Nearly Christmas

Hope everyone is well!

Recap as to what we have been doing:

My little sidekick and grocery helper, Holden

Nov 23rd found us celebrating our niece, Alannah & Chad's wedding out in the Fraser Valley. Such a pretty venue At the Fraser River Lodge.

First though, some fun beforehand:

My sister-in-law Carmen and her sidekick-my brother Mark & Nadyne

Cousins, Ariel, Justin, Josh & Kathy

You know these two...

Beautiful Mt Cheam

Was a really fun event and the weather co-operated until after the ceremony. Wishing Alannah and Chad a lifetime of happiness and adventure. 

From there we rolled into December and "Birthday month" in our family. First up is August, turned 12 years old on December 12th, our champagne birthday boy.  
. 

Alcohol free, of course....

We love you August!!

He is growing up to be one of the most kind-hearted humans we know. Always happy to help out, up for an adventure and will still offer you that last bite of his cookie. Dinosaurs are his passion only his knowledge has expanded exponentially over the past few years. He is developing a fondness for auto mechanics (thanks to his Grandpa Rick) and Palentology is still high on his list of occupations. No matter what he chooses, he will succeed.

December 21st - Next birthday up is Holden. How did 3 years old happen SO fast? He is probably one of the most articulate little guys we know. His knowledge of the English language is second to none which means you have to be VERY careful what you say around him. He will remember it, FOREVER. Crazy, happy go-lucky little dude who is so lucky to have two doting, older brothers in August and Jasper.

We love you Holden!!

Three Musketeers

Not much else happening. Teagan and Rudy are doing well in Nelson, snow is falling there and they enjoy that. Being in a small town it is never far to drive to school or work. Lucky them!

Eating some of Grandpa Doug's famous home-made fudge.

I'll leave you all right here and catch up after the holidays. Promise. 

Just 139 more days until our first official camping trip!!

Peace out friends!

Thought for the Day: Not all of us were made to cook. Some of us are only made to have conversations with the person cooking.

Well into Autumn

Boy, it really doesn't take long to get well into autumn, does it? I mean, I'm still mourning the loss of summer. 

Not much going on. It seems like at this time of year we are all waiting for the "holiday" season to start...

This little dude keeps us all on our toes! 

The boys reviewing something important with Grandpa.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Rudy looking cool in his costume.

I believe, a prince, from a kids story.

No, I don't remember which one!

We don't normally get any trick or treaters but

the kids (and parents) all came by for a surprise.

So much fun to see them all!

Teagan and Rudy (with his new haircut)

We are very lucky to live in this beautiful area. Even on the grayest of days you can still find beauty by the sea.

Then it was back home for a BBQ ala Doug.

November 11th. We always attend the Remembrance Day ceremonies here in White Rock. All the big and little kids come as well. I've always been really proud of the fact that we all go, every year. 

Afterwards, we head to our local craft brew house Three Dogs. Kids are welcome there. We enjoy good company and toast to our vets.

This weekend we headed over on the ferry to Nanaimo (on Vancouver Island) to help celebrate my sister's 70th Birthday. Always fun over there. Seems there are lots of "toasts"!

Heading over on the ferry, beautiful weather for November.

Cheers!

Our niece, Lacey, finally got home to help

celebrate her Mom, Susann, with us. 

Grandma Nadyne has a new friend, Zeke.

Trip home wasn't quite as pretty and calm.

Captain asked people to be very careful when walking about.

And that brings us to today, Nov 17th. Headed out for a walk between the rain showers, down to our White Rock promenade

Wow, you are all really up to date now! Not much going on this week but we are heading out of town (2 hrs away on Friday) to our other niece's wedding. That should be fun (yes, maybe a few pictures too). Our family is a bit crrazy so watch out!!

Peace out friends!

Thought for the Day: Perhaps some detours aren't detours at all. Perhaps they are actually the path...Katherine Wolf 

As Promised

Sometimes i feel that I should almost apologize for the lack of "running away" on here. This blog showcases my life, what we keep busy doing, what is important to me. Im thinking you can easily tell "what" is important to me. Hope you still enjoy it.

Let's carry on...

Before we knew it we were at Thanksgiving. This is our 9th thanksgiving camping trip. We really love it. Yes, it can be chilly and/or raining and/or sunny. You just never know so come prepared!

Since we got rid of our last 17' trailer away went my oven. I had to come up with a creative way to cook my turkey so I bought a propane powered Camp Chef from Amazon. It is absolutely AMAZING. It cooks a 14 lb (+/-) de-boned (the secret) fresh turkey. We have a full thanksgiving meal, thanks to many hands. It started 9 years ago with just us and the White Rock family (plus a few). Since then it has grown to about 20-24. Crazy. Everyone brings something so it's a pot-luck dinner, only while camping. 

We have changed campgrounds a few times in order to accommodate changes in attendance. We are now well settled at Cultus Lake Provincial Park, Maple Bay Campground. It works well because they also have fantastic cabins for rent so it works for some of the family that do not have RV's. It a scant two minute walk across a big field that is behind the campsites. Easily booked through the Discover BC Camping on-line site.

So, off we go....

On the Saturday we get the turkey in the oven and do our swim.  

This year's participants in the annual Stuffing Splash

Dinner's Ready!!

So much food!!

Holden, what a character!

August and Doug's pancake Sunday

Doug says August is so good soon he'll only be supervising

Only about 15 people for pancakes!

Jasper seems to like it!

Kathy and her boys...

That wraps up another epic camping season for us. We couldn't have had more fun. So nice to know we are creating memories for the boys. I hope they always remember these fun times.

View down our hill early in the morning

A wicked 23% grade!

A very special event ocurred on October 12th. Doug's Mom, Helen turned 102 years old. She is pretty darn inspiring.

Happy Birthday Momma Helen!!

We LOVE you SO much!

Out in the Fraser Valley area (about 40 minutes east of White Rock) a small farm, Mann Family Farm, has a great display for all seasons. Here are rows and rows of marigolds. Beautiful.

So tempting to pick "just a few"!

We were barely home and then we headed back to the Kootenay's to see Teagan and Rudy. It was a short visit but we love hanging out with them. Of course, Rudy is in school so our days are pretty short but still we always have fun.

Going through Keromeos and Parsons' Fruit Stand.

They were busy shutting things down but it still looks great!

At last we arrived at Teagan and Rudy's place. It takes about 8 hrs to get here and through a few gnarly mountain passes.

Pumpkin hunt out at the Nordic Centre

Pumpkins were scattered throughout the forest trails 

for the kids to find. Really fun!

Nature lesson...

Love these two crazies!!

And, all too soon, it was time to head home. This time of year the weather changes fast, still there is beauty. You have to have your eye on the weather for any issues.

Somewhere in the interior of BC, heading home.

So what's next for us? Just hanging for the fall and winter. We both dream of a warm time away next late winter but I'm not sure it will happen. We'll certainly be letting you know if we have any plans. It would likely only be for a few weeks, via air. Fingers crossed. Just a few pictures from my walk today.

Happy fall from our duck ponds in White Rock

Peace out friends!

Thought for the Day: The biggest communication problem is that we do not listen to understand. We listen to reply.