We Pulled It Off!

Oma's great surprise was priceless! Oma never saw it coming. :)

And here are the promised pictures of the fun-filled night:

The Lap of Luxury

Last night Tanya and I enjoyed a relaxing time hot tubbing with the kids. Talk about luxury! The kids fed us grapes as we soaked our cares away!

Steinbach!

It's so awesome to be here in Steinbach! I just wish that Ashish could be here with us to enjoy it all!

This morning we ventured over to my uncle's business - Harv's Air Service - and got to see almost everyone! Aunt Bettie was outside when we arrived and then Uncle Harv and Greg came out to meet us. Wow, was it ever good to see them! I have such wonderful childhood memories of my time here and the thought of being able to have almost everyone together again has me giddy with happiness!

Priya was a bit off this morning due to less sleep than normal last night but she sure took to Uncle Harv right away! I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that he looks so much like Grandpa? :)Luke arrived while we were there as well so we were able to see him too! I can't believe it's been 8 years since I'd seen him!
Adam & Tanya:
Greg and Priya:

I didn't get a photo of Aunt Bettie but that will be coming soon. We haven't seen Greg's Tanya yet but are hoping to see her very soon too. It's only 12:30pm here so there's still so much of the day to go! Judy, my parents, and Joel, Emily & Ella will be arriving today as well! What a great day, eh? :)

Meghan & Dylan's cousin Jasmine is also staying at their home for a few days. They all piled in the backseat of the car with Priya this morning. We had a mosquito infestation in the car and Tanya was trying to kill one that just wouldn't die. She kept saying "Die!" and Priya picked up on it. We thought it was pretty funny...

Operation Surprise Oma - Part 1

Round one was effectively executed today! After a wonderful stay in Winnipeg with Cynthia we trekked out to Steinbach to surprise Oma. Cynthia held Priya and had Caleb and Carson with her as she knocked on Oma's door, while I hid around the corner. Oma's reaction was priceless and I was happy to be able to get it on video. We didn't let the cat out of the bag on the additional visitors that will be showing up tomorrow, so the surprises will continue to come!

Priya has talked about Oma a lot since our Montana trip and she was excited to get to see her again!

After spending some time with Oma we met up with Tanya and Dylan at McDonald's for dinner. The kids enjoyed their dinner and then had a blast playing together.

We ended the day by heading back to Tanya's home, where I will be staying for the duration of my time in Manitoba. We all took the kids to a nearby park before Cynthia and the boys headed back to Winnipeg. Tanya and I enjoyed some girl talk after the kids went to bed and waited for Adam to return from an air show.

What a great day! I was giddy driving into Steinbach today and so excited about all the family time that is yet to come. Our time here has been wonderful already and there's so much more fun to come! It's been far too long since we've all had some good, solid quality time together and this is a tremendous gift!

Friendly Manitoba

Priya and I are currently in Winnipeg, Manitoba. We are here visiting family and to celebrate my grandma's 85th birthday. Shhhh...don't tell her! She doesn't know we are here yet! :)

Ashish wasn't able to join us on this trip b/c of his school commitments so unfortunately he is back home studying like mad and gearing up for another big test tomorrow. Good luck honey! I'm praying for you and know that you'll do great on this one! We miss and love you lots!

We arrived yesterday at about 11pm and I'm happy to report that Priya did amazingly well! We only had a few minor snags (including a delayed flight that almost caused us to miss our connection from Denver to Winnipeg) but we made it in the end. We must have been quite a sight in that airport. I wish I had a picture! I had a small rolling suitcase that held Priya's diaper bag and our laptop (easier to transport in the airport than carrying separately) and we also had Priya's car seat with us since 2 of the 3 flights allowed us to have an extra seat for Priya. I attached the car seat to the suitcase and dragged it behind and then perched Priya on top of the suitcase, her back leaning up against the handle of the suitcase that I was pulling as we power walked through the airport. It was quite a show (and we had comments galore about it) but it got us where we needed to go and Priya thought it was fun having a "ride" in the process!

My cousin Cynthia met us at the airport. It was wonderful to see her after 2 years (it's been 8 since we've been here in Manitoba!). We are staying in her beautiful home with her husband, Chris, and their adorable boys, Carson (5) & Caleb (2).

We enjoyed the day watching the kids have a blast with each other in the morning (man, did they ever hit it off!!) and then went over to Aunt Marge's for the afternoon. Today was my cousin Stacey's 20th birthday so she and her boyfriend Dan were also there and we were able to celebrate her special day with them.

There is so much I could say about today, but it's late and I'm fighting to keep my eyes open. It was a great day and it ended with a wonderful chance for Cynthia and I to have a long chat while everyone else was asleep. There is much fun yet to be had during the next week and a lot more family to see! It's so great to be here!

Stacey and Dan:Stacey, Aunt Marge & Cynthia:

Carson spent much of the day hugging Priya. It was funny to watch how much they quickly bonded with each other!The kids spent some time playing outside at Aunt Marge's home in the evening. The sidewalk chalk was a hit!

Then it was time to get cleaned up so off to the bath they went.

Amen!

Priya is at an interesting stage right now. We are having a difficult time getting her to keep her clothes and her diaper on during nap time and bed time and have subsequently been cleaning up some not-so-fun messes these days. I think we are getting closer and closer to potty training! I've been trying all sorts of things to make it more difficult for her to get her clothes off (ie. putting her button-up pj's on backwards, layering onesies under pj's, etc). Today I put her down for a nap in a shirt and tighter-fitting shorts, forgetting to add a layer to make it more challenging. Needless to say the result wasn't a good one... I won't be making that mistake again!

Her language is also just exploding these days! She loves to name everything she sees and is SO proud of herself when she names something new. She has recently done two things that we especially thought were incredibly cute and just had to share!

1) She likes to pray! She'll ask to pray before her meals and before she goes to bed. It started with her saying, "Dear Jesus, Amen!" and now she's adding words in the middle (unintelligible to us for the most part, but I'm sure they are something special to her). We were able to catch one version at dinner tonight. I think she's thanking Jesus for food. What a cutie!

2) Our little 22-month-old can count to 10!!! I wasn't able to capture it perfectly tonight, but I still thought the video was cute. She can count all the way to 10 on her own and then if we fill in 11 and 12 she'll say thirteen! She just added that yesterday. She is SOOO proud of herself! In this video she skips a few numbers but that doesn't keep her (or us) from being proud of her accomplishment. :)

Priya's friend Madilynn spent the afternoon at our place today and the girls had a blast playing together. I pulled out our little bubble maker toy and the girls had a ball with that! They also enjoyed "taking turns" and "sharing" as they fed a stuffed bear and gave each other rides in Priya's duck tub. Fun times!

Montana Day 3

Several of us had a low-key day back at the cabin today. So Emily and I seized the opportunity to dress the girls up and try to get some cute pics of them. Ella and Priya are having so much fun together! The first thing out of Priya's mouth when she wakes up in the morning or from a nap is "Ella! Ella! Ella!" She can hardly wait to see her! And we are, of course, thoroughly enjoying watching them interact with each other.

Below - this was an attempt at a hug that turned into more of a tackle.
Priya has developed quite a love for cats (and surprisingly enough I had nothing to do with it!) so she was pretty thrilled to discover a cat on the property where we are staying.

Grandma and Aunt Judy taught the girls "Ring Around the Rosie" just before dinner and they very quickly caught on. Could they be any cuter?! :)

Montana Day 2

Day 2 in Montana was another eventful day! We all took a boat tour in the afternoon followed by a 2 mile hike (round trip) to and from a waterfall.

Below Joel, Emily, Ella and soon-to-be-born baby Penner enjoy the view from the edge of the lake.

Mom and Oma patiently wait for the boat to pick us up and take us to the other side of the lake.
Priya's first boat ride. She did NOT want to sit still!

Aunt Judy did an amazing job keeping Priya happy on our hike to the falls.

The destination of our mosquito infested hike - a beautiful waterfall. (we are all itching like mad in the aftermath)


Priya got a ride from Grandpa on the way back to the boat.

Family Time in Montana!

We are currently in Glacier Park, Montana enjoying some quality family time with almost my entire family - my parents, Joel, Emily & Ella, Kyle & Judy (and Niko), and Oma. Jon & Jenetta and O & L, we miss you and wish you were here with us!

Ashish, Priya and I flew from Redding to Spokane, WA and met up with everyone the next day. It was an interesting 2 days of travel and we were very relieved to finally arrive at the cabin where we are now staying. Priya is an amazing sleeper when it comes to her own bed but sleeping in her car seat or in other places are not the easiest things for her. I'll leave it at that. :)

Below, Priya enjoys our flight in her own car seat. We were fortunate to have an open seat on both flights so we got to put her in a familiar place for the trip. Yesterday (Tuesday) we spent the day touring Glacier Park from the West to the East. It was a long day but we saw some phenomenal sites and had a great time.
Priya has enjoyed meeting her Great Grandma for the first time.
Ella and Priya had a blast throwing rocks into the river.
Family picnic!



A little affection between cousins.
The great miracle of the day... Priya slept! And we celebrated!