Visit with the In-Laws & Girls Day Out!

This weekend was a nice one. Rich’s dad and step-mom are in visiting from Calgary, and they’ve been staying at Rich’s sister’s place to spend time with their new granddaughter! On Friday night they came to our place to cook us dinner and spend the night. And a wonderful dinner it was! Claire made a delicious salad with slivered almonds and baked pears (it was SO good!) and the main course was coconut curry chicken with rice and green beans. (She made me a separate batch with coconut curry Tofu!) It was really really good, and spending time with them was even better. We relaxed after dinner with a bottle of wine we brought home from Florence (which they were very happy about!) and talked a great deal. We will see them again tomorrow night for dinner and then they head back to Calgary on Thursday.

And yesterday was also a very special day. After breakfast, I drove to pick up my nieces - Kendra (who’s 8) and Harper (who’s 5), for a special girls day out! Upon pulling up to their house, I could see them waiting in the window waving at me and jumping up and down as I got out of the car. I didn’t realize they were so excited to spend the day with me – but they sure were! I chatted with my brother and sister-in-law for a bit, got the list of ‘emergency contact numbers’ – (oh ye of little faith) and off we went for our fun afternoon!

I have to admit – this is the first time I’ve had both of my nieces with me, without anyone else. It was just the three of us. I was a little nervous – they are excellent kids, but they have a lot of energy and I guess my worst fear was if one of them got out of my sight or took off on me or something like that. It made me a little nervous driving with them in the car too – they are precious cargo don’t you know!

But that fear went away as soon as we arrived at the mall and hopped out of the car and they each grabbed one of my hands and said that they wanted to hold onto me all afternoon! So that eased my mind. Of course…it was only a matter of minutes before I heard “can you hold my coat Auntie Leece?” I knew my hands would be full, so I wanted to get a large bag to hold the coats – and what better way to get a bag than to shop for stuff!

I told them they could go to whatever stores they wanted – they could each pick a clothing item, a jewellery item and a make-up item. So “Claires” and “Ardenes” were our first stop. Let’s just say that Auntie Leece bought them each a little more than the initial deal. Headbands, bracelets, rings, P.J.s, t-shirts, dresses; they pretty much got whatever they wanted! But they are such good girls and they continuously thanked me. I feel extremely lucky to have such wonderful nieces.

We started to get a little tired – (okay – I started to get tired), so after a couple hours of shopping, off we went for lunch. I thought we’d go to a nice sit-down restaurant, relax, have some girl talk, but they both wanted McDonald’s – so McDonald’s it was! Harper got her chicken nugget happy meal, and Kendra was lovin’ her quarter pounder and I settled for a garden salad (pretty much my only choice there) but it was fun and we still had a nice relaxing lunch. After that it was back to a couple more stores – a stop for some Kernels popcorn, and after 4 hours of shopping - we made our way home!

I think what I loved most about this day was how happy it made the girls. And I really believe that it wasn’t because of the “stuff” I bought them – but that they enjoyed being with me. They would kiss my hands while we walked – they would tell me they loved me – they would say thank you each time I bought them something and they really seemed to appreciate it all. After dropping them off and heading home, I had a sense of fulfillment and realized just how important this day was for me, as well as for them. I feel extremely lucky to be their Auntie!