Erin and Sean

Sean: Can I hold Isaac now?
Erin: No! Keep practicing.

Wo-wen!

Also known as Lauren, our wonderful new nanny. Unfortunately, the one letter that challenges Gabrielle the most is L, so Wowen it is, at least for now.

The kids love her, the transition has been seamless, and every day there's a pile of new crafts waiting to be hung on the wall. We wuv Wowen.

On the rocks

While my dad and Marie were visiting, I thought they would enjoy seeing one of the 7 Wonders of Ottawa - the Balancing Rocks of the Ottawa River. It is actually a work by a local artist, who spends all of his time making little rock sculptures using the rocks found on site and nothing else. The rocks are precariously balanced and there are warnings everywhere saying not to touch the sculptures. Oops, I forgot Gabrielle can't read.



No matter, G loved jumping around and was mostly interested in splashing around with her rain gear.



Rocks shmocks, look at the little fish!



Papa in his classic Soviet-style pose for the camera: arms tight by the side, standing at attention, face showing no joy. And then 3 seconds later:



Reality strikes! :-)

Slight family resemblance?

In this picture my dad and Isaac's faces are at the same angle to the camera so you can see the identical shape of their face and ears. I did a *tiny* bit of subtle Photoshopping for enhancement purposes only.

And then there's Ben!

Hard to believe my little nephew Ben flew halfway across the country, unaccompanied, but there you go. I remember him as a screaming little baby. Things have improved alot since then - he did no screaming whatsoever in his three days with us - thanks Ben! We loved having him: Mark got to play some golf and I got to find out what the twelve-year olds are into these days.

My three handsome men:



And Ben, the fashion guy, picked a fantastic skirt for his little cousin. Did she love it? YESsss...



My mom came to visit her grandson from Halifax and grabbed a little nibble on Isaac's ear while she was here.



Oh look, he likes chewing on rib bones! Who knew?...



And my dad and Marie came to visit Ben as well. Of course you wouldn't know it, as I only have photos of my kids with them - I'm a very bad auntie, sorry Ben. Anywho... here's Isaac at the beginning of every visit with people he doesn't see often: who the hell are you?! He warmed up quickly, as he always does.