best 24 hours of my summer

Joy and I have been keen to get the boys up to Courtenay this summer so they could finally see all the cows at the Taylor's dairy farm. This past weekend we made it happen and I enjoyed a perfectly perfect 24 hours with Henry and Walter and the Tansky family. One of my very favorite families for sure. Before and after my year in Europe 12 years ago I lived with Jim and Joy and so feel completely at ease with them. And since then they've raised two fabulous kids, Jeremy and Amy now twelve and nine, who genuinely love to hang out with my boys. Joy and I both had a wow moment at the exact same time as we watched Jeremy give Henry a tractor ride (really, a huge ride-on mower)... amazed that this could be her not-too-long-ago-baby-boy taking care of mine. How time flies. And how things have changed as we no longer watch episodes of ER together but Thomas the Tank Engine as a treat for sleeping-over Henry and Walter, ha! We packed alot into those 24 hours but, oh my, did my two have a blast. First to the farm and all those big and little cows. Finding out that cows don't drink milk but make it (hopefully Henry remembers that small point!). To Jeremy and Amy's Grandma's house for ice cream out on the porch. Discovering a never ending corn field and deciding that throwing rocks and hiding in there was the best fun ever. Sunflowers. Spray parks. Laughing Henry on the swing and Jeremy's non-stop underducks. Trampolining after supper and then a Thomas movie or two. Sleeping in Amy's room and waking up to make homemade waffles with Head Chef Jeremy. Out to Goose Spit Beach in Comox where the photos tell it all ... wonderful. Sandy toes and wet hair accompany us to the Hands On Farm. Goats and pigs and sheep and a cow, donkey and pony. It's no wonder I came home with 239 photos to sort through! 24 hours, 2 hours up Island, 2 excited boys and one hot summer. I'm not exaggerating ... best 24 hours of my summer. So far.