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.

Gabe's First Birthday

On May 20th, Gabe turned one year old! Time sure has gone by quickly. We had a great turn out for his birthday becuase it was also Adam's graduation. So Gabe got to see both sets of grandparents!

I had planned to make a really fun train cake - but that ended in disaster. Here's what happened: I cooked the cake the night before and then put it in the freezer for over night (cake is supposed to ice better when it is frozen, or at least cold). The morning of Gabe's birthday, I took the cake out of the freezer and set it on the counter. I was about to ice it then realized I needed something at the store right away. So, away I went leaving the cake to thaw. When I get back, the cake is totally thawed, and not even cold anymore. Oh well, I'll give it a go. The thing is, when cake is frozen, and then thawed, it goes all crumbly. So I cut out the pieces and start to make an engine and some train cars. It's going all right so far. I start to put the first layer of icing on the engine and cake crumbs get everywhere! This cake is so crumbly that the icing is too heavy for it and pieces start breaking off, pulling the icing down getting crumbs everywhere. It looked absolutely horrible. As Adam said, my train cake was a complete train wreck. Ha ha.

Here it is.

Gabe couldn't have this horrible piece of mess for his first cake! So I quickly make another. Nothing fancy this time, just plain old cake in a glass pan, lightly frosted with sprinkles. It wasn't very exciting, and no one said, "Ooh! What a neat cake!" but it worked.

Well, Gabe sure liked it!

Yumm!

After cake Gabe opened a few presents. He got some stacking blocks, some cars and a really fun car ramp.

He loves cars. He even makes vroom-vroom sounds to make them go. It is so cute. He is such a boy.

Adam put together the ramp, so he gets to play with it too, right?

All in all, it was a fun day.

Graduation

Now it's been a long time since I have blogged anything and lots of important things have happened. I'm going to try and space things out and get a few good blogs in about the changes in our lives.

The first major thing is Adam's gradutation!! Hooray!! Adam is now officially Dr. Gorner. Grad weekend was realyl busy and so rainy. The Friday (May 21, 2010) was the banquet and awards ceremony. Adam was awarded a scholarship for leadership and excellence in clinic and I am so proud of him. He is an excellent clinician and so good with his patients. He's going to make a wonderful optometrist.

The next morning was the hooding ceremony with the Optometry class of 2010. This is where all the graduates received their doctoral hoods in the optometry colour (seafoam green). There were some good speeches and of course Adam looked so handsome.

Later on Saturday was the actual graduation with the receiving of diplomas. It was outside in the pouring rain and the diplomas had to be wrapped in plastic to protect them. The school even gave the graduates plastic rain covers to protect their robes and hoods.

This is Adam (on the right) with some friends after receiving their diplomas (and coming inside).

Adam and his best friend Andy - proving they are doctors!

Congratulations Adam!

Mo Willems

I have a new favourite children's author: Mo Willems.

He writes the Pigeon books,

Elephant and Piggie books,

and Knuffle Bunny (to name a few). They are witty, fun and easy to read, but best of all, Lizzy loves them. I put Mo Willems right up there with Robert Munsch (also a definite favourite).

I first discovered Mo Willems when I was working in the Edmonton Public Library before Lizzy was born. I used the Pigeon stories in preschool story time, and the kids loved them. Later, when Lizzy got more interested in books, I looked for the Pigeon books again and was delighted to find more of his work.

Lizzy absolutely loves Elephant and Piggie and looks for them every time we are at the library.

So if you have little kids, or even if you don't, check these out and let me know what you think!