Mini Reunion - Part 1

Shea, Caia, Beth, Ava, Helena and us at Shea's.

It was difficult heading back to work last week, but each day the thought of our weekend visitors was something to look forward to. And sure enough, we had an excellent weekend as Beth, Helena and Ava, who live in Edmonton and are part of our China family, came to stay with us. We haven't seen them since we said our goodbyes at the Vancouver airport on our way home from China, so needless to say it was a happy reunion! With Shea and Caia here as well, we had three of our Xinyu girls together and enjoyed every single minute of the weekend.

Beth and the girls came Friday night (poor James had to stay home and work) and we spent the evening catching up and having a great time watching Ava and Bryn together. Helena is an awesome big sister to Ava and soon had Bryn asking "where's Heyena"?" whenever Helena would venture too far away.

Ava is such a sweetie with her light-up-the-room grin, and she could give the Energizer Bunny a run for his money. Caia is full of energy, too, and constantly on the go -- she always makes me laugh just watching her jump and run around. It truly warms my heart watching both of them, they're so full of life. Bryn is a little more subdued, especially around other people, so it was great fun watching the three of them interact.

Between dim sum lunch, visits to the park, suppers together, brunch at Shea's, seeing "Grandma" Darlene again, celebrating Girard's birthday, and attending The Wiggles concert we had a fun-filled weekend packed with wonderful memories. We were so sad to see it end and to have to say goodbye but we're so grateful Beth, Ava and Helena were able to make the trip to see us and Shea and Caia. Hopefully someday we can have a larger reunion but for now the small ones will keep us going!

(Some of these photos are Beth's, she took hundreds and most of them turned out much better than mine.)

Helena leading Bryn and Ava in a sing-a-long.

"I'll trade you this really cool red pail

and one blue ball for that little car."

Having fun at the park.

Bryn and Caia go for a stroll.

"Look! It's my shadow! And a really huge foot!"

This is one of Beth's shots and it's one of my favorite photos of the weekend.

It's not easy to get 4 girls to look at 3 cameras at the same time.

Beth brought harmonicas for each of the girls. Helena was the instructor and band leader -- we were treated to quite the concert!

Ava puts her whole heart into everything she does!

Mini Reunion - Part 2

Hugs for Girard from Caia and Bryn.

(Girard was the only man for miles around the entire weekend.)

I could have stayed like this for hours.

Breakfast entertainment.

Bryn cuttin' lose at The Wiggles concert.

One of my favorite pictures of Caia and Bryn!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Caia and Beth say goodbye.

Smiles all around.

'Bye Ava! I love you! Come back soon!

Bluegrass Bryn

A few nights ago Girard brought out his harmonica to play a tune for Bryn. I say play a tune because he only knows one, but he does play it well.

Of course Bryn wanted to try it out...

Back to Work

I knew it was coming but I didn't expect it to come so fast. I've been off for almost 15 months and tomorrow I go back to work. It really feels like the time went by in the blink of an eye. Well, maybe not quite that quickly but pretty darn close -- two blinks at the very most.

It's been a busy week. We've had Bryn to her day care for awhile each day in an attempt to get her comfortable there, and I've been spending hours and hours every day panicking about leaving her and trying not to cry at the thought of not seeing her all day. Thankfully, Bryn has fared better than I have as she seems to be doing relatively well at day care. I've been telling her I have to go to work soon but I doubt she understands what that really means. Though one day she said "Mom go to work soon. Don't cry, mom." so maybe she understands more than I know.

We've also been having tons of fun playing and reading and cuddling and singing and all the other things we do together every day -- all the things I've loved doing with her every day since she's been home and will miss so much. I've been so busy trying to soak up every minute of our last days together I haven't even thought to bring the camera out much but here are a few photos from the past week.