Abbotsford Adventures

Day 5

After their leisurely morning Gpa and the boys went on their own adventure to Abbotsford while I was at the office. Their first stop was at Castle Fun Park where they played a ton of games, and had a race on the cars.  Bennett won, but I did hear he may have had an illegal start!

They figured out a way to get a ton of tickets out of this game, I think Gpa and the boys teamed up on it ... not sure that was legal either!


From there they went over to the Birchwood Dairy, which as Miles pointed out when they got there - he knew that would happen sometime!  Yes, he knows Gpa well.

Who doesn't love Bubblegum ice cream??

So since they didn't have one of Gpa's favourite flavours available by the bowl/cone, he had to buy a big bucket of the Tin Roof Sundae and bring it home.  I think ice cream outside after dinner is going to be a nightly routine now for the next little while, but I don't think there will be any complaints from any of us about that!

Everyday Things

Day 4

I went into the office early so when the boys got up they started the morning watching Dragon training cartoons until Gpa woke up - I don't think they minded!  After that Gpa took them to the tennis courts and they practiced their stroke using the ball machine which they thought was pretty goodl.

Bennett has been faithful taking Stanley for his walk every day so far, today we walked from their house to ours in the sunshine so the pooch was pretty tired and thirsty afterwards.

Miles finished his swimming lessons today and he has passed with flying colours and is moving up into Level Three which he starts in a couple of days.  Great work Miles!

Both Lego and art work have been pretty popular around here too, lots of creativity on display for us.

Cartoon drawing of Harry Potter's place

We've established a pretty good routine for things every day, Miles gets tucked around 8:30 and Bennett is enjoying being the eldest here and staying up for popcorn and TV rather late each evening - but it's summer so it's all good.  

Rainy Day

Day 3

It's a heat wave in Paris, yet we woke up to rain this morning.  I'm glad we went to the Zoo yesterday!  We stayed home most of the day and did a few fun things here, starting with making play dough.  Miles wanted to use multiple Wilton dye colours so it ended up being an interesting shade.  

Bennett has been teaching me the finer points of playing Pokeman, I'm a bit of a slow learner but he's being very patient and helpful.  I may even be getting the hang of it now...

Miles had a great time printing and cutting out letters of his name, and drawing a picture for his Mommy - he wanted to make sure you saw what he made for you Jen!

Tonight we went to see the new Lion King movie, it was pretty good - at first I thought it may be a bit scary for Miles but he persevered and it all worked out fine.

That's French for 'The Lion King' 

I'm working the next two days so Gpa is on deck, the boys will each be going to their activities so they're busy - Bennett to the Fitness Lab with his friends, and Miles to his swimming lessons.  I feel a S'mores night coming up soon as the weather's clearing up...

A List

Days 1 & 2

Day 1 - Miles has swimming lessons this week so he and I walked over to the pool in the sweltering heat, no complaints from him though so that was good.

Look at how much air he gets!!

However on the walk home he did mention to me in passing that he won't be walking to swimming lessons anymore, he'll just go in a car instead......  :)

I went to bed last night and didn't think a thing about Stanley the dog, or of course the two cats we're looking after.  I did however wake up abruptly at 5:00am realizing that poor Stanley hadn't been let outside for about 20 hours!

If anyone had seen me driving over to let him out at that time in the morning with my crazy hair and nightie on - they would've thought I was nuts!  

I looked all over their house and didn't find one wet spot or anything else - unreal Stanley!!!!!!!  I won't do that again, I promise.

Day 2

After a good sleep last night the boys got up this morning at 7 and 8am respectively, Miles being the first up.  We were in the car and at the zoo before noon which was not too bad timing as we were able to fit in a few of the talks by the Zoo staff.  I liked the animals we saw but I was more interested in watching the boys enjoying it.

Petting Zoo baby goat

We did see live animals too but these guys were fun to climb on.

 

The train conductor advised us all that we would be going over a bridge with a drop on either side so we should hang onto our loved ones - Miles immediately put his arm around Bennett.  So sweet!

Once we'd watched the Raptor show, heard the lion, baboon, giraffe and lemur talks we wandered the grounds on our own.  We saw the creepy displays of snakes, geckos, and other lizardy things, then after the train ride we were ready to go.  It was a great day! 

10 Days at Gma & Gpa's - Gkids holiday here

We Got 'Em

So Jen has gone to join Rick and Ruby in Paris, she left today out of Abbotsford airport so we officially have Bennett and Miles to ourselves for ten days!

Jen is such a great Mom, she left goodie bags for the boys with wrapped and numbered gifts for them to open each morning that she's gone.  After leaving them with that her and I headed to Abbotsford airport so she can board the plane to join Rick and Ruby for ten days.

Have a wonderful time, and don't worry - we got 'em!

Gkids Staycation

We had the joy of having Ruby, Bennett and Miles stay with us for the weekend while Jen and Rick went to Oliver, BC.  Rick was signed up for a half iron man triathlon and Jen went with him for a couple of days away together.

On Friday at 2:15 I went and picked up Bennett and Miles from school.  It's  always such an ego boost!  As we're walking to the car Miles yells out to his friends in their passing vehicle 'I'm going to my Grandma's house!', and proceeds to tell me that it's his favourite thing to do is to go to our house.  :)

Ruby and Bennett go to Whitecaps soccer skill nights in Abbotsford every Friday night so Ted took them over while Miles and I stayed home.  

And of course Gpa took them to the Dairy Queen afterwards!  Miles and I had a good time at home doing puzzles and playing Mouse Trap, and of course having some treats of our own.

Saturday morning I did a bit of gardening at Jen and Rick's, adding a bit of colour to their already good-looking front garden...  

...while Gpa and Miles went to the Sports Park for Timbits soccer, so cute!

Such intense concentration

Sunday morning Ruby got picked up by her coach to go to her soccer game, while the boys came to church with us.  Then Sunday evening we went back to the church for a hot dog and s'more roast, with a bit of soccer playing in the Northview church field before the movie "Emperor's New Groove" came on.

Miles enjoying his slushie.  We were watching him dance, 'flossing' to the music in the line up as he waited to get it, so cute!

By eight o'clock the movie was over and we took the kids back home, Rick and Jen had arrived not too long before that, so it was perfect timing.  What a great weekend for all, we need to do it more often!

7 Weeks

It's a Wrap

When we started our vacation the seven weeks stretched ahead like we had all the time in the world, and time kind of stood still.  Then all of a sudden it seemed like we only had a couple of days left before it was time to pack it in.   

Ken has always wanted to get off the canal boat at the Hilton and have a drink at the Boat Landing Cantina so we made sure to tick that off our to-do list this time.  The nachos were delicious!

Usually we go to the Lava Lava Beach Club on our last night but this year we switched it up and went over a night early to share in the music and ambiance.

Our final day we spent at our favourite beach (where Ted lost his Maui Jim sunglasses in the water but fortunately a woman found them!), then returned home for mai tais on our lanai to watch the sunset.  Beautiful place, lots of  laughs, funny things that happened, and great memories made...