Summer Holidays - Big Green Dump Truck

Sparwood, BC - the big green dump truck!

We stop every year on our way out for our holidays.

2009

2010

2011

Summer Holidays - Lundbreck Falls

Summer holidays! 

Adam and I were so anticipating our holidays.  As usual we headed out to our trailer for 2 weeks.

Since we are normally only going for weekends we do not stop on the drive out more than once for the required pee and Tim Horton's break.

But on holidays, we stop a few more times and enjoy the drive.

This year we stopped at Lundbreck Falls (Highway 22 and Highway 3)

Much to Anderson's delight there was a train coming through just as we pulled up!

Welcome Back!

I know I have been M.I.A. for a while, but I have an excuse, I was on holidays and there is virtually no internet access! (I have mixed feeling about that, but it is probably for the best that I am not blogging, facebooking and tweeting while I am suppose to be hanging my the kids, sharing a drink with my hubby and chatting around the campfire with friends.)


But because I was so busy getting us all packed and ready for 2 weeks at our trailer, I missed doing a few posts I wanted to before I left, so I will post them over the next few days and then follow with some posts about our holidays.

Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday Adam!

A few days before his birthday Jackie asked me how old he was turning.
I told her he Daddy was turning 38.
She responds by saying "oh, I thought he was 7,  you are 25 still right Mom?"
That's right Jackie - I am only 25!!

July Long Weekend Camping

July Long Weekend is always a blast for the kids and us out at our camp ground. 

There are lots of different activities to partiipate in and now that the kids are getting a little bit older we are getting to do more and more.

Every year there is a hike that take you from our campground to the town of Moyie, about 2 km.

You can hike the path anytime you want, but on the long weekend, there have people with quads come along, so if you need a rest (ride) they can help you out and als there are pontoon boats at Moyie to take you back to the camp ground.

Jackie has been going on this hike with Adam since she was 2.

We thought this would be Anderson's first year, but you see he does not like to ride on our shoulders - and I can't carry him the whole time, nor can Jackie walk the whole time - she takes a ride or two on Adam's shoulders.

So Anderson and I stayed behind and Jackie and Daddy went again on the hike.

On the boat ride back.



This year with a new pontoon boat, they gave lake tour rides.  The kids enjoyed it more than we did - we were always making sure they did not fall and hurt themselves since there were not too many places to sit.

 

Fire Truck Rides

Anderson is a typical 2 year old boy.

Trucks, trains, you name it, he loves them all.

Long weekends in the summer mean fire truck rides for the kids.

Anderson could hardly wait (Jackie too for that matter).

Welcome Summer BBQ

This past weekend we decided to host a back yard BBQ party.


You see, 4 years ago when we were building our deck, we paid a lot of attention to the size of the deck. Our house came with a deck plate that only spanned about half the back of the house, I insisted to Adam that we needed the deck to go across the whole width of the house.

Also when he gave me an option of a deck 2 feet longer, I took the longer option.

You see I had a vision.

My vision was of friends and family hanging out on our deck, summer nights, drinks in hand and lots of laughs.

I knew I wanted a deck where a table and chairs could fit comfortably with other things on the deck.

So Adam built a very large deck (24 X 20 I think – he knows the dimensions – I guess that is a man thing).

We have a table & chairs, our black and blue bins, potted tomatoes and a few other potted plants, a play house for the kids, a kid’s picnic table and the BBQ – and there is still room to move around and hang out.

So this past weekend we decided to host a back yard party to celebrate summer. For no other reason than that – we have a great back yard, a wonderful deck and fantastic friends – what other reason do we need.

We moved the kids play house off the deck and onto the grass , bought some beer, wine and coolers, cooked up potato salad, burgers and dogs, and invited friends and family.

We had a blast! So much fun in fact that we managed to completely forget how to operate the camera. (Actually we did not get drunk – I was too busy chatting with everyone forgetting where I left my wine to get drunk).

If you were not invited, leave me a comment and I will make sure I add you to the list for next year!

For those of you that came – we were so happy you did. It was great to see you and catch up a bit – we definitely need to do it more often –but for sure next year!!

Camping Fun

Father's day weekend we always head out to the trailer.

We had a good time playing, doing a bit of work (building a wood shed), and eating many a marshmellow.

We were joined by Grandma and Grandpa, Jackie could not understand why they had to sleep in the bunk house - it is hard to explain to a child - "because you wake up too early in the morning - and Grandma & Grandpa want to have a good sleep..."

Look at this cutie pie!

I love how I was able to get a little bit of flame in this picture.



Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful father's out there (my Dad included).

But this post is dedicated to one very special Dad.

Adam.

You are an amazing Father.
I have loved seeing you develop into this role.

I love that you know how to put in pony tails in a pinch.

I love that you are Jackie's 'Hansom Prince'.

Love you tons!

Look at where we are now:

Look at where we've come from:

(Jacqueline)

(Anderson)

TV

I grew up without a TV in our house.

I know, shocking!  Who does that?

As weird as it sounds, I don't look back and think I missed much, yes I don't have childhood memories of certian TV shows, I never watched Fraggle Rock, or The Smurfs, but I know even if we did have a TV, my parents would never have let us watch much anyway.

But now, no TV, I would go insane.  I love my TV, Adam loves his TV and I know our kids do too.

When I was home with the kids on mat leave, I watched a lot of TV.

Okay, that is an understatment, I watched TV all the time.  If I was home, the TV was on.

I was not always sitting on the couch watching TV (rarely actually), but it was on in the background.

I learned to love Regis and Kelly, The View, Ellen and loved watching old drama show re-runs durring the day.

So now it is funny becasue I would preffer the TV off.

We do allow certian times the kids can watch TV, on a week day, they can watch TV in the morning but only if they are dressed (otherwise they would stay in their jammies all day).

On the weekend, they get to watch TV in their jammies when they wake up (trust me - they love this).

At night time, once they are in their jammies, they get to watch 1 or 2 shows (time dependant on when they get into their jammies) and have a snack.

What are your TV restrictions?

Morning Beach Fun

This past weekend we headed out to the trailer and were blessed with perfect weather.  It was warm and sunny!

Since we have a few early risers in our family we can only last so long in the trailer in the morning - as much as Mom & Dad want to sleep in, so off to the beach we go.

This kids had a blast helping to rise the water levels.

Look who gets to come along too...

We had a great weekend in spite of the early mornings and Anderson fighting us for naps and bedtime, can't wait to go back.

Camping Season Starts

We were all very excited for camping season to start again.

It is always hard to say good bye to the trailer in the fall and I think we go through some campfire withdrawal for a few months, but here we are, back again!

Jacqueline could not wait to get back out to the trailer, so in spite of the snow storm we drove through to get there, we arrived ready for a good family weekend.

This season we moved Jackie up to the top bunk and put Anderson in the bottom bunk (yeah - no more playpens!!).  I am happy to report, both kids did super great - they slept well and did not stay up chatting for hours - maybe it was because they were exhausted each night?

And what would camping be without a campfire and marshmallows?

I forgot the marshmallows, so after a quick run to the store we were in business.

I apologise for the lack of pictures, but we were busy, more to come next time, I promise.

Painting

This past weekend was cold.

Cold and super windy.

So indoor activities are in order.

Jackie and I picked up a couple of cheap paint sets, you know the kind we all had as kids.

Both kids LOVED it!

Jackie painted a few dozen rainbows,

Anderson painted something that looks like an elephant painted it.

Then Adam gets involved.  He had fun too!

I love the pile of pictures (rainbows) on the table.

We are going to be auctioning these rainbow pictures to help pay for her college.

Dinner Time

When Adam and I first started living together I insisted on us sitting at the table for dinner and eating together, not the couch - the table.

I grew up in a house where dinner time was family time.  Every night, we all ate together, no one was allowed to eat alone in their room, or later because they were not hungry right now.

I cherish that time as a family, I know it allowed my parents to keep tabs on us kids better, allowed for them to know who we were becoming as people, and it is something I will insist on doing as ours get older.

But that means we start at the beginning.

Dinner time in our house is something we have never delayed until the kids are in bed, we eat together and it is never on a couch watching TV.

The TV must also be off!  Dinner time is family time.

Here is the problem though, right now we are dealing with teaching 2 toddlers that this means sitting in your chair and eating.

It does not mean you get to put all your food into your water glass, make "soup", and then play with said soup.

It does not mean you get to run around the house playing and then eating snacks at 7:00 because you decided you did not "like" chicken today.

I know I am not the first parent to battle the dinner time struggles, and I will not be the last.

Right now our family time often involves a time out for Anderson, where he is misbehaving so much that he warrants a time out in his room until he calms down enough to sit at the table and eat. 

Jackie is much better at sitting, but due to a recent issue with a specific food, she thinks all food will cause the same reaction and tries not to eat it - fun!

I know we will get there, I know they are still young and we will keep plugging away at insisting family dinner time means no TV and it is time to eat and spend a little time together.

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning started pretty early for us, but we expected that.

Jackie came into our room at 5:10am and said:

"I did not hear Santa."

After we convinced her to climb into bed with us, we told her she had to be sleeping for Santa to come.

So she tried to fall back asleep.

So did we.

But 6:00am - we all got up.

She must have been sleeping, cause Santa came,

he ate his cookies, drank his chocolate milk

and even took Comet his carrot.

Anderson got a snow shovel from Jacqueline - she already has one so now there will be no fighting.

Santa brought Anderson his first radio controlled car.

This one is designed for little kids since it only has 2 buttons, forwards and backwards.

We had lots of laughs as Anderson tried to figure it all out.

Pressing the button at the same time he is trying to pick it up, but of course the car is going away from him.



The kids got Zhu Zhu pets in their stockings, Brutis was not sure what to make of these little "hamsters" running around.

Oh and Brutis got his fair share of stuff from Santa too.

Toys and treats. 

This picture is taken about 5 minutes after he opened this gift (yes, he can open all his own gifts).

Love the stuffing everywhere.



Jacqueline got a Leapster from Santa and a game to go with it.

She LOVES it!

As I went through our pictures I realized how poor a job we did at taking pictures, part of the problem is Adam and I actually wanted to partake in the Christmas fun and not be taking pictures the whole time, and we also were videotaping some of the time.