Testing the Waters

Yep, we like it! It's warm and bubbly and just so relaxing.

My mom hinted quite strongly about having the first dip so 'ask and ye shall receive' applied tonight. We only gave them something to drink at the end of the night. No pee-pee in the tub please :) Hey...isn't there a joke about Mennos in a hot tub being like gorillas in the mist or something?

Oh see...I did get a chance to try it out as well. It's quite difficult to take pictures in the dark with all that steam.

Smarty Pants

I think most of you had it all figured out! Yes, as you can see we were prepping for a hot tub. We plan to enjoy this luxury item very much!

A Grand Time

Luckily it was my day off so we were able to attend the official grand opening of Fire Hall #3 on the Fraser Hwy today. The kids always enjoy anything to do with fire trucks, free food and seeing their Dad! I don't mind either :)

Here they are racing each other in the Junior Firefighting Challenge. It was a close race!

A fine 'stop-drop & roll' technique.

Off to the rest of the challenge

Then to put out the fire at the end....well done!

Their official race certificates

All that racing works up an appetite. Chad was more than pleased to scarf down some hot dogs and goodies. Nate ate lunch before we went....we knew there was no way he'd eat a hot dog!

And finally here is another shot of the 'project'. So my dad and Fiona are quite mistaken in thinking it's a burial plot. All will be revealed in a few days!

Backyard Mystery

All will be revealed on Friday.

Site Prep

Can anyone guess what we might be prepping for? Hush to all of you that already know :)

Those roots from the cherry tree are nasty! We put Nate to work chopping them.



Anyone need some turf????

In The Mood

Lemon Yogurt Muffins...divine!

I had to sample them to see how they tasted!

Chocolate Chip Zuchinni muffins...my kids very favorite.

Zuchinni Spice Loaf....a very nice treat.

Sunny Beaches

After just a few short hours up on Baker we weren't quite ready to go home. We came up with the idea to head to Larabee State park which is just outside of Bellingham. The kids had a great time exploring, climbing on rocks, throwing rocks and all that kid stuff. The weather was HOT and after that chilly hike it was nice to warm up our bones.
By this time we had worked up yet another appetite. We decided to try out a new restaurant in Burlington called 'Johnny Carinos'. It was really good! The prices were decent and the portions were big but not too big. We'll definitely go there again. Chad was slightly concerned that we went for dinner though because he remembered that we had told the border guard that we would be back in the afternoon. Oh dear :) We figured it was okay to change our minds!!!
Now we simply cannot drive through Burlington without stopping at Krispy Kreme for a treat. So stop we did and Keith picked himself up a new coffee mug.
All in all....a wonderful day due to great company and a great place to live that lets us be atop a mountain and at the ocean all in the same day!

Misty Mountains

For the past few years, we have been trying to do a hike up Mt Baker with Kori and family but it had seemed in the past the summer flew by too quickly before we could actually do it. So this summer we booked a date a month in advance to finally get our day at the mountain. The weather in the valley was cloudy with sunny periods when we woke up and looked to be a promising day. We really ought to know by now that if we can't see Mt Baker from town then the weather up there won't be that great. Yep...still holds true. As we drove up my smile turned upside down because hiking in the cold mist is not fun AND the 'to die for views' are just not gonna happen! Oh well.....we bundled up best we could and took to the trails. Yes they were wet and a tad slippery but we soldiered on and did enjoy ourselves. Kori and I had hair that grew by the minute in the wet air and by the time we were done the straight locks were curling/frizzing up pretty quick. Oh well....bye bye vanity.So after an hour or so of hiking we decided to eat our lunch. That mountain air certainly whets the appetite. And the little bugs that swarmed us were horrid! Ugh. Thank goodness Kori thought to bring some 'OFF'. It did help some so we could eat without swatting them away every five seconds.
We decided that we'd give it another go in late September when all the wild blueberries are ripe. Although what we saw on the way down the mountain put fear into my heart. We saw a BEAR! It was a young bear and he was skedaddling down the hill from the side of the road but I saw him. Of course, Kori and Roger and their kids thought it was super cool. I did not.

Be sure to check out Kori's blog for her version of events!

More Kalamalka Lake

These fantastic shots are from my brother. You can see all of his photos on Piscasa...I'll put them on a web album for you to see http://picasaweb.google.com/krnc1994/KalamalkaLake

This was me throwing rocks at Keith....for some reason it was very satisfying :)

We got to witness an incredible moon rise each evening.

Update

I got in to see the ophthalmologist this afternoon. They couldn't fit me in in town at all so we had to go to Chilliwack. I say 'we' because I was told that I would not be able to drive home because the doctor would be using dilating eye drops to exam my eyes. He didn't end up using them so that was a wee bit annoying to have my mom drive me for no reason but I'm over it :)
Anyhow...he did confirm the original diagnosis and gave me a prescription.
Unfortunately, once a person gets this condition they are prone to getting it again. Hopefully there won't be a next time but if there is I'll be able to spot it a mile off and get help a lot sooner!

Onto other pursuits.....today I picked up three ice cream pails of blueberries. I think they are definitely one of my favorite fruits. I've eaten a lot this afternoon but have NO guilt since they are completely healthy! They are huge but not as sweet as other years. No matter....I am freezing most of them for baking this winter. We just love blueberry muffins, platz and pancakes. I've got a batch of muffins in the oven right now. Perhaps I'll have to post a photo!

So Relieved!

Well I just got in from the optometrist. I should have gone to him in the first place!!!! After receiving a call from the walk-in clinic that they couldn't get me into a specialist until Aug 27th I had to take matters into my own hands!
All I can say is that I love Dr Bullock (no worries Keith)! He was so very kind, helpful and nice to me. His office fit me in this morning as an emergency patient (did you know that BC Medical is billed for a visit to the optometrist if it's emergency?).
Anyhow....after a full exam and all the stuff that goes on with getting ones eye examined he determined that I have an inflammation of the eye called Episcleritis.
This condition can come about for no reason whatsoever. Often people with auto-immune disorders get this condition but perfectly healthy people can get it too.
The treatment is steroid eye drops and it will clear up very quickly. Yeah for that!
The pain I have been experiencing is very normal with this condition and I'm so relieved that I don't have a tumor or anything scary like that. I told the doctor that I had been on the internet and had scared myself.....he had a good laugh!!!!
The frustrating thing is the optometrists cannot prescribe medication in BC yet (due to politics and red tape) so he needs to refer me to an ophthalmologist to get the prescription. So I will have to go and see one more doctor. Fortunately he can probably get me in this week so I won't have to wait long. Plus I can wait more peacefully knowing it's something that can be fixed.
That's my story.
Thank you to everyone for their thoughts, prayers and well wishes. It means a lot to me that you were concerned!

PS. On a positive note I still have 20-20 vision :) I hadn't had my eyes checked since 1991!

Eyeball

My eyeball....it's not well.

A bit of a long story but at the end of June I was having some slight pain in my right eye when I squeezed my eyes shut and of course thought nothing of it. But as the days wore on it got ever so slightly more tender until one day I had quite a headache. After that particular headache my eye was still tender and I just attributed it to the fierce headache ( gin induced if you must know). About a week after that I woke up to a lovely red eye. So attractive.....left it for a few days and then thought I should go to the walk in clinic because I felt quite like a freak. I thought it might be pink-eye but had my doubts. The doctor thought it might be allergies and told me to buy some Visine with antihistimine. At this point my eye was quite tender when I used my peripheral vision. A few days later and no improvement to I went to my own doctor and he told me it was a bacteria and gave me a prescription for some drops to clear it up. Well after about 2 weeks it finally looked like it was all better! Phew!

One week ago the redness came back. And over the last few days the pain around my eye (not in my eye) has steadily gotten worse and worse. It's spreading down to my cheekbone and I simply cannot get through the day without several Tylenol/Advil combos.

I went back to the clinic Saturday and had an excellent doctor who took about 20 minutes to thoroughly look at my eye and ask me questions. She was perplexed and decided to refer me to an ophthamologist. BUT...being that it's a long weekend there is no one to be found and I have to wait until Tuesday to be looked at. Sigh.......truthfully I am getting a bit worried. I have searched the internet and scared myself silly over possible diagnosises but honestly haven't found anything that quite sound like what I am experiencing either.

I would definitely appreciate any prayers you care to send up on my behalf.

Camping Highlights

The family just got back from five days of camping up in the Okanagan. We had originally wanted to go to our old favorite site at the Shuswap but it was full so we took a chance on a site near Vernon called 'Kekuli Bay'.

It turned out to be a great place! It was hot and dry and beautiful. The best thing about it was that the local wildlife did not include bears. I am terrified of bears. The local wildlife are rattlesnakes! Much better :)

We swam, ate, and lazed about. I read four books! It was wonderful. Now we are home and I am dealing with the laundry. Yuck! Everything has that camp-fire odor that I detest so much.

I have so many pictures but won't bore you with them all....here are a few for now. My brother came along and took some much better photos with his super duper SLR so I'll post some of those when he eventually sends them on to me.

The walk down to the beach....a bit of a trek but well worth it.

Yum....gotta have hot dogs when you're camping!

And you've definitely got to have s'mores too!

It was so hot that our chocolate melted into one big packet of goo. We had to put it on ice in our cooler to revive it again.

The boys on the trail above the campground.

The water was amazing. I felt like we could have been in the Caribbean!