A weekend in the life of Mai and Sol

This past weekend was busy, but it was lots of fun.

Friday, the girls (and their parents) headed out to Ottawa to visit with Grandma. We arrived mid-afternoon, had a nice visit, and good dinner. In the evening, Grandma looked after the girls (well, Solanne was already in bed) while Mum and Dad went out... a real live date!! and to see U2... well, the girls didn't know this, but they wouldn't have cared anyway. Mum and Dad had a great time with friends, even though they were very tired the next day.

Saturday, Maïa and Solanne got to visit with some of their own friends. We went to our friends' Sue & Andrew's place. Maïa's got to see Desmond and his new baby sister, who is just seven weeks old! Later, Maïa's good friend Zoë came over (with parents in toe). And the three bigger kids had a wonderful time, with hardly any screaming at all, which makes for a very successful playdate, indeed.

Meanwhile, Solanne was busy with her own new friend: Scuba the dog. He's a wonderfully friendly, large dog. He is long-suffering and kind. And when Solanne saw him, she went nuts! She practiced her relatively new sign, "dog," quite a bit. She followed Scuba around, panting and squealing. Often enough, Scuba would look for a diplomatic way out of the situation, turn around, and try to leave the room. It happened that he would be blocked by other children or a piece of furniture, so he would wait, wagging his tail. But Solanne was right behind him. So she got whacked by his tail on a number of occasions, and she loved it. She laughed and giggled and squealed some more. She loves dogs now. But I think they have a long way to go before they can catch up to cats in Sol's heart!

When it was time to go, the girls were reluctant (as were the parents), but it was time to say good-bye, see you next time. So we suited up and headed back to Grandma's (which of course, is also a special treat).

Sunday morning was rushed as we packed up our stuff and our kids and headed back to Montreal to meet up with the other side of the family. Derek's aunt Marilyn came in from Vancouver for a workshop, and she dropped by for the afternoon and evening. Nana and Grampa joined in, as did Aunt Robin and Uncle Mike. It was more fun and more attention for the kids: they had a blast... right up until after supper, at an Indian restaurant in our neighbourhood, when Maïa promptly vomited her entire supper all over herself, the table, and Mum. I guess it was too much excitement, too much food, and too much spiciness. Ah well, the joys of being a child. Daddy scooped her up and brought her to the bathroom. She got cleaned off while Grampa ran out to get the car... luckily the bill had just come, so that was taken care of. On the 60-second drive home, Maïa was laughing and babbling on, so she was alright.

Into the bath the girls went, as we hurriedly said good-bye to everyone. They got cleaned up, dried off, pyjamaed, and hair-dryered. It was off to bed, and to the end of an exciting weekend.