vacation continued...

this has been the best vacation! i am blogging trying to document it all and its unfortunate I can't add photos yet but i don't want to loose the memories of what has happened. after i left you last we traveled to Dundas where Dave grew up. Omas house is vacant since she has moved in with daves parents so we were fortunate enough to settle down there for our time. the first day we got to see friends and the boys hung out at the park. i headed to ikea for some retail therapy which was super successful (although we will be bringing home many more suitcases then we came with) lol. we went for dinner and i was just amazed at how the boys were so well behaved all day. they really are growing up!! That evening I did one of my most favorite things when we head to Dundas. I went to the Westdale second cup with it's huge patio and read a book. I devoured "The Time Traveler's Wife" This vacation. It was the perfect spot for a good book and a latte. It made me feel full of life.

thursday we hung out with auntie ev and went to visit oma where she is staying while daves parents are gone (after we leave) it was nice to see her. after we headed home for lunch, naps and then spent time at Websters Falls with our good friends Morgan & Martha. Ontario is beautiful. The landscape and the great big green trees. They have beautiful parks and lovely water fall spots. We even climbed down (on stairs) to the bottom of the falls and graciously Morgan carried Noah back up for me. It was hard enough on my own.
After we fulfilled Noah and Ari's dream to ride a city bus. I can't wait for you to see the pictures... they were so excited. They loved sitting in the bus stop and were clapping with excitement as the bus came up. They put the monies in and we took our seats. Sometimes when you do something they love so much it's awesome to just watch their little faces and see them take in each thing through their eyes. We rode the bus to the plaza and at at East Side Mario's. We have learned on this trip as long as the boys can have Pasta a restaurant experience is a good one.Dave stayed to help me put the boys to nap and then he took off to spend a couple nights with Morgan.

Friday I was up with the boys and we went to pick up Auntie Ev and headed to the Dundas Driving Park. It was a hot gorgeous day. I can't even explain in details how awesome this park is. It has a splash pad and awesome wading pool. Multiple large play structures. Great green space and a fantastic view of the Escarpment. It was awesome. The boys loved it and all we had to do was stand in the water and watch them have a blast. We drove Auntie Ev to work and then home for naps. After we headed back to the park for more water fun. Had a McDonald's picnic, baths, books and went to bed. Ari struggled with sleep Friday night, I think he just missed Dave being there.

The weekend marked the time for DiFrancesco family fun. Dave's oldest sister Lydia and her boyfriend Dan (who we met for the first time) were out from Ottawa. Daves parents and sister Julia who live near London also came down. After Ari finally fell asleep I went over to Evelyn's and had drinks with the girls and Dan. Daves parents were also staying at Oma's and Evelyn lives in the house they grew up in right down the street. Its a lovely set up.
Dave arrived back early Saturday morning. Evelyn had prepared a nice family breakfast. We all crowded in her diniing room and had a great morning. The girls and I went to the mall for a bit around lunch time while the kids all went for naps. We had fun browsing.
After all the kids were up we headed as a family back to the park so the kids could run around. We also celebrated Dave's parents 30th anniversary with some things prepared for them. It was great to all be together. With the threat of rain we headed back for a nice family supper.
After the kids were in bed.. all the adult kids headed to a local pub and we had a blast!!! Probably the most fun I have had with the whole gang. It was so nice to just be together.
Enjoying maybe a few too many pitchers of Rickards White, Nachos and for Dan and Dave ending the night with cheeseburgers at midnight in mcdonald's.

Sunday we all headed to the church they grew up in and took some awesome family shots before hand in the courtyard. The service was awesome... most awesome was how well Ari & Noah did. They even went to Sunday school (of course they will do just about anything with Zoe who is their cousin and she's 4.) I also was extremely blessed by the guest speaker. A young woman from Rwanda with an amazing life story. She is a genocide survivor and was 11 when the Militia killed all her family. She tells a courageous story of God's redemption and forgiveness. It was moving.

After church we took the boys back to Ev's and left them with Grandma and Abuelo. The adult kids ended up at all you can eat Sushi. A place in Hamilton we visit whenever we are in town. SOoooooooo good! A few close friends also joined us and we ate and ate and ate and ate. It was fabulous.

We said goodbye to Lydia and Dan who had to get back to Ottawa and then headed back to the house. There was a nice family supper (which we ate none of) and got to see Dave's Aunt and Uncle as well.

After the boys were in bed we packed up and headed out with Morgan and Martha to Waterloo where we spent the next three days of pure relaxing vacation time.

Till next time......