My kids always have so much fun with the Hemminger family! It’s fun to see that the kids that Chuck and I watched as children have grown into adults that my kids play with. A better family is hard to find, except for my own family of course!

Ricki is the oldest of the Hemminger kids and has recently had her first baby. It was so nice to snuggle her baby, go 4-wheeling together and to stay up late crocheting for the first time together.

Kaity and Laurelyn were attacking Jeff with tickles! What cruel girls they are!

Jeffrey and Jason playing Sequence. We had to find things to do inside since we didn’t want the kids to be running around outside where there were bears wandering around the neighborhood. Luckily the Hemmingers have stocked their cabin with games aplenty!

Chuck wasn’t showing his gratitude very well when I snapped this picture.

After Thanksgiving dinner the men folk took over the kitchen and cleaned up the mess that was left after the great feast. It’s always one of my favorite things to have men in the kitchen!

Kaity and Jocelyn were the first group to go on the trail. The kids and I have become hooked! I want a couple quads in kids sizes as well.

I was worried that Laurelyn’s little head wouldn’t be able to keep upright with that huge helmet on!

Don’t worry, they wore helmets when they were actually moving. Oh, and the adults drove. No children were hurt in the making of this quad trip.

Ricki’s husband David swam Laurelyn all over the pool. It was so sweet!

David (Big David) and Jeffrey played catch with Jason. I don’t know if you can see in the picture but Jason was smiling and laughing the whole way through.

We were in Fairmont from Friday until Monday and loved every second of it. I think it’s time for us to start looking for our own vacation property somewhere and then we can invite the Hemmingers to come join us!

What did you guys do for Canadian Thanksgiving?

I’m going to pretend that I never took a hiatus and instead start posting like normal. Starting with this month.

May is one of my favorite months. It’s the start of Spring. I love Spring. I love the smell of growth and renewal. I also love the color green so it’s easy for me to be happy when I see the grass turn into color and the buds start forming. May is also a lot of birthdays. Chuck has a birthday and I love his birthday. Any day to celebrate my husband is a fun day for me. He’s a very thoughtful husband and generously spoils me every chance he gets. He seems to get a lot of chances! So, I like to turn the tables on him and spoil him. This year that involved going away for his 40th birthday. Have I mentioned that my husband is old?

I took Chuck to Victoria Island for 4 days without the kids. We didn’t realize that the Royal Wedding was happening that weekend so we spent a couple days surrounded by older women in big feathery hats! These women were in our hotel (The Empress) drinking tea, eating crumpets and gaggling non stop about the wedding and how beautiful Will and Kate are. I thought it was kind of serendipitous that during a grand gesture of love happening in another country my husband and I were remembering why we love eachother.

Nothing can renew passion like a good nights sleep, am I right ladies?

We drove all over the island enjoying the sunshine, the blooming flowers… and the shopping! Did I mention that May was an expensive month? When I start to get downhearted when thinking about my visa bill I can look at these pictures and remember the beauty of Victoria.

(Remember that I was on vacation with my husband so I was… distracted. There aren’t a whole ton of pictures.)

I loved the beach. It was so nice to walk in the sand, listen to the seagulls and watch the locals throwing driftwood into the ocean for their dogs to bring back. It made me want to stay forever!

This make-shift fort was made by some local kids and is their clubhouse. I immediately thought of my boys who would love something like this!

So, here’s my week at the beach in one blog post.

We weren’t aware that we would be at the beach only 24 hours before we were there. I got a phone call first thing in the morning on Wednesday inviting us to Osoyoos for a week. Less than 24 hours later we were in BC, unloading our van and running into the lake. There are fewer things more fun than an unexpected trip to the beach!

We spent the whole week picking cherries, floating in the water, eating root beer floats and going for massage. Wait, that last one was just me!

I wish I could give you a whole list of amazing things we did while in BC but the cherries, water and root beer kept us pretty busy.

We’re now home and trying to get all back to work. I’ve been meeting with potential clients, Chuck’s been working like crazy and now we’re both crashing. I should take a picture of Chuck sleeping in bed right now. What better way to spend a Saturday after a week at the beach, right?

By the way, enjoy your Independence/ Canada Day weekend everyone!

My kids don’t need me meddling and getting involved. In fact, I believe that if I let them follow their own direction they might even sail solo across the world. It sounds crazy but a 16 yr old teenager just did it and landed in Sydney last year. Her name is Jessica Watson and she has been sailing since she was 8. She told her parents that she wanted to sail around the world and they had enough faith in her to let her go. They helped get her prepared, supplied and sponsored even!

She has a blog where she wrote all along the way and you can see that here.

I find this so amazing and in a small way predictable. I know that kids can do jaw dropping stuff. In all the interviews Jessica’s mother sounds not the least bit surprised because she really did know that Jessica would pull this off.

Makes me wonder what my kids will do.

All of the kids were able to join in the decorating and they loved it. Even Laurelyn got in on the action.

The boys got bored and quickly found something else to do with the decorations. An imaginative child never ceases to inspire me.

I didn’t manage my time very effectively while we were back in Washington. There was so much that I wanted to do and see and I didn’t get to half of what I was hoping to do. One of those things was spending more time with the Martie and Dee who came up from North Bend to see us. Thanks for coming up guys and I promise to take more advantage of the time next time we’re in town.

These next pictures are from a day trip Chuck and I took to Victoria Island so we could scout the place out. We have been thinking about moving there once our house is worth more than we spent on it. (Good luck, right?) Victoria is closer to my parents, warmer and milder than Alberta and we still get to keep our healthcare. It’s a win-win from our point of view. Speaking of views, the views from the ferry ride were amazing! Chuck and I spent the extra $10 to sit in the Lounge which has larger and more comfortable seats as well as complimentary snacks, tea and requires quiet voices so no one is disturbed while they’re sipping their tea! It felt so indulgent! The Lounge looked right onto the deck and the only downside was that I could watch all the people walking around outside. There was a man out there who was wearing backpack, wringing his hands, checking his watch, talking to himself and tapping on the one-way glass to the Lounge. I was starting to think this guy was going to blow a hole in the ferry with the contents in his backpack but he eventually got too cold and went inside. He still could have blown up the ferry from wherever he went but atleast I wasn’t sitting there watching him. Freaky!

Looking at neighborhoods online Chuck and I loved the idea of being in Oak Bay so that was our first stop. We immediately wished that we had brought the kids because we were there on their annual Light Up Festival. There were carolers, musicians, games, free food and sampler tables from some of the shops. It was so much fun and the kids would have loved it.

Oak Bay Library. We couldn’t get over how beautiful the buildings were!

This is the library lion that stands in the kids’ section where the children can climb up and sit like one of the characters from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

Giant Checkers.

Giant Four Square.

We have a slight love for used book stores in our family. There’s something magical about finding an old book that has been loved and I can’t help but wonder where the book has traveled. What brought this book here to this store and into my hands? There’s a smell to used bookstores that I can’t get enough of. It’s gotten worse since we started homeschooling because now we’re always on the lookout for books about all sorts of subjects. We found a used bookstore in Oak Bay called Grafton’s Books. It was perfect. It even had the floor to ceiling bookcases and the wrap around track with the sliding ladder! I had so much fun. This was our first stop so we didn’t stay long but I could have been in there for our entire trip!

We stumbled onto this war memorial that looks out onto the ocean. Isn’t it beautiful?

My favorite part of going home is to see a relationship strengthen between my kids and my parents. It’s one thing to talk on the phone and to see pictures but it’s all together different to be together every day, all day for more than a week. My favorite was to see how attached Laurelyn got to her Grandpa. She loves her Grandpa and I am glad that my parents are coming here in February so I can get more pictures like these.

The day that we left my kids got Christmas presents from Grandma and Grandpa. Everyone loved what tey got and the now had toys to play with on the long trip home. I can’t wait to move to Victoria so we can be only a ferry ride away!