Wednesday, June 24, 2009

E- Grade one done

Too much going on. No time to stop and blog. Grade one is over and hopefully we have started a tradition of the last day of school family movie. My Dad took Lucas for a couple of hours while Les, Fin, Molly and I went to "Up" at Oakridge. We had a great time watching the movie and stuffing our faces with bottomless popcorn.

Finny is having another ridiculous birthday week, with parties seemingly every day. Dinner with the McKnights and McTaggerts in Point Roberts, with her friends at the Granville Island waterpark, at Spanish Bank with the Butlers and there are still more to come.

We had a weekend of fun up at Sakinaw for Cathy's fortieth birthday. Our kids joined the 17 adults for most of the events and probably witnessed a bunch of stuff that will come back to haunt us in a couple of years.......but at least they can have a lot of pride in their mother's chugging ability. The lake was warm enough to keep the kids happily jumping in to swim, tube and water ski on the big red board.

We spent a good night drinking beers on the roof top deck at Rob and Mielle's place in False Creek Co-op. With 12 different beers from the "mystery pack" we picked up at Trader Joe's, I set up a competition to see who could identify the most. If felt like a real milestone having the 8 children completely entertain themselves, leaving the adults free to enjoy an evening barbequeing and watching the sun set on the deck.

Molly's school had a fundraiser where the Bread Garden donated Lemonade and families took turns running a stand on the seawall. The girls were natural sellers with loud, uninhibited voices yelling out "ice cold lemonade....by donation" over and over for our two hour stint. They were an important part of the team that raised $4,000 for school programs next year.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Studio pictures

Since I have been incredibly negligent in posting, I am breaking down and uploading a bunch of pictures we had taken recently by photography students learning the art of family portraiture with little in the way of text accompaniment.

The picture taking session was hilarious, reminding me of the expression "like herding cats". Since it was students, there was little direction offered to the kids, resulting in semi-chaos. The girls hammed it up, while Lucas rode around on a wheeled office chair for an hour. An example of hamming:





No idea what that was but Finny's posture cracks me up, as does Molly's facial expression. I think she is wearing kitty ears and it looks like she's saluting...? Bizarrely, it is one of my favourite shots, but I'm pretty sure it's one that only a mother could love.

This next one I like because everyone is trying to kiss me. I feel like I spend most of my days as though my lap is the last seat in an epic game of musical chairs...everyone wants to be there. This picture illustrates that sensation well. It is lovely and occasionally overwhelming.




Molly and her cherished Baby Jack:



Sweet faces:



This surly little fireman is a good shot. One of the rare moments that he wasn't tearing through the studio on the office chair.



I wish Molly's face weren't scrunched here, otherwise it's a good one. I am smiling here, but I am most likely also thinking about how to wrangle the studio chair terrorist. Wheelie maniac, just outside of the frame.




One of the students caught this moment of the girls whispering. I love it. I see this exact scene a thousand times a day. Usually, they are whispering (poorly) about hilarious things. I will look at this picture fondly when they are far less innocent and their whispering is concerning sneaking out to meet boys and party...



Who knows what the joke was...:



The best one of all three:

Saturday, June 6, 2009

E-Deception Pass


View Vancouver to Deception Pass trip in a larger mapWith clear skies, weather in the high 20's and time off work for me, we couldn't resist heading out for our first camping trip of the year. We decided to explore the coast directly south of us, an area neither Les or I had spent much time in the past. Our first stop, Trader Joe's, left us wishing they open a Canadian store sometime soon.
We followed the coastal road through Fairhaven onto Chunckanut drive before stopping for the night at Bay View State Park in Skagit county. We decided to ease ourselves slowly back into camping by staying the first night in one of the log cabins. After dinner we rode down to the beach and watched the sun set. On Thursday we went into Mount Vernon and Burlington for some shopping where almost everything in the mall was 50% or more off. Even Les' X-Large coffee was $0.15.
By the time we drove out to Anacortes and around Fidalgo island, the heat of the afternoon was upon us and the beautiful lake abutting the ocean was a welcome site. The ocean water was surprisingly cold and the lake water surprisingly warm, it was a no brainer where we decided to swim.
The second night was spent in the tent, with Molly playing DJ on the Ipod as we all fell asleep. The kids were great and loved everything but the toilets.....leaving us inspired to do lots more this summer and maybe even try to get down to Disneyland before long.