PNE

I took the girls and Sedona's friend, Julianne, to the PNE today. We had sooo much fun! We did a lot of rides (their favourites were the roller coaster and Hang gliding), saw a few shoes (horse competition, acrobatics, and Superdogs), pet some animals,

and ate some good ol' fair food!

Writer's Festival

My book club did our yearly writer's festival visit, along with dinner. This year, we saw Kim Thuy, who wrote "Ru," all about her experiences as a boat person from Vietnam. She was a fantastic speaker! I was also supposed to see Alison Wearing, and Linda Holeman, but we were camping that weekend with the girls' cousins, and it just didn't happen! I read both of their books though, and would highly recommend them. Wearing wrote, "Confessions of a Fairy's Daughter," and Holeman has written a number of books, but I read "The Linnet Bird." We are so lucky to have such amazing talent visit the coast!

Jedidiah Island

We have been blessed to have the most fabulous summer! We have lived outside on the water and the trails. Today our friends Glen and Breanna took us over to Jedidiah Island, an island I;ve always heard about. It took about 45 minutes by their zodiac, and Glen is an amazing boat driver! We even saw a sea lion on our way, my first ever! Once we got to the island, we explored the original homestead and pasture/orchard, went for a hike, and swam in the bay. Just another lovely day on the coast!!!

Rubber Boa

Yesterday Aja and I went for a bike ride on some nearby trails. We ran into this guy, and having no idea what it was, took a picture of it to identify when we got home. It turns out it is a Rubber Boa, a member of the Boa Constrictor family. When we looked it up, it said to let the Ministry of Environment know as it's an uncommon species around here. I reported it, plus sent it to a local biologist friend, who in turn sent it to another biologist on the coast. Apparently there has only ever been one other sighting on the coast.... pretty cool find!

Babysitting Bud

One of the girls' favourite jobs- taking care of Geo's dog Bud!!

Tye Dye from Great Uncle Paul

Thanks Uncle Paul for the great tye dye dresses! The girls love them!!!! If you look up close, you can see Sedona has a new look: a few braces on her top teeth!

Animal Museum

After our boat ride the other night with Bruce and Sandy, we were invited back to Sandy's parents place. Her Dad is an avid hunter, and has quite the collection in his basement. The girls got to get up close and personal with some of the animals. This is just a snippet of what he has!

Dinner Cruise

Last night our neighbours/friends, Bruce and Sandie, took us out for dinner on their 43 foot boat. It was one of the highlights of our summer- so relaxing and fun. Bruce is a 50 year old child at heart, and the girls had a blast bombing around in the zodiac with him (driving it too)! We also jumped off the boat which was a lot of fun. Sedona declared afterwards, that it was one of the best days of her life!

SPCA Camp

The girls are in a 2 day SPCA camp where they learn all about animals and animal welfare. When I went to pick them up yesterday, they had the biggest smiles on their faces holding the new kitten! The girls both love animals, Sedona in particular, who now has a dog walking job a few times a week!

New Helmet

Sedona has been wanting a new bike helmet, but I told her she'd have to pay herself, as hers was in perfectly good shape and she had chosen than one. One day when Aja and I were at the bike shop, she declared, "I would like to get Sedona a new helmet." I asked her why and she said, "because I love her and she wants a new one." Now, these are not always the kinds of comments thrown around here, so we wanted to jump on it, so we each put in a bit of money to get Sedona her new helmet!

Katherine Lake

We spent a cloudy day at the lake last week, but it didn't bother the girls. They spent 3 hours straight in the lake with their friends, before getting out when their lips started turning blue!

Sharing the Blackberry Patch

When we were picking blackberries (this time I showed Sedona how to make a pie), she heard a noise and thought it was a dog. It was this deer, only 5 feet away, eating from the same patch as us. We shared the same blackberry patch for about 5 minutes be

fore she slowly walked away.

Pie Anyone?

Aja and I were reading an Amelia Bedelia book a few weeks ago and they were making a pie. It made us feel like pie, so the next day, Aja and I made a peach pie. She did all the rolling and cut the peaches herself, and it was delicious!

A night out with Grandma Lou

Last night Chris, my Mom and I went out for a nice dinner just before she left!