Preserving Memories

Do you have a stack of these in a closet somewhere?  I finally took my 8mm tapes to Costco and had them put on DVD this summer.  They had a coupon in their summer flyer so I decided that now was a good a time as any.  It's something I had been putting off for years. They messed up the DVD imaging a bit so I got a few of them for free which was pretty sweet since it's not particulary cheap to have this done. It's not a lot of video really and we were pretty selective about when we took out the video camera when the kids were young (yes...I realize using the term 'video camera' dates myself).  We all look forward to watching these DVDs over the next few evenings.  Nate and Chad enjoy seeing themselves as 'enfants'.  Of course, once we got a digital camera all the video went digital.  Does anyone know if there is a service or program that would put all my video clips onto one DVD in a continuous fashion.  I could burn them clip by clip onto a disc but I'd like to be able to play a DVD of them all continuously.  Does that make sense?

Well, perserving memories takes time and money but it's certainly worth it.  We've come a long way from slides!

The Boys

Exciting times are a-coming!
Grade 6 for Chad ~ Middle School
Grade 9 for Nate ~ High School
Preschool for Liam

Yippee!  I'm so excited for them all.
No tears from this mama.

Too Soon

Klassen Resort

This was the first year EVER that we had spent at Oroville without my parents.  It was time for a change and boy oh boy did we have fun!  Not that it wasn't fun with my parents but it was a bit more sedate.  We were so happy that the Unrau family could join us for the week.  So fun to show them around and play with them and share experience!

There were in excess of 1700 photos taken over the week so here are a very few highlights!

 

 

 

 Oh yes, this is my favorite thing to do.  Screaming, laughing and panic all rolled into one wild ride!

 

 

 

 Since there is no longer a dock at our beach I was happy to be water taxi for Kori.

 

 

The boys went tubing upteen million times.

 

 Blake learned how to kneeboard!

 We ate dinner with the best view ever.

 We played lots of games.

 We ate more donuts than is good for a person.

 The weather was perfect.  Hot, HOT and sunny everyday with only one windy afternoon/evening.

 

 Keith gave water-skiing lessons.  Blake was a champ, Karli didn't quite make it up, Kori popped up on her first go and I bombed.  Just didn't happen for me!

 Liam desperately wanted to be included in the water sports but aside from tubing there wasn't much else he's old enough to do.  Kori was kind enough to take him 'surfing'.

I was SO proud of Chad who overcame his fears and tried kneeboarding and guess what?  He loved it!  Only two years ago this child wouldn't even swim in the lake.  He's come a long ways!

 

Maybe I'll post again with more highlights.  I think you can see by now that it was a wonderful week.

Salt Spring Visitors

We don't get to see our friends from Salt Spring too often so I was tickled pink when my friend Jenn called up to say she was dropping by last week.  Her husband works for Randy Bachman so was working close by in Mission at the River Music Festival.  She and the kids tagged along on the road trip and they were able to make a stop at our house for a quick visit.  She's one of those delightful friends who remains dear to me even though the times we see each other are few and far between. 

Long Lost Cousins

These sisters are my second cousins!  Kerry on the right lives in Guatemala with her husband and five (!!) kids.  They run an orphange down there.  I hadn't seen her in years and years!  Someone kindly sponsored her family to fly up here so she could visit her siblings and parents.  I was so happy to be able to visit and catch up.  Allison lives in town but we don't really see one another.  I think we'll have to change that!  Her brother actually JUST left with his family for a two year stint in Indonesia to teach at an international school so they missed each other by mere weeks.  What a shame!
Thanks to Aunt Judy for taking the picture for us.  See you all on FB!

Downtown - Day 3

After a hearty breakfast at the hotel, we checked out and headed towards downtown Seattle.  We always like wandering around the Seattle Centre, piers, markets and big stores.  Having kids with us does put a damper on things and we tried to keep the 'boring shopping' to a minimum! 

 We always park near Seattle Center and take the monorail into downtown.  Liam's first ride on a sky train and he was very pleased about it.

 There is a new attraction down on Pier 57.  At $15 per person it was not in our budget to ride but it was fun to watch for a while.

The downtown stores are full of excellent bargains.  As good or better than the outlets in same cases.  Multi-story Target, Forever 21, Old Navy, American Eagle, Nordstrom Rack and H&M are among some of our favorite places to check out. 

After walking around for several hours and finding some great deals we headed to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch.  The boys have a very favorite sandwich here that they love to share.  The chicken parmesan.  They are wise enough to know to save room for dessert!  I had a delicious BBQ Ranch Chicken salad that I will definitely be ordering again.

 The boys were able to come to an agreement on the Oreo cheesecake.  Keith and I shared the Chocolate Raspberry Truffle.  Oh my...SO good, SO rich, SO filling. 

 At this point Liam was nearing melt down stage so we headed back to Seattle Center on the monorail.  We took them to the spray park area so they could enjoy playing here.

 And you can't go to Seattle without taking a picture of the Space Needle!  Again...I'd love to go up but at $19 a person it was just too much.  Next time we'll budget for it.

 There is a new glass sculpture garden beside the needle that is quite amazing.  You have to pay to get in but for now the shrubbery is  small enough to peek in from outside.

 Chad is currently on a purple kick and loves anything purple so he wanted to get a picture in front of the EMP building.  Liam is looking a tad worn out here!

 It was one melt down after another at this point.  Half embarrassing and half entertaining.  I'm sure people felt sorry for us as they passed by.  I sure hope they did anyhow!!!

 Now back in the old days we simply did not take our children along on holidays like this because it wasn't worth the pain of the fall out from distruptued routines.  Now, we have no choice but to drag this wee lad around in order to have the older two boys still enjoy trips and whatnot.  By day three the lack of naps, late nights and new surroundings had caught up with Liam and he was a mess.  It was a very trying day and I was so frustrated!    Here's a little clip of what it was like as we were heading back to the car to head home.

 And about two seconds after he announced he was NOT TIRED he fell asleep and stayed that way for a good hour.  He was very sweet and in good humor when he awoke...back to the boy we know!

And that was our Seattle get-away.

Yet Another Home Project

This time the issue was my stall shower in the ensuite.  It's a small space and a bit dark so I didn't notice that the caulking had pulled away from the tile on the corners.  Keith used my shower a few weeks ago and told me that it was leaking into the wall and it needed some attention...STAT!  So I gave up showers for a few days so it could completely dry out.  No, I used the main bathroom shower!

Keith set to work sanding off many layers of caulking so he could apply a new coating properly.  Of course this took a long time because Keith is a perfectionist and when he does something it's done RIGHT!  So now it's done and have my girl shower back.  One day we'll just rip it out and replace the whole thing but that's a long term dream.

Fun at the Zoo - Day 2

They call overcast skies a 'marine layer' down in Seattle and that's what we had for all of Tuesday.  This turned out to make a trip to the zoo very pleasant.  No one got overheated, needed sunscreen and the animals were lively.  The Woodland Park Zoo makes an excellent day trip and is a very well planned and pretty zoo.  If you haven't been, I highly recommend.

 Let me explain the bat wings that Liam is wearing.  Back in the beginning of July, my cousin's son showed Liam his set of bat wings from this very same zoo.  Liam loved these at first sight and we had promised him his very own set.  So basically the moment we set foot in the zoo he started asking just when would he get his bat wings and didn't let up until we bought them.  We managed to hold him off until after lunch!  Once he had them in his possession he was ever so appreciative and kept thanking us, talking about them, showing them off to anyone who would listen, flying around the zoo, calling us Bat-Mom, Bat-Daddy and Bat-Buddies.  Most people who walked by us commented on his 'cool' wings.  That was money well-spent!

 Chad loves, LOVES turtles and was happy to pretend to be one for a short moment!

 After spending most of the day at the zoo we decided it wasn't quite time for supper so we drove to nearby Green Lake for a walk.  After being on our feet all day at the zoo, it wasn't a fast walk but it was a lovely 2.8 mile trek.  Liam could not manage it so we pulled out the stroller (so glad we packed it along!) and he dozed most of the way around.

 The lake is quite large and the water fairly clean.  There are two swimming areas complete with lifeguards and diving platforms.

 After a cheap supper (to balance out the expensive dinner the night previous) of Little Caesar's pizza in our room we all headed to the hotel pool for a swim.  I use the word swim lightly as the pool was too small to actually swim and the deepest part was just over four feet.  But the boys all enjoyed it as boys do.

 And the bat themed day continued with bat wings for teeth brushing and bat wings for bed time!

Home Project #547

After we had a new fence put in last year the guy offered to sell Keith two extra panels so we could replace a rotten section of fence between us and the neighbors kitty-corner to our yard.  We bought them and then they sat outside for a year.  This bothered me because they weren't stained and I wanted them stained and installed so they didn't get ruined in the weather!  So this summer I asked Keith very sweetly if perhaps he might find a day to get this project done.  And since Keith knows what's best for him, he got to it on his first day of holidays.  I hope these neighbors are appreciative since we didn't charge them a cent for the supplies or labour of replacing a shared section of fence!  I doubt they'll even notice as it's behind their huge hedge and they are generally too busy partying in their outdoor pool to consider anyone else!

Visiting the Neighbors Day 1

We are truly fortunate to live so close to the USA.  We love taking trips...quick trips, day trips, overnight trips or extended trip to our neighbors 'down south'.  It's fun to see different things and experience new things with the kids.  We took a two night break to head down to Seattle and enjoy being tourists at our favorite spots.  We had hoped to stay in downtown Seattle but the prices were a bit crazy and even though I was using Mastercard points for the hotel, I wasn't about to spend $200 per night!  That's for the rich peoples.  We stayed in the suburb of Everett at the newly renovated Best Western Navigator Inn & Suites.  It had more good points than bad.  Good points were the better than average 'free' breakfast, location, service, cleanliness and large room with kitchen!  Negative points would have been a teeny, tiny pool/hot tub, the hallway was a tiny bit smelly (but not our room), the pillows were rubbish and the bedding needed an overhaul. 

We arrived in the later afternoon as we had stopped at the outlets for some shopping on the way into the city.  After we checked-in we headed down to a favorite little beach in Mukilteo.  It's never crowded and has a beautiful view with ferries coming and going.

After hanging out on the beach throwing stones, making sand creations, beach combing and soaking up the sun we headed to Ivar's for some of their famous seafood.

It's not a cheap place to dine but it's excellent food and a big treat.

After supper we all decided that we could fit in some dessert.  We feasted on these massive ice cream cones and I must admit that I felt just a little ill after so much ice cream.  I thought since I had only had a bowl of clam chowder for dinner I could manage it....but no.  Too much!

After supper everyone was pretty tired so we headed back to the hotel where Liam fell asleep while watching TV. 

We all tucked into bed for we had another adventure awaiting us in the morning!