A Beautiful Sunny Weekend

The warm weather continues! We had a very busy but fun weekend. On Saturday, we went up to Squamish to see where Aunty Laura and Jason now live. I can't remember the last time I was up in Squamish (Brackendale, actually) - it was beautiful! The road, however, isn't quite as beautiful! :) There's still quite a bit of work to do along that way before everyone starts driving up there for the Olympics. But, besides being stuck behind a really nervous driver for half the way, it wasn't too bad.

First we went to Laura's new house (Jason's old house) and had a very yummy barbecue lunch. Then we wandered around and down to the river where, at the right time of year, you can see the famous eagles of Brackendale. No eagle sightings for us, but we had a really nice walk. My sweet little boys picked flowers for my hair. Grampa took Daniel right down to the river to throw rocks in. Daddy and Adam didn't make it quite as far, but still had fun on the rocks. It was nice just to be out in the warm sun and having a stroll with everyone.

Oh yeah, how could I forget that Jason has a motorcycle? Of course, that was a highlight for the boys! I can just see them at 16 asking me for a motorcycle!

On Sunday, we met up with our friend, Miles, and his girlfriend, Heather, for a bike ride around Steveston in Richmond. Yes, at 5 months pregnant, I got on my bike! I was a little nervous that I wouldn't be able to reach the handlebars, but I did alright. It helped that we were just going along the dike path in Richmond - no hills and the ride lasted less than an hour. We made lots of stops. We watched people fly kites and ride in these cool wheeled contraptions with kites attached to them. The kites actually pulled the people around really quickly! We had fish and chips (of course) and watched the boys play in the new spray park. The boys were pretty good in the bike trailer - no fighting until about 12:30, when they were hungry and tired. I think Miles and Heather were a little surprised to see how little riding we were able to do and they continued to ride long after we packed it in and drove home!

Finally - some beautiful weather!

It looks like summer may actually have arrived! The weather has been beautiful the last few days and we've been taking advantage of it by getting outside. Here are just a few pictures of the boys playing at the playground, the water park and in our back lane.

Hyack Festival

Every May, our city hosts one of the largest Victoria Day/May Day celebrations in the British Commonwealth. It's a whole week of celebrations, parties, parades and fun stuff to do. On Victoria Day, I took the boys to Queen's Park for Family Days. The petting farm was open for the season and the boys had a good time visiting with the goats, bunnies and month-old baby calf. We played on the playground for a while and then went to check out the amusement park rides that were there. It was way too expensive ($4 per ride - I wasn't paying $12 for the three of us to ride on the elephants!), so we just wandered around. Daniel was upset about not going on the rides so I bought him popcorn instead - that ended up being his favourite part!

Next we went to see the "Ancient and Honourable Anvil Salute." Supposedly, back in 1860, they didn't have a cannon to salute the queen with, so they set gun powder under an anvil to make the salute instead. It's been continuing every year since here in New West. Tradition is very important here! The boys thought it was pretty cool seeing the explosion and the anvil go flying - the first three times. But they do it 21 times! By the third time, Daniel had had enough of the "big boom" and was getting a bit scared. It really is loud - I had to cover Adam's ears and Daniel covered his own - but there was no one to protect my ears!

Adam's favourite part was the dog agility racing, of course. We watched the dogs race and climb for a while but then it started to rain. But we had a fun little morning out, just the three of us.

The next weekend was the Hyack Parade. It's become a bit of a family tradition for us to go to the Hyack Parade. James used to participate in it every year with the North Vancouver Youth Band and now we take the boys to see it. We met up with Gramma and Grampa and their friends, Don and Marilynne, and watched the parade in the beautiful sunshine.

It's a long parade but the boys paid attention to most of it.

At one point, the float from Kelowna came by and broked down right in front of us! After a few minutes it was obvious that it wasn't going anywhere. So James went to join a bunch of other guys and pushed the float down the street. There poor Ogopogo sat until the end of the parade - when the tow truck could actually come by!

The boys had a great time. I think Adam's favourite part was the ReMax entry - all the real estate agents walked by with their dogs! This boy loves animals! Daniel's favourite part was either the Seattle Seafair entry (a huge pirate ship float that occasionally sets off a loud cannon) or the entry from the Fathers for Justice (I think they're called). They were all dressed in super hero costumes. Although it seems like an odd addition to a parade, I'm sure it was a favourite of all the 3 year old boys!

The weather was beautiful, the parade was fun (although a little slow at times) and we all had a good time.

A day with all the grandparents

Last weekend, the boys were lucky enough to spend the day with both sets of grandparents! Grandma and Grandpa Rowe were in town for the weekend and came to spend the day with us in White Rock at Gramma and Grampa Terry's trailer. Daniel was thrilled - "All my grandmas and grandpas are here!"

We arrived in White Rock around 10am and spent some time around the campsite, chatting, playing with toys, watching trains go by. Then we headed down to the beach. We had fun walking through tidepools and looking for crabs. Our little beachcombers looked really cute!

Then we wandered into White Rock to find some fish and chips for lunch. Boy, did we find some!

It was a great morning - not too hot, the boys got tonnes of attention - what more could they ask for?

After lunch, we came home and the boys fell asleep in the car. Jeff and Sharleen (aka Grandma and Grandpa) visited with us during the afternoon and graciously helped us do things like clean out the shed and set up our patio furniture! Then it was off to dinner where we met Auntie Lauren, Uncle Duncan and Auntie Lindsay at the Old Spaghetti Factory. You can't go wrong with the Spaghetti Factory - lots of food and spumoni ice cream for dessert! Then we all went for a walk along the New Westminster Quay and played with the boys around the toy boat and the world's tallest tin soldier!

It was a short and sweet visit with Grandma and Grandpa. But we're looking forward to seeing them very soon at the fishing derby in June!

Mother's Day

A little late, but here's how my Mother's Day went.

First of all, it started out great because I got to sleep in! I woke up at about 7:50 (usually it's more like 6:00) and was about to get up when Daniel came running in. He got mad at me because I wasn't supposed to get up by myself. He said, "Mommy! You need to be asleep! I have to tiss [kiss] you - you're Sleeping Beauty!" Then my three boys brought me breakfast in bed! I got cinnamon toast and strawberries dipped in chocolate (hot chocolate mix!). Daniel insisted on feeding me, but that meant one bite for Mommy, one bite for Daniel and one bite for Adam!

I have pretty cute kids, don't I? You can just ignore the picture of me since I hadn't woken up only two minutes earlier - just look at them!

We had a nice morning sitting around the house and then we headed out to my parents' trailer spot in White Rock to meet up with the whole family. It wasn't the warmest day to be out camping, but it was nice. We played around the campsite then wandered down to the beach to look for crabs. Then we had a wonderful barbecued dinner of chicken and salads and corn on the cob - made even more wonderful because the moms didn't have to cook it! Then we gathered around the campfire to open presents. I was pretty lucky!