The Chappell Family Visit

How excited we were last week when the Chappell family made their much anticipated trip to Canada from Texas. It has been quite a long time since they were last here. If I remember correctly, Jon Owen must have been around Emily's age. We have been so fortunate to have our meant to be bi-annual, but actually annual reunions in Disney World together to keep as connected as possible. Is it hard having my only brother live on the other side of the continent, of course. But he has a wonderful family and a wonderful life in Texas and I couldn't be happier for him. It just makes our visits brim with emotion. I am the one who cries upon their arrival and even more so on their departure. It was nice to have them on our home turf, and we really did hog them to ourselves most of the time. Being that Jay has been gone for almost 10 years, his home really isn't here anymore, so he was happy to see who he would see, but really didn't want to pack his trip with traveling to all those he knew. We did allow them to escape from our clutches slightly to see other members of our extended family, but not very often. Riley, Emily and I wanted to be at my parents to greet them when they arrived. There was great cheering from the girls when "Papa's Car", as Hudson loved to say, rounded the corner into view. The closeness between all of our children is truly amazing, seeing as they really do have limited contact. Every time we get together they just bond so wonderfully.
As the weather was nice (they brought that hot, humid, Texas air with them)we went straight to the backyard, grabbed some Corona and ejoyed the rest of the day poolside. The girls and I stayed at Grandma Heather and Papa Dave's for the week, as the Chappell residence was fully occupied. We can't thank them enough for spoiling us with their superb B&B accomodations. B&B au Finnigan - I truly recommend.
The next day we decided to ejoy the weather again and really just "hang out" in the big ol' town of Corunna. Jay, Jacqui, Lauren, Papa and Jenny Hybers (who magically appeared with more rackets and balls) went directly to Jacqui's place of addiction - the Tennis Courts. I wish I was addicted to tennis, I found myself slightly jealous.
While they played, Heather, my mom, the kids and I spent our time at the park and splash pad. These kids are so cute. A few of mom's friends, who heard we would be at the park, and Uncle Brian and Aunt Peggy, who were up from Florida, popped over to see us too.

That afternoon we were joined by Chloe, Ben, Uncle Ron and Aunt Shelley. "Unlce Kris" joined us today too. Lauren has a particular fondness for cousin Chloe, the older-cousin-I-want-to-be-like-her sort of bond. (Not unlike Riley's view of Lauren) Ben was, as always, great with the kids too. Riley really does adore Lauren. She looks up to her and thoroughly enjoys spending time with her. When Lauren is playing with her and showing her things, she is on top of the world. Of course she also loves the boys, wanting to hang with Jon Owen and wanting to make sure Hudson was always ok. But Emily definitely is the one with the major soft spot for the boys. She would laugh hysterically at Jon Owen's antics, which would in turn, encourage him to perform even more. And Hudson, she just wanted to follow him and be with him. Though the sharing part didn't always go over so well, they had fun. We spent a lot of our week together really just hanging out. So I will share some of my favorite photos of the kids.

Thursday we went to the Stones and Bones museum, which was a neat place, none of us had been their before. Emily and Hudson like booting around the museum checking out all of the animals, Jon Owen liked the little section of stones that glowed in the dark, and Riley and Lauren liked all of the gems. They were most excited about pink stones shaped has hearts that they found in the gift shop (which I later wired up and made them into a necklace). They were identical to the stones from the Barbie and the Diamond Castle Movie that bound 2 friends and protected them. They even spoke the words from the movie "Best friends today, tomorrow and Always" so that they could be bound together too.


Jon Owen chose a star necklace which gave him "Star Power", he seemed to be quite attached to his necklace as well.






We went under the bridge for fries afterward. You have to do that, especially if you are a visitor. My girls want to go under the bridge everytime they go visit their grandparents in the summer. We took the time to feed the fish and the fish farm and to play at the playgroud. And who would leave before stopping in for a yummy icecream for desert.




The big kids were able to have some fun times out as well. In Sarnia, we went up to On The Front and had a few appetizers and drinks. It was a nice place, especially for Sarnia and it really did have a great view. Not sure why the pitbulls chewing on a wasp came out that night, and it wouldn't be the last time we saw these snarly faces either.






The second night we went out was in London. We went to Mythic Grill. I very quaint little Greek restaurant, with fabulous food and a funky little atomosphere. We ate and drank and ate some more, then we wander off down to the Barking Frog, had a couple of drinks before escaping from the teeny boppers - ha! ha! But not before a little sillyness and some very loud music.
Saturday we awoke to a very heavy sky, and the skies opened around noon and the buckets came down. Not a good pairing for the wedding shower and family reunion that were to be held outside at Lori's that afternoon. With great disappointment we made the decision not to go. Though we new their would be tents, we could not imagine trying to contain 5 children under the age of 8 under it, and the rain really just wasn't letting up. I'm glad we were able to see Uncle Brian and Aunt Peggy for at least the brief time that we did in Corunna, but was sad that the weather didn't cooperate on Saturday.




On what would be our last evening together, we gathered everyone up and went to The Palasad for an evening of bowling and games. Jon Owen proved to be quite the little bowler, and Lauren was keeping up the pace.

Riley, if not anything else, looked the part,being that it was 10 pin and she is 4. I think the kids had fun, it is always worth it to see them that way.


Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon,

The little dog laughed to see such sport,

And the dish ran away with the spoon.



On Sunday, we decided to test the weather and went to check out Storybook Gardens. Well the weather won that battle, the intermittent blasts of rain and the hot, humid, sticky mess that it was outside, was just too much for me anyway. But not before we were able to ride the train, the merry-go-round and the ferris wheel - a first for Riley.

Jacqui was in charge as always of pushing the stroller. I had to snap a picture, because this is where she, or occasionally Jay could be found whenever the stroller was present. It was a must, Hudson would not have it anyother way. The only time I was aloud to push it was when he was asleep - so funny.



When the decision came to eat and stay or leave for lunch, I made the call to bail. We grabbed some food and came back to our house for an impromtu lunch with a birthday cake mini celebration for Uncle Jay, who celebrated his birthday on the 14th. The kids love those sparklers and Emily was singing "Happy Birthday Uncle Jay" for 3 days afterwards.
We said our goodbye's soon after that, I shed my predictable but heartfelt tears. I miss them so much already, and can't wait until February when we meet again in the big WDW. Love you all!