Grandma Stajniak's Visit

Well, it's hard to believe how time flies. Back in March, an awesome seat sale came on and my Mom and Grandparent's took advantage of it and bought tickets. So, did Clay's parents and Grandma K. We had lots to look forward too: a trip to England, and visits from both sides of the family. Well, we still have a visit from Auntie Connie and Uncle Greg to look forward to, but all the Grandmas and Grandpas are gone. Over the week when my family was visiting, we toured a few places, went to a Teddy Bear Picnic and a few jobs around the house and yard got done. I came home from work one day to find that my windows were being washed!!! They are ALL clean now. Anyway, we had a great visit with my Mom and Grandparents and they really enjoyed the kids, the weather and Kingston. Grandpa named Grace "The Tornado" and often commented on how nice the boys played together until the Tornado blew in and tore everything up. So, here are a few pictures from their visit. We really missed Grandpa Stajniak and wished that he could have come too.

Grandma and Grandpa Kotzer's Visit

Over the last week, we have had visitors from Saskatchewan. Clay's parents came to visit us along with his Grandma Kotzer. We had a great week with them. We toured around Kingston, had great visits with the neighbours and went to Old Fort Henry for a Sunset Ceremony, which featured the Snowbirds. It's amazing how great they are no matter how many times you see them. As mentioned, Clay's Grandma was here, which was a special treat to see her. I think she really enjoyed the kids and was amazed by our Amazing Grace. All good things must come to an end so, Clay took them to Toronto yesterday to catch their flight and conveniently picked up my Mom and Grandparents. Here are some pictures of the visit here.

Fiona and Preston: 5-Month Photo

Fiona and Preston are five months old today. Coincidently, Mommy goes back to work today and leave Daddy holding onto the ropes: all four of them. Fiona is doing really well. She can sit up on her own for a bit, at least long enough to get a photo or two. She loves playing on her tummy and is starting to creep forward and pivote a bit; however, she does not roll yet. No, she is much to chubby for that. She has huge chubby legs. We are going to try to get her weighed and measured this week. My best guess is that she is about 17-18 lbs and about 26 inches long.
Fiona also started her first bit of solids this week and has taken really well to it. She loves it infact and gulps it down. Otherwise, she is still a happy smiley baby and likes to perform for the camera. I rarely get bad photos of her.

As for the rest of us, we had a good week all together last week. Clay and I were both on leave so we got lots of work done around the yard, went waterskiing on Thursday afternoon and swam in Nana Kat and Grampy Mike's pool a couple of times. Here are some more photos over the last week. We are now looking forward to a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Kotzer and Great Grandma Kotzer this Thursday.

The Conclusion

So, our trip is over and we are officially back in Kingston. Here are the highlights of our trip to Britain. It seems like it was over in a flash and now we are back to our normal life in Kingston. We have already had a soccer game, went grocery shopping, went garden plant shopping and switched around the girls wardrobes. This is my last week at home before going back to work and we are trying to make every minute count.

The Big Voyage - It was a 24 hour trip from our door to Mark and Laura's door, which rolled out like this: drive to TO, train from parking lot to Pearson, 7 hour flight to Heathrow, 15 min Heathrow Express train to Paddington station, 6 hour train from Paddington to Penzance and then drive to Mark and Laura's in Helson. And in the slideshow, Riley is really sleeping like that.


Together - The last time we saw Mark and Laura and family was at the end of July last summer. Everyone has grown and changed so much. It was wonderful to have all these young cousins together. It did not go without incident though as there was a lot of diaper cream, tooth paste and more diaper cream being spread around in all the wrong places. Grace pretty much refused to go to bed every night, and when Mark and Laura thought their kids were silently off to sleep, they weren't. All in all, they had so much fun together and the bonding between Grace and Miah was very great and special, while the boys played together like old times.


The Baby Girls - This trip gave us the opportunity to introduce our new additions to each family. The girls mostly gooed and gawed at each other like babies do but it was really special to have them together for the first time.


The Many Views of Cornwall - From rolling waves on the beeches to to rocky cliffs, rides at Flambards to the Seal Sanctuary, there was so much to see and do in Cornwall. The little towns were so picturesqe and the trees shrubs and vines were so exquisite. You can tell that the climate is not that cold here by the enourmous size of the plants: Rhododendron bushes as opposed to shrubs, Fuschia bushes as opposed to hanging baskets and ivy laced everywhere.


Burmaster's and Beyond - There were a lot of things to do north of London too. While visiting Mark Burmaster, we toured Warwick Castle and a Safari. Both were really cool but I think the Safari topped this portion of the trip. The animals were so awesome and close to us and the bird shows were awesome. The highlight of Riley's safari experience was having a common vulture land on his hand. We had a lot of fun at Burm's palace, maybe too much fun, so we apologize to anyone who received calls on Saturday evening from Revenue Canada or the Canadian Bar Association or whatever.

Our flights home went well inspite of the long delay in taking off and a crusty Grace. Otherwise the hospitality of Air Transat was outstanding and we recommend travel with them to everyone, especially if you have children.