We have been a very busy family as of late. I was away in Botswana for the better part of July and Jimmy was super busy being an awesome Dad to Claire & Rhys. The summer seems to have flown by and now fall is upon us. The kids are getting bigger and talking so much now. It is really exciting.

Our neighborhood is rapidly changing as well. There seems to be construction on every block. Claire & Rhys love it and as ‘Monkey see, monkey do’ they mimic what they see into play. Diggers are big fun in our house  🙂

 

Yesterday we had an impromptu picnic after work…

Claire & Rhys have been asking for a picnic for a while so after a long day we hit the park & had so much fun!

 

Our friend Fred was in town for Canada Day with the Royal Canadian Navy. His ship, HMCS Vancouver, was docked at Canada Place to help with the Canada Day festivities.

We were lucky that he was able to give us a tour of the ship. Needless to say, Claire & Rhys were very excited!

The steep stairs inside the ship were daunting especially when the kids wanted to climb them alone. Rhys was a little timid when we went into rooms/ walkways that only had red lights in them and no windows. A bit scary for sure.

It was a fun day 🙂

Claire was too tired after the ship tour to walk back to the van:Claire

Canada Day in North Vancouver consists of a good parade and meandering around the neighborhood.

We had a nice pancake breakfast and a slow morning. Once we heard the bagpipes it was time to walk to the main street two blocks from our house and watch the parade. Claire enjoyed it but Rhys was scared of all the noise until he saw a ‘lion’ mascot. Then he really got into it.

An extra bonus this year was a 1st birthday party in the afternoon for Madeline. Claire & Rhys love birthday parties and this one was no exception. We all had a great time and got to see lots of friends.

It was a god day 🙂

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Last month Jimmy hosted the 9th annual Vic West skate contest in Victoria. It takes months of preparation for the contest so he has been very busy gathering sponsors, donations, organizing judging, local skate shops etc.

The kids & I traveled with him so we could all visit friends and family while we were in town.

It was a nice warm day, the contest was great with a large turn-out and Jimmy once again did an awesome job as organizer/ MC for the day. The kids were really excited to hear his voice booming out from the microphone. Claire got pretty upset at one point because she is such a daddies girl and wanted him all to herself.We are proud of the great job he does every year with the skate contest.

We all look forward to next year which will be Jimmy’s 10th year running the contest!

 

On a recent trip to a park the sun was shining and the day was nice and warm. It has been a cold Spring so any day with sunshine is a great day!

Claire & Rhys saw some bees buzzing around some pretty purple flowers. The kids are really into all things bugs so spotting a bug like this keeps them occupied for a very long time 🙂

Jimmy captured some great pictures of the bees:

When Jimmy was away recently in California on his skateboarding get away I met up with some friends of ours in Deep Cove for a beach play date.

Jenny & Ben have boy/ girl twins as well who are exactly 1 month younger than Claire & Rhys. We always have a good time meeting up with them.

The day was not too cold and only slightly overcast. The tide was really low and there were lots of crabs and fun things to look at on the rocky beach. We had fun popping bubbles that Jenny had brought along and we were all amused how the boys/ girls had matching muddy buddy outfits on 😉 We even spotted a mother duck and her ducklings at the sea shore.

Claire & Rhys had so much fun and by lunch time they were really tired and happy to get home for nap time.

We will definitely be going back to Deep Cove.

Claire, Jenny & Eloise:

Sam & Claire:

Eloise & Claire:

Ben walking with Rhys back from crab hunting on the shore:

Crab spotting:

Momma Duck with her ducklings:

Rhys is amazing at spotting bugs. At one our favorite local parks he recently pointed out a ladybug to Claire & they had a great time looking at it, saying ‘hello’ and eventually letting it go on its way.

Jimmy was there for the encounter and took these great photos…he said that Rhys picked up the little stick all on his own and was very tender and gentle to his new friend 🙂

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