Malcolm's Birthday

We celebrated Malcolm's second birthday today. Wow, how time flies. If you follow the Reids' blog, you will know that Dobby built the kids a big sandbox. So, we thought an appropriate birthday gift would be some tonka trucks - not too big & not too small - to play in the sand with. Malcolm got right into the whole scooping & dumping technique right away, so I'm sure we'll be seeing some very focused work going on in that sandbox!

Cindi made an(other) amazing cake - you'll have to look closely at the pictures see which are toys & which are cakes!

Malcolm is showing you on the last picture how old he is. He's still figuring out how to hold some of his fingers down with his thumb, so for now he uses two hands - very clever!!

Happy Birthday, little guy! Bapa & Mana love you lots!

spring break

This beautiful creature came out to welcome us to our home away from home this past week. We were on our way to Lake Okanagan Resort, which is a bit off the beaten path, but so worth the drive!

We got checked into our suite, a beautiful villa less than a year old with really nice furnishings and this wonderful view from the living room. Beautiful, right? Now, look what we saw from the patio...

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oh, oh, that can't be good!
Sure enough, the next morning, at 7:00 AM the nailing & power sawing began. No matter how high I turned the fan, or how many pillows I had over my head - it was still LOUD! Soooo, I called the front desk and said surely they must be kidding about us having to listen to this for a whole week (very politely, of course) . The nice man said he'd see what they could do & would call back shortly. True to his word, a few minutes later he called back to offer us a three bedroom suite on the first floor and at the other side of the villa. We said thank you very much - how soon can we get in? Well, we were moved over in very short order & thrilled with the upgrade! The two of us had three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a huge kitchen & living room, four plasma TV's. We thought (briefly) about calling our family and friends to come join in the wealth :) The resort manager followed up with a bottle of wine. Very good customer relations!!

As you can see from this picture, the view was again astounding. We enjoyed a patio view of the lake from our bedroom as well as from the living room. Ah, things were looking up!

We did some walking/hiking & I found out how not in shape I am. There was not a level area in the whole resort! It was fun though, even if my heart was pounding up into my throat some of the time. The main thing is, as Rick said, I made it! Notice the blue sky? We saw that pretty much every day we were there.

My man contemplating the vastness of Lake Okanagan.

The moon was so beautifully reflecting off the lake the night before we came back home. Our camera doesn't do it justice!

We drove home sunday morning - does this look like Easter to you? Apparently it got alot worse by the afternoon - whiteout conditions and lots of accidents. We were thankful that we had left early enough to avoid the worst of it, and arrived home in time to host an easter egg hunt for our grandkids & Easter dinner with our family (even though Colonel Sanders did the cooking).

We had a WONDERFUL time away together, relaxing & refreshing!

from the west, with love

We just got back from a week away (more on that when I have more time) but I was given an assignment for today. Bev, our sis in law who lives in Toronto, asked each member of our family to blog pictures of their yards on Easter Sunday so we could compare or commiserate, if necessary. So Bev, these are for you! The daffodils were actually taken about a week ago ;)

The hyacinth I just took now - yay, it has started to open...

...cheating a little here, cause they're in a pot, but hey - they're in the yard & growing like crazy!

And what yard would be complete without some hardy heather?

So there you have it, Bev. We actually saw some blossoming trees on the way home today, but not on our yard. Wishing everyone reading a very blessed Easter.

He is risen!!!

quitcher pining!

Okay, I'm back (if anyone cares). I have baked multiple batches of paska in the past week, & my family can eat it as fast as I can make it. Good thing it's so chalk full of healthy ingredients!

Remember last year at this time? We were praying hard for our newest grandchild, Isaiah, and wondering what the future would be like for him. Well, a picture is worth a thousand words... he has celebrated his first birthday and is doing sooo well! He's walking, talking (sort of) and ALWAYS smiling! We are so happy & grateful to God for how he has thrived in his first year. I love that he's a cuddler!

Doesn't he (and his mommy) look pleased with the cake his auntie Cindi made for him?

It was quite the process to get to this point - first he ate off the chocolate chips, then the icing by fingerfulls, then, finally, got down to the business of stuffing it in. Good times!