Day 159

Sunday January 23, 2011

I am so thankful that the Dawsons came to spend the weekend with us and that we got to celebrate Sander's birthday. We are building memories. Irrespective of the outcome of this journey, memory building is always, ALWAYS a good and worthy thing!!!

After breakfast, we went to Kid's World where we had a blast chasing the boys around in a game of spy. Yvonne and I took turns chasing the boys through the labyrinth of turns and steps that is the castle-type playground fortress. The boys screamed and hollered every time we captured them. Out of sheer luck, I was able to tackle both boys at one point. First, I grabbed Niels and got him secured in a head lock between my legs. I believe I may have inflicted psychological trauma doing this to him; so sorry! As I secured Niels, Teddy came to his defense and I locked onto him. The two rascals fought nobly, trying to escape but I had them trapped. The onlookers at the park were pretty impressed I had managed to take down these two rascalians!!! Then Teddy and Niels got dirty!!!! Apparently they take the saying All is fair in love and war very seriously and proceeded to shove wood chips down my shoes and down pants!!!!!! What punks!! I ended up with a pant-load of wood chips and was convinced I had a splinter on my tushie for hours! I sent a text telling my folks and brother of my adventures and my dad proudly applauded my valiant effort at combat with wild boys :)

While the boys ran around like crazies, Nina enjoyed a sno-cone and a game of Uno with Todd and Sander. Eventually, we finished playing and crossed the street to Alice Keck Park, a beautiful public garden. Unfortunately, Todd accidentally dropped Nina's sno-cone which caused deep sadness for the crabby honey-girl. Thankfully, the street vendors are plentiful and Todd found a replacement sno-cone that Nina asked me to hold :)

As we made our way to the car, Nina asked Yvonne if she could use her camera to take photos. Yvonne happily agreed and Nina took some super great photos. It is a delight to see what Nina focuses on and finds photo-worthy. It is like getting an inside peek into her mind :)

We had a delightful lunch at Stackey's in Summerland. Nina proclaimed their dino chicken nuggets and ranch the best food in the world and asked to go inside the restaurant to personally thank the owner :) The owner got a super big kick out of Nina's compliment and she was very proud of herself for doing so!

Sadly, all good things must come to an end and outside of Stackey's we said goodbye to the Dawsons :( The big boys especially were devastated that once again they had to say Adios! We said adios to the Dawsons and hello to the Fredeens who arrived a few hours later. Todd's parents were in town for the next week. Their arrival filled both kids with great joy! The magical smile that instantly appeared on Nina's face as she saw her grandparents was priceless and I thanked God for it!! The shriek of delight that came out of Teddys' mouth and bludgeoned our ear drums was a beautiful thing and I thanked God for it! There is no doubt in my mind that Teddy and Nina know how truly they are loved!!!