Family Update Continued

Before I start inundating you all with scrapbook pages and homework assignments, I thought I'd get caught up on my family news. The girls are currently away at Granny Camp (Grandma and Grandpa Day take all 3 for several days to give us a break) so I've got all the time in the world ... right? It sure feels like it yet I'm still having trouble getting everything done that I want to!! Don't get me wrong, I am loving my "time off". It makes me realize just how all-consuming parenting is. When I'm not being asked (harrassed) every 15 minutes for a snack, I find that hours go by without even entering the kitchen and therefore I've been finding myself only eating when I'm hungry. What a concept! When I start a task (like sorting out our CD's) I can start it and finish it in one sitting. Calmly, rationally, and without interruptions. How divine!! I love my girls but I am starting to REALLY look forward to the time when they are all in school all day and I can have the freedom to work, and work around the house in peace.

That being said, let's get caught up on my monsters darlings!

The last thing I posted was about our outing to the waterpark at Granville Island on July 28th. On the 30th (the Saturday) Greg decided it was time to teach Paige how to ride her bike without training wheels. He took all 3 girls over to the school to try things out on the turf field. A bit of a softer landing should things go awry! Here's a couple pictures of Paige starting out.

Wheels are off ... ready to go!

Trying to figure it out on her own.

Getting some help from Greg.

Doing it!!! Briefly. But she did it!

LC on her bike (Paige's old one).

Greg said he ended up carrying LC's bike most of the way there and Paige pushed her bike. On the way back I think it was more of the same. We realized that both Paige and Marley are too big for their bikes. That means a new bike for Marley this Christmas and Paige will get her old bike. We tried her on it (lowering the seat as much as we could) but she was too scared as it was so much bigger than her current bike. Our little fraidy-Paige reared her head again! She's getting SO much better (waterslides at the waterpark, hi-fiving mascots at the parade - see below) but every now and then she reverts back to type.

Anyway ... way to go Paige! This is a huge step on what I know will be an exciting journey for her that will open up so many possibilities.

The next day we took the girls back to Granville Island. Not to the waterpark though. This time we were using it as the embarkation point to a walk around False Creek. We took the Aquabus from Granville Island to David Lam Park and walked all the way around the seawall back to Granville Island. I was worried the girls wouldn't make it but there was enough along the way to distract them from all the walking and they did great.

The beginning of our trip - walking through Granville Island to the ferry dock.

Paige was apprehensive about going on the Aquabus but as you can see, she quickly figured out how much fun it was.

LC on the otherhand did not like it and spent most of the trip snuggled into Greg's shoulder.

Marley also liked it.

Granville Street and Burrard Street bridges.

Another Aquabus.

We saw some kayakers too.

The walk was fairly slow at times due to things like LC wanting to push her stroller ...

... or climb on something (anything - it really doesn't matter what it is, LC will want to climb on it!)

A peek-a-boo view of the new roof going onto BC Place.

Our first official rest break. Juice boxes at a playground near Science World.

Hey! A picture of the two of us together!!

This is pretty typical of LC. She won't do anything the "proper" way. Where could she have inherited that from?!

More playing. This is in the new part of the seawall near the Olympic Village.

Yet another break at a playground so the girls could "rest". Hmmm ...

And last but most certainly not least, I captured this precious moment. We were a couple km away from Granville Island and fatigue was starting to really set it. I turned around to check on their progress and saw this. So sweet!!

The next day (yes, it was a busy weekend) - BC Day around here which meant a holiday for Greg - we went to Tsawwassen for the annual SunFest parade and fair. We met up with some friends to watch the parade and then went our separate ways after. We headed to Safeway to buy lunch and then went to the fair for a couple hours.

Our spot and the crew - Greg, Taylor, Marley, LC, Paige, Lauren and Jenn (sorry I got a shot of your butt!!)

LC did her usual "hide in Daddy's shoulder when the scary Pipeband was in earshot" routine. Sigh. I am really going to have to blast the  bagpipe music around the house. She's over 50% Scottish for crying out loud!!!

Once the band had passed she felt it was safe to come out of Greg's shoulder but the hands over the ears were still needed. Sheesh!

Earlier I mentioned that Paige gave a mascot a hi-five ... this is the one. And later she hugged Salty the Seagull. Hugged! I was too gobsmacked to take a photo of that.

She had a ball. Collecting candy, seeing all the floats and clapping and waving along with everyone else. Who IS this child? Needless to say, Greg and I are very proud of her growth and are slightly less worried about our planned trip to Disneyland in the spring!

This is Marley and Paige's (now only Paige's) dance school. Didn't know they were putting in a float. Oh well.

At the fair, Paige took LC under her wing on the swing ride. Here they are at the beginning of the ride. Neither looks altogether convinced of anything, do they?

How about now? I think they are enjoying themselves!!

LC refused to go into the bouncy castle but Paige had fun. This one had a slide.

This one was just all about bouncing!

Every year the Firefighters have a mini obstacle course for the kids to do. Paige and Marley are helping wind up the hose here.

Paige went first. She grabbed the hose and ran to ...

... squirt the water to put out the fire.

Here's Marley at the next stage - hoisting the hose up the stairs.

Then they had to sling the hose over their shoulder and run through the cones to dump it in a bucket.

The final obstacle (that I didn't get pictures of) was to crawl through the runnel, into the tent to rescue Fido.

Then they got hats, a certificate and a colouring booklet on fire safety.

LC was technically old enough to do this but too scared. Maybe next year.

The next event of note was taking them over to Vancouver Island for Granny Camp. Here are some shots from the ferry ride - an adventure in playing "Where's Christine Now?" She needs a leash!

In the van waiting to get on the ferry.

Marley immediately found the TV showing Family Channel (sheesh!) and then pulled out the camera I lent her and started playing with it.

Paige and LC enjoyed the play area.

We went out on deck (briefly) for a change of scenery. It was pretty windy and both Paige and LC climbed high enough to get my Mommy-dar buzzing!

A solo me on my way home. Enjoying the views.

As part of my weekend, I went with my friend Trish to see the fireworks last night. Every year Vancouver puts on a fireworks competition called the Celebration of Light. They are magnificent shows of fireworks set to music and in our free, young and single days we used to go to them all the time. Since having kids the logistics hasn't been favourable to view them live. But ... as I was kid-less ... we went. Greg was still taking it easy after his "procedure" (hee, hee) so it was a rare Girls Night Out for me.

After a nice dinner at the Keg on Granville Island we walked over to Vanier Park and joined the crowds on the grass. I only had my cell phone so I apologize in advance for the crap quality of the following pictures!!

English Bay was swarming with boats!

The fireworks.

I liked the multi-coloured ones.

Part of the finale.

Well, that's all for now. Greg and I have plans to go to the Vancouver Whitecaps game this afternoon and then I have a Stampin' Up! workshop later. More on that in another post.

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend.

See you later!

Family Update (Finally)

This may not get posted tonight ... depends on how long Blogger decides to take to upload pictures today! But I at least wanted to start on a personal blog post that I know my family has been looking for. No more scrapbook pages! Just show us current photos of the girls!!!

I hear ya! I hear ya!

Get ready ...

We have to go all that way back to July 16th. Marley volunteered to lay a rose on the Veterans Memorial when the Portaits of Honour tour came through Ladner. It was a yucky, rainy, cold day for a ceremony! The call for volunteers came out so late and the weather was so horrible that I think it kept a lot of people away. So much so that Paige got wrangled into laying a rose too. Here they are.

Marley in the Processional.

See the two pink hooded figures? (Okay, one's hidden behind the woman in the red coat.) Those are Marley and Paige.

Marley was a very attentive big sister! I am always so proud of her when I see things like this. Then of course she turns around and screams at Paige for some imagined infraction like looking at her funny. But in THIS moment she was the very definition of Big Sister!

The Cenotaph. It was a very moving ceremony. The weather definitely helped the somber mood!

Afterwards we went out for pancakes at Ricky's with friends. The girls all had hot chocolate! Yup, it was that cold!

Next we have pictures from when we went to "watch" Greg play in a tournament called Nations Cup. He was playing for Team Canada in the 40+ division. They lost pretty badly - much like our real Team Canada does in Soccer tournaments!!

You may have noticed that I put the word watched in quotations. You see, Greg likes to ask us to come out to watch him play soccer then he parades the girls past some fun looking playground which they then pester me to go and play on. I think you can see where this is going. We had 20 minutes or so before the start of his game so I took the girls over to the playground. After an appropriately painful length of time (on my part) watching the girls we headed back to find Greg. His game was in half-time intermission but he'd hurt himself in the first half and wouldn't be playing for the second. Doh! So much for watching Daddy play soccer!

Here they are on the playground/seniors exercise area.

The Monkey on the monkey bars - natch!

Monkey Jr - never afraid to show what she can climb up now!

Stair Stepping Sisters!

Paige got those sunglasses from the Telus guys and wouldn't take them off for days!

Just hangin' out!

I think she's trying to do the Crane a la the Karate Kid. That's just what she needs. Lessons on how to beat up her sisters!

I am really not sure what this machine is supposed to do/exercise/work on. Anyone?

Miss Independent "Me Do It" Day had a little tumble when jumping off a low wall. Mommy's offer of support is looking MUCH more appealing now!!

And last but not least, our intrepid athlete!!

We stuck around to watch his team play the second half (sans Greg). It was really just rotten timing that we missed him. Maybe next year! Assuming his groin/hamstring/calf/achilles/you name it doesn't get pulled/tweaked/whatever!!

Then we jump ahead to July 23rd. Greg and I got to go out for a nice dinner with his parents and his sister and brother-in-law to celebrate his Dad's retirement change of job status (Grandpa doesn't like the R word!) and their 45th Anniversary. It was paid for by Greg's Grandma Day who passed away a few years ago. Greg's Mom generously treated us to a dinner at Season's in the Park at Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver.

We scored the best table in the house too!

We were early (surprise, surprise!) so we had drinks on the patio first.

The view from our table!

Greg's parents - Mike and Julia. Happy 45th!!

Me and Greg - Happy 9th (soon!)

The crew. From left: Mike, Julia, Aaron, Christine, Greg and me.

July 28th - My very good friend (BFF in Marley-speak) was in town visiting (from Oakville, Ontario) so we met up at the waterpark on Granville Island. I had already agreed to look after Paige's friend Cali for the afternoon but couldn't give up the chance to see Shalan and her girls so ... she came too. Greg also took the afternoon off work to help corral children!

Paige and Elise (dark hair) seeing how cold the water was. (Pretty darn cold if the truth be told!)

Cali, Paige and Elise hamming it up for the camera. 

Taken through the spray of a fire hose - Greg taking pictures of LC, Cali, Paige and Elise.

Greg and LC.

Marley on the big water slide.

LOVE my camera!!! I cropped the picture in Picasa and it's still so clear! Love the water drops!!

Do you think she liked the slide?

Marley and Mylene deciding whether or not to go again.

LC in the tunnel.

Paige on the short but steep waterslide.

I think she liked it!

This was her first attempt down the big one.

She liked it so much she did it again - with slightly different results. I wasn't on-the-ball enough to get pictures of it, but the second time she came down she somehow managed to get turned around backwards and upside down so that when she hit the run out she was underwater. But, while she did come up spluttering a bit, she was smiling. Such an improvement in her lately!

And the last picture for today, me and Shalan - Kappa sisters forever!!

We never get long enough to visit and I'm always left wanting more but ... even a few hours once a year is better than nothing! Love you!

Well, Blogger was much more cooperative today than it has been in the past  but I think I will stop there for today. I've still got pictures from our walk around False Creek yesterday and the BC Day Sun Fest parade and fair today to show you. I'll save those for another day though. While the girls are outside blowing the bubbles they got in the parade (along with piles of candy!!) Greg and I will watch Hell's Kitchen then do baths and bed. Ah, summer routines!!

Thanks for tuning in. See you soon!