and iPhone (that don't belong to the kids, but of course they take them over, eh?!)  

Oh and did I mention that my sister loves to bake?  Bonus for my Kammer who also loves stirring things up in the kitchen (and taste testing!).

We had the priviledge of watching Rachel wow us with her mad skills on a bike - burning rubber up and down the street.  Well no, that's a lie, because if you knew Rachel you'd know that she has the co-ordination of Phoebe on Friends.   However, she did do a perfect job at showing me her "all thing girly" about her bike and she rocked the gum boots in +30 degree temps!  

Since summer has ceased to exist here, we were so grateful for the gorgeous sunny days and warm temperatures.  I actually loved the idea of slathering on delicious smelling sunscreen and telling Kamille all about the sound of the Cicada Bug.
Lunches outside, sprinkler fun and bathing suits always make for a great way to spend the day.....

She did a great job giving each orange slice a good suck! 

 How about this gorgeous lunch face....

The only BOY cousin and darn is he ever cute! 

This makes me laugh.  Here is "good Rachel" calling her sister a stinky bum or something like that.....

Here is Cordelia's "I'm not a stinky bum" face.
Oh the simplicity of being called a stinky bum.  That sucks, doesn't it?

The Stinky Butt?  I think not.  

HERE IS THE STINKY BUTT....

BEST Karis story yet!  She was watching big cousin Rachel do the "bathing suit down" pee on the grass from a far.  You could just see the wheels turning in Karis' little head as she watched with curiosity.  Of course as soon as Rachel finishes Karis comes up to me begging me to have her bathing suit off and frantically saying "Peeeeeee!  Peeeeee!"   So what the heck - giv'er.  Lets see what you can do.
So literally she sat there saying "peeeeee!  peeeeee" for like five minutes or so.  She was crouched down, looking this way, that way, waiting, watching for something to happen.  She insisted that she stayed there, I got busy doing something else, when all of a sudden we hear her say "Poooo."  We all turn and see that she has left a wet mark on the fence.  Oh, no worries, its just pee on the fence - so we think.  No, no.  My Karis has landed one of her signature Soup Poops right on the grass and proceeded to wipe her bum - soupy leftovers - all over the fence as well.  Lucky the girl didn't get slivers.  Of course I took a picture of the evidence, but I'll save that memory for my personal collection!  My Karis then got her first garden hose shower!  So so so fun!  And the poop?  Well I watered that down and let the flies do their thing.  It was gone the next day!

And its situations like this that remind me of how fast our little ones change and grow up.  My sister and I haven't been witness to the things that each of our kids do in a year.  The last time I was home with my girls Karis was 10 months and Kingsley was only 5 months.  Crazy to think how much more into their personalities they are and how much they have changed as well.

Kingsley has become one of a very few, if not just two, to receive a custom built wheel-chair made with a Bumbo seat.   Needless to say, he's grown up quite a bit as compared to the big ball of delicious baby chub that he was at five months old.

 And one year ago, it was highly unlikely that these two even acknowledged each other, but this year was different...That age gap is closing in, and I like what I see in the future!

Sadly he was subjected to Karis' persistent "MINE!" battles.  Poor dude was very gracious with her.  A perfect gentleman!

Kingsley has a stander that supports him in this position.  Very cool!

Hmmmmm????  What else did we get up to with these kids?
Well....
Rachel styled me up pretty fancy.....

 ...or do we call her a Beauty School drop out?

Oh and speaking of hair.  All the heat and humidity did wonders to Karis' CRAZY hair.
It made it so cute with curls!

It finally looked less bed-head and more cute curly-girly!  

And how about this for Girly-Girl madness.  

Thats all my mom!  She is obsessed with this idea of matching outfits.  What can I say, they are cute - and we scored some new clothes in the "dress up my Grandkids" deal.  

And this was our best attempt at a photo of "all six" for my mom.  The 6th is Stella the dog.  The dog-daughter of my brother and his wife.

I don't think this one will make it into a frame.  ; (

And with the big days of play, there were naps to be had as well.   I managed to convince Kamille and Rachel to fall asleep together on Canada Day in anticipation of a long night of fireworks ahead.  They slept beautifully together.

Cordelia managed to find a place on the couch.  ; )

My girls loved hanging out at Aunty Jilly's house!  And who am I kidding, so did I.  I love snooping into  all my sisters things and asking her a million questions about the stuff she has in her kitchen, the things she has on her iPhone, looking through the things she uses for hair and make up etc.   If you can't be snoopy in your sister's home, where can you be?  

But most of all, I loved watching this.....

 this.....

Modelling items from my new girly-girl love - Funky Flower.  I'll be mentioning more about these flowers later!  

 and this.....

Because so much can change in one year and I had to get it all in!
To listen to those hilarious playful conversations, hear and give "I love you's" in person and get and give snuggles.

We had so much fun at Aunty Jilly's.
And thank you Jill for also having my girls without me so that I could get some studying done!  I heard you were an awesome babysitter too!




Still more to come about our trip to Ontario. We had day-trips too!  Lots of them!

Under A Big Blue Sky

If you live anywhere near the coast in British Columbia right now you have likely had countless conversations with others about our ridiculous weather.  For some reason the season of summer has completely overlooked our gorgeous corner of the world and we are being totally shafted.

I think its getting to me.  Today, I took the girls swimming at our indoor pool, wearing jeans, a t-shirt, AND a long sleeve - ITS JULY 14th!  I want to be wearing my tank tops, short skirts and flip flops!  Enough already.

However, I am one of the fortunate ones who did at one time did experience the consistency of warm temperatures this summer - in Ontario.   We've been home for nearly one week and I have yet to create space on my incredibly maxed out laptop to be able to download all my photos.  Today I was desperate for some sun and so I managed to grab some photos of one afternoon with my Kamille and my two nieces Rachel and Cordelia.

There will be many more days to capture in this blog about our trip, but for right now here was the afternoon of day 6 of our 10 day adventure in Ontario.

My sister Jill had offered to have both of my girls to her home in the morning so that I could work on some school stuff.  In the afternoon, I gave her some time back (while her little man was sleeping and Karis was also napping at my moms house) and I took the three girls to a great park down the road from Jill's home.

Now I love my mountains, but there is something to be said about a sky that seems to go on forever!
I could not believe how huge the sky felt to me.
I loved it.

These two are awesome together.  Rachel is 10 months older than Kamille and what seemed like a lifetime when they were little is now nothing between them.  Although Kamille desperately wants to be 5 just like Rach.  She thinks its a big deal.  ; )

This is Cordelia.  Our little Strawberry Bug as Jill and I like to call her.  She is deeeeelish with a bit of spice.  I have soft spot for this girl.  I think a lot of people do when they meet her.

 We headed for the splash pad first and then planned to dry off on the swings and slide!

Rachel is considered the "good girl" in the pack of cousins.  She's the oldest, she's super smart, super sweet and very good.  However, while I was taking Karis to the bathroom, I could overheard Kamille and Rachel slurping from the water fountain and then spray spitting it out all over the place.  I am pretty sure it was Rachel that instigated it.  I had to bring the evidence back to my sister, so I crafted the photo...strategically under the 420 heart.   Perfect.  Ain't looking so good girl in this shot, eh Jillsy?

But while I was in the bathroom with Cordelia, I did have the most awesome moment with her.  Of all places, this is when Cordelia said to me "I love you" just as I was hoisting her bathing suit bottoms up around her chunka thighs and bum.  I melted.  This is a girl that I have not seen in person in one year and back then she wasn't interested in that strange girl Aunt Kristin.  This little "I love you" was awesome.  When I asked her what made her think that she loved me she said because I had brought her to the park or something along the lines of being with her then.  It was so sweet.

So for the rest of the afternoon I continued to marvel at how little I felt grounded in a small spot in the grass,

under a big blue and puffy clouded sky, enjoying an afternoon out with three amazing, fun girls.

They showed me their tricks....

 They danced and chased each other,

And when it was time to go to the park, they were totally game with my idea of getting some fun photos of them together.  Very cool! 

This is about the time when Rachel turned into full blown super model kid for me.  "Aunt Kristi, come take my picture now!"  It was funny! 

"Aunt Kristi, come push meeeee!"  Heard about 10,000 times!

The one thing that would have topped off our little adventure was if a "Dicky Dee" ice cream guy would have come around.  Do those guys even exist anymore?  The dude would have made a killing in that park on this day!  

 But Cor and Kam had it all figured out.  One ice cream cone, coming up.......

That's Kamille mouth making the "swoosh, swoosh" noise indicating that she was scooping ice cream onto a cone.  xo

 A chocolate leaf ice cream cone, lovely.

Such a great afternoon in the sun with these girls.  So easy.  So much sun!
Now I'm left wondering why I didn't do a self-timer shot of us 4 together under that big blue sky?  Bummer, that would have been awesome!