A MacNaughton Christmas

We headed to my parents halfway through the week and were able to visit with wonderful friends in Okotoks, Danika and I saw tangled with grandma, linsey and Ella (which i LOVED) and got all our presents wrapped and under the tree. Christmas Eve morning we woke up early, Adam, Lins and Ella came out for a big, delicious brunch and then we opened presents... so many of them! After presents we got ready for the Christmas eve service at 3 (it was lovely) then headed to my Aunt Debbies and Uncle Larry's for Turkey dinner and a book exchange. I love going to my auntie Debbie's as her home is always so beautifully decorated and festive.. she went all out. We ate a wonderful meal, I got a couple new books to read, the girls got more presents and we rocked out hard to guitar hero. Danika got Belles princess dress off "Beauty and the Beast" and she wore it all night with her new high heels. It was quite cute! We had a wonderful evening and it was so good to see our extended family.
Christmas morning was our 4Th Christmas! And there were even more presents under the Christmas tree from Santa. We are seriously considering buying another vehicle to bring home all our gifts! We have been so blessed this trip, being able to spend time with family and friends, receive and give beautiful gifts.. and in abundance! And now as we spend time with our family and relax, we need to remember what Christmas is all about. It is soo easy to get distracted by all the 'stuff' around us, the presents, the food, the decorations, but what is the hardest to do is remember what it is all about. I even caught myself feeling disappointed because I didn't get something I asked for... and then I looked around me at the PILES of presents and thought how utterly fortunate we are and how very easy it is so get caught up in it all. When what really matters is spending time together as a family and thanking God for all that we have and for sending HIS Son to earth as a man so that we could be saved from ourselves! What an amazing Gift.. and the one gift I want to remember and be thankful for this Christmas!!

A Fitzpatrick Christmas

Since we have been home from Mexico it has been quite busy. There has been lots of visiting, resting and playing! My mother in law and I went Christmas shopping with DAnika and I got all my shopping done, Steve went quadding with his dad for a day, we took the girls tobogganing, visited sister and great-grandma. This weekend however was our family Christmas and the whole clan was together. We had a wonderful time. Saturday was our Christmas eve and we got up and went to Heritage Park for the day. It was only -20!!! Haha, we were frozen but had a wonderful day. We ate delicious cinnamon buns, drank hot chocolate, went to the candy store and saw Santa. They also had a building in which you give your kid (Danika) money and they can shop for mom and dad. It was pretty fun and I got 2 beautiful necklaces out of it. My favorite is a pink horse on a gold chain, Danika was soo proud of it, and I cherish it because it epitomizes Danika!
Our Christmas Eve we had the traditional Fitzpatrick Clam chowder, then ate and played games. We woke up early Sunday morning and followed tradition of opening our stockings, eating breakfast casserole and cinnamon buns, then ripped into the rest. The amount of presents under the Christmas tree was unreal!!! WE had a wonderful morning and the children got so spoiled, as did the adults! We then got ready for our big turkey dinner, went and picked up my grandma M. to celebrate with us as she is going to be gone for Christmas day. We had lovely visits in the afternoon, I always cherish being able to spend time with my grandma, she is so full of wisdom and love. We ate to overflowing then settled down for the evening to relax (after steve and I dropped grandma off.)
Monday Amy and I were meant to go quadding with my father in law, but it was too cold so we said we would go the next day, only to have Amy wake up with the flu. This past week, Steve and I were both wrecked by the 24 hour bug... not fun. And it seems to be catching up with everyone else! When it was time to leave the Fitzpatrick household we had one little girl who cried her heart out. We sure had a wonderful time catching up and making memories!!

MEXICO

Thursday was the long awaited, much anticipated day and as usual I didn't sleep the night before, I was much too excited, and kind of nervous. A friend (Sharon!) was wrong I didn't miss the girls after 2 days of being away, try 2 hours of sitting at the airport, where everything we saw we said Danika would love.
Leaving on a west jet plane we were delighted to look out the window and see west jet people holding up signs saying "HAVE FUN IN THE SUN!" However the 6 hour flight did not have any TV and so we were entertained the whole time by 2 little kids in front of us who talked pretty much the whole way, all the time we were wondering if we should have brought our own 2!
Here's a run down of our arrival in Mexico. Landed, pitch black. Last baggage to come through on the carousel, went through customs, serenaded by Mexicans, had our luggage whipped away without the chance to say no with an eager hand waiting to accept money and not leaving until I dug around for 5 minutes trying to find some. Overwhelmed. Taken to our shuttle area. EVERYONE else left on shuttles, we were the last ones. A brand new, lowered excursions, with tinted windows, sweet rims pulls up. Adrian picks us up, makes us laugh the whole time. Army men EVERYWHERE on the sides of the road with huge shields and machine guns. As the 2010 United Nations Climate change Conference was being held in Cancun.
Pulled up to El Dorado Royale, ummm... PARADISE!!!
It was breathtaking. Taken to our first room, oceanfront, double jacuzzi suite. Got ready, went to dinner. Everyone was asking if it was our honeymoon. Went back to room. Jacuzzi, champagne and room service.. need I say more!! Tried to sleep in our king size bed, Steve snored peacefully, I was still too nervous/excited. Woke up at 6 am to birds singing, beautiful sunrise over the ocean. Got up and went for a delicious breakfast at the poolside. Walked around resort, took pics and absolutely in awe!
Went to main lobby to get a map of the huge resort. Steve told "Howard" our favorite Mexican in a very nice way, "we don't want to come off as snobs, because we aren't, but when I booked the hotel the lady said it was all brand new, totally renovated rooms and we've been saving and waiting for this since we've been married..."
"No problem Mr.Fitzpatrick, let me see what I can do."
Told us everything was booked that evening but the next night he would upgrade us.
Saw a giant iguana on the way back to the room. Got in swimsuits and headed to beach. The ocean was breathtakingly turquoise. Served cervezas and peach/mango daiquiris all day!
Went snorkeling, soo cool, saw so many fish. Steve saw a barracuda. Went for lunch. Pizza and nachos. More suntanning. Back to room to get ready for our 4 pm meeting to book our week of fun. Went to martini bar in lobby had a chocolate martini.. delicious!
La Fondue restaurant for dinner and had an amazing fondue 4 course dinner. Then went to the entertainment area to hear the Michael Jackson live show. I LOVED it, they went all out with back up dancers, costume changes and the dances were replicas!! Good night!!!
Saturday Woke up at 6am went to La Isla for breakfast at the main pool. Then went and set up at the beach. We played some beach volleyball, drank delicious drinks, read and did some more snorkeling. Walked through the casitas, saw the spa there with the hydrotherapy. Ate lunch at the health bar with made delicious smoothies and milkshakes.
Had our massages at 4pm, got in early to use the sauna and steam room. Put on our robes and slippers and led to the massage deck on the beach, overlooking the ocean. Laid in bliss for 50 minutes together dozing in and out of consciousness as we listened to the lapping of the ocean. Then it ended with a 20 minutes facial to "prep our skin for the sun." We ate dinner at the D'Italia restaurant, another gorgeous building and 4 course meal. New room, way better ocean view. Went to watch the Jamaican show, but was falling asleep so went back to do just that. I slept and Steve ordered room service.

Sunday Ordered room service for breakfast, a little bit too much food!! Went on a tour of the properties and saw what the casitas are like inside (own swimming pools, butlers, golf carts) and how to become an "exotic" member, which sounded too good to be true (so it probably was!)
We saw an alligator and told how before the hurricane happened 5 years ago their were spider monkeys, parrots, iguanas. everywhere, but that it wiped them all out and now there are just 2 alligators left and a few iguanas. And how the beach used to be 3 times as big, hence the huge sandbags they put out to recreate the corral that was wrecked. Anyways we did the tour to get a free candlelight dinner on the ocean, and kind of regretted it as we wasted so much of our morning. Went to get ready and headed straight to the beach. Laid in the sun, I read and Steve snorkeled. Went for lunch and had the best burger of my life! Went back to the beach and it got a little chilly so we slowly walked back to our room and explored the beach and found some awesome seashells. Went back and got ready and went to Kampai, our favorite restaurant of them all. Seriously every bite was savored. Hung out at the bar before the night show and tried a new licorice shot (sambucca) so yummy! The entertainment was the Caribbean show, so good. Our favorite was the changing colors of the outfits as they danced on stage. It felt like we were front row seated (on an extremely comfortable couch!) at a Las Vegas show. Danced for a bit and then sat under a cabana on the couches at the beach.

Monday Woke up for sunrise, can't even explain the beauty of it. Just finished saying how I wished I could see dolphins, turned around and watched dolphins make their way across the sunrise reflection.
Had room service again as we got ready for a day trip to Xel-Ha (shell-ha) picked up at 8am. Took a long drive, loco Mexican driving!!
Got there and went down the lazy river snorkeling and froze. Was not too impressed. Got out and warmed up. Ate, sun tanned, took pics. Warmed up and snorkeled the Mayan cave. Saw soo many colorful fish and sting rays. Stayed in for a long time and this time enjoyed every minute! Got out, warmed up and walked over the floating bridge to the cenotes. Walked around the whole place, rode bikes, saw toucans, parrots, iguanas and the dolphins. Tried to eat at the restaurants there as it was all inclusive as well, but felt like a snob after eating at our 5 star resort all week and basically stuck to the drinks! Stayed until 6 pm. What a GREAT day!
Didn't get back to the room until 7 pm. Ordered room service for dinner and watched a movie. Today at Xel-Ha we saw 2 little girls, the older sister holding the little one down and almost broke down... I miss my babies so much! Hasn't been bad at the resort because there aren't any little kids.
Tuesday Woke up at 5:40am, got our housecoats and slippers on and cuddled on the deck on our hammock with a blanket to watch the sunrise. WE got ready and went to claim our poolside seats... our first time at the pool! Then went for breakfast. Went to pool and finally finished my book (I brought 10 and only read 1!!) Swam up to the swim up bar.. the pool was cold! Went for lunch, back to pool and played a game. Our neighbors won and got us all champagne to celebrate. They were from England, so funny and reminded us of camp. Met a deaf man Bill. He had been there 24 days already, very kind man and could have a conversation so easily as he had been deaf since he was 12 and could read lips. His talking was also amazing and we could easily understand him. He was very wealthy and had come up with the saying for the pop coca cola (as our neighbors understood. Very interesting man and asked Steve all about his accident.
Took out bikes in the afternoon to the far end of the resort, dropped bikes to walk along empty beach, there wasn't anything on either side of our resort, so it was very private. We saw camels and got out picture taken. Rode back and walked along the beach in front of our room to collect some more seashells. Reminded once again to just stop and slow down and see the beauty all around. You stop on the beach and look down and find the most beautiful, intricate seashells. Snorkeling your disappointed as you swim along quickly, but then you stop and just float there and you see literally hundreds of the most colorful fish hiding in the rocks.
Went back to room and called Danika. It was so weird talking to her on the phone. I never really have because this is the longest we have been apart. She was so cute and such a girl! She kept pausing and saying so... I'm going to get you present. (hint hint mom!)
Once ready we started walking to our favorite restaurant Kampai, got literally driven by the shuttle cart all over the resort, arrived to a 35 minute wait, then went on another adventure on a shuttle to the Cocatal restaurant. Another Excellente meal!
After our 4 course meal we walked to the entertainment to watch the "Ideal Couple," it was hilarious! Steve and I learned to salsa (sort of!) Night! Only one more full day!

Wednesday Our first day of sleeping in. Woke up at 8 went for another delicious breakfast. Then went back to the beach to set up. We liked the pools, but the ocean was too gorgeous to not sit at, and the sound is so peaceful. Went for another snorkel and this time went outside the sandbags because it was so calm. We were amazed! It was over corral, and was so colorful and saw the most amazing fish. On was larger than a basketball and as thin as a book with huge eyes. We saw fish every color of the rainbow and were absolutely blown away by the beauty of God's creation. That was the best snorkeling of our trip and it was at our own beach. We took the rest of the day to sun tan and then walked along the beach to our room to get ready for our last night and candlelight dinner. When the lady at the front asked us what we were celebrating that evening I quickly replied, "Our love" which was pretty funny but then said our last night.
They set us up under our own cabana on the beach which was wrapped in silk. Served a delicious 5 course meal as we were serenaded by a saxophone. It was the perfect ending to the perfect week. After dinner we went and watched the last show and were not disappointed. It was mindblowing! There were contorcionists, jugglers, and break dancers. And our jaws were literally dropped the entire time! We stayed out late and I made a fool of myself in the front dancing with the regulars, who all seemed to know a certain dance, but I! But I laughed my way through it and by the time I finally caught on, it was over! What a great night!!

Thursday Woke up early and packed our bags, even though we didn't have to be out until noon, we decided to get packed up and put our bags in the lobby holding area so we could enjoy our last day in the sun. Had our last amazing breakfast, then headed to the beach. We walked around the ocean and checked out the fish again, had a light lunch at the health bar. Then went up to the lobby to change and get ready to leave. We were picked up 4 hours before our flight left due to the UN conference and made it there in 15 minutes, so had a long wait in the airport. Once we got through we did a little bit of shopping as we didn't do any but at the resort. Maybe next time we would venture to the Market in town, but we felt that 7 days was too short and we wanted to spend as much time at our resort as possible.
The flight home was long, brutal and extremely uncomfortable and we didn't land until 1 am. And didn't get to Cochrane until 3 am.
We had an amazing, unforgettable time and made the sweetest memories. We are so happy we did the trip just the 2 of us and would love to do this yearly if not every 2 years. It was so good to just be with my husband, no stress, to laugh and have fun and to fall in love all over again. Mexico was everything we thought it would and more!!! Adios!

And so it continues...

The weekend was a blast! We drove another 4 hours to get up to Edmonton, driving a total of 20 hours over 3 days. Lets just say we were all tired and done with driving, at least for the weekend! We spent 3 nights in Edmonton and had a wonderful time catching up with Chris, Amy and Emilie. It was the first time I had been able to see their home, it is beautiful!
Danika and Emilie pretty much disappeared the entire time we were there and had such a great time together. Meeko and their dog Sampson (a giant, muscly boxer) played the entire time as well.. it was insane, they both had endless amounts of energy and played hard pretty much the entire time! Steve was able to take Meeko to the dog park for his first time and he got beat up pretty bad, but survived! And I went to watch Emilie at her soccer practice.. too cute! We went swimming and tobogganing, watched movies and played games, and ate delicious meals. It was wonderful, and we always have such a great time with them!
We then drove back to Cochrane on Sunday and had a yummy dinner, then retired to the couch with tea and cookies in our hands for a lovely visit with the in-laws. We hung out most of Monday at the Fitzpatrick's and Danika and I had a great time discovering all of daddy's old childhood toys. In the afternoon we left for Okotoks to see my parents for the first time, it was weird being back home.. even though I haven't been here for almost a year, it felt like I hadn't left! My parents have worked the last couple of days, so we've had some nice family time and were able to go in and see my sister, bro-in-law and niece and their BEAUTIFUL new home. Seriously my sister should be an interior designer, their home is so lovely! She made us a delicious supper and we had a nice time catching up.
We are now organizing for our trip to Mexico and picking up the last minute items! We are sooo excited, except last night I was starting to get a little nervous and sad, because I will miss my baby girls sooo much!!! But I know they are in good hands and the girls and grandparents will have some good catching up time! So goodbye for now and Hello Mexico!!!

Vacation Begins!

So we left Tuesday morning for Alberta, we got up at 4:00 am to catch the 6:30 am ferry... my goodness is that boat ever a pain!! But we got there in time with our McDonald's breakfast and free coffees and had the play area to our self for half of the trip. Adessa was a little nut, she was going up and down the slide by herself and walking like she was on the moon and laughing so hard! Steve and I were laughing so hard as well! We got to the other side and drove hard until Merrit. The Cocahalla wasn't too bad and we made pretty good time. We stopped at the play place at the DQ and orange Julius. Such a fun one for the girls, we played for an hour. We then got to the Carruthers home at around 2:30pm. They just moved to their beautiful new home on Saturday. It is on a golf course, with its own little suite attached to it! It was better than staying in a hotel, by far! We had such a wonderful visit with them and Danika and Jolie had a great time playing. We spent one night there and then left around noon to head to Cochrane for another night. The roads were pretty awful between golden and Cochrane and going through the national park we were going the speed limit until we decided to pass a semi who was blowing snow at us, as soon as we did we saw the dreaded police colors flashing their lights at us and we got caught going 120 in a 90 zone... which as soon as the police left us and we drove about 5 minutes it went back up to 110!!! We were sooo choked... Adessa had been screaming and we were just done with driving. So when we finally pulled into the Fitzpatrick's home we were relieved! We all had an awesome nights rest, and now we are packing up once again to drive another 3 hours to Edmonton to spend the weekend with Steve's sister! Hopefully a movie or 2 will occupy them for this trip!!

SNOW DAY!!!

Last night we lost power in the middle of watching a movie, and it came back on sometime in the middle of the night, and then when we awoke, the power was once again back off. We looked out our window to a winter wonderland, and everyone was so excited! So we turned on our gas fireplace (so thankful for that!) and each got dressed in our winter gear feeling like we were back in Calgary! Since we have moved here there has not been a snow fall that has lasted, and I think last year there was only 1 day of snow. So out we went, all excited to go play in the snow... Meeko being the most excited of us all! Adessa did NOT like the snow, we bundled her up and set her down and she instantly faced planted in the snow and didn't move, steve and I were laughing so hard because it was as if she forgot she had hands! Poor little girl, we hope she likes it better out next time!

My beautiful, pink little girlies... the loves of my life! : )

My girl with her crazy faces, sitting on top of the worlds biggest snowball that her and her daddy made... being the first ones in the school field of the day!

Daddy and his little girl who would not sit in the snow! SNOW ANGELS!!! We made many of them! Steve took Adessa inside because she was not impressed with the snow and Danika and I stayed outside to make snowmen... the smile says it all!

Danika's 'beautiful girl snowman'

Steve

Steve spent 2 hours shoveling our driveway and then much to Danikas delight turned the huge pile of snow into an awesome snow fort! And the neighbor kids came over to enjoy it as well!

And then to end our great day we had our wonderful babysitter come over (who baked all day)with a bunny cake and cookies, to have a tea party (dresses and all!) with our little girl. She spoiled Danika and Steve and I were able to go out on a double date with some great friends! It was so wonderful to eat and have full conversations without interruptions. We had lots of laughs and have now said goodbye until we get home from our december adventure!

Chris and Sharon

Fun Days!

My new hair-do

Going shopping for the day with my little monkey! The last 2 days have been fun and different! Yesterday I went to a new hair dresser, got my usual 3 inches trimmed off and told her to 'go crazy' with the colors. Steve kindly reminded me when I got home, and wasn't overly happy with how bright the colors turned out, that maybe I shouldn't have said what I did to a lady who had a rainbow of colors in her hair!!! Even though I did something different.. it is starting to grow on me!

Remember how this weekend I had a friend help me purge my closet? Well yesterday I had the awesome opportunity to go shopping! Caroline and I have super awesome hubbies who took the 2 babies (who are a week apart) for the day while we took our 2 four year old daughters (1 month apart) to Nanaimo for the day. The girls were so excited to have 'no babies, just mommies!' for the whole day! And we had lots of fun and laughs together. I discovered that the mall tires Caroline out as much as it does me, as there are so many choices and the guilt of spending too much money and the stress (however less without the babies!) of finding our wandering ponies (little girls) throughout the day! We did however have a successful day and had some good finds in the mall.. and I think we should do this more often!!!

Today we woke up and as a family drove out to camp imadene. As we were leaving Crofton and driving towards Lake Cowichan (more central island) it started snowing, and pretty much snowed all day! Its crazy the weather change from our house to there, we apparently didn't even have snow in Crofton today! But it was fun to enjoy a snowed in day with the Burdges and we were able to go out for a walk, drink chai lattes, cozy blankets next to the fireplace, books, play dough and puzzles! It was a good day... even better that Adessa had *2* naps!! Which is a big deal right now as she seems to think she can get away with 1 half hour one! This stage is so hard as she is transitioning from being my baby to a big girl!

Now we just need to focus on getting ourselves organized for our big trip to Calgary which is coming up soooo soon!!!! : )

Best Babysitter

Tonight was our third puppy training class and Steve and I have been able to go together for it as we have had a babysitter for the girls. SHE.IS.THE.BEST.

Danika looks forward to having her over and she plays whatever Danika wants to. Last week she brought over some paint and seashells and they painted some beautiful shells. This week Adessa was totally off and apparently cried for most the night, she sat at the door with her blankie in her hands. I felt horrible! The last 2 days she has cried a lot and I think she is more frustrated than anything because physically she is fine. We can't wait until she can talk!

After puppy training class Steve and I went out for coffee and dessert and shared a delicious piece of cheesecake.. so nice to go out, just the two of us!

On the drive home, the wind was blowing like crazy with tree branches everywhere on the road! We walked in the door and Danika and Meagan (her babysitter) were curled up on the couch under a blanket with candles lit and reading stories by a flashlight. It was so sweet! The power had blinked out a couple of times and they were prepared. Danika was scared of the wind, but Meagan told her that God just had a really bad cold and every time there was a burst of wind He had a big sneeze!! Danika then went with Steve to drop her off to go meet her pet rabbit and came home with 2 new webkinz's!! Such a blessing to find such a great babysitter, and I hope next time Adessa can join in the fun too!

A Pancake Dinner Kind of Night!

Today was busy, I woke up early and went to church to set up the Sunday school class and teach the elementary kids at church. It was really fun and the kids really listened to what I had to say about Jesus feeding 5 thousand people from 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread! I love telling kids stories from the bible, because they are in such awe of what Jesus can do and it makes me stop and remember how amazing God is and the miracles he does!!

After church we had friends over for a crock pot meal and a nice visit as the kids ran wild around us! Steve and Chris headed off for an adventure with Meeko, and Sharon stayed back with me and helped me purge through my closet! It is so nice to have my closet cleaned out.. now I can buy some new clothes!! ; ) hehe

After they left we didn't do much of anything the rest of our Sunday, and we were all exhausted, so I asked Danika what she felt like eating and she quickly yelled, "PANCAKES!" So Danika and I whipped up some pancakes, unthawed some blueberries we froze from summer and topped them with a bit of whipped cream! Danika was right.. they were delicious and just what we needed!!

Best Friends

A regular occurrence in the Fitzpatrick household lately are play dates with the Nagtegaals. It is so fun because there is a play date for everyone including Meeko. Danika and Lize are 1 month apart and Adessa and Kailey are 1 week apart. And then it helps that Steve and I get along so well with Mark and Caroline! And Meeko has their 5 year old dog Wilson! So when we get together it is fun for everyone, and Steve is trying his hand at milking cows and quite enjoys it!
Danika has found herself an absolute best friend in Lize and cannot go 24 hours without asking for another play date with her. They are so sweet together and disappear whenever we get together and go play horses, or sleepover or vet. Lize is totally into horses and farm animals and Danika is a princess. It is neat to see them start to share interests and Danika has been asking for a horse lately.
It is also so fun to watch Kailey and Adessa together. They often hug each other, which then ends up in one hurting the other, and every time Adessa gets too close to Kailey she gets a hit in the head, and it doesn't even seem to phase her!
Today we headed out to the farm to help each other pass the afternoon and had a wonderful stroll around their property line, they live on a beautiful farm with a beautiful view!

Adessa

My sweet, crazy, full of life little girl. Completely 100% opposite to my other darling girl, even down to the blonde, blue-eyed fair complexion! This little girlie keeps anyone with her on their toes! This morning as I was hearing the common sound of Adessa's frustrated grunts, I ran into the bathroom to see one leg of Adessa's in the toilet, and she was mad she couldn't get the rest of her body in it! This is a daily occurrence with this little monkey, always finding something to get into!
One of my favorite things right now is watching Adessa with her puppy Meeko. The poor pup has no choice but to be good! She goes in with him and lays right on top of him, snuggling her face right in, putting his toys in her mouth and hanging out in his crate! They are quite the duo and I think they will grow up to be best friends!
However despite all of her little 1 year old mischievousness, she sure has a way of making everyone laugh and smile and she is loved so very much!

Rain Walk

Yesterday we woke up and slowly got ready and then met our friends the Burdges at Skutz Falls, halfway to Lake Cowichan. It was raining pretty good, but we were ready for it, in rain coats and boots for a lovely hike. Adessa was tucked nicely into her stroller and Meeko was loving being off leash and exploring the beautiful forest. The walk was nice and refreshing and our visits nice, as always. We then went back to their home to wrap up in blankets, drink chai lattes and visit by the fire place... while my baby slept and the kids were playing in the play room. It was the perfect way to spend a rainy day!

Wonderful Friends

So this week we got our flooring installed (we ordered the flooring way before summer, but haven't had a chance to install it.. until now!) and it ended up taking 4 days, instead of the proposed 1 day! It was quite the busy week, we were pretty much living out of our van and our friends homes. Tuesday I drove out to camp imadene to spend the day with a friend while Steve stayed home and tried to help out with what he could as much as he was able. We were welcomed by the smell of fresh cinnamon bread and enjoyed a slow paced day, with a long walk and nice visits. I then came home to go to girls club with Danika here in Crofton. Wednesday we woke up and Danika and I went on a "Honeymoon" with our good friends, the Nagtegaal girls. We have been planning a trip to "Coffee on the moon" for quite some time and Danika has been bugging me non-stop to go on a honeymoon with Lize. It was quite cute, not sure where she got that from, but that's what I love about her! : )
We did some shopping, got our coffees and headed out to a park where I was in a tank top due to the beautiful day it turned out to be! I then packed the girls up and we headed back out to Imadene where the girls and I had the house to ourselves, until the Burdges got home and Steve drove out for a lovely dinner together of "clean eating" food. I love the way Sharon shared our dessert story so here it is...
Dessert was a 'clean' chocolate mousse (dark chocolate and lite silken tofu), nicole and i were stoked to see if we could fool the boys into eating TOFU!! It was also one of steves's favorite desserts.
So, picture it:
We all sit down in the living room with our beautiful dessert
(sorry, no pic-but chocolate mousse with lovely fresh raspberries on top in a martini glass)
We are all about to dig in.
The goal was to let the boys finish before telling them
Nicole couldn't wait...
She looks like the cat who ate the canary as she giddily gushes;
"OK!! you HAVE to guess what the ingredients are!!!"
Chris looks up, totally unimpressed at me and says
'Tofu'
'How did you KNOW?' she asks, all bummed.
'umm...i was sort of joking...really? its tofu?'
sigh...as chris slowly puts his glass down and steve feeds much of it to little Adessa
not to worry, we WILL get them next time..mwah haha...
when they least expect it!
The next day we decided to take the girls swimming in the morning and then go out to a new provincial park to explore. The swimming went fine, we found out Adessa is truly fearless as numerously she went under only to come up spouting water and laughing, wanting to do it again! However the trip to Bamberton, did not go so well! We thankfully had picked up some lunch and were right before the malahat (scary hwy on vancouver island) when our van made a weird noise, steve quickly pulled over to declare a belt had fallen off! We just laughed... this week was sort of crazy and this was the cherry on top! Our van was fully lived in, complete with a giant dog cage in the middle! We called BCAA and were able to get a tow truck surprisingly quickly (not like Calgary's AMA!) and through numerous phone calls (due to our phone cutting in and out EVERY TIME a vehicle drove by!!) our friends rescued us! As the tow truck could only take 2 passengers, not so helpful when you have 2 adults, 2 children and a pup!
Our friends rescued us, even conveniently had a brother who worked at a mechanics shop not so far away from us! We then spent the day at their welcoming home waiting for our van to be finished!
Another day... Another adventure. We would have been lost without our dear friends, and we are so grateful for each and every one of them!!!

Busy Day

Today we woke up with a surprise! We didn't get home until late last night due to candy and trick-or-treating and so we were all sleeping in and cuddling in bed when we heard the door bell ring! Steve joked that maybe it was the flooring guys (who weren't supposed to come until tomorrow!) and sure enough, "surprise!" it was.

The girls and I quickly got ready and ran up to a friends up the street who graciously had us in her home for most the morning and fed us a delicious lunch. Then Steve came and picked us up after setting up the guys to install our new laminate flooring and we drove out to Goldstream provincial park to see the Annual Salmon run. We brought Meeko and took a nice walk in this beautiful park, we saw lots of fish fighting their way upstream and just enjoyed the fresh air.

We then had to run back home and pick up our babysitter as Steve was starting our first puppy training classes and I had to help a friend throw a baby shower! It was quite the day!

HALLOWEEN!

Today was fun! In the morning we dressed up both girlies in their beautiful princess costumes, and unfortunately I didn't get a picture of them! After church we had Danika's good friend Jolie come to our house and we got ready for a Halloween party out at our friends place at Camp Imadene. Danika got dressed up in her Pocahontas costume (I was lent a matching one!) and Adessa was a little moo cow again. When we got out to Camp Imadene the gym was all set up... it was amazing! There was a full carnival and the kids went wild, Danika was at the point of throwing a ball, or a dart just so she could grab a candy! I also found myself spending a lot of time "lost" in a maze of cardboard boxes. The younger girls were scared to go in by themselves so I went in with them and found myself crawling on all fours for what felt like forever! But it was sooo fun, there were slides inside and secret passageways, and I was having as much fun as the kids! I was talked into going on their swingas well, which is always scary when you have to pull the rope to let yourself go!

The Burdges were such GREAT hosts... there was a tractor/hayride around the camp, hot chocolate, a full pot luck meal and wonderful company! After eating we went around Mesachie lake for some trick-or-treating and finished up just as it was starting to drizzle! What a fun day!

Best Buddies

Morning Walks

Since getting our new pup I have started a new routine... one I am hoping lasts!
Every morning I wake up and take Meeko for a walk. It is good for both of us. Gives both of us excercise and me a chance to clear my mind and just have alone time before the day begins. This morning I decided to bring my camera and try and capture some of the beauty we live around and the view of our walk. I am not sure how long our adventure on the island will last, but we are so blessed to live in such a beautiful place and I don't want to take for granted living where we do!!