Saturday, July 3, 2010

Family came, we dined and walked to the beach...

Yesterday we had family come from afar to visit and we put on a simple dinner.
Mr. HB's nephew and wife and their 7 year old son....
it's been awhile since we have had an active 7 year old here...
they arrived at 5:30...after a day of shopping, sightseeing, and playing at the park.

I had Brie and Smoked Applewood cheeses, crackers and cerignola olives for appies...
the 7year old, let's call him R...was famished and the Smoked Applewood was a hit!
I served him a glass of sparkling grapefruit which he drank in one sip...and after checking with his mom I gave him a refill.
It turns out he could drink it as fast as I could pour!

He was very active, excited, hopped a lot and chattered on a mile a minute...I was trying to stay one step ahead of him...but he was faster!
Mr. HB disappeared downstairs for the huge tub of Lego...it is one thing we have kept from when our children were young...
I spread out a large blanket on the family room floor and we dumped the entire collection of Lego out...
he made some wonderful flying contraptions which he flew past us as we sat and sipped our cocktails and enjoy a brief conversation before dinner.

As I mentioned, I kept dinner very simple...Caesar salad, Lasagne, garlic bread and cherry pie a la mode.
R love the salad..not the Lasagna, and inhaled the garlic bread! Ate only the ice cream and left the pie...no worries, I offered it and hoped for the best...
it turns out a grilled cheese sandwich would have achieved a 5 star rating.

After dinner R was still extremely energetic and surprisingly still hopping...
Does R stand for Rabbit?
Mr. HB suggested that we go for a walk to the beach...great idea!
The family live in the interior where there are rivers and lakes....no oceans.
R loved it! He was in his element.
He lead us down to the beach wielding a driftwood sword, he made Rules and shouted loudly to the rest of us who followed and had to abide,
we were a very loud and raucous lot as we made our merry way along the stoney beach.

Our group was disturbing the peace, and interrupting the calm and quiet of the people who were relaxing in the after dinner sunshine.
We were the Rabble Rousers...led by a sword wielding, elephant toting 7 year old...
who told me ...that he will be in grade 3 and learning The Times Tables next year.


It was a memorable evening, lots of laughter and smiles as broad as the day is long.
I took lots of photos...
one of my favourites is of his elephant "Stomper"

Tonight all is quiet in the Bungalow...
I've uploaded the photos and emailed them to family....

Kids help us recapture the joys, that as adults, we may have forgotten or lost.

5 comments:

LPC said...

What a wonderful story. He sounds as though R is for Christopher Robin, Heffalumps and all.

mette said...

Once again, you proved your hostess skills. Your post brings back a memory from my childhood. My half-cousins ( 4 of them ) sometimes paid a visit to our house with their parents naturally. I remember my father tying a rope on the iron doors of our living room oven. When asked, he said that it is because of the kids, they were such a lively bunch and my dad was afraid that they might amongst other things try to climb inside the fire place as well !

the gardener's cottage said...

hi leslie,

oh the joys of little boys. i miss mine being young.

~janet

hostess of the humble bungalow said...

LPC-He is a bonny boy!
A.A.Milne was a favourite of mine too.

metscan-I'd say your father was being proactive...better to be safe than sorry!

the gardener's cottage- It's funny how some little boys are more prone mischief than others...my son was active but did not do dangerous things very often...for which I am grateful.

Semi Expat said...

Sounds as if you had a wonderful day even though you were 'kept on your toes' and very busy Hostess! x