First Day of Summer

I guess the photo above demonstrates that we spent way too much time indoors yesterday. That, and the fact that we also went swimming (which is something I usually do on crummy weather days), goes to show my disappointment in summer thus far. Oh well.

Blue eyes, chocolate batter, the beach.

People have often commented on what big blue eyes Callum has - I guess I can see what they mean.Callum wanted to take a shot of my beautiful eyes.
Question: What keeps 2 little boys quiet for several minutes? Answer: chocolate cookie batter!



Saturday, we spent a surprising 4 hours at English Bay beach. We even forgot to bring the beach toys, but Callum and Max just reveled in the sunshine and sand anyway (well, Jeff and I did too). It was so nice.

I seem unable to do one post per week anymore, but I guess that means we are busy doing better things than sitting at home in front of a computer, right? Well, not necessarily, as I use any "free" time I have to work on my parents house, but there have been some good times outside too.

A couple weeks back, Jeff participated in the Sun Run, but he was so fast that he had already passed our place by the time we got down there. The boys had fun in the sun anyway.




I managed to get away for the long weekend to spend it with my sisters in Kamloops (Krista is judging there this week for the Gymnastics Championships, so we met her there), while Jeff did some bonding with his sons (and some driving around North Van to see where we want to live!). Jeff and I are currently in the process of trying to choose the better of 2 goods, and we're really not sure how to make the decision. All I know is that Callum is currently registered for 2 different Preschools and on the wait-list for 2 others, since who knows where we will be this September, and if I don't register now, he will be out-of-luck.

Working and Puking

I tried to get some concentrated work done on designing a house for my parents and my brother's family, so Callum and Max spent a lot of time at their grandparents in Langley. They slept over there from Monday to Thursday for the last 2 weeks while I worked, but it turns out that is way too hard on me - I missed them (and worried way too much about their eating and sleeping habits!)! I have come up with an alternative game plan, so we'll see how that goes over next little while.

I have to say, though, that I don't think Callum and Max missed me very much - they had cousins to play with, Aunt Samantha had crafty activities for them, Grandma had Jello and Ice cream to eat, and they love the big yard with a trampoline.

Samantha and Lorelei with Callum:

Callum and his cousins Jackson, Adam and Michael:

Playing in Grandma's crawlspace with Lorelei and Jackson:

Max loved the new selection of Toys in Lorelei's room:
Callum concentrating on his next jump:Max and Eric:
Callum pulling Jackson:

In the meantime, it seems like we've just been taking turns being sick. After Max got over his measles, he got the flu and passed it around to the rest of us. At least no one sick aat the same time so that I could handle all the extra laundry from all the vomit!


I never mentioned that Max got his 2nd top tooth while suffering with the measles - as you can see in this picture:

Miserable Max

So, after several days of bad fevers, lots of whining and not eating, then a slowly developed rash from his head moving down his body, I finally took Max to the Hospital yesterday morning. We were there for 2 and 1/2 hours as they took blood and gave me a booster shot since it turns out Max has the Measles! Poor little guy, but he already starting to act more like himself.

Here was a few minutes at the beach down by our place:

Thanks Mom!

My generous Mom used all her long-collected Airmiles to get us a digital SLR camera!! So, I took it out of the box, turned it on and started shooting - I think the pictures below are pretty decent, considering I have no idea what I'm doing (and we still haven't bought a flash for it).




We rode our bikes to 2nd Beach after church yesterday (well, after all 4 of us miraculously had a nap!). It was sunny and very busy, but a great opportunity to try out the camera.





(This shot below is so typical of how you might see Max fighting for a spot around his big brother!)








Yesterday, Jeff and I also started our "Reset" diet, as I'm calling it, since it is kind of a detox but more like 28 days of super healthy eating, to re-adjust our bodies away from all the crap we've been getting used to lately. Unfortunately, it starts with 2 days of only green smoothies (filled with lots of cabbage, spinach, kale and all other greens), so it is currently quite a kick-in-the-pants, that's for sure! Wish us luck!