another set of three

Michael and a bear, Exploration Place


Kyle posing for me at Heritage Garden, he is such a good sport


Kyle and my mom with the golden retriever puppies - my mom is getting two puppies next week


Kyle in the mouth of a t-rex, Exploration Place... very cool

more pics

Fuzzy purple flower from Heritage Garden in West Fraser Timber Park


Derrel, Jenni, Rolo, Kyle and Michael at the Heritage Park a couple weekends ago



Kyle and the bears at Exploration Place, PG

quiz

What is this?

more pics

Ok - I have a tonne more photos but blogger isn't letting me load tonight - ARG! I will try and load more photos tomorrow. Watch for a new photo quiz... I think I have a stumper!

If you can't wait to see the photos that I was going to load - click on the flickr photos that are always changing and you can see them there. At least flickr is working tonight. :)

pics

A beautiful bloom from the heritage garden in West Fraser Timber Park


Michael and Kyle on their first bike ride together (Michael's first ride ever)


just a creepy train photo... taken at exploration place

compliments

I know blogs are more about complaining than compliments but I have to pay one. We went on our monthly adventure to Prince George and I talked Andy into going to Exploration Place to try something new with Kyle. It is like a mini-Science world for the northerns. It was a hoot. They have a small dinosaur display, a kids play area and then an older kids discovery area. We spent two hours there and ended up buying a membership. Then we found out that by purchasing the membership we gained membership access to Science World, HR McMillian Science Centre and loads of other cool places across BC and Alberta! HOORAY! So for you northerns or visitors to the north, don't miss the great opportunity to give yourself and kids a place to go and have a little bit of fun. It is all attached to Ft George Park, which is home to a water park and lots of other fun outdoor kid stuff. So there.. I've tooted my horn for something good in Prince George. Not that there aren't other things to do in Prince George but this was a stand out thing for us.

Michael had a big week - his wounded soldier crawl is improving by the day - the last few days we see him crawling with both legs more often, he said his first word - dad... the first time we thought it was just a fluke but we had said it a couple of times since and does it while looking or trying to blab with Andy, his first tooth is just poking through and he is waving. Andy waved at him the other day and he waved back - of course, we thought it was a fluke but now he is waving at Andy and Kyle any chance he gets. He is communicating... I know this is a highly parental thing but it just makes me so happy to see him trying these things. It seems a little early for waving but Kyle was late on all the communication stuff so I just don't know.

I've decided to start tracking our enormous veggies and fruit - if you post your record you will be able to find it in the margin (left) on the main page.

perseid

Aug 12 - 13 is the peak of the perseid meteor shower. If you have some time and clear place to view the sky, take time tomorrow night to view the heavens. The moon is still kind of full so that might take away from the number of meteors you will see, but I read that they are forecasting 15-30 an hour, which is still pretty good in my books.

I've viewed it for a number of years and some years it is exceptional! You will see a few that you just catch the tail end of, but there are some that you see and hear, as it burns the sky. If you are an astronomy nut like me, this is the best time of year. This is definitely the best of meteor showers for the year and it happens every year at roughly the same time. (day)

Face the opposite direction of the moon, to lessen the light and gaze awhile. Count 'em up and share your experience. If you want to get a little technical - look for cassiopeia (the big 'w' in the sky) and the perseus constellation will be found south - the meteors are suppose to come from this direction - but to be honest, these meteors come from all over the sky. I say get a hot beverage, a blanket, a nice place to sit, someone to talk to between flashes and enjoy!

Have a great weekend!

too easy is it...

what am I?

This might be too easy to. I will work on getting something more difficult - although I question where the fun is in stumping you... my treasured guests :)

So how did my weekend go? Well I managed to get everything except two things done. One of the things I am completing tonight before I go to bed. The other - well, it will simply have to wait. This was the task of cleaning the scrapbook room. I've nearly got it all put away. I've organized nearly all my paper by color or theme but I've got a bit of a stack going that needs some tending.

I need to scrapbook. I need at least an hour a day for the rest of the year to try and catch up - not to mention the books I need to work on for family (three).

growth update

I forgot that it was immunization week around here. Michael took them very well this time. It was weird when he got the shots because... well Kyle just sat there and took it - they gave him a shot and he just kind of looked around, or cried a little but didn't put together that if the nice lady was cleaning his leg it meant another was on the way... well Michael got the first shot and then he immediately figured out the course of action ahead. He tensed all his little muscles up and that meant that he bled... great. He was a trooper though - got through it better than I would have. I hate getting immunization shots.

So my little beefcake is seven months today and he weighed 20 lbs and 1 oz, and was 27 and 1/2 inches tall. He has been crawling forward since July 14 and now has it pretty much in check. He is dragging one leg behind him but we are hoping it is just him still trying to figure it all out. He may not though because no sooner had he figured out forward he started to lift himself up. We had to lower the crib because he was climbing up and could have easily fallen out. He now stands up beside any toy that will let him. It is madness. Kyle just lounged around... Michael is the child that never stops. I'm excited about him learning all these new things but I also miss that cuddly stage that Kyle gave me... something Michael skipped. Kyle is doing really well - he is into puzzles big time right now. He can do 24 and 48 piece ones without much thought, he is working on a 100 piece one but it is pretty hard. He tries to work at for a little while every other day - it is coming together though. He is learning new songs and starting to read along with books, which is nice but.. I'll be honest - annoying. He usually gives up after while because he can't hear the story. This whole situation reminds me of my poor parents and the movie nights they went through with us. My brother, sister and I use to memorize Disney movies and then take roles. Then we would be that character through the entire film, singing, talking... you name it, we did it... I've always wondered if we were the only crazies doing this kind of thing and well I haven't met anyone yet that said... april, I did that too. So if you did - share, and if you don't want to admit it... I completely understand.

Michael is rumbling... I better get going. Update complete. I'm signing off.

long weekend

Aunti Jenni came and stayed with us last night and we had a great little visit! It is always nice to have visitors staying with us. It usually gets us out of the house and doing something other than stealing air conditioning from Wally World...

So right now I'm holding down the fort on a friends business while she is away, while also trying to work on one contract plus my regular work. I'm tired and not getting enough accomplished... plus I see all this other stuff that I want to work on just sitting around me... waiting... hoping... so I can't be as earth friendly and budget friendly as Sarah (Wyatt in the Dell - go read about her challenge) I am willing to make a commitment to get my stuff in order. It is the long weekend and I'm going to clean up and pull it together. I can't live like this any longer. I won't bore you with a list but I will say that I will share my success with you at the end of the weekend.

Alright - fun and games... april... how is it that I can get points tonight? Well here you go - what is this?



I'm hoping to make a purchase in the next few weeks that will enable me to offer much better photos... we will see if the stars align.

riddle me this

two tonight - the first one is - guess what I am? the second is a puzzle - add all the photo parts together come up with a word or phrase....


what am I? (1 point)








An extra point will be given to whoever guesses who is in the last picture in this set. So for this set of photos, you will add the photos together to create a title. That's a pretty big clue...

So tonight there are three points up for grabs. Good luck!

get a star

Alright - so I'm being too easy, am I? The correct answer was blueberry but that was actually my mouth. It was the super sized one that no one has beaten the record on... yet. I've been trying to do some homework on whether or not my blueberry was any kind of feat of nature. Right now, it appears that people just simply aren't interested in large fruit... unless it is enormous or super petite. So I guess I will hereby proclaim that I found the largest one until someone proves me wrong. (This shouldn't be too hard - I read one site that said their plants grew quarter size berries... but hand no actual proof of said fruit.)

So here is how you will get your star tonight -



minus eel



plus a word that rhymes with this

Enjoy - if that makes any sense at all.

because the first one was too easy :)

and no - this isn't something dirty - you dirty little birds - after I cropped (hint) the photo I realized that it also looked like... well something that it isn't - good luck

what am I? (might be too easy)

Stars will be awarded for correct answer.
.

fun times

During BBDays Kyle took in his first amusement park rides. Before I hit the hay I wanted to share a couple.

Pure Joy

Michael - Look at me in my cute new hat!

Hooray for rides.... more tickets, please.

Today at the gym another mom was telling me she had braved the ferris wheel and then said 'I don't know how I got on that ride, it's one thing to go to Disneyland where you can lick the ground, it's another to get on a ride constructed by people on acid'. Thanks for reminding me about that. I was nervous enough watching him drip on for dear life on the dragon roller coaster...

hint taken

Alright, so I guess racism is a little too much for the readers. So in that vein I will lighten the mood and share with you my discovery. The largest blueberry that I've ever seen. Please see the photos below. What I would like to propose is that all readers/viewers buy blueberries this season, and while eating them, carefully inspect them for size. If you find a blueberry that is larger in diameter than mine, I will mail you a jar of jam. I will mail it to anyone, anywhere - even if you aren't a regular reader/user of the site. In order to receive a jar, you must provide photostatic proof of your discovery. The berry must be whole - you can not smmmmsh it and then take a diameter reading. While we are on the topic of abnormally large objects - anyone seen any other vegetables/fruit that were larger than normal?

More than 7/8 of an inch in diameter and 1/2 inch in depth.

racism

First of all, sorry for being a lazy blogger. I've been reading and writing at other blogs, but not really doing much to mine. Well I'm back - full of a rant.

It was Billy Barker Days this weekend in the goldpan city and, rain aside, things seemed to go well. It looked like there were lots of people in town and things were busy. We went to the parade; we go every year. We are sitting there and a display goes by of a skidster... hmm - that's the wrong word. Anyways, it is a car that is equipped with four additional wheels to help you learn how to drive in snowy conditions (skid control). It does a big spin near us and as this is going on a group of east indian woman come to the curb. The people behind us tell them to wait and I guess one of them made a face. The car spins by again and with that the woman start to walk across the street. Now this could have easily been a case of the woman not understanding english. The people behind us then proceed to get all fired up about. What are you going for? I guess that's what you get for trying to help people out. (So granted, I didn't see any of their faces in all of this, but I'm pretty sure that no one gave the bird, or anything like that.) And the one girl, more loudly says, maybe you should just go back to you own country then. I was shocked into silence. Ok, so start thinking about - should I have said anything?

Now after this little production at the parade - that really left me thinking. How can people continue to be so unkind and thoughtless towards others? Not just about race but about understanding others... I won't deny that I've had some pretty awkward introductions to people I've only talked to on the phone, as they assume that I would be chinese... of course I only married into a last name. So I'm in an interracial relationship - yes we've had looks and I think both our families are quite reasonable about race and race issues.

Ok - so I've been through the parade, I've had time to think and then this happens:
Setting: my kitchen
Opening scene: we had just come home from bb days activities, and we are chatting
Characters: husband, me, mom (mother in law)
We are chatting and mom asks, where was czechoslovakia? I bumbled, thinking maybe it was part of russia at some point. So I agree that maybe it was a part of the soviet union at one time (no it wasn't). And then I hear this, - I figured it was part of russia, there is a woman in the office, she is very sneaky... again I am shocked and surprised at her comments... So again I ask... what could/should have been said?

My grandparents were racists and one of my cousins. My grandma hates japan, as she fought in world war 2 and at 81 continues her dislike for them. My grandparents were more focused on insulting native people and my cousin for whatever reason decided at four years old that she couldn't watch the NBA because of black people - to which I told her, I like them and I was watching and she could go do whatever she wanted. I think my parents tried to show us the good in everyone. I hope to pass that along to my kids.

Alright I have work to do - Blueberry competition coming... watch for new post soon!

me sista

I just had one of those... gees that makes me think of mel moments... here you go kid - this ones for you

It is a fair bit pixelly... the little dude is saying woot woot

home again

My parents ended up staying with us for two nights and then the third day they got antsy and decided to risk driving back out to get more stuff. Large sections of the road have been burned - 10 - 20 km at least. The fire seemed to make a snake like path through the Nazko valley. They meet up with the forest crews at the school and were told that houses near the river should be ok because the crews had sprinkler systems that would sit on homes in the event that the fire got close enough. The fire has come within 30 miles of my parents house, which might sound far away but if the fire were to pick up speed it could hit them in a very short period of time.

There are a few fires near each other and the concern is that they will merge. So the valley is still on 2 hour notice but my parents have decided to stay out there. They got 2 hours of rain yesterday and I guess that that and the sprinkler system made them believe that it was ok to stay. So we will play it by ear from here on in. There isn't ash falling out there anymore (they had more than a day of ash falling just a few days ago) so I think until that happens again they will stay.

Michael had his 6 month check up - he is now 18 1/2 lbs and 27 inches tall. My doctors office has made the big leap to technology so each office is now equipped with a laptop and he just sits there and punches everything in. So I ask something and he goes... click click click - that means this... he punched in all Michael's stats and it showed the growth chart changing... he is in the 50 percentile for weight and 75 percent for height. Kyle was easily at the 100 percentile for weight and about the same for height. Other than the growth stuff he is ahead of schedule on the doing stuff list (those without children.. the doctor has a list of 20ish things your baby should be doing for 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months - they read off the thing, you say yes or no.. say no a lot they give you help... say yes a lot.. you wonder why you come in). He really has the hang of backwards crawling. He can get all over the place now. It won't be long before he has forward. Food stuff - well he appears to be allergic to wheat and potato - so I'm holding off on introducing them again for a while. My mom has suggested we see a naturopath - any thoughts from the blogger gallery on this?

I'm bagged - I've been up since 5. Have a great weekend. And as my grandma says, be good and if you can't be good, be safe.

more photos and fire

As I'm typing my little computer (finally fixed - only took two months) is loading up my digital photos from Jon's wedding and with any luck I will post some here in the next few minutes.

So my parents were evacuated from Nazko (1 1/2 hours west of Quesnel). I'm not sure of all the details but the fire that is approaching is 80 km wide and is moving pretty fast. They've closed off the main access hwy to the valley and everyone is on a secondary crap road to get out. They are worried that the secondary road will also have flames on it so they are asking everyone to pack up.

My parents actually haven't arrived at the house yet tonight - they were packing valuables at 9:30. So this has prompted me to think about this - what do you pack? You've got one hour, or less - what do you take with you? Why are we such a possessive culture when a mere fire could cause us to lose everything and have to start over? So please share what you would grab as you left your home, maybe for the last time.

I know that I would take my computer and photo disks. I would also take my photo albums and scrapbooks. After that I think it would be hit and miss for stuff. I guess you can replace most things with insurance. As I sit here though there is rafts of stuff that I would be pretty sad to lose. So everyone tonight let's all send some good thoughts (pray if you're into that) to everyone in the province and the west that is having to run from fire tonight.

pics...

Me and Andy

Brendan trying to play with a squirrel

Veitch performing acts against physics

Jon and Sheryl getting ready to cut the cake