Moving Day

I've moved...my new site can be found here http://www.darcysandy.com/
See you there!

Sandy

Rock On

Tuesday Darcy and I took the kids to Bennett's 2nd birthday party.  It was at Kidz Quarterz which is a play place for kids.  First the kids climbed their way through a maze of tunnels, ladders and slides.  We then gathered in the ball room under black light where the kids split into 2 teams and fired foam balls at targets.  It was a lot of fun, it took Dylan a few minutes to get the hang of it and then he couldn't collect and shoot fast enough.  Next we enjoyed pizza and cake, then after Bennett opened his gifts the kids played video games until it was time to go.

Wednesday evening I made and iced 50 cupcakes, I meant to take a picture and forgot.  I love how they turned out!  They were simple piped white icing with either pink or blue sugar sparkle, topped with either a star candy or a guitar.  We finished up the party prep, tagging all of the loot bags and gathering our gear by the door.

Thursday was the Rock Star party day!  After work we drove over to the rec center and quickly set up the party room.  We had a big play-doh table on one side of the room and a rock stage on the other, complete with music, disco balls and strobe lights.  The kids wore rock star themed clothing, had rockstar hair, glow bracelets and microphones.  Hailey spent most of her time dancing and singing her favorite songs with her friends.  She took a short break to have a few bites of pizza and to blow out the candle on her cupcake.  Before it was time for all Hailey's guests to go she opened her wonderful gifts!  What a lucky girl!!  We had lots of helpers to clean up and we loaded everything up and headed home.  The kids were pooped, we tucked them in and put our feet up.  For two days after we ate leftover pizza, fruit, veggies and cupcakes!

Saturday, Mom and I did some much needed 'spring cleaning'.  I have neglected my home most of the summer so it was time to do base boards, walls, light fixtures, windows etc.  It was wonderful to have my mom here to help.  Darcy took on a big job of his own.  He took the kids to Toys' R' Us.  Hailey had some birthday money to spend and enjoyed her shopping trip. The kids spent most of the weekend playing with their toys which is something that they often don't have much time for.  Darcy took a trip out to the lake on Sunday to pack up for the winter.  He moved all of our deck chairs and gear into the Seacan for storage and brought the trailer home to winterize.  With his work schedule and the terrible forecast we decided that we would likely not have another weekend out there this year. Sunday night after supper we got out the play-doh and both kids had a blast until it was time for a bath and bed.

More Birthday Celebrations for Hailey

Friday night we packed for the lake but did not head out until Saturday morning.  We had to pick up our trailer on the way -- instead of taking it all the way back out to the lake after our Kananskis trip we instead left it at a friend's place.

We arrived around lunch time, Cory, LeeAnn and the kids were there.  Darcy and Cory spent the first hour attempting to get the trailer into it's position next to the deck.  It was a bit challenging because of the wet and uneven ground but they eventually got it into place.  I visited with LeeAnn while the boys worked.  It was nice to catch up, we haven't spent much time with them this summer.

The weather was not great.  The kids spent some time outdoors Saturday playing on the swings but mostly wanted to be inside the trailer playing with toys.  Sunday, Ken and Linda drove out and brought lunch for us.  The sun was warm so we spent most of the day visiting on the deck. Again the kids preferred to spend most of their time playing inside the trailer, aside from when Darcy towed them in the wagon.  Given Monday's forecast was cold and rainy we decided that we would pack up and head home Monday morning after breakfast.

We got home before lunch Monday.  We unloaded and got organized and then mom and I went to do some supply shopping for Hailey's party.  We did well, getting most of the items on our list in only 2 stops.  When we got home I quickly got the kids ready and Darcy and I took them out to Dad and Ila's for dinner.  Before dinner lucky Hailey got to open more birthday presents!

Milestones

This week we celebrated a few wonderful milestones.  On Tuesday, Hailey had her first day of Kindergarten and on Wednesday she turned 5 years old.  I am so excited for all the new things she is experiencing but can't help but see that my little girl is growing up right before my eyes.

Tuesday was the first day of Kindergarten!  Hailey was home with us in the morning.  She bathed and dressed for school and I curled her hair.  After we had lunch, I drove her to school for the very first time.  She proudly carried her Disney Princess backpack filled with school supplies.  It was orientation day so the students are accompanied by a parent.  Hailey recognized the teacher and the room from when we attended the open house and she was quite excited.  She met some new classmates, the class has 11 girls and 5 boys!  The parents went to the library to do a bunch of paperwork while the children decorated cookies and learned about the classroom and the buses. 

Hailey was very excited to share her day with Dylan and daddy.  After dinner Hailey and I went to do a little shopping.  We shopped for her birthday present, party supplies and got a snowsuit for Dylan.  Hailey fell asleep quickly that night as she was really looking forward to waking up for her birthday Wednesday morning.  When I turned out the light she reminded me that I should say 'Happy Birthday' to her in the morning.

First thing Wednesday I sang Happy Birthday to Hailey.  She figured she had grown bigger, stronger and smarter over night.  She held up her hands looked them over front to back and said to me 'Hey, look 5 year old hands!' She was pretty pleased to be 5 years old.  She picked out a skirt, a unicorn shirt and sparkly tights to wear to daycare.  We touched up the curls in her hair and she topped it off with her birthday crown.  She felt very special all day at daycare and the kids had donuts to celebrate.  Dylan seemed a little jealous throughout the day and kept saying 'No...it's Dylan's birthday'.  After supper when it was time for cake Hailey let Dylan take a turn blowing out the candle.  Hailey open her gifts, she got some art supplies, a Princess Playmobil set and the Ultimate Play-Do kit.  She spent the rest of the evening playing. 

Thursday was her first full afternoon of Kindergarten.  She even got to take the bus.  Grandma and Grandpa Ken and Linda picked her up from daycare at the end of the day and took her for supper at McDonalds and to the toy store to chose something for her birthday.

Gone Fishing

I missed my last two classes of Toughen Up this week. Tuesday I was too busy packing and Thursday I was out of town.

We were busy bees Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Darcy and I got ready for our trip to Alaska. My mom arrived on Wednesday to look after the kids.

Thursday, very, very early in the morning Darcy and I left for Seattle, after a brief lay over we went on to Juneau, Alaska. I left my iPhone in the seat pocket of the airplane and I am really disappointed that it was not turned in. It isn't lost, phone owners are easy to find. I find it hard to imagine that someone actually kept it. I am trying to remember that it is just a phone, but the cost to replace it makes me feel a bit ill. This cast a bit of a cloud on my trip but I did still enjoy the fishing.

From Juneau, we had a charter flight onto the island of Hoonah. We met our boat and captain, Skip, at the Hoonah dock. I should mention that Skip is our boss and this was a work related trip -- very lucky! We had dinner with the departing crew and slept overnight, on board, before we set off in the morning. I hardly slept so after our long day of travel Thursday and a rough night I was a bit foggy.
We spent two days and two nights on the boat. Our crew of 6 fished fairly steady bringing in mostly halibut, which was a little disappointing because we love salmon.  I caught only a single halibut Saturday.  Darcy did very well catching several halibut, rockfish and salmon.  Some of which we kept, some we released.

We were visited by a pair of friendly sea lions that swam around the boat playfully for quite awhile. We also did some whale watching which was fantastic as always.This year I even drove the boat. This is no small boat either, it is a Nordic Tug, which is pretty much a floating RV.

Saturday afternoon I had a very unusual catch. I hooked a big one, I had help from Darcy, Brian and Skip bringing in it. With all that work, we imagined there was the biggest, heaviest halibut on the end of the line. But what surfaced was a Manta Ray. It must of gotten hooked swimming by my line. It was fantastic looking and eventually was happy to be free of the line. My arms hurt for a few days after that.

We left the boat Saturday evening and boarded a float plane which returned us to Hoonah. We then went on to Seattle where we stayed the night before flying home Sunday. We were so excited to the see the kids when we got in. They had a great time with Grandma Cindy. It was the first weekend since June that they were so pleased to have time to play with their toys at home.

To the Mountains

This week I am wondering where summer went?  The temperatures were cool and it is hard to say if the sun even shone because we spent most of this week in a haze of forest fire smoke that blew in from the West.  It is hard to even imagine the extent of the fires in BC if we are feeling the effects several hundred miles away.

Our trailer sat in front of the house this week.  We dashed in and out getting it ready for the weekend.  I had to work the late shift on Monday so I drove the kids to daycare a little later than usual.   They had a field trip Monday morning at Boston Pizza which they really enjoyed.  They toured the restaurant and kitchen and made their own pizzas.  Tuesday the kids had another field trip.  Their class walked to Safeway to buy ingredients, then returned to daycare to prepare a fruit salad.

Darcy left before sunrise on Wednesday for San Jose.  He had a very full day of travel and meetings but eventually made it home, exhausted, at 2 am.  I spent some time Wednesday doing laundry and Thursday we packed.  I went to my last Toughen Up class for the season and afterward we stayed up late making sure we were ready to leave first thing in the morning.

Friday morning we had breakfast and left for our weekend adventure.  We headed first to Calgary to meet friends.  It was a decent drive down, there was not a lot of traffic and the kids were very good.  Thank goodness for the DVD player, they watched the Toy Story movies.  We stopped in at Darcy and Deenise's house to fill our water tank, then followed them up to Kananaskis to our group camping site.   Our site was a large paved area surrounded by trees and mountains.  We love the mountains and were a bit disappointed to find it difficult catch much of a view through the smoke haze.  It was actually like something out of a spooky movie.  The weather was OK, not warm but it was nice to have next to no rain all weekend.  We settled in and Darcy made his famous burgers and fantastic corn on the cob for dinner.  It was a little strange for us to have to set up camp.  Since we have a permanent site this was the first time in a few years that we have had to worry about what to bring with us and found we were missing a few key items like lighters and hot dog sticks.  As families arrived there were more and more kids with their bikes, toys and pets.  Hailey spent quite a bit of time bike riding and had two big falls, Dylan still not interested in pedaling circled the lot Flintstones style.  When Dylan gave up riding his bike, Hailey gave it a try as she was a little discouraged from falling off her own.

Saturday we made pancake breakfast for about 50 adults and children.  I cracked 5 dozen eggs for scrambling while the men prepared several pounds of bacon and a few hundred pancakes.  After breakfast Darcy and I took the kids for a bike ride.  The path we chose was all up hill, in the mountains I suppose they all are.  I struggled in spots but Darcy was a trooper not only making his own way up the mountain but towing the kids in the Chariot.  The path was great, nice and wide and not too bumpy for the kids.  I was only slightly disturbed by the giant bear poop we came across mid trail.  After that I rang my bike bell every few hundred feet just to be sure.  The higher we got the more we could see and eventually it was quite sunny and warm.  We made our way up to a clearing and took some pictures while enjoying the view.  The ride down was fast and really bumpy.  We got back to camp around lunch time.  Although there were lots of kids to play with both Hailey and Dylan kind of did their own thing.  I was a bit surprised that Hailey didn't join the other girls her age but she seemed to be determined to bike without falling so spent most of her time doing that.  Dylan was crabby and really didn't mix well with the other kids so it was probably better that he played on his own.

We tried to have the kids nap late in the afternoon but eventually gave up on Hailey and woke Dylan early.  We wanted to take the kids over to Barrier Lake before dinner.  They enjoyed throwing rocks in the water with daddy and relaxing on shore.  We returned to camp for a huge potluck dinner.  Hailey joined the other girls after dinner to play with play dough - which sounds a bit lame unless you had see the awesome play dough kit one family brought.  I have actually started a similar kit for Hailey as part of her birthday gift.  Hopefully I can find enough cutters and accessories to make it a lot of fun.  Saturday evening we tucked in the kids then got going on a poker tournament.  At first I had not planned to play since I barely know how to put a poker hand together, never mind play in a tournament but I did very well placing 3rd and actually won a cash prize of $20!!  The game went very late and we were exhausted by the time we tucked in for the night.

Sunday morning we discovered we had a little visitor in the night.  A MOUSE!!  After I got over the initial yuk factor I scoured the trailer, cleaning every surface possible.  While I cleaned, I started to pack, then we enjoyed another yummy pancake breakfast before taking the kids on a hike.  We had a great time, I was surprised at how much trekking they did.  Dylan asked to be carried only a few times and Hailey did the full trail on her own.  There were so many wild flowers it was hard to believe it was all natural.  We made our way up to the lookout for Barrier Lake then worked our way back.  We figured it would be nice to get in a good walk before the trip home.  We had lunch when we got back to camp and it was time for most to pack up and leave.  Surprisingly, in a matter of a few hours the site went from full to empty as families pulled out

one by one.

Our drive home was long -- over 6 hours.  We made our way through Calgary first, with a few traffic delays and then hit heavy rain, hail and lightening on our way North.  Visibility was poor in several sections and the hail that had gathered on the road looked very much like snow.  We were glad to finally get home, stretch our legs and unpack.  It was bedtime for the kids so we bathed them and tucked them in and were not too far behind.