wow… i was so not ready for the end of Brian’s vacation! Although, we are extending things a bit and taking an overnighter to Boston on Friday/Saturday. Brian will meet up with his WOW “pals” on Friday night, and we’re spending the day at the New England Aquarium on Saturday. Oh and we got a screaming deal via Priceline at the airport Hilton. Not an overly child-friendly place to stay, however for one night it won’t kill us.

Josh’s CPSE meeting is tomorrow morning. We had our classroom visit to ECEC on Friday – this is a special needs preschool that rents space from the church in the bottom of our education wing. They are AWESOME people. I am really praying that Josh will be able to go there. We refuse to put him on a school bus – he’s too young, and nobody can understand what he says for the most part. So ideally, he would be able to go to “school” with Daddy in the morning and then i could pick him up in the afternoon. He was a little withdrawn on our classroom visit – i know the adjustment will be hard for him, but i think it will ultimately be worth it in terms of his speech development, and socially too. So, if you’re reading this, and you’re someone who prays – pray that the best situation for Josh will come out of the meeting.

not much going on around here these days… and lots going on around here, all at the same time! it’s just sort of nice being on vacation, being pretty laid back, and digging in the garden. we’re overhauling (read: tearing everything out) the beds at the front of the house, one by one. of course, i’ve saved the worst for last and i’m now wishing we’d done that one first!

Josh’s hearing test results came back just fine, no big issues there. i spoke with the truly delightful psychologist who was part of the multidisciplinary evaluation team today – i think the fact that we have a prior relationship with that center (they lease space from the church) is possibly helping us also. but anyway, they are really a great group of people who are trying to help us get the services that are best for Josh. I almost wanted to cry while i was talking to her today, i just feel so relieved that he will get help.

went shopping for a bible study today – Wendy (our youth pastor’s wife) and i are both feeling the need to dig deeper into scripture these days, so we’re going to dig in together and invite another friend along with us. our first book to tackle is Romans, which i am so looking forward to.

Grammy aka Eeya went home on the train on Saturday and we miss her. Josh especially is constantly asking if he can talk to Eeya. It will be interesting to see what kind of names he comes up with for Grandpa Gregg, Grandma Lorraine and Uncle Mark who are visiting next weekend!

Brian’s first day of vacation was today. We’ve got two blissful weeks of “hiding out” in the city, since we’re not going to Canada this summer. We spent a good part of today working outside with Josh and Grammy, aka “Eeya” – Brian chopped down 4 trees/shrubs that we’ve been wanting to get rid of, and already the outside of the house looks SO much better. Tomorrow we have to attack a particularly messy flowerbed that is the bain of my existence right now… no matter what i do these awful weeds/ground cover plants just take over. it’s a huge bed, which doesn’t help either. hopefully we will be able to make it look half-decent tomorrow!

Josh had a lovely time at Red Robin for dinner tonight, and was extremely sad when his “yawoow” helium balloon from Red Robin sailed off into the branches of our maple tree when we got home. I knew this day would come, the day when he would learn what happens when you let go of a helium balloon… he was SO sad. what made it worse was that you could see that balloon, caught by the uppermost leaves of the tree, a good 70 feet (??) in the air. it would take a ladder truck with a bucket on the end to get it down from up there! Poor little guy, he was hoping that mommy or daddy could jump up and get it, and he was trying to jump high enough himself. Fortunately, cuddles from Daddy and a nice bubble bath took his mind off his troubles.

It’s nice having Brian’s mom here for a week – Josh almost instantly named her “Eeya”. we have no idea why – much like Baou (Grandpa) and Duy (Grandma). But it has meaning to him, and he calls “Oh Eeya!” in the morning looking for Grammy to get up!

i’m watching Craig Ferguson, John Mellencamp and the Boston Pops – no better way to celebrate (unless i could be there in person)… while some hoodlums let off firecrackers in the ravine across from us, i’m snug in my dry house while it rains outside and in Boston. Happy Birthday America!

last night after dinner, we took our son to the park. not just any park, a really really good one! once we parked the van, we had a delightful stroll on a path through the woods… and when we came out on the other side, Josh took one look and said “Babbie, WEEEE!” in a sort of breathlessly delighted toddler kind of way. it was so much fun watching him go from climber to slide to swing to slide – slides are sort of a big favourite right now, second only to a ride on a tire swing with Brian. he’s just so impressed with himself after he goes down a “big boy slide” – the really big ones on the climber that is really made for kids that are not 2 3/4 years old (even if said kid does look like he’s 4).

i love summer!