The big news at our place is that George started walking at the end of June. He took about four steps from James to me, my Mom having arrived for a visit just in time to witness it. Charlotte was excited for him to walk to her too, although after the first couple of times ended in over-exuberant hugs and kisses from George I think the novelty of it wore off for her. George was eager to test his new ability at first, but teething has kicked in and with it more clingyness, so despite our encouragement he still usually prefers to hold onto one of our fingers than strike off on his own.
I've barely managed to stay on top of blogging about the kids' developmental milestones, but I wanted to jump back in time a little bit and post some photos of our visits with family and friends this spring to preserve in our memories. George and Charlotte and I did a five-day trip to B.C. in March to attend my Grandma's 90th birthday celebration, and we had an amazing time visiting with friends, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Charlotte really rose to the occasion and, for an often shy child, displayed so much confidence and enthusiasm. It was so good for her. Case in point: at the beginning of the trip she hardly had two words to say to the woman in the seat beside her on the plane. On the way back, as soon as we arrived at our row, without any introductions she started telling the man in the seat beside her all about where we had been and who we had seen. She did the same with the flight attendant - I actually had to cut her off! We spent a night in Vancouver with my sister Jenny, two nights with dear friends Andrea and Eric and their girls, and two nights with my brother and sister-in-law, Matt and Emily, and their boys. It had been way too long since I had been in the Lower Mainland - and it was so good to connect with some of my favourite people.
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| Charlotte, Ellie and Amelia. |
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Andrea, Eric and I all attended high school together. Flash forward a whole bunch of years - to this!
We missed meeting baby Alexander by a couple of months. |
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| Sweater-vest and smiles. |
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| The big kids with Aunt Jenny. |
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| Aunt Amy. |
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| Boston keeping his little buddy George company at lunch. |
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| Reading with Grandma. |
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| These two were inseparable. |
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| Trying to get all four grandchildren to smile... |
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| Still trying... |
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| Boston and Charlotte's "band". |
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| Precious time together. |
In May the four of us headed to Toronto for a visit with James' family. James and I both had to fit some work into our trip, and apart from that we stuck close to home and aimed to maximize our relaxation. We enjoyed visits with family friends who were good enough to drop by - our Toronto "cousins", played in the backyard, and went for walks along the Humber River and Lake Ontario. Charlotte, in particular, loved the time with Granny and Grandpa.
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Playing with Grandpa in the treehouse
(the same one Daddy played in many years ago). |
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| Silly faces with Uncle Sam. |
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It took awhile to warm up to it, but George now loves swimming
almost as much as his sister. |
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A visit with Kira and Maelle.
George and Maelle are less than a month apart in age. |
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Isla (and Kailea and Thomas) joined in a belated birthday celebration for George.
Looking pretty serious about this cake! |
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| Catching up with Dorothy, Sarah, Olivia and Ryan. |
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| On the ferry to Centre Island. |
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| Checking out the animals on Centre Island. |
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| Charlotte loved the peacock - but it terrified George. |
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| Charlotte was delighted by the Franklin Children's Garden. |
We don't get to see many of our loved ones as often as we'd like, but we savour the memories.
