Summer Vacay

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!”