Sahota's come to visit and My Day Off!

Our friends Bettina and Shane Sahota came up for a visit with their kids Casey and Lillian on Friday night.

It was a nice visit and Evelyn seemed to really enjoy having a playmate in Casey.

Lillian seemed to enjoy the jolly jumper. She looks so much older when she is in it!

After the kids went to bed, the adults played a Settlers of Catan expansion called knights and cities. Bettina, Shane and Ryan kicked my butt. I realized near the end of the game that the way to win it was to get as many knights as possible and as many cities as you could. Perhaps this explains the title of the expansion... It was fun (once I got the hang of it).

On Saturday, while the kids were napping, Ryan and I taught them 'the bean game' (correctly known as Bonanza). That turned out to be a close game. I will try to remember to bring it to the lake next summer - or to Victoria in October!

Once the kids were all up, we took them to the park at the school where they played hard for about half and hour, took some family portraits, then we said our good byes.

I was nice to have visitors and show off our rural home. It is quiet, and perhaps a bit boring, but we really like it here!

Yesterday, I took our vehicle in for a big maintenance appointment. What I thought would be a 4 hr appt turned into a 7 hr appt. I spent the day getting my hair cut and browsing through just about every store in Lac La Biche. I was disappointed that the thrift store was closed for all of August. I had planned to spend a good hour in there. I had a leisurely lunch, went to a chiropractor appt, shopped a bit more, had some tea, and went to pick up the car. But wait! there is no car for me to pick up! They did not have a part that they needed to complete the maintenance and the car was undriveable in it's partially complete state. ERK! But, they gave me a courtesy car(a Ford Taurus), and I was home by 6 pm. I think I can pick our car up late on Wednesday or Thursday.

Overall, it was really nice to have such an extended time to poke around and do whatever I wanted. I can't remember the last time I was totally by myself for more than an hour.

Ryan had the kids all day and did very well. Ethan is now taking a bottle of enriched Rice milk at lunch, so he does not breastfeed from the time he wakes up, until Supper. I am liking the increased flexibility that is giving me. I plan to start subbing his supper feed for rice milk in the next month or so. That way, I will be able to work the day shift without having to pump for him. The evening shift will be a bit trickier because I will miss his bedtime feed.

So, Ryan is off to Calgary tomorrow morning and will return late on Friday. Yet another workshop. Our friends Jen and Steve and their kids Juliana and Evan will visit on the weekend from Lloydminster. And, Ryan's co-worker (and our friend) Melissa will be coming to stay with us on Sunday evening until her little house is ready to move into (some time in September).

So, check back in a few days for more pictures of our next visit!