Just really slow lately...

"Hello there!"

Ok, so I have been incredibly slow with this blog lately. I'm lucky if I remember to take the camera with me when I go out. Which I usually forget to do. Like today, when I took Kian to the beach with a bunch of his friends. Needless to say, you won't be seeing any of those photos today. We are actually going back to the beach tomorrow so that I can take some photos!


Nice goaty goat.


Hey! That's my hat!

Lets see, what's new, well I think the first big news (and worst kept secret!) is that we are expecting our second child in November. Maybe that is why the brain seems to have shut off lately! We are really exited and can't wait for the new arrival. I'm feeling great now, although get very tired by the end of the day having chased Kian for most of it. The first few months I could have done without but that is all over now. And no, we don't know what we are having and don't want to find out before. We will surprise all of you (and ourselves!) in November.

To prepare for the new baby we have decided to rip the house apart and make it completely un-baby safe. Great...

We had our home energy assessment done for our house at the end of May. It turns our that what we where expecting was in fact what we got. On a scale of 1 to 100, 1 being out in the fresh air and 100 being unattainable, our house rates at a 45. Not very good for energy efficiency or warmth, as we found out last winter. We have no insulation in most of the exterior walls and want to put something in them (hopefully) before this winter hits too hard. Too hard, for Victoria standards anyway.

Mark is busy removing plaster from the walls in our spare room right now. The walls are definitely hollow.... There have been some interesting finds already with a house that was originally built in 1929 and I'm sure we are going to find some more. I will post reno photos in the next blog post so that this one doesn't get too long.

I just had to add this funny story. Since we have been renovating the spare room all the extra stuff that has been stored in there has had to be moved out, i.e extra kleenex, toilet paper, etc. including the things that I don't need right now, like maxi pads and tampons. Well I had to find a place for all these things so they have ended up in the bathroom downstairs. Kian likes to play in the extras and found the items not needed at the moment. I was not paying attention for a few minutes and Kian was watching Bob The Builder on the computer downstairs, or so I thought. When I went to check on him to make sure he was ok I saw a box that I thought was white chalk from a distance and wondered where he found that. Once I got closer to him I realized that it was a box of tampons and that he had chewed on at least half a dozen of them already. Guess they were tasty!


Sharing the car with my buddy Jacob


Snacks on the grate with my friend Ysabella


Can you believe that my mom made me chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream and syrup?!


Canada Day in Victoria. Not the same as Ottawa at all!


Lounging by the pool with my snack.


At the beach


Playing in the sand with daddy


24 weeks.....

Camping

We had our first camping trip of the season last weekend and Kian had a great time! Our trip took us to French Beach which was really nice and peaceful although a lot colder than it is in town. We were prepared so it wasn't bad at all.

Our friends Shawna, Joa, Eli and Jacob joined us. Joa played the guitar and entertained us for the evening and we roasted hot dogs on the fire for dinner. The adults even got in a few games of cards before we hit the sleeping bags. I don't remember the last time we did that! The consensus is that we will have to do a camping trip at least once a month for the remainder of the summer. Hopefully that will actually happen!

Here are some photos of the weekend.


Playing the guitar for mom and dad on the way to the beach


Pumping up the air mattress


Helping set up the tent


Jumping on the bed with Jacob


Kian, Eli and Jacob


Kian and daddy at the beach


Walking along the beach with Shawna, Joa and Jacob


Kian and Jacob playing in the sand


Running on the beach


Looking for rocks


Enjoying the music at the camp fire

Luxton Fair

Winning a Meow with mom and Auntie Renee


Watching the train hoping to catch a ride


Fishing for frogs with daddy


Catching ducks with Auntie Renee




Okay, so now I'm REALLY far behind in my blogging! Life is hard to stop when you are having fun!

We have been busy doing...things, I guess. I can't really tell you what we have been doing, obviously not blogging though! I haven't really been taking any photos lately so that doesn't make blogging very interesting. Hopefully that will change now that I don't have two little ones to look after during the day. Kian's little friend was able to find some daycare arrangements.

Well I'm just going to skip what has been happening for the last month (because I really can't remember it!) and tell you about the terrific day that we had at the Luxton Rodeo Fair today. Auntie Renee told us that she wanted to take Kian to the fair (I think so that she had an excuse to go on the rides) so we all decided to go along for the fun. Kian was at the Saanich fair last summer but he doesn't really remember it and wasn't anywhere big enough to go on any of the rides then. He had a BLAST today!

We met Auntie Renee and Uncle Darcy at the fair grounds. Kian's eye lit up the second we were out of the car and he was off and running. First we got some very healthy doughnuts to make for a great start to the fair and then it was off to win some prizes. Mom and Kian played the pop-the-balloon-with-a-dart game and won a blue "meow". Kian was so excited about it he wouldn't let go of it, until he saw the train, that is. Uncle Darcy got to go for a ride on the "oo-oo-oo" first, then mom did and so did Auntie Renee.


On the train with Uncle Darcy


On the train with mom this time


Oo-oo-oo with Auntie Renee


We were finally able to leave the track and make it to the carousel and the busy bee ride, which Auntie Renee and daddy got to have fun on. Kian did a great job at the duck pond and won a frog with all the ducks he caught. He traded his frog up for a bigger one when he went fishing with dad at the frog pond. Daddy got to go through the jungle ride with Kian and Auntie Renee and Uncle Darcy both got to go down the slide with Kian. He was signing for more before he even got to the bottom with Auntie Renee and ran straight back into line for another turn before we could stop him.


Carousel with Auntie Renee


Riding the busy bee with daddy


Signing for more on the slide with Auntie Renee before he even got to the bottom!


And again with uncle Darcy

There was so much to do that we didn't even make it to the rodeo or the farm tractors, which he LOVES, or the animals that were there. The poor little guy was so upset when we told him that we ran out of tickets for the rides that the pouty lip that he has had since he was born, almost hit the ground. There was no crying though. I think he was probably a little happy that there were no more tickets because he was exhausted this evening and went to bed without a bath or stories. Mark and I got to hear all about his terrific day at the fair in the car on the way back home.

"Meow (the blue cat) oo-oo-oo (train) wee wee (that would be the slide) oo-oo-oo meow babbo (that's a drink) oo-oo-oo wee heeeeeeeeeee( that would be the big HUGE grin and the clapping coming from the back seat!) oo-oo-oo weeeeee meow duck duck heeeeeeeeeeee" I think you get the picture.


High in the jungle with daddy


On the slide with daddy

Visitors

Hey there are bubbles in there!

I'm really far behind in my blogging but I'm finally getting some photos up.

March was incredibly busy with all our visitors, and a couple of surprise visitors, between our all our illnesses. Thankfully all the illnesses are gone and hopefully won't be back! We haven't been up to much due to being house-bound.


Grandma helping me on the snowy slide.

Opa was out for his return visit after his ski vacation and able to give us a hand by finishing our cedar shed in the front. Now we have four sides to it and can shut the door! What a novelty! I can also empty out the shed in the back and get rid of it!


I sat down at Beacon Hill Park and instantly had a new friend in my lap who decided to have a nap!


Hey! I remember you from last time, your Mark!

A distant cousin, Helene, was in town with a friend, Jessie, for a couple days. It was really nice to catch up with Helene since I haven't seems her for almost 20 years. They also got to see a little action in Victoria on the way to the duck pond. There was apparently a bank robbery that had just happened and the suspects decided to ditch their car at the pond. That meant that the last 15 feet that we needed to walk to the pond and the 1/2 hour total trip, turned into an extra 5 km and 2 hours before we made it back home. I don't think they were expecting so much excitement! Unfortunately Kian was really sick while they were visiting.


A very sick little Boo with Helene.


Introducing Helene and Jessie to my duck friends.

We had a surprise call from Tasha and Wayne, who were in town for a week. We were able to meet up and have a couple meals together and take in some sights in Victoria, namely Beacon Hill petting zoo, lieutenant governor's residence and the inner harbour. It was nice to see some familiar faces and catch up on the big city news.


Inner harbour with some surprise visitors.


At Barb's Diner with Auntie Tasha and Uncle Wayne.

Other than that the big accomplishment has been to get rid of the BIG pile of yard waste that has been decorating our front lawn since we moved in! Oh, and the freezer that has been decorating our back yard as well! The yard waste was three large pickup trucks full! Unfortunately that wasn't even a dent in the stuff we have to do in the garden and I'm sure we are going to have another big pile at the end of the driveway soon. I'm sure the neighbours will be really impressed.....


Octopus.....(not a great photo-taken through the window-but cute helping daddy garden)

Sick, Sick, Sick....

Sharing some chocolate milk with daddy.

Well March hasn't started off all that well. I think that we just aren't used to the new germs and bugs out here and have to build up an immunity.

The 2nd of March brought grandma out to Victoria for a visit. It started off well with a trip to the petting zoo to see the baby goats and to music class, which Kian loves. Unfortunately that didn't last long because the flu came to join us and slowly it leveled the household for over a week. Poor grandma got to see a lot of the inside of our house and not so much of the fun stuff that we usually do. Grandma and Kian were sick first and then I was followed by Mark and now Kian, again. I'm hoping March is over soon and so is all this sick stuff!


Kisses from the baby goats

New friend.

This week we have another house full of visitors. (Hopefully they don't all get to take our "gifts" home with them!) A distant relative of mine from Germany is here for a couple days with a friend, on her way across Canada and the States. It's really nice to see Helene after almost 20 years! Hopefully they are enjoying their time here and it looks like the weather has cleared up just for them today!

The end of the week brings Opa back to Victoria for a visit. It's hard to believe that two months have already gone by since he was here in January! He has spend the last two months skiing in Vernon and, I'm assuming, loving it! Guess it is almost time to get back to reality! I know we are going to have a list of "fix-it" projects when he arrives on Friday!

It looks like April might be back to normal for us before May brings that next bunch of visitors. We love seeing all of you out here!

Just a nice photo.

Photo Update

So I'm a little slow with the blogging lately. Things are busier now that I have two little munchkins during the day and photo taking seems to be the last thing on my mind.


Yeah! My favourite snack!


digging.....


What?


This is the best!

Kian is 18 months old today. ( Wow, that went by fast! ) As a special treat he got to go and get his 18 month shots today....he wasn't too impressed. He was really good and got some stickers and a temporary tattoo. He even got to skip the bath tonight so that his tattoo stayed on a little longer. Tomorrow daddy is home and we will take him swimming so it will make up for today. He is now 82.5 cm tall (that's 32.5 inches) and 26 lbs (12 kg). At the clinic there was a set of twins who also had their shots today so the mom and I were talking for a few minutes afterwards. It turns out the twins are 22 and 24 lbs and only 7 1/2 months old! I think I would be a body builder by now having to carry them around all day!

What's been happening here? Not all that much exciting. It has been really nice out lately. 10 degrees and sunny, gorgeous actually! Kian and I have been spending more and more time outside playing and gardening. Yes, gardening in February. Going for walks to the park. He loves the park and has started climbing on things that I thought were for much bigger kids. Guess I was wrong! Yesterday he spent about half an hour just running across the soccer fields. It wore him out nicely for a long afternoon nap.

A few weekends ago we finally managed to get the old dog house taken apart and the fence that was flapping in the wind taken down ( only to realize the the rest of it should also come down!). Now we are on the hunt for a utility trailer and a hitch, figuring that will probably be more useful to us in the long run than buying a truck we really don't want. We are thinking about all the things we want to do and the best place to start. Definitely insulation in the walls is a must this year!


Gardening with mom.


Helping daddy with the fence.

We did manage to make it down to Chinatown a few weekends ago to see the parade. Here are some photos.

Fishing for lions.

Sleeping lion.