My Daughter is Coming to Visit in August!

The last time we saw Rachelle in person was one year ago in August when we visited for a few days. Though Rachelle and Fiona have stayed in touch by phone and e-cards, they are so looking forward to seeing each other in person next month when Rachelle comes to Wisconsin for a visit.

Fiona and I have been talking about what they’ll do.

1. Spend nearly a whole day at the Rice Lake Public Library! Besides books to read and fun computer games to play, they have puzzles, dress up stuff, and a play market.

2. Go to Culver’s for frozen custard. They use Wisconsin dairy. Wonder what the flavor of the day will be when they go…

3. Spend some time at the lake and the park near the lake.

And just have a lot of fun!

Rachelle and Fiona at Rachelle's wedding reception

Sisters Reunited in California

The sisters have been reunited! Fiona and Rachelle are together once again after being separated five months. Fiona hasn’t seen her big sister since Rachelle’s wedding in March. She’s very happy to have a few days to spend with her! You can see Fiona’s video about it here.

I’m very happy too that I get to see my two older children as well. We all had a nice dinner and visit on Saturday when we got to Rachelle and her husband’s home. You can see more photos of Rachelle, Fiona and Ryan on our Flickr account.

Reunited with James and RachelleSo Fiona gets to stay with her big sister through Wednesday. Then we’re off to San Diego on Friday where she’ll get to visit with her Uncle Brett and see her Grandma Susan.

The trip from Colorado to get out to California was a lot of fun. We stayed one night with a wonderful Couch Surfing family in Utah and another night with a Couch Surfing couple in Nevada. The trip through Utah was uneventful until we reached the Salt Flats. That was fun! Fiona had a blast running around out there.

We had a leisurely drive from Reno to Sacramento and along the way Fiona got to wade in Lake Tahoe. She bravely climbed rocks to get to where daddy was.

Rocks at Lake Tahoe

Sisters Spend the Day Together Before We Leave for Oregon

Fiona has an older grown sister, Rachelle. Rachelle was at Fiona’s birth and is like a second mother to her since there’s a 16-year age difference. In fact four years ago when mommy ended up in the hospital for four month, Rachelle really took over as then 2-year old Fiona’s surrogate mommy. So they are very close. They’ve shared a room since Fiona was a baby. If Rachelle isn’t home when Fiona’s ready for bed, she doesn’t want to go to bed yet.

We”re about to leave in a couple of days to head first for Oregon and no, Rachelle is not coming with us. She’s all grown up with a job and can’t just take off. This will be the first time that Fiona and Rachelle have been separated for such a long period of time since Fiona was a baby. Of course they’ll stay in touch by phone, email, Skype, and Facebook. They’ll still miss each other.

So today they are spending the day together since Rachelle has off today and will be working the next few days before we leave for Oregon. Rachelle works at a children’s photography studio and later today they are going to go in and get their pictures taken together. Last night Rachelle bought donuts and yes, they had donuts for breakfast. Rachelle took a banana along when they left for the morning so she could have something ‘nutritious’ to give Fiona. I’m not worried about it. I just want them to have a lot of fun.

On another note, we’ve finalized the plans with the family we’ll be staying with in Washington before we reach Vancouver. But we’re still looking for a place to stay July 29 & 30 in Oregon. Any ideas?