Adessa Turning a Page

Adessa is almost 22 months old and I can't believe how fast time flies. I mean I can't lie, some days it feels like the day never ends, but now looking back, it sure has flown!

I feel like Adessa has really turned a page these past couple of weeks, especially while grandma and grandpa were visiting. Maybe it was all the extra attention, but she was the happiest, easy- going girl ever! Every time anyone called her name she replied with a quick, "What?" and then whenever you asked her to do anything she would say, "Okay!" She didn't eat anything odd, and she did very well on our road trips. She also slept great in our vacation home.

Linsey, Ella and Max arrived on Tuesday (yay!) and once again she has been wonderful. Normally I would cringe at the thought of having to drive to Victoria airport with her, but she was so happy and actually napped in the car!

So far with Linsey and the kids we have gone to Jumping Jimineys in Nanaimo, (spent three hours there!) and took the girls to the Duncan circus which was in town yesterday. Adessa was a little angel at everything and played so well, and sat on my lap the whole time at the circus!

My little baby is growing up so quickly and I can't lie, I am looking forward to this next stage of her life!

Final Night

I really think mom and dad need to move here, it was sooo nice having them here for a week and we really miss being so far away from all of our family. I know everyone could argue that we just need to move back 'home.' But we really feel like this is our home and we absolutely love the island. So I think our mission needs to be to get all of our family out here... and then it would be just perfect.

Loving the island life...

We were laughing pretty hard and making jokes about the old sailors... you don't want to know!

Prettiest flower around...

A Few Checks off of my List!

My parents were SO helpful. Not only did they help out with my girls and the house, they helped complete a few check marks on my Honey-Do list. It is quite a long list... so I think Steve was very thankful as well! Not only did they do a bunch of the little chores, but my mom trimmed all my shrubs and plants, dug out weeds for hours and we dug out gravel at the front of the house and put in a little garden! Now I am not sure if it will take or not, but it sure is going to be a fun project for Danika and I to do together during Adessa's naps.
Steve had some extra lumber in the backyard, and I have been wanting an area for the girls to play, so my wonderful dad decided to make a sand box. It is perfect! And the girls love it! This all happened on Friday and we all came out with a burned back... it really felt like a summer day!

Garden area after we dug out the rocks

Danika watering our completed garden

My dad taking a break... doesn't the sand box look great?!

Post weed removal... the grass and weeds were a few feet up the other side of the fence, mom and I spent hours digging it all out, and had scratches all over our arms!

Adessa is one smart little girl, she put on her own gardening gloves and were taking the weeds mom picked and putting them in a pile!

Danika playing with the pool

For my birthday present, my mom took me to the Chemainus theater. We were both pretty exhausted after working outside all day, but we still decided to go and had a great time!

Ukee- Day 3

This morning we woke up, packed up and headed out. We stopped off at long beach again to play at the beach and watch the surfers. Steve and I were itching to surf, but we just didn't have enough time! Oh well.. maybe next time!

Driving home we stopped off at Cathedral Grove and the Coombs market place. Steve and Dad cruised most of the way home with the top down on the car, and they had lots of fun.... I also had a turn, and dad and I had a blast!

Where we ate our meals, it was so private and beautiful!

Linda... always breaking the rules!

Me and my cool dad at the beach

Love this photo

Extra love this photo!

My beautiful mommy

Grandma and her girls

Cruising with the top down

Picture in front of the big cedar

Steve planking... we saw a news show about it, apparently its a new fad! haha

Our stop at the market proved to be quite fun! Steve portraying Elvis....

Adessa with long brown hair

Grandma....

Adessa thoroughly enjoying her icecream cone, she went through 4 outfits this day!

Day 2- Part 2

After the whale watching tour we warmed up in the hot tub, put Adessa for a nap and sun tanned on the deck with our books for a couple of hours. It was so gorgeous out and such a nice break. Once Adessa woke up we headed out for a nice long walk around the tip of Ucluelet to the light house. It was a breathtaking hike. After we were done we stopped at 'Jiggers' for fish and chips. It was fresh fish, and was delicious!

The girls in a cool tree... Adessa doesn't look too happy!

Danika yelling at the top of her lungs for daddy and grandpa to hurry... they were exploring the rocky shores

Adessa was checking out the map

Trying out the tree stump chair

The Light House

Mom eating her fish and chips at jiggers... notice the nice statue in the middle of the park area!

Ukee- Day 2

We woke up this morning ready to go on our WHALE WATCHING TOUR! We were all pretty excited!
We got to Tofino a little bit late, got our big rain coats and headed down to the boat. This was the real deal experience. Little boat on the big wide ocean! We saw eagles, sea lions and ORCAS! It was so awesome. The weather was perfect. However my poor hubby was sick pretty much the whole time. The whole boat was constantly rocking away.

The pictures I posted are backwards... but you will get the idea, it was so hard to pick a few of the photos, we got some pretty amazing ones!

Once we got back to the cabin, we all jumped in the hot tub to warm up!

Our group after the tour, we were all pretty happy!

This girl is a RIOT! It was a pretty scary ride, but she didn't fuss at all, we were out there for over 3 hours and neither of my girls complained once or got sick.

The girls and I started out inside, in the front of the boat, but the waves felt like we were on a roller coaster... it was fun for the first hour, but then I think we were all feeling sick, so we moved to the back with grandma and grandpa, it was cold, but a little less bumpy.

Momma and Dadda out on the open ocean

We saw a pod of about 12 orcas, it was unreal, pictures don't do it justice

The baby orca was about a week or two old, how neat is that!? He was still orange!

I strapped Adessa to my back and went to the front of the boat, what an experience! However my poor hubby was in the back of the boat puking his guts out!

Beginning of the tour we stopped at the sea lions, there were hundreds of them!

Ready to go!

She had so much fun! She loved being out on the ocean, I was scared and she kept reassuring me What a doll!

We were so blessed by this amazing day. The weather was perfect and the girls did amazing. I was blown away by God's creation. The ocean has a mind of its own and the way it is constantly rolling is mind blowing. The scenery was stunning and the orcas were unreal, what a day!!!