Holiday's End

Just boring old me tonight to recount some of our other adventures in B.C.  One of my favorite things was our visit to Fort Steele.  The kids had so much fun learning about olden days and visiting all of the old farms and homesteads.  And while it was over 34 degrees outside they were troopers and we were able to fit everything in.

Waiting for the stage coach

 

 

 

 

I don't think there's anything I love more than when our kids can spend time with their cousins.

 

 

Racing to the gazebo

 

One of the kids' favorite places was the Wild Rose Theater where they got to see an old fashioned play.  They thought it was hilarious and were excited to get pictures with the cast.

 

Lillian was not nearly as impressed.

 
 

 

 

 

 

Serious Students

 

The train ride was last on our list and you can tell by the flushed faces that it had been a long and exhausting day.  It was well worth the wait though and we made a quick stop mid way through to get pictures at a beautiful spot.

 

 

 

 

 

Great Grandma Reay

 

Our poor Lilly baby had a rough start to our holiday with a bug bite on her eye that made her look like a prize fighter and a sick stomach so she was a bit of a monster.  In fact the word monster is a bit of an under statement.  She was so miserable that Allan's grandma started calling her "the one that screams all the time."

 

Most of her time was spent doing one of the things below. 

 

 

 

 

 

And if she wasn't doing one of those things she was screaming.

 

This is the scenery that surrounds us everywhere we look in Jaffray and it was hard to leave behind.

 

We finally made it to Kicking Horse where we got ready for Haley and Des' wedding.  Unfortunately we didn't get many pictures with everything going on but we had a great weekend surrounded by family and were grateful to be there to meet our newest nephew, Simon (Bruce and Kelsey's baby), and to celebrate with Mr. and Mrs. West-Chow, the happy couple.

 

Emma made the most beautiful little flower girl. 

 

 The gondola ride up to the ceremony

 

 

We were happy to return home to our beds and our puppy and our routine but we couldn't have asked for a week that was more fun!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jaffray According to Emma and Walker...and Mom

We spent the end of July in British Columbia visiting Allan's family in Jaffray and attending my sister's wedding in Kicking Horse, or Golden, I still am a little confused as to whether or not Kicking Horse is in Golden or if Kicking Horse is its own town.  Anywho... it was beautiful and we had a wonderful week.  Jaffray is easily one of the kids' favorite places in the world and we're so grateful to have a little piece of heaven to visit when we go and see Allan's Grandma Reay and the rest of the Reay bunch on "The Ranch".  Emma is certain that she and her cousin Kendall will eventually own a ranch and home there where they can raise horses and ride "Rangers" all day long.  And since it is their most favorite place I'm going to let them give a rundown of the week.

 

Emma: Me and Kendall and Walker loved to feed the horses apples every morning and night.  Kendall thought Sage was a girl but after she got in trouble with her big sister Mikaela because he was actually a boy.

*side note* Sage is one of the old ranch dogs

Walker: Kendall and me and Emma love to do what Sage does but he is doing his job and we can't do it with him.

*other side note* Sage thinks he's a herd dog and so is always "herding" the horses even though they don't pay him any attention.

 

 

Emma: The cabin was a nice place to sleep.  We got to sleep in the top.  Do you see those black metal stairs?  They are very sharp when you don't have shoes on.  That's why I always have to have shoes on when I'm around the cabin.  Near the cabin there is a red ride where Kendall holds onto one handle and I hold onto the other on the other side.  Then we run in a circle and then we lift our feet off the ground, we hold on tight, and it spins us around.  It's fun!

Walker:  We have a great time together as a family.  Auntie Penny gave us cheerios for lunch.  It's fun.  We got to go to Mom and Dad's cabin every morning. 

 

*The cabin that he is referring to is Uncle Dewey and Aunt Brenda's home where Allan and I stayed with Lillian right next door to the cabin above.  He built it when they were first married.  It's beautiful.

 

 

 

 

Emma: In Kimberley we got to go to a rock water park.  Some dogs drank from it.

 

 

 

Emma:  We got to play giant chess with Uncle Mike and Kendall.  They won.  It was so unfair that they won. 

Walker:  Uncle Mike and Kendall did win.  We did lose.  I did hate it when they did win.  I did want to be on their team next time.  It was too late. 

*Clearly we need to have a Family Home Evening lesson on being a gracious loser*

 

 

 

Emma: The waterfall was beautiful.  I love the color of the creek.  I saw guys jumping off a bridge into the creek.  When Mommy fell in I was worried and thought I was practically going to lose her.

 

*To clarify, I was trying to find a place to let Lillian put her feet in the creek and slipped and fell.  We were a little close to the waterfall for comfort and it was kind of traumatic for everyone involved.*

 

 

*Allan wasn't so traumatized, however, that he didn't manage to snap a couple of pictures immediately following.

 

 

*That big gap in the rocks there would be the beginning of this waterfall.

 

 

 
 

 

Walker:  Waterfalls are beautiful when water rushes down.  We love to see the waterfalls rush down.

 

With 200 pictures from our little B.C. adventure it is going to talk me a couple of posts to squeeze all of the significant events in.   More to come later this week. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The Baby" Turns Two

 

Our pretty Lilly Baby turned two years old yesterday!!  We were able to have a fun family celebration last Sunday with most everyone that lives close by and then just a little dinner and gift opening with my parents yesterday.  No one can believe that she is already two years old and while the fact that she can have a complete conversation with you would indicate that she is no longer "the baby", her size does not.  She still seems pretty pint-sized for a two year old but that's alright with us.  She is our wild child and has some very strong opinions about pretty much everything.  By far my most head strong of the three, if you can believe that given how head strong Emma is, she gives me a run for my money everyday.  She says the funniest things and is a great source of entertainment at our house.  Here are some pictures of Sunday's festivities.

 

Oohing and Ahhing over one of her gifts.

 

We saw this baby doll bed at Deb and Val's garage sale a few weeks back and the kids knew she had to have it.

 

Later she decided that it was more her size though.

 

 

 

 She is hugely into My Little Ponies right now, much like her sister and cousin Kendall.

 

Emma had a difficult time coping with the fact that her baby sister was getting gifts that she would like to have.  She got over it once she realized that Lillian still has the attention span of a 4 month old, which meant that she would get to play with them on a regular basis.

 

 

So excited about the pony on her cake!!

 

Some of the guests.

 

 

I had to include this picture because both Cory and Bridgett are attempting to eat in it.  Cory would probably kill me if he saw this but I can say pretty confidently that he doesn't read this blog so I should be safe.

 

 

Lillian feeding sweet baby Ethan, Tammy and Richard's new baby boy.  I'm pretty sure that he would much prefer his mom just feeing him.  This picture was taken seconds before she pulled the bottle out of his mouth and announced "He's all done!"  Tammy is such a patient mom!

 

As I looked in on her while she was having her nap yesterday afternoon I couldn't help but stare at her for a few minutes.  Sometimes I feel so overwhelmed when our kids have birthdays.  It feels like the time is racing by too fast and I panic that I won't remember the way they looked and sounded and smelled at every stage.  I sat for a minute and tried to memorize everything I could; the sound she made as she sucked her little thumb, the way her little eyelashes fluttered when I moved the hair from her eyes, even her chubby little pinky that's hooked on the side of the mattress.  Then I took a picture to help me remember.

 

Now in traditional fashion, here are my 2 favorite things about her.

 

1) Her crazy and goofy personality.  It doesn't take long after someone meets her for them to comment on what a character she is.  She is so enthusiastic about everything!

 

2) Her sweet little voice.  I love to hear her talking away in her crib in the mornings, having her ask me questions and tell me stories.  Her voice is so cute.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Dinosaur Excavation

I made a goal this year to have a more productive summer with the kids.  I love the summer months when the kids are all home and we have nowhere to be at any specific time but after a while the lack of structure starts to wear on me and on them.  They fight non stop and whine more about being bored so I decided to get ahead of the game this year.  I've made us a weekly schedule pieced together by numerous things I've found on Pinterest, which typically is a huge time suck but in this case was enormously helpful, and each day we have a specific theme.  Yesterday was library day, today was baking or cooking day, and tomorrow will be our service day.  They also have chores they are expected to complete each day along with reading, exercising (not like The Firm exercising but walking, biking, sprinkler running exercise.), practising a skill and so on.  Anyways, to fill in the time that we aren't spending around our theme and required activities I also have pre-planned activities, also found on Pinterest, to keep them busy and away from the television, which again is cable free for the Summer.  That was a very long winded intro to the purpose of my post tonight. 

 

Yesterday, as one of our fun time fillers, the kids excavated plastic dinosaurs from a huge block of ice.  I spent $3 at the dollar store to get said dinosaurs, froze them in a plastic tub from the basement, handed the kids some excavating tools and let the fun ensue.  And ensue it did.  Easily the best $3 I've ever spent!  Emma and Walker spent well over two hours outside retrieving their "dinosaur babies" from the ice and refused to quit until they were all rescued.  My favorite part was that they called each other "Dr. Emma" and "Dr. Walker" the whole time, it was very serious business.  They are already begging to do it again.

Dr. Emma and Dr. Walker ready with their tools.

 

 

 

Allan was a little alarmed when he found out that I gave them screw drivers as an excavation tool, but they did just fine.

 

Eventually they moved into the sunshine to help speed things along.

 

Look at those delighted faces!!

 

Lillian is absent from the pictures because we waited until she was in bed to begin the extraction of the dinos, for obvious reasons.

 

Kelsey you must try this with that Eli boy, particularly after baby #2 arrives and you need a couple hours of peace.

Grade One Graduate

Emma has finished another year of school and I can't believe that our beautiful girl is going to be in the second grade next year.  She did so well on her report card, receiving all "excellents" and her teacher had some wonderful things to say about her.  At one point she said that Emma "is an inspiration to her classmates" and later wrote "it is so refreshing to see someone so compassionate, gentle, and courteous at this young age".  We are so proud of her and the example that she sets for those around her.  Walker and Lillian have been so thrilled to have her home with them all day and I am loving it too. 

 

She had pictures taken at the beginning of the school year and at the end and while I usually pass on the end of year pictures, this year I couldn't resist.  I was amazed at the change in her over nine short months.  She certainly is not our baby girl anymore and while at times it makes my heart ache, other times I am excited to see what the next stage will bring.  She is such a bright little thing and I can't wait to spend the rest of the summer reading, playing and learning with her.

 

September 2012

June 2013