Spring Break

We are having a lay-low Spring Break this year! It's quite nice actually. All 3 kids were in swimming lessons last week for 45minutes a day (M-F @ 9:00am), and then mainly we played outside the rest of the time! We have a little "spring break list" which we really haven't accomplished much of yet b/c the weather has been nice enough that playing in our cul-de-sac is sufficient! Yea!

However on Thursday we did join Jason and headed into the City - first stop was Ikea for lunch and frozen yogurts - and to pick up a wardrobe for "the students bedroom". Then into the City for some sunshine in Stanley P. We walked and raced beachcombed, saw clams squirting water up out of the sand almost in a "show" sort of fashion... great day - here are a few shots just to keep you updated with my growing babies. We are welcoming Spring with open arms! My daffodils and tulips have been out of the ground for a good 6-8 weeks already - and they are growing taller each day - I am excited to see the colourful bulbs burst soon adding splashes of colour to our yard!

be still and know

At the beginning of October we went on a Church Retreat (remember we sold donuts for this event in the Spring?) - it was a fabulous weekend and filled with lots of warm sun! Jason and the boys brought up their bikes and used them quite a bit all weekend. I kicked myself for not grabbing my camera since this weekend would have allowed for some nice photos to be taken in the dry leaves...cute turkey, hey? this was a make/take session we could join if we wanted, so Gabi and I did:pinecone creations was another session available for kidsand while Elijah and Jason were on a lengthly hike, Sam participated in relays, which he just loved doing!Food was aplenty there - seemed we were always eating some sort of huge meal... it's really great and beautiful up there!

spawning Salmon and more

We made our annual trip to Vernon on Labour Day Weekend (by now we are passed Thanksgiving, but I had already started this post so I may as well finish it). We had a great time as usual. First we walked down to greet the horses...this time the "snobby" horses actually came to meet us at the fencethen the kids filled up Gabi's basket with apples that were on the ground under an apple tree - and the kids fed the horsesand here is brave-Katherine riding Beth's electric scooter!Of course we went to DeMills for ice cream and to greet the animals thereand we loved upon the bunny
and drove the Gatorand we had a campfire in what turned out to be a downpour once we got the weiners out to roast!
Then we did something we've never done or seen before - we went to Adams River and saw the salmon making their way back to their stomping ground to spawn/die. There were fish all over this very low river, many dead and many almost dead. There were bright orange eggs all over the bottom of the riverbed... it was amazing, we all loved it! Here is Beth climbing over the log to the other side of the river - in her cowboy boots which made for a bit of a challenge, however very stylish!
if you are interested in seeing the eggs, click the following picture to enlarge and see the orange eggs sprinkled around in the waterJason was able to grab three or four of them - some of them all of a sudden got a spunk of life back in them and jumped free of his hands... it was neat for the kids to "pet a salmon". LOLThis was such a great experience - thanks for the idea of going there R-Family!! :) See you next Labour Day Weekend!

Tunnels

On Saturday, August 28 we met for an "in home" picnic lunch with the T-Family and then headed up to the Othello Tunnels! None of us remembered it being unpaved along the path, so that was a bit hard for some of the kids to ride their bikes on - but we figured it all out and did leave some bikes along the side for us to come back to! Worked out great! At one point Jen T. had 3 kids on the stroller! Here are two of them; Ben and Jessie!It was fun T's!

High Power

Elijah had the privelege of attending VBS this summer - this time I sent him to a soccer camp/VBS. It was fantastic! He was on a team with 5 other boys from his school and Alise!photo is compliments of soccer camp photographer

life jackets

Man, our lives have sure been made easier as we have left the baby stages (ie. playpens, swings, high chairs, diapers, nursing) already awhile ago, but lately we have had several instances where we go "we can just sit back and relax a bit" - like these life jackets are awesome for the boys! They jump in and out of the deep end and swim and play - it's great! We picked up a new one for Elijah today so now Gabi should be able to wear the orange one next time we are in a pool.
This was at our hotel in Portland after a day of shopping...

hot wheels

and here's Elijah's new bike - very proud too to be able to ride on two wheels and be confident in doing so... great job buddy!(yes, he's soaking wet. our neighbour was washing her car and let the kids come and help)

aw, spring temperatures

On Friday February 19th - Elijah did not have school, so we went to MLake to ride around it. This was Elijah's first time doing such. Due to our housing locations and such - Elijah is fairly new to bike riding. When he was young we had bought him the bike that Sam now rides - thinking we'd skip the tricycle stage and just train him on a 2-wheeled-training-wheels bike - BUT that came back to bite us because when learning to ride, he'd get too frustrated to continue for more than a few minutes at a time since he was inclined to push the peddles back (which on a 2 wheeler, is the brakes). Frustrating. Now that we have a cul-de-sac to ride in - he has had more opportunity and has since aged, so he can better remember not to peddle backwards. He's getting there!
We actually went around the following day too - and since I am blogging about this 3 weeks later, I have taken Sam around it a few more times since this. Sam would be happy to go every day - and some days that is possible - others, not so possible. :)

downtown for olympic fever

We are so lucky to live close to one of the greatest events in Vancouver's history - on Thursday, Feb 18th we took Elijah out of school at Noon and headed in. It was a well-worth trip - we had a blast taking some of it in!
The adventure started with the kids' first trip on the Sky Train!and all dressed very patriotic -(Elijah has a Quatchie jogging outfit on, you'll see)

Remember these Eagles I posted in October when we were Downtown with Kelly and Lily? Here's another - Sammy remembered posing by many of them in October so he right away posed in front of this first one we saw off of the sky train - and look at all these Coke People behind him!we didn't go into any of the Livesites or Pavilions (too long of lines) but stayed entertained by many different street entertainers (tap dancing, spoon-playing, juggling) and LOTS of walkingI want a better picture of this flag - jeepers, I could have taken a perfect one in October - we're hoping to get back Downtown this weekend before the Olympics end, so I may have my chance yetthe cauldronAnd how awesome to see the Olympic Mascots do a little 15 minute ice show for us on the Robson Square ice! Yea!!!the kids even got to high-five them after the showwe caught the overtime of a hockey game by standing in the street with many of these folks, looking into this restaurant's little TV and joining in the cheering! It was such a fun experience - hearing cheering coming from buildings/restaurants all down street!

And as I mentioned we did a lot of walking - from Station Sky Train station, around and about, to Waterfront, more around and about, to Yale Town... and back to Station sky Train station around 8:15pm when we headed for home! Elijah and Sam fell asleep on the sky train... way too cute, my troopers!

Go Canada Go!!

O zone

On Saturday Feb 13, we went to Richmond's O Zone - in the ugly weather - and had a great day! We visited BC Street with little tents set up for our different regions

it's been so long since I've blogged regularly, you likley have no idea who this Student is! This is Lily from Korea, age 11 - she was with us for 7 weeks (January 2nd til Feb 20th)Richmond is one of the largest producing areas of Cranberries - so they had filled this area around City Hall with cranberries - so fun!and of course, my beloved brother Matt was performing, so we got to be up front and personal for his hit "Today"his video was playing on the jumbotron too while he was singing livewe were given tickets to go on the Ferris Wheel toothis maple leaf and the olympic rings are also filled with cranberries! (shots from the Ferris Wheel)Great day! And well done Uncle Matt - loved seeing you perform today!