Amanda and Dan go on an Adventure

Labour Day Weekend 2013
Dan and I decided to drive a Circle Route starting in Abbotsford, taking the Fraser Canyon through Boston Bar, Lytton, Lillooet, Pemberton, Whister and home again. Oh, and did I mention we did it in one day? With two kids? And we had FUN! We didn't have high hopes when we started. The goal of the day was to make it to Boston Bar so that Joel could see the tunnels. Its a slight obsession of his. But we made it much further!

Our first stop of the day was the Confluence. This is where the Thompson and Fraser River meet. We taught Joel all about the confluence and how the Fraser is the dirty river and the Thompson is the clean river. And what happens when they converge? They become one big dirty river. It is so cute to hear him say confluence and know what that means!

After a little education, the boys take a few moments to play with rocks. (a semi theme of their day).

A view from a top of the hill.

A few kilometers from the confluence, there is a little two car ferry that goes across the river. I saw it advertised online before we left, and knew that if we could find it, we HAD to go across.

We thought that we would just walk on, go across the ferry, and come back.

But the ferry drivers, waved us on with the van. So we went across the river.

We kind of felt a bit stupid driving across, turning around and going back. So we decided to drive down the road for a few minutes and then go back.

But before we did, we saw signs advertising the Stein Valley.

So we drove twenty minutes down the road to the Stein Valley trail head.

Blue Moose: An Adventure before the Adventure

Before our adventure, we stopped in Hope at the Blue Moose Coffee House. Katrina's dad owns the place and we got to meet up with him for a few minutes while we were there.

Our kids LOVE the Blue Moose. So much so, that Micah threw a fit until Joel shared the mango smoothie. Then, Joel threw a fit until Micah handed it back. That went on until the ENTIRE smoothie was gone. And then, they both threw a fit because it was empty. We couldn't win!

Stanley Park Bike Trip

About a month ago, we went to Stanley Park to bike the seawall.

It was an easy bike trip, slowed by many inexperienced bikers and random people who stop at the most inopportune times (blind corners!)

Action shot!

Mom came with us. And yes, I choose the BEST photo of you!

The boys did well and had a great time together in the bike trailer.

We stopped at the Laughing Statues (who were all wearing life jackets to promote drowning prevention).

Joel was PETRIFIED of them (big surprise). Micah crawled all over them and even climbed on them thanks to his crazy parents!

Fireman in training

Stopping for a snack in the parking lot

Dan pulling the trailer. What a man!

Sandbox

One of the big projects we wanted to accomplish once we moved into the McBarkman's was to deal with the sand. It was constantly all over the place. The kids kept dumping it all over the lawn and we needed something to remedy that. Enter the sandbox.

The before

We are not DIYers by any stretch of the imagination. We drew up some plans and went to the Home Depot. (oh, how I love them!) They cut up some wood for us and helped us tweak our plans. When we got home, we set up and went straight to work.

It didn't take long to realize that another trip to Home Depot was in order. Our dream of effortlessly screwing the pieces of wood together were dashed when I realized that the screws were not even remotely long enough (even though on paper it would work and Mr. Home Depot recommended the screws to us). Back to Home Depot for 6 inch nails that we (ahem...I) had to drive in by hand.

The boys tried to help. Dan was kicked off the job when he bent the first nail. (A blessing in disguise as we met our neighbours in an effort to borrow a crowbar). Plus, he had some hawthorn plants he wanted to dig out.

The littles didn't really have the brute strength to drive the nails into the wood. (It took A LOT of energy to complete).

But Joel loved handed me the screws so I could build the lid. Which involved a third trip to the hardware store.

By this time, my dream of building a sandbox in a couple hours was definitely over. I was tired of building this dang thing. (I drove in over 12, six inch long nails) all while trying to keep the littles at bay.

My weapon of choice! Screwdriver for making the lid. By far, the quickest part of my build.

That is until, I broke the drill bit.

But I built my first big project that actually worked out well. (We no longer talk about my wobbly side table that I built in high school.)

Completed project. A sandbox for the boys, complete with a bottom and a lid with handles for easy removal!
The boys LOVE their sandbox. Almost every day they are in there playing together, baptizing one another with sand, and dumping sand all over the yard. So much for the point of the box! Oh well, they love it in there. And one day, we'll have them trained to keep the sand within the four walls of the box.

I can't work like this

Joel was helping me unload the dishwasher one morning. He is standing on a stool putting away the cutlery. I had to put the cutlery tray up on the counter since Micah kept running away with knives. Unfortunately, Joel had a hard time reaching the cutlery tray with the drawer open. He says to me in exasperation, "I no WORK like this!!!" (yes, with completely accurate inflection).

......and they say TV is a bad influence. He picked up that line from a book.

If you can't beat 'em, JOIN 'EM

It had been a particularily hard day at the McCrimmon house. You know, Joel peed his pants FIVE times before two o'clock. I put him in a diaper, only to have him remove it while we had guests over. He walked around naked for most of the afternoon. He pooped on the grass, stepped in it and walked all over the house. Micah was clingy, and I couldn't put him down ALL day. Luckily, Katrina and Julia were over to help watch my sanity go out the window (and comfort me while I was in tears). Finally it was dinner time and I was at my wits end. Joel hadn't listened all day, and I was DONE. Micah decided that he would take this opportunity to spit a mouthful of yogurt at me. In a split second, I knew I could either get angry or get even. So I took a spoonful of yogurt and BLEW! Yogurt went flying all over Micah's face.

 He thought it was hilarious! As did I. Totally the best part of my day.

(for those of you who are wondering, that is a bun on his head).

Guitar Boys

Almost every day, these two are seen walking around the house playing some sort of "guitar." Whether its a wooden spoon, toy knife or badminton racket, they LOVE to sing.

They don't know any songs (and not for lack of trying). So they sing, "la la la or dah dah dah."
Some times its a little rock and roll/heavy metal type song and Joel will ask, "Too loud Mommy?" Yes Joel, its too loud.
Sometimes Joel will sing "nice" and say, "I Jacob Moon Mommy?" Sure son, you can be Jacob Moon. (that's his favorite singer and one of ours too. He saw Jacob Moon in concert back in June and LOVED it. So much in fact, that every day he asks if he can turn Jacob Moon on...aka, turn on the stereo/CD player).

But mostly, its these two in unison (and not necessarily in harmony) singing away.
Perhaps, we should get them into some sort of music lesson?!

(nah, I don't want to loose the joy of their made up songs!)

 

Visitors

These past two months we've had plenty of lovely visitors.

JORDAN AND CARLYE

Joel really took to Jordan and insisted that he read books with him.

Sorry Carlye, this is the best (and only photo) of you. But Micah did like you! Yah for you!
It was great to hear Jordan's sermon and host them for lunch. We've missed seeing you guys even though you live so close.

GREG AND KARMEN

These boys loved having books read to them.

Can you sense a theme here?

It was wonderful to catch up with Greg and Karmen. You should have seen Karmen's face light up when Dan handed her a Chai tea. She was so happy!

DARNELL, CHRISTINA, CODY AND MAKAI

My, those little boys have grown up. Micah and Makai (the young dynamic duo) got to meet in person for the first time. Those two are going to be (silent) trouble makers!

Makai shared his watermelon with me! It was nice to have bonding time with Makai.

This picture totally reminds me of when Cody was younger. Anybody remember his "funny" face?

It was nice to get to know Makai's personality. There is only so much you can catch while Skyping.

Cody and Joel together at last. Cody was giving Joel a hand down the stairs.

It was amazing to hang out with Darnell and Christina in the McBarkman house. They definitely notice things that no one else did!

We had a great time sipping chugging Chai, cooking all of you a "requested" meal and chatting about the past year. We look forward to your next visit. You guys are great friends and we miss having you around on a regular basis.

We're BACK!

Finally! The day you all have been waiting for! We are hoping to resuscitate this poor old blog. We make no promises, but our goal is to blog more. Probably because we will need something to fill our time now that canning is over....at least for now. (I'm still trying to convince Dan to can pears and apple sauce).

We make no promises since those two little rascals have quite often thrown a wrench in our plans. (cough cough, mostly Micah, cough cough). But I'll give him a break. That poor little guy has FINALLY had his teeth break through his gums. (They've been going up and down, swelling and returning to normal for 8 LONG months). But in the last four days, he has gotten four new molars and four incisors (eye teeth). Yep, eight teeth in four days. No wonder he only sleeps in one hour increments.

Joel has finally lived up to his age and the "terrible twos" are hitting in full force. He's been whining and easily frustrated at himself (and us) about, you know, two year old problems. Like the wrong colour of cup or being unable to find a wooden spoon. Its fantastic (and hilarious) but only when we've had enough sleep to be patient with him. Needless to say, the last four days have been trying!

Dan is enjoying his new job but is still adjusting to waking up early. We've both been fairly tired. Between Micah's hour long sleep/cry/wake/scream schedule and his uncanny ability to plan a wake up call within the hour before the alarm is to go off (so you can't fall back to sleep), we have been exhausted. Add to that, endless evenings of canning, visitors, sourdough prep and dishes. We barely fall into bed before ten. Then we lie there talking and realize that we haven't said a word to one another since Dan got home at 3:30. So we catch up on the day and each others lives and lo and behold, eleven rolls around before you know it. (and a lovely wake up call from Micah just when you turn out the lights). We've been trying to take a few nights to enjoy each others company. You know, before Coitus Interuptus (aka Micah) strikes with a 95% accuracy rate. Really, we don't know how he does it, but man that kid can read our minds or smell the pheromones.

Needless to say, this little blog got neglected. BUT, we hope to be back more often. Here's to a new year!

We're still alive...

We promise! We're busy adjusting to our new life and home.
We're busy loving our family time together in the afternoons and evenings.
We're busy preserving food for the winter.
We're busy raising two little boys who LOVE the sunshine and after dinner walks.
We're busy adjust to one little boy whose sleep schedule and habits are changing (perhaps from the 3 molars and 3 eye teeth that have FINALLY just popped through...yes, all at once.)
We're busy trying to find an evening for updating and busy having a little one cry for two hours straight on both nights that we had "free."
We're busy visiting with various friends from around the globe and loving every second of it.
We're busy doing yard work and landscaping our new home.
We're busy trying to catch up on long lost sleep.

Needless to say, once fall hits, we will be back in full force. Your computers are not broken. We are still here. We hear your pleas for updates.

But we are enjoying our new home, some much needed family time, and the pop of canning jars sealing.
We are dealing with the frustrations of raising children, to do lists that never end, and evenings that are never long enough.

Hopefully there will be a few more posts in the coming weeks (I uploaded pictures today for a few new posts). We are trying hard to blog but we are enjoying life a little too much to slow down enough to write about it.