Awesome!

Have you heard about the rockslide on the Sea to Sky highway? How it's going to be closed for quite awhile?

Guess where we booked our vacation, starting this Sunday?

Yup.

Guess we're going on a longer road trip!

We got a new camera - should have some pictures for you when we get back.

Six!

Olivia turned six today. I was honored to be at her birth & it feels like such a short time ago - time really does fly! This little girl is the smartest, most sensitive & beautiful six year old I know. I might be a little biased, but I'm sure there are alot who would agree with me.

One of the things she had on her birthday list (which she printed herself) was a bird house that she could decorate. Of course, Grandpa was most happy to oblige because he loves her (and he loves wood projects). The roof is not actually pink - apparently there is a problem with our camera because all our pictures lately are decidedly pinkish.

Here's Liv with her new (not pink) bike...

...and a repeat from the previous post, cause I like it.

Happy birthday, Olivia. We love you SO much & are proud of what a wonderful girl you are.

Golden Ears Park

Our kids all went camping together this weekend. They invited us to join them and since sleeping on the ground doesn't appeal to me anymore, we drove up saturday morning & spent the day with them. We had never been to Golden Ears before - what a beautiful park it is! The weather was less than stellar, but the kids didn't care. Here's Grandpa & the little ones checking out a crawly bug.

We took a little hike down to the lake in the morning & enjoyed some time on an empty beach. Good thing we went early, because we had rain all afternoon. During & after lunch everyone got wet, and when it got too cold, we spent some quality time in Cindi & Dobby's tent trailer (see us all crammed in there?)
Olivia got an early birthday present - you can see her working on her photography with her new camera.
We had a "who can hit that far buoy with a rock" contest. After a little trash talk (by me - and ya, talk is all I did) I think Greg won that contest.
Malcolm is enjoying having someone smaller than him who he can be of assistance to - see him sharing his granola bar with Isaiah?
The tarp picture doesn't tell the story; lets just say it didn't go well.
The skies sort of cleared around suppertime & Sabrina & Noah got the dishes done in record time.

In spite of the rain, we had a good time enjoying nature & each other.

Canada Day Parade

We joined the community in Abbotsford on July 1st to watch the parade. The kids were excited - tattooed & decked out in red & white, & the mommys had packed lots of snacks & drinks (and wipes),. The weather was perfect!

Malcolm was alot less excited when the parade started with every firetruck in town - sirens wailing! Isaiah, on the other hand, loved them!

Once they had passed, the morning was much more enjoyable.

I like the picture with grandpa & the two biggest boys walking hand in hand, still checking out all the sights.

fun at the waterpark

Okay, maybe it was just our backyard, but the kids had loads of fun this afternoon. Slippin' & slidin', climber set up so the slide ends in the pool, throwing water balloons, chasing Grandpa with the water blaster - it doesn't take much water to make for a good time!

We were actually looking for shade this afternoon; this was all after my girls & me (with some help from the young uns) made 19 batches of freezer strawberry jam. I should have taken a picture of all those jars; it was pretty impressive.

The last picture in the collage is Isaiah showing Auntie Cindi his new thumb. It's looking really good & healing well. Thanks for praying!

So awhile back I complained about the lack of consecutive sunny days & the slowness of summer to arrive. I'm not complaining anymore. :-)

Yay, Zay!

This little trooper had his thumb surgery this morning @ Childrens' Hospital, & I had the priviledge of accompanying him, Becky & Noah. Becky will post more about it (no pressure, Beck) but I just wanted to let you all know that he came through beautifully. We'll see the result when the bandages come off in a few days. Thanks for your prayers, keep them going for quick healing. I love this little guy!

Summer starts tomorrow?

Seriously, am I the only one who thinks we're long overdue for some consistent sunshine? It's June 19th and I'm wearing a hoodie. IN THE HOUSE! Aaargh...
Ah well, life goes on. We are enjoying the odd pleasant evening huddled around our chiminea (munching on ooey, gooey smores) Nothing says "sticky" like a grandchild covered in warm, chocolatey marshmellow.


The following picture illustrates the speed with which summer is approaching :-(

I spent some time this morning trying to find an inexpensive vacation destination for our first-in-a-long-time summer week off together in August. No luck so far. Anyone have any ideas (that don't involve a plane trip or two days of driving)? If we end up staying home, I won't complain (much). They say a change is as good as a rest. And I am not high maintenance.
I'm NOT! ;)

changes

With a little (okay a lot of) help, we have a new look. What do you think? It's kind of ridiculous how excited I am right now. I know, I should get out more :-) !!

5-4-3-2-1

That's the ages of our kidlets (at least until Olivia's birthday in July). How precious are they!?!

Finally!

The sun finally came out this morning, so what else could we do but head to Mill Lake. Lots of playground, trails to ride bikes on, water beckoning little people to do some splashing (and making mommies & grandmas nervous - especially on the boardwalk), wildlife to see, flowers to pick (and decorate helmuts with), snacks to eat, cousins to ride teeter-totters with...what a great morning. It was so nice to feel warm and not attribute the feeling to a hotflash!!
I just love these five little people in my life. There's literally never a dull moment when they're around!
Another lovely aspect of the morning was a quick stop for drinks from my favorite coffee shop - Afterthoughts. For me, it's often a forethought :)

We saw some very new residents of the park - baby ducklings trying out the water...

...what do you see out there Malcolm?

Oh, baby goslings enjoying a family swim!

Even the turtles were out today, enjoying the first sunshine in awhile.

We happily soaked up the sunshine & warmth (so long awaited). How lucky am I that this was my day off, & I could be there too!

Central Heights

This is no time for fear, this is a time for faith & determination
Don't lose the vision here, carried away by the motion
Hold on to all that you hide in your heart
There is one thing that has always been true
It holds the world together

God is in control
We believe that His children will not be forsaken
God is in control
We will choose to remember & never be shaken
There is no power above or beside Him
We know, God is in control

He has never let you down, why start to worry now?
He is still the Lord of all we see
And He is still the loving Father watching over you & me.

(Twila Paris)

four!

Happy birthday Sabrina. You are such a special, lively, funny, affectionate, entertaining, smart little girl. Your singing brightens our days & your hugs are priceless. Your boundless energy inspires us. We love you sooo much.

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!