tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18058037644756840292024-03-12T19:25:52.061-07:00.Kelli Skinner + her Boyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15181985632047378004noreply@blogger.comBlogger164125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1805803764475684029.post-31915320649564292282018-02-13T22:03:00.001-08:002018-02-13T22:03:03.519-08:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> I have 3/4 of 2017 to catch up on here. Right. It's February 13th, 2018 and I have 7 minutes until I have to go pick up the kids from school. Obviously, it's been a busy year, not enough time to Blog... Highlights only:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Callum, Max and Simon did great in Baseball last year, though Callum felt a little challenged in his first year at AAA.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> School ended, summer came and we did our usual Canada Day camping trip, to the US. We headed down to Mt.Rainier this time but first stopped in at Seattle and brought our friends, Dave and Alyce Elton and their daughters, Elsa and Hattie, with us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The boys had a summer full of day camps (in order to leave my days free to work on the house) and even went to their first over-night camp on Gambier Island, Camp Fircom. Even Simon went for 2 nights!! They are so brave and ended up enjoying it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Callum spent a weekend in Whistler with his buddy Liam.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We went on a big Davis family backpacking trip to the HBC Heritage Trail. Kids were troopers. It was super smokey from all the wildfires that summer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then all 3 boys headed to Calgary to spend 2 weeks with my brother Todd's family. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While they were away, I turned 40. Yes, 40 years old. Jeff took me zip lining. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I picked up the boys from Calgary and we were reunited! Stopped in Canmore to visit my friend again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I can't remember when, but at some point we went to a Canucks game.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This awesome photo shows how excited the boys were that summer was over and school started again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I flew to Calgary for the weekend for Krista and Al's wedding!</span><br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uPV7LL6zoCE/WoNaq0Ll52I/AAAAAAAAHbE/J8yfhRfNJHwrLeFY0fT30vEIBEZmadS6QCEwYBhgL/s1600/fullsizeoutput_3ad9.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1383" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uPV7LL6zoCE/WoNaq0Ll52I/AAAAAAAAHbE/J8yfhRfNJHwrLeFY0fT30vEIBEZmadS6QCEwYBhgL/s640/fullsizeoutput_3ad9.jpeg" width="552" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Simon turned 6! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Random family hike.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Callum and Max are doing a Swim Skills through the Chena Swim club and even participated in a swim meet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> But Simon's true love is SOCCER.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Halloween.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am still the Cub Scout Leader for a group of 12 boys. They sang songs at Christmas time for a Seniors Centre (see how excited they are??) .</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zBj22A8kmMg/WoNZSYGClkI/AAAAAAAAHa8/vfjsmk00fA0Dh6yNOga9DmUbVEtO0a5SgCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_1984.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zBj22A8kmMg/WoNZSYGClkI/AAAAAAAAHa8/vfjsmk00fA0Dh6yNOga9DmUbVEtO0a5SgCEwYBhgL/s640/IMG_1984.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once the snow hit, we tried to get some time on the hills, but not a lot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Max and Simon were there, but Callum was the only one who was willing to sit with Santa.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And Christmas.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And that's a 7-minute summary of 2017. If it ain't in a picture, I guess it don't get blogged. Needless to say, a lot more happened, particularly the fact that we are building a house... but that's a whole other 7 minutes (or so)!</span><br />
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<br />Kelli Skinner + her Boyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15181985632047378004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1805803764475684029.post-80862526937615421562017-05-23T14:13:00.000-07:002017-05-23T14:13:00.100-07:00Busy busy!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After our California trip, it was 'game-on'! No more holiday behaviour, except maybe some messing around with funny kids:</span></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3IPqbZwlnAA/WSSJZsxrb5I/AAAAAAAAHKY/XDpWnrVDnxUL04dx3TTo5xTaHOkj3h6PwCLcB/s1600/fullsizeoutput_2da5.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3IPqbZwlnAA/WSSJZsxrb5I/AAAAAAAAHKY/XDpWnrVDnxUL04dx3TTo5xTaHOkj3h6PwCLcB/s320/fullsizeoutput_2da5.jpeg" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5O8lHThbKRE/WSSJZdf2e9I/AAAAAAAAHKU/nAcDJyKyBQIJzpjFclsk8jfrNjpYPIFnwCLcB/s1600/fullsizeoutput_2da3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5O8lHThbKRE/WSSJZdf2e9I/AAAAAAAAHKU/nAcDJyKyBQIJzpjFclsk8jfrNjpYPIFnwCLcB/s320/fullsizeoutput_2da3.jpeg" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ok, but seriously, in the last couple months, Jeff and I have found that we only really speak to each other in to-do lists, as we navigate the busy lives of 5 people. We often have to write-out our lists to keep track of how to effectively divide-and-conquer everything.</span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V30xtxq-6Y4/WSSGoTsi4sI/AAAAAAAAHCE/DzrQ3rBRXS4g2BjC8sV7dMtNHixDXaU_gCEw/s1600/IMG_7512.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V30xtxq-6Y4/WSSGoTsi4sI/AAAAAAAAHCE/DzrQ3rBRXS4g2BjC8sV7dMtNHixDXaU_gCEw/s320/IMG_7512.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, we packed up our house in Lynn Valley and moved into a rental house that we found to accommodate both our family and my parents during the construction of the Wellington house. The boys ended their soccer season, they all started baseball season, we celebrated Max and Jeff's birthdays, I took on my role as Cub Scout leader more actively, we tried to squeeze in a little more skiing in (since the snow just kept coming!), Callum took Umpire training to have his first real job as a baseball umpire (!), all meanwhile getting ready to tear down our Wellington house and start building (and I did pass the Owner-builder exam - wohoo!). So, here's a few photos to document March to May:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Max's U8 soccer team Columbia:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Callum's U10 team Australia: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Kelli and her Dad enjoyed a snow-day up at Cypress Mtn:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lynn Valley Little League Season Opener (rainy day):</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All my boys love to play bat catcher, for some reason, but I guess it does look pretty cool:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some of the Cub activities we've done included a local and Stake Kub Kar rally, in which Callum surprisingly did very well (he built a big-rig truck, with no intention of being very fast, but it turned out he was! 1st place for our local rally and 2nd place in the Stake!). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We've also gone to the Firehall, cleaned garbage from the creek, visited the Owl Rehab centre in Delta, had a visit from the North Shore Emergency Management, went Geocaching, built obstacle courses, etc...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ross Road Elementary puts on a "broadway" show each year. This year it was Pirate themed, so the boys all learned pirate songs and sang (but I won't bother pointing them out in these photos!):</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And Callum has still been participating in the Strings program - here is a local concert they did for the students and parents of Ross Rd.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Max and Jeff woke up on their birthday to open some presents and they went out for breakfast together, then it was a family dinner out (to Browns restaurant in Lynn Valley) with my parents. Max's party, though, was a bit later on a Saturday at a Martial Arts facility. Other than the cake he didn't like, he was quite happy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jeff's birthday gift was a backcountry ski trip with Whitecap Alpine, which he said was amazing, and rather challenging (he hasn't sent me his photos yet, unfortunately).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Over Easter weekend, we had Lorelei, Elena and Ryan stay with us (since my brother Scott and his wife Samantha went to London and Paris!), so we explored together and the Easter bunny visited us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(I couldn't get many photos of the easter egg hunt since they found them all so fast!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our rental house is pretty close to a couple decent parks and trails, not to mention a funny pedestrian path:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And here's a few random pics, of what you might find around our house:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I tried to plan a little something for my amazing sister, Kim, for her rather significant birthday (50!), but all I came up with was going to Harrison Hot Springs. Poor Kami was totally sick the whole time, so Kim and I hiked a little trail while Kami hung out in the hot tubs. Luckily Kami was feeling better a few weeks later when I did the Sun Run with her (I can finally check that one off my list).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And FINALLY, the big day came. We got our permit to demolish, then not long after got our building permit. The boys were looking forward to throwing rocks at the house and watching the destruction of a house they lived in. It was quite entertaining.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We also had nearly all the trees from the property removed as well (after deliberation, it seemed that keeping them was not in anyones best interest), so clearing the site was a smooth process that left a black canvas to build on. Unfortunately, digging the hole in the ground to put in a basement has proved to be much more complicated, particularly along the West property line. Sigh. I thought that a big boulder was going to be a problem, but that was the least of the difficulties. Our soil is so saturated with water that it became a serious concern that our neighbours house could be de-stabilized. A geotechnical engineer first agreed that a lock-block wall could be used for shoring (a $5,000 option), but after trying that, it became clear that we would be required to install a shot-crate wall (a $30,000 option). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's still underway as I write this. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes, the house construction is what takes up most my brain-power these days, and it's pretty exhausting. We still have questions of storm-water management and the back lane proposal up in the air, questions that are currently in the hands of the District to answer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As the May long weekend was approaching, I thought we would just take it easy at home, but then with the optimistic weather forecast, I decided that hanging out at home was lame. Jeff and I took all 3 of our boys on their first overnight backpacking trip! It was tough to find the right combination of distance, difficulty and no snow for their first trip, and it turns out that 6.5km just isn't enough to get those true backcountry qualities of solitude and scenery, but I must say - my kids are awesome. If anything, the strenuous hiking up hill on a rather technical trail was the least of their complaints. Actually, it was all the dogs that really annoyed them, then there was still snow in sections, so the trail was muddy/icy/flowing as a creek in areas. I'm super proud of them. Although Simon was quite certain he hated everything about hiking ("I hate rocks, I hate mud, I hate dogs, I hate hiking, I hate walking, I hate trees"...), he was a ton of fun to have in between bursts of whining. And then as we got in the car to drive home at the end of it all, he buckled up his seatbelt and said, "Well, that was fun!". </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We took them past Lindeman Lake to Greendrop Lake, in Chilliwack Provincial Park.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And now we're all caught up to May 23rd, 2017. Crazy life right now, but I love it. I just have to remind myself that all my stresses are the good-kind, and not to let them make me grumpy. Yes, I have a million things to organize, keep track of and make happen, but they are pretty awesome things. While driving my boys to school this morning, we heard the news story of 22 people who were killed in Manchester from a suicide bomber, including an 8-yr old girl - Callum and I got a bit teary-eyed because we just really can't imagine such a horrible thing. We're so blessed.</span><br />
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<br />Kelli Skinner + her Boyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15181985632047378004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1805803764475684029.post-51146138672562259392017-03-23T11:49:00.000-07:002017-03-23T11:49:15.163-07:00LOS ANGELES! (Post 2 of 2)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Continued post (at Universal Studios)...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We tried Butter beer, which was kind of like mixing cream soda and root beer, and we tried Pumpkin juice - pretty nasty stuff, actually. The rest of Universal Studios was fun, but the kids favourite ride was the Hippogriff ride, and the Transformers one Jeff liked the best.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We spent another day exploring LA, including Rodeo Drive, the Getty Centre and the car museum.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We timed a day at the beach perfectly - sunny and full of interesting people. Santa Monica beach kept the boys busy trying out all the "work-out" stations, and I thought it was better than "Muscle Beach" at Venice Beach</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We stayed in Newport Beach for the last couple of days, and it was much more laid-back and so, so beautiful.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">None of us really felt like we wanted to go home yet, so it must have been a great family holiday.</span>Kelli Skinner + her Boyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15181985632047378004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1805803764475684029.post-46347665028102873712017-03-10T10:55:00.000-08:002017-03-10T10:55:12.971-08:00LOS ANGELES! (Post 1 of 2)This winter, North Van has been experiencing one of the best snow seasons it has had in a very long time. Snowpants and sleds were brought to school everyday so the boys could play in the snow and slide on the dinky little hill (until it wasn't allowed anymore). The Saturday before we left for our trip to Los Angeles, we got another new dump of snow, and we were able to enjoy an awesome neighbourhood snowball fight with Simon's friend Luke's family and Callum's buddy Liam's family. And then we all went for a little walk in the forest.<br />
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Sunday morning we woke the boys up at 4:45am to head to the airport. They were feeling pretty excited, despite the early wake-up.<br />
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So, all around, our trip was pretty amazing - we did everything we thought was the best to do at Disneyland for the 3 days there and for the 1 day at Universal Studios. We got to know Los Angeles a bit and learned that we actually quite like it, (helped by the fact that the house I booked was in a nice neighbourhood). The weather might have been a bit rainy, but still plenty of warm days for February!<br />
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I'm pretty sure that at least Simon (and Jeff, of course) would agree with me that Disneyland actually isn't the "happiest place on earth" as advertised, considering the line-ups, the meagre food and the stress of how much everything costs. Let me get some complaining out of the way right now:<br />
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- Don't bother staying at the Paradise Pier or Disneyland hotel, since I think staying on the East side of the park is actually closer to walk to the park entrance and there are more restaurant options over there. (Unless you can afford the California Resort - super nice and right in the park)<br />
- I think any younger than 5 years old might be too young for any of the rides that are any good, and dealing with a kid that is melting down at Disneyland is not something you want to deal with after you have spent so much money to go there.<br />
- don't bother with the super expensive, really bad buffet "Character Meal Experience". Ew.<br />
- I cannot even fathom going there when it is busy season: some rides are literally only 1.5 minutes long after you've waited for HOW long?? <br />
- I felt super unhealthy after 3 days at Disney: the food was just not good, unless you wanted to spend $3 for a slice of pineapple or walk to Jamba Juice for anything that tastes like real food.<br />
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Ok, so here's my attempt at a summary, but mostly I'll leave it to the photos to tell the story.<br />
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DAY 1: We arrived at the hotel around 1:30pm. We stayed at Disney's Paradise Pier, the cheapest of the 3 "on-site" options, and first we check out Downtown Disney where the boys loved the Lego Store. That night we had a "Character Meal Experience" at Goofy's kitchen where the kids really enjoyed meeting a bunch of the characters, insisting that we wait until Pluto showed up at our table.<br />
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DAY 2: We had a quick breakfast of granola bars in the hotel room. It was drizzling with rain that morning, so we hoped that would keep the crowds away. We made a quick trip into Disney's California Adventureland (DCA) since it had early entrance that morning, went on 1 ride then headed to Disneyland for the unexciting "rope-drop". <br />
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I had done some research about what rides to go on and how to schedule our time, so we had a bit of a plan to follow and headed straight for the Peter Pan ride... like everyone else.<br />
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It was probably the longest wait we did the whole trip and Simon hated it! That's when he had his brief meltdown and apparently "hates Disneyland and wants to go back to the hotel". We thought the Nemo submarine ride would be better for him, but it ended up being kinda dark and scary too, so we weren't off to the best start! <br />
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We decided to head into the Star Wars area, to avoid the rain a bit and check into the Jedi Training Academy. (We signed them up for it, but they ended up cancelling it anyway due to the rain that day). The Launch Bay had some cool stuff to check out and we got FastPasses for the HyperSpace Mountain. Jeff took Callum and Max to meet Darth Vader (and I just realized that I still haven't got all the photos from his phone), then we all got to meet Chewbacca. That lifted Simon's spirits a bit so the day improved from there.<br />
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Callum was uninterested in doing the Hyperspace ride, so Max and I did it first, then Jeff went on it. Jeff took Callum and Max to the other Star Wars ride, Star Tours, while Simon and I did the Buzz Light Year ride, then we headed out of that area to Toon Town and a few other rides.<br />
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Later in the evening they opened up the Autopia ride, so we waited a bit for the boys to test their driving skills before Jeff and Simon went back to the hotel for a little break. Max and Callum chose to make their own Light Saber and take me on the Star tours ride then Jeff and Sion came back for the Electrical Parade.<br />
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In bed by 9:30pm and the boys fell asleep in seconds.<br />
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DAY 3: We had breakfast at the Rainforest Cafe and were in Disney for Magic Morning. There was the Tiki Room, Jungle Cruise, Tarzan's treehouse, Splash Mountain, met a few Characters, Simon says his "butt flew off" when we did the Thunder Mountain ride, we went back to Autopia and more time in the Star Wars area. We headed to DCA to see the "World of Colour" show, which was quite impressive, so waiting in a viewing spot with Corndogs was worth it.<br />
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Simon ended up getting himself a Light Saber too, so the rest of our trip had plenty of Saber-fighting.<br />
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DAY 4: We just grabbed pastries and Jamba Juice on our way to DCA for the day. We had to get Fastpasses for the Radiator Springs Racers ride, and managed to do it twice that day because it was a good one. I managed to get on the California Screamer a couple times too and we all loved the Soarin' around the world.<br />
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We had booked the boys for Jedi Training that afternoon, so popped back over to Disney for it. The didn't seem disappointed that they didn't fight Darth Vader, they all fought the "7th Sister" (I think) instead. <br />
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We spent more time at DCA, getting in some last rides before going to see World of Colour again, but as we waited for the show to start (in a difference spot that the bus didn't really like), we decided to just head out. The boys had had enough.<br />
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Jeff picked up the rental car and we drove and hour into Los Angeles to our Air BnB.<br />
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DAY 5: We wanted to take it easy for a day. We chilled out a bit at the house, but the weather cooperated, so we played some baseball, checked out a couple playgrounds, more light sabre fighting, then headed to Griffiths Observatory for the afternoon.<br />
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We tried to find some Hollywood Stars on the Boulevard, that we knew, and it was pretty easy.<br />
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We had dinner at The Farmers Market not far from us then slept easily again that night after a good day.<br />
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DAY 6: Universal Studios! We got into the 'early entrance', so headed straight to Harry Potter's area, Hogsmeade. We all loved the Hippogriff ride, but it was pretty short! I think, by the end of the day, Simon rode it at least 10 times! Callum and I did the ride in the Hogwarts Castle, but Callum got kinda sick for a bit from it (you can tell which picture I took of him after the ride!)<br />
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[Apparently I have use up my "album space" and can't put anymore photos in this post... I'll have to continue in another one...]<br />
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<br />Kelli Skinner + her Boyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15181985632047378004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1805803764475684029.post-45277347057348919292017-02-01T13:35:00.001-08:002017-02-01T13:36:50.270-08:00Christmas break, then back to routine After the boys guilted me into buying Gingerbread houses kits because apparently I had "forgotten all our Christmas traditions!", we felt satisfyingly ready for Christmas.<br />
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They boys never did fully decide on what to ask from Santa, so they were happy with the Stickbots, and the ski poles, ski goggles and bike helmet he got them. <br />
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<span style="text-align: start;">I had been joking with the boys for several weeks that all Jeff and I were getting them was socks and underwear for Christmas. I had a sneaky plan underfoot, however, and revealed their true Christmas gift. After they each opened their gifts (of underwear and socks, of course!), they found inside a coded message and then the cipher to reveal the http address of a Youtube video I put together for them. I admit, they didn't enjoy the anticipation and the fun as much as I'd hoped, and their reaction was more subdued than we expected, but it may have been all the hard work we made them go through before finding out that... </span></div>
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... We're taking them to Disneyland and Universal Studios and Legoland!!!<br />
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For the 2 weeks off of school, we did a whole lot of this:</div>
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We did a little of this:<br />
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A bunch of this:<br />
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Other than hanging at Mt.Seymour or otherwise playing in the snow, we went to the movies and visited family. One day we went to the Aquarium and Bright Nights at Stanley Park (with Callum's buddy Liam).<br />
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Callum had a small birthday party with his 2 best buddies - Teddy from White Rock and Liam from North Van. He really wanted them to meet, so we went to the trampoline place Extreme Air park, Browns restaurant for dinner then they had a sleepover at our place.<br />
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His actual birthday was on a Wednesday, so after school we took a few of his friends (Charlie, Cypress and Liam) swimming and over for hamburgers and cake.<br />
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His gift from Jeff and I was snowboarding lessons, so every Saturday in January was a lot of this (while Simon took ski lessons and got over his fear of breaking his leg again - phewph!!):<br />
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The snow in North Van stayed for a while, enough that soccer was pretty much cancelled for a few weeks, which meant the boys didn't miss any games while skiing/snowboarding. I have to admit that I think this will be our last season at Seymour, as we are rather bored of the terrain and relatively long lift lines. <br />
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Jeff's Christmas gift from the boys was the AST-1 course (avalanche safety training), so he did that one weekend. I (finally) got a decent running/GPS watch (Suunto Ambit 3), to motivate me back onto the trails (well, it's been mostly onto frosty pavement, until the rain came last week to wash away the ice on the trails).<br />
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As for the house, the drawings are still being reviewed by the DNV and they have asked for additional things that I provided. I think I've been forced to get a little smarter during this process, as I had to learn how to calculate RSI tables for them and as I studied up to take the Owner-Builder exam (which I still don't know whether I passed or not). We managed to find a rental house, though! It serves our purposes quite well, as it has an in-law suite below for Mom and Dad, and it has relatively cheap rent ($3,350/mo), it's just not in Lynn Valley, so no more riding our bikes to school for a while. Oh well, it's not too far. <br />
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Now, we are getting pretty excited because this Sunday we are leaving for DISNEYLAND!!!<br />
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<br />Kelli Skinner + her Boyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15181985632047378004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1805803764475684029.post-37282637525678537522016-12-22T22:42:00.003-08:002016-12-22T22:42:59.693-08:00Last post of 2016<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I live much closer to my sister Kim now, so we have taken advantage of our proximity to each other and to Thomas Haas to enjoy some quality time. Ah, the true luxuries of life. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Below is a pic of Max's soccer practice. I have always thought Max was a natural athlete and could certainly excel in soccer, but I am worried that his development is staggering. His coaches and teammates are great, they just aren't particularly good at soccer. Max gets bored now and just messes around during practices, so his skills are actually diminishing instead of progressing. Well, next year there are the 'Selects' teams and I just hope that Max hasn't declined in skill level so he could actually play with other kids that challenge him and coaches that push him. Or maybe I'm just being a crazy soccer Mom and should chill.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(Side-note: I apologize for the poor-quality photos in this whole post and probably for all posts to come. I've come to realize that I will never blog if I want to spend time editing my photos to look good - they get posted as-is or not at all).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It seems like there is a Pro-D day or early dismissal from school at least every month now. Luckily, there is always a hike to do. This one we brought some school buddies to Capitano fish hatchery.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, ya, you may notice something interesting about Callum's hair - he dyed it purple. Jeff and I decided to let him do what he wants with his hair - he spent his own money on it. It appears to be a bit of a trend for the boys at their school. His buddy Liam dyed his hair too, but his Mom wasn't quite as committed. The dye box said Callum's hair colour would wash out in approximately 28 washes, which for him is over a year!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Callum and Max finished their last session of skating lessons and I am happy to not have to tie their skates up anymore! Simon, however, continued with more lessons and will still need more lessons, but at least he enjoys it now.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of course, there was Halloween. Callum got a Canucks jersey for memorizing all 13 Articles of Faith, so that made his costume easy. Max came up with the idea all by himself to be Albert Einstein - he was awesome! And Simon was happy to wear the Knight costume we've had for years. Callum and Max went trick or treating with our friends/neighbours Liam and Jody, while Simon went with our other friends/neighbours Luke and Nichole, though Simon only lasted about 5 houses then came home. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We managed to get a little family hike in to the Canyon on a Sunday afternoon. The kids were so happy that day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, apparently we didn't really do anything in November since m</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">y photo album that month is just filled with images of design inspiration instead of anything I might have done with the kids. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I spent every waking moment either working or thinking about our house design and drawings. I was supposed to get the building permit drawings submitted sometime in November and I just couldn't seem to get it all done. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When December came around, it was a kick-in-the-pants that Christmas was around the corner and I had to get the drawings done. We got the advent calendars to start the countdown and I was also suddenly distracted by the incredible dumping of snow on all the ski hills and our family was going to take advantage of it this year. We bought Mt.Seymour passes again this year and registered Max and Simon in more ski lessons.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And not only was it snowing in the mountains, we got plenty of it at home too. Simon said "my wish came true!" when he saw all the snow. The boys never tire of playing in the stuff. They take their sleds to school to play on the dinky "hill" on their school grounds.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For family home evening one Monday, we went to 4 Cats Art studio to make ceramic christmas ornaments to give as gifts to friends (which I'm still waiting to be fired!).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We actually got our tree pretty early this year, December 7th, since it was the only evening that wasn't booked up until the winter break. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jeff and I passed the kids off to my family for a weekend (Mom had them Thursday night, Kim Friday night and Kami Saturday night) so we skied Whistler for a few days. We managed to find some seriously decent snow and I had a grin on my face for plenty of runs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Callum had a concert for his Strings group - I'm not sure if I ever mentioned that Callum and Max started music lessons last February: Callum violin and Max piano. They are both pretty enthusiastic if not a bit lazy at practicing (no surprises there).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thursday, December 15th I took my drawings into the District of North Vancouver and submitted for building permit - WOHOO!! And, all architectural requirements were met, so I was elated! They still have to review all Environmental and Engineer aspects, but I felt pretty good to finally get the drawings in. Phew.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Since I handed in the drawings to the DNV, I literally haven't even turned on my laptop (where I do all my AutoCAD work). Now, I'm all about getting ready for Christmas and enjoying the snow! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We took a few of Callum's Cub Scout group sledding and had a blast.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">School break started the 19th and we've pretty much been up to Mt.Seymour everyday. Max is actually enjoying his lessons (now that he's with an older group of kids and he doesn't have to always wait for them, and his teacher is pretty cool). Jeff took the boys up to Grouse too, and apparently it is quite the winter wonderland right now. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The boys were bugging me about not doing many Christmas traditions this year (which I would agree with, since I kept putting off due to work on the house), so I appeased them one night by making sugar cookies and just tonight we (finally) decorated gingerbread houses (but doing them late makes them real cheap at the store - only $6 each!).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So now there is only 3 days left until Christmas. Wow. Crazy. And I can see 2017 being even crazier as we will move again, tear down our house and build the new house, (and do something particularly special with the kids, but shhh, that a Christmas surprise!)...</span></div>
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Kelli Skinner + her Boyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15181985632047378004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1805803764475684029.post-4640712394900945412016-10-14T12:36:00.001-07:002016-10-14T12:36:44.667-07:00Fall begins.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Running on Mt.Fromme, I looked up from the trail to catch a glimpse of this light through these trees. It was a good run.<br />
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School started, which meant Simon started Kindergarten!! There were a few days of gradual-entry, which was a little painful for him, but he was so ready for this. We even got there early one day and he played cards with a new friend while waiting to get into class.<br />
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Shortly after school started, Ross Road hosted a Pancake breakfast. <br />
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Although you might think that, with all 3 of my kids in school now, I would have all this free time to get in some consistent runs, but that hasn't been the case at all. Before my running career was pretty much put to a halt by my obsessive design work on the house, I did manage to get one last good hike with some friends. I originally planned on doing the Howe Sound Crest trail in one day, but my buddies weren't feeling too confident about that, so we compromised by hiking to the West Lion and back. <br />
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Our neighbourhood organized a block party, and it was pretty much the last activity of the "summer weather", since at 7pm at started pouring rain... letting us know that soccer season was about to start!<br />
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And so, the life of the Soccer Mom began.<br />
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Callum is Team Australia, Max is Team Columbia, Simon is Team Switzerland. <br />
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Simon is really loving soccer! Here he is, all by himself, practicing his skills while waiting at Callum's soccer practice.<br />
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Simon turned 5 years old! We had a little get-together at Scott and Samantha's the weekend before his birthday, then he had a simple play-date party at our house on his big day.<br />
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All he asked for were his 3 friends to come over and to have a white cake with blue icing and sprinkles. I love a boy with simple requests. <br />
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His big present from us this year was a Lego Millennium Falcon. His brothers were pretty excited about it too, and luckily Simon didn't mind so much that Callum assembled much of it for him.<br />
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We made a little trip to White Rock as well, to celebrate with Simon's old buddy, Heidi at her party.<br />
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There was a Pro-D day on the 30th and it was miraculously a clear day, so we invited the Amasio family to join us on a hike through Nelson Canyon to Whyte Lake. It was lovely.<br />
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Of course, with school back in session, each of the kids has already taken a turn staying home with a cold, also sharing it with me and I'm still fighting off the lingering cough. So, it gives me a good excuse to sit at my computer for hours at a time, working on our house design. I think we may actually have a design we're happy with, that I just sent off to the structural engineer (hence why I have a little time to blog now!)...<br />
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<br />Kelli Skinner + her Boyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15181985632047378004noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1805803764475684029.post-74665812531874938612016-09-29T09:30:00.000-07:002016-09-29T09:30:29.771-07:00Finish up summer<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Next year, I need to remember to spread out the trips, and plan something for Labour Day weekend. I feel a bit like I had packed in all our adventures (and spent all our money) in July, so August dragged a bit with the kids getting on each others nerves (and mine) - sometimes, you just have to stay home to get things done. I put the kids went into a few camps, soccer camp for the mornings and a Grouse Mountain Day camp, during which I was able to hike up the Grind then continue up to Goat Mnt.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some of our activities: We went to Second beach for a swim day, we went to visit Cindy and Teddy and swam in her Mom's pool, we had a family picnic at Cates park, we went to the top of Grouse and watched the Lumberjack show (4 times this summer!), we met up with the Sherwin's at Lynn Canyon, we went to Go Bananas and we had playdates with friends.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I started looking into camping options for the long weekend before school started, but we were too late to reserve anywhere decent and I decided first-come-first-serve sites were too risky. Besides, I felt like I had used up all my "planning activities" reserves and we decided to just chill. Jeff got tix to the Richmond Oval Experience, so we checked that out, but it turned out the climbing gym was closed that day, so we went out for dinner at Earl's instead.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And that was summer 2016. I know there are Moms that don't want the summer to end and they love all the time they can spend time with their babies and they are sad to send their kids back to school. I confess, I am not one of those Moms. I have stuff to do! I can't get anything done with my kids always needing to go to the skate park and to go swimming and go biking and playdates and camping and Science World and refereeing their arguments and to playgrounds and whatever their hearts desires might be. Yup, I was ready for school to start. Maybe it was the heavy weight on my mind that I hadn't spent more than an hour or two all summer working on my house design and I want to get it in for building permit by November... speaking of which, gotta stop blogging and get to work!</span></div>
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Kelli Skinner + her Boyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15181985632047378004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1805803764475684029.post-82456219721417786642016-09-12T12:59:00.001-07:002016-09-12T12:59:46.852-07:00Family Time and Alone timeOf course, while Jeff and I were off in the mountains, my boys were pawned off to generous and kind people. My Mom had Max and Simon for 4 days, taking them to gymnastics camp a couple times and then to play with cousins. Then for a day and night, Max and Simon joined Callum at Cindy and Teddy's, with whom he had gone to Eliza island for a night with them. They seemed to have had a perfectly great time without their parents and Simon even managed to get over a lot of his fear of dogs while spending time at Cindys' with their dog Toby.<br />
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So, we got home on the Friday evening, chilled out Saturday, then left Sunday morning to spend some family time in Whistler for a couple days. The weather wasn't super great, but it didn't rain enough to keep us indoors. We spent a lot of time at the awesome BMX track, swimming in the hotel pool, and some playground time.<br />
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Simon is still fairly cautious on his bike and was mostly just observing at the BMX track, though he was getting more brave, little by little. He did not, however, feel up to the task of riding his bike around Lost Lake. I let Jeff go ahead with the other boys while I had the pleasure of listening to Simon express his horrifying hatred of hills and gravel and me. We did finally get moving to the point where we met up with his brothers at the "Toad Migration" area.<br />
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The Rio Olympics had started while we were there and I thought it was funny that we were watching them in Olympic Plaza in Whistler.<br />
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And treat time at the Candy store.<br />
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The rest of the week was pretty low-key - a few playdates and I can't remember what else. I decided to try a tour-de-Stanley-Park with the boys one day, riding our bikes around the seawall to the various stops. We made it only as far as the waterpark before stopping for over 3.5 hrs to play. Other than Simon having another moment of expressing his horrifying hatred of people and narrow trails and me, we eventually made it all the way around and met Jeff at Second Beach for a picnic sushi dinner. <br />
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That evening, after our picnic, I abandoned my family to catch the ferry to Lansdale. I planned to spend the weekend at Kim's place in Gibsons, as my birthday present to myself! Kim and Adam were there for some of it, but I did a little workout and read and slept in and swam in the ocean and had a nap in the sunshine and, well, sigh, it was lovely. <br />
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I also hiked up Mt.Elphinstone, which ended up being slightly longer than I expected, but I've been slowly working my up in distance, time and elevation gain, trying to get myself to the point where I can do Howe Sound Crest trail in a day. This was MT.Elphinstone from the top:<br />
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<br />Kelli Skinner + her Boyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15181985632047378004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1805803764475684029.post-16392867330143574892016-09-08T16:09:00.001-07:002016-09-08T16:09:41.911-07:00Devil's Dome Loop, Aug.1st-5th<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here's my post about my family backpacking trip. For this year, we chose to circumnavigate Jack Mountain along the Jackita Ridge and Devil's Dome trails in the North Cascades in Washington State, a 38km trip that we decided to do in 5 days. Here's a selection of photos (only 50 out of who knows how many hundred) to summarize.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">DAY 1: We needed a boat taxi to ferry us to the trailhead or the end of trail, depending on which way we hiked. After much deliberation, we decided to arrange the taxi for the end of the hike, so we would travel counter-clockwise. This way, the campsites and the views would just get better and better as we hiked, then we would end up at a lovely lake for a refreshing swim at the end.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After driving through the US border, getting lunch at Subway, stopping at the Ranger station in Marblemount (unnecessarily, it turns out), then dropping 1 car off at the Ross Lake parking lot, we made it the trailhead at around Noon and started hiking around 12:30pm. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This was the group, 10 altogether: From the left, Karlyn, Kim, Krista, Kami, Noah, Jeff, Kelli, Scott, Todd, and Dad is kneeling.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jeff precariously attached some special treats to the outside of his pack to enjoy at camp.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was a steep climb the first day, but short: around 4km with 1100m elevation gain. We crowded our 6 tents into the small site that had a nice creek, and was supposed to be less buggy than a little further up the trail at Mcmillan Park.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">DAY 2: Overnight, it clouded over and started raining, so when we woke up, everything was wet and breakfast was spent huddled under a rather pathetically erected shelter. Since the hike to the next campsite at Devil's Park was only another 5km, we decided to make a morning side-trip to summit the nearby Crater Mountain, before packing up. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We got pretty soaked even before we got to Crater Lake, but the lake itself was worth it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We ended up spreading out as we hiked, so most people had turned back after deciding they were just too darn freezing cold to climb up a mountain for a view of clouds. Well, that didn't stop Jeff, Scott and I. The summit was at 2378m (7800ft), and I'm sure the views would have been amazing, if you could see anything.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The rest of the day was just trudging through the on and off rain, making it to the shelter at Devil's Park. There were a few guys there already, but we found some decent sites to spread out our big group. The rain didn't let up while we set up, so we had to choose between standing in the rain next to a warm fire, or shivering under the dry tarp. Tough call.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">DAY 3: The rain stopped by the time we had to pack up the next morning, and Todd liked to use any opportunity to dry his clothes over the fire. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The day started out in the clouds, but as the afternoon progressed, we started to see some of the views would to be enjoying for the rest of the trip. It was a day of some up, then down down down, then up and up to our next site at Devil's Pass. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The water source here was pretty far and pretty sad, but enough. There was another group of hikers going the same route as us, but we only ran into them a couple times. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">DAY 4: Waking up on Day 4 was very pleasant, with sunshine and views. (Our campsite nestled in the pass):</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A super great day of hiking to arrive at the summit of Devil's Dome. Lots of views of Jack mountain as we hiked up the ridge.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Before the hike, Dad was feeling pretty confident about his health and abilities, so we were all happy that he seemed in great shape. Apparently, getting heart bypass surgery is like putting in new batteries :-)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once atop Devil's Dome and set up camp, everyone (but me) soaked in the views, rested, played some cards and maybe napped a bit. No one felt like joining me, so I went on my own to climb the unnamed mountain next to us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(That's the unnamed mountain behind sleeping Dad):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">n this pic, I took from the unnamed peak, you can see big Jack Mtn. to the right, and our campsite looks like a little yellow dot on the top of a ridge just to the left of the grassy area that has snow on it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We fooled around a bit while waiting for the sunset (as it got colder and colder and the bugs got more and more annoying), in order to take some cool photos. I guess it was worth it:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">DAY 5: Our last day of hiking was just over 10km of downhill, ending up at Ross Lake for an awesome swim! We were all glad that we decided to hike counterclockwise, since we would have had the cloudy, rainy days while up at Devil's dome, therefore missing out on the views, and missing out on the perfect dip in the lake.</span><br />
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<br />Kelli Skinner + her Boyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15181985632047378004noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1805803764475684029.post-23139152202074985472016-08-17T19:30:00.002-07:002016-08-17T19:30:50.218-07:0010 days of keepin' busy (July19-29)<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, we got back from our island-hopping trip late Sunday night, then we had a "relaxing" Monday, or at least the boys did. I had to deal with all the aftermath of our trip while also packing for an overnight backpacking trip with my Dad, Kim, Kami and Scott. Dad wanted to test his legs, kind of do a "shakedown" before our week-long Devil's Dome hike in August. He chose Flora Lake loop in Chilliwack, which was actually pretty tough, considering the mild bushwalking required and decent elevation gain. My quads were sore for a few days afterwards!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I had dropped the boys at my Mom's, so they drove her crazy for 2 days. It was a good test for her, too, I guess, of what watching my boys would be like while Jeff and I hike the Devil's Dome. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I took a few days to let my legs recuperate a bit before running again, but I left Jeff with the kids while I headed out on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon to run across the Lions Gate bridge and around Stanley Park. This city never ceases to amaze me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Random pic: Simon practices his cross-eyes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After church that Sunday, we decided Jeff needed to see the funny Lumberjack show on Grouse mountain, so we went up again - but poor Callum got quite sick and ended up throwing up a few times while up at the top! Poor kid! Jeff got to see some of the show and saw some of the Falconry show too before Callum got too bad.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I registered Callum and Max into a Mountain Biking camp for the week in the mornings, and it turned out to be a huge success. They loved it. Their instructors (Ryan and Becca) were really great too, going the extra mile to pick the boys up closer to our house before riding across the pipeline bridge to the Seymour area. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While they were mountain biking, Simon and I spent most of our mornings making meals to dehydrate for backpacking, shopping for items left on my gear list or playing on the WiiU together. Everyday after bike camp, we did a variety of activities. Monday, I took the boys to Ambleside and had some ice cream.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tuesday I took them to Deep Cove. I didn't even make them hike to Quarry Rock before buying them shaved ice and myself a Honey's donut.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On Wednesday, I got Adam to babysit in the afternoon so I could do a hike with Kim and Dad to Mt.Crown. They started about an hour before me, so I had to catch up to meet them, but the trail was actually one of the most technically difficult I've done. Dad even decided he didn't want to go for the peak, so I caught up to them before Dad headed back so Kim and I went ahead to the summit and it was worth it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We were lucky enough to have some White Rock friends come visit us on Thursday - Wohoo! The Baldwins, (Michelle, Gavin, Cole and Ember), met us at New Brighton pool before heading up to Taqueria for dinner and playtime at our house. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After their last day at bike camp, it was super hot and we were only a short walk to the Lynn Canyon swimming hole, so I convinced the boys to head down. Max was hesitant to go in for the first while (because he had to go to the bathroom and wanted privacy where none was to be found!), but eventually all of us swam in.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Real summer weather certainly helped us to have a good week of fun and the forecast was looking good for the next week too. Jeff and I spent the weekend finalizing our backpacks for our Devil's dome trip and we were really, really looking forward to it.</span><br />
<br />Kelli Skinner + her Boyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15181985632047378004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1805803764475684029.post-39965126667213886082016-08-16T17:06:00.001-07:002016-08-16T17:06:20.355-07:00Seeing parts of BC we'd never seen.<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We bought a family Local's Pass for Grouse mountain, assuming that Jeff and I would be frequently using the gondola after hiking the Grind or the BCMC, and I'd say we have at least gotten our money's worth. I first took the boys up myself on July 4th and it was actually freezing up there! But not too cold to enjoy some Beaver Tails while watching the Lumberjack show (which is actually pretty funny!).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Oh, and this is an example of what happens on a those rare occasions when my children play on their own for a while, then you finally check on them to see why they were so quiet:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After spending a week at home after our adventure canoe camping, I decided to take the boys on another adventure, to explore more of our beautiful BC July 11th-17th. Jeff had already left the Friday before for a fishing trip in the Haida Gwaii, so it was just me and the boys. I made reservations for the ferry this time, but it was a 2hr ride to Nanaimo, so the boys watched a movie (Star Wars, I think).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our first stop was Rathtrevor Beach, which was super awesome. We only camped there for 1 night, but we will definitely be coming back here. The weather hadn't warmed up much yet, so we didn't exactly feel like frolicking in the water, but there was a ton of other stuff we found to do.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The campground had a great playground that was surrounded by a BMX pump track and little trails, so the boys just played and played. They also met a new friend named Dennis, that Callum hopes he will meet again when they go to the same University, if he decides to go to UVic. Too cute.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All my kids seem to be good campers, loving the whole campfire thing and no problems sleeping in tents.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After sadly leaving their friend Dennis behind, we were headed out for some island-hopping. You need to take a ferry from Vancouver Island to Denman Island then another ferry from Denman to Hornby Island. The entire trip doesn't actually take that long, it just feels like it, since you drive, wait, ferry, wait, drive, wait, ferry, wait, drive... then camp.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We drove into the Tribune Bay campground feeling a bit disappointed, actually, having left Rathtrevor that exceeded all expectations while Tribune Bay was cramped, crowded, smelly and muddy. We all tried to put on a happy face, though, and grew to like it after a while. The creative playground (mostly built of logs and rope) was a serious social hub for the boys, where they hung out with all the random kids coming and going. We actually ran into a family we knew from White Rock there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The beach was only a little walk down the road, and on one end of the beach, it was all carved-out rock formations and tidal pools. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The quiet-hours for the campground weren't until 11:00pm, so we actually huddled in the back seat of the van with the iPad and watched the first half of the Lone Ranger (the second half the second night), so the boys had an easier time falling asleep. The next day, I convinced them to come on a hike around Helliwell Park, a gorgeous 5km trail that I enjoyed very much.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After our hike, we stopped at the Hornby Island Market, and although there wasn't much to eat, I had to laugh at the number of potters that had their ceramic goods to sell - I guess everyone dreams of retiring to Hornby to have a pottery studio and mountain bike! We knew that Callum's buddy, Charlie, (from his class at Ross Road), was on the island with his family and cousins, so we managed to meet up with them on the beach. They had skimboards and a paddle board, then there was a guy on the beach who let them all try his "one-wheel". </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I kept our meals pretty simple, including a lot of roasted hot dogs or smokies, but we learned that the "natural" ones don't curl up very well for 'spider dogs'.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The next day, we headed to another side of the island, Ford's Cove, where the ocean had carved out cool shapes out of the rocks. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There happened to be a Fish and Chips truck there for a greasy-good lunch.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It certainly was a lovely place, but we weren't all that sad to leave Hornby, but also because I was looking forward to visiting my friend Malaika. It was nearly 2 years ago that she and her family moved to the small town of Cumberland, about 10 minutes inland from Comox, and I thought this was a good chance to see her and her new town. And what an awesome place to live - she says it is a perfect ratio of young, outdoorsy-families (many of whom made very purposefully moved away from the big city for a simpler life), and red-necks (who have never been anywhere else!). Right from the minute we got there, Malaika's son, Waymouth, and my boys hit it off and played non-stop for 3.5 days. We went biked to the BMX track, the waterpark/playground, swam at Comox lake, ate a lot of empanadas at the best Farmers market I've ever been to, hiked around in the trails a bit and there was a lot of trampoline jumping! Great times! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Oh ya, and the night we got there, I bashed my toe on a doorframe - I thought at the time that I might have broken it, but now I know I broke it since it is over a month later and my toe still looks funny and causes me pain. Oh well!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On the Saturday, Jeff actually ferried over to Nanaimo and rode his bike up to meet us in Cumberland. Malaika, Peter and Waymouth made us feel so at home, it was pretty hard to leave, but we left Sunday afternoon in time to get to Parksville for the Sand Sculpture competition. I have to say that Parksville has an incredibly impressive beachside with the best playground and waterpark that I have every seen!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was a full week of exploring and I felt quite satisfied with all the stuff we were able to see and do. At the start of the trip, I had to decide if I was going to make the kids help me do everything, especially all the campsite set-up and take-down, or if I should just do it myself and let them play. I went with doing it myself, and I think that was for the best. We got home very late Sunday night, (since I could only reserve for the 9:30pm ferry, which was late), so I let the boys have a perfectly chill-out day on Monday, allowing them several hours of electronics since our whole trip was pretty much electronics-free (except for Lone Ranger in the van and Star Wars on the ferry!). </span>Kelli Skinner + her Boyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15181985632047378004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1805803764475684029.post-67375357270605193572016-08-10T16:08:00.000-07:002016-08-10T16:08:28.771-07:00Canoe Camping Canada Day<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We managed to spend Canada Day in Canada this year, (wohoo!) a family canoe trip to camp up the Sechelt Inlet on the Sunshine Coast. We reserved a canoe for Jeff and I to rent and thought it would be a good idea to pull the 3 boys in an inflatable boat behind us. Simon and I decided to test it for holes before we left - all good.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The kids finished school on the Wednesday and we left early Thursday morning. We thought that arriving at the ferry terminal at 7:00am would be plenty of time to catch the 9:00am ferry, since we didn't make a reservation, but alas no, we got on the 11:00am ferry. Luckily, Horseshoe Bay is a decent place to hang out for several hours.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This canoe trip was a bit of an experiment to see how we could transition from car-camping with the kids to backpacking with them. I got our stuff down to 2 adult backpacks and 2 kids packs, but we still brought a cooler and a rubbermaid of food. So, we're not quite ready for overnight backpacking (besides the fact the Simon "hates" hiking). Once we made it to Porpoise Bay (Pedals and Paddles), we loaded up the canoe, tied up the dingy and headed north up the Inlet. It was a gorgeous day and we made good time, stopping at Tuwanek beach before setting up camp at Nine Mile beach.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There were so many bright white oyster shells all over the beach, so the boys made a collection then spent time honing their stone-skipping skills. Max and I relaxed to enjoy the sunset while the others got the fire going.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It turns out most of us don't even like marshmallows, but for some reason we make S'mores anyways. Well, Callum really likes them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After a not-so-great night (Simon woke up having to go pee, but he wouldn't pee in the trees so he and I had an unpleasant stand-off at 1:00am, not one of my best moments as a mother that I hope Simon just remembers as a bad dream), we had pancakes for breakfast before setting off in the canoes again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was smooth sailing going north, up the inlet, but we made a mental note that it would probably be a little more difficult coming back, noticing that the wind tended to pick up later in the day. The kids thought the abandoned camp was kind of creepy, but just enough creepy to make them interesting, not scary.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There was another family camped at Nine Mile with a little boy named Lewis that became fast friends with Callum, Max and Simon. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After our 3 days, we tried to pack up quickly since we could see the wind picking up and we knew our paddle back would be slow. Well, we were right. After taking at least twice as long to get half way back, Jeff and I moved the boys from the dingy into the canoe so we weren't dragging their dead weight behind us. As we got within visual distance of the canoe rental place and ever so slowly passing by waterfront cabins, a family about to go out on their boat took pity on us and towed us back to the beach. Thank goodness. We are happy that we tried out this kind of adventure with the kids, but Jeff and I aren't sure canoe camping is our thing.</span><br />
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<br />Kelli Skinner + her Boyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15181985632047378004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1805803764475684029.post-41420605885691434662016-07-28T22:17:00.001-07:002016-07-28T22:17:29.099-07:00Before the summer started...<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My head space right now is all jumbled up with all the things I need to be organizing, planning, taking care of, and all worried about all the things I am forgetting to do or have been putting off. For example, I have been receiving a piece of mail (an actual letter in the post) from our bank requesting a piece of information regarding our fire insurance plan for our house, since they are our mortgage provider and apparently need this pertinent piece of information. I have been receiving this letter regularly for several months. I have tried to get this information and even went in to the bank to learn that it was the wrong information, and that was that. No, I have not dealt with this, and this is one of the hundred things lurking in the back of my mind that I really should be dealing with but just can't seem to get around to doing. Sigh. Therefore, blogging has not been a priority. But tonight, lets do it. I will be brief, I will not edit any pictures and probably won't even check for spelling errors, but, what the heck, I gotta do it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Callum had his last Scouts meeting, roasting S'mores in the parking lot. He had a good year and Kim was just getting the hang of being the Cub leader. but she learned she will not be continuing next year. Too bad.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Simon had a little graduating ceremony from his preschool. Although it may not have had any academic value, he sure did like going and he sure did love his teacher, Ms. Kat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I actually can't remember why we were messing around at the ball park, but the boys were actually playing well together! Oh, it must have been after Simon's game, since he's wearing his team shirt.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To celebrate Mother's Day and Kami's birthday, Kim, Kami and I spent 2 nights at Kim's place in Gibsons the last weekend in May. We hiked up Soame's point one day and another day we tried to climb Mt.Steele, but got only within about 1km since the snow got too unsafe to continue (not to mention we just couldn't figure out which way to go!!).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And while I was at Kim's, Jeff took the boys to Seattle for a couple nights. Our friends, Dave and Alyce Elton let them stay at their place while they were away in Thailand.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jeff planned a cycling trip with Sven (to sort of celebrate Sven's 50th birthday, though he didn't want it mentioned!). He said they were the most epic rides of his life. He toured around Napa Valley and Sonoma California area. Gorgeous.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While Jeff was away, we went to visit Cindy on a great sunny day, and swam at her Mom's pool.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On a particularly sunny day, I thought I would document the amount of sunlight that gets into our yard, for future gardening purposes, and I was happy to see there are actually a few decent hours of sun back there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Although we had a hot and dry Spring, things turned rainy and wet for most of June and continued into July. We had Lynn Valley Day on a particularly wet day, but the boys enjoyed the juggler guy!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the last activities of the school year was the "Carnival". It was, well, OK, but totally lucked out with a sunny day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jeff's company also lucked out with a sunny day for their summer BBQ activity at Cates Park in North Van. They bought superhero costumes for the kids.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After the BBQ, Jeff dropped me at Deep Cove to run home along the Baden Powell. It took me longer than expected (but it turns out I was actually sick that night and the next day) for the 15km (over 2hrs), but I met this guy along the way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anyway, as you could probably tell, I am only allowing myself to briefly summarize May and June activities, because it really is all I have time for. I am writing this on July 28th and my next post to include July activities will need to be more informative, because we did some fun stuff!</span></div>
Kelli Skinner + her Boyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15181985632047378004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1805803764475684029.post-42415116666379982412016-07-28T21:09:00.000-07:002016-07-28T21:09:39.897-07:00Baseball, anyone?<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">[I don't even know when I started writing this, but I found this draft in my list of posts and thought I would publish it, since I'm long overdue for a post and it is a glimpse into our life during the spring]...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If there is one thing that North Van does right, it is the Lynn Valley Little League. All 3 boys have joined a team - Simon is in T-Ball with the Mariners, Max is a Rookie with the Blue Jays and Callum is on a AA Minors team the Astros. Opening Day had most of the 500+ kids and a bag piper to start off the season.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Callum enjoys bat-catching and pitching, and Max and Simon are pretty good at occupying themselves while "watching" Callum's longer games. I probably should have signed up Max in the higher division than Rookie, since he gets bored during his games and is obviously the best on his team, but he'll survive the season. Simon's favourite part about baseball is the relay-race at the end, but who's isn't??</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It feels like we pretty much spend all our time at the ball park, but it is so very nice that all the boys play at the same field, so there are no conflicts and no hectic driving around. Even the concession is half-decent, and my 2 volunteer shifts selling the candy, hotdogs and freezies were actually pretty fun. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Other than baseball, there was Callum's trip to Outdoor School! He went from Monday to Wednesday with all the Grade 3 classes from Ross Road Elem. and 1 other elementary school, up to the Cheakamus Centre near Squamish. He was quite excited to go and said he had a great time. Apparently it is kind of like a write-of-passage for North Van kids. Don't ask me what exactly they did up there, since all he told me about was the food and the time his buddies ran around the cabin naked. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Max had been memorizing lines for a class play, where he got a pretty major part acting as a cheating cheetah that races a sloth. He was super cute, as were so many of his classmates.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I will confess, if I haven't already complained about them, that there are a lot of things about our move to North Van that have left me, well, uncertain about our decision to move here. For the record, I will take this opportunity to whine about them now. Sorry, but it must be done. Of course, all my major disappointments are in direct comparison to what we came to expect from our community in White Rock, and I realize now how lucky we were and that we certainly took them for granted. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- First, it was a disappointing introduction to the District of North Van school system, (which I believe I have commented on before, so I won't go into much detail, but the fact that we were previously in a single-track French immersion school only emphasized what a great school we had and the North Van schools pale in comparison. I still find it strange that neither Callum or Max get any homework from school here, knowing that Callum was practicing Math and Dictee in Grade 1 in White Rock. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- When Max started with the NVFC (North Vancouver Football Club), I felt very unimpressed with the way the games and practices were organized, knowing that Max had so many more skills that were not being used in the rather laissez-faire approach to his age group. Of course, Max's team in White Rock was blessed with 2 amazing coaches that exceeded all standards of coaching requirements, so we were again super lucky. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- Simon's "preschool" in North Van was chosen due to the fact that it was one of the only preschools that had an opening for him, but I emphasize that I put quotation marks around the word "preschool" because it is really just a glorified daycare - super expensive for mostly play-time. Alternatively, I can't help but think of what he is missing out on at Mountainview Preschool in White Rock, where Callum and Max both attended and they were pretty much reading by the time they finished, and I can't help but feel like Simon is academically behind and Kindergarten will be bit of a shocker. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">[That's the end of the draft I started writing... Let's just say that, well, things have had really started looking better, or at least my attitude has improved...]</span><br />
<br />Kelli Skinner + her Boyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15181985632047378004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1805803764475684029.post-79998106272195900832016-04-13T10:51:00.002-07:002016-04-13T10:51:41.559-07:00Sorry, blogger.com, I've been cheating on you with Instagram!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's true, I have been neglecting my blogging duties because I started using Instagram on my phone. I know, however, that they serve difference purposes, so I can't completely abandon my blog. I didn't bother editing any of these photos, though, since I'll never do my blog if I wait to do that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After Mexico, we tried to make the best of the rest of the ski season. We registered the boys in Saturday lessons for 5 weeks, so we were up on Mt.Seymour regularly. We're considering a new mountain for next season, though, since Seymour is starting to feel a bit small for us, and Grouse might be easier to get to. We'll see. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, Simon was doing so wonderfully with his lessons and Jeff and I were feeling like proud parents. I would ski with him on the bunny hill while Callum and Max were still in their lessons. On February 20th, he and I were just going to do one more run before going to pick up Max... </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We should not have done one more run! On the magic carpet ride up the hill, he had actually just asked me why people fall down and said that he wanted to fall down - well, he did!! I was right behind him when it happened and it really didn't seem like much of a fall, but he was lying face down with his legs twisted, crying. I consoled him for a while, but I quickly figured out that there was no way he was skiing down himself (and I admit I was a bit perturbed that there were no Mt.Seymour staff to offer any help - it's not like Simon wasn't screaming his head off and no one knew he was hurt)! So I skied down the rest of the hill with Simon piggie-backing, holding his skis in one hand and holding his bum up in the other. I got him to the van and took off his boots, and everyone on the ski hill heard about it! He was very unspecific when I asked him where it hurt, pointing to his general right lower leg area, maybe his ankle, so I assumed he sprained his ankle or something - no big deal. He literally screamed the whole drive home (Max had to cover his ears) and for the next couple days, he was extremely fragile - he lived on the couch with as few bathroom trips as possible. Max was home from school sick one day, and it was actually nice for Simon to have someone to play with instead of just parking himself in front of the TV all day. </span><br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4fjUsS4VunM/VwBK36lijDI/AAAAAAAAE18/DFh19dy8kA0annzq-guA5IuJ53gHL-f_A/s1600/IMG_0999.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4fjUsS4VunM/VwBK36lijDI/AAAAAAAAE18/DFh19dy8kA0annzq-guA5IuJ53gHL-f_A/s640/IMG_0999.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After a couple days, I thought he was making progress since he started scooting around on his bum and screaming much less. He would not, however, put any weight on it, at all. Finally, after 5 days, I took him to the Lion's Gate ER for an X-Ray. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Not just a hairline fracture, but a decent break. "No, Kelli, your kids are not just big wimps and, yes, Kelli, you win a Bad-Mom award".... Oops!! Well, I'm a quick learner and I didn't wait at all </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">when Max showed signs of Strep Throat </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">before spring break </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">and </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">took him to the Doctor right away (which he actually did have). Before Spring Break, though, Max finished off his soccer season, with some pro-moves.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oj-fdU_mg0s/VwBK7PewQ-I/AAAAAAAAE2M/We-Li1z0IZIqPlstys6ShDMDEgxQ_ayqQ/s1600/IMG_1098.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oj-fdU_mg0s/VwBK7PewQ-I/AAAAAAAAE2M/We-Li1z0IZIqPlstys6ShDMDEgxQ_ayqQ/s640/IMG_1098.JPG" width="640" /></a><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XX4Z4wk_SOI/VwBK7r1c6kI/AAAAAAAAE2Q/UiGBIQis5_EstTPXL6Abi-sYpSPs6NjRg/s1600/IMG_1092.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XX4Z4wk_SOI/VwBK7r1c6kI/AAAAAAAAE2Q/UiGBIQis5_EstTPXL6Abi-sYpSPs6NjRg/s640/IMG_1092.JPG" width="640" /></a><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AopMqoJqqPw/VwBK8oW_WBI/AAAAAAAAE2U/5uIyUnYZZawId0k_zrMqUDwKfo-eO-kMQ/s1600/IMG_1096.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AopMqoJqqPw/VwBK8oW_WBI/AAAAAAAAE2U/5uIyUnYZZawId0k_zrMqUDwKfo-eO-kMQ/s640/IMG_1096.JPG" width="480" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Callum and Max had been practicing songs for a "Broadway" performance at their school. Unfortunately, Max's strep throat stopped him from participating, but Callum was pretty proud of the show.</span><br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h1A2q9GQmr4/VwBK9yqT1sI/AAAAAAAAE2g/yGRell-x0Xww82kaDfJuePEv-vMmIotww/s1600/IMG_1213.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h1A2q9GQmr4/VwBK9yqT1sI/AAAAAAAAE2g/yGRell-x0Xww82kaDfJuePEv-vMmIotww/s640/IMG_1213.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">During spring break, I had Callum and Max in an "Outrippers" camp through the Rec centre, where they took public transit to do things like skating, art studio visit, laser tag, lynn valley ecology centre, etc. They loved it. Simon was stuck at home in his cast, hanging with me while I worked on designing our house. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jeff managed to get Canucks tickets, so Jeff and I took Max and Callum (while my Mom watched Simon), but as can see, losing to the Winnipeg Jets wasn't thrilling to watch:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FV6rXEg5-UA/VwBK-i9IVCI/AAAAAAAAE2k/Dv64-o5oQAIih0DDdE1HedbpqqlRudRUA/s1600/IMG_1220.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FV6rXEg5-UA/VwBK-i9IVCI/AAAAAAAAE2k/Dv64-o5oQAIih0DDdE1HedbpqqlRudRUA/s640/IMG_1220.JPG" width="480" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My kids never care about what they look like, unless I buy them new clothes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Q9pD7p1R2Cs/VwBK87Z7RpI/AAAAAAAAE2Y/PuEErR8kdakfi2-XGizZbVKJAxEIGQPxQ/s1600/IMG_1195.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Q9pD7p1R2Cs/VwBK87Z7RpI/AAAAAAAAE2Y/PuEErR8kdakfi2-XGizZbVKJAxEIGQPxQ/s640/IMG_1195.JPG" width="480" /></a><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bp7G_YwoqiY/VwBK9SwVPHI/AAAAAAAAE2c/uo4oqlqi1EYYnpn6NR-qwBBHuLa0lq2HA/s1600/IMG_1204.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bp7G_YwoqiY/VwBK9SwVPHI/AAAAAAAAE2c/uo4oqlqi1EYYnpn6NR-qwBBHuLa0lq2HA/s640/IMG_1204.JPG" width="480" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And the photo below is fuzzy, but I can't help but document moments when my boys are coming up with new ways to play with old toys. Funny how well they play together after I tell them it is time to get ready for bed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've been managing to get in several trail Hike/runs and I just found Novan Falls last weekend, which I hadn't even heard of before but is just up Lynn Valley. Nice to still be finding new places (though I have to run further and further to find them, which is probably good for me anyway!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KNATcBhw1MY/VwBLAhFTUSI/AAAAAAAAE2w/PGjE-sYnOkoS2FOVaMPem78pCI32biEsQ/s1600/IMG_1240.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IHzAKFyRPwk/VwBLAF2JsiI/AAAAAAAAE2s/_AhRWCIEVRAXBJGNlszk-s_oSPhs6E-fg/s1600/IMG_1224.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IHzAKFyRPwk/VwBLAF2JsiI/AAAAAAAAE2s/_AhRWCIEVRAXBJGNlszk-s_oSPhs6E-fg/s640/IMG_1224.JPG" width="480" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We've found a bouldering gym called the Hive that the boys seem to like.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zuWfVGKbjQw/VwBLBJRmn0I/AAAAAAAAE20/uGboJIcub6wVksXe-wa0uozC2Q60e9IhA/s1600/IMG_1244.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zuWfVGKbjQw/VwBLBJRmn0I/AAAAAAAAE20/uGboJIcub6wVksXe-wa0uozC2Q60e9IhA/s640/IMG_1244.JPG" width="480" /></a><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KNATcBhw1MY/VwBLAhFTUSI/AAAAAAAAE2w/PGjE-sYnOkoS2FOVaMPem78pCI32biEsQ/s1600/IMG_1240.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KNATcBhw1MY/VwBLAhFTUSI/AAAAAAAAE2w/PGjE-sYnOkoS2FOVaMPem78pCI32biEsQ/s640/IMG_1240.JPG" width="480" /></a></span></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LcQQa6vyxYo/VwBLB8ZR1KI/AAAAAAAAE24/2CswGQCO_msengpife_SXTKy2-ZyPbJvg/s1600/IMG_1247.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LcQQa6vyxYo/VwBLB8ZR1KI/AAAAAAAAE24/2CswGQCO_msengpife_SXTKy2-ZyPbJvg/s640/IMG_1247.JPG" width="480" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For a few days, I managed to pawn off the boys (thanks Samantha and Mom!!) so Jeff and I could get a few ski days at Whistler. Conditions weren't ideal, but we have to take what we can get these days. Dad came for 1 days and we even met up with my brother Todd and his son Noah while they were briefly in town for Easter.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Easter was fun, as the boys are always so keen to do the hunt, and we even decorated some eggs this year. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Easter Monday was a lovely day for a hike to Chief Stawamish, and sine a bunch of my family was coming, I convinced Callum and Max to join us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The end of March always means busy birthday time, but Max gets most of the attention. He has a party at 4 Cats Art studio, with a few friends from Cleveland school and Ross Road school, plus brothers and cousins. Splatter painting was a crazy mess, but Max had a good time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Instead of going out for a fancy birthday dinner, Jeff and I opted to enjoy the gorgeous evening and take a long stroll around Vancouver to enjoy the amazing camellia, magnolia and cherry blossoms... and a burrito.</span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jOwkNTfjH5I/Vw6ED_UVm6I/AAAAAAAAE5k/0KwOwYnV0Ac48X9KE4kb6VwuiVTk55bSgCLcB/s1600/IMG_1385.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jOwkNTfjH5I/Vw6ED_UVm6I/AAAAAAAAE5k/0KwOwYnV0Ac48X9KE4kb6VwuiVTk55bSgCLcB/s640/IMG_1385.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now it's the middle of April and I am trying (and failing!) to balance the baseball schedule of all 3 boys, their school work, their music (did I mention that Callum is now taking violin and Max taking piano?), and getting work done on our house drawings, along with all the other daily things I am forgetting (like meal planning and laundry and cleaning...)</span>Kelli Skinner + her Boyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15181985632047378004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1805803764475684029.post-8818367516562022032016-01-24T22:22:00.001-08:002016-01-24T22:22:35.975-08:00An honest to goodness Escape from real life.<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jeff and I agreed that, when we sold our White Rock house, we would use some of the money for a family holiday. And not one of those holidays where I am still cooking and cleaning and packing and planning and organizing each day. A real holiday. For 2 weeks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And that, I can now confidently say, is what Club Med in Ixtapa Mexico can put out! (And no, I am not getting paid for advertising the resort on my blog!)... </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I won't go into detail, but let some pictures give a taste of our wonderful trip.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We did miss our connection in Los Angeles and had to stay the night in a not-so-great airport hotel, so we got to Club Med a day later than planned. A small snag in an otherwise uneventful trip there. The boys got their "wings" and visited the cockpit.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our first taste of many beautiful sunsets.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The restaurant was quite satisfying and, well, let's just say that nobody went hungry.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Callum was the only one interested in boogie boarding. Relatively speaking, we didn't spend a lot of time at the beach - Jeff and I would sometimes read our books down there </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">while the boys were at Kids Club</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, but otherwise we were doing yoga or </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">a cross-training workout</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, paddle boarding, playing tennis, and a lot of time playing at the pools. Simon LOVED playing at the </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">pool, and he significantly improved his skills while there!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Kids Club was super great - A typical day would be archery followed by tennis followed by trapeze, then a swim in the pool before lunch, then some games in the fitness palapa, then ping pong and playing at the beach until some activity like donkey races, a pirate treasure hunt, a piñata party or a 'Super Mario' dance show. Even Simon tried the trapeze twice, although I never got a picture of him doing it! Doh!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We took a boat over the the nearby island for a few hours of snorkelling.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We were super lucky to be there one evening to witness over 100 turtle hatchlings make their way to the sea - too cute.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And, of course, we had to do the most touristy swimming with the dolphins (though Simon wanted no part of it!).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Since we were there for 2 weeks, the boys got 2 chances to perform in the Super Mario show, where Simon was Mario, Max was Luigi and Callum was Donkey Kong. It was hilarious!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Good times, good times! Wonderful, really. Oh ya, and Jeff will laugh when he sees that I put this one on the blog:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then it was a bit weird to come home, actually. Not because we wanted to stay in Mexico forever - no, Jeff and I felt good about getting back to real-life - but because our "home" doesn't quite feel like home yet. We've only been living in the house for about 3 weeks, the boys and I haven't made any friends in the neighbourhood or school yet, and I still can't even figure out where to find a decent grocery store around here. So, here's to a new year and to what feels like a true new start for our family. </span><br />
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<br />Kelli Skinner + her Boyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15181985632047378004noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1805803764475684029.post-45083037761736197062016-01-23T15:18:00.001-08:002016-01-23T15:18:28.447-08:00Christmas Break 2015<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There actually wasn't too much holiday-prep activities for Callum and Max at their school, other than to announce that they are leaving Cleveland to attend a different school after the break. Simon's preschool had a little Christmas sing-song time with a Santa visit, so Simon shyly asked for a remote control motorcycle, then was hugely disappointed when the gift Santa gave him (from his school teacher) was just a book!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Otherwise I was able to focus on packing up and moving on January 20th. We made another Ikea trip (for a temporary front closet), which is always a hoot! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We decided we might as well pick up a Christmas tree at Ikea while we were there, so we took it to the new house so actually had our tree and Christmas decorations up in our new house before moving in.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Christmas Day came quickly and went quickly. I suppose I felt a bit distracted by the house hunt and the move and everything, so luckily I had actually done most of the shopping early and ordered online. The boys were happy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The unintentional theme this year was outdoor toys, since Max got a new bike and caster board, Simon got another 4x4 R/C truck and Callum got a scooter, which they spent a while trying out during Christmas day, until heading to my parents place for dinner. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We biked/scootered to the closest skate park another day, but it was a bit too frosty for any confidence to try new tricks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ironically, since I was actually really pessimistic about snow this season, Jeff and I were hearing about amazing ski conditions on all the mountains but were tormented by our schedule that wouldn't allow for any ski days. So, our first chance to go was after church one Sunday which disappointedly ended up as a big fail since they closed to road to Mt.Seymour due to too much snow!! We tried again the next day, only to find everyone else was eager to get up the hill too and got stuck in a huge line that would have taken us hours to finally arrive at the chairlifts. Jeff needed to ski so bad that, even after getting stuck in traffic and not leaving until 11:30am, he took Callum and Max across the border to Mt.Baker, where they enjoyed a good 2.5hrs of great snow and sunshine, plus some lovely views of Mt. Shuksan.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A few days later, Kami watched our boys so Jeff and I could go up for the rare treat of a ski-day together.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At the end of Christmas break, Callum decided to celebrate his 9th birthday a couple days early with a few of his new friends from Cleveland. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On January 2nd, h</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">e started his day with the most healthy breakfast a little boy would ask for: chocolate chip waffles with syrup, whipped cream and sprinkles. Ug. We all went swimming before his friends Luca, Murray and Cruz came with us to A&W for an early dinner, then Jeff took them (with Max) to play a few games of Laser tag while Simon and I were busy icing the cake at home. Callum was rather indecisive about his cake design this year, so I quickly cut it up into another Minecraft-themed cake. The birthday boy brought his friends home for cake and video-game playing. I think he was satisfied with his day. Man, I have a 9-year old! I've been a Mom for over 9 years! Wow. (I suppose I will probably expressing that same shock every year)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was back to school on Monday for Callum and Max, but at their new school. If they were very nervous, they didn't show it. Since it was Callum's actual birthday, I made cupcakes for him to bring, hoping it might also endear him to his new classmates. Max lasted his first day, but when I picked him up, he was in tears with a terrible fever, so he didn't have a great introduction to any potential friends. Well, they only had to endure a week at the new school anyway, since, way back in August, I had booked us a trip to Mexico between January 10th-23rd. I can't tell you how excited we all were.</span></div>
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Kelli Skinner + her Boyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15181985632047378004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1805803764475684029.post-50065774451405183992015-12-09T12:51:00.000-08:002015-12-09T12:51:48.678-08:001191 Wellington Drive<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here's some unedited, "Before", pictures of our house. Yes, I think we might have been swayed a little by the relatively modern, boxy aesthetic of this 1950's dump, but I have been busy corresponding with the NV District to clarify zoning restrictions, to find out what it's potential might be! It turns out, though, that we might just tear it down so we can build a house with a basement for my parents to live in! Yup, big changes in life... An adventure! Aaahhhhhhh! ;-)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Until we have a design, drawings in for building permit and construction begins, we are moving in! Yup - 5 days before Christmas, this 1,350sqft, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1-bathroom/3 bedroom palace is all ours!</span><br />
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Kelli Skinner + her Boyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15181985632047378004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1805803764475684029.post-24435329216405124322015-12-09T12:39:00.000-08:002015-12-09T12:39:38.637-08:00Family time... while house hunting<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When you move away from somewhere you've been living for several years, your realize how significantly dependent you were on your established social circle - the easy playdates, the last-minute carpooling, the random help with the kids, the comfort in knowing that there is always someone to call if you need a hand with anything.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After moving to North Van in September, this became quite obvious to me, especially since we were living up here for only 5 days when Jeff left for 2 weeks on a business trip to China. So, the boys and I tried to keep busy. I signed them all up for skating lessons, Max up for soccer, enrolled Callum in a youth band and got him started in Cub Scouts. In any extra time, we went to the Aquarium, Science World and explored various playgrounds around the North Shore. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After Jeff returned from China, we planned a visit to White Rock for Simon's birthday party, which he shared with his buddy, Heidi. Then we also focused on spending some quality family-time together.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It really didn't take long for both Max and Callum to make friends at their new school, not that I was surprised. Max, who has always been Mr.Social and a fun kid, actually had a little harder time than Callum. He was the one who came out of class at the end of the day with a frown on his face, asking to go straight home instead of playing on the playground with the other kids, and they definitely made comments about liking their old school better. Generally, though, they have been very brave and patient. They managed to have a few offers for Halloween plans, so we started the night at Callum's friend Murray's place, then we took Max and Simon trick-or-treating with Max's friend Nola and her family. We learned that North Van seems to take Halloween a bit more seriously than in South Surrey, with decent fireworks all over.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jeff managed to get another alpine climb in with our old neighbour, Thure, up to Mt.Shuksan over Remembrance Day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While the weather was decent, I managed to get to know the North Shore trails quite well, enjoying many great trail runs in Lynn Valley Canyon, Capilano Park and plenty in between, especially along the Baden Powell. The Lions are always a nice treat to see.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ok. Well, there is my general summary of September to December...except completely avoiding the topic that was constantly plaguing mine and Jeff's minds the entire time! So, for my own records, I will write a few things down.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When the kids got into the French Immersion at Cleveland Elem., we re-adjusted our sights to finding a house in that area. Unfortunately, that is the Edgemont Village area and is considered a "nice" neighbourhood to live in. "Nice" means basically means more crazy expensive than the regular crazy expensive on the North Shore. Tear-downs within walking distance to the school were listed at $1,488,000. This was not our ideal starting price. It didn't take us long to realize that buying a house near the kids' school was a long shot, since buyers were winning bidding wars in that area by offering $200-$300,000 over asking price. During October and November, we bid on 5 different houses - all lost to higher bidders (and there were between 4-8 other bidders on each house). I was coming to accept the reality of driving the kids to school from whatever house we ended up buying, at least 15mins one-way. So, we started looking further east, hoping to at least stay west of Lonsdale Ave, or close to it. </span></div>
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Jeff and I managed to handle the stress by the fact that we didn't particularly like any of the houses we bid on. When we lost the bids, we just shrugged our shoulders and thought, "Meh. Back to the hunt". The last house we bid on, actually, we weren't even sure it was a good idea since it had no backyard and the creek running behind it could have been rather dangerous for the kids. We ended up only losing that one by $10,000, so it was pretty frustrating, but it pushed us to the idea of buying even further east, closer to Lynn Valley. At least in Lynn Valley, the list prices of houses were closer to actual selling prices, so we could better gauge what we should offer. </div>
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The week that I had a bad flu, we bid on a house in Lynn Valley, and we got it! I admit that I felt confused about whether I was happy or not. The hunt was over and we were going to be able to afford to fully renovate it or even tear-down to build a dream-home! But, it was far, far away from the kids school. Sigh. It occurred to me, now, that I should probably try to switch the kids to a closer school. So, the stress of buying a house was over, but the real work was just about to begin!</div>
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My first discussions with the North Van School District gave me little hope that my kids could switch and remain in French immersion. The fact that Simon starts Kindergarten next year certainly complicated things. However, I calculated that my daily commute to Cleveland Elem. was at least 1.5 hrs a day (minimum 17mins there, plus drop-off/pick-up time from parking to school = 45 mins there+back, twice a day). This isn't the kind of lifestyle I had in mind when moving up here. I decided to use some assertive language and persistence with the NVSD to transfer the kids to the closer French school (which is only a 3minute drive from our house or a short bike ride), but in the end they could still only get Callum and probably Simon a french spot, while Max maybe/might be allowed to get back into the french next fall. This might not seem like a big problem to many people, but my mind became fixated on this dilemma. I won't dwell on the hours spent contemplating and the tears shed doubting by my indecisiveness on this matter, but I believe we, as a family, have decided to switch schools after Christmas. PHEWPH. So, we'll start all over again, beginning to establish another new social circle, as school begins again on January 4th (then we leave on the 10th for 2 weeks to Mexico! Ha ha ha ha ha!)</div>
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</span>Kelli Skinner + her Boyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15181985632047378004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1805803764475684029.post-31320154990285123992015-10-29T14:24:00.001-07:002015-10-29T14:24:53.284-07:00Goodbye White Rock, Hello North Vancouver!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A few last days in White Rock included a couple parties at our place. The boys came up with some game ideas for the kids, including taste-challenges with various Pringles chips, Jelly-Bellies and Ben&Jerry Ice cream flavours. It was fun times.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ibDJkQhmoBI/VjKH7NFHlPI/AAAAAAAAEhE/gQp0YlkkQYg/s1600/Party2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ibDJkQhmoBI/VjKH7NFHlPI/AAAAAAAAEhE/gQp0YlkkQYg/s640/Party2.jpg" width="640" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_YUx4o5EJDI/VjKH7sxzx2I/AAAAAAAAEhI/b2cRnSZQJog/s1600/Party1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_YUx4o5EJDI/VjKH7sxzx2I/AAAAAAAAEhI/b2cRnSZQJog/s640/Party1.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mDzoqMA1flk/VjKH9GzaVaI/AAAAAAAAEhc/k1MqEiZwzE4/s1600/Party4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mDzoqMA1flk/VjKH9GzaVaI/AAAAAAAAEhc/k1MqEiZwzE4/s640/Party4.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> After the parties, it was mostly a lot of hanging out, packing and getting in last dentist appointments. Jeff and I went to Whistler for my birthday weekend, (unfortunately I lost all my photos when my phone decided to crash before I backed them up), so we got in a few nice hikes. </span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OvSzL2n-ZUM/VjKI3CmCaLI/AAAAAAAAEhs/hIreXplEp7g/s1600/HanginOut.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OvSzL2n-ZUM/VjKI3CmCaLI/AAAAAAAAEhs/hIreXplEp7g/s640/HanginOut.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We took a Saturday to check out Terra Nova park, in Richmond, after a baby shower for old Dalhousie friends. The boys liked the zip-line the best (though Jeff and I got a work out pushing them on it!).</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QC0m2w1chxM/VjKJatWGHdI/AAAAAAAAEiA/bGuBPtf221w/s1600/TerraNova2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QC0m2w1chxM/VjKJatWGHdI/AAAAAAAAEiA/bGuBPtf221w/s640/TerraNova2.jpg" width="456" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Jcic47YLGfY/VjKJauZO4CI/AAAAAAAAEiE/9_I8uHDc-Ng/s1600/TerraNova3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Jcic47YLGfY/VjKJauZO4CI/AAAAAAAAEiE/9_I8uHDc-Ng/s640/TerraNova3.jpg" width="456" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2HPuZXiQsvg/VjKJb1GNkQI/AAAAAAAAEiU/RCZtjnHYFHg/s1600/TerraNova4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2HPuZXiQsvg/VjKJb1GNkQI/AAAAAAAAEiU/RCZtjnHYFHg/s640/TerraNova4.jpg" width="456" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Finally, the big day came. September 1st was our moving day, so my Mom picked up the boys in the morning and we all said 'Goodbye' to that chapter of our lives, the last 5 years that were spent at 13805 Blackburn Ave, White Rock, BC. (Simon was too grumpy to join us in the picture).</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sIpseAbB3Kc/VjKJ5IaiGVI/AAAAAAAAEig/hTYGbtqgSEo/s1600/ByeHouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sIpseAbB3Kc/VjKJ5IaiGVI/AAAAAAAAEig/hTYGbtqgSEo/s640/ByeHouse.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We moved into a townhouse in an area called Princess Park, and luckily there is actually a park with trails and a playground just down the street.</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZUR5XeaL0dM/VjKKWVRDJII/AAAAAAAAEi0/qYKAH1lnDKw/s1600/PrincessPark3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZUR5XeaL0dM/VjKKWVRDJII/AAAAAAAAEi0/qYKAH1lnDKw/s640/PrincessPark3.jpg" width="456" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We had a week before school started, and we even managed to get some White Rock friends to visit us for a hike - we met up with the Sherwins in Deep Cove for the Quarry Rock hike. Simon was super happy that the shaved-ice store was still open for business at the end of the hike.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nuEJKszhlfw/VjKKslBNp2I/AAAAAAAAEjE/KTEOiIFEo3A/s1600/QuarryRock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nuEJKszhlfw/VjKKslBNp2I/AAAAAAAAEjE/KTEOiIFEo3A/s640/QuarryRock.jpg" width="640" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8L7WxDBtg-w/VjKKs28xDcI/AAAAAAAAEjM/v8MHq65ETqU/s1600/QuarryRock1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8L7WxDBtg-w/VjKKs28xDcI/AAAAAAAAEjM/v8MHq65ETqU/s640/QuarryRock1.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-08OSoiHN7do/VjKKtt7CdEI/AAAAAAAAEjY/_GG8tt3wFEM/s1600/QuarryRock3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-08OSoiHN7do/VjKKtt7CdEI/AAAAAAAAEjY/_GG8tt3wFEM/s640/QuarryRock3.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We caught the last night of the Night-Market/Food Truck Fest at the Shipyards in North Van, where we got Malaysian food, fish&chips, and mini donuts. We can't say we were big fans of the band playing on stage, but the balloon guy made all the kids balloon swords and belts, so there was plenty of dancing around.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And then, just like that, summer was over. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Callum and Max started at their new school, Cleveland Elementary. Sigh. I can't remember if I mentioned what a pain it was, trying to get the boys into a french immersion school in North Van, so after many deliberations with the NV School District, Cleveland ended up being the only school with a French spot for both of them. So here they are!</span><br />
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<br />Kelli Skinner + her Boyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15181985632047378004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1805803764475684029.post-89965171232980375202015-10-01T12:21:00.000-07:002015-10-01T12:21:38.734-07:00Seattle Visit, Baker Lake, Skateboarding<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">More catching up to do here... </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Jeff went on a Scout camp for almost a week in July and was away for another few days to climb Mt.Baker again, so the Skinners needed some serious family-time. We took the August long weekend to hang out with the boys and first headed south to the Seattle zoo, but it was quite hot that day and they seemed to prefer hanging it out in the shade with statues of animals to looking at the real thing. Or eating cold snacks, like Dippin'Dots.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q6wQXi6UDzE/Vg2Bfm8RnkI/AAAAAAAAEgI/ZV54WnBmS0A/s1600/SeattleZoo2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q6wQXi6UDzE/Vg2Bfm8RnkI/AAAAAAAAEgI/ZV54WnBmS0A/s640/SeattleZoo2.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-shU-fZAItBM/Vg2BfmVFceI/AAAAAAAAEgE/jOy6gBH3Jcw/s1600/SeattleZoo1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-shU-fZAItBM/Vg2BfmVFceI/AAAAAAAAEgE/jOy6gBH3Jcw/s640/SeattleZoo1.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CEIn-Gmtfnc/Vg2BgZDomWI/AAAAAAAAEgQ/4tZ3sJYNTKY/s1600/SeattleZoo4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CEIn-Gmtfnc/Vg2BgZDomWI/AAAAAAAAEgQ/4tZ3sJYNTKY/s640/SeattleZoo4.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">We met up with our Seattle buddies, Dave & Alyce Elton and their kids, to visit Seattle center, where there was an awesome water-play park and the playground next to the EMP.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zLNKy-LZAuI/Vg2BeONuB2I/AAAAAAAAEf8/pPz_KX14-Ng/s1600/EMP2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zLNKy-LZAuI/Vg2BeONuB2I/AAAAAAAAEf8/pPz_KX14-Ng/s640/EMP2.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zO30bLZnJ-c/Vg2BeaQnTnI/AAAAAAAAEgw/6PeqNS7Szp8/s1600/EMP3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zO30bLZnJ-c/Vg2BeaQnTnI/AAAAAAAAEgw/6PeqNS7Szp8/s640/EMP3.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_HSfEwfl4oE/Vg2BekpECoI/AAAAAAAAEgA/IZFtwejR9OE/s1600/EMP4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_HSfEwfl4oE/Vg2BekpECoI/AAAAAAAAEgA/IZFtwejR9OE/s640/EMP4.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Z6ThPEbJE_E/Vg2BfJ8T15I/AAAAAAAAEgs/HT7fIBlysMA/s1600/EMP5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Z6ThPEbJE_E/Vg2BfJ8T15I/AAAAAAAAEgs/HT7fIBlysMA/s640/EMP5.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">We also went to a park with the Elton's, to have a picnic to eat our ultimate favourite Thai food including "Crack" chicken (it's actually Chili-basil chicken, or something, but we call it "crack" because it tastes so good you get addicted to it like crazy!!). Then we spent the night in an inconvenient hotel in Bellevue. We had a yummy crepe breakfast before heading to the Cascade mountains.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-anDTzZyM5uM/Vg2BbqvmJmI/AAAAAAAAEg4/h0ewBUAZ7_A/s1600/BakerLake1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-anDTzZyM5uM/Vg2BbqvmJmI/AAAAAAAAEg4/h0ewBUAZ7_A/s640/BakerLake1.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">We drove to Baker Lake, a new destination for us, chosen for the fact that there is a lake you could swim in and it actually had vacant camp sites on a long weekend. It turned out to be exactly what we needed - chillin' out for 3 days with some relaxing on the beach, a lot of swimming and evening card games in the tent. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x6REozLHud0/Vg2BcSeX3aI/AAAAAAAAEfU/7ujVwgWeeT4/s1600/BakerLake4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x6REozLHud0/Vg2BcSeX3aI/AAAAAAAAEfU/7ujVwgWeeT4/s640/BakerLake4.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i9Lgw1VVUSA/Vg2BcxtEJxI/AAAAAAAAEfo/4n1mCVMG718/s1600/BakerLake7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i9Lgw1VVUSA/Vg2BcxtEJxI/AAAAAAAAEfo/4n1mCVMG718/s640/BakerLake7.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gcPhbyg7JnI/Vg2Bc-uuj4I/AAAAAAAAEfQ/BjjyKt3zxHQ/s1600/BakerLake6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gcPhbyg7JnI/Vg2Bc-uuj4I/AAAAAAAAEfQ/BjjyKt3zxHQ/s640/BakerLake6.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TWHFZ6jax84/Vg2BbUbN63I/AAAAAAAAEe8/H1OVvYWvg80/s1600/BakerLake2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TWHFZ6jax84/Vg2BbUbN63I/AAAAAAAAEe8/H1OVvYWvg80/s640/BakerLake2.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s4j1ceFd5QA/Vg2BddXmpLI/AAAAAAAAEfg/FY14ae0mI1g/s1600/BakerLake8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s4j1ceFd5QA/Vg2BddXmpLI/AAAAAAAAEfg/FY14ae0mI1g/s640/BakerLake8.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tK1bx_LzzQo/Vg2BckwtjsI/AAAAAAAAEg0/prdn-n4GeGw/s1600/BakerLake5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tK1bx_LzzQo/Vg2BckwtjsI/AAAAAAAAEg0/prdn-n4GeGw/s640/BakerLake5.jpg" width="640" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EFSO42KNB3c/Vg2Bbvhoe0I/AAAAAAAAEfE/q2ULYDk4aWE/s1600/BakerLake3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EFSO42KNB3c/Vg2Bbvhoe0I/AAAAAAAAEfE/q2ULYDk4aWE/s640/BakerLake3.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It was a great time. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Back in White Rock, Callum and Max did a skateboard camp. Again, I tried to put Simon in a Sports camp, but he refused to join in (apparently, playing soccer with his 2 older brothers has trained him to hate soccer, since soccer to Simon is more like rugby with a lot of yelling and getting hurt because that's how Callum and Max play it together!).</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WFj2wa8Mahs/Vg2BgqqEFoI/AAAAAAAAEgk/zEaccmc5898/s1600/SkateCamp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WFj2wa8Mahs/Vg2BgqqEFoI/AAAAAAAAEgk/zEaccmc5898/s640/SkateCamp.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Meanwhile, I was busy planning a party - Jeff and I decided a last "Hurrah" would be a good idea to say goodbye to all our White Rock friends. A Saturday party for school and work friends, then a Sunday party for family and church friends... More on that later.</span>Kelli Skinner + her Boyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15181985632047378004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1805803764475684029.post-51165877404020528762015-09-18T16:04:00.002-07:002015-09-18T16:04:55.782-07:00Rest of July <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">When we got home from Alberta, I sent a text to our friends, inviting them to hang out as much as we can before we move. There were several days in which we had many buddies over, sometimes up to 11 kids playing in the backyard together.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C9Kvgo0LyC8/VfySPixo-cI/AAAAAAAAEdU/9KPjYcSp7UI/s1600/Playdates1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C9Kvgo0LyC8/VfySPixo-cI/AAAAAAAAEdU/9KPjYcSp7UI/s640/Playdates1.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AvyQ2JCMgTM/VfySP7wJmdI/AAAAAAAAEeA/X8VLQONYKPk/s1600/Playdates2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AvyQ2JCMgTM/VfySP7wJmdI/AAAAAAAAEeA/X8VLQONYKPk/s640/Playdates2.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">On other days, we enjoyed a fabulously hot and dry summer doing other outdoor activities, which had to include a couple perfect beach days.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E46Q_OSYT3g/VfySLbKSzVI/AAAAAAAAEb0/jh_5wk_VMWU/s1600/Beachday5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E46Q_OSYT3g/VfySLbKSzVI/AAAAAAAAEb0/jh_5wk_VMWU/s640/Beachday5.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-G7Eg4ADCLY0/VfySLfMFAdI/AAAAAAAAEbs/QsedCYP1hOg/s1600/Beachday4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-G7Eg4ADCLY0/VfySLfMFAdI/AAAAAAAAEbs/QsedCYP1hOg/s640/Beachday4.jpg" width="640" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oQiu5zBn1Mk/VfySLwFTD-I/AAAAAAAAEb4/3dOA0hXQdk0/s1600/Beachday6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oQiu5zBn1Mk/VfySLwFTD-I/AAAAAAAAEb4/3dOA0hXQdk0/s640/Beachday6.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4g6O2opl0_k/VfySKtlaHfI/AAAAAAAAEbk/ZQbc9xuElq4/s1600/Beachday3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4g6O2opl0_k/VfySKtlaHfI/AAAAAAAAEbk/ZQbc9xuElq4/s640/Beachday3.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4AUolSmKvho/VfySKdXlwgI/AAAAAAAAEbo/nN2tyEPg8Mk/s1600/Beachday2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4AUolSmKvho/VfySKdXlwgI/AAAAAAAAEbo/nN2tyEPg8Mk/s640/Beachday2.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2AzZuuVVt-o/VfySKBG7nfI/AAAAAAAAEbw/ZvY9CyoGFlQ/s1600/Beachday1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2AzZuuVVt-o/VfySKBG7nfI/AAAAAAAAEbw/ZvY9CyoGFlQ/s640/Beachday1.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DmYUdxhds2I/VfySML4kv_I/AAAAAAAAEcY/6zWH2DdzxSI/s1600/Beachday7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DmYUdxhds2I/VfySML4kv_I/AAAAAAAAEcY/6zWH2DdzxSI/s640/Beachday7.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">We happily accepted any invitation from Cindy to use her Mom's pool. My boys actually call her Mom "Gammy", because that's what Teddy calls her and they love her too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PQnB6EIwG2Q/VfySNgViV7I/AAAAAAAAEco/yi2xW06QSd0/s1600/GammySwim1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PQnB6EIwG2Q/VfySNgViV7I/AAAAAAAAEco/yi2xW06QSd0/s640/GammySwim1.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oE1IKnIYSXU/VfySOAkvKXI/AAAAAAAAEc8/Yee0IYclkio/s1600/GammySwim2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oE1IKnIYSXU/VfySOAkvKXI/AAAAAAAAEc8/Yee0IYclkio/s640/GammySwim2.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DVbOOhLOmok/VfySOEsYjBI/AAAAAAAAEeI/AyE3HUQbGbE/s1600/GammySwim3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DVbOOhLOmok/VfySOEsYjBI/AAAAAAAAEeI/AyE3HUQbGbE/s640/GammySwim3.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I registered Callum and Max is a couple summer camps, the first being a BMX camp. I put Simon into a camp at the same time at the Rec centre, but he wanted nothing to do with it, so we just hung out together and watched his big brothers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Nghd6TkBZuQ/VfySJM4-bhI/AAAAAAAAEeU/_HblXV2AwQA/s1600/BMXcamp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Nghd6TkBZuQ/VfySJM4-bhI/AAAAAAAAEeU/_HblXV2AwQA/s640/BMXcamp.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EQxxV0rLTr8/VfySJS8400I/AAAAAAAAEeU/VFjFIZPyb4E/s1600/BMXcamp3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EQxxV0rLTr8/VfySJS8400I/AAAAAAAAEeU/VFjFIZPyb4E/s640/BMXcamp3.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_2q46cUcL7E/VfySJUOVExI/AAAAAAAAEeU/tPrmhw91IjI/s1600/BMXcamp2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_2q46cUcL7E/VfySJUOVExI/AAAAAAAAEeU/tPrmhw91IjI/s640/BMXcamp2.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">When the boys tried washing the van, they did get one side kind of clean, before they got distracted...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hRDS1xaNK6o/VfySSHwsv0I/AAAAAAAAEd8/JO2aWg-8BIc/s1600/WashVan1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hRDS1xaNK6o/VfySSHwsv0I/AAAAAAAAEd8/JO2aWg-8BIc/s640/WashVan1.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mH-sf8qsrBc/VfySS5QwkWI/AAAAAAAAEeE/tAA-FtaCo5k/s1600/WashVan2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mH-sf8qsrBc/VfySS5QwkWI/AAAAAAAAEeE/tAA-FtaCo5k/s640/WashVan2.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Cindy and I took Teddy and my boys to Splashdown waterpark for an awesome day. We got there before noon and it wasn't until 5:00pm that Simon agreed to finally try a waterslide, then he loved them! We stayed until the place closed for the night, which was great because then there were no more lineups to deal with for the last couple hours.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p_hNfoDnRTU/VfySR7ISzEI/AAAAAAAAEd0/Jg1SYtlxUOk/s1600/Splashdown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p_hNfoDnRTU/VfySR7ISzEI/AAAAAAAAEd0/Jg1SYtlxUOk/s640/Splashdown.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> Jeff sometimes took the boys to the climbing gym at the Richmond oval and I came along one time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CEHvh3-6Giw/VfySM0AtmqI/AAAAAAAAEcc/5LCcP2cJ9-M/s1600/ClimbingGym2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CEHvh3-6Giw/VfySM0AtmqI/AAAAAAAAEcc/5LCcP2cJ9-M/s640/ClimbingGym2.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KqibtWtL1xU/VfySNPkVNuI/AAAAAAAAEeM/CSGwkX8Bs9E/s1600/ClimbingGym3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KqibtWtL1xU/VfySNPkVNuI/AAAAAAAAEeM/CSGwkX8Bs9E/s640/ClimbingGym3.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aHeYpegILHQ/VfySNUca9BI/AAAAAAAAEdA/MUwejWjKsds/s1600/ClimbingGym4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aHeYpegILHQ/VfySNUca9BI/AAAAAAAAEdA/MUwejWjKsds/s640/ClimbingGym4.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">There were a couple visits to Science World too, of course. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LsGx2Wf590U/VfySRuV_wXI/AAAAAAAAEd4/DzmPGtCUj5Q/s1600/SW2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LsGx2Wf590U/VfySRuV_wXI/AAAAAAAAEd4/DzmPGtCUj5Q/s640/SW2.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qF9q6eeb9Ik/VfySQ4oodgI/AAAAAAAAEdg/m7iUak7dBOI/s1600/SW1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qF9q6eeb9Ik/VfySQ4oodgI/AAAAAAAAEdg/m7iUak7dBOI/s640/SW1.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">And there were lazy days of just messing around, of course.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>Kelli Skinner + her Boyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15181985632047378004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1805803764475684029.post-66191167266311084902015-09-18T14:05:00.000-07:002015-09-18T14:05:23.373-07:00Rest of Alberta trip<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Despite having grown up not too far away in Edmonton, my parents obviously didn't think
that either the Stampede in Calgary or the Royal Tyrrell museum in Drumheller were worthwhile
things to do with children since they never bothered to take me. Well, maybe I started out being disappointed with the Stampede parade, but I was very impressed with everything about Drumheller and the Dinosaur museum.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vhC4VHTPSg8/Vfxwkx5ekYI/AAAAAAAAEXs/uVnO2cXo58U/s1600/Dino1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vhC4VHTPSg8/Vfxwkx5ekYI/AAAAAAAAEXs/uVnO2cXo58U/s640/Dino1.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0MUc1KMfxm0/Vfxwmor3ANI/AAAAAAAAEYY/VH5PCnypHRA/s1600/Dino2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0MUc1KMfxm0/Vfxwmor3ANI/AAAAAAAAEYY/VH5PCnypHRA/s640/Dino2.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s8vzZPEEH3U/Vfxwoq-4Y4I/AAAAAAAAEZM/CwPGocDMiF8/s1600/Dino4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s8vzZPEEH3U/Vfxwoq-4Y4I/AAAAAAAAEZM/CwPGocDMiF8/s640/Dino4.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UkVFQ0pGydY/Vfxwmnvf2dI/AAAAAAAAEYk/05N6SpfZVYg/s1600/Dino3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UkVFQ0pGydY/Vfxwmnvf2dI/AAAAAAAAEYk/05N6SpfZVYg/s640/Dino3.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xUgi10bYR0M/VfxwouhtDdI/AAAAAAAAEZg/mZGCC_1Skew/s1600/Dino5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xUgi10bYR0M/VfxwouhtDdI/AAAAAAAAEZg/mZGCC_1Skew/s640/Dino5.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ou7RHd0o3Lg/VfxwoiUjPXI/AAAAAAAAEZc/WFb1txlWZXA/s1600/Dino6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ou7RHd0o3Lg/VfxwoiUjPXI/AAAAAAAAEZc/WFb1txlWZXA/s640/Dino6.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Aceen4rKYv4/Vfxwpb-dmaI/AAAAAAAAEZI/XSCSzWqtdNY/s1600/Dino7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Aceen4rKYv4/Vfxwpb-dmaI/AAAAAAAAEZI/XSCSzWqtdNY/s640/Dino7.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-02FRZN7F_bM/VfxwqA_JeEI/AAAAAAAAEZQ/Zc2HU9C5s6w/s1600/Dino9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-02FRZN7F_bM/VfxwqA_JeEI/AAAAAAAAEZQ/Zc2HU9C5s6w/s640/Dino9.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cZrkAT0Njrk/VfxwlGutPKI/AAAAAAAAEYg/LRvjSioRG1c/s1600/Dino10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cZrkAT0Njrk/VfxwlGutPKI/AAAAAAAAEYg/LRvjSioRG1c/s640/Dino10.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">There was an informative "Science-Session" where I actually learned a few things myself, and a super-cool playground beside the museum that the boys enjoyed</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-trbGGhB6duM/VfxwllnpkkI/AAAAAAAAEYc/fGyByukC9f8/s1600/Dino12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-trbGGhB6duM/VfxwllnpkkI/AAAAAAAAEYc/fGyByukC9f8/s640/Dino12.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bwSHbhuFWJ0/Vfxwl4hDmsI/AAAAAAAAEYU/Q2HeEt0HLjI/s1600/Dino13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bwSHbhuFWJ0/Vfxwl4hDmsI/AAAAAAAAEYU/Q2HeEt0HLjI/s640/Dino13.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-68usvrDZGuo/VfxwmLCOL4I/AAAAAAAAEYQ/fCS5L0NvJ0k/s1600/Dino14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-68usvrDZGuo/VfxwmLCOL4I/AAAAAAAAEYQ/fCS5L0NvJ0k/s640/Dino14.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The landscape surrounding the museum apparently made for perfect prairie dog habitat.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AveRgHirevU/VfxwqihB9oI/AAAAAAAAEZU/BPQGWKjD1og/s1600/Groundhog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AveRgHirevU/VfxwqihB9oI/AAAAAAAAEZU/BPQGWKjD1og/s640/Groundhog.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">We decided to come back after dinner and glad we did, since we pretty much had the museum to ourselves until closing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-W1lxnbD533c/Vfxwpxp4XYI/AAAAAAAAEZY/tNmxjgAe8kA/s1600/Dino8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-W1lxnbD533c/Vfxwpxp4XYI/AAAAAAAAEZY/tNmxjgAe8kA/s640/Dino8.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> Of course, the boys had to climb the "world's largest dinosaur" (you can see them in it's mouth)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OW2mHlNQ5SQ/VfxwlKBxgaI/AAAAAAAAEYE/G7luSFVsSXI/s1600/Dino11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OW2mHlNQ5SQ/VfxwlKBxgaI/AAAAAAAAEYE/G7luSFVsSXI/s640/Dino11.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">We decided it would be adventurous to sleep in a teepee for a night, but in the end I'm glad it was just for 1 night since it started raining and teepees have a big hole in the middle at the top (and guess who was sleeping under it!).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_jIdX6Y1VlI/Vfxz8V2Y0xI/AAAAAAAAEZs/eeFKxlPCBDU/s1600/Teepee1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_jIdX6Y1VlI/Vfxz8V2Y0xI/AAAAAAAAEZs/eeFKxlPCBDU/s640/Teepee1.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h26sS786lj0/Vfxz8YJH4AI/AAAAAAAAEZo/47Ud9M5qPzk/s1600/Teepee2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h26sS786lj0/Vfxz8YJH4AI/AAAAAAAAEZo/47Ud9M5qPzk/s640/Teepee2.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The next day was explored the area by hiking in Horse Thief Canyon, but not before stopping for breakfast at Whif's FlapJack House. Here's a pic just to serve as a reminder of how much "fun" restaurants can be with little boys. This is Simon's activity breaking apart styrofoam cups and sticking pieces of it to the condensation on his cup of water. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-km69EAx7kaw/Vfx02yy5qkI/AAAAAAAAEaA/-YhKyR10XZs/s1600/BadlandsBreakfast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-km69EAx7kaw/Vfx02yy5qkI/AAAAAAAAEaA/-YhKyR10XZs/s640/BadlandsBreakfast.jpg" width="640" /></a> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IJ_tWZ_JVX8/Vfx029X2xJI/AAAAAAAAEZ8/plARQixeBS8/s1600/BadlandsHke1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IJ_tWZ_JVX8/Vfx029X2xJI/AAAAAAAAEZ8/plARQixeBS8/s640/BadlandsHke1.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PLr-MSuiVLU/Vfx02tLYbsI/AAAAAAAAEZ4/3v9RNGiLZVs/s1600/BadlandsHke2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PLr-MSuiVLU/Vfx02tLYbsI/AAAAAAAAEZ4/3v9RNGiLZVs/s640/BadlandsHke2.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wb9KsfOj7vM/Vfx03cbCpHI/AAAAAAAAEaE/UKaLrDhbHyw/s1600/BadlandsHke3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wb9KsfOj7vM/Vfx03cbCpHI/AAAAAAAAEaE/UKaLrDhbHyw/s640/BadlandsHke3.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BpBGz781KLQ/Vfx03vc0V6I/AAAAAAAAEaI/UV82jwJC9lc/s1600/BadlandsHke4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BpBGz781KLQ/Vfx03vc0V6I/AAAAAAAAEaI/UV82jwJC9lc/s640/BadlandsHke4.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TZUVMtqqLQU/Vfx04IBhx-I/AAAAAAAAEaM/6r3cg8766wY/s1600/BadlandsHke5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TZUVMtqqLQU/Vfx04IBhx-I/AAAAAAAAEaM/6r3cg8766wY/s640/BadlandsHke5.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Here's a very bad picture of us in the Badlands. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9Wl2hlQGpwY/Vfx04alqLdI/AAAAAAAAEaU/o9PCB3bBRHU/s1600/BadlandsHke6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9Wl2hlQGpwY/Vfx04alqLdI/AAAAAAAAEaU/o9PCB3bBRHU/s640/BadlandsHke6.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So, after Drumheller we drove back to Calgary and stayed at Krista's place for 2 nights. We had to do the Stampede again so Max could get to see the Rodeo and we also saw the cool BMX/Motocross show.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iCy6z5IAx7I/Vfx1oVdwn3I/AAAAAAAAEaw/aK2ySvb7gQE/s1600/Motocross.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iCy6z5IAx7I/Vfx1oVdwn3I/AAAAAAAAEaw/aK2ySvb7gQE/s640/Motocross.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In the meantime, during our Alberta explorations, of course Jeff is back home dealing with selling our house After a variety of e-mails and calls, Jeff informs me that we can come home because the house is sold. Done deal. Huh. I admit I felt strangely confused about it, homeless, but only temporarily since Jeff also found us a townhouse to rent in North Vancouver until we find a house to buy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So the boys and I packed up and headed home, but not without stopping for a night in Canmore to visit my old friend Stephanie, her hubbie Chris and their new gorgeous baby Claire. [Unfortunately, it seems that I managed to lose all photos from my phone from those 2 days, (except I posted a couple on Instagram before losing them)]. After a night with Steph, we made a quick stop in Yoho Park to check out Takakkaw Falls (with Wapta Mtn nearby).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2rxj8oVhIm4/Vfx4NSZdkDI/AAAAAAAAEbA/qtTUeWlUJu0/s1600/TakakkawFalls1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2rxj8oVhIm4/Vfx4NSZdkDI/AAAAAAAAEbA/qtTUeWlUJu0/s640/TakakkawFalls1.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8Tz7a_q5ZiA/Vfx4NAi1ClI/AAAAAAAAEa8/chgBEQNicmw/s1600/TakakkawFalls2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8Tz7a_q5ZiA/Vfx4NAi1ClI/AAAAAAAAEa8/chgBEQNicmw/s640/TakakkawFalls2.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I am so proud of how well my boys behaved on the drive home, especially considering they only watched 1 movie on the iPad and I can remember making only 1 pit-stop in Kamloops (though, come to think of it, we must have had lunch before then somewhere). Anyway, I guess chair-dancing and car-games and napping were sufficient for the time to go by.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Back home and with the house sold and possession not until September 2nd, it meant we had the whole rest of the summer to enjoy it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>Kelli Skinner + her Boyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15181985632047378004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1805803764475684029.post-51321746719251057862015-08-21T21:26:00.002-07:002015-08-21T21:26:52.698-07:00Just me and the 3 boys, hittin' the road.<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ciiwv95dnuw/Vdfd_y9YubI/AAAAAAAAER4/I0d5Et4aukI/s1600/RoadTrip1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ciiwv95dnuw/Vdfd_y9YubI/AAAAAAAAER4/I0d5Et4aukI/s640/RoadTrip1.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">With the 'For Sale' sign up in front of our house, I really did not look
forward to keeping the house clean while we did showings and an open
house, so I packed up the van with everything I might need for 2 weeks
with the kids, and we headed to Alberta. I
was a bit anxious to do the drive by myself, so I decided that we would
stop in Golden for a night. I chose a cheap motel that had a pool with a slide and free breakfast, so the kids thought it was great, especially the statue of "Boo" the resident bear in the reserve on Kicking Horse mountain.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2aNa_xp3Omw/VdfeAdQU5ZI/AAAAAAAAESU/XdvfTYBHeNw/s1600/RoadTrip2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2aNa_xp3Omw/VdfeAdQU5ZI/AAAAAAAAESU/XdvfTYBHeNw/s640/RoadTrip2.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I4amufxAZtU/VdfeBIqj3ZI/AAAAAAAAESQ/BQetqcl1kzo/s1600/RoadTrip3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I4amufxAZtU/VdfeBIqj3ZI/AAAAAAAAESQ/BQetqcl1kzo/s640/RoadTrip3.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So we spent half the day exploring Kicking Horse Mountain Resort. Gondola up, then long, long, long hike down. I confess I wasn't initially intending to do such a long hike with them, so the kids might have complained a few times (!!), but I thought it was beautiful and would have really enjoyed it without the serenade of whining. There were parts that they did enjoy, though.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pX4wtjJzKG0/Vdfd6gd32DI/AAAAAAAAEQg/5ldQzBbgZx0/s1600/KickingHorse1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pX4wtjJzKG0/Vdfd6gd32DI/AAAAAAAAEQg/5ldQzBbgZx0/s640/KickingHorse1.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--XZ-O2OGjis/Vdfd7_j4GHI/AAAAAAAAEQ0/h07uLx5nJS0/s1600/KickingHorseCalGond.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--XZ-O2OGjis/Vdfd7_j4GHI/AAAAAAAAEQ0/h07uLx5nJS0/s640/KickingHorseCalGond.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o5iCas3_DQo/Vdfd9qLpldI/AAAAAAAAERo/K0lLpemekcw/s1600/KickingHorseMaxGond.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o5iCas3_DQo/Vdfd9qLpldI/AAAAAAAAERo/K0lLpemekcw/s640/KickingHorseMaxGond.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zoZZJOAeBHA/Vdfd-ei6yvI/AAAAAAAAERg/vtD6YsnsgSE/s1600/KickingHorseSimonGond.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zoZZJOAeBHA/Vdfd-ei6yvI/AAAAAAAAERg/vtD6YsnsgSE/s640/KickingHorseSimonGond.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ae3Olj2MY80/Vdfd93_-DAI/AAAAAAAAERc/G2QvkL1pB8U/s1600/KickingHorseMaxSim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ae3Olj2MY80/Vdfd93_-DAI/AAAAAAAAERc/G2QvkL1pB8U/s640/KickingHorseMaxSim.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nC72FFG1_Bg/Vdfd70B3B9I/AAAAAAAAEQ8/DG0rZqenv-w/s1600/KickingHorseBoysSummit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nC72FFG1_Bg/Vdfd70B3B9I/AAAAAAAAEQ8/DG0rZqenv-w/s640/KickingHorseBoysSummit.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I5RWn5iZigE/Vdfd9BcYfOI/AAAAAAAAERQ/66fqBdeplPY/s1600/KickingHorseKelliMax.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I5RWn5iZigE/Vdfd9BcYfOI/AAAAAAAAERQ/66fqBdeplPY/s640/KickingHorseKelliMax.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wPGI80XuoLA/Vdfd8VA-ADI/AAAAAAAAERE/gb53RQoYaJI/s1600/KickingHorseHike.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wPGI80XuoLA/Vdfd8VA-ADI/AAAAAAAAERE/gb53RQoYaJI/s640/KickingHorseHike.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ksNThs8WipU/Vdfd8-vUEJI/AAAAAAAAERA/ekgq2Ou6Qys/s1600/KickingHorseHikeSim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ksNThs8WipU/Vdfd8-vUEJI/AAAAAAAAERA/ekgq2Ou6Qys/s640/KickingHorseHikeSim.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b0u8bq_0KW4/Vdfd_PJK26I/AAAAAAAAESk/JMDQm1V_lVI/s1600/KickingHorseView.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b0u8bq_0KW4/Vdfd_PJK26I/AAAAAAAAESk/JMDQm1V_lVI/s640/KickingHorseView.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">When we finally made it to the Grizzly bear refuge, we were rewarded with a good view of Boo...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BrzPM2Ah9LE/Vdfd6TxTM1I/AAAAAAAAEQc/8WRwU4y-zrY/s1600/KickingHorseBoo1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BrzPM2Ah9LE/Vdfd6TxTM1I/AAAAAAAAEQc/8WRwU4y-zrY/s640/KickingHorseBoo1.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">But then he just kept coming closer and closer, so the kids were pretty happy and forgot about the "pain and agony" just experienced.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6VqFMaDsKnU/Vdfd7vY6I4I/AAAAAAAAEQs/jlKSBHBSRZw/s1600/KickingHorseBoo3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6VqFMaDsKnU/Vdfd7vY6I4I/AAAAAAAAEQs/jlKSBHBSRZw/s640/KickingHorseBoo3.jpg" width="640" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v2amCV0fph4/Vdfd6gKH7iI/AAAAAAAAEQk/S4qtw4uz16E/s1600/KickingHorseBoo2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v2amCV0fph4/Vdfd6gKH7iI/AAAAAAAAEQk/S4qtw4uz16E/s640/KickingHorseBoo2.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Max also found a super cool looking spider.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-U66KVA0G9ck/Vdfd_F53eEI/AAAAAAAAERs/hG7-O2sTw2s/s1600/KickingHorseSpider.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-U66KVA0G9ck/Vdfd_F53eEI/AAAAAAAAERs/hG7-O2sTw2s/s640/KickingHorseSpider.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">On the chair lift ride down to the parking, I managed to drop my awesome (and expensive) hiking pants, so that was a not-so-nice finish to the maybe-not-the-best-day ever, but a day at the mountains is till a good day, despite everything else.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">We arrived in Calgary and Stacey & Todd's place just after dinner time, but the first thing the kids wanted to do was go on a bike ride with their cousin, James, to the playground. I clued in quickly that my kids were not going to be keeping to their regular sleeping schedule during our trip.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y4aqrnvlaak/VdflLNcn9XI/AAAAAAAAES0/O_0Uu76xzJA/s1600/CalgaryPlayground.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y4aqrnvlaak/VdflLNcn9XI/AAAAAAAAES0/O_0Uu76xzJA/s640/CalgaryPlayground.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The next day was Canada Day, so Stacey planned a day at Heritage Park. It's quite a place that could take a couple days to see everything. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-L3ByARtNxpE/Vdfllw92WyI/AAAAAAAAES8/ZoU4F3Rtr64/s1600/CalgaryCANday.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-L3ByARtNxpE/Vdfllw92WyI/AAAAAAAAES8/ZoU4F3Rtr64/s640/CalgaryCANday.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">We met up with Krista and Al there too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iMhTMY-8uOE/VdflmLgg-MI/AAAAAAAAETA/rHIbrejSkpM/s1600/CalgaryCANday1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iMhTMY-8uOE/VdflmLgg-MI/AAAAAAAAETA/rHIbrejSkpM/s640/CalgaryCANday1.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">There were fair rides!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kyahJba1eM4/VdflzlWVEsI/AAAAAAAAETU/MjQSe7xgqYc/s1600/CalgaryCANday2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kyahJba1eM4/VdflzlWVEsI/AAAAAAAAETU/MjQSe7xgqYc/s640/CalgaryCANday2.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K87jKMAxGNI/VdflzhDyqFI/AAAAAAAAETM/SteUgym7dbs/s1600/CalgaryCANday3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K87jKMAxGNI/VdflzhDyqFI/AAAAAAAAETM/SteUgym7dbs/s640/CalgaryCANday3.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1YDV79zJ2TM/Vdfl0hMDGeI/AAAAAAAAET8/iDDLmFbnkGY/s1600/CalgaryCANday6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1YDV79zJ2TM/Vdfl0hMDGeI/AAAAAAAAET8/iDDLmFbnkGY/s640/CalgaryCANday6.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2JnQKwW2Hqs/VdflzqJ-HmI/AAAAAAAAEUA/cs6o53LctWM/s1600/CalgaryCANday4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2JnQKwW2Hqs/VdflzqJ-HmI/AAAAAAAAEUA/cs6o53LctWM/s640/CalgaryCANday4.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This was Callum's third and final ride of the day (you can see them waving), since he got off feeling quite ill from motion sickness, then threw up shortly after. Poor kid, but he felt better after puking!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-59-SaXRYmGM/Vdfl1gSILrI/AAAAAAAAET0/W4IasHJ9l3o/s1600/CalgaryCANday8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-59-SaXRYmGM/Vdfl1gSILrI/AAAAAAAAET0/W4IasHJ9l3o/s640/CalgaryCANday8.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-crmKWJICbKc/Vdfl069qCkI/AAAAAAAAET4/HZZdA-w5_GM/s1600/CalgaryCANday7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-crmKWJICbKc/Vdfl069qCkI/AAAAAAAAET4/HZZdA-w5_GM/s640/CalgaryCANday7.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VFsilE3vyEU/Vdfl0itFk_I/AAAAAAAAETk/XJlqDv112nU/s1600/CalgaryCANday5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VFsilE3vyEU/Vdfl0itFk_I/AAAAAAAAETk/XJlqDv112nU/s640/CalgaryCANday5.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZaEifUv6lIc/Vdfl3RhIPJI/AAAAAAAAEUI/JeEvJql3gT4/s1600/CalgaryCANday9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZaEifUv6lIc/Vdfl3RhIPJI/AAAAAAAAEUI/JeEvJql3gT4/s640/CalgaryCANday9.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> The mini-horse chuck wagon races were quite entertaining.</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Qd6O18MmlQw/Vdfm0W3XejI/AAAAAAAAEUg/fhqfrJDyrGs/s1600/CalgaryCANdayChuck1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Qd6O18MmlQw/Vdfm0W3XejI/AAAAAAAAEUg/fhqfrJDyrGs/s640/CalgaryCANdayChuck1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B2e_04gC8v8/Vdfm0cELpxI/AAAAAAAAEUk/cqcUUTjlmZI/s1600/CalgaryCANdayChuck2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B2e_04gC8v8/Vdfm0cELpxI/AAAAAAAAEUk/cqcUUTjlmZI/s640/CalgaryCANdayChuck2.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DaFQ02tzQnM/Vdfm1JNPnRI/AAAAAAAAEU0/qUSzsi8ekBk/s1600/CalgaryCANdayChuck3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DaFQ02tzQnM/Vdfm1JNPnRI/AAAAAAAAEU0/qUSzsi8ekBk/s640/CalgaryCANdayChuck3.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">And Simon was excited to go on ride in a steam train, after visiting the bountiful candy store.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e0qqnDHmHio/Vdfm1IvNiQI/AAAAAAAAEUo/ZOxMhM7mE_I/s1600/CalgaryCANdayTrain1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e0qqnDHmHio/Vdfm1IvNiQI/AAAAAAAAEUo/ZOxMhM7mE_I/s640/CalgaryCANdayTrain1.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GCLHMRPEdYY/Vdfm166fTXI/AAAAAAAAEU4/bMLWvVDi2tU/s1600/CalgaryCANdayTrain2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GCLHMRPEdYY/Vdfm166fTXI/AAAAAAAAEU4/bMLWvVDi2tU/s640/CalgaryCANdayTrain2.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">That night, Todd and his family prepared a back-yard fire-pit to roast marshmallows and make S'mores! The next day was slightly more low-key, visiting Krista in her "backyard" for some "boating" on the river.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oPfr9tKzGjs/VdfxDZjTZeI/AAAAAAAAEVY/dYxgjaOLBY4/s1600/CalgarySmores.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oPfr9tKzGjs/VdfxDZjTZeI/AAAAAAAAEVY/dYxgjaOLBY4/s640/CalgarySmores.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F9djvJjoOLo/VdfxCrE6W5I/AAAAAAAAEVM/RyB1GXcCcHM/s1600/CalgaryKristaYard1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F9djvJjoOLo/VdfxCrE6W5I/AAAAAAAAEVM/RyB1GXcCcHM/s640/CalgaryKristaYard1.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GHO7L7IbuPA/VdfxCeZqYBI/AAAAAAAAEVE/yoZhxdpZCwc/s1600/CalgaryKristaYard3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GHO7L7IbuPA/VdfxCeZqYBI/AAAAAAAAEVE/yoZhxdpZCwc/s640/CalgaryKristaYard3.jpg" width="640" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XDbyPHW-k1k/VdfxClggKBI/AAAAAAAAEVI/Mmwxvla6Ms4/s1600/CalgaryKristaYard2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XDbyPHW-k1k/VdfxClggKBI/AAAAAAAAEVI/Mmwxvla6Ms4/s640/CalgaryKristaYard2.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> Friday was Stampede day!! Growing up in Edmonton, my parents never took me to the Calgary Stampede, so I decided this was a perfect opportunity! Stacey and Noah got up super early to meet Karlyn and her boyfriend along the Parade route to save us seats along the sidewalk. I confess that I had high expectations and, well... there were a lot of horses (but I didn't bother including any pics of them here since they were kinda boring)!! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d6nfD-xw6Ng/VdfyUsQJsrI/AAAAAAAAEVo/5ggUekY1Wyc/s1600/Stampede1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d6nfD-xw6Ng/VdfyUsQJsrI/AAAAAAAAEVo/5ggUekY1Wyc/s640/Stampede1.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9klO5KXZ_8o/VdfyXsgjetI/AAAAAAAAEWY/Wa6Fh-2Yk7A/s1600/Stampede2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9klO5KXZ_8o/VdfyXsgjetI/AAAAAAAAEWY/Wa6Fh-2Yk7A/s640/Stampede2.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So, maybe my parade expectations weren't met, but, after having to walk to the Stampede grounds in the rather hazy heat, (because the C-train was just too crazy full), the rest of the day was pretty great - I was so impressed at how well the boys behaved, how patient they were, and how long they lasted. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pI5COEfF-8k/VdfyXwPg9TI/AAAAAAAAEWQ/TrLJhzSQ2B4/s1600/Stampede3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pI5COEfF-8k/VdfyXwPg9TI/AAAAAAAAEWQ/TrLJhzSQ2B4/s640/Stampede3.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The boys wanted to play everything - right in the gates, they stood and waited to play a water-squirting game (to raise trucks on hydraulics), which Simon won, then Callum and Max waited for 30mins to participate in kid chuck-wagon races (with stuffed horses), which neither of them won. </span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j01ZIAVrxLE/VdfyYw7okqI/AAAAAAAAEWo/Ol7MmNI9y1Y/s1600/Stampede4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j01ZIAVrxLE/VdfyYw7okqI/AAAAAAAAEWo/Ol7MmNI9y1Y/s640/Stampede4.jpg" width="456" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--btR2U6e2KY/VdfyUyeIOuI/AAAAAAAAEVs/a3a4nvtptPI/s1600/Stampede10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--btR2U6e2KY/VdfyUyeIOuI/AAAAAAAAEVs/a3a4nvtptPI/s640/Stampede10.jpg" width="456" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-24m1bl685NE/VdfyVlI30sI/AAAAAAAAEV8/z7GG8edlQ_o/s1600/Stampede11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-24m1bl685NE/VdfyVlI30sI/AAAAAAAAEV8/z7GG8edlQ_o/s640/Stampede11.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">They were super stoked to be able to sit in the seat of a fighter-jet and go inside a real army tank.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VF3vBOGUmV8/VdfyaRqn5dI/AAAAAAAAEW8/t-0aWVOH60o/s1600/Stampede7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VF3vBOGUmV8/VdfyaRqn5dI/AAAAAAAAEW8/t-0aWVOH60o/s640/Stampede7.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-npbcMtLVOP0/VdfyZtdM9rI/AAAAAAAAEXA/yRaDGuEVBe0/s1600/Stampede6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-npbcMtLVOP0/VdfyZtdM9rI/AAAAAAAAEXA/yRaDGuEVBe0/s640/Stampede6.jpg" width="640" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cwI8ZASgpIA/VdfyZQnrbfI/AAAAAAAAEW4/5Bx5IjW9vSA/s1600/Stampede5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cwI8ZASgpIA/VdfyZQnrbfI/AAAAAAAAEW4/5Bx5IjW9vSA/s640/Stampede5.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cTIrKgfx8l8/Vdfya6xM9MI/AAAAAAAAEXE/ry80eT6GIbA/s1600/Stampede8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cTIrKgfx8l8/Vdfya6xM9MI/AAAAAAAAEXE/ry80eT6GIbA/s640/Stampede8.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KgSK3xhgtNg/VdfybYKCVsI/AAAAAAAAEXU/RCriOPoPv9U/s1600/Stampede9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KgSK3xhgtNg/VdfybYKCVsI/AAAAAAAAEXU/RCriOPoPv9U/s640/Stampede9.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">We managed to choose a few rides that wouldn't cause Callum to feel sick, including the ferris wheel, a tame roller-coaster and bumper cars. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YMWpMpLgwr8/VdfyUi7muXI/AAAAAAAAEXc/5-nUyCqjvE4/s1600/Stampede.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YMWpMpLgwr8/VdfyUi7muXI/AAAAAAAAEXc/5-nUyCqjvE4/s640/Stampede.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uCbLzoSxPNQ/VdfyWNMJEVI/AAAAAAAAEXY/PO3NImOT17w/s1600/Stampede13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uCbLzoSxPNQ/VdfyWNMJEVI/AAAAAAAAEXY/PO3NImOT17w/s640/Stampede13.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pT0egGZ7jX8/VdfyVtAjQEI/AAAAAAAAEWI/bGl0quT2boA/s1600/Stampede12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pT0egGZ7jX8/VdfyVtAjQEI/AAAAAAAAEWI/bGl0quT2boA/s640/Stampede12.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">We took a bit of a break to enjoy the Super-Dogs show (in an air-conditioned building, hallelujah) before not-eating the $17 turkey leg for dinner but the boys tried their first corn dog (of which apparently I have lost a few photos...Hmm). At the end of the day, Callum and Max did some rock-climbing while Simon was exhausted and lying on the ground with his head on the backpack to rest.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u22RXjdrOPE/VdfyW_sDLXI/AAAAAAAAEWU/600K_7Ih2s0/s1600/Stampede15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u22RXjdrOPE/VdfyW_sDLXI/AAAAAAAAEWU/600K_7Ih2s0/s640/Stampede15.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PYcG-yHT1DI/VdfyWruUPDI/AAAAAAAAEWM/NWFE1VBa4hQ/s1600/Stampede14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PYcG-yHT1DI/VdfyWruUPDI/AAAAAAAAEWM/NWFE1VBa4hQ/s640/Stampede14.jpg" width="456" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">As we were walking out of the park at nearly 8:00pm, after nearly 12 hours of doing Stampede activities, Max asks me, "Mom, when are we going to get to the Stampede?"...!!! Apparently, he was expecting to see more cowboys and bulls and rodeo-type stuff... So we decided that we better plan another day at the Stampede to see the rodeo... but that was after going to see Dinosaurs!... (to be continued). </span>Kelli Skinner + her Boyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15181985632047378004noreply@blogger.com0