A birthday blessed with a sister . . .

Well, my birthday happened last Thursday and with S away in Mississippi for work, it could have been a bit of a downer - my first birthday in Winnipeg without family and old friends nearby.  But in case I haven't said it before, I have one of the most supportive sisters any one could hope for.  She and her youngest, Nora, flew out from Vancouver on Friday, April 13th (experiencing a long day of airport waits due to fog) - and they left early Sunday morning.   There are far too many photos from the time together (which our parents will appreciate!), so feel free to scroll through them quickly!  I think I can safely promise that I'll never have so many photos in a blog post again!

Some of the highlights of the week were:

1.  Getting to re-know Nora, after 8 months of being away from her (which is far too long when kids are little and changing so much!).  It was fun to hear her speaking and repeating new phrases that she heard.  Having time with one cousin was special for my kids and also has had the affect of making all the other cousins feel nearer, too.  There's been lots of talk about them all.

Stroller buddies - Iz is giving her the wink

Bedtime stories together

Watching Thomas the Train after breakfast - though Nora was ready to get going

Imitating funny faces at church

Hanging out in our ugly backyard dirt patch (one of the down falls of living in the WestEnd)

2.  Feeling like I was on holiday myself.  I took a break from the usual load of housework and stayed up late watching movies most evenings, sometimes watching one and a half.  "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" (1 & 2) was something S was likely glad not to partake in, but it was pretty cute.  Reminded me of so many things I disliked about junior high and made me think of my older nephews back home.  Susan and I even got to sneak out for a late night show before S took off.  Can't remember the last time I did that!  Yes, that is me with buttered popcorn, which leads to number 3 . . .

3.  Giving into my food desires one last time, as I have very little resistancy to yummy, sweet food (or cheesy or ice creamy ones).  This was convenient, as Sunday afternoon was the Festival de Chocolat at the Forks Marketplace.  With the purchase of a $7 passport, Susan and I were able to visit 22 restaurants and shops throughout who were offering samples of various chocolate treats.  They also had chocolate crafts to do, so A was happy (besides which we shared my passport samplings).  I think Susan was right that the various event sponsors supplying the chocolate must have sacrificed their left-over Easter bunnies.

We also went out to eat or for treats far more than I'm used to, which was fun.  Back to the gallbladder diet this week . . .

4.  Exploring the city with someone happy to be on holiday, with no agenda.   We'd get in the van and say, "Well, what should we do?" as we're driving down the back alley with all the kids in tow.  Somehow it all worked out and we spontaneously discovered some wonderful new parks and had our pre-nap mornings and post-nap afternoons fall in place nicely.

Here's nearby Central Park on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.  It's where S always takes the kids when he wants to give me a break from them (thus I'd never been there before):

Of course, there's always the Forks:

Here's a few shots from Whittier Park from Thursday morning - hadn't been there either.  Has a good toboggan run onto the Red River which we may brave next winter.  

And still more park pictures (fortunately we didn't have our camera every time we went out!).  This is Friday night in the east side of the city:

And this is Saturday night on the north side of the city, Kildonan Park (the best find of them all as the photo below just shows one section of the playground!):

Scrapping over the telescope and see Iz's look of glee!
Ai's was quite the opposite expression!

5.  Getting to introduce my sister to some of my new Winnipeg friends.  Kind Sandy spontaneously invited us over to dinner Thursday afternoon when she learned it was my birthday.   The kids had fun playing together in the nearby park (yes - another playground!) . . . 

and then enjoyed dinner together.  Sandy's son is just 6 months older than Ai, but he prefers to play with A.  When we were leaving he told her with starry eyes, "A, I like you so much.  You are so special to me."  Used to little boys liking her, I guess (?), A didn't respond at all!  And Ai much prefers to play with Sandy's daughter, 5 months younger than Iz.  They know each other from playgroup and refer to each other as "the huggers" because that's what they like to do together. Cute.  

We also went to the Assiniboine Zoo Friday morning with Chantal and her son.  They, too, live in the neighbourhood and attend a mom's group I go to Thursday mornings.  We only had a couple of hours at the zoo as the kids needed naps.  We ended up spending much of our time at <surprise> the zoo playground, so we only saw half of it (which was enough this time).

6.  Getting to share in Susan's world, and having her share in mine.  There is one thing I do enjoy about living far from family and old friends - because there's not a lot when living long-distance is measured in relation to the losses.  When we get to have visitors, the time is so much richer than when we live in the vicinity and only get to see each other over dinners with many people around or at play dates where the kids dominate the conversation anyway.  Sharing prolonged space together gives room to share new things or old memories usually not considered important enough when time is so precious.  Mind you, neither of us could likely have sustained the late nights and early mornings for much longer, but it was fun while it lasted . . .

An unhappy Ai because I couldn't pick him up, too.

7.  Susan's presence took away any bother that the number '3 and 9' were together on my cake.  The focus for me was more on the thought that sometimes the best birthday gifts are the ones we're given right from the get-go on day one of life.  Those of us with older siblings (good ones, anyway), have much to be thankful for.

Thanks for coming, Susan and Nora!  And thank you, Scott, for sharing them with me for nine days, though I can imagine having Susan gone was more of a sacrifice than having Nora gone (in terms of work load!).