Happy Birthday Brooklyn!!!

My little girl is now officially 5 years old!!! I can hardly believe it, she is growing up so fast.

What a cutie she has become...and she's the tallest girl in her class! Maybe I have a model on my hands...nah, she says she wants to be a rock star.

Justin, I hope your sister doesn't forget her rude little bro when she's famous!

Raking Woes

If there's ever a time of year I wish we had four seasons instead of two - Vancouver has "Summer" and "Soggy" - it would be autumn, particularly when all the leaves come down. Maybe I'm romanticizing it a bit, but I used to really enjoy raking leaves on a cool, crisp fall day in Nova Scotia. The air was so fresh and clean, and raking leaves with your brother, Mom, Dad, grandmother, aunt or whoever was always a chance to talk and have a laugh.

Trust me when I say, there is nothing less fun than raking soggy leaves. In Vancouver, you wait for it to stop raining so you can dash out and clean them up and you waste the only time it isn't raining straining your back to pile wet leaves in your bin. And man are leaves heavy when they're wet!!! It is really an unpleasant experience!!! Not sure a leaf blower would be any use in Vancouver, unless it could dry them out a bit before raking!

Even worse, my kids are still a little young to be of any real help. It usually ends up being more work when they help!!!

Oh well, at least we don't have any snow to shovel most winters. Sigh. That's another season I miss!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! My date for the Halloween sock-hop was my sweet darlin' Brooks. Ain't she cute?


Justin is hiding under the Boba Fett mask...last year he was Jango Fett, now Boba Fett. Oh well, at least he didn't want to be Princess Leia!

And speaking of Boba Fett, this freakin' pumpkin took forever to carve!!!

We carved another one quickly at the club Halloween party, where the gym had been converted to a haunted house. They had bowling with skulls, a place to make your own magic potions and fishing for rats and bats out of a witch's cauldron. The kids had fun but were too scared for the haunted house!

This little guy was a quick free form carving by yours truly after Justin decided it was too much work!

Happy Birthday Justin!!!

Justin is 8 years old!

We booked the gym for an hour of floor hockey with 12 boys and wouldn't you know it, the sun is shining and it must be 20 degrees. Who knew? Oh well, you never know in Vancouver.

I'm a bad dad, I was in Seattle on his actual birthday. And just to show I don't play favourites, I'm going to be out of town on Brooklyn's birthday too!!!

Parksville

There's nothing quite like a long weekend at beautiful Parksville, especially when the weather cooperates. The beaches are incredibly sandy and the shallow water lends itself to searching for crabs, clams, mussels and other little critters at low tide.


Hotshot Brooks won the bouncy ball race...


...against her less coordinated competitor!


Urgh! I was so conscious of keeping the score close, Justin ended up beating me at mini-golf due to a couple of late brilliant shots!!! Revenge will be mine!!!


The weather couldn't have been any better. We even saw three deer on the way to mini-golf!


The kids loved the s'mores and log cabin after a long day at the beach!


And the parents loved a glass of red wine after a long day at the beach!


The king of burning marshmallows!


Pouty Justin on the ferry ride home. I don't blame him, Parksville is a great place for a summer getaway!

Upper Canada Village

Boy, am I behind on my blogging. Haven't even got all the pictures from our Kingston trip posted. Here's a couple from our trip to Upper Canada Village, a recreation of a typical late 1800's Ontario town. Justin thought it was pretty boring, of course, and Brooklyn sneezed from the hay and animals the whole time, but otherwise it was fun. The funniest part was the trip to the doctor's house...if you could have seen the look on Justin's face as she explained what all the torture devicies...er, I mean surgical tools...were used for!!!

A couple of freaks from the canrival!

Justin pumps it up!

Justin pushing the hay wagin to earn his wages.

Museum Of Science And Technology

The best chocolate ice cream ever...according to Justin and his wealth of experience.


No, it's not the tin man, it's a Brooklynaut ready for launch!


Only in Canada would they have a snow mobile simulator at the Museum of Science and Technology.

Brooks drives an old CP engine.

Little people and big wheels!

I thought the coolest part of the museum was making bottle rockets out on the lawn, which the kids did, but apparently not. Their favourite part was a life size fibre network maze with slides and blinking lights that you could run through. Judie hogged a game machine while the kids played...lots of sad little kids running to their parents saying "aw, that lady is STILL playing the game."