What I Did On My Day Off

We took Little Stuff home yesterday afternoon, after a nine day visit while her parents were at a conference and then took a mini holiday. She's hardly 'little stuff' any more, at seven, but that's how I still think of her.

We had a good time, given that the heat and humidity were severe for Eastern Ontario -- humidexes in the 40's mostly (That's 40 C, American friends, equating to 104 F). Luckily we have aquaintances with a cottage on a small lake nearby and we spent a lot of time on their beach. Not only does it have frogs and minnows and a crayfish, but it also has northern water snakes, at least two, much to the child's joy. ('Can I catch it, Grama?'. 'No, better not, we have nothing to keep it in,' said Grama, trying to keep her voice from quavering.

On the weekend her aunt (the YD) came out to stay and we ventured to a public beach at a nearby park, where the YD's dog decided to join a baseball game, necessitating a lot of chasing on the YD's part and a lot of giggles from Little Stuff. On Sunday we took the big boat out on Big Rideau Lake, Grandpa opened up the throttle and we zoomed up the channel, bouncing over the wakes of all the other boats, including a couple of big cruisers. Ouch - my poor butt. But Little Stuff and her aunt had huge grins on their faces and shrieked with delight at the wildest bounces and sheets of spray.

Inside we did lots of crafts and painting - and it took me a lot of time to remove blue spray spots from her brand new white pants.

There was one interesting difference in this visit. Little Stuff was homesick at times, mostly in the late morning when things were slow. She never has been before. 'I miss my mommy and daddy,' she would say, the big brown eyes glistening with unshed tears. Her mother and I figure she is now at a cognitive level where she realizes how long nine days are - and that much time does seem like a very long stretch to a child. I vividly remember feeling like that at about the same age, on a week long visit to my grandparents. But I suspect I was not as disciplined about it as Little Stuff. She didn't whine or pine and if given an engrossing activity she would come out of it pretty fast. It did keep me jumping to provide a steady stream of such activities, however.

A few photo highlights:

A visit with Milly, a neighbour's two month old miniature horse.

Batting practice with Grandpa.

 With Grama and Octoraft.  The weater fostered a horde of horseflies.  Little Stuff floated around on the raft looking at fish through her goggles with Grama standing guard to fend off the evil critters.  Chlorine and all, there is something to be said for indoor pools.

And now it is my day off and I get to blog in peace.  Ahhhh.