A week or so ago we decided to get out of the house and go for a walk in the woods. It had been raining all weekend and regardless of the rain we needed some fresh air.

We went to one of our favorite trails in North Vancouver and had a fun time. We followed the stream down the path then climbed a huge set of stairs that Claire & Rhys did not want any help from us to climb. We walked past the local armory and played on an old gun turret then headed to Mahon Park for some swing time and puddle stomping. One of our favorite things to do.

After such a nice long time outside Claire & Rhys had a really good sleep that night- yay!

 

 

Now that the kids are older and in preschool they have been helping me with some weekly baking so they have a yummy little treats for ‘snack time’ at school.

Claire & Rhys love it and are so proud of themselves for helping in the kitchen. It warms my heart seeing them in the little aprons we bought for them and having them be interested in something I like to do. Rhys usually wonders away to go play trains with Jimmy but Claire will stick around through it all and sit on a little step stool and peer into the oven and watch them bake.

The best is when the mini-muffins have cooled down and both Claire & Rhys sit down to try them. It is so cute.

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This past weekend we decided Claire needed a little hair cut as her bangs were covering her eyes. We thought it would be fun to visit a little barber shop in Edgemont Village that we had walked passed many times. There always seemed to be so many parents and kids waiting inside so that was a good sign. Also, it had to be better than the other location we went to occasionally which charged ridiculous prices for kids cuts.

We waited almost an hour for the barber to be free and we were pleasantly surprised how calm and patient Claire & Rhys were. They had a box full of kids books to keep us busy and as they love reading the time passed quickly.

Claire was so excited to sit in the barber chair and have her hair cut. After the cut was finished she sweetly said ‘thank-you’ to Brenda, the barber, and had a giant smile on her face as she climbed off the chair. I am thinking Claire & I will lots of fun when she is older going and having Mom/ Daughter spa days 🙂

It turned out to be the perfect rainy day activity!

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My parents came out to Vancouver for a visit in September. During their stay on the West Coast we decided to take a little trip to Seattle to shop at the outlets and to wonder around the city for a few days. We rented a home which turned out to be not so great but we made the most of it and had some fun.

The trip down to Seattle was interesting when we got to the border. We had a 45 minute wait and the kids started to get restless after 30 minutes so Jimmy took them out of the van to get a little fresh air. Traffic started to move pretty quickly and before I knew it I was alone in the van almost at the border crossing and Jimmy was running as fast as he could go carrying two 2.5 year olds in his arms on wet grass. It was insane! He just made it in time before it was our turn to see the border agent. Lesson learned….do not get out of your vehicle at the last traffic light!

It was nice having time alone with my parents and Claire & Rhys really enjoyed having their Grandparents all to themselves. We went to a great playground in the Green Lake area and the house we stayed in had a great playroom filled with fun toys for the kids. The highlight for sure was visiting the Seattle Children’s Museum where everything is interactive and the kids could roam about and have fun. It was very cool.

 

A few months ago we had Jimmy’s photographer friend (Carly) meet up with us at Granville Island to take some family pictures of us.

We spent a few hours walking around Granville Island on a nice sunny morning having Carly and her photographer Mom (Evelyn) take endless pictures of us. It was really mellow doing it this way and the kids were so good! Claire was a ham as usual and she sure loved the camera being pointed at her! Rhys was good as well but really… he just wanted to play in the playground.

We are now sold on having professional pics done once or twice a year.

Here are a couple shots from that day. Look out for an additional unseen photo or two come Christmas card time 😉

 

 

My favorite season is upon us! Fall is such a pretty time of year.

We have a lot of fun things to look forward to in the next few busy months. We plan to make the most of everyday!

Here are some cute pics of Claire & Rhys ‘swinging into fall’:

Claire & Rhys are still on the wait list for preschool so in the meantime we signed them up for ‘kids club’ which is preschool with more flexibility. We sign them up for how ever many days per week we want. We started off with one day per week in October.

The kids loved it! Jimmy & I sat in the classroom for the first 5 minutes then said goodbye to the kids and slowly made our exit. Claire & Rhys were so excited at all the new toys and craft areas that they barely noticed us leaving. Jimmy & I drove to the nearest coffee spot and had a great time with a mini-date/ re-connecting.

When it was time for the class to end all the kids exited one at a time from the classroom. Claire & Rhys were the last to leave and the teacher asked us to come in as they did not want to leave. We found them sitting on the reading carpet immersed in books. Awesome!

They are excited to go back this week – success!

Wendy, Chris, and Senna visited us just before my trip to Botswana.

We had such a good time and it was such a pleasure seeing Claire & Rhys enjoying their Aunt, Uncle and cousin so much. The relationship between cousins is so very sweet… Claire & Rhys adore their cousin Senna.

Making the most of our time together- we went to the aquarium, to the park, to the water-park and we went bike riding with Claire & Rhys on their new push bikes!

We enjoyed every moment of our visit together and look forward to the next one.