Isn't it about...TIME?

Time I saw my family.
Time I blogged about it.

We only get to see my family once or twice a year, so Teagan is a different {not so little} girl every time they see her. This trip was by far the most fun she's been for them to play with, what with her thinking she knows everything and barely stopping chatting to breathe. Because our visits are so infrequent, I was worried she'd take a while to warm up to everyone, but she took to them immediately, which warmed my heart like you wouldn't believe. 

GG ("Grandma Gay") cleared her incredibly busy schedule to spend time with Teagan and take us here, there and everywhere to make sure she enjoyed herself. She carted us to the beach, Canada's Wonderland, shopping, parks and took us on visits. She gathered up all sorts of toys and games for Teagan to play and cleaned up after us for almost a month. She's the woman.

G-Pop, besides being a lot of fun to say, was a lot of fun to play with, especially since he was never without a treat or two. Chocolate wafers were his specialty and he even hid a much-coveted chocolate bar away in anticipation of Teagan's visit. Not an easy task. She would run right up to him every day after work with something random to say and he dropped whatever he was doing to listen. It is always so wonderful to see my parents and I'm sorry to them that we live so far away and they don't get to do it often. Although it may take them until our next visit to recuperate...and get the stinky diaper smell off the back porch.

As mentioned earlier, she didn't miss out on any treats over the month. She enjoyed heaping bowls of ice cream daily (sometimes twice a day) and enjoyed them in style. She has been perfectly capable of feeding herself for some time now, but managed to manipulate every single person in the house into bringing a spoon, fork, cookie or chip to her mouth so she didn't have to expend the energy. My little evil genius. I could learn some things from her.

She loved spending time with Auntie Kristina and Uncle Pablo. Less so with Diesel, their 10-month-old Rottweiler, who's incredibly well-trained, but explain that to a 2 year old. "Pabs & Krees" were very sweet with her and understanding when a mere look from Diesel sent her running the other direction. At one point we all went downstairs to check out the unfinished basement that Pablo has single-handedly turned into a home movie theater. We left Diesel upstairs and when we came back up, Teagan stopped, looked around and began to ask "Where's..." and before she could spit out "Diesel" he was behind her, breathing down her neck. The next few seconds seemed to happen in slow motion as she turned her head and noticed that he was as close as he could get to her without touching her and she froze...then screamed. She latched on to Kristina and Pablo and eventually got brave enough to come within a few feet of his crate. Then he barked - a friendly bark, but again, tell that to a 2 year old - and she cowered in fear all over again. I surprised myself and played with him a lot more than I intended to (NOT a dog person) and found that he was a lot of fun. They've done a great job of training him and he's a really sweet dog.

They were incredibly sweet to Teagan and she couldn't get enough of Uncle Pablo, who doted on her constantly. And good ol' Auntie Kristina was a pro at painting her nails, which she loved. She attempted to do some touch ups on her own a few days later which didn't work out so well...for the carpet. There's a chance I wasn't as vigilant as I should have been on the trip, but the fact that she unlatched the tote and unscrewed the nailpolish came as a complete surprise to me. I guess I don't give her enough credit. Bless Kristina's heart, she painted her nails multiple times and when asked to show off her auntie's handiwork, the best T could give me was a weird squishy face with her hands on her cheeks. 

Uncle Daniel was fun for her to be around and made the mistake of doing something fun with her once, which led to her demanding it "again" and "again". He soon learned to be a little less funny in the interest of time. But he always humoured her when she wanted to show him her painted nails...and backwards tiara.

The holiday wouldn't have been nearly as hilarious had Auntie Nicola not taught my 2 year old the art of "The Selfie." She was a natural - must be in the genes. Nicola was so sweet to snap all these shots whether on a ride at Canada's Wonderland, on the way to the beach or just hanging around watching her for me (she babysat on several occasions, bless her) she managed to capture the moment. Our family photos will never be the same.

We had the chance to visit with extended family as well, great grandparents (she calls them "Great" for short), great aunts & uncles (some all the way from England) so I'd best save them for another post. But seeing as family really is the most important thing, I thought I'd start out the report with them and tell them how much I love them. It's easy to see how much T loved them (and that the feeling was mutual) but seeing as I'm not allowing myself to be photographed lately, you won't see any proof. Trust me - LOVE them.