Gracen and her Uncle Gary.

Gracen and her cousin Kinslee would seem to be perfect little playmates… But here’s the thing. My precious little girl is sensitive. Sensitive about her surroundings, sensitive about her routine, and sensitive about noise. On the other hand, my beautiful little niece is a shrieker. And that may be putting it a little lightly. Imagine the highest pitch scream you’ve ever heard on repeat throughout the day. It’s enough to leave your ears ringing. But for Grae, it’s down right frightening and leaves her crying and searching for her Mama each time. This combo made for a very interesting morning while Grae, Kins, and I were on our own. I eventually had to put them in different rooms and run back and forth like a crazy person. Oh dear.

Gracen and her almost five year old cousin, Korbin Jack.

Gracen loves her cousins. Today Korbin had a couple of friends over during the girls’ nap time and one of his little buddies went to shoot a noisy Green Lantern gun. Korbin immediately put his hand on the gun and said, “No Noah. Don’t shoot that. My babies are sleeping. Auntie Jen’s baby and my baby. And that’s too loud.” Now that’s a good big cousin.

Does it get any sweeter than this?

Today we headed into Calgary with just the girls (the boys stayed with Grandma Luella) and took advantage of the end of summer sales. Lucky little Grae got all kinds of pretty things for next summer. Spoiled girl.

Just waiting for her cousins and Auntie Rozi to get home…

Auntie Rozi came home and brought these two cool cloth balloon covers for the girls.

Tonight Grandma Charlotte gave Gracen a very old Dennis the Menace doll. Despite the fact that he’s pant-less and has has eyebrows growing out of his hair, Gracen loves him. So much in fact, that she couldn’t get to sleep!

One of our favourite things about being back in Canada is being able to just sit in the backyard.

Today Gracen and I met up with Laura, Hayley, and Sloan at Davison Orchards. We ate lunch, looked through Laura’s beautiful wedding album, and the girls played. Here Grae is riding her first tractor. :)

Lunch on a lakefront patio.

When we all got back to the resort, our first destination was the lakefront pool. Grae, Kinslee, and I soaked up the sun and splashed in the water.

After McDonald’s, we were off to the pool! It was Grae’s first time in an indoor pool, and she loved it as much as we expected.

Tonight we went to Mike and Hayley’s house for a BBQ and get together with old friends. The evening was filled with catching up, playing munchkins, and delicious food. Hayley, Laura, Tonya and I graduated together 12 years ago, and here we are now with our beloved little ones.

(From left: Gracen and I, Hayley and Sloan, Laura and Coco, & Tonya and Caleb.)

This afternoon Grae sat in her highchair and polished off a handful of local Okanagan cherries. Yum!