typically, wednesday is aunti day in toronto. i leave waterloo at 2:00 p.m. on the dot [not joking – 401 traffic is such that even leaving 10 minutes later means i’ll get snarled in traffic in mississauga and again on the gardiner expressway – i’ve got this commute down to a science!], bop around toronto til everyone gets home from work/school, then enjoy dinner and early-eve-til-bedtime time with the brother, sil ana, adorable e and cutie c.
this week, the tables were turned! summer holiday schedules permitted the little family to make the trek up to waterloo to see g’ma and g’pa, uncle b and aunti! and bonus: we all were able to book most of the day off to be together!
here’s how family vacation went down in waterloo, on wednesday…
as if a day-long visit to waterloo was not exciting enough, the extra-special part of the trip was that adorable e would be sleeping over at grandma and grandpa’s condo for the very first time!
jeff has this super air mattress that he lent e to sleep on. it’s pretty sturdy…
then, it was over to waterloo park for a family lunch-time picnic!
wednesday was a beautiful day to be outside: it was warm, but a bit overcast so no one got overheated.
lunchtime!
grandma is brilliant! an old trick that i remember from childhood, too…

a shower curtain from the dollar store makes a perfect table cloth! the curtain even came with clips - no flapping edges!
after lunch, we split into small groups. g’ma, g’pa, aunti and adorable e stayed at the park.
g’pa, aunti and e enjoyed a vigorous round-robin session of toss-the-beach-ball. you dropped it, you were the dirty donkey or the nasty monkey! [no pictures – aunti needed to focus and not drop the ball, literally!].
sil ana, the brother and i had just enough time to do a quick boot around uptown waterloo to window shop, and then it was…
dinner time!
that was such a fun day. i can’t remember the last time we all spent almost the entire day together like that. even at christmas, our visit tends to be a few hours, only. it was a lovely way to end the month of august before we all go crazy jump into our fall routines.
[eta: little’s e’s sleepover ended up being a smashing success! it’s reported that she only rolled off the air mattress two times during the night!]
how old were you when you had your first sleepover? my earliest recollection is of sleeping over at vfbf joanne‘s house when i was four or five. somehow, we switched beds during the night, and freaked out poor joanne’s mom because in the morning, we were vice-versa to how she had tucked us in!
Comments
Seriously – what an amazing day! I can’t imagine having a whole day with my family like that. As you mentioned, it’s usually just a couple of hours here or there for a visit, but it’s so nice to have that quality time without being rushed. Glad you had this experience! The picnic is my favorite part. π
Love the family time! Great pics, and so much fun to have everyone in one place π
I think I was 5 for my first sleepover…I never slept well when I was not in my own bed at that age…so it sure didn’t happen often!
Oh, I can relate, lisa! I have never been a “good” sleeper, esp in a new surrounding; I often was awake for AGES when in a new place!
I bet you and matthew + family have enjoyed park n picnic outings!
I remember going to a sleepover party maybe when I was 9….I’d spent the night at my grandparents before though. I always loved the oatmeal my grandmother made (somehow it was different from “our” oatmeal)! Looks like you had a perfect day.
i so agree that some foods were just different at the grandparents. my breakfast memory of sleepovers at grandma and grandpa’s: sugar cereal for breakfast! such a treat because our parents did not buy it! have a great weekend, zo!
I’m glad you all got to spend the day together — looks like fun!!! You can’t beat a picnic in the park.
I remember my first sleep over — I was 7 I think? And I went home in the middle of the night because I was crying π¦
oh, i think that is a common first sleepover story, holly! sometimes it sounded like a good idea…until night-time, right?!