Saturday was a beautiful day.  Not only was the weather perfect but we had a great visit with the Friz family from Burnaby B.C.  We are only a three hour drive from each other but we have to cross the border to see each other.  The Friz have their paperwork in place to cross the border so they came down this weekend.

It was just awesome to see Miranda and Erin get together.  There was a little awkwardness at first but they warmed up to each other fairly quickly.  What broke the ice was Erin invited Miranda up to her room to play.  Miranda headed up the stairs first.  Surprise #1….Erin saw Miranda crawl upstairs.  Without thinking, she did the same thing!  Alan and I have to carry her up and down stairs.  She will walk up and down the three little stairs to our front door but every where else she wants to be carried.  They played for a little bit and then the boys wanted to go play in the playroom.  Surprise #2…All the kids headed downstairs with Miranda and Erin sliding down on their stomachs.  Erin did both flights of stairs!

Eventually we all ended up on the main floor of the house.  The girls were in the living room playing a game of “turtle” as it got dubbed.  The girls would fall on the couch on their backs and get stuck.  They both have new FOP bone along their backs which prevents them from twisting and turning.  We would hear, “Come help please!  I am stuck!”  A parent would go free them and then they would do it all over again.  Check out the picture.  This is surprise #3…I am amazed on how each girl got up from the floor.  They both do it exactly the same way! Meanwhile Brennan, Larkin, and Owen were becoming fast friends.  They spent a lot of time outside.  Brennan and Larkin took Owen all along the walking trail that is behind the house.  There were times when the boys were quiet that we had to go check on them (sometimes silence is not a good thing).  

After lunch we gathered the troops and headed to the skate park.  We are so lucky to have a beautiful trail that connects the subdivision to the skate park.  The playground equipment is geared toward older kids.  Erin and Miranda could only go on a few things.  On our way there, Marilyn Hair, Sarah Steele’s mother, stopped in to meet the Friz family.  She walked with us to the park where we swapped stories and watched the kids have a great time together.

Throughout the day I picked up on similiarities of the girls.  Both love their dairy products (i.e. milk andcheese to be specific)…Both love their stuffed animals (Miranda had her puppy “Pops” and Erin with her baby “elfanant”)…Both carry around toys all day.  Okay, Miranda beats Erin on this one by a landslide.  Miranda would disappear and then return with an arm full of toys.  Slowly throughout the day she became attached to different toys so her collection grew exponentially. 

Pete and Karen are definitely our type of people.  I, for one, didn’t feel any awkwardness at first.  I guess it’s because we’re connected by FOP.  However if we were neighbors and we didn’t have FOP in common, I would put money on it that we would all be really good friends.  Miranda and Owen have birthdays in January and we’ll definitely be there for them.  Brennan was so sad when Owen had to leave.  With tears in his eyes he said that watching them go home was just as hard when we left our cousin’s house in New Jersey.

Thanks Pete and Karen for coming down from Canada.  Alan and I truly enjoyed the visit and I am set on getting our passports together.  We’ll be seeing you soon!!!!

Additional photos of the day are posted in the “Photo Album” section.