Once again, we have been rather remiss in updating the blog. We have been enjoying a beautiful summer season, surely that excuses us! It all started about a week before the school year ended when I went to Las Vegas to celebrate my 20 year high school reunion! And what an amazing time I had. One might think that not seeing former classmates and friends for up to 20 years may make for awkwardness, but I did not find this at all; it was like no time had passed and we picked up right where we left off. Even better though was that I have a lot more in common with some of the classmates who were mere acquaintances in school and after my weekend in Vegas I consider them friends. It was such a wonderful trip.
Me with my high school and freshman year BFF, Marvi
More classmates riding The High Roller (l-r) Kim, Christine, Erin, Me and Sarah
When I returned home from Sunny Vegas, it was the last week of school for Jordy. And the last day meant the End of Year Talent Show. We had been prepping Jordan emotionally for this event for well over 6 months. As you know, he loves balloons and has been interested in balloon twisting for a couple of years, even practicing on his own with some rather impressionistic creations. But he took the initiative himself to research the art and learn more, and I am not exaggerating when I say that. He would look up balloon twisting videos on YouTube and watch them over and over until he perfected a few forms. And he even got fed up with asking adults to tie his balloons for him, and taught himself how to tie them off.
JORDAN TAUGHT HIMSELF HOW TO TIE THE BALLOONS OFF.
Wow. The only thing that we, as parents, did was encourage him and suggest it might be a fun thing for him to showcase in the talent show; that we thought people would love to see it. We bought him a big ol' bag full of professional grade balloons for twisting and practiced what he ought to say a few times before the main event. And let me tell ya, he rocked everyone's socks!
Sure, he could have been faster, and perhaps for next year we will work a bit more on showmanship, but he blew everyone away, the kids were fascinated and the grown-ups were surprised. When he doesn't have 75 people watching him, his proficiency is much more apparent. One couple behind me (not knowing I was his Mom,) commented, "Hey that's actually a bona fide talent!" And while we are a bit biased, we stand by our opinion that compared to a few quiet and breathy nursery songs and a cartwheel or somersault here and there, Jordan's performance really stood out.
Jordan with his teachers Michelle and Stacey.
We said our good-byes and see-you-next-year's and headed off into Summer. You can see in the photo above, his teachers holding balloon apples that Jordy twisted for them! And though Stacey will be his teacher again for grade 1, he will have a new ECE. The good-bye gift Michelle gave him would go on to become the soundtrack of our summer, "J-Dog's Jam" a CD full of fun kids music played in our car nearly every trip, multiple times! And you probably guessed it, the nickname his classmates gave to Jordan is "J-Dog."
Canada Day Fun
We went out as a family to Castle Park this year for the Canada Day Festivities. The kids had fun playing outside, listening to music and eating food truck treats, but it became a little too windy outside, and that coupled with a very dry spring and early summer, called for cancellation of the fireworks show. I was probably more disappointed than anyone that Cygni wasn't going to get to see her first fireworks display. The kids took the news with unexpected grace, for which Chris and I were quite grateful.
About a week after Canada Day we went camping for two nights, just 45 minutes away at Golden Ears Park, and I defy you to look at these first two pics and tell me we didn't get the best camp site ever! Amazing natural playground built-in with a giant hollowed out tree-stump and other bouncy-climbable bendy trees!
Cygni sure can strike a pose. Chris is mildly concerned.
An easy 10 minute walk from our site is glacier-fed and sparkling clear Alouette Lake.
We had lots of fun splashing around here!
Admire, but don't feed the Lake Sprites or they may follow you home!
The summer was spent out of doors a great deal, as it was much too hot to stay in the house, and I do find that the kids make me less mental if I let them go run their ya-yas out as much as possible. Some days we just hung out at a playground or in the back yard. But I did try to take them on special trips about once a week. I am learning just how expensive entertainment can be for two kids plus an adult, now that Cygni is 3 years old and is now an additional admission fee at some places where it was not required last year.
The kids always love a ride or two on Burnaby Village's Vintage Carousel
Oh, and making silly faces - that's free.
Captain America made an appearance at Nolan's Birthday Party
And he brought his ukulele.
And (red?) Hulk came too. Happily, he resisted the urge to SMASH!!!
More fun outside
Here's a trip we made to Maan Farms. There is a lot for kids to do there!
And then when you're done you can pick up some fresh produce too!
And of course, on really hot days, you've just got to go and get wet! Swimsuit on hand or not.
We decided to attend the Abbotsford Airshow this year; after kind of hemming and hawing we took a bash at it in the 11th hour. We left the decision so late, that we only just got out to the flight-line in time for the F-22 Raptor demonstration which is what Chris wanted to see the most. The kids did okay, but it was a lot of walking for them and they were disappointed when it was time to leave, which we had to do in order to beat traffic and get me home in time to go to work. I will venture to say that we will try it again in future, as long as there isn't a rush to leave the show in the forecast.
Inside the USAF C-17 Globemaster III.
Even though they fly old and slow jet trainers, the Snowbirds can still do some amazing things with their 9 planes
This was the first time the F-22 Raptor appeared at Abbotsford and Chris HAD to see it.
Grandpa Cam knew one of the pilots of the Ray-Ban Golds team in the 80's.
There is even a picture of Chris in the cockpit of his plane at an Abbotsford Airshow circa 1984.
This is not the plane Chris sat in; that one is at an air museum in Ottawa.
Airshow food has come a long way.
Jordan liked the F-22, but he loved the strawberries and cream waffles!
The kids were super excited for a special visit from Nanny and Papa Charlie this August too!
They stayed for three whole weeks!
We took Papa Charlie to the PoCo Show & Shine
and while we were there Cygni went for a full face raccoon painting!
You know what Jordy went for, of course:
It has been a while since we made a trip to the annual PoCo carshow
(I think pre-Cygni was the last time!) and it has grown to include so many cars!
Over three streets were lined with classic and modern hot rods!
I think Charlie loved it (especially the restored trucks), and it was a beautiful day for it.
(photo pinched from the Poco BIA website)
Nanny and the kids got to spend a little time together
But we got a little time with Mary and Charlie to ourselves too
Here we are on the Fraser River at Osprey Village for a gorgeous sunset:
A few days after Mary and Charlie arrived in town, we packed them up again and made for the BC Interior. We spent two nights on Echo Lake, in the tiny town of Lumby, about a half hour east of Vernon. We stayed at a rustic cabin, with only cold running water, and the kids got to experience the joys of using a pit toilet! We got beautiful weather and spent our full day at Echo Lake fishing.
Papa Charlie rigs up a Newfie style lure for his pole
Doesn't Jordy look like a frat boy on Spring Break at Lake Havasu?!
"Gotta bring a few cold ones onto the boat, brah!"
The first group out!
They say marshmallows are good fish bait, and though I am not so sure about that
I can verify that marshmallows are excellent Cygni bait!
The only successful fisherman this trip was Mary, who caught one beauty rainbow trout.
Luckily, Chef Boyardee comes through in the clutch!
Outside of our Cabin (#2)
Outside the Grandfolks' cabin (#1)
Cygni in the spotlight with Dad's Tilley Hat.
Good-bye Echo Lake!
After leaving Echo Lake we hit Highway 97 south to our favourite summer spot: Osoyoos!
Now, before we left home, we had heard that there were fires in the southern Okanagan, and just over the US border in Chelan, WA. Remember all the times earlier in the blog when I wrote that the spring and summer have been exceptionally dry and hot? Well, this region was really hit hard this wildfire season. Still, being in the interior, even as far as Penticton and along Skaha lake, we saw no evidence of fires. Then we rounded a bend in the highway approaching Oliver after passing Vaseux Lake and we finally saw some smoke in the distance. Nothing close enough to distress us at all, but we got to see with our own eyes, that the fires were still active.
Just before we got into town we stopped by Road 13 Winery to load up on a few bottles of wine. And they had this very telling photo on their Digital Photo display from the previous weekend:
Phew!
Fortunately the only affect the fires had on our vacation was a bit of ash in the air during our outside meals and a few evenings of hazy-smokey skies. You can see in the triptych above, the view of Lake Osoyoos from the sundeck of the Bella Villa on the first day, sunny and clear, the next evening a column of smoke from the previous night's fires and then finally a grey haze that rolled in late on our final afternoon.
Check out the surreal skies lit with eerie orange sunlight caused by the local fires
The first night we were in Osoyoos, Tina and I drove to pick up Charlie and Mary from a special dinner outing and spotted a fire burning on one of the hills to the west of the highway. By the time we got home there was quite a blaze going on and many of the hotel guests came out to the deck and beach to watch, transfixed, as the fire moved down the hill. Tina took this dramatic shot from our hotel beach. We would come to learn the next morning that this fire was a controlled burn. We were mighty glad to hear it.
Uncle Larry got this photo of the spotted lake, completely dried up in the arid conditions
and just take a look at the blackened hill behind it!
Selfie-time!
The kids made friends with Hotel Kitty who made himself at home in our
room pretty much as soon as we unlocked our door to bring our things in.
The first night in Osoyoos happened to be Mary and Charlie's 4th anniversary.
So we dropped them off at Burrowing Owl's Sonoma Room for a romantic dinner on their own.
Cousin Evan brought along this cool inflatable jet ski,
and we are glad he did as the kids loved riding it!
Jordan spent about 8 hours daily in the lake! Mom and Dad had to take shifts watching him!
Pedal Boat Pile!
The Usual Suspects?
Good times at Rattlesnake Canyon, riding the rides, eating ice cream and playing some mini-golf.
For the record, Stuart gave his hole-in-one Free Game pass to Chris.
A new generation joined the Osoyoos mini-golf and ice-cream tradition as Evan joined the group.
Note: Evan got a hole-in-one, a feat that even Chris didn't manage.
One day we opened our curtains to this! The weather was quite a mixed bag this morning, as you can see. Turns out it was a great day for some of the grown-ups to do something other than play in the lake...
The first winery had by far the best wine-tasting presentation: La Stella in Osoyoos.
This trip was the fulfillment a of dream that Chris and I have had for two years: Going on an Okanagan winery tour without the kids. For the last two years after we discovered the wineries, we have had to 'tag-team' the wineries by leaving one adult in the car with the kids while the other adult goes in, and then we switch. This time we arranged the grandparents to look after the kids (in exchange for Chris taking the grandparents on their own tour the next day).
We even got to enjoy a wine tasting with some delicious pizzas and
charcuterie platter at Black Hills winery in Oliver.
Of course we HAD to visit our favourite winery: Burrowing Owl in Oliver. We were disappointed that their amazing Meritage was sold out but we were able to score some of the Athene.
One of those quirky turns in life: Who would have guessed that Deb's Uncle Larry and Aunt Virginia would become good friends with Chris' mom and Charlie? And even though they now live 6900km (that's 4200 miles) apart, they've managed to go on a Panama canal tour and now an Osoyoos vacation together in the last couple years.
When we do our biennial Dumaresq-Leaton (Leaton-Dumaresq?) vacation, we split the breakfast and dinner cooking duties between all the couples. That was great this year with 4 couples - it meant we only had to prepare 2 meals. On the getaway day, Mary and Charlie opted to treat everyone to breakfast at Tim Horton's, which provided us with the opportunity to take one last group picture.
It was another enjoyable week and we are looking forward to a new adventure in 2017. Lake Tahoe? Hawaii? Anything is possible....
It had started out, to be honest, as one of those trips that Jordy did not want to go on, and he whined much of the time. But he managed to have fun despite himself. And when we were in the car to go home, I asked everyone if they had a good time and they all said yes. I further queried as to everyone's favourite part of the trip, mine was being silly on the wobbly bridge, Jordan claimed the squirrel incident was his, and Cygni simply stated, "The fudge."
A photo-op with an RCMP Racoon
In Vancouver, the traditional sign that Summer is over and school is about to start is the PNE (Pacific National Exhibition). It's a 2-week fair with rides, games, shows and so much good food that is so bad for you. We got to do a grown-ups only day with Nanny and Papa Charlie (yes, Nanny bought some gadgets at the show-mart), but of course it's all about the kids.
Sweeties waiting to go on the ferris wheel.
Cygni loved being up high on the ferris wheel.
She is tall enough to go on most of the little-kid rides, but now Jordan is able to go on all but
three of the grown-up rides so she still had to wait and watch him a few times and she did so very patiently.
Jordan's balloon skills include popping them as he won two prizes by popping balloons:
one by throwing a bean-bag and another (as in this picture) by throwing darts!
Jordan was a great big brother and took his baby sister on ride with no grown-ups!
I just love their faces as they pose with Thor
Finally, I'll close with Cygni on the pony ride. You may recall two summers ago she had a bad time on the ponies, which seemed like a good idea to her until she actually had to sit on the back of one. This year we saw the ponies and I asked if she wanted to try riding one this year. She said no, but that she wanted to pet one. I mentioned it can be pretty hard to reach into their pens to pet them, but she could probably stroke the mane of one if she went for a pony ride. She consented, much to my surprise and rode like a champ! The picture above says it all, really.
We hope you had a grand summer too! Look for updates on the new school year soon.... I think!
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