On the move

Talia is 3/4 of her way through her first year of life. She no longer sits still. How thrilling for her to reach her brother's enticing toys, dog's food, forgotten bits on the floor, or whatever else looks "delicious". Our level of alertness has been increased a level or two as we try to keep up to her. As she is on the "slight" end of the growth chart, we were requested to visit the doctor to ensure we were keeping up with the curve and not sliding down it. Looks like we aren't quite keeping up, but not dropping off enough to be alarmed. Talia is loving her food and now that she can enjoy a wider variety, we will be sure to provide tasty morsels a little more frequently. She has now stretched to 26 inches and weighs 16lbs 11oz.

Boston Bar

We had a great little get away at the end of August with the Funk family. They invited us to join them at a very remote cabin near Boston Bar. The scenery was beautiful and the company welcoming and adventurous. We weren’t so sure about the journey to get to the cabin as there were many, many bumps, potholes, etc that you find on a single lane logging road and we were towing our trailer. It was well worth the journey (at least once!?!) Turned out the journey home “rattled” us much less. Maybe part of the initial “jolt” was the unknown.

Nate discovered fishing and Uncle John is now his go-to guy for all things fish! He caught 2 little fish (which were released) and was simply beside himself. He was so interested in fish that he even ate some a few weeks later (well, deep-fried “fish ‘n’ chip” style). That’s a big step for a picky eater (at least when it comes to “meat”).

Parksville

We adventured with our good friends, the McGladdery’s, to Parksville in the beginning of August. Our journey began by towing our trailer onto the ferry and riding across the ocean. Boats are oh, so exciting for kids (OK, the adults seemed to enjoy the ride too). Would like to say it was worth the price to ride the ferry, and well, maybe it was, just once.

The location, weather, and company were absolutely fantastic! The beach seemed never ending especially if the tide was out! We could never quite tell if the tide was coming in or out in the afternoon and were caught once on our own private island.

Our boys loved riding their bikes. Seemed to be a common theme of most children in the playground. Jadon grew leaps and bounds in his ability to ride a bike, just from trying to keep up to the older boys.

With all the warm weather we experienced this summer, the province did not allow any campfires at the campground. It just isn’t camping without smores, so we improvised and roasted marshmallows over the barbeque. Not quite the same but it does make for one evenly roasted marshmallow.

Todd and Corine generously remembered Brent’s birthday and we all celebrated with cake.

We visited Cathedral Grove during our visit, which is a celebrated forest of old growth trees (some being 800 years old or so, you can correct me Forester Todd if I am mislead!) The boys loved climbing on anything they could. There were some large snags (fallen trees) that were just far too tempting. Thankfully at least one of the parents was agile and without a small child or camera to supervise the lumberjacks.

Near the end of the week, our beautiful views were obstructed by smoke from a forest fire. The smoky air created fabulous colour for sunset pictures though!

Jenn’s cousins live just north of Parksville and were gracious enough to drive down to visit us. The children had an amazing morning together and the adults had a wonderful visit as well. Made us feel like we would love to be a whole lot closer!

4 Great Reasons to Visit Vernon (and then some)

My brother David & his wife Jill moved to Vernon this May to begin a new chapter of their lives. We took some time in July to see their most beautiful home ( which we neglected to capture in photographs!) overlooking Kalamalka Lake in Coldstream (just beside and known to us as Vernon). It was toasty warm, as one should expect in Okanagan country! Seeing our nieces again was delightful and having time to hangout with family was just what we needed and had missed. David & Jill treated us to an afternoon at the waterslides, a first for our family. The boys, particularly Nate, LOVED it, despite a rain shower and much cooler conditions. We will have to do that again and look forward to many, many visits to Vernon.

(um, Nate, that’s not a Barbie in your hand is it?)

On our way to Vernon, we stopped in Salmon Arm to visit my Aunt Joyce & Uncle Emeric. They have several acres which serve as one gigantic playground for our family. The boys absolutely love visiting. Not only do they enjoy teasing and being teased, they get to drive big equipment, and for a boy, it just doesn’t get better than that. They also got to ride horses which is also a big hit for these city boys (with country hearts). We are thoroughly blessed and overwhelmingly loved by family. Thank you.