my little biker guy

Ok....wow! Aidan has really grown up! My goodness can this kid pedal! He'll be hitting the trails in no time! Maybe we'll attach the bike trailer to his bike?
Doesn't he look just too cute with his helmet and sunglasses!? Oh....speaking of his sunglasses, he now insists that he wear them on the top of his head (just like mom) when he goes into a store. So cute!
Check out the video clip below to see my little biker in action.

me and my swing

Thanks to Aidan, Maelle has learned a new way of enjoying her swing. Every day it seems she can run just a bit harder and swing just a bit further!

a summer day

Lazy summer days. That's what summer is about....doing nothing but hanging around the yard, puttering in the garden, and playing in the pool. That's what we did today, and we enjoyed not having a schedule or having to be anywhere in particular. Even though the afternoon was cut short with thunderstorms, we still managed to get in a few hours of summertime fun!

Maelle took things into her own hands and got the water fight started!

Aidan then retaliated soaking everything within a 5 foot radius!

What? Maelle learning to ride a bike? When did she grow up, and since when do her feet touch the pedals?

daydreams & giggles

The pics say it all...

I love laundry!

Yes...I said it...."I love laundry!"
I love waking up to a breezy day, gathering all of the bedding from everyone's bed, hunting down all of the abandoned towels that need washing, waiting for the washer to finish, and then, loading up my basket and heading outside to hang it all up! I love the sound of sheets and pillowcases billowing in the wind, and the fresh smell that I get when I bring the laundry inside to fold it...and then the best part...curling up in my bed at night with all of that freshness knowing that my sheets have soaked up all of that fresh air.
Am I crazy? Well, yes.
Ever since I have put up a clothes line, and I am using my drying rack a lot more, I love to do the laundry and hang it outside. Now...every time I do this, it clouds over and I end up running outside to bring it all in as the rain starts to fall, but hey....isn't that part of the whole experience?
I especially love doing the laundry when I have a helper...

Ready for the World Cup!

This evening brought about a wee little soccer tourney in our backyard. As we are finding out, Aidan is turning into quite the little soccer player! Maelle does well too, trying her best to keep up with her older sibling, and has managed to score a few goals and celebrate by putting both hands in the air and running around shouting "score!" Just like Aidan.
Here are a few shots from our little tourney...

Aidan getting ready to shoot...

Maelle lining up the shot...

Ok...so we need to work on a few rules! Running with the ball and then putting it where you want just isn't allowed.

My tired players!

Maybe tomorrow they will let me play!

Visitors!

We were quite lucky this past week to have a few Ontario visitors (Dan & Wendy...relatives of Brent) visiting Calgary! Although Dan was here for work, we spent lots of time with Wendy seeing the many sites that Calgary has to offer.

We had a blast at the zoo visiting all of the animals and in this case Sheldon the tortoise,

and meeting the brand new addition to the gorilla family!

(sorry the pic is a little blurry, the mist and humidity from the gorilla complex fogged up all of our lenses)

We even got to hang out and have a fire one evening after dinner...Aidan got involved in a little marshmallow toasting too!

What a fun week we had with Dan & Wendy and we hope that their visit to Calgary and the Rocky Mountains will bring them back out this way again very soon!

Happy 60th Anniversary Nana & Papa!

Wow! 60 years of marriage!

That is definitely worth congratulating.

60 years of happiness

60 years of joy

and most importantly...

60 years of memories!

Many, many congratulations! I hope that we can follow in your footsteps!

We love you!

Shari, Brent, Aidan, Maelle & Dakota

(lots of hugs and kisses!)

Fish Creek Park

So...I learned a few things the other day when we took the kids on a bike ride to Fish Creek Park: All rocks are special and therefore must be brought home, cleaned, and "collected".

It doesn't matter what the size of body of water....rocks will be found, and then thrown into it.

But the main thing I learned....is that dirt seems to be our best friend and you can always tell when these two have had a good day!

We're back!!

Well hello everyone! We are back from our BC adventure and oh did we have fun. I am going to apologize now for the amount of pics I am posting, but seeing that I took well over 200 pictures (and we were only gone for 10 days!) I had a little trouble narrowing them down. So....instead of rambling on and on about what we did, I decided I would let the pictures tell most of the story. Just to summarize where we went: we started out from Calgary, headed south through Fernie & Sparwood, through Cranbrook to Moyie Lake, over to Castlegar and to Syringa Provincial Park, then on to Nakusp and McDonald Creek Provincial Park (which no doubt will become an annual tradition), and then we decided last minute to abandon our Moyie Lake plans and head home through Revelstoke and Lake Louise instead. Good decision! Gosh I love the mountains! Anyways, here are a bunch of pics from our trip! Enjoy!

Aidan and "Laturno" meet the World's Largest dump truck.

We all had fun sailing on boats made from driftwood.

Even Maelle got in on the action!

We'll never get lost again with these two incharge!

Cooling off at McDonald Creek...our campsite was just off to the right!

Aidan tries out a little frisbee action.

Sailing off for another adventure. Aidan says: "don't worry Maelle, I won't let you fall out." Now that's a nice big brother!

Despite all the craziness...we can always take a moment to stop and smell the flowers.

A peaceful moment at one of my favourite places....Moraine Lake. Aidan climbed the rock pile trail all by himself! Perhaps that's why he was so quiet!

Enjoying a quiet moment together. Wait...did I say quiet? These kids must have been exhausted!

So...there you have it. A quick summary of the fun that was had on our mini holiday through the BC interior. We had really nice weather except for the severe wind storm that ripped through the Nakusp area on Thursday leaving a number of trees up rooted and some damage throughout the campground. Everyone was ok, thank goodness. We enjoyed many beach days (as you can see!), a trip up to the Nakusp Hot Springs followed by a visit to the ice cream shop, some good camp fires, a ferry ride, hiking at Moraine Lake, and a few great pastries in the village of Lake Louise, just a short walk from our campsite. The kids (along with Brent and I) are quite tired but it was a trip that was well worth all the effort, as new memories were made that will last a lifetime.

off we go again!

Hello All!
We are off on a mini holiday that will consist of 10 fun filled days in the BC interior! We will be hitting Syringa Park, MacDonald Creek, and Moyie Lake, in the Nelson, Nakusp & Cranbrook regions. We did a few of these parks last summer and LOVED them so we are going back! The kids are excited, the trailer is here waiting for me to load it up (and for me to stop blogging and get to work...priorities...sheesh!) and we are off bright and early tomorrow morning. So...I will touch base with y'all once we are back, and yes....I will have a tonne of pics to share!
Cheers!

Yes...this is a picture of my chives. I kind of like it though so I thought I would share it. Does anyone need any chives? No one told me that when I planted them they would kind of invade my garden. And...I can't even kill them! Don't get me wrong, I like chives, just not quite this many!

Happy Canada Day!

Hey everyone! Here's to a great Canada Day!

And a special thanks to Grandma Werkman for outfitting the kidlets for Canada'a birthday. She even made the hats! So talented!