Birthdays

The twins turned 5 years old. How fast they grow up. On the "real" day, a Thursday, it was just the young family and us. James and I were invited to dinner. We went a little earlier to help Sarah a bit. We picked the birthday boys up from their preschool with their papercrowns on their heads and spent the afternoon playing.

Colin and Owen were so excited and they could not wait for some "opening". Finally Sarah told them to sit on the sofa and this is what they immediately did (while Sarah went to get something). So funny.

Of course they had a great time opening presents. Big brother helps somewhat too.

Facetime with the other grandparents.

After Chinese take-out the traditional family birthday cookie.

I just love this photo. 

When we were home we saw that Freddie was visiting us (looking in through the side-window of the front door).

Ha, I actually went outside.

Next day we found him (or her?) again when we uncovered something on the back patio.

The newest thing ... Sarah's recipe: flatbread rolls. Nice to have a picnic on the back patio.

Saturday

The birthday party. Sarah had to work but had arranged everything nicely for 3:30 pm and came straight from work there. 

There were six children doing the Zoofari and also Sarah, Wade and two dads. James and I, two moms and  smaller children were watching. First of course the harnesses were put on and instructions given. 

And then it started. Each harness has two ropes with carabiners. Everybody was told that at least one always had to be attached to the red course line. When you go from one section to the next you move one carabiner at a time. The children got it quickly and had a lot of fun. Each section was a bit different and a new challenge. 

A 'little' zipline at the end of the 'lower' level.

VIDEO        (1:30 min.)

The last platform. Here they attached to the zipline and zipped down to the start.

VIDEO     (2:35 min.)    

The video is a bit longer because you have to do the attaching right! The kids were all so patient and funny. They didn't mind doing the countdown again and again about a dozent times.

Some refreshment, celebrating and chatting. 

It was an excellent party. Happy Birthday, Colin and Owen!

William visit Day 4 and 5

I knew it. I knew it. The time is going fast. 

Day 4 - Tuesday

Sarah is off work today and she wanted to spend time with William. She doesn't see him often enough and of course loves him. But her oldest Caleb had camp this week from 9 am to 1 pm which did made it more difficult. Our intention was for all 7 of us to do a certain hike but it would be a 2 hour drive each way and starting after 1 pm would make it very late. 

Change of plans. We did bring William to her house at the time when they were back with Caleb and they all went to ACAC to go swimming. Papa and Omi went home. Word was that they had a marvelous time. 

Here is a VIDEO   (0:32 minutes) and some photos from Sarah.

Sarah said William must have gone down the slide at least 10 times. Here he comes.

And yes, William could spent the night. Caleb was nice to let him have his bed and used the blow up himself. William stopped fitting into the blow up bed several years ago. They had had a lot of activity and slept well anyway.

Day 5 - Wednesday

Sarah had intended for Caleb to skip camp but he whispered to her that it was the day of archery and he really didn't want to miss it. No problem. There is so much to do, we can do something which does not involve that long drive.

So, at 9 am she dropped Caleb of at Rockwood Park Nature Center and Sarah, William and the twins and Stella of course went for a walk there. 

Before 12:30 James and I were at Sarah's house, we all piled into her minivan and left to pick Caleb up. Everybody already had lunch so we continued to drive to the Richmond Zoo. It was a hot hot hot day but we did enjoy it anyway. So many cute things to see like the meerkats and the sloth.

There were lovely statues everywhere. We remember the story of the orphan cheetah and the puppy several years ago. They are still there (laying lazy in the shade) and even have a statue.

Feeding the giraffes is always fun. VIDEO  -from Sarah, look at that tongue-     (0:42 minutes)

Oh yes, the aviary. Of course we had already bought feeding sticks with the entry tickets. 

Most pictures are from Sarah. Omi stayed outside with her backpack and took this photo through the fence.

What is an outing without treats? Ha-ha, first we went through all our pockets to find small bills. I ended up exchanging a $20 down to 10s and 5s at the next kiosk. After all that we found out that the ice creams the boys wanted were not available. Empty!

So we went to the kiosk I just had changed the bills and the boys were happy with a shaved ice. Sooooo refreshing, ha-ha. And cheaper, ha-ha. 

Of course, this was right next to the sky ride. Can you guess what happened next? Please, please, please. Sarah figured out how we could do it since there were 4 children and 3 adults. She asked how it worked and it was perfectly safe for the two older boys to be in one chair and she with the twins in another. 

And here the VIDEO   (0:22 minutes)   from Sarah. It really looks like fun. I might have to do it sometime too. 

Of course we had heard about the new baby camel (dromedary) and had to visit it several times.

The kangaroos had a display in front to show how far they can jump. Most of our boys were between a frog and a rabbit. Part of the listing was Mike Powell who set the World Long Jump Record 1991 of 29 ft 4 1/4 in (8.95 meter). Seeing how far that was from the line was mindboggling. We looked it up on google and found a video how he did it. OMG.

Yes, everybody had to try it.

After that we made our way towards the exit. Had to admire the baby hippo. 

Back to their house. Some TV in the basement family room.  Take-out chinese for all. Time to find all of William's things and for James, William and me to go home. 

Thank you for a lovely time, Auntie!