A Special Sibling Visit: Part 1 (May 23 - 31)

As the kids and I eagerly awaited Auntie Susan and cousin Nora's arrival Thursday evening (May 23), I was baffled that it'd been over ten months since we'd last seen each other.  The joy of a sister is that we talk so often: we're much in touch.  The gift of age is that time passes rapidly regardless of what is happening:  the months zip by.  The bonus of petite Nora is that she is still very much a little, little girl:  still very huggable and lovely to hold on a hip.  We were all set for a good time, be it too short.

The weather wasn't super warm, but aside from a couple of rain days, it wasn't bad either.  S had left for Toronto the day before Susan arrived, so regular routines were dropped and our days were filled with visits to places we'd been to before, like the Forks Market

and the new-to-Nora Heritage Adventure Playground (which is wonderful, but where parents can't relax, constantly trying to track down the kids!  Too many barriers to see them!

Skipping the kids out of school, we spent a day at the zoo where there was the bonus of a firetruck and ambulance to explore, on top of the playgrounds and animals.  Lots of fun for them - maybe a little exhausting for Susan and I?!

We visited lots of other playgrounds besides the ones at the zoo - in the mornings or after dinner.   A was always such a good helper to Nora and my kids have likely gone through playground withdrawal since, bored at home now that our company has gone!

We enjoyed a couple of (very casual) restaurant outings, too.  Always a treat for me so I don't feel the daily panic of what to make for dinner.

Other special things we did together included a rainy day at the Children's Museum, where my kids had never been as its a bit pricey at $10/person!  Even Susan and I enjoyed playing around a bit . . .

Ai with buddy Salem

The highlight outing of the week, for my kids anyway, was a 100 km road trip to the Narcisse Snake Dens.   It was on my Manitoba bucket list (which doesn't have too many things), so I'm thankful Susan indulged my whim.  We had a quick stop in Teulon to stretch our legs, so the kids enjoyed a playground stop, dandelion picking and watching a local ride his horses round the track.

According to Wikipedia, the four snake dens (in a 3 km circuit) "are the winter home of tens of thousands of red-sided garter snakes . . . and the largest concentration in the world of this particular type of snake."  They live in caverns below the limestone ground and come out - usually before May when we got to see them - for mating season before they disperse.  There weren't tons of snakes in dens 1 & 2 when we visited, but enough to be fascinating.

I had one chance to catch a snake, but found it a bit too creepy to do so.  Not that it was too bad - somehow far, far different than visiting spider mating grounds would be!

The highlight was having Iz step into the role of snake catcher for her older siblings and even for some of the other kids hanging around wanting to hold a snake.  She even managed to catch two at once!  It was super fun to see her in her glory and its hard for her to understand that we can't go back until next Spring!

But naturally, the real highlight of the visit was just being together.

Susan finished up a wonderful "I Spy"quilt for Ai and then started fabric sorting for the one she'll eventually make for Iz.  So sweet!

 The kids had lots of fun playing in the house with toys and dress-up clothes.

I had fun showing Nora photos of the kids when they were all younger, and they all loved posing in my computer's PhotoBooth.

It looked so fun that late one night, perhaps as consolation that our nightly viewings of Downton Abbey had come to an end, Susan and I tried it ourselves.  Harkening back to childhood, I could hear Mom's voice chiding us, "Girls . . . don't get so giddy!"  as we giggled uncontrollably.  We even had to get Lily in on the action, though she wasn't impressed.  :)  I haven't laughed so hard in a long time, and the results were very scary . . . and a little strange that we looked more like sisters while in alien, chipmunk or frog mode than we do in real life!

That night captured the fun of having a sister and I'm so blessed she came.  It's wonderful to have a special friend who's similar enough that we enjoy much of the same things, much in the same way.   And what a treat to have my very cute - and very busy - niece over.  She fit in with ease and we'll miss her smiling face until we see her again (for sure next summer).  Thanks for coming!!