The story of the Great Gray Owl

For the last three weeks, a lone Great Gray owl has been reported in the West Sechelt area. For the uninitiated, the Great Gray is an extremely rare visitor to the Sunshine Coast; perhaps 5 ever recorded sightings. Ever since its initial reporting, myself and Andrew have periodically checked the area, but with no avail. As you have learned in the previous post, Lisa and I went for a mountain bike ride as Nanna or (Nanny) graciously hung with the kids for an hour. Lisa and I were headed by the exact location where the Great Gray has been spotted, and of course as I pedalled up the hill I thought how great it'd be to the see this magnificant bird, the largest owl behind the Snowy, and to see it on NY eve would be an extra bonus.
As soon as Lisa said "What was that?!" I knew we'd found the Great Gray. Spooked by some ATV's, it flew onto a cedar limb across the road. I did not see it fly but Lisa could not get over how big the wing span was. For 10 minutes it was just us and the owl as it perched 20 feet off the ground. We slowly made our way closer and closer, and got some extraordinary looks at the owl. No binos were needed,though a fancy camera would have been great as we were 20 feet away and had some awesome views of it.
After 10 minutes, we moved on and the owl remained in the same place; we left it to perform its dinner hunt. To get so close without spooking the owl away was such a bonus. What a great omen for 2008!

I have added a picture for reference but I sadly did not take this picture.

All the best in 2008!

Lisa and Chris' totally dirty N.Y. eve party

Can't think of a better way to ring in New years eve than gettin' dirty with my wife on the trails in W.S.

A happy 2008 to all of our peeps.

Chris, Lisa, Sedona, and Aja

Aja's First Bike Ride

The helmet's still a bit big, but she wore it for a while to get used to it. LQ, Sedona's stars and stripes helmet's for you- a hand me down from a friend.

Thanks for the Dresses Nana!

We're off to a wedding in Robert's Creek today in our matching dresses.

Birthday Fun with Dad! (Isn't he Looking Good?!)

Painting a sign in the garage to put in front of my window that will say "Sedona's Garden."

Click on the photo so you can see Aja's hair standing on end!

Pancake Breakfast

Yum Yum! (Cousin Owen, Zya and Sedona)

Merry Christmas!

From the Allens!

Aja the White Nosed Reindeer

 

A Real Princess

Sedona just couldn't wait until Christmas day when this box arrived for her from Grandma Lou. She has her very own Princess wardrobe now along with 7 pairs of shoes to please her shoe fetish, crowns, jewelry, a fan, fancy gloves and they all go away in her Princess chest.

Christmas Tree After and Before

Sicko

We saw Michael Moore's newest documentary the other night called "Sicko" about the American health care system. It was a real eye opener and as far as we're concerned, a must-see movie for all. Very scary!!!!!

Bright Nights

For the second year now, we went to Bright Nights at Stanley Park. Here are some shots from our visit.



Enjoying the merriment of the season.


Sedona and friend Zoe checking out the lights.





Examples of the beautiful display of lights from the train.

Me and Gramps

 

Little Baboushka

A thrift store find by Grandma Karen!

New Roomates

Sedona is in her glory as we're dogsitting Nana and Bill's dogs for 4 days. She had an instant love affair with these dogs when she was a baby, whereas it's taken a bit of time for Aja to warm up to them. After all her sleepovers at their place, Sedona tells me how to take care of them, such as "Bill breaks up their treats like this." She fed them in bed this morning and then sat with Aja on the couch to show her they're not that scary! By the end, Zack (aka "Grumpy because he's old" by Sedona) even let Aja pull on his tail for about three minutes which ended up making her laugh in the end.

The Christmas Baking Begins

4x4ing the Snow

Sedona's friend Isabella had her third birthday party today. As you can see, it was a winter wonderland here today. Because the roads were so bad, we decided to get there pushing the girls in the stroller. It was well worth the push through the snow- Sedona's favourite part was decorating and eating the gingerbread girls.

Friday Afternoon + Sun in November

We love our Friday afternoons. It means time to get together as a family and celebrate the upcoming weekend. A 10 minute walk takes us to one the best beaches on the Coast. Panoramic views of the Strait, Sechelt and Vancouver Island are to be had. The best thing about this beach is we never see anyone there. The image below is Mt Elphinstone rising over the village of Sechelt.




This picture is the of the sun setting on the Trail Islands. A great place to soak in the beauty of our surroundings here in West Sechelt.

A couple more pics from Saturday night

Power to the people!

 


Last night we had the Denham/Rohliceks over for dinner. Sedona was pumped all day long with the thought of three friends coming over to play with. After hours of playing downstairs, a delicious dinner and desert prepared by Lisa, the kids settled down for a moment of picture taking. Finally at 8:45pm the party wound down and Sedona was ready to call it a night. Mom and Dad were about 5 minutes after that! Thanks for the great time Katherine, River, Seb, Julian, and Kalyiana. love Aja, Sedona, Chris, and Lisa.

Father Daughter Bonding

Jingle Bells

Today in Sedona's music class, they made homemade instruments using paint sticks, bells, beads, pipe cleaners and stickers. Sedona's singing "Jingle Bells" here to get into the Christmas spirit!

First Snowfall of the Season

We were all feeling a little tired and were wondering what to do with the night. We decided to have a picnic on the living room floor for a change (Notice anything different about Chris)? Sedona set the blanket for us and while we were eating, we looked outside and knew exactly how we were going to pass the next hour.... play in the snow. Big white flakes were coming down, so we bundled up and went for a walk around the block. Aja enjoyed her first snowfall, singing the entire way!

Picture Perfect!

Our Little Bookworm

We love watching Sedona "read" now. You only have to read her a book once and she remembers the title and main plot and tells it back to you. We go to the library once a week to exchange her 30 or so books because I get sick of them by that time. She is such a bookworm! So now book time in the mornings sometimes consists of her reading books to Aja as well.

Figuring it all out

Morning Walk

 


Sedona pushing one of her many babies on our morning walk. It's a cold, frosty morning out there but the sun is shining.

 

 

Less than a week after the first crazy west coast storm of the winter hit us, Friday was a cloudless calm day. To mix it up a bit on our Friday afterschool family time, we loaded up the row boat and headed up to Trout Lake for a row. This is the lake that Dad used to take us fishing as kids, but we didn't see any evidence of fish yesterday. We did however have a flat lake, a peaceful row and a Hoodie, Kinglets, and Hairy Wood pecker to keep us company.
Life Is Good
chris

My first solo bath

 


Sadly, Dad's hairy leg made the frame but overall I had just a great time in my Friday night soak!