Confessions of a Skateboarding Widow

Wordless Wednesday - This is his new favourite place to sit

2012-02-22T08:50:00.001-08:00

He likes to look out the window and watch Albert, the dog.

Trice Farms is Open for Business!

2012-02-18T16:15:00.000-08:00

Trice Farms Pond & Garden Centre opened it's doors for business today!

Edison and I were very eager to go and visit on their opening day... for those that don't know, Trice Farms is owned by my Dad and Renata, and we are very excited for them!

Although it's technically not Spring yet, Spring is in the air at Trice with all the beautiful Spring flowers in stock. Even though it's early in the season, if you're in the neighbourhood, you should definitely check it out!

Their early Spring hours are Wednesday - Monday 10am-5pm (closed on Tuesdays) and they are located at 24565 Dewdney Trunk Road in Maple Ridge.

Anyone who knows me, knows that if I have my camera and there are flowers in the vicinity, I can't help myself. Taking pictures is a must!

Edison is already shopping for seeds!

Today I really did feel like Spring is just around the corner... I can't wait!

Wordless Wednesday - Jonathan getting creative with bath time?

2012-02-15T09:29:00.000-08:00

I love turning on the camera to see what Jonathan and Edison have been up to while I'm at work... and finding things like this...

Wordless Wednesday - Tickling the ivories

2012-02-08T13:27:00.000-08:00

Out of the Mouths of 8th Graders...

2012-02-03T08:51:00.000-08:00

I teach guitar to my grade 8 Explorations classes at school. We just started a new term on Wednesday, so I got all new classes.... 150 new names to memorize!

At the start of the term for my grade 8's, I decided to hand out a little questionnaire to find out what their experience is (if any), with guitar. Later in the term, I teach them about blues music. They watch a video on the blues, learn the 12-bar blues progression, and learn how to write melodies using a blues scale.

In the questionnaire, I ask them to tell me what they know about the blues. "The blues is..."

These were some of my favourite responses:

The blues is...

"A pretty colour"

"Funky music"

"Boring"

"A hockey team in St. Louis"

And my personal favourite: "Old guys with raspy voices"

Oh, how I love my job!

Wordless Wednesday - More fun at the playroom

2012-02-01T07:50:00.000-08:00

Getting' My Craft On

2012-01-28T14:17:00.000-08:00

I've never really considered myself all that crafty. In my younger years, I knew how to crochet and I'd done a cross-stitch or two... but I never really kept up with it. I kinda always thought that now-a-days it was probably easier and cheaper to just go out and buy stuff, than to try to make it myself.

Last week I stumbled across this book in a discount bin at a bookstore and I thought that the little home-made stuffed animals in it were really cute. Suddenly inspired to get crafty, I decided to buy it and try making one of them for Edison. And if it's not a total disaster, I might make another one down the road.

Some of the softies are a little... interesting, but I liked the look of this guy... the Tramp Heart Bear

So off I went to the craft store to get all of the ingredients for my little bear. I'm not totally clueless in the craft store... most of the things I can handle - felt, thread, buttons - easy peasy. But floss, what the heck is floss? I only know of one kind of floss and I don't think it's meant to sew little bears together. I had to ask an employee, who had to ask her supervisor, and in the end discovered that floss is a thicker type of thread that is mainly used for embroidery-type stuff. I also discovered that floss comes in a billion different colours.

The pattern

I attached the pattern with safety pins instead of regular pins... less chance of stabbing myself that way

Hearts sewn together with the infamous floss

Time is start sewing his little body together

Don't own a sewing machine... so hand sewing it is!

Cross-stitched the floss onto the tummy

Button's added and heart attached. His tummy is complete.

Well, this is all I've done so far. I'll put up more pictures as I work on it. Stay tuned...

A New Play Area in the Making

2012-01-27T13:35:00.000-08:00

The upstairs landing of our house is a decent size. It's not just a narrow hallway with bedroom doors... it's not humungous, but there's a bit of space to move around in.

After we set up the train table at Christmas time, Jonathan and I decided to put it in the upstairs hall and turn it into a little play area for Edison - the man with many toys.

The walls were rather blank, they didn't scream "fun kids play area", so I've been keeping my eye out for something cute to decorate the walls with in his little area.

I didn't want to spend a ton of money and when I found these cute little wall cards by Children Inspire Design on for half price, I thought they would do the trick nicely.

Edison, playing with his trains

Observe the boring walls

I ordered the wall cards online and they arrived in the mail a couple of days ago. I love getting things (other than bills) in the mail! So, I unwrapped my little parcel, got out my trusty glue dots, and away I went...

Our happy little boy

What To Do On A Blustery Day

2012-01-26T07:28:00.000-08:00

As soon as the winds pick up, Jonathan's surf radar goes off big time! This past Tuesday was quite a windy day so Jonathan packed Edison up and off they went to White Rock beach to watch some waves.

Jonathan took some pictures while they were there. It looks a bit cold and rainy, but it still looks like they had fun. Edison is quite the trooper and never seems to be bugged by the weather... except for the snow, as we learned last week.

Wordless Wednesday - Can't take my eyes off this boy... or something like this happens...

2012-01-25T07:22:00.000-08:00

Who me?

A Weekend with the Trottiers

2012-01-24T07:56:00.000-08:00

My sister Sara and her husband Ryan were here for a visit this past weekend. They don't come home very often, and when they do it's only for a couple of days because of their busy work schedules. But hey, we'll take whatever we can get. It does however, make for a very busy couple of days... especially for the little one.

We spent the first day at my Dad's, where Sara and Ryan got to see the farm for the first time. We also had to pay a visit to the CheeseWorks store (a must visit if you're in Maple Ridge). We also went to Costco, and we stopped for milkshakes at the Bobby Sox 50's diner. We had an awesome dinner and had a great evening of visiting and hanging out.

On Sunday we drove out to Chilliwack to visit my grandparents and then went back to my Mom's house to hang out for the evening. Sara and Ryan had some friends over and the crowd was quickly divided: guys in the living room watching football, girls in the kitchen chatting and making dinner... what a surprise!

I hardly took any pictures during their visit... silly me!! Here are a few of the ones I did manage to take:

Momma and sister Sara

The gals in the kitchen

Edison and Amber's nephew Joe... passing the airplane back and forth

Joe showing Edison his Nintendo DS... so cute!

I know this picture is blurry... and not exactly blog-worthy BUT I didn't realize my flash was off and this was my only shot of Edison riding the hobby horse. I thought it was so cute!

It was a fun visit... it went by way to fast as usual. We're looking forward to the return of the Trottiers in July... just in time for Edison's 2nd birthday!

Wordless Wednesday - My boy with the big brown eyes

2012-01-18T07:27:00.000-08:00

What's that White Stuff??

2012-01-15T15:20:00.000-08:00

It's the middle of January and we finally got our first real snowfall of the year!! Edison got a little taste of snow last winter but we were so much more excited this year because he can now go out and play in it!

When we got up yesterday and looked out the window, Edison was very fascinated by all the white stuff. He kept pointing and wanting to look out. About 5 minutes after we got up to start the day our power went out. I went downstairs and discovered that the coffee and waffles I planned to make for breakfast wasn't going to happen. I kept trying to turn on the light switches, forgetting that the lights weren't going to turn on. So, out we ventured in the snow for some breakfast.

After breakfast, we quickly ran into Superstore to get a few fun snow toys... a big toboggan for all of us to fit on, and a little one to pull Edison around in. We came home and started the bundling up process, excited to go out and play.

We decided to go over to my Dad and Ren's, where there are acres of untouched snow for us to mess up. Jonathan was on a mission to fly his (white) plane in the snow... so off we went.

Edison wore his snow pants for the first time. He was very unimpressed. By the time we got his boots on, he was even more unimpressed. The gloves and jacket put him over the edge. He did not love being bundled. He hated being pulled around on the toboggan. He stood on the porch and whined for pretty much the entire time that we were outside.

Why am I wearing this?!?

Getting his plane ready for flight

White plane on snow doesn't make for great pictures

White plane in blue sky... much better

Coming in for a landing

It got a boo boo

The farm in the snow

"Mom, I have had enough!"

His not-so-subtle hint

So his first play day in the snow wasn't the greatest. Snow is in the forecast for the next few days, so we're hoping he might like tobogganing down a little hill. We'll try that next. Or maybe snow is just not his thing until he gets a bit older. We'll see...

Wordless Wednesday - Sad to say goodbye to all the pretty lights

2012-01-11T07:28:00.000-08:00

My mom and I scouted out a couple of places in Abbotsford

An amazing house in Port Coquitlam

The VanDusen Festival of Lights

The New Year Begins!

2012-01-09T07:42:00.000-08:00

It's my first post of the New Year! It took me a few days... but I had to get back into the swing of things with returning to work... getting up early... hanging with Edison in the evenings. Tiredness is upon me, but it was a pretty smooth transition back into the old routine.

My Dad and Renata bought a property in Maple Ridge! It's been in the works for many months now, but New Years Day was the day they took possession and it was officially theirs! The farm has a Garden Centre on it as well as a house, barn, ponds, fields... Edison is going to have so much fun exploring this place as he grows up.

On New Year's Day we ventured the whole 3.6 kilometres to see it... that's right, we're practically neighbours! We got the grand tour, with some other friends and family, and then had a great lunch to celebrate this new chapter of their lives.

Their new house and cottage... which will be used as an office

The back yard... love the mountains in the background!

Edison loves running up and down ramps

Getting a tour of the property... checking out some of the greenhouses

Soon to be filled with hanging baskets

A greenhouse with heating tables

Everybody checking out the barn

The back of the garden centre... it the Spring it will be filled with trees and other fun plants

My Dad... showing us the room that may one day serve as a media room... yay big screen movies!

There are many, many huge Koi hiding in there

Trying to find the fishes...

Where are the fishies??

Renata's nephew Matteo walking around with Edison

Edison with Matteo and Elio, exploring the garden centre

We also headed way out to the back of the property... another pond!

A look back at the greenhouses and house

Anne, trying to peek through the bushes to see the neighbour's goats

Ahhh, sunset on the farm

Edison was checking himself out

The boys thought the closet was the best part of the whole house!

A little surprise from their friends Anne and Louie

The champagne is planted in a pot of dirt!

Congratulations Dad and Ren!! I'm looking forward to all of the amazing memories we are going to have there through the years!

Happy New Year!!

2011-12-31T23:08:00.000-08:00

We've had a great evening, spending time as a family.... thinking back on all the fabulous memories of 2011 and looking forward to all that 2012 has to bring! Happy New Year!

Planes, Trains, & Automobiles!!

2011-12-31T20:11:00.000-08:00

On Boxing Day Edison and I got up and went downstairs to get the day started while Jonathan had a bit of a sleep-in. After eating a little breakfast, Edison was quick to get back to all his fun new toys! He's been having lots of fun with all of them... it's really cute to watch him play and explore these new additions to his (rather large) toy collection.

He played a lot with his new airplane... which is practically the same size as him. He loves that the roof comes off so he can put all the little people in... and out... and in... and out.

All aboard!

The passengers are ready for their flight

It even has a cargo hold

Once Jonathan was up, we decided to have Christmas morning version 2.0. After all, Edison was still in his Christmas pj's... so why not bring out the train table and give him his last Christmas present. We didn't have any plans for the day and it was a good thing... that table took us (meaning mainly Jonathan) over 2 hours to put together! Edison loved every minute of discovering all the little bits and pieces as it slowly came together for the final product.

Very excited to see this big box

Helping his Daddy get the lid off

Always such a helper!

I can never get him to stay still long enough for a good picture

His table comes with planes, trains, and cars. We gave hime a couple of the planes to play with while the table was being set up.

One for each hand!

Jonathan loves putting things together!

Edison finally gets to put some of the pieces on the table!

He decided that the helicopter landing pad was more fun to balance on than land helicopters on

Putting the track together

Airplane ready for take off

Choo Choo!

The finished product! We kept a lot of the small parts (trees, signs etc.) out for now until he's a bit older.

He loves it! So much fun!

Wordless Wednesday - Tis the season of many colors!

2011-12-28T15:39:00.000-08:00

Christmas!!!

2011-12-26T17:33:00.000-08:00

It was a great Christmas Day in the Reichert house. As we progressed through Christmas morning and afternoon, I kept thinking to myself how this will be the last Christmas where things will be so relaxed. This was the last year where we could buy and wrap Edison's gifts right in front of him. This will be the last year where we can wake up on Christmas morning (at 10am), lounge around the house, make breakfast (which was more like brunch because we didn't eat it until noon), and then finally crack a present open. We slowly opened gifts all the way into the evening... in fact, Edison only opened one gift in the afternoon and waited until the evening to open a couple others. He's still quite oblivious to the whole concept of Christmas, but next year... he'll have a lot more understanding of what the day is all about.

We went to Jonathan's dad's house for our Christmas Eve dinner, which is where we go every year on Christmas Eve. It's a fun evening of yummy food and lots of music. Because we had a bit of a late night there, Edison didn't wake up on Christmas morning until almost 10am. We got up, ate a delicious breakfast and then Edison opened a gift from Auntie Sara.

It was really fun watching Edison unwrap the present. I think that because he had opened a few gifts the other day, he totally knew what to do when we put the gift in front of him. He immediately started ripping the paper off. Once he could see what was inside he no longer cared about the wrapping paper anymore... he just wanted into the box to get the toy out. It's such a change from last year when Edison had zero interest in the toy and was only entertained by the wrapping paper.

Edison is still totally fascinated with the ornaments

Edison loves doing animal sounds, so this Fisher Price Barn is right up his alley!

After playing with his barn for quite a while, Edison decided to build a super awesome mega blocks tower. He's really good at putting the pieces together and seems to like to build it as high as he can reach.

Digging for more pieces

My Dad came over around 3, while Edison was still napping. Once the little man woke up, we dug into a few more gifts.

A book from Grandpa and Zia!

Grandpa and Zia got Edison a Playmobil Airplane. Edison loves airplanes! He was so excited about it.

Helping Daddy put it together

Hehe, the lavatory... it even has a tiny roll of toilet paper on the other side

Putting the people inside the plane

Putting in all the little windows... it's very detailed

Another gift from Auntie Sara!!

His very own guitar!

He was very impatient while Jonathan was trying to put it together

What a rock star!

After dinner Edison buddied up to Grandpa to get some of his ice cream

This is the face I always get when I ask him to smile for the camera. What a goof ball!

Jonathan and I bought Edison a train table for Christmas... however we didn't give it to him. I felt that he'd already opened quite few gifts that he was really having fun playing with that I didn't want to overwhelm him with so much stuff. I wanted him to take time to play and enjoy the ones he'd opened and we decided to save the train table for the next day.

Stay tuned for our adventures in train table land...

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T15:02:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everybody. God with us!

Having a CrAzY Good Time in the Reichert Household

2011-12-24T14:24:00.000-08:00

Edison got his Christmas gift from Nana in the mail yesterday! We were having a totally lazy and relaxing day around the house yesterday and decided to open it up a couple of days early so that we could have it set up and ready to go on Christmas morning.

Marilyn bought Edison "Crazy Forts", which I had never even heard of before and they are pretty cool. After making a fort out of chairs and blankets a couple of weeks ago... this is definitely an upgrade in the land of forts! You can make so many different fort designs with this kit... the possibilities are pretty much endless. We decided to make an igloo type fort... big enough for all of us to fit in it.

It's quite handy that we still don't have any furniture in our front living room... we had lots of room to build it!

I think playing with the sticks and little connector balls was Edison's favourite part

He decided it would be fun to crawl on them

Always trying to help!

The finished structure

Now to cover it in bed sheets

Checking out the finished product

Jonathan, making a couple of modifications to the roof

Edison has been having tons of fun in his new fort. Thanks Nana, for such a great Christmas gift!

Adventures with Grandma Part 2 - The Vancouver Christmas Market

2011-12-23T13:13:00.000-08:00

After we wandered the Aquarium until closing time, we headed to the German Christmas Market outside the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. By the time we arrived at the market, Edison had fallen asleep in his car seat. I transferred him over to the stroller and, much to our surprise, he stayed sleeping. We bundled him up with a warm blanket and off we went.

We wandered through the market for a couple of hours and Edison slept through the whole thing! He missed the yummy food, the carousel, and all the beautiful lights... as well as a bit of a nauseating smell coming from a cheese stand.

It is a charming little market and we were really glad we decided to go at night because all the lights made it that much more fun to wander through. It's all very German and reminded me a lot of being in Leavenworth.

Nutcrackers!

The yummiest smelling fruit soaps!

Grandma, pushing the sleeping babe

Ornaments, ornaments, everywhere

Beer steins

Wooden ornaments

Hot apple cider

Chocolate dipped strawberries? Ummm.. yes please!

We never made it out to this market last year and I'm so glad we were able to see it this year. It was really fun. I'm looking forward to making this a Christmas tradition.... and maybe next year Edison will actually be awake for it!

Adventures With Grandma Part 1 - The Aquarium

2011-12-23T12:33:00.000-08:00

After waking up at Grandma's house on Wednesday morning, we relaxed around the house for the first part of the day... Edison played, the dogs played, I watched the Survivor finale. Around noon we decided to get on with our day and venture out to downtown Vancouver for a couple fun things that we had planned.

Our first stop was the Aquarium of course! My mom hadn't been there for a few years, so Edison was excited to show her all of the fishies. We watched the Belugas, we saw the dolphins, Edison had a bit of a tantrum/overtired emotional breakdown because I made him leave the play area, we saw more fishies. It was a good time had by all (minus about 20 minutes somewhere in the middle).

The Aquarium has an exhibit on called "Luminescence - A Celebration of Aquatic Light" so there were some areas with glowing fish and plants that were pretty neat to look at. They also have a Christmas tree powered by electric eels!

Where'd he go?

Pre-Christmas Warm-Up

2011-12-22T21:20:00.000-08:00

Jonathan was out of town for a couple of days this week so Edison and I decided to go have a sleep-over at Grandmas house!

I wasn't sure how he was going to do, sleeping on a mattress on the floor with me, but he slept just fine all night long. I didn't realize how much Edison moves around in his sleep until I was laying beside him all night... he really gets around!

Because we won't be seeing my Mom and Andy again until after Christmas, they had a couple of gifts for the little man that they wanted to see him open... so Edison got a little practice run before Christmas day, when he has a few more gifts waiting for him.

At first he really wasn't sure what to do with the wrapped present. Once Grandma started ripping it open for him, it didn't take him too long to figure it out. By the time he was opening the second gift, he was ripping the paper right off... excited to see what was inside.

Grandma, showing him how its done

Hmmm... what's in here??

Little cars!

Ready to attack gift #2

Mega Blocks!

Driving his car on the Mega Blocks box

Fancy new duds!

He wanted to try his new clothes on

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Andy for spoiling our little boy! It sure was fun watching his excitement while opening his gifts. We're looking forward to more wrapping paper fun on Sunday!

Videos of Mr. Smarty Pants

2011-12-19T22:04:00.000-08:00

Jonathan was playing piano at a music recital tonight while Edison (who's fighting a cold at the moment) and I, were having a quiet night at home. We were goofing around with the video camera... he likes to watch back the videos of himself... and I got a few cute videos of him that I thought I'd share.

Edison is really smart. It amazes me how much he picks up and how much he understands. He imitates so many things that we do and even though he doesn't have a lot of real words yet, he totally knows what we're saying.

He knows most of his major body parts and will point them out for you. Eyes, nose, feet. My favourites are when you ask him where his tongue is and he sticks it out as far as he can.... and when you ask him about his belly button he'll search down his stomach until he finds it and then push his finger right into it.

He has a few words and also a few animal sounds that he does. Much to my frustration, he won't say "Mama". I'll say "Edison, can you say Mama?" and he will shake his head NO. It kills me that Dada, fish, up, and barking like a dog all seem to rate higher than Mama.

One of the videos below is of Edison doing some of his animal sounds. He's been barking like a dog for quite a while now... probably because Albert's always barking up a storm in the back yard. When Edison sees Albert, he says "woof woof woof". In the last week or so, he's started doing a few other animal sounds. They may not be 100% perfect yet, but they're pretty good for a little guy.

Enjoy the videos!

Tis the Season for Christmas Lights and Gingerbread....Trains

2011-12-17T23:17:00.000-08:00

We had wonderfully relaxing day today... lounging around the house and enjoying our first day of Christmas break together. Edison played with toys, I was able to read my book for a while, Jonathan went out and flew his airplane... and then had to fish said airplane out of a tree. It was a great day.

We decided to top if off with a trip to the store to get all the fixings for a gingerbread house and on the way home, we drove past 3 houses all decked out with lights.

I LOVE driving around at Christmas time, looking at all the beautiful lights. If I had my way... I'd go to Timbuktu and back to look at lights. Jonathan on the other hand is a bit of a different story. He likes to look at Christmas lights... but not if he has to drive far to get to them. So, I pre-staked out 3 houses, all within 15 minutes of our house for us to go and look at. Maybe later on in the holidays I'll convince him to go look at some houses in a different town than ours.

Edison really enjoys looking at the lights as well. He doesn't always notice them right away, but once you point them out to him he doesn't take his eyes off of them. He sits there in his car seat, pointing away at all the pretty lights.

As we were shopping for all our gingerbread supplies, I saw kits for a gingerbread train and I was sold! I thought it would be fun to mix it up and decorate something other than a house. As a side note... I never make the gingerbread from scratch, I always buy a kit... mainly because I don't even like gingerbread. I like the decorating, and eating off the decorations... and then I leave the rest for Jonathan.

I knew Edison was going to be too young to try to decorate it himself, but I thought he'd still like to watch and I was right! He sat right up on the island, watching me put it all together. He also really enjoyed playing with all the candy and making a big mess. But the cutest part was when I started sticking the candy on the train, he started passing me each piece... I'd glue in on and he'd pass me another piece. He was very intent on helping me out in whatever way he could. He also discovered Smarties, which he'd never had before and once he ate one we were in big trouble... he was a Smartie eating machine. Nothing like a big sugar high right before bed!

Very excited for ginger-train making

Checking out the gingerbread... there were a couple of close calls when Edison tried to sample it

How do all these little pieces make a train?!?

Oooohhh, candy

Doesn't look very pretty yet, but at least it looks like a train

Time to decorate!

Edison, handing me some pieces

The big mess he made

Chooo Chooo! Ain't she a beauty??

It was a very Christmassy evening and a great way to end a great day! We're looking forward to spending many more great days together over the holidays!

Monkeying Around

2011-12-16T08:55:00.000-08:00

Edison is quite the energetic little monkey.... all the time! He loves climbing, sliding, and playing, and he never seems to get tired.

In the last month or so, we've taken him to quite a few different indoor play places for him to burn off some energy and practice his monkey skills. I have some great videos of him playing at a place called Jungle Jacks and I'm hoping I get a bit of time over the Christmas Break to upload them to the blog.

Yesterday Jonathan took Edison to our local Rec Centre where they have an indoor playroom for tots. I wasn't able to join them unfortunately.... having to go to that annoying place called work... but it looks like they had a great time!

On a mission, ready to play!

Trying not to sink...

Fun on the trampoline... I love how his legs are blurry, like a mini-roadrunner

Taking a quick break

Not sure he likes riding this motorcycle...

Whipping up a snack

It looks like they had a great time. I'm looking forward to joining them next time as today is my last day of work!!!! Well, for a couple of weeks anyway. I'm so excited to spend my days with Edison and Jonathan and not even think about work! It's going to be awesome! Stay tuned for blog posts about all of our fun Christmas Vacation comings and goings. We're staying around town, but we have some fun activities planned!

Wordless Wednesday - Ready for his close-up

2011-12-14T07:30:00.000-08:00

O Christmas Tree

2011-12-13T11:48:00.000-08:00

In the first weekend of December we decided to head out to our local garden centre (soon to be owned by my Dad and Renata!!) to get our Christmas tree.

Blogging about our Christmas tree made me realize that I've been blogging for just over a year now! Click here if you'd like to journey back to our Christmas Tree last year.... when Edison was just a wee one. This is Edison's second Christmas and its really cool to look back at the pictures from last year and marvel at how much he's grown and how different his Christmas experience will be this year. He'll be a little less interested in the wrapping paper, and a little more interested in the toy that hides inside... unlike last year when the fun part was crunching up the paper.

Since November 25th of 2010, I've managed to write almost 150 blog posts! I have to admit, when starting the blog I wasn't sure I was going to be able to sick with it. I've definitely surpassed my own expectations of this blog and I'm so glad I did. I love looking back at past blog posts... it's such a great way to remember this most amazing year we've had with Edison, who brings indescribable joy to our lives.

Okay... back to the Christmas tree. So, there we are at Trice Farms... looking at all the beautiful trees, when a scraggly Charlie Brown tree calls Jonathan's name and he gets his heart set on bringing it home. It's probably a good thing we picked a Charlie Brown tree anyway, because we didn't want to put a ton of ornaments on it due to the curiosity of Mr. Edison

Edison was more interested in the rocks... which actually come from my Dad's company

Loaded up and ready to go!

Perhaps I should have stood in a different spot so there wasn't a giant pole in the pictures

Jonathan and Edison built a fort in our living room, which we played in while decorating the tree

Lights!

Wondering why this candy cane doesn't taste as good

Edison, trying to help decorate. It was SO cute!

TA DA!

My mom asked why our lights only went up the middle of the tree... I said, the branches on this tree are so wimpy they can't hold anything as heavy as lights! Also, after we first decorated the tree, Edison took off all the ornaments that were within his reach... so we now have a tree that is only decorated on the top half. But, I guess you can't expect perfection in a house that has a 16 month-old terrorizing it all the time. It's definitely a Charlie Brown tree with character.

But... lets not forget the real reason Christmas is celebrated in the Reichert household...

For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given.

And the government will be upon his shoulder.

And His name will be called

Wonderful, Councillor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

- Isaiah 9:6

Out for a Stroll

2011-12-12T07:43:00.000-08:00

I love downloading pictures off my camera and discovering ones that I didn't even know were on there. Jonathan does a great job and taking pictures of their comings and goings during the day while I'm at work.

They frequently go to our local coffee shop (where Edison is always a big hit with the ladies that work there) and then from there, they walk to a park near by. Edison loves to walk... and he never seems to get tired!

Better Late Than Never...

2011-12-11T15:48:00.000-08:00

This is a video that I took while we were at the pumpkin patch that I've wanted to put up on the blog for a long time... I just never got around to getting it off my phone and onto the computer.

I like this video because it's cute to watch Edison walking through the pumpkins. But my favourite part is what he does as soon as he hears the airplane. Edison LOVES airplanes and has crazy airplane radar. Sometimes when we're outside, I'd never have noticed an airplane in the air but Edison will spot it right away. It's really cute... and impressive.

Click the fullscreen button if you'd like to see it bigger

Cheese Please

2011-12-10T21:18:00.000-08:00

A couple of nights ago, my mom and I decided to embark on a whole new adventure.... cheese making! It's actually something my mom has been wanting to do for a while. She ordered a couple cheese making kits online and we decided it was time to give it a whirl.

There are lots of different kinds of cheeses you can make at home. After reading the little book, the (seemingly) easiest and quickest one to make is mozzarella. In the grand scheme of things, making your own mozzarella is not that hard. However.... it was a harder than we thought it was going to be and our first batch was a bit of a failure.... well... a total failure.

All you need is milk. Add a little citric acid...

Add the magical ingredient called rennet...

Wait 5 minutes...

Ta da... you have curd and whey

You cut the curd...

And stir over heat. However, somewhere in here, we did something wrong because our curds are very soft

We put the curds through a sieve, which was also wrong

It is NOT supposed to look like this!

By the time we got to the step where we were supposed to microwave it for a minute and then kneed and stretch it like dough, our curds were still the texture of yogurt... not dough. We weren't really sure where we went wrong.

After doing some reading online, we decided to try a couple of things differently and go back into the kitchen for round two. Edison was very patient while we experimented, playing on the floor with toys, and the dog.

Here we go again, another gallon of milk

Hoping this time it works...

Checking to see if the whey is clear

Stirring over heat, this time the curds are much firmer... We're on the right track!

Removing the curds

I know... it doesn't look that appetizing yet

Edison checking out his new booster seat at Grandma's house!

Edison and Grandma

Hot! But at least it looks like dough, yay!

Stretching the mozzarella

We had to take turns stretching it because it was so cool!

Giving them a cool bath

Giving them an ice bath

Ta Da! Fresh mozzarella!

Insert 'cutting the cheese' joke here

Yum!! Edison LOVES it! He kept wanting more

Vacuum sealed and ready to take home

We sure had fun in our first adventure into the land of cheese. We're excited to try another type of cheese next and, hopefully, not have to throw out a whole gallon of milk in the process! Stay tuned...

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

2011-11-25T07:41:00.000-08:00

Okay, I know! I've been a little negligent in the land of blogging lately! The farther behind in my blog that I got, the more overwhelming it seemed... and the less I wanted to do it. But, here I am... attempting to catch up on the last month of our lives.

A few weeks ago, Edison and I ventured out to Abbotsford to see his Grandma (my mom) and explore the pumpkin patch at Maan Farms.

I would like the pumpkin patch to be a fall yearly tradition... Jonathan's is not quite as enthused about it as I am... maybe it will grow on him. We took Edison last year (even though he was only a teeny tiny 3 months old). We walked around, looked at the farm animals, and propped Edison up on some (dirty) pumpkins... Edison was less than impressed.

This year however, I knew that Edison was going to love the pumpkin patch. We checked out the petting zoo... which as a side-note, I have to say "petting zoos" are not what they once were. When I was a kid a petting zoo meant that you went into an enclosed area where all the animals were loose, and you got to walk around and pet whatever ones would let you near them. Now, it seems to be that all the animals are still in their fenced in areas and you can just pet them through the fence...if they come close enough. To me that's just not the same.

The bunnies were the only little guys we could pick up to pet.

This pig was a people person!

Edison kept trying to climb into the chicken coop

After the petting zoo we checked out the playground area for a while. Edison loves wandering around checking everything out. He also loves slides and this playground had a super cool wood slide that we went down a few times.

After we played, we headed on over to the pumpkin patch. As soon as we got to it, Edison was just motoring around... he was on a mission to check everything out. There were a variety of pumpkins, squashes, gourds, and even cucumbers in there, so he was picking up all sorts of things and walking around with them. He also marched right on into the corn maze like a man on a mission. It was pretty fun to watch him have such a good time.

At the end, we each got to pick a pumpkin to take home with us. Edison had a little Edison-sized pumpkin, I picked a larger one and got it half way to the check-out area and was wishing I'd picked a smaller one....but I managed to lug it there.

Overall, it was a really fun day. Edison had a blast, the weather was great, and we look forward to going back again next year.

Wordless Wednesday - His first word was "fish"... I wonder why??

2011-11-23T09:19:00.000-08:00

Wordless Wednesday - Cuddle time with Curious George

2011-11-03T07:42:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving Day

2011-10-10T09:56:00.000-07:00

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,

for his steadfast love endures forever!

Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,

whom he has redeemed from trouble…

… they cried to the LORD in their trouble,

and he delivered them from their distress.

He sent out his word and healed them,

and delivered them from their destruction.

Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love,

for his wondrous works to the children of man!

And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving,

and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!..

Let them extol him in the congregation of the people,

and praise him in the assembly of the elders…

Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things;

let them consider the steadfast love of the LORD.

~Psalm 107 ESV

DIY: Family Tree

2011-10-06T16:17:00.000-07:00

We have lived in our house for almost two years now... which is hard to believe! The whole time we've lived here, we haven't had anything on the wall above our fireplace in our living room. It's a pretty awkward space because it's indented in an arch shape.... so we never knew what to put there. Do we put a square framed piece of art? Do we put a circle mirror? The arch shape just totally threw me off and I wasn't sure what would look good.

One day I was shopping around and saw this picture frame kit that made a family tree when all the pictures and shapes were hung together. Right away I thought it would be a great fit above the fireplace and sure enough, I think it looks great!

We had to hang a template first so that you knew where to put all the nails

TA DA!

Wordless Wednesday - Introducing: Captain Tea Towel!

2011-10-05T07:46:00.000-07:00

Little Drummer Boy

2011-10-03T07:36:00.000-07:00

Jonathan had his drum kit set up in the house last week and we discovered that Edison might have some hidden talents. This was the first time Edison had ever sat at a drum set. Jonathan put a sick in both hands and off we went, hitting all the drums and cymbals like there was no tomorrow. He had a rockin' time... and probably woke the whole neighbourhood up in the process.

It started with Edison wanting up on his Daddy's lap...

Pretty soon he decided he could do it on his own!

Pretty good add for Vic Firth, I'd say...

Up, Up and Away!

2011-09-30T22:23:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday Jonathan did a trial flying lesson at Canadian Flight Centre in Delta. It has been a dream of Jonathan's for quite some time now, to one day get his pilot's licence... so this was an exciting chance for him to fly a plane and get a feel for what flying school would be like. A big thank you to my Dad who bought Jonathan this flight lesson through the awesomeness that is Groupon.

Edison and I tagged along to watch and Edison had a fun time walking around, watching all the airplanes. Every time Edison sees a plane flying in the air, he always points at it excitedly. He also loves going with Jonathan to watch him fly his remote control planes. So I knew Edison would love going to the flying school to watch everything. Lately, he points at everything that strikes his fancy... it's such an awesome way to know what things he finds interesting in his little world.

Jonathan and his instructor, checking out their airplane

The next few photos consist of Edison pointing at every single plane he sees

My little Airborne Junior Navigator, bringing me some grass

Jonathan's plane, going to the take-off area

Waiting for Jonathan's plane to take off...

Off he goes!

Edison and I found a frog in the grass while we were waiting

This was a really fun experience and it definitely made us excited for the future possibility of Jonathan getting is pilot's licence!

Wordless Wednesday - Oh brother!

2011-09-28T08:54:00.000-07:00

Michelle: "Why do you guys look so serious? Could you smile please?"

Michelle: "Ummm, I think you can do better than that!"

Michelle: "Okay, thats better!"

Photographer Jonathan

2011-09-27T16:58:00.000-07:00

Jonathan has been taking over some of the picture taking duties while I'm at work during the day. I just downloaded all the pictures off the camera card the other day and discovered some good ones that Jonathan had taken... and I though that some of them needed sharing!

Edison has become a regular at the skatepark while hanging with his Daddy during the day

Drool face

Yummy waffle breakfast

"Hey what's that prickly thing?"

"Hey! I can't reach it!"

Edison loves playing on the deck... something he won't be able to do for much longer (without getting cold and wet that is)

Could he get any cuter?

Hope you enjoyed them. I know I sure did!

Around and Around He Goes

2011-09-26T09:14:00.000-07:00

Edison's new favourite thing to do is drag things along the floor... good thing we have laminate flooring and it's quite durable.

While dragging a certain object, he has a route he likes to take around the main floor of our house. Jonathan followed him around one day and took a video. It's pretty funny.

Enjoy!

Monday's Musings - Working + Motherhood = Exhaustion!

2011-09-26T09:06:00.000-07:00

Well, by now people are probably thinking I've dropped off the earth. I assure you, I'm still here! I'm just trying to adjust to this foreign concept called Work... on top of being Mom and Wife.

Most days I'm tired... I come home exhausted from dealing with 10-12 year-olds all day, I then have to entertain Edison all evening by myself because Jonathan is at work. By the time I get Edison into bed to have a bit of "me" time (to work on the bog or whatever else) I'm so exhausted all I can think of doing is sleeping... and so I go to bed. It's been a bit of an adjustment! But as each week goes by, it gets a little easier.

It doesn't help that the beginning of the school year one of the busiest times of year for me, because I have to recruit kids and get them signed up for band and choir. It's a lot of work... and there are a couple of events that take place in the evening... which makes for an even longer day. Now however, the business of the first part of the year is over. I don't feel quite so overwhelmed and things can settle into a nice routine.

I do love my job! Thank goodness... otherwise it would be even harder to be apart from Edison all day long, 5 days a week. I'm happy to report that Edison is doing just fine without me. Some days I get home, expecting this big reception of "Hey, Mommy's home!"... however I quickly learned that's just not going to happen. Edison takes one look at me, and then goes right back to whatever he was playing with. But it's good that he does so well at home with Daddy all day. Everyone is adjusting to this new way of life and the transition has been remarkably smooth.

If you have a minute, check the video out below. I've been listening to this song every day on my way to work. I sometimes need to be reminded that no matter how busy life gets, no matter what my day brings, He is here and His grace is sufficient!

\\\\

Wordless Wednesday - Turning into a bit of a daredevil

2011-09-21T07:31:00.000-07:00

Tons of People + Tons of Food = Fun at the PNE!

2011-09-10T10:08:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday afternoon, Jonathan and I decided to close off the summer with a visit to the PNE. In my opinion, the summer is just not the same without the PNE.

This was Edison's first time at the PNE and he was very excited to see cows and lots of other fun animals. Edison is at the point now where he really doesn't want to sit in the stroller, he wants to walk. However thats hard to do when you are accompanied by hoards of people. When we were in the barns, he was happy... he could walk around and look at all the fun animals. When we were walking around in the Food Alley or the Marketplace and he was in the stroller, he wasn't such a happy camper.... but there were just soooo many people!

Cows!!

I love Clydesdales

Baby ducks

These are the tallest cows I've ever seen... they were taller than all the people

Unfortunately I only got pictures of their butts

Arabian dancers

Cooling off in the water

Jonathan's one and only interest at the PNE is food. It was quite entertaining watching Jonathan go on a food rampage, eating everything in sight. I won't lie... I had my share of PNE food as well, but Jonathan took it to a whole other level. He even made a video to document it:

It was a fun and filling time at this year's PNE and we're looking forward to taking Edison back again next year.

Wordless Wednesday - Hi cow!

2011-09-07T20:36:00.000-07:00

Hi Ho Hi Ho... it's off to you know where...

2011-09-01T20:42:00.000-07:00

Today is September 1st and the thing that I have been in denial about (a.k.a... going back to work) is less than a week away. It's unbelievable to me, how fast this past year has gone. After 14 months off, spending 24/7 at home with my little boy, I'm going to have to venture back into the real world. Yikes!

The only saving graces that are keeping me from bursting into tears right about now are: (A) - I'm finished work at 2:15 every day (thanks to an earlier start time) so I can rush home to the little one, and (B) - Edison will be home all day with his Daddy, which is awesome.

In the beginning of July I ventured in to the school, which is an old school - but new to me as this will be my first year teaching there. When I saw the band room... well I just about had a heart attack. It was a mess! There was stuff laying around everywhere. And there was DUST, DUST, and more DUST... which goes along with it being an old building I guess.

Anyone who knows me, knows I like to stay fairly organized at work... it's much more productive that way. Well, this was an organized person's nightmare and I knew I'd have to tackle it before the first day of school.

Last week Marilyn (who has sadly retuned home to the real world as well) went in with me one day while Jonathan stayed home for a trial-run with Edison for the whole day. My band room has three storage rooms, all of which were a total mess, so Marilyn and I dealt with one of those rooms that day. The room we cleaned was the one that stressed me the most because it had all the band music piled in it... in no order what-so-ever. It doesn't make for a very efficient music library when none of the music is in alphabetical order!!

While Marilyn put all the music in order (and entered it into the computer as she went), I dealt with binder upon binder of old stuff.... like outdated music resources and about 10 years of attendance binders. I don't know the music teacher who was at that school before me... and I don't want to be mean... but I think he was somewhat of a hoarder. There was so much stuff that just needed to be thrown out... that was clearly garbage, that he was hanging on to.

I took a few before and after pictures... they were taken on my phone so they aren't the greatest quality, but you'll get the idea.

This is the music room... my new home away from home

The storage room BEFORE... binders, binders, and more binders

The other side of the storage room BEFORE... this was the disastrous state the band music was in

AFTER... the band music relocated as is now in alphabetical order

AFTER of the other side. Note how you can actually see the floor!

This was all the garbage and recycling that came out of that room

On Tuesday my mom came over to hang out with Edison while Jonathan and I went in to deal with the other two storage rooms. I knew the school had a lot of guitars (63 to be exact) and a lot of them were missing strings, so Jonathan had the fun job of replacing strings while I dealt with the other stuff. I was absolutely covered from head to toe in dust!

Another example of the disorganization that I inherited

Jonathan, hard at work

Another storage room BEOFRE. There was so much piled in front of those filing cabinets, I had no idea what was in them.

Part way through the clean-up

AFTER... garbage gone, things back in an organized way

The guitars, after some TLC from Jonathan

BEOFRE... I didn't get a great picture of this storage room before because it was very full of stuff, and I couldn't find the light switch at the time

AFTER... full but organized... we even found a floor in this one too!

The garbage... there were a lot of things that would cost more to fix than to just buy new... so a lot was thrown out that day.

As we were leaving, Jonathan said "I feel dirty"... and it was true, we were pretty gross. I'm glad it's dealt with now so that when I show up for my first day of real work next week, I don't have to worry about tackling any more dusty junk. Thank you to Marilyn and Jonathan for helping make my return to work a whole lot less stressful!

Wordless Wednesday - Who needs clothes?!?

2011-08-24T12:03:00.000-07:00

Powell River - Day 5

2011-08-22T09:33:00.000-07:00

Thursday was our last day in Powell River, our visit was coming to a close. It was time for Jonathan to get back to work, Edison to get back to his real bed, and Albert to return home from his mini-vacation at my mom's house.

We decided not to leave for the ferry until 2:30 in the afternoon, so we still had a lot of time to hang out and do a few last minute fun things.

We went for the usual morning walk with the wagon. This time Tyler and Linden joined us as well. We began the walk with Edison and Sienna in the wagon, Tyler on a bike, and Linden walking. Part way through Linden decided he wanted a turn in the wagon, so Sienna got out to walk. Once Linden was in, Sienna decided she wanted to pull the wagon! Let me tell you, this thing is harder to pull when bigger kids are in it. I didn't think she'd make it more than a few feet. Well, she sure proved me wrong! That girl is a trooper and she just kept pulling and pulling. Then, tired from all that pulling, she decided to pile into the wagon and we had our first three-person wagon ride.

Edison and Sienna at the beginning of the walk. If you enlarge the photo, you can see that Edison is blowing raspberries.

Linden's turn

Muscle-girl Sienna, pulling the boys

All piled in

After our walk we decided to say our goodbyes to our friends, the chickens. While Edison wasn't really interested in touching the chickens, he sure did like watching them. This was also the first time that I was the one to collect their eggs... every other day, someone else beat me to it!

Going into the coop to see what I can find

TA DA! Beautiful brown eggs

In the early afternoon, Marilyn and Tyler took the kayak out to get the crab trap. Thanks to Jonathan's underwater video (aka - his lazy way of checking the trap with out having to pull it up or touch anything slimy), we knew that there was a big sea star in there. When one of those gets into the trap, no crabs will go near it. So, out they went to bring it in. When Marilyn tried to pull it up, it was so heavy that she couldn't get it up and into the boat. She ended up dragging it behind the kayak the whole way back to shore. Here's why:

It had three sun stars in it!

I decided to be brave and pick one up

It was prickly and mushy all at the same time

Sienna inspecting them. According to Sienna, you should never touch the middle... or they will eat your hand.

Marilyn and I went for one last kayak ride to put the newly cleaned crap trap back in the water. Jonathan went out for one last underwater video searching for the big dogfish, sharky thing. We packed, said our goodbyes and it was time to hit the road.

One last picture of Nana and all her grandkids

Marilyn: Queen of the self-portraits (thank goodness for cameras with timers)

My little walker is always on the move

Thank you to Sara, Gord and family for having us out for another awesome visit! We had so much fun and I love watching Edison with his cousins! If we're not back sooner, we look forward to coming back again next summer!

Powell River - Day 4

2011-08-20T11:09:00.000-07:00

This past Wednesday, we enjoyed another great day in Powell River.

It was a day filled with walks. Marilyn had been going for a walk with Edison and Sienna every morning that we were there. On Wednesday, I decided to join them. We walked down to the end of their road and back and by the time we pulled back up to the house, Edison was passed out! It was really cute. This was the first time he's fallen asleep in the wagon.

Arriving back at the house

Fast asleep... clutching Sophie

Later that afternoon, Marilyn and I took all of the kids to Willingdon Beach to hang out and explore the area. We started at the playground where everyone enjoyed climbing, swinging, and general monkeying around. After that we went on the Willingdon Beach Historical Walk, and then ended the afternoon with a little picnic at the beach.

Edison and Sienna on the swings

All four cousins, teeter-tottering

Reading one of the many signs along the history walk

A squirrel!

Checking out the tugboat!

Sienna, driving the bulldozer

Pretending she's in jail.

Tyler, swinging it up

A huge steam engine!

This Willingdon Beach experience was a far cry from the last time Jonathan and I were there in December. We were basically at the beach for 10 minutes before we decided it was too freezing cold out, and promptly got back into the car. It was so nice to be able to spend so much time outside this time around and really enjoy our surroundings.

Powell River - Day 3

2011-08-17T15:27:00.000-07:00

We were blessed with amazing weather again yesterday and took advantage by spending lots of time at the water.

Marilyn, Edison and I went out for a morning kayak ride to check the crab trap that had been out during the night. This was Edison's first time in a kayak... or any kind of small boat. He liked standing at the front to watch where we were going. He also liked leaning over the side to splash his hand in the water.

He's so cute in his little life jacket!

We also spent some time exploring the beach some more. This time, Edison joined us. Edison loves the beach and was really enjoying it... however the beach in front of their house is very rocky and all the rocks have barnacles on them. Edison is very set on trying to walk himself, so he took a couple falls and got a couple scrapes... but it didn't seem to phase him too much.

Later in the afternoon we headed to Sliammon Lake for a nice refreshing swim. The water was super warm and all of us spent quite a lot of time swimming around. Even Edison lasted about a half hour floating around in his little tube.

Yet another awesome day of fun!

Powell River - Day 2

2011-08-16T13:58:00.000-07:00

We had a fabulous day yesterday, not to mention awesome weather.

While Edison was napping in the afternoon, Marilyn, Sienna and I went down to the beach to explore the area and check out all the little sea critters. Sienna likes to look under rocks and collect little crabs... then when she has a bunch in her hands, she throws them out into the water to set them free. We also saw a ton of purple starfish, and lots of crabs walking around under the water. The water here is SO clear and warm.

Marilyn and Sienna heading out

Searching for little crabs

Showing me her collection

Could it be any more beautiful here??

Prepare yourself for a lot of starfish pictures... it was like I'd never seen a starfish before

A whole family of them!

Sienna picking up the starfish

Sienna throwing the starfish

Marilyn and I went for a nice bike ride before dinner and found a great beach area that isn't as rocky that Edison might enjoy. We're hoping to walk over there and enjoy that beach as well before we have to head home.

Jonathan has a friend, Anthony, that lives here (about 5 minutes away) and he owns a big vert ramp in his back yard. After dinner, we headed over there to hang out and watch Jonathan skate the ramp. It was a fun evening! Jonathan and Anthony skated for a couple hours and Edison had fun walking around their deck area, playing with toys.

Jonathan and Edison, checking the ramp out

Tyler also came to watch

It's been many years since Jonathan has skateboarded a vert ramp

Edison kept busy

Anthony is pretty amazing!

What a gorgeous end to the day!

We ended the evening with a couple hilarious games of Pictionary and then headed to bed. It was definitely a fun day!

Powell River - Day 1

2011-08-15T21:18:00.000-07:00

Jonathan, Edison, Marilyn and I are in Powell River visiting Jonathan's sister Sara and her family.

We arrived here yesterday, after the 7 hour journey which is made up of driving and 2 ferry rides. After we got settled in, we spent some time exploring their house and yard before dinner.

They have a HUGE garden full of veggies, as well as a greenhouse full. We were also reunited with their 4 chickens who are now super friendly and cute.

Here are a few pictures from our first day:

Watching the ferry pull in

We had a great parking spot at the front of the ferry

Edison and Nana... braving the wind on the ferry

Checking out all the gifts Nana brought back with her

Princess Sienna

Jonathan and his nephews Tyler and Linden. They all speak the same language... video games

Views of their front yard

The garden in the back yard

I LOVE the chickens!

We went for an evening walk in the neighbourhood

We had a great day and are really excited to be spending time with family. Edison loves hanging out with his cousins. Thanks, Sara and Gord, for having us!!

Slippin' & Slidin'

2011-08-13T23:30:00.000-07:00

Jonathan, Marilyn, Edison and I had a great day at the Cultis Lake Waterslides on Friday.

This was Edison's first waterslide experience. He didn't love the slides... but he's still so little. I don't think he was a big fan of the water splashing in his face. However, there were tons of other things for him to do there that he did love. He really enjoyed playing in the different spray parks and well as floating down the lazy river with his daddy.

Jonathan and I hadn't been there in years so there were quite a few new slides that we hadn't been on yet. It was nice having Marilyn there as well so that we were able to trade off with hanging with Edison, while the others did some of the slides. Overall, it was a super fun day!

Here is a little video that Jonathan put together:

Pickle-Mania

2011-08-13T12:47:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, my mom came by and we had our first Mother/Daughter canning event! We canned pickles, pickles, and more pickles.

This was the first time I'd ever canned anything and I really enjoyed it. After our first batch, we had a pretty good rhythm worked out between the two of us and it was smooth sailing... minus a couple little burns from taking the jars out of the oven.

Edison thought the box of cucumbers was his new toy and promptly started walking all over the house with a mini cucumber in each hand.

Hmmm, what's this?

My lovely Mama

The cucumbers got a nice little ice bath to start

We gave Edison a popsicle to keep him occupied

Too bad we have to wait a month to eat them!! They look so scrumptious! I'm definitely looking forward to Mother/Daughter Canning - Part 2 next summer.

Exploring Golden Ears

2011-08-11T20:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Marilyn and I decided to go for a hike in the Golden Ears area. Exploring Golden Ears is something I keep meaning to do, and then never get around to doing. It is such a beautiful area, and it really is in our own backyard. I think we need to take advantage of it more often!

We decided to walk the Lower Falls trail which is about 2.5 kilometres each way. The trail is a nice wide trail, however due to our rainy spring, there were a few big muddy patches.

The water there is unbelievably clear and clean, with a gorgeous greeny/blue tint to it. On the way to the falls we stopped to sit along the creek for a while... Edison had a great time trying to throw rocks in the water.

Edison was bundled and ready to go

The scenery was pretty amazing!

We received a nice mist shower while looking at the falls. Edison thought the mist was funny.

Edison had such a good time in the fresh air that he passed out in the stroller on the way back. It was a thoroughly enjoyable outing and I look forward to going back and walking some more of the trails.

Whistler!

2011-08-11T12:42:00.000-07:00

I can't even remember the last time Jonathan and I went to Whistler to just wander around and sight-see. That was one of our goals this summer and we thought, what better time to go than when Marilyn was in town and could join us.

After our little side trip to the Britannia Mine Museum we continued our journey on to Whistler. Jonathan spent some time at the skatepark while Marilyn and I wandered through the village. We joined back up to finish the afternoon at the playground so that Edison could play and walk around. After a long day in the car and stroller, Edison was in the mood to walk... and walk, and walk.

Photos from our walk through the village

The Olympic rings!

Pretty much the coolest swing ever

This is what you get when you ask Jonathan to smile...

Before we left Jonathan went for one more ride around at the skatepark

We stopped at a viewpoint on our way home. This drive has such amazing scenery!