Lizzy Singing

Lizzy loves to sing. I just figured out the webcam on my new computer and Lizzy wanted to try. Here she is singing Twinkle Little Star and ABC's. Notice how she likes to change the melody. It's so cute.

A Little Bit Of Randomness

Here are some sort of random pictures that I haven't fit in with anything else yet.

Gabe having a blast at the park.

Our new couch. It's soooo comfortable. Can you tell?

Gabe the Tiger.

Me and Gabe.

Going for a ride. (Well, not by herself. But she went with Daddy and had a blast.)

Kissing baby cousin James. Everytime Gabe sees him he wants to kiss and hug his little cousin. It is so cute, and I am surprised at how gentle he is with him. He doesn't look to gentle in this picture, but trust me... he is!

I really like this one.

And this one.

She is getting so big! I can't believe she is going to kindergarten soon. She is already registered and we bought a backpack, a lunch box, some school supplies, and a few new clothes. She is so excited to be going to school.

Exhausted,

Cool Dude.

Gabe is such a smiley guy. But it is hard to get a good picture of him because he is always moving. Even here while he is sitting in his high chair, he is still moving. He runs everywhere and loves to sing, dance, spin, babble (with a few understandable words) and run away from Lizzy. His favourite toy is his plush puppy, which he sleeps with.

Hiking

We hiked up a mountain (Baldy maybe? I can't remember) with Adam's brother and his family, and Adam's sister and her husband. It was a really nice hike and Lizzy made it all the way by herself. We took turns carrying Gabe in the pack. Up top we had a nice picnic.

Adam's brother's wife, Diane. Notice the baby in the front, and the gun on the back! We had to be super careful because Cole (Adam's brother) saw a mama bear and two cubs on the trail a couple days earlier. Luckily no bears while we were there.

Lizzy and her cousin Hailey proudly standing on the peak.

The trail.

After hiking up the mountain, we headed in a different direction on the way down. We headed towards some falls, which ended up being a trickle. It has been really dry this summer and the creek was almost bare. I guess in the spring the falls can be quite impressive. Sorry no pictures of the trickle.

Afterwards we headed back to Cole's and roasted marshmallows. They have the hugest firepit I have ever seen. It truly is a Gorner firepit.

That's Lizzy watching the fire in the background.

This picture is from much earlier, but so pretty I wanted to include it. It is in Cole's backyard. The day I took this one, the butterfly's were everywhere! This is the best picture I got.

Canada Day

July 1st is Canada Day (for all you Yankees out there) and we went to the parade. The kids had a lot of fun, even though it was super windy.

Watching the parade on Daddy's shoulders.

It isn't a Canada Day parade with the Mounties!

Later we went to a BBQ and brought a picnic lunch. We listened to some music and played at the park. And best of all (for Lizzy) there was free face painting. The line was atrocious, but worth the wait in the end.

Our wonderful little cheetah!

The Lake

We went out to Moberly Lake with Adam's brother and his family. It was a nice evening (even though the bugs were there in abundance) and we had a good time. I got some nice pictures of the sunset.

We went again a week or so later and had a picnic. A friend was there with his boat and took us all out for a ride. Lizzy had a blast! Look at the excitement on her face.

Then even more exciting, she got to drive!

I told her to turn quickly and wave. She was reluctant to do it, but finally I convinced her.

She was a pretty good driver too!

Front Page

The local newspaper heard that Adam was coming to town as the new optometrist. They came to his office, interviewed him and took some pictures. His picture and story ended up on the front page!

Now if I say that I'm married to the new optometrist people will say, "Oh I know him! I saw his picture in the paper!"

Dinosaurs

Soon after we arrived in Dawson Creek we decided to go to Tumbler Ridge for the afternoon and check out the dinosaurs. Lizzy was super excited. When we got there, the dinosaur museum was closed! It was quite a disapointment after an hour drive. We were getting ready to leave when the door opened up. An intern was there working on something and offered to show us around. We had the whole place to ourselves and a personal guide! It was a lot of fun.

After the museum and the cool dino bones, we decided to check out some real dinosaur footprints. We headed a few minutes out of town and on a little hike towards the river bed.

We had to take turns carrying Gabe (we got one of those carrying backpacks to put him in about a week later).

Snacktime.

Having fun with witch's hair. "Look at my beard!"

Awesome 'stache!

At the end of the hour hike we found the dinosaur footprints fossilized on the river bank.

Can you see them?

The Move

So after the excitement of graduation and Gabe's first birthday, we had to pack everything up (again) and head back to The Great White North. Hooray for being home in Canada! I am so grateful that Adam's parents and sister were there to help us pack and clean, and then his sister drove up to Adam's parents house with us and helped with the kids on the trip. That was such a blessing.

After hanging out in Salmon Arm for a bit, we finished gathering up our stuff and headed up to Dawson Creek. Well, I headed up to Dawson Creek with the kids and my in-laws while Adam headed out to the coast to write one more exam for his BC optometrist license.

We packed full to the brim in the back of the truck, the trailer, and the suburban. I didn't realize we had so much stuff, even after getting rid of some things before rotations (like a couch). The truck was packed so well, the tarp didn't even flap - the work of two packing geniouses, Adam and his Dad.

That was taken from the passenger window into the side-view mirror.

After a long day of driving, we made it safely to DC and started unpacking, then Adam joined us in a couple days having aced his test.

Now we are settled for a while. We will be here at least 3 years, and who knows, maybe even stay a little longer.

The front of our house.

The kitchen, but that is not our table. Ours isn't nearly as nice. Not by a long shot. This is one of the pictures in the ad they used to get the house rented.