The weather is changing and fall is upon us. This is my favorite season…leaves changing, cozy sweaters, hot cocoa, cool weather.

Last week Jimmy and the kids went to a local park. Claire & Rhys sat next to each other on a tree root for a very brief moment and Jimmy was able to capture it. Toddlers move so quickly and hate to sit still….makes for some tricky photo ops:

Jimmy recently had an evening off and attended a Vans sample sale at Antisocial skate shop in Vancouver. He doesn’t often go out at night because bed-time can be a tumultuous time for Claire & Rhys because they don’t like sleeping most of the time – it takes two of us to coax them into it 😉

This evening though they fell asleep without any struggles. I had some nice one-on-one time with them which was nice and Jimmy enjoyed seeing friends and having a few beers. He also picked up some really cute kids shoes some of which will match his vans 🙂

Here is a pic of the new high tops for Claire & Rhys…. very male looking shoes indeed that is why we went back to the sale on Sunday and I picked up some very bright pink ones for Claire. I never thought I would be that Mom to go super girly but I am drawn to pink for some reason.

We recently purchased a double chariot from a family in our twins group for a bargain price. I am sure that it was never used – it is in excellent condition. I jumped at the opportunity without really thinking it through…. Turns out we only have our two old retro bikes which are not ideal for towing a chariot bike trailer!

We gave it a go last weekend on a nice flat trail in West Vancouver. It was so much fun! I think the kids enjoyed themselves (they even seemed okay with new helmets) and I realized how much I miss biking. Jimmy skated next to us which Claire & Rhys loved to watch. I now want a more burly bike to tow the chariot and to hit some more bike trails with our family.

Here are some pics from our first chariot adventure:

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I like some of the photo apps that I have for my iphone. The photos always come out pretty neat.

Some candid shots from the park using Hipstamatic:

The weekend following our Alberta trip Bob came to visit and stay overnight. The kids had so much fun! We went hiking, took a trip to the park, read some fun books and had  some great conversation.

Come visit us again soon Bob!

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Our final Alberta post 🙂

After having breakfast with Brian and Annalee we had a nice mellow afternoon before heading over to my parents home for a family BBQ and a visit with my Godparents, Linda and Norman.

My parents yard is really pretty and lush with flowers and plants. They have a fountain which Claire & Rhys zeroed in on almost immediately! It was a hot day so we let them loose in the water . They got drenched very quickly but had a great time! My sister and her family came over and we all shared a delicious meal that my Mom made and which my sister and Dad helped to cook. Thanks guys! It was super yummy 🙂

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Aunt Linda and Uncle Norman came by just as we were finishing up and we had a great visit with them. It has been a few years since we last had a visit and it was the first time Claire & Rhys met my godparents. It meant a lot to me to have that time with them. Although it was a fairly brief visit it really was great to catch up.

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My sister Sarah, niece Michaela and my mom all have their birthdays in July & August so Jimmy and I picked up a DQ ice cream cake and we sang them  ‘Happy Birthday’. It is always sad to miss all those important dates with my family throughout the year so it was nice to help celebrate in person.

We said farewell and traveled back to the hotel for one last night in Medicine Hat. The next day we traveled to Calgary where my parents joined us for one last visit in our final hotel before we flew home the next morning. Claire had a hard time on take-off on the return trip and was again a ‘wild raccoon’ but it didn’t matter….we were sad to leave everyone but also happy to return to our sweet little home.

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Thank-you Mom and Dad for hosting our visit and we will come back very soon!

The morning after the family reunion we ventured out to meet Brian and Annalee for breakfast. This was the first time they met Claire & Rhys and almost four years since the last time we all met which was our wedding. Brian and Annalee are the parents of our great friend Kenny. We share a very special friendship with them.

It was so nice of them to come down from their more Northern Alberta town and visit with us in Medicine Hat. It was such a treat having those few hours together and hear all about their family’s lives and tales of their twins growing up.

Thanks for the visit Brian & Annalee. It is always so nice to see you and we wish you all the best! Thanks so much for the wonderful and very thoughtful books 🙂

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After a good night sleep in Calgary we departed to Medicine Hat to see the family! The car ride went very well and the scenery was beautiful.

We stayed in a hotel as my parents were deep into renovating their house. Once we checked in and got cozy in the hotel suite my Mom met us for a late lunch. We had the entire restaurant to ourselves which was good because Claire & Rhys were very vocal and rambunctious 😉 We all really enjoyed the visit and the yummy food.

After a swim in the hotel pool and after dinner my Mum returned to the suite along with my Dad who had just finished work. We had a great visit. The kids swarmed their grandparents and had lots of fun. After the monkeys went to sleep we shared some wine and got caught up on all the latest news.

The next day we departed for the family reunion in Saskatchewan. The temperature was super hot!! We arrived early in the day to a little campground where it was taking place. It was so nice to introduce Jimmy, Claire and Rhys to all my cousins and aunts/ uncles. We caught up with everyone and camped out in the shade. It was an insane day for Claire & Rhys because they had zero naps….except for a brief 30 minute sleep in their car seats as we drove around the little town. They typically have two 1.5 hour sleeps during the day so they were exhausted by the end of the day.

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Just over one week ago we traveled by plane to Calgary, Alberta. We were en-route to where my family lives about 3 hours from Calgary. It had been two+ years since I was last there and about five years since Jimmy visited. The majority of my family had not met Claire & Rhys yet so it was an important trip that we were looking forward to.

We also timed the visit to allow us to attend a family reunion in Saskatchewan. Jimmy hadn’t met any of my family on my Dad’s side except for one cousin that lives in Texas so I was pretty excited for him to meet the Ukrainian farmer side of my heritage.

When we arrived to the airport we were walking up the ramp to get to the departures level and Jimmy saw a pro skater he recognized along with a bunch of other skaters. He looked again and saw his friend from skate camp days standing there as well. It was the Element team that arrived in Vancouver for their last stop on their cross-Canada tour. Jimmy’s friend, Levi Brown, is a pro skater and is such a nice guy. I met him years ago at skate camp in California. We really enjoyed seeing him again. How funny is it when you bump into the most random people at the strangest times?

Levi skating…

Levi meeting Claire & Rhys for the first time….

The plane trip to Calgary went alright. I was nervous that they would cry the entire time but thankfully even if that had happened the flight was only over one hour. Travel to the airport, checking in and take-off went great. We were able to all sit in the same row and had three seats to share between  the four of us. We wanted to travel this summer because the kids turn two in December and after that time we would need to purchase seats for all four of us which is expensive!

We fed Claire & Rhys apples at take-off so their ears wouldn’t hurt and once we were in the air we watched some cartoons and before we knew it we were ready to descend into Calgary. Now our descent wasn’t as great as our ascent…..Claire was like a wild raccoon in Jimmy’s arms and tried as hard as she could to get our of his grip. She cried hard and wore herself out by the time we were at the terminal. It is good to know that any future plan trips will involve our own space and no wild raccoons 😉

We arrived into the prairies and decided to break up the trip by staying overnight in Calgary before we drove to my parents home. Claire & Rhys fell asleep quickly once we were on the road in our rental van and the adventure continued…….