We're Back

Well, we're back from the West Coast, and had another great time. We didn't do very much, as planned, so got to spend a lot of time with the Asbury's. Unfortunately, Den had to spend most of the week in Victoria, so our visit with him was shorter than expected. We had planned to spend a lot of the week over there, but the weather was really not good and didn't want to spend the whole week indoors at a hotel -- it's much more fun to spend it indoors "at home", so that's what we did.
Apparently Ontario was having great weather while we were gone. Ah well, you can't win them all!
Violet was a hit (as usual), and was really great on both flights and at their house. I don't think she was bothered by the time change all that much. If she was, we didn't notice. In fact, she popped a tooth without any of us noticing, other than being very sleepy the day before. We attributed it to the travelling (cue the "she gained a tooth and I lost one" jokes).

Madison loving the snuggles

Speaking of, I'm heading to the Dentist on Monday to figure out what they're going to do. I should NOT have lost this crown already...

Violet and I showing off our new, or missing, teef

Marn and I were talking about the highlights of the trip, and to be honest, there wasn't really one key thing to mention that stands out as REALLY fun or interesting, other than the complimentary upgrade to Executive First Class on the flight out (but that's been written about already)!! We tried to go to the Aquarium as we've never been and surely that would have been a "high", but the lines were very, very long and there were many, many people - the perils of Spring Break that we didn't plan for.

Yes, we did go to the Aquarium - the front door, anyway!

So that trip didn't happen. We decided to go to Granville Island instead for the afternoon which was fun. Marn and I both bought new hiking shoes (50% off!), and then a new collar, leash and doggie boots for Echo. There was nothing special about the prices of those, but we did need to get that stuff. The other fun thing we did was take the kids to a swimming pool. Violet's first! They had a beach entrance to a warm pool and it was really fun having her in the water with us and the kids. I think we were in the water for over an hour.

Swimming group shot

Vi splashing

checking out the surroundings

with Daddy (after being told not to smile too large)

The rest of the week, we pretty much sat at visited, hot tubbed, or played Wii with the kids (or drumming in Rock Band by myself!). It was exactly what we planned, and to be honest, the week flew by! Granted it was a shorter visit then "normal", but it still seemed to be a very short 7 days.

Aunt A taking in her smell

Story time, yum!

Madison was "all over" Violet as soon as we got there. She was very eager to do everything and anything for her. It was really cute to see how much she loved having her there for a visit. Everyone knows that Violet is a smiler, and as soon as Maddy figured that out, it's all she wanted to get her to do. We're definitely going to miss hanging out with everyone, and seeing Madison interact with her. Parker on the other hand had little interest. He'd come over the odd time if Madison was, but other than that, indifferent. He'd actually move to another spot if we came and sat Vi down beside or near him or if Vi tried to reach out and grab him (I didn't mention this to Adrienne, so not sure if she saw that too). It was pretty funny!

Maddie getting in some more cuddles

Friday while driving home, we called Mom to let her know when we were going to arrive and to tell her that we were going to get some take out and ask what she wanted. She told us that she was making dinner for us - Pizza and Salad. Nice! Now, there is a long standing joke that when Mom's cooking, the fire alarms go off from the smoke. In her defence, her kitchen does not have a hood fan over the stove, but never fail, during every large meal get together, that alarm goes off... In nearly 5 years in this house, we have never set them off. But Mom did! lol She didn't have the hood fan on (why would she, what is that?) and some cheese fell to the bottom of the stove. Cue the smoke, cue the alarms. Repeatedly. I laughed out loud because it just wouldn't be Mom cooking without the alarms going off! lol Did I mention that we have NEVER set them off??