Happy Summer!!

Well, we are all moved into the 'old' house. I have painted so many surfaces that I am sick and tired of painting and am taking an extended painting hiatas. We are still unpacking boxes, cleaning and organizing a month and three weeks later; but the majority of settling in has occurred. I am SO looking forward to having things be back to normal....Does that ever happen?
The kids are doing tonnes of new things and learning many new skills. Olivia is SWIMMING, counting to 100 in ones and in groups of tens and can read a few words!!! It is amazing watching her swimming lessons. She improves and learns new tricks every session. She floats on her front, back and can do 'breaststroke' with herface in the water.
Briar is walking, climbing and says a few words. His first word was 'Quack'. He also says 'Woof', peek-a-boo (be-boo), Olivia (O-aa), and a very clear and repetitive 'Uh-oh' (his favourite). I think he is starting to say 'Up' as of today as well.
Briar also turned 1 YEAR old on May 29th!!!! I can not believe how fast that went! We had a little get-together with his little friends and he had his first taste of carrot cake. I must say that he didn't enjoy it as much as I thought he would. He got a water play table from Jeff, Olivia and me and he loves to splash and play in it with his hands.
Jeff has been fishing but they are having trouble finding the hake. Consequently, the boats have been taking turns going out of recognisance missions. This means that Jeff can come home for a couple of days occasionally.
Eli has been having trouble with his hind legs lately. He does what the vet calls 'knuckling' often (holds his paws on the tops of his knuckles without realizing it). I took him to the neurologist in Vancouver a couple of weeks ago. Marnie took Olivia for the day and Mom met me in Vancouver to help with Briar. The doctor suspects that Eli has a herniated disk in his spine. They can me a quote for $1982 for more tests and $1302 for an MRI to find out for sure if this is the problem. This doesn't even cover the cost of surgery to repair the disk. Ouch! Anyhow, after speaking to my regular vet, I think I've decided to treat it as a herniated disk and provide the least invasive care for it. This involves 'extreme' rest (no ball play, no running, no off-leash walks) and Prednisone every second day for two months. I SO hope this helps my boy. It was only six months ago that he could jump over the tailgate of the truck with it closed without any trouble. Freckles, who is about 9 or 10 years his junior, can't even do that.
Anyhow, that's about all I can think of at the moment that is new. I will write more after I add pictures if I can think of more.....