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!