Seriously, VERY anticipated, we love having Karyn on her once a year pilgrimage to visit our family. This year she drove down which always makes her arrival more of a surprise.

This year she chose to come down in August. Her timing was pretty perfect. The right week to see Trinity and Emanuel test for belt levels in Karate, to see Echo’s dance recital (solo act version), see off Ken and the boys before their first 5K run AND celebrate an early birthday for Echo. Yup, we kept her busy!

We had all sorts of fun. Karyn is one of the very few who has now met our Momo in person. They got along swimmingly.

Then in a last minute plan we went out to meet the Schwartz family at a splash park. We sent the twins and dads out to play Pokemon. It was a little on the cool side, but fun was had.

Bedtime stories were read with Aunty of course.

And Karyn and I ducked off to check out a larger quilting and yarn shop and then on the way home stop at a series of outlets where we enjoyed Five Guys.

We took our favourite walk to the Catholic Church.

And took her to our favourite beach. That was just Karyn and my supervision on that one. We managed it!

Then over to the Schwartz family’s for dinner and Mystro time.

Karyn and I snuck off a second time for a marathon shop at Mall of America. Ken has still not accepted the flowered Dr. Martins I bought at an absolute steal. Never could afford a pair as a teenager.

Friday was our early birthday fun. A trip to the zoo no less. Birthday girls’ choice. Karyn is working on becoming an amazing photographer.

Then a nice long dinner adults only after the dance recital. And the week was over.

Hugs at dawn on Saturday and a tearful good bye and the visit was over in the blink of an eye! She came bearing snacks and gifts from her previous travels but the best part was just the time we got with her. Never enough, but so very precious and well loved. Can’t wait until next year!!!

And here is the overflow of awesome!

Hard to believe she is 8 already! August 13 th marked our Echo turning 8. We had to split up her birthday celebration to include Aunty Karyn who drove down from Canada for her visit the week before.

Saying goodbye on the 11th

So on the Friday (a day before Karyn had to drive back) we had an Echo day. We took her to the Como zoo (a zoo run on donations only) and she got a $30.00 limit in the main gift shop.

Butterfly!

She HUGELY lucked out. They were having a sale on a series of large stuffed animals that had her buying 2 for pretty much exactly $30.00. After much agonizing we purchased a red panda (my favourite animal) and an elephant. Talk about a happy little girl!

With her new Stitch teddy from Aunty Karyn

After the zoo we had to drive back home and clean up for Echo’s first dance recital at the YMCA! There was 2 recitals planned due to summer scheduling conflicts with parents. For this recital not only was  Aunty Karyn and Trinity there with Mom and Dad but she was the only one in her class that made it!

Dancing solo with Miss Grace

She did an amazing job dancing with her teacher Grace, and looked absolutely adorable in her little pink outfit. We were so proud.

After recital it was home for a cupcake cake! Since she is currently obsessed with Stitch I went on Amazon and found some little Lilo and Stitch statues to put on top of the cake. Success!

Monday marked her actual birth date so we had presents from us and Aunty Holly, Uncle James and Cousin Jimmie. I went all out with the Stitch stuff and Aunty Holly totally hit the mark with her Lego set.

Thank you Aunty Holly, Uncle James and Cousin Jimmie!

We also spent time at our favourite park.

A day or two later Echo got a parcel from Gammie. A brand new instant camera with film. Included was a lovely card from Aunty Heather and Hudson.

Add in birthday phone calls from Grandma and Nana and Baba and dinner out solo at McDonalds.

The topper on the day was swimming with Daddy while Mom worked out in her class upstairs.

Echo told me it was the best birthday ever. High praise indeed! Happy Birthday Echo!!!

Kitty school

We are very lucky that our state has two zoos. The one we frequent relies on donations only which is terrific since to take our whole family to the other one is over 100.00. Curse of the large family when it comes to field trips. While we meant to head over to the zoo on the 1st of July to celebrate Canada Day it was just too busy. So we took off for the beach HERE and instead went back at the beginning of the day on the 5th. Perfect!

New metal piece out front!

Close up detail.

We never quite see everything on a trip. Which is just fine, since this zoo is affordable and not that long of a drive away. But we did see some wonderful animals.

For the most part I see the relevancy of zoos as an educational tool, a breeding program for endangered and critical animals, and often the only chance we will EVER have to see many of these animals in person. BUT the gorillas are hard. I just do not enjoy visiting them at all.

They were just so … resigned to it all.

Lemurs on the other hand, are a family favourite.

And the seasonal butterfly exhibit. That is always a wonderful experience.

On Emanuel’s hat

Of course we took some time with the penguins and the seahorses. 

With our maple leaf friend

So we return often and share equally as often. Hopefully not too boring for those who check back here often. What can I say? We do love to share what we see!

Flamingos

We never noticed this before

Yup a 4 yr old, and she is almost 7 at this point!

So many statues to pose with.

She dressed to match

Zander is far right