Monday, April 30, 2018

Hiking and Biking project ....

Stakeholder meeting last Thursday with many of the local businesses, Timberwest, and local government officials.  Our leadership team was attending so to make them look a little more official, I made us all and tags .... Chris designed them in like 5 minutes and I put them all together.  Everyone looked great - I even made a couple for the consultants who had come over from Vancouver ...

A very big community drop in day was coming up on May 3rd .... and we had Elliot’s class put together a really sweet slideshow of some of their favourite pets of their town.  So we thought it would be fun to have a door prize they could put their name in for - couple hours on the streets and I was able to pull together a pretty sweet swag bag. (that sounds weird) ...In the end, spent roughly only $50, the rest were donations .... the community is pretty excited about this project.

So, after all flogging this big drop-in all week, including flyers in the grocery bag at Country Grocer ...I arrived to this as a welcome sign to the room.  I wish I had taken a picture of the room .. I think I was too busy trying to make things look nicer before everyone started arriving.   I texted this picture to Cathy, who still wasn't slotted to come for 3 more hours .... she hustled to a local sign shop and made a more professional sign for the welcome .... we ended up only having it for a few hours, but oh well .... see this sign below?  I pictured the 2 men, laying on their stomachs in a livingroom, coloring with smelly markers, like they were making a sign for the highschool dance .... lol....not a very $$ consultant company from Vancouver ....

Elliot and Marty's class did a great project for us taking pictures around town of favorite things.  I put together a really sweet powerpoint with the kids quotes of why they loved their community and paired it with their photos, I was so pleased with how it came out ... it was one of the best things in the room as we put it on loop on the big screen.  The students were our first visitors .... lol, they cleaned the consultants out of donuts and hot chocolate....



Here was an explanation of the project ... tacked up onto the wall with Christmas lights ;-)  lol ...

And this was where people were instructed to put their ideas .... and thoughts ...

I really enjoyed this chaps sticky note.....

It actually was a steady stream of people all day long ... and once people got talking and getting excited about the project, the décor of the room really didn't matter .... Once Cathy arrived, I left to get a key fob from the worst car dealership ever and to pick up Noah .... so we were gone for a few hours doing that.  Once I got back, I dropped the boys off, had a quick 20 minute nap (I need those now, old lady) ... and then headed back to the arena.  Time went by really quickly ... lots of interesting people .... it was pretty fun.  This is Cathy, she's my boss on this contract.  She and I worked together when I was with the radio station ... she had super short hair back then lol.  She is so enthusiastic and fun and smart.  I always leave our conversations feeling excited about stuff.  This afternoon she showed me a trip she's taking some friends in the fall in Golden BC.  $2,500, 5 days, you run trails for 10 km a day and then get helicoptered back to a yurt at night where you are fed and prepped for the next day, another 10km trail run around beautiful BC.....she was so excited about and really wants to know how we can do that here .... well, let me tell you my own wheels started spinning.  She said she didn't even bat an eye at the price!  It's an adventure, she's an older woman with more money that she used to have and more freedom .... there is no reason WOA couldn't do this too ... we have a platform ... but we have never charged that kind of $$! lol

She had this sign made up in minutes for the day .... fun woman .... it's a great job.



Thursday, April 26, 2018

Evening Walk

Boys and I took a beautiful evening walk together. 





Take a nice picture with me honey!!  And this is what I get .....

Oh my beautiful, soulful Elliot.  

He got an Isaac bum picture too....



Monday, April 23, 2018

Off the bus ....

Slowly walking and talking off the bus heading for home .... love them. 
And just a quick shot of tonight .... a typical 9ish time slot ... Rhett and Link time coming up soon before bedtime.  

Sunday, April 22, 2018

The 4 Agreements ..... loved this.



Boat Drama .....


So we’ve decided that Chris has spent enough time and energy trying to fix this silly bit of ours!! We have agreed that a boat is good for our family and it’s important to get Chris off site as often as we can during the summer months. So, we saw a gorgeous boat yesturday - totally too much money. Then we saw another boat this morning and figured we liked it but took it for a test ride and just didn’t feel it. It was super loud and shaky and we saw a crack in the fibreglass while we were driving.  

Fast forward to this evening, Chris had spent most of this day working on the boat - his perseverance is incredible.  Turns out it was a faulty wire - from the coil to the distributor cap - at least that’s what made the boat run flawlessly tonight!!!  





This was the boat manual that was in perfect condition when we bought the boat - it got rained on this past month and is now a wet, moldy book - but Chris studied it and studied it!!

So Chris and I went for a nice ride around the lake and came home to some kids finally playing outside at dusk!  Summer can come now!


Sun on Sunday !!


Beautiful day .... very chill ....all is well 







Test driving a boat ....

It’s getting quite old having Chris work so hard on getting our boat to run, so we’ve decided to start shopping around.  We saw a beautiful boat yesterday but the price tag was a bit too steep for us even though he was willing to negotiate a bit - it was like one of those boats that is too gorgeous. Like “who do we think we are having a boat like that, kind of gorgeous’

We took a look at it in town after having a bite to eat with Chris’s parents.

So once home from town last night, I put a want ad out for a bowrider....woke up this morning to a response from a developer who lives in Lake Cowichan. We went and took a look this morning.  Beautiful boat ....
The price was better than yesterday’s, and it seemed to suit us a little better and didn’t give me the feeling of ‘who do we think we are’ lol.  

After lunch, he agreed to bring it to Mesachie for a test ride.  I have decided to never purchase another boat without a test drive. 

It was SO loud!!  And our current boat purrs and is such a smooth ride (WHEN it decides to run).... so we’ve decided to bring our boat in this week and see if a boat mechanic can get it running !  I feel SO rich at this point!! Lol. Like I just won $10,000!!

Saturday, April 21, 2018

Noah sleeps over ....






It’s nice when Noah sleeps over because it occupies Isaac!!  They are always getting into something - they washed the tables after the auxano dinner last night, they love to make noise and make people laugh .... this morning Isaac made them soufflé eggs and chocolate mug cake in the microwave.....always something. 

Also just a little throwback to kindergarten with these two cuties - funny they’re both guarding their bits at the farm 


Chris ....




The older we get, the older our kids get, the more I appreciate the character and abilities of this man. For so many years, we just have been busy raising these kids and doing life and I’ve often wondered about when the time comes and the kids leave and we’re left staring at each other.....will we still like each other? Will we still want to be with the other at the end of the day, joyfully and not out of duty?  I took this picture a few days ago because at that moment I was so proud that he was my partner. This hardworking, funny, loving man is mine and the sun just shines on him.

Friday, April 20, 2018

Auxano Dinner





















Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Northern Pygmy Owl - rescue and release! Hey

This little owl flew into our window a few days ago. We brought it to the raptor centre for help. The nice thing is that the raptor centre has been doing our workshops for WOA since the very beginning....so they know us. 

You can see from his left eye that he is suffering from a concussion.







Andy met us there .... he loves birds. 






Just yesterday the raptor centre brought the little back to Camp for his release.

He flew straight out when the door opened!!