Happy Canada Day Eh!

Long time no blog.  I thought I'd start current and work my way backwards (and forwards) if I can!

Summer is here and what better way than to kick it off with Canada Day.

As per our usual, we met up with friends for the parade and then finished the day off with a BBQ and headed off to the fireworks.

This year I stood in front of my closet and wondered...'what do I have to wear that is red?'  I had bought a Canada Day t-shirt only to get it home and realize it had a flaw.  I took it back and didn't bother picking another one up.  So...I stood there going through my closet and wondering..'what do I usually wear on Canada day?'  Then the lightbulb went on!  I ALWAYS wear my red Roots hoodie that proudly displays my country's name and maple leaf.  Problem:  for the first time in ages, it was unusually hot for July 1st!  So hot, that a hoodie was out of the question!  

All of that to say that it was a HOT, SCORCHING Canada day!  I felt bad for the marching band all decked out in their black marching uniforms and hats!!!  On the other hand, I was thankful for the firefighters and their water supply that they shared with us!

Great Country...Great day...Great memories...As usual! 

Drama Queen...

Our lively little Abby was thrilled to be old enough to go to Drama Camp this year!  Her sister has been for a couple of years in the past and Abby's been 'waiting in the wings' for her turn to shine!  Abby is, by nature, a drama queen so it didn't surprise us at all that she would feel right at home at drama camp.  Our local theatre company, Gallery7, offers amazing drama camps every summer for kids of all ages.  Abby was in the 'Creative Explosions' class this year.  Her teacher was, the ever so sweet and smiling, Joyce Cheung.  Each morning when Abby woke up she had a smile on her face and a plan for her wardrobe!  She always needed to be dressed for her character (squirrel/teacher), and had ants in her pants all the way to the camp!  Each day when I picked her up her smile was still in place and she had a sense of self-worth and confidence that every parent loves to see.  Friday was 'production' day and Rob and I, Livi and Grandpa (Gramma had to work), all came out to the show.  Abby did great and we're so proud of her!  When I asked her if she wanted to go back next year her answer was 'YES!!!'.  Well...she comes by it naturally, her Uncle Ken is the founder and artistic director of Gallery7.  When I asked Abby what her favourite part of drama camp was, I got a different answer each day, but each day when I sent her off she would whisper in my ear...'I hope I see Uncle Ken!'.   How blessed we are to be able to combine Abby's passion for drama, community, and family all in one week!  Thank you Gallery7 for making my Abby shine all week!

Waiting in the wings...

 Teacher Joyce...

Baby Takes a Bow...

Abby & Uncle Ken...

Summer Starts...

Finally!  Finally we've had some summer weather around here.  It's the end of July and temps are starting to head into the 20's!  This is so unusual.  Usually by now we've had a few heat waves, temps have hit the 30's and we're complaining about how hot it is.  Instead, the kids have hardly swam in the pool, there's no issues with having the oven on to make dinners, and patio dining is nearly non-existent!  This last week things brightened up and we took full advantage of it!  We took an evening and headed out to the coast to watch a flight demonstration by our beloved Snowbirds flying team, followed by a movie under the stars on the beach.  The weather was great, but for some reason the Snowbirds started their show almost a 1/2 hour early (while we were still looking for parking) and by the time we actually sat down to enjoy the show....it was over!  We were SO disappointed!  I managed to get a few parting shots before they flew away, but, man, were we disappointed! 

Luckily, we were with friends and we made the evening fun despite things.  We had our picnic supper on the beach, played some cards, walked, and hung out to watch the movie 'Rio'.  It was a late night, but a fun way to spend a much deserved summer evening.

Let the Beach Bummin' Begin...

Well, we sure started summer off with a bang!  Last weekend it was officially summer here.  The temps began to soar and the bbq's began to smoke.  Kids were up late every night, and baths and showers were mandatory before bed!  We finished school on the Thursday, had our Canada Day celebrations on the Friday, went to White Rock Beach on Saturday, and then out to Harrison Beach on Sunday.  I felt like I packed enough lunches and suppers to feed an army, and did the laundry when the army was all done.  Oh well...it was a great way to kick it off.  We enjoyed having 2 boys from Japan stay with us for the weekend.  I loved these boys and was sad to say goodbye.  I wish they could've stayed with us for a few weeks!  I'm glad they got to experience full days of fun while they were here!

Goodbye Daiki & Masa...we will miss you!

Harrison....

Beach Burn-out...

Some 'green' therapy...

So both Rob and I booked 2 weeks off work this year. After getting home from our holiday in the U.S. we still had a few days to hang out and enjoy time as a family.  We did a few fun things, but we really focused on the yard and being outdoors.  Rob was working on a very special project, TBP (to be posted), and I thoroughly enjoyed working in the yard.  Sometimes the kids were 'helping' and other times I had my tunes plugged in and was singing my heart out..only to look up and find hubby doubled over laughing!  (This is fairly typical around here:) I'll never have the yard 100% perfect, but I think it's lookin' pretty good for the amount of time I actually get to put into it!  So, since the weather was cooperating, I got my grub clothes on and worked for a few hours every day.  Pulling weeds I'm sure I've pulled before, re-raking bark-mulch that really needs to be re-plenished, sweeping porches and cobwebs, pruning shrubs that keep growing back...you get the picture.  So here's a few shots of some of my favorites in our yard. 

First Up...my delphiniums.  I've always liked delphiniums, although right now I'm realizing it's not the most fun word to type repeatedly! Anyway,  I thought I'd try my hand at them and see what happened.   I planted 5 different types/colours and they're all doing quite well.  They had a slow start and now I hope they last over winter.

Next Up...Abby's Bean Plant.  This beautiful plant came home from preschool in an envelope as a bean.  I told Abby to go ahead and plant it but I didn't think it would actually GROW!  So, one day I was puttering in the yard this summer and noticed this plant growing.  It had a few leaves but nothing else.  I finally figured out that this was her bean.  She was beyond excited to see it had grown.  Now, it's a beautiful, healthy plant with a blossom and beans on it!  Abby's eyes grew so round when I showed it to her.  She said, 'Mom, it's absolutely BEAUTIFUL'.  That's my Abbs.

Now last, but never to be considered least, is my all-time favorite....drumroll please....my Wisteria plants.  I have always had a love affair with this plant.  I think it started when I was growing up and a house around the corner had this massive log texas gate that, over the years, became encompassed with this beautiful vine. I always laugh because my Mom doesn't like it, she says the flowers look sad and they're faded and droopy.  I find them peaceful and artistic.  To each her own.  I have planted 1 or more of these plants in each yard we've lived in.  I planted the first one on the farm when we lived there.  I think I originally planted 2 and only 1 survived.  I planted it against an old shop so it could climb up and over the top.  This brings to mind some funny memories with my Father-in-Law.  When I first planted that vine I think he thought it was a weed and pulled it or something to that effect, or maybe that was the demise of the 2nd one I planted?  I remember teasing him about it for a few years.  Then, it finally took off and became a beautiful vine.  It takes 3 years before they bloom, and really start to grow.  Eventually it climbed up and over the top of the shop.  I thought it was gorgeous.  Guess what?  After 8 years on the farm we finally bought our own place and moved and what do you think Dad did when we moved out?  Yup, hacked off my vine!!!  He was quiet about it, didn't say a word, but I noticed, and gave him a hard time about it.   We had some good laughs about it.  My poor vine.  But hey, if the vine had to suffer to create a great memory of a much missed dad-in-law then so be it.  At our next place I planted one on the end of a shop.  Don't know if it's still there, can't see it from the road, but assuming it never made it.  When we moved here I planted 2 right away.  One against the shop my Father-in-Law had built shortly before he passed away.  This one is to remind me of the one at the farm.  It's to make me think of him and remember our bond over that silly vine.  The other one I planted purely for aesthetics.  We have a small, pole texas gate here and I couldn't resist.  I know one day the vine will overtake the pole and maybe rot it, but in the meantime, it'll be so beautiful.

Next year....Dahlia's!!! 

At their prime...

Remember these flowers?

Well, here they are now...

Everything in the yard is at it's prime right now and I know it'll start to finish up as the weather changes and the days get shorter, but for the few bucks I spend on these babies they sure bring me joy.

The Ladies Who Lunch decided to Supper...

So my 'ladies who lunch' group has had a great year of fun, trying out quaint restaurants, getting together to sew and quilt, but the one thing we've never done is get together as families.  Trying to arrange a bbq for this many people is no small feat.  We did quite a bit of corresponding before we could nail down a day but we did it!  The weather didn't cooperate fully, but we didn't let it dampen our spirits.  It was so funny to watch the FaceBook threads go on and on about who would bring what and were we having kids come etc, etc.  In the end, it was a lovely evening, with great food that everyone brought.  I even recieved a few hostess gifts that I'll share about in a later post:)  Thanks to our hubbies for braving an evening with all us crazy ladies!

Celebration of Light..

Every year there is a wonderful event that takes place in Vancouver.  It used to be called the 'Symphony of Fire', but for some reason, that I'm unaware of, it's now called 'Celebration of Light'.  My guess is that it has to do with sponsoriship or something.  It's a huge fireworks competition between different countries.  The fireworks and music are coordinated to put on a show like no other.  Once you've seen fireworks like this it's hard to go back!  The competition takes place on 4 different evenings over a 2 week span.  This makes it an event that draws hundreds of thousands of people.  There are people on the Kitsilano Side, English Bay, people in airplanes, high-rises, and boats.  But...it's CRAZY!!!  We decided to brave the crowds and head down with a group of friends for the grande finale night.  The country featured for the finale was China, although Spain won for overall show.  There were 4 famlies that went.  Everyone left their youngest children with sitters and we enjoyed a night out with the older kids.  The crowds are so insane that stollers are a nightmare to handle, besides the fact that you have to go hours early to get a spot for your blankets.  We headed into Vancouver around supper time and ended up getting home around 1 in the morning!  It was a great evening.  Crazy, but great.  We took Olivia and Abby and our two Japanese girls, Ririsa and Ayumi.  When I asked them what they thought of the show afterwards they replied, 'it was awesome!'.  This was a fun way to spend our last evening with our Japanese students. The police are out in full force, keeping things under control.  We heard that there were approximately 200,000 people there last night!  This is a long weekend here in B.C. too so I can't imagine how much more crazy it would have been if it wasn't!  We packed a picnic and hiked on down to the beach.  Half way through our wait we heard thunder...and then it POURED!  Big, heavy, raindrops fell on us for about 10 minutes. We all huddled under our blankets and got real cozy for a few minutes. Being true British Columbians we waited it out and settled right back in after it passed.  We visited, played cards, played on our phones, ate and laughed our way through 3 hours of waiting and then the show began!  I don't know how long it was, but it felt like about 1/2 hour of amazing fireworks.  Here's a few pics to share...although they aren't the greatest, they're all I took.  Enjoy. 

A Day at the Beach with guests...

Summer has really been heating up in our corner of the world.  The temps have been soaring and we're trying to stay cool.   It seems as though we go from one extreme to another, with not much time to adjust from either end!  We took advantage of a sunny Sunday afternoon and headed out to the beach.  We're lucky enough to be only about a 1hr drive to the Pacific Ocean.  We went to church in the morning and then packed up snacks, lots of water, chairs, blankets and all kinds of other necessaries and drove out to White Rock Beach.  The tide was out quite far when we got there, but it moved in fairly quickly.  We had some wonderful guests staying with us from Japan and they too were excited to see the beach.  We have really come to enjoy hosting Japanese students in our home...this is the 3rd time we've done it.  Each time they come it's a fun challenge to introduce them to our Canadian culture. For one week we get to bring them into our family and share our home with them.  Ayumi and Ririsa are from Tokyo, Japan.  The girls don't live close to a beach so it was a treat for them to go.  They wanted to try fish-n-chips, and they thoroughly enjoyed it!  We went with some friends who were also hosting students.  Us adults sat and relaxed while all the kids beachcombed and collected shells & crabs.  We finished the day off with ice cream and a walk.  Isaac had an ice cream cone all to himself and he thoroughly enjoyed it down to the last lick....but oh was he a mess!!  We stripped him down before putting him in the car! 

Soccer Camp...

Olivia has done a summer soccer camp for a couple of years now and she just LOVES it!  There are many local churches in the area that run these daily vacation Bible school soccer camps.  It's a great way for kids to have fun learning both sport skills and God's Word in a fun and interactive way.  Our church, Heritage Alliance, teamed up with Immanuel Baptist to help run the camp.  We started talking about summer soccer camp way back in spring already because this year Abby was old enough to go.  Abby was so excited to go and was counting down the days until she could go.  Abby is very athletic and energetic by nature so we thought she'd really enjoy the experience.  Every day she played hard and came home singing praises to the Lord..such a wonderful experience for all of us!  The first day of camp was overcast and cloudy, but after that it was nothin' but heat!  The kids went until lunch everyday for a week, and when they finally crawled into bed each night they were exhausted and slept well!  It was fun to go and hang out and watch the kids have fun..they both did fantastic.  There were about 200 kids there and it seemed as though we knew at least 1/2 of them!  I was able to visit and catch up with friends I haven't talked to in years!  Great week...we'll definitely do it all again next year!  The only trouble.....keeping Isaac off the playing field.