Our son-in-law has 2 children from a previous marriage. For most of the year they live in Dublin, Ireland with their mother. But for about 10 weeks in the summer they come to Canada to live with their father. Their names are Emma and Aoife (pronounced EE-feh). Emma is 7 and is standing in the photo below. Aoife is 4 and is starting school in September. We enjoy their company as often as possible when they are here. Even over the short time they are here we do notice a change in their accents and expressions. They begin to sound and talk more like Canadians - which causes some comments when they return home to Dublin.
A great attraction of our home to them is our pool. When we installed it almost 18 years ago, somebody mentioned that your children would always like to come around in the summer if you had a pool. I never imagined it would include our Irish step-grandchildren. Fortunately, they don't refer to us as "Granny" and "Grandpa". We are just "Liz" and "Doug" to them - now and forever, I hope.
This year, they have returned home a bit early. Their flight left last evening. We will miss them.
