visitors from the east

nope, not the magi. my sister and our friends andrew and jess were both recently here for visits.

hillary was here for a little under a week, before her spring semester began again at gordon. it was really nice to see her. noah developed a very big crush on aunt hillary, following her around the house and even into the bathroom. (privacy is not a concept he understands.) they read many many books together, sang many songs, played lots with trains and trucks, made vegan cookies, watched a john deere tractor movie, checked out facebook, sent text-messages, primped, etc. noah was very sad to see her go, and also sad that he couldn't ride with her on the cool white bus to the airport. poor boy.

aunt irene was here the day hillary left, and to allay the sadness of hillary's departure, we all took a bus trip of our own to fairhaven and back (about 5 minutes each way). it was a simple but very fun adventure. in fairhaven we hit up the bookstore, the toy store, the bakery and the train station, then took the bus back to downtown and hit up a coffee shop. noah was thrilled. he was especially excited about watching a freight train go by at the station, and playing with the cars, trucks and trains at the toy store. (we were in there for over an hour, and his cheeks were rosy and his forehead sweaty from the intensity with which he was playing. it was very cute!)

here's aunt irene and isla lou at the train station:
then a few days later, we spent some time in vancouver and down here with our dear friends (and noah's godparents) jess and andrew. we went to jess's art show on granville island, (thankfully sans noah in the tiny craft shop).

here's jess with some of her tiny dresses

andrew and noah had tea together and munched puffins

and maryka, jess and i enjoyed some educational reading: entertainment weekly. so much to learn about the world!
now all our visitors are back home in the east, shoveling themselves out of snowstorm after snowstorm. we miss you, hillary, jess and andrew!