Happy Fathers Day to my dad!

I chat with my dad quite a bit on the phone ... I think we've gotten out of the habit of Skyping because of bad Wi-Fi connections.  But one of my favorite weekend moments this past weekend was sitting on the dock talking to my dad, drinking a coffee, and listening to him discover a bat in his garden shed.  I won't go into detail because I love my dad but I will just say it was a highlight, only made better by him closing the conversation by saying "I wish you hadn't heard that".

I am still laughing ... But that's my dad for you .. We like to laugh and one of my favorite traits of his is how he tells stories and makes us laugh.

Happy Fathers Day Dad!!! Love you souch and looking forward to spending more time with you this summer !!

Wonderful service ....

Had a few girls over tonight and Isaac was a wonderful host and brought us a special lime sparkling drink .... Such a sweet boy. 

We anchor a swimming dock for the kids!

Paul anchored the dock in the bay for the kids to swim to this summer.  Isaac rowed out to pick Paul up after the anchor was set. 

It looks great!  Pretty exciting little swimming hole!  Perfect for creating childhood memories!

Inside Out ...

Was very much looking forward to an evening at home after a very busy week but alas, chris dragged me (as the kids happily went) to the movies tonight to see 'Inside Our' with a bunch of summer staff.  I love our staff but unfortunatly I was grumpy tonight .... Luckily it didn't dampen anyone else's mood!!

Elliot's class comes to play - grade 3

Mme Buckland has worked hard in her relationship with Elliot this year.  She has grown to understand how he says words as well as being sensitive to his fleeting moments of shyness.   She appears to be a very stern but kind teacher with high expectations of the kids, I respect this very much.

This morning as I was racing from Sidney to camp the bus actually beat me!   I was told that Elliot greeted the bus with vigor but something happened to make him feel uncomfortable which put him into an intense shy mode.  He actually hid behind a few chairs and was quite upset and distanced himself from the class for awhile.   Mme Buckland gave him space and he ended up coming around once the activities started. 

Groups of 3 rotates through 3 different activities for the morning. I ran crafts (we painted rocks with googley eyes), Mme Buckland ran fun field games while chris led the kids through organized team building games in the lava forest.  

Jax actually came to play with the class for awhile. Here is Elliot introducing him to everyone. 

It was a beautiful day ..

It turns out that kids can paint rocks in six minutes or less. So Isaac was in charge of facilitating field games until it was time to rotate to the next activity!  Isaac got to stay home today because he didn't have a ride to school since I had the car ... So he was our helper today and did a great job. He got a few games of soccer or tag going, depending on what the little kids wanted to play!

Here is Elliot beside Mme Buckland with her games ....  She smiled and laughed through a lot of the day ... She seems happy to be up at camp. 

Brett also came up to camp for the morning while Megan was doing a physiotherapy housecall with a family in youbou.  It was like old times seeing him wander around camp. 

Here is Mme Buckland having the class say thank you to Elliot and his family for having them up at camp as our guest today!!  I think in the end, Elliot got over his intense feelings of shyness and having all eyes on him.

He waved goodbye to his friends and carried on with his day!!

Night with my Sista!!!!

My sweet sister has just gotten a 30 day shift with the Coast Guard.... 

PIG!!!!!!  She made this pig!!!!! Wha???!!!

We walked through Sidney and had a really nice time ...

"rest and be thankful" ...... don't mind if we do.

this was me very excited to be together!!

this was my hilarious sister after being awake for almost 22 hours!!!! She is still so beautiful!!!

We scored a sweet B&B a few minutes from the airport.  We watched a couple of movies and hung out on the couch together and laughed a ton ... I just love this girl 

She headed off to bed so I tucked her in and then came back out and turned on the breakfast club and started to catch up on the blog....

Wednesday .... Huge day !!

This is the big day to go on some site visits for work .. I have been so buried with paperwork and meetings that I haven't had a chance to touch base with some of the programs that I monitor ... Getting out into community is actually one of my favorite parts of this job ....  This is the back deck area of one the Clements programs gardening groups....it was such an oasis! I said that the only thing missing was a fountain with the sound of water, and the response was that they have had four pumps stolen in the last few years from people in the community so they don't buy them anymore!! 

And this was a new swing they were very proud and happy to show me!!! It was built by the kinsman with materials donated by Home Depot... it is a wheelchair swing...The benches fold down to become a ramp for wheelchairs to be wheeled up and secured into while they swing!!

this was a picture I took for Yanin in the middle of my site visits ... she had texted me so I just sent her a picture of what I was doing!!

My next site visit was in Cobble Hill ... This is Kerry ... We have worked together since I started...he actually built that structure, that he is standing in front of, with his own two hands with refurbished materials!   The far swing is also a wheelchair accessible swing ...  The entire structure gets a ton of use!

my final stop was to enjoy a barbecue put on by the "Lunch on Clements" program ... It was really nice today to be putting faces to the names of people that I have been working with on the screen for years!

After work we had a couple of hours to kill before the boys self-defense class.  We did a little bit of thrift store shopping and then hung out at Nicole's for an hour!  But soon it was time for the boys to go to class ... Here they are getting their first test for their yellow striped belt.  Both of them passed and were quite pleased with themselves!

I went into watch for a few minutes but both boys kept looking over at me. I figured I was being too much of a distraction so I left and waited for them in the car.  Chris had picked up stirfry and met us in the parking lot and we had dinner in the car before he went back to work and the boys and I went home .... 

Monday .....

It was a busy day at work .... Kids had fun at school ... Took a look at a VW van on our way home (passed on it - too much rust!) .... Kids swam as Rach and I watched from the dock.

Made a light and fluffy cheese quiche for dinner .... As well as muffin batter for the morning (love the Kitchen Aide! And fresh baked muffins are so much better the same day!). Raisin bran muffins for me, super sunny muffins for the kids (those have chocolate chips)....

Oh ... And 10 pre-made smoothie bags for my busy mornings!  Just add water!!

Kids just watched Despicable Me with the staff tonight (it's this summers game themes!)...and they all just got home.  

10 o'clock - time for our 17 year running date to meet in bed for seinfeld. Love traditions!  Good night. 

Couple of shots from Lisa's wedding!!

This was a shot that Lisa's photographer sent to her after the wedding .... Here Mel and I are - dancing with the BRIDE!!!  (Can you see the back of Lisa's dress?) ..... And Charlotte had the prettiest dress - can you see it at the very left??  And see the guy in the very background, with the pink shirt?  Madi had a surprise wedding and married him a few weeks ago!!  And well, with Mel and I dancing together?  This pic is all kinds of happy for me ....

I am eating cake, sitting beside my baby, surrounded by friends in a super comfy dress that feels like pajamas....and can you see Daniel and Marika to my left, sitting together?  They are to be married on Thanksgiving weekend!  So, we get to do this all over again soon!!

Lisa's wedding!!!

It's not very often that I look forward to a wedding as much as I did this one!! And it was a beautiful day for a wedding....

it was a huge reunion for camp friends!

The bride looked beautiful coming down the aisle with her mom and dad...

Like total camp style, many people pitched in to set the tables for dinner!

Elliot was very big into climbing the trees ...isn't he the cutest in that hat?

Married happy girl!!!

Trying to pass the time between the ceremony and dinner in the garden ....

Elliot did his best trying to make a slingshot....

My dinner date....

It was a pretty fun wedding....

We've pulled over ...

We stopped for Thai;

Lisa's wedding is in 46 minutes. We are 15 minutes away...so we pulled over to watch the sailboats. 

However, It wasn't long before we were listening to snoring!

Uh oh .... I barely have the heart to wake him up!? So cute when he sleeps. 

Weekend tidbits!!

Isaac and I went to see this last night!  We've been counting down for weeks!  We held onto each others sweaty hands for most of it... It was awesome.

This morning, he made me a latte and brought it to me in bed.  It was a nicely frothed hazelnut latte. 

And this morning, FaceTimed a bit with this lovely lady as she waited to get her hair done.  Excited to watch her walk down the aisle today!!

And right now, we are heading down to victoria .... But chris needed a haircut and some new shorts!  Haircut done, and he's been skunked on the last 4 places we've stopped for shorts!  It's a beautiful day for a wedding!!