Animator vs Animation

Ken just sent me this from work. It had me laughing out loud, enjoy.

Party, whee!

So last night was the birthday gathering at Nana and Papa's. Since Nana needs to stay off her foot, we ordered Chinese food, yum. I made a german chocolate cake for dessert. Here is Daddy and Ariel posing with the cake (and all the leftover chinese containers in the background).

Mike was happy with the huge ass poker set we got him. This thing comes with its own wheels and handle because its so heavy. He finally realized why we wanted to give it to him early, rather than wait. Heheh. Poor Ken popped a blood vessel in his hand getting it out of the box. Ouch.

Last night also marked Ariel transitioning into the 6 month clothes. They are kinda baggy on her, which is kinda annoying but we went through this back when we jumped to the 3-6 clothes from 0-3 ones. Funny thing is that coat she is wearing from Grammy, its like a 3 month size but yet its still huge on her. Strange? I do find the clothes from the US to be bigger than the ones here in Canada. Frankly, it works out in my favour, so I can't complain.

So the vacation plans are coming together. Grammy (Ken's mom) wants us to go to Frankenmuth, which is dubbed Michigan's little Bavaria. We looked it up last night and its super cute and I am excited to go. Whee. A vacation within a vacation. After my comment from Natalie (lol, you are too funny!) I think I may have a house sitter, just need to confirm the dates. I will contact you soon girly.

Today is going to be low key. Maybe some more cleaning. We managed to go through the closet and dresser and have 2.5 garbage bags full. Yikes. So it looks as if we will be having our yard sale when we return from our trip, as Ken has a few weekends free before his classes start up again. The question is now, can we handle having all these bags through out the house till then? Hmm.

Blur

Thats today in a nutshell. I took it upon myself to get a lot of little things, and big things for that matter, done today. First off, I don't think I ever posted this picture. I took it a week or so ago. This is Ariel's deication dress I made her. When she wore it back in August, it was a little big because she lost some weight that first week. It fits her just right these days, so you can imagine that she was swimming in it before. I am kinda glad she wore it as a new babe though, now all she wanted to do was kick in it. Hard to get a good picture of the detail with flying legs.

Ok, so this morning I got the numerous piles of laundry sorted, as Ken was going to take care of it tonight. Yay. I packed up Ariel in her stroller and headed out on foot into the fog. Its really thick now, and is rather pretty. First stop was the bank to drop off the coins I rolled from our change bucket. $42 bucks! Wow. That sure adds up fast.

Then I went to visit our travel agent, and got some opinions for our trip to Michigan. I wanted to talk to Ken before making it final, so I had to wait till lunch to call him. (We never bug the teacher at work, hehe). In the meantime, got a little gift for Rita (we are celebrating Rita's, Ken's and Mike's birthdays tomorrow night). Ran into Mrs Champion, had a quick chat and updated her on Nana.

I don't think I mentioned her excitment this week, if you call it that. On the Thursday, while going down our stairs, she thought she was on the last one and stepped off, only to be a few off and had a nasty fall, which I had to witness. My heart sunk, and I feel so aweful. She didn't make a big deal about it, until at coffee on Friday, when Aunty Fran thought she should get it looked at. She went to the ER after visiting the doctor, who wanted her to get a blood test to check for infection. Turns out there was a bit, so she has gone for 3 rounds of drugs. They left that little tube in her arm, I hate that thing! She is doing better, but we are ordering Chinese tomorrow for dinner so she won't have to cook.

I went to visit Nana and Papa, and waited till I could call Ken. Ariel had a laugh attack while there. Its pretty funny to watch, of course while she is doing this Papa was going on about the neighbours that moved out down the street. Heheh. Thats papa for ya.

Talked to Ken, and headed back to the travel place. I am happy to say we got a great deal (for a change) on our tickets. We are flying out of Seattle on a non-stop flight to Detroit. Next will be booking the various hotel, car etc. Next step is to book our house sitter. I think we have someone in mind, have to keep getting new gals as they all seem to get married. Geeze! Heheh. I love knowing someone will be here taking care of things.

Came home and made the german chocolate birthday cake Ken wanted. Yum. Then I prepared my apple and raisin stuffing and got the chicken ready to pop in the oven when Ken was on the way home. I love that recipe, soooooooooo good on cold days. Ariel had a nap, also nice, and I got to do some stitching.

After dinner, got Ariel bathed and into bed. Ken and I went through our books and have a huge pile of ones that will go in the yard sale or to the second hand book store. Ken did 3 large loads of laundry, and emailed the family about our booked trip. Talk about a full day! I am ready for bed. Good night!

Happy Friday!

Tis friday, YAY! My daughter finally went down for a nap, Double YAY! She has been fighting it since lunch time, and usually goes down at 2ish, but decided that she was going to cry, then laugh when I looked in on her in the play yard. What a little turkey. Somehow this was a fun game to her. Finally I stuck her in her crib upstairs with the nap blanket (she only has bedtime sleep in her bunting sack). Within 2 minutes she was out. Good grief. I am going to enjoy my little computer time while I can.

Been kinda busy today, first Ariel and I went to breakfast with dad/grandpa, then followed with coffee party at Aunty Fran's. So basically I did a lot of eating this morning. Whee. I did get a really nice long walk, and finally managed to find Cinnamon hearts for my dish on the table. For all the valentines junk they have out, they were lacking the cinni hearts for the past few weeks. Either way, I have them now, yum.

Its cute outfits like this, that make it hard to wait for summer. Can't wait to take her to the water park. Whee.

Found out it looks as if the big open house weekend for our church's new wing is gonna happen when we are in Michigan. Argh. Kinda bummed out, but not much we can do about it. It was to happen next month, but with the nursery not finished, they want to wait. Poo. We are working on a media presentation for the open house, so I guess we won't see it when its played. Blah. I know we are going to have a great time on our trip, and Ariel is going to see so many family and friends, that it helps cover up my disappointment.

Making a pork roast for dinner with baked potato for my man. I rock.

I shall go now, my computer time may be up... I hear a little voice. Have a ninja day (and weekend for that matter)!

Back or Back?

That is the question... confused yet? Well, I am back, but with me comes an incredibly sore back. (Ah, is it making more sense now?) On Tuesday morning I awoke with the a terrible knot on one side of my back. I soon realized the real pain would be more so trying to function with Ariel. Ugh. She is a lot heavier these days, which I think is how I hurt myself to begin with when I took her out in the car seat on Monday. How much do those seats actually weigh? She is almost to the point when we will need to look into the convertible ones.

As of today, the back is slightly improving. It comes and go depending on what I try and do. The hardest thing of course is bending down to pick up the princess. I did find it hard to sit, thus no blogs. I did take pictures though, that I can still do. Heh. This top one is Ariel in the dress little Chloe from church gave her. It was hers when she was a baby, such a lovely thing to do. The young girls really do love gushing over her, and I look forward to these wonderful role models for Ariel to look up to one day.

Even though I was sore, I had it in mind to start making baby food to freeze for Ariel. In a few weeks she will be starting, and trust me to want to be prepared. I got a book on the subject, that slowly moves up month by month. Showing neat recipes, what is the best age for it and if its freezable. Yay. The book also deals with the best solutions when dealing with possible food allergies. What foods are best and which to avoid for awhile in hopes of sidetracking allergies. With the list between Ken and I, its hard not to be surprised she will follow suit, but any prevention if possible is always worth a shot.

So I made up carrot, butternut squash, apple, pear and apple with pear combo. I filled my ice cube trays, froze them, then transfer them to freezer bags. Its a good start, but I do want to do some more next week.

I have also continued the cleaning and junking of clutter. Did the coat closet last night, and cleared out numerous pairs of shoes that no longer fit (its true about pregnancy making your feet grow -weird). Also cut a few coats and purses I don't use. It looks so nice in there now. Still trying to debate on if we will have a yard sale, its a lot of work, and if Ken teaches on weekends, it won't happen for awhile. Do I want various bags of stuff hanging out here that long? Hmmm.

I emailed our travel agent today, as we are trying to also get our flights booked for Michigan. I am thinking that we will most likely try and fly out of Seattle, as its our best bet on getting a non stop flight. That also means if Ariel's passport is late (due to the insanity of the lines at the offices), we are crossing the boarder via car and do not require the said passport (until next year), only birth certificate for her. Makes me relax a bit more. I think its gonna get here in time, but there are so many delays, that it does make me anxious. I saw a lady on the tv last night getting one for her 3 month old. Its seem so silly for babies to have them, but rules are rules. I am sure Ariel won't try and smuggle stuff in her diaper. Sigh.

Speaking of the princess, she is finally sleeping so I may take a nap myself. Bye!

Tis monday again

It got pretty busy there for awhile, so I am happy to see things slowing down again. Lots to catch up on, here it goes.

On Saturday, I went and took Ariel to get her passport pictures done. I was a little concerned how they got them without me being in the picture. Turns out she sat on the stool, and I had my hand on her back. She did very well, mostly due to the fact she had just gotten up from a nap and was really out of it. Hehe. We will be going to Michigan in the Spring, so we have lots of time to get things taken in. Unlike the silly people that waited till the cut off for getting a passport to begin with. Sheesh. I see the lines on tv, and I plan to go once the big deadline passes, in hopes it won't be as bad. I am temped to send it via mail, but I hate sending birth certificates because knowing my luck they will get lost. Bah.

Later that evening, we stopped by Pastor Dave's to get the application signed on our way to the grocery store. I love food shopping at night, no one is there and I can badly dance to the cheesey 80's music while picking out cereal. Whee.

Sunday was church at the High School. Ariel wasn't too sure about the whole idea of being somewhere new. She is starting to act strange with people now too. Its hard not seeing her smile as much, but its an important development. When Ariel got hungry, I walked her down the hallway to the washroom to nurse her and got to show her mommy's grad picture. Hard to believe that was 10 years ago. Eep!

Afterwards, we had a quick lunch and drove to Burnaby. We were invited over to Ken's co workers place for a visit. I got to meet Calvin, his wife Syliva and 7 year old daughter Nikki. We had a wonderful time, such lovely people. They even had us stay for dinner, much to Nikki's begging that we, or more so Ariel, stay. She had fun playing with Ariel, and had her laughing harder than I have ever seen. I think we were all laughing at Nikki bounce around making faces at Ariel.

On the way home Ariel slept, which in turn made her regular bedtime seem unrealistic. We all stayed up till 11pm and she was still bouncing off the wall. Finally, we got in bed, and were watching Grease. Ariel joined us and soon was asleep in my arms. She slept well and got up only once. She didn't rise again from bed till 9am.

This morning was our scheduled trip to the doctor's for another weigh in session, due to last months sudden drop. Well we are happy to say she is on the turn around, and it up to a healthy 16 pounds. Her height and head circumferance are still top 90%. Appreantly, that head size is showing good signs of Ariel being a very intellegent girl the doctor says. I called Ken after to tell him that we are in for some trouble in the future. Hehe. Look she can spell her name already! Ok, maybe I helped a little.

A vision of things to come

Although, Ariel isn't talking yet, sometimes I still feel like this is happening.

Clutter

That was my new years resolution. I don't usually make them, but this year I decided I was old enough (aka more disciplined) to try and keep it. Of course I didn't mention it just in case I didn't hold up to it. Brew ha ha. Well, it has been slowly starting to happen. My goal was to remove the clutter my life, so the important things can truly be the focus, my faith and family. Before you think it was a huge moment, today was only the bathroom. Lol. Yes, I got rid of 3 bags of unused junk. Yay. So clean, and pretty. Plus I can find things under the sink now.

Ariel got to visit her pal Issac yesterday. Stella and I went out yesterday to have coffee and a whirl around a mall in Whiterock. Whee. We ended up stopping in to see Issac and his mommy, and they had fun playing with his toys. Ariel tried to grab his nose, hehe. What a flirt.

Today was more mellow. I quick stop at the store for diapers. I had to drive since we had a mini snowfall which was followed by rain, thus leaving slush. Yuck. Got home, and put up the valentine tree. Yes, I have a valentine tree, so what! Its cute. Actually, it really my easter tree, only in a different pot and has hearts instead of eggs. Either way its cute.

Ken is home tonight so I am gonna go and spend time with my family, byeeeeeeeeee.

New Tricks

Last night I was reading the message board I belong to for babies born in August, and there was a gal who was showing off these neat tricks she can do with her camera. Turns out we have the same camera, and I had no idea I could do these things! I couldn't find the manual so I downloaded it from the manufactures website and got to playing with the settings. Basically, the one that really interested me was that you could select a color and then when you take the picture, the camera will only show that color and the rest of the image is in b/w. So this one has red selected, and so the surrounding blanket is b/w.

These ones I selected blue and then aqua.









Then I found out how to take pictures with the cameras sepia and b/w feature. I have always just changed my images in photoshop, but it was cool to see I could just do that from the start. Nifty.












Ariel sure ended up being my test subject. Hehe. We did this while watching the Golden Globes, some very nice dresses this year. Ken got home at 930pm, so we were able to get the girly to bed and hang out for a bit. He still has a stuffed up nose. Ick. Hoping he gets better soon. Ariel jumps when he blows his nose. Haha.

When its too cold to go out...

...play with photos! We were having some fun seeing what would look cool. This was one of my favs, mostly since I love that hat and wanted to show it off. Hee.

Its dang cold again today. Yesterday was warmer, but I was told there is more snow coming. What the snot! I can't remember having this much of the white stuff before. Maybe back when I was a kid? Either way I don't like getting cabin fever, when it gets me stuck inside. Don't need to freeze Ariel, especially since we are finally on the mend. Yay.

Last night I made corn chowder for dinner and doubled it for the freezer. Actually I must have double doubled it (is that english?) because I ended up with 11 containers!!! Well, its good and I have lots now.

Ken is staying late twice this week for info sessions. He wasn't too excited about it since he is battling the same cold us girls had last week, and he has to go out in the cold. Makes it harder to recover. So lots of nice warm dinners and sleep. We succeeded in getting the last of the christmas stuff down and away. Whats the next holiday? Ken's Birthday? Hehe. Yes, then Valentines. Woot! Must get the little tree up. Yes I have decor for various holidays, makes it fun. Add Ariel to the mix, it should be very entertaining.

I was trying on some of the 6-9 month clothes on Ariel this morning, still big, but we are getting there. I think she is gonna be a baggy girl in somethings for awhile when we transition. Many of her 3-6 things are perfect fit, some are starting to show they aren't long enough. She isn't chubby but boy is she long. So to put the next size up will fit well in the length, but will look like she is one of those uber thin starlets in the eating department with the way they hang on her.

Tonight is the Golden Globes, a good lead up to the Oscars, and usually more fun to watch. Ariel's first award show. Lol. We will be checking out the fashion, thats really what its all about right?

Finally, Happy Birthday Aunty Kara! Thank you for the 5 month card! Ariel loves getting mail. Hee.

5 Months!

My little baby is 5 months today! Its funny to think she really isn't the little baby I brought home but pretty much a little darling almost twice her original birth weight. Everyday is an adventure, discovering the world again with her. This month brought on the first glimpse of future crawling (its gonna be sooner than later that's for sure). She is my little sweetheart, and although I get frustrated at times and overtired, that it takes only one of her smiles to make my heart melt and forget it all. Wow. The power of a child. Now if that only took the spit up stains out of my clothes.

Going on day 3...

... and still sick. Blah. We are making the best of it, just not getting much done. It does however always seem to be when my graphics work pops up the most is when I am sick. Maybe its some kind of radar. Strange. Anyhoo, any free moments I have when Ariel is sleeping or willing to co-operate, I get my work done. I have managed to stay on top of it so thats a plus. Huzzah!

My mornings have consisted mostly though of keeping up with the whole Rosie vs Trump on the View. Lol. I have to say this show is finally somewhat entertaining with it always in trouble about something. It use to be such a lemon, now I actually want to catch it so I don't miss the next big thing that will be the talk of the evening tabloid shows for weeks. I haven't been disappointed. Hahah. I know thats sad, especially when there is so much going on in the world at the moment, but Ariel and I are sick and frankly, thats all I care about at the moment.

Actually, she is still as happy as ever. This girl does sick very well, not at all like her dad. Heh. In fact, all she wanted today was to be in only her diaper. She was fussy until I took off her sleeper, no joke. I took it off to change her and she was smiling and giggling. I didn't have the heart until bedtime to redress her. Which I might add, I got huge tears when that happened. With the closet of clothes she has, this isn't a good thing. She is so funny sometimes. I made sure to document this as proof when she is older, oh so cool and wants some over priced jeans. Payback!

So I woke up to snow this morning, ack! I told it to stay away, but apparently it didn't listen. Its very pretty. Sigh. Its so hard to hate it when its pretty. However, it did take Ken forever to get home, and I can only imagine how tomorrow will be. The hale last night was cool though. Big ones too. They covered our deck, like those ice cream dots. Yum.

I really have nothing else to say because I haven't really done anything since getting sick. I have a huge list of things to do once I am not. Most involve cooking, so I can't until its safe. Don't want to freeze my germs for later. Chowder with a side of sniffles. As promised, a backlog of pictures, as I finally brought the camera upstairs. Enjoy!

Sad

I have seasonal depression disorder. SAD. No, actually I just was watching Degrassi, and man I am totally upset. It was weird, we knew who was gonna get killed tonight, there was alot of hype leading up to it, but boy I wasn't expecting it to be so powerful. Both Ken and I were somewhat quiet for the remainder of the show. Poor JT. I must say it was far more graphic then the whole Rick shooting Jimmy a few seasons back. I haven't checked Meeka's blog yet, but I bet she is commenting on this episode tonight too.

Other stuff, still sick, blah. Ariel has a sniffly nose and a bit of a cough. Poor thing. She has been happy as usual though, so its kinda funny to see her smile through it all. What a trooper! I will post pictures soon, but I keep leaving the camera downstairs and frankly, I don' t feel like running to get it at the moment since I need to go get Ariel into bed.

Will give you a good post soon, promise!

Head in a bucket

Thats how I feel at the moment. Just when I thought Ariel was getting a cold, I have one. Doh! When we got home last night my throat started aching and my nose was stuffy. Blah. Needless to say, I am uber clogged this morning and not functioning that well. I made the point of waking Ariel at 630 to feed her and put her back to sleep. Thus giving me more time this morning to rest without having to worry about her. She is fast to sleep, on her tummy! Yes, she now rolls to her tummy when she is sleeping. I turned her back a few times only to watch as she flipped quickly back to what she seems to prefer. Little stinker.

Dinner was really nice, Mike and Josee did a fantastic job. Its not easy cooking a big meal for 8 people. It was also great to see their place with the wonderful 'woman' touches. Hehe. Naw, it was really nicely decorated, and you should see how high off the ground their bed it. Jo demonstrated the running leap you take to get in. Lol.

Since I seem to be writing about the day backwards, I shall continue. Church was nice, first one of 2007 and I missed the sermon when Ariel decided she wanted something to eat. Oh well. It looked good from where I sat. We are going to be having church at the local high school for a few weeks as they paint, carpet and basically redo things. It will be odd to return to a totally different place, but exciting too. I remember the first day we had our service in that church, and in a few weeks, its going to feel like that again, only I'm older and have a totally different view on the whole process, unlike when I was a kid. Ariel is not going to remember this time, only through the pictures. Weird.

That would bring us to the end of my post, but it does continue as we had a rough sat night/ sun morning with Ariel. I do believe its the teething thing. She was waking up every few hours and she would HOWL! Poor thing. Last night when getting her ready for bed, she started that particular cry again and had her whole hand in her mouth. When I looked at her gums, they did seem swollen. I ended up giving her some pain med and that did the trick. She slept pretty much like she usually does. A few moans that I checked her on, but she was still sleeping soundly. It had to be something pretty bad to mess with her, since she is such a trooper.

Well, I am going to rest, rest and rest today. Here's hoping this doesn't last long.

And so goes another saturday...

Its amazing that the day is pretty much over. Well, over when you have a kid who goes to bed in an hour, and once that whole production is complete you are ready for bed yourself. We did get a lot accomplished, so thats a big plus. Maybe nothing super exciting, but getting the big chores done is big in my books.

The morning started early with a trip to pick up our car. Its now uber happy (with what it cost it better). I told Ariel to kiss that diamond 'binkie' and gold plated stroller goodbye, she wasn't happy as you can plainly see. A princess needs these things right? Hah.

Anyhoo, got the car, and took it to the aircare. Whee, wasn't that fun. Blah. I can't imagine working there all day. I didn't see them wearing masks, but you think they should in a place like that. So, we passed, yay. For those that aren't familiar with this, you basically take your car to get its exhaust tested. To drive here, you need to be only letting off so much nasty stuff from your car. If it fails, then you have to get it fixed... and who knows how much that is gonna cost ya.

After the test, and one wrong turn or two, we were at Costco for the big 'meat' shop. I must admit, with Ariel in the buggy, it helps from not going nuts. Hehe. So we got many huge packages of various meat, some pasta that was an amazing deal, one of those awesome boxes of cards that are all homemade looking (especially nice when cards are at least $5 each these days), Ken's birthday present (which he got now, and won't get nothing later - his choice!) and a few other grocery items. I found out later that Mike and Jo were there too, not like its easy to spot people in a place like that. I did see a $43,000 diamond ring, hint hint. Lol. You can only imagine how huge that sucker was for that price, dang!

We lucked out with short lineups, only to see in 10 minutes it become at least 8 deep in each lane, yikes. I went to nurse Ariel, well tried. Lets say maybe I wasn't looking in the right spot, but Costco was lacking a place to nurse in general. I found the change table, but not even a chair in the corner. I don't need some fancy setup, but I don't want to have to expose myself to the Costco public out in the food area. Its one thing for a child to yell, look mommy, a baby. Its another to hear, look mommy, BOOBIES! Some of you are totally comfortable about feeding in public, and I give you total praise, I however shy away from this. I did nurse in a few public settings, but Costco is a totally different. So I ended up using a washroom stall. Blah. I may write and ask that a chair be added to the washroom, I don't think thats asking too much. Then that child may then get the privilege of yelling about my breasts in a secure men free environment.

We grabbed some hot dogs for lunch and then headed home. I stopped by the insurance place to renew the car. I am proud to say my safe driving is now getting me a %40 discount, woot! Car has its new sticker and I am down one less chore.

We come home and Ken entertains Ariel while I take to cutting up the meat for freezing in bags. Its much cheaper in the long run, a big task, but cheaper. I like cheaper. Took about an hour to cut, bag and carry up to the freezer. The freezer is now super full and we shouldn't need to meat shop for a long time. Yay.

The afternoon was very uneventful. Mostly naps for Ken and Ariel, while I got some computer time. However, my free meal ticket tomorrow might be in jeopardy, as Mike called to say their elevators are not working at the moment. Poo. Why did they find a nice place on the 15th floor? To go up ourselves is one thing, but with Ariel in tow, thats another story. Sigh, so lets hope they are working tomorrow. I really wanted to see them and their place. Blah.

And so goes another saturday... enjoy the funny faces of Ariel. Goodnight!

Snakes on a baby!

Hehe. Its Ariel's version to one of big movies of 2006. I can't believe I had to write 'Snakes on a plane' in her baby book. Well, I didn't have to, but isn't that part of the fun when looking back years later. She will ask about the movie and in turn, I will tell her to talk to Uncle Mikey. Lol.

I haven't been on much this week, due to the fact it was hard to get to the computer. I had all the christmas storage boxes out and it was a disaster zone. I was a little overwhelmed trying to fit the new tree back into its box. Its not as easy when all the branches are attached to the pole, but after a good wrestling match the score is Jay- 1 Tree-0.

While Ariel napped today, I got the remainder of the boxes put away in our secret closet (we didn't find it until we were living here for a month). Its perfect of christmas storage and the odd birthday present.

So Ariel is showing signs of teething, and so begins the waiting game. Poor thing was so cranky yesterday and refused everything and everyone except to sit in my arms. So let the bets begin, when will the first tooth appear. There may be a prize in it for ya!

Other news, the car is at the car doctors (as I call it). Its been there a few days getting the remainder of the things that needed to be fixed. The final price isn't terrible, but after Christmas and the upcoming Michigan trip, its a bit of a pain. Oh well. Its only money right?

So BC Place is broken! Haha. No really, there is a huge hole in it. When I talked to Ken at lunch (he can see it from his work) he said it looks like it was photo shopped. On top of that, there is more snow downtown, good grief. As long as its not around here. I've had my fill of it.

Sunday we are going to the newlyweds (Mike and Jo) home for dinner. I am looking forward to a night off from cooking, whee. Tomorrow is Ken's last saturday off until his part time classes he teaches start up again. So I will have to make it extra fun.

A jolly holiday

So we got back around 7ish last night. Our ferry was late by 10 minutes or something. Not a big deal in my books, since we were home in time for Degrassi! Hehe. So here is the highlights from our brief getaway to Victoria!

We left the house at about 8am to drive to the ferry terminal. We had reservations since we didn't know how busy the ferry was going to be, since it was a holiday. Turns out for the 9am sailing, it wasn't busy at all. Frankly, the boat was pretty much empty. Guess everyone was still sleeping from a late night of partying. Ken showed Ariel the model of the boat we were going on, how exciting!

We had breakfast on the boat and then showed Ariel around. We took a picture in the same window I had one taken back when I was pregnant. (Its posted back in April 2005) Then Ariel tried the massage chair while studying her foot.










After we arrived on the island, we made our way to see Mike, Trudy and the boys (William, Theron and Lucas). They were visiting Mike's side of the family for christmas. It was neat to see how many cousins they had to play with, and apparently there is another one on the way. Mike's mom had even made stockings for everyone, trust me when I say the fireplace wall was COVERED! I wish I had gotten a picture of that, it was sure something to see. We had a lovely visit. The boys loved the sock monkeys, and we did try a group shot but... lets say its not easy to get so many kids organized and happy. Ariel got a pretty jewellery box with fairies on it from them, and little cross earrings to boot, something to look forward to when she gets her ears pierced one day. Ken got to try out Will's new Wii video game system, and got his butt kicked by the 5 year old. Haha!










I was so happy that Ariel got to meet her 'Aunty' and 'Uncle' finally, not to mention that I got to meet the 2 newest additions to their family that I have only seen pictures of. One of these days we will have to get to Edmonton to visit their homestead.

When all the kids were showing signs of needing naps, we packed up and headed to check into our hotel. Since we had brunch that morning, or what felt like brunch, we opted for an early dinner. Ken zipped to the white spot that was kitty corner to our hotel and got some take out burgers. Ariel was actually taking to the hotel very well. I set up her play yard for her bed and she played with her toys while we ate.

After dinner we called Kyle and he came by with coffee and coco. It was nice to catch up with him and his life in general. I had to tease that he is moving to Calgary and has now decided to sell his car and buy a truck. Talk about trying to fit in with the locals. Haha. So, if anyone is looking for a 2005 mazda in practically new condition, he is looking for a buyer close to March when he is moving.

Had a good sleep that night, Ariel got up only once which was good for being in a strange place. Unfortunately, it was yet again another day of rain. Blah. We went to breakfast at the place we had our first married breakfast over 5 years ago, and had the SAME waitress. Too cool! I had a benny with smoked salmon, oh it was fantastic!

We then headed out to visit some of the shops and Ariel and I got a picture with the big moose. Not sure what she thought of that. Some of the places I'd thought we would go to, turned out to be closed. Darn. The petting zoo was so trashed from the past months wind storms, that its closed until February. We did however, manage to find a place to get our annual old time picture done for the fake photo album Ken is creating. It was neat to have someone else in the photo this time. Hee, baby's first dress up experience.

Ariel ended up crashing for a much needed nap at 1pm, so we decided it was time for a spot of tea to warm our cold bodies. We went to the James Bay tea house, which is ever so cute! There were a few kids having tea, and they make they little sandwiches too, only with peanut butter and jam. Can't wait to bring Ariel for that! It was nice to get some alone time with Ken while she slept. He has had a wonderful vacation and kinda sad to see it end.

After tea we drove around and went to the look out. The waves were crashing and it was really windy. I did get some neat pictures though. The one below is my fav. Anyhoo, we caught the 5pm boat home and that was that. Ariel's first overnight trip! Yay.

Today, she is I think a little sad that daddy is back at work. I was getting a little stressed but then Stella showed up to take Ariel for a walk so I could unpack, shower and get things more in order. Thank you! Talk about God at work, sometimes prayer amazes me.

I got some frozen corn chowder and biscuits in the freezer, I think thats gonna be dinner. So I shall leave and enjoy my half hour of peace! Later!

A new year away

Hi everyone! We are presently in Victoria for a mini break. Very mini in fact, as we will be coming home tomorrow. Of course its raining, wouldn't be our trip without rain. Lol. Ariel is having a great time and we will post all the fun with pictures once we return. We are getting to see lots of friends and its been great. Talk to you all soon! BYE!

2007

Goodbye 2006, you were an amazing year!
Welcome 2007, I look forward to the new adventures!