Well folks, the Calebs are
officially back in our annual summer vacay mode – spending most days in &
out of the backyard, losing track of the date…and loving every minute. I’m working part-time this summer
(which I could really get used to!), and Kassiah is home daddy,
while Mariah continues to attend daycare most of the time, since she tends to
have trouble getting back into a routine once it’s broken.
Ivan’s dad ‘Papa G’ was around for
the first 3 weeks of July, and for anyone wondering ‘isn’t 3 weeks too long a
visit from an in-law?’…shockingly, the answer is no ; ) Ivan loved having someone to keep busy
doing projects around the house with, and it was really neat for me to remember
where he gets his wild creativity from.
When Ivan gave him a few hours break from slave labour, Papa G picked up
some of Mariah’s paints and whipped together a masterpiece painting of the
four of us enjoying a serene landscape.
Then he looked at it sideways, decided it wasn’t right and spent the
next day making an even more impressive one, that Ivan framed and hung above
our fireplace. I also saw where
Ivan gets his incredible inability to estimate time, since he and his dad would
often announce they were just heading out for a quick errand and I would see
them re-surface a few hours later with pencils behind their ears, and sawdust in their hair, muttering
some design plans under their breaths (and mysteriously understanding each
other’s language). Apparently, we
ruined Papa G’s diet with some Dim Sum, Sushi and other favourite restaurants,
but he didn’t seem to put up much of a fight.
We all took an amazing road trip to Montana, where Ivan’s dad
taught him some golf, we all splashed around in the pool, and Ivan & I even
got to go on a fancy dinner date. We squeezed in some
power shopping, where I literally pulled well priced clothes off racks and
threw them in my cart like I was on a gameshow; and answered Ivan’s questions
about which size to choose for the girls with “All of them! They’ll match for the next few years”.
We just got back from our second
road trip of the summer – to Kamloops, BC, to visit Ivan’s pal from
high school, Taylor, and Taylor's equally awesome lady, Jess. They showed us around town – great
beaches with mountains in the backdrop, an amazing restaurant, possibly the
best home brewed coffee I’ve ever had.
And in return, we gave them a live tutorial on what 2 and 3 year olds behave
like on their best and worst moments!
Kassiah (or “Diggs” as we like to call her lately), bonded pretty
quickly with Jess, who became her hairdresser and cuddle buddy. In fact, Taylor & Jess both forgot
Kassiah’s real name as quickly as Papa G had a week before, and affectionately
started calling her “Diggs” too.
She lived up to the name and would generously hand her new friends the
boogers she would carefully pick for them, and hand over with just enough
determination to make it physically impossible and far too awkward to
decline. Diggs happened to be extra
cranky with a cough, cold, and teething, this past weekend, so she was kind
enough to beat Jess’s 4am alarm clock for work and replace it with a far more
calming sound. I’m pretty sure the
two of them are talking right now about how boring and predictable couple life
is, and how they can’t wait to throw kids in the mix! We had good intentions of camping on the way back and we (i.e. Ivan) had worked really hard at packing the car with all the necessities...but we decided it would be even less fun to have Diggs wake up at 4am in a tent...so we postponed for now.
Our next and final trip of the
summer will be home to Ontario in a couple of weeks. And before I end off, I’ll share some usual tidbits, this
time from Kassiah who recently turned 2:
“No! I kalkin to
daddy!” when I answer a question that I mistakenly assumed
was open to the general public
“Hide! Monsta comeen…he catch you” – as she darts under the
blankets spontaneously
“Kinkle, kinkle little tar, how I
wonder what you are…up ababa world so high”
“One, two, three, four, seben”
“laba laba lub you!”
“Lee me! I canky”
And my all time favourite (care of
Papa G and a ziploc bag) “No you zip it!”
