My sister is awesome...

And she does a pretty spot on impression of grumpy cat.

My husband .....

It's just after 5am. Chris was up and I asked if he was ok, worried that he was sick. Because who gets up at 5am unless they are getting paid really really well??  (hi carrie! :-).  

Turns out he's just excited about a wood project he's working on for camp.

I will post a picture of his beautiful creation when it's done. But this jumped out at me immediately when I saw it this morning. I'm pretty proud of this guy. 

Base Fare 0$ to LA?? Why not!

Sure! I'll snag that deal!! 

I love fare glitches and grabbed this one before prices skyrocketed back up!  

Chris is gone the last week of January for a bunch of camp stuff, so I hate being here without him!  This was my 0$ invoice from Delta tonight. ($71 in taxes) for a direct flight to LA, for the boys and I to see Jackie and Kevin!! 

Just for kicks, I went onto the delta site and plugged in the flights that I snagged. Here is the current price!

There's a cm of snow so let's sled down the BMX track!!

The Walk...

We rented the movie "The Walk" tonight. It was the true story of the tight rope walker who walked across the World Trade Center before it was fully complex back in 1974. 

It was so uncomfortable to watch!!!

We literally sweated through most of it!!!

Hello Saturday!!!

Chris made me a little shelf for my new water pic that my mom bought!  It's super cool but there wasn't enough room on the sink!!  Such a handy guy!! Took him minutes!!

I love it!  Minutes after he looks at me and says "Soooo.....can I go metal detecting?"   

So, it's 2 and he's still gone so I went and painted the backsplash since the sticker backsplash we put up in November didn't stick!!  Some of the glue stuck and I tried to sand it all down but don't look too close!! Looks better than it did!!!

 That's the latte I'm drinking now as Isaac and I watch one of our favorite cartoons - MegaMind!!!  Happy Saturday!!! 

Happy to stay home today ...

Hard to believe it was our first week back this week after almost 6 weeks off oo our 'regular life' ..... The week was actually long and filled with lots of good things, activities, friends and family .... 

This morning, Elliot was up at 7 and at my bedside. He gets a little nervous when he's the only one up getting ready. So I got up to keep him company. 

Not much longer before the other 2 rolled out of bed. Smoothies for everyone.  (Love the Vitamix!! It gets used at least twice a day if not more...)

Chris drove them to school and I will stay home and putter. Happy Friday!

Snow snd stuff ....

The boys were happy to get back to self defense this week. We signed up for the rest of the year. It's a great, small class with only Elliots friend Tyson as the other kid in the class. Expecting 2 more boys soon so a class of 5 is cool - lots of extra attention. 

Between my two sister in laws, I joyously don't have to pay for coffee this month!! Jenny got me a coffee card to my favorite place and Laura got me a pretty mug from Starbucks that for the month of January, they will fill it up with coffee or tea everyday!!! (I don't like coffee, or tea that much - but I've gotten iced coffee and tea in the afternoon).... It's nice because it makes me think of both of them everyday. 

Lots of snow on Tuesday morning that the boys went and dug out their snowball makers from auntie Laura from a few years back - they were still in their boxes!! But the boys remembered!!  Elliot took his to school!! 

Tuesday was piano and I had to park at the bottom of her hill because lots of the neighbourhood kids were sliding on it. 

Wednesday and back to nanaimo for a long meeting day but also seeing my favorite work friend. Lots of laughs and debriefing about our new cowboy manager from Alberta (seems nice enough so far on first impressions?), and a great Thai lunch. 

Meanwhile back at work, yanin sends me a shot of her new hair color - silver fox!!

she's so pretty. It's was a fun surprise during my work day!  I sent her one back (I love the 'happening now' pictures-she was about to pick up her kids and I was about to work on some spreadsheets!)

JL got a new Fitbit and as she is racing up the steps through the day and telling me where's she's at, I pull in a measly 1500 steps during a work day!!  Monday I got 10,000 in, Tuesday sucked and I was so tired and gave up at 4000 and stayed on the couch and went to bed early, but yesturday I got them all!! Lisa was coming over at 8pm so I had to run the last 2000 steps to finish in time. Rachel kept me company lol!! Nice cheerleader. 

But I did almost barf on the last 500.....

Our last Saturday!!!

Started out the best with a huge walk with my best walking partner. Amanda came to camp and it was cold but we got almost all 10,000 steps in!!  Love my Fitbit!

Zalinko boys came over once I got home but left once Elliots friends arrived.  Tysons mom Shannon stayed for the whole time too.  It's a far drive to get the kids here and Tyson has developed stronger anxieties about his mom not being closeby.  

Chris has left at 8 to metal detect and didn't get home until almost 5.  He brought groceries home and made a nice dinner.  Rach came and watched the "2nd best exotic marigold hotel" ... I liked it.  

Happy New Year!!!

Well that was a really fun night.  We are driving home now .... And looking over these pictures ... I wish my memory was better and I didn't need to take so many! 

**

But here we are! This was our last night of 2015!!  We bundled up after dinner to go explore!!  

Such a beautiful city .....

My favorite people!!!!  They are such a great age.... It was so cold but we heard no complaints and when we got too cold, then we ran!!! And jeesh Elliot runs faster than I can!!

We found a bit of warmth at the museum!  Hoping for Star Wars at the IMAX but it was James Bond .... No thanks. 

Then we wandered over to the Empress Hotel ... So posh. 

Blend in everyone!!! There was a wedding there and everyone was so dressed up and lovely .... We didn't really blend but it was funny to try. 

I've always wanted to go for tea at the Empress!!

Such cute boys!!!

We walked downtown and listened in to this walking tour. It was "haunted Victoria!".... The people looked kindof cold and bored ....

You find the neatest things when you look around..... This was a stunning chalk drawing of a penguin. 

I had to take a picture of Isaac choosing the stairs to race Chris and Elliot up to the room!!

Mexican Train ...

My seat was right by the fire ....

Here Nona .... These next pictures are for you!  My children showing off their flexibility for you!!

So after Mexican Train and flexing, it was almost 10:30 and I was tired, so I left this crew to just 'rest my eyes' til midnight.  Here is the ball dropping at midnight (which we had already seen New York time at 9pm!!)....

Here is Elliot and Chris sharing a cuddle looking at a few of the fireworks over the harbor!!  

My sweet Isaac coming in for his midnight kiss!!! Love this kid .... It was such a sweet night. The kids were happy to stay up late and I heard this morning that Chris was passed out on the couch til midnight while the boys did who knows what til midnight!!!  Great age!!

The view from my bed this morning ... Oh my goodness so beautiful!!!