Summer fun

 It has been a busy summer and it seems to be winding down.  Only a few more weeks until school starts.
We started with a trip to Manitoba. Spent a weekend at the Lake with family and then some Folk Festivalling was done. It was awesome to catch up in person with so  many great people.
We came back to BC and back to work. I have been working a few days a week and Terry has also. The kids have been hanging out and swimming. Shasta tried out wake boarding.

 We have had one round of visitors from afar and are hoping for a couple more. Tam, Wes and Evan were here for a week and Judy came out for the weekend. It was awesome to have them all here.

Springin' into Summer

To see Eryn and Nik live go to YouTube channel - inspiralsunshine

Things are very busy here. Work is ongoing on the house, mostly exterior. There is soccer, music, fundraising events and the lovely weather has brought outdoor chores such as gardening and some landscaping. Our yard has an amazing diversity of wild plants. Lupines, yarrow and tiger lilies to name a few. If it weren't for the deer we would be surrounded by wild flowers. Apparently deer love those little lily buds just as they are about to open. Arrrgh!

Funny enough, for the entire time we lived in Manitoba I tried to grow lupines. They would come up and bloom once then sort of peter out. Now I find lupines, lupines, lupines like a weed everywhere. Big ones, little ones, so far only purple ones. I love lupines.

I am gardening on a small scale and in pots this year. There is still work happening outside around the house and time is short right now so I am satisfying my garden urges in this way. 

Happy Mothers Day

 Hope all you fabulous mamas out there had a great day........





......sipping fruity drinks with an inspiring book

.......or dreaming a garden into being

 .....perhaps building a bed to grow some healthy greens

....or doing anything that you love to do.
Loving your children is the most important job there is to do........ so yay for all you Moms out there.
A special Yay to mine!
Love to all Mothers.

Saturday Soccer

 Saturday soccer game in Kaslo. Unfortunately we encountered a super safety conscious referee who wouldn't let anyone play with jewelry on. Shasta got her ears pierced last week to celebrate the first of May. So she couldn't play. It was however a beautiful day and after we cheered on the team, who tied the game, we had some fun hanging out.

 Benched player!

Skipping some rocks

Apprentice rock skipper

Spring flowers

Then on the way home a quick dip in the hot spring for the boys and a little hike up the hill for the girls. S and I hiked up behind the springs. We found a tiny little cabin.

Nice view on the way down

We also checked out the outflow from the pools.....where the water flows down on its way to the lake. It was still a little warm.....one could sit tin the ditch on the side of the highway if they really wanted.

Time to head back home....its still quite a drive.

Nik was off on his own adventure at a fair in a small town in the other direction. He spent the day with his girlfriends family.

It was a good day.
Hugs.

Crazy Busy Spring!!!

Spring has sprung, the grass is green I wonder where the time is going.  It has been a while since I updated and  so there is much to catch up on. I'll probably will miss some but I will do my very best. 

We have moved into our house. This is very good. There are some things still to finish but all the essentials are in place, bathrooms, washer and dryer, fully operational kitchen, cozy sleeping quarters. We have work to do yet but are taking a well deserved break. 

Tiling when it was still happening

Stairs....in case you couldn't tell

We are all busy with our lives. S is in soccer and Dad is coaching. Terr is attending a series of code upgrade meeting in preparation of getting the business up and running. J is attending herb club and learning about plants and making all kinds of cool stuff like elderberry glycerite. N is still involved in jazz band and hanging out with his girlfriend. I am still working on school, will soon do my practicum, and am involved with some volunteering at the school and with  the Columbia Basin Alliance for Literacy (CBAL). This along with the house and family are keeping me very busy.
Today was water day in Winlaw. Once a year there is day for giving thanks for water. There was a parade to the river where we sang and gave thanks. Back in town there was live music all day and kids activities. It was a lot of fun. I dragged the kids home after 8 hours and J is very upset as he has to wait a whole year for it it happen again. 
i'll try to post some more recent pics this weekend.....I decided to post what I had now rather than put the posting off any longer.
Peace, love and blessings to all.
Oh and the next time you have a drink of clear clean water don't for get to be grateful.

Another Snowy Morning

Woke up this morning to inches of fluffy white snow. It was very beautiful....light and fluffy........covering everything in a downy softness.........aahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!  Now the sun is out and everything is dripping wet.

I am having camera issues. The  camera  tells me that the 8G SD card  is full......the computer only shows me about a dozen pics. Not sure who to believe. So I have borrowed one from Shasta.
Thank you Shasta......now people don't have to just read me prattling on. They still get the visuals.

Chillin' on the couch

Hmm.....who parked their bike in the snowbank?

I found a nice bare patch!

March break is almost over. I can already hear the groans of children that have to wake up for school.
Oh..maybe that's me.....lunches ...ugh!
Laddy has been to the chiro. He was walking with a skip in his step right after. Maybe he just liked getting to go out.....it was truly surprising.
Terry is heading to Vancouver tomorrow with his buddy Jeff. A road trip. Jeff is going to pick up a friend from the airport and Terr wants to shop in the big city. I will hold down the fort. It will be nice to relax a little as no work will be happening at the house. I may do some puttering around washing windows and whatnot.

We have been working on trim and now moving onto closet shelving. We want to get this stuff out of the way before we finish the downstairs floors as we have no other work space except downstairs. Soon we should be able to start bring things in from the garage and putting them upstairs. I wanted to let the floors cure for a couple of weeks first.

Nik and Shasta's rooms.......I should get used to seeing
these doors closed.

Windowsills and door frames

Terry says the house looks better in real life so you'll have to come and see it for yourselves.
Blessings.

Floors and Doors

 Yes, we still have snow.  Rumor has it that it is very warm on the prairies right now. I am slightly envious. Its not too bad here but 19C it is not. No snow and 19C degrees in March....... the farmers must be using the dreaded D word. Here it is spring, in that, its not snowing so much, sometimes its raining. Did you know that this area is an inland temperate rain forest. The only one in the world....who knew.


The upstairs floors are done as far as I can do them for now. They will still get a waxing but the oil has to fully cure first. It takes about 2 weeks.

The rest of the house looks like a wood finishing shop. We are busy staining and oiling trim and doors.

The kitchen is coming along

So that what we are busy with.

Nik is busy with Eryn. Shasta is busy with her iPod. Julian is busy between the computer and the TV. 

The kids are on Spring break for two weeks. We as you can see are busy so our poor neglected children are left to their own devices. Well, its not for long. Shasta and Terry went skiing on Tuesday and I took all four kids to see the Lorax on the weekend.

I am plugging along with my ECE course.....my next assignments are immunizations and head lice.....fun stuff.

Terry is thinking...look out!

Bare Feet and Flowers?

A serpentine snowshoe snake

Well...surprise...we had snow. Last Friday we were inundated with 25 cm of the fluffy white variety. The kids had a field trip that day to a cross country ski area where they went snowshoeing with our local environmental eduacator. The kids  learned some winter survival skills including how to build a snow shelter. We were out there all day and the snow didn't let up for a second. The nice thing about the snow here is that even when its "storming" the snow falls straight down. Large fluffy snowflakes.....straight down...for about 20 hours.

A good spot for a snowcave

Let's just say we were a little wet by the end of the day. A good time was had by all....although if it really was about survival and we had to spend much longer than we did outdoors it would have gotten ugly fast.

We still need room for three more

Hard working boy

Work at the house continues.........flooring is being laid.....cabinets built...... counter tops poured and polished. I continue to work on my school project. I am remembering how much I enjoy the formal learning process. Perhaps I shall continue on once I am finished with this program. If I can get a job and continue studying via online it may work out.
Nik returned safe and sound from his trip to Idaho.  He had a very good time and is quite inspired. He did a few workshops on songwriting, composing and recording. Right up his alley. Kudos to his music teacher for persevering even with the teachers job action in process.
On that note I'm sure you've all heard by now that our teachers are started a more intense part of their strike. No classes next week (well, for three days anyway).....we'll see what happens by Wednesday. I think we'll be getting a letter today from the superintendent letting us know what up. March break starts at the end of next week anyway.....so its just a couple of days for now. I won't share my opinion on the subject as its a complicated issue that drags back quite a few years......it's not just about money. Theres much to do with class sizes and support staff budgeting.........blah, blah, blah.
We have been seeing a lot more sun around here lately....it may mean that spring is on its way.....you can't tell from all the snow....but there is a lot of sun an dripping going on. It makes me excited for bare feet and flowers.
Peace