“Is there huny is this paragraph?”

Oops, a week again.

Well, Natey’s gone. We dropped him off at the airport Friday evening. That was a fun car ride. It took 2.5hrs (normally takes 2, although the gps always thinks it will take 1.5) and it was a hot day and my car has NO air conditioning (did I mention that? I took it in to be checked and they said it needs a new compressor – $600 – and it had worked about 10% of the time before but now it never works) so we were all drenched in sweat by the time we got to JFK airport. But there was a/c there, and beverages, and I do like a refreshing beverage. The way home took just as long but because the sun was going down it was a bit cooler.

Okay, what did we do this past week…

There was breakfast downstairs every day, of course. Everyone loves Natey, no one wanted to see him go, they were trying to get him to work there instead so he could live here and everyone would be happy. Natey and I had trouble coming up with something to eat every day but it was still lovely. I’m going to miss that little routine of going to eat at 10:45 every day.

Sunday night after I wrote my last proper entry (wasn’t that Ashley story just awesome? I’m so proud of my little keyboard puncher) Ashley decided she wanted a nap. It was 6pm, a little late for a normal nap, but she had napped crappily all day, if at all, so it was definitely needed. At 8:30 she woke slightly when I transfered her into her pjs, rolled around on the bed for about 10 minutes, ate and fell back to sleep for the rest of the night. It was pretty amusingly cute. Poor tired bub.

Monday after dinner, we went ‘down the road’ to a cow farm that makes their own icecream. It’s freaking awesome. You can eat icecream while looking at cows if you want! That’s just cool in my book. Plus, the icecream freakin rules. I got "cookie monster" with gummi bears. I couldn’t work out what the icecream flavour actually was, other than blue, but it wasn’t just vanilla. Maybe a faint raspberry? Delicious either way. Plus, gummi bears.

On Tuesday evening, we all went to Red Robin for dinner. It was DELICIOUS. The place was fairly empty when we got there so our burgers were brought out to us before we had finished the tower of onion rings we had as an appetiser. Ashley had a lovely awesome fun time, of course. She really does love being in high chairs, looking around the place. She’s more of a grownup that way, part of the conversations.

During Natey’s entire visit, we went a bit Oreo crazy. And by a bit I mean… we ate 6 packets in 12 days. Well, less than actually. Yikes. 2 packs of mint, 2 packs of double stuf, and 2 packs of ‘triple double’ (3 cookies, one filling white one chocolate). It was excessive but so delicious. Natey and I really aren’t good for each other’s health, we eat like complete crap whenever we are around the other. Probably because one of us is on vacation, so we both act as though we are vacationing.

On Wednesday I cooked dinner (3rd home cooked meal of Natey’s visit, although one of those was leftovers so realy, the second time food had been cooked. Told you we don’t take care of ourselves), stuffed tomatoes with breaded chicken. Yummy, one of my favourite meals we make, and one that doesn’t happen much because it’s not something I can just get Jake to make.

Thursday afternoon, Ashley went swimming in the backyard. I had to cut the neckline of her UV shirt so it could go over her giant head (the rest of it fits nice and loose) but she wasn’t bothered by the random collaring so it didn’t matter to me. She fell backwards once but her head didn’t make it under the water. She’s so cute, she was pulling so many happy faces while out there. Her favourite play time is when there are people around watching her play, and she had so many people watching her play in the pool. Mummy, Daddy, Uncle Natey, and her aunties Barb, Kerry and Jaime.

Thursday dinner was at Senor Panchos. Mexican food! Ashley wasn’t too fond of that high chair, but I think that was because we were placed in a little corner nook so there wasn’t anyone to look at. She’d fuss until she was out of the high chair, and then she’d wiggle her way off my lap until I was holding her in a standing position under the table. That was where she wanted to be. As you can see from the video at the top of the entry, she likes to try and walk around now. Only 3 days ago she couldn’t lift her own feet in time with the slight swaying, now she does and it is awesome. On Uncle Natey’s lap she was nice and calm, but as soon as she’d come to me she wanted down. We ate SO MUCH there  – complimentary chips & salsa, a big bowl of queso, and then I had chicken fajitas, and Jake and I shared some sopapillas for dessert. Best ever. So filling though. Food babies all around!

 
 

Ashley really adored her uncle Natey. When she’d wake up from a nap, if she was grumpy I’d turn her to face him and her face would just light up. She was always trying to steal his DS or puzzle book. She learned how to move herself from one side of the couch to the other just so she could escape me and go hang out with him. I can’t blame her, he is awesome. Plus, he had a fun beard for her to pull.

 
 

Friday morning, Ashley got her name made in pancake. I let her play with it while I ate, and she did eat a bit, but she really didn’t enjoy it. I can’t blame her, plain pancakes are boring.

(while I’m writing, Ashley is playing with her play table. She’s laughing and turning herself around a lot and having a grand old time. Whenever I look at her she gets this big goofy grin. She had the same look when we came home from the airport on Friday evening, she was in the same spot while her Grandpa Matt was eating dinner sitting next to her, and we cameinside and she looked up at us and grinned her face off. It’s almost as if she loves her parents or something.)

After we got some group shots taken, Natey got a hug from everyone working at the restaurant because he is that awesome. I really miss hanging out with him, it was so much fun every day even when we weren’t doing anything, which was a good portion of the time. And every evening when Ashley and Jake would go to bed, I stay up to have some "sez time" and Natey and I would do puzzles or play pokemon or something and whisper-chat and that was so much fun too. I liked it because it still felt like alone time because Natey is so much like me. So glad we get to hang out again in just over 3 months.

The weekend without Natey has gone pretty quickly. We’ve done nothing. Natey helped me grocery shop on Thursday so we didn’t need to do that, so we have been sitting around watching movies (silly Netflix reactivated, it didn’t warn me that the ‘pause’ on our account was going to end, so we have that for a month). We watched Mallrats yesterday, and the new Winnie the Pooh today. I adore pooh bear.