Like Daddy, Like Daughter

A lot of people tell me they see John when Helena smiles.  In the last few days, Helena has been trying to be like her daddy in other ways too!

Life after two weeks on different continents

We are BUSY around here:

1) John getting over jet lag.
2) Refilling our fridge and cabinets with food.
3) Devoting time for John & Helena to spend together so they can reattach themselves to each other.
4) Changing the clothes in our drawers as a new season is upon us!
5) Church meetings for church retreat, women's care committee, and small group.
6) Getting caught up on and conversing about thoughts, news, parenting changes, new life goals, emails.
7) Looking at photos of Israel!

Eventually I'll get around to blogging, right?

Prequ'ile Provincial Park, Take 2

Like last August, we went camping with our friends Peter, Christa & Holly.  The girls were mobile this year, which made it so much more fun!

 

Helena & Holly loved seeing all the animals.  In the above they're watching a caterpillar walk on the tent.  Overall, Helena accidentally crunched two caterpillars with her loving touches, kissed one right on its back without killing it, and got one to hold on so tight to her finger that I had a hard time getting it off!

The other major animal sighting was a frog.  It immediately hopped under a car, but the girls continued to observe it for a very long time. 

 

The beach is the big draw at Presqu'ile.  The guys played frisbee for so long that John got a blister!

The beaches have a beautiful white sand but our campsite was near a rocky beach, so we also spent time throwing rocks into Lake Ontario.  

One evening John cooked hobos and corn on the cob over the fire.  Best meal of the trip! 

Thanks for the hobo addition, Erinn - the sweet potatoes were excellent!

 
 

Helena had her first hot dog and first marshmallow in the park.  She loved both.

 One morning we went on the Marsh Boardwalk, which completely surpassed all our expectations.  It was beautiful and 100% not buggy.

 

One afternoon Helena danced and ran around with her shadow.  It was so much fun to watch.

Helena & Holly seemed to decide the front door to our tent was a makeshift couch for the camping trip.  They'd be running around playing and then both decide to go plop themselves down at the door, sit and play for awhile, and then get back up to run around some more.  This happened over and over and over again.

 

Every morning Helena would wake up with a huge smile on her face.   John & I loved being outside of the city where we could hear the leaves rustling, the waves hitting the shore, the birds singing, but even more we loved seeing Helena enjoy the outdoors so much.

First Haircut

For some reason, I had this notion that Helena's first haircut was going to a great opportunity for fun pictures. Well, it wasn't.  She was thrilled to walk into the salon and find all these fun things to sit on, but from the moment the hairdresser walked towards her until the moment we left - with a quick horsey ride in between (during which I had to be at her side) - she was hysterical.

My arms were wrapped around her body with her head on my shoulder for almost the entire haircut, but on my fourth or fifth time of trying to sneak away to take a shot, I made it in time to take the above photo.  Two seconds later Helena was practically falling out of the fire engine trying to get to me.

I apologized to the lady for giving her such a rough time right when the salon opened.  She replied that Helena actually did much better than most kids on their first haircut!  So, for all of you mothers whose kids haven't had their first haircuts yet, you now know to not expect too much.

The Parents Rap

I can't figure out how to put this on the blog, but all you parents out there, you should watch this 3 minute video.  It'll provide you with a good laugh.

http://www.dump.com/parentsrap/