My first cousin, Lora

My first cousin, Lora
Originally uploaded by Robin's Nest3

The last couple of weeks has been a whirlwind around the house. The big news was a visit from Lora, my first cousin from Australia. Having her come for a visit is always a big event, and Faith makes it an even bigger one because Lora (and her sister Charlotte) are like the big sisters she doesn't have. In her eight-year-old eyes, hanging out with her teenage cousins is the height of cool.

We got to visit with her twice in the last two weeks--one here and one down at my parents' farm (more to come). My Aunt Margaret and Lora came for a visit to our place two Fridays ago. In honour of the visit, we got to do a couple of firsts.

We got to go antique shopping in the little town next to ours...something I've wanted to do for a couple of years, but have shied away from with a baby/toddler in tow. My credit card/nerves couldn't handle that. But, Lora likes to antique, Faith and Aunt Margaret were up for it, and Blake was at the sitters. So, the elements aligned.

The antique stores ranged from garage sale to don't touch anything ($10,000 antique desk anyone?). My favourite spot was a place called Funky Junk, so you can tell which end of scale I was on. I got a couple of nature prints for the house, Faith got a little ring with an F on it, and I got a nicely rusted flower climber for the garden. Then, we had to stop for a "snack" at an outdoor cafe where we had yummy scones and a cinnamon bun floating in a bed of caramel sauce. (We shared...and Faith and I are planning a return trip with Blake. :)

Our next stop was Stratford for West Side Story. Aunt Margaret kindly treated us to rush tickets (thank you!) and we had some pretty good seats for the afternoon showing. Lora was very familiar with the play (band), as was Aunt Margaret, but I'd never seen it, and this was Faith's first play EVER. (We were going big.) They assured me I would know most of the music, though, but I'm not a musical fan so I was just prepared for a "pleasant" afternoon.

Wow! What a surprise. I knew almost all the music, and the play was fantastic! It wasn't just the music but the staging, dancing, and physicality of the production. The balcony scene was spectacular and the audience broke out in applause for Tony half-way through the scene to say HOLY COW...I can't believe you just did that while SINGING/ACTING/DANCING. Faith's comment was more on point, "How many times did they kiss?!?"

So, yes, I actually liked this musical, as did the rest of our girl-party. I was very happy that Faith enjoyed her first real theatre experience. As she said, "I didn't understand it all, but I liked it!"

So that was the day. When we got home to the boys, we mostly recovered (i.e. napped), and then Faith watched a Family Channel movie with Lora (yes even 19-year-olds...and adults...can enjoy some things produced by Disney). A relaxing ending to a great day.