Weekend with Ah Mah and Auntie Tina

Ah Mah and Auntie Tina (James's aunt) came to visit us last weekend. The boys had a fun time, and it was lovely to watch them all spend time together. (More pics to come in a separate post).

This was funny - Tina grabbed Leif's hands and started to walk with him, as you see here, and they were moving around just fine. I grabbed my camera and ran in front of them to take a picture - and Leif must have realized that it wasn't ME he was holding onto, because as soon as we saw me he burst out crying!

Leif and his grandparents

Not much to say here - just fun times with grandparents.

Helping Granddad

August puts tractors high on his list of best things in the world. He loves every kind of truck, tractor, bulldozer ("bozer"), crane truck, dump truck, cement mixer ("mexi-mikker"), and thing that goes vroom-vroom. So imagine how much he loved driving Granddad's tractor!

He didn't mind feeding the chickens, but it certainly wasn't his favorite thing.

Summer holiday at South Beara

We're in Devon now, spending ten days with James's parents, eating massive amounts of food, and chasing August around the terrace while he rides his new toddler-sized tractor. The weather has been lovely and we've been mixing small adventures with staying at home.

August and cousin Kevin (James's cousin, which makes him August's second cousin?):

Leif and his Great Auntie Tina:

This is what most of our days look like, though often Leif is on the ground chasing August, and August is trying to run over Leif:

Leftover photos from our trip to Michigan

I have so many pictures from our trip to Michigan that I never got around to sharing. I was going to write about them, but if they're ever going to be posted, I'll just have to put them up.

Getting ready to go

We're heading home tomorrow (if we don't miss our flight again!), and I'm trying to post more pictures from our two weeks here. Sorry about the low resolution on these.

Mommy afternoon

James returned home from his travels late Thursday night, and Ah Mah left on Friday morning. It was great having here - she was so helpful with cooking and cleaning and shopping and baby care and anything that needed doing. I'm so glad she was able to stay with us through both of James's trips - it was the first time he's traveled since Leif was born, so it was a big adjustment for us all. The toughest part, which I hadn't anticipated, was how much August needed me every evening. By dinner time every day, he had to have me with him - which made putting Leif to bed very difficult (to say the least). Thankfully, Ah Mah handled Leif with aplomb when I had to attend to August (and of course, she handled August with aplomb when I had to attend to Leif). Thanks for helping us, Ah Mah!

In the afternoon yesterday, James stayed home with Leif while I went to school to pick up August. As it was Friday, his face was painted. He said he was a cat, and I'll take his word for it.

For reasons I've not yet discerned, James didn't leave the stroller at school when he dropped August off in the morning, so we took the bus home. August loved sitting in a seat without the stroller!

We went to the church, where there's an English-speaking playground on Friday afternoons, but it was packed and neither of us really wanted to go in. So we played outside.