Company

We recently had a visit from Daryl's dad (Tom) and step-mom (Maureen) who drove in from Kamloops. The drive takes about 3 1/2 hours but this was the busiest weekend for ferry travel so they had to wait at the terminal for 4 hours. You will see from the picture that Moe had to relieve some aggression after the long wait.

Dad's Camp-out

Daryl belongs to a group of men called the "Sooke Dads." They meet once a month to discuss "Dad and Kids" things/issues and plan an annual camping trip. Businesses in the area donate meat and supplies, and the dads get to spend the weekend (without any mothers) with their kids, instilling values and life skills (theoretically). The best part of being in the group is that Daryl knows many of the kids in town, and likewise, the other fathers know our children, so we have "eyes" all over town. Here are a few shots from the trip:

Summer Holidays!!!

Here is Ginger acting as our watch dog. Her nose didn't stop twitching the whole time we were there!

The kids "earned" ice-cream cones by running around the campground (ahhh..... peace and quiet!) On one of our trips to the "General Store," the clerk told Gavin he would give him the ice-cream that was left in the bottom of the container for only one dollar. (He didn't want to spend the time washing out the container etc.) Gavin thought he had died and gone to heaven! A boy carrying a bucket of ice-cream the size of his torso while walking down the highway generates a lot of strange looks!

With Justin's love of school, he made sure he found time to do his homework! (just kidding, Justin!) :)

On the second day there, the boys decided to spring a "red-neck" trap using two beer cans to see if they could lure any transient southerners (Tennessee or Texans) who might be lurking in the bushes.

We spent time walking a long the ocean and climbing the rocks and drift wood the tide pushed in.

This summer vacation we went back to our favorite campground 'French Beach' where we spent a week having fun and hanging out together. We went on hikes, to the park and the ocean, had water-gun fights, campfires, walked to the 'general store' a few times for ice-cream and generally took it easy and relaxed. We roasted marshmellows and made smores(I held the esteemed position of "graham-cracker-lady"). The kids also spent a lot of time riding their bikes and playing with other kids at the campground.

While there, we saw a black bear with two cubs, a cougar and an elk, as well as many little animals such as rabbits, birds, sea otters and a rat (ew). We had a great time!

The Garden

Well, with a lot of digging and grass pulling it is finally finished. You all should recall the garden enclosure that we (with the help of Daryl's parents) made last year to keep the deer out. This year, though a bit late in the season, it is all planted with vegetables. We have peas, carrots, lettuce, radishes, peppers, cuc's and even watermelon this year. Hopefully our extended growing season will enable us to enjoy the "veggies of our labour" and all will grow. Here are a few action shots.

Road Trip!

Now that Daryl has a comfy,new Harley Davidson Ultra Classic, I was able to go on the Kamloops "poker run" this year to raise money for Muscular Dystrophy. There were 850 Harley's carrying 1100 people from checkpoint to checkpoint throughout the Fraser canyon in 35 degree heat. (that's celcius for you Americans!) In our riding leathers it was incredibly hot! This year was the poker ride's 20th anniversary. This ride alone has raised over one million dollars to help those living with Muscular Dystrophy. We had a great time and put close to 1,400 km's on the bike. Here are a few pics of just a few of the Harley's, and one of Daryl and Rob (with whom we travelled.) The other picure was taken out the window of a bus that brought us to and from the banquet hall where the big party was after the poker run.

Camping popcorn incident

After our afternoon of kite flying, we decided to have a snack of popcorn. Of course, we didn't bring any popcorn that you can cook over the fire, but I did have a disposable pie plate and some tinfoil so I attempted to make my own "jiffy-pop." Unfortunately, the "lid" came off and the oil caught on fire and the whole thing collapsed into the fire pit, all the while shooting little pieces of burning popcorn at us. So, after stepping back from the pit to avoid the fiery assault, we decided to make it on the propane stove in a pot. and it tasted great! Here is a picture of myself looking quite pleased about my home-made "jiffy-pop" container, during the incident just after it caught on fire, and then at the end enjoying the popcorn that we made on the stove. Note how frizzy my hair had become during the incident. ha ha!

Back to Nature

We went camping again this weekend. We have managed to get our campsite set-up and dis-assembly down to about 35 minutes which we feel is not too long, and therefore, makes camping that much better, as we are not fighting with gear for hours on end. We gave the kids kites before we left and decided to try them out on the beach this weekend. The weather was nice and, other than the occasional kite string tangle, we all had a lot of fun! Justin's kite is the dragon. Shayla's is a spider with pincers on it's head that squeezed together every time the string length was changed. Gavin's kite was a cyclops with an eye in the middle that spun in circles when the wind hit it just right.