Rissie's Visit

Last week my sister, Rissie, came to visit us for a week. Eliot, Peter and I devoted ourselves to showing her Toronto, especially now that Toronto is leafed out in all its summertime glory.

We took a trip to the St. Lawrence Market,

hunted for dinosaur bones at the ROM,

and, of course, put some time in at our favorite park. It was an exhausting, fun, and wonderful week.

Our New Horizon

Today it became official. Come September, our little family will move to Perth, Australia where we will be installed for the next three years. Even though it's been on my mind for a while, the reality of it all is still sinking in. Fortunately we don't have a lot of stuff, but any amount seems like a lot when you're trying to move it to the other side of the globe. Whenever I feel the walls of red tape and logistics closing in on me I look up Perth in Google images and soak in pictures like the one above. A beautiful cityscape reflected in still water, the turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean lapping at unspoiled beaches. Adventure is exciting and fun, but it's also a lot of hard work and can involve a lot of stress, even loss. This will certainly be an adventure, a once in a life-time opportunity, and one that our little family is ready to face together.

Happy Father's Day!

I hope everyone had a lovely Father's Day on Sunday. Eliot made a card for Spencer at church, in nursery, and in the evening we celebrated with lemon cakes with ice cream and strawberries. Spencer is such a great dad to his little boys and a huge support to me. I don't know what we'd do without him!

Buh buh buh buh Bad

So here in Canada they use special facial recognition technology for passport photos. It sounds pretty slick until you're a parent of a two month old who needs a passport and you find yourself perched on a stool, propping your baby awkwardly on your lap while flexing your arms into positions unintended by nature to make it appear that your baby is sitting up unassisted without allowing so much as a tip of your finger to appear in the shot. This is all further complicated by the fact that the baby needs to have eyes opened and looking into the camera, no smile, no crying, mouth closed (though it seems there are some passport officials who'll let an open mouth slide if the baby has no teeth.) It took a lot of shots but our patience finally paid off and we got the perfect one. If a baby ever had a mug shot, this is probably what it would look like.

Moose on the Loose

One afternoon, while we were staying in Edmonton, a moose and her two calves wandered into the backyard and started munching the foliage.

The fact that moose in the backyard is a pretty typical Canadian stereotype wasn't lost on me. My in-laws informed me, however, that this was a rare treat and well worth the many pictures I snapped.

Blessing Day

Last week today we were getting ready to check out of the hotel in Regina and drive back to Edmonton. We took some time in the morning, however, to have a small gathering of family members in our hotel room for Peter's blessing. It was neat to be able to do it the morning after the wedding before family started to disperse, and we were so pleased that Spencer's grandfather, Peter Young, was able to participate in the blessing. We were also able to get a four generation photo with Spencer's dad and grandfather.

We're so grateful for our two little boys, and so pleased that they were sent to our family. Our lives just wouldn't be complete without them.

Aaron & Patti's Wedding

We just returned from a two week trip to Edmonton, Alberta. The purpose of our visit took us on an eight hour drive east to Regina in the neighboring province of Saskatchewan for the wedding of Spencer's brother, Aaron, and Patti. It was a lovely wedding and we thoroughly enjoyed spending time with family. There are some photos that I missed because I was busy changing Peter's diaper or chasing Eliot. At one point I came back from cleaning Eliot up and noticed that the beautiful cake was gone. Oops! Just part of the fun of having little children :) And the cake was delicious!

Eliot was sure to make it up front to the head table to get a little Daddy-time during the dinner.

Peter got social too. Here he is visiting with Uncle Jim and Edward.

Aaron and Patti surprised everyone with a dance troupe to perform traditional Ukrainian dances (they both have significant Ukrainian heritage). It was fantastic!

Eliot enjoyed clapping along with the Ukrainian dancers but had to be physically restrained from flinging himself in among them.

Waiting anxiously for his turn to dance. Also, fascinated with the sparkles on Patti's dress.

Eliot hit the dance floor with vigor. He had some pretty fancy footwork and loved spinning around until he couldn't stand up. I'd have more pictures of him but I was too busy dancing with him!