A visit from Mom & Dad

In August, Mom & Dad came out to help out with Keira, the move & the house renovations. It wasn't much of a vacation for them, but we certainly appreciated all the help!

On the upside we did make some time for fun. We played a lot of Wii (Mom & Dad's favourite new pastime), including Rockband; and we visited the Richmond night market.

Of course the highlight for Mom & Dad was spending time with Keira, which they will do much more of when they come to visit at Christmas. We'll have to buy the Beatles Rockband game before they and my sister arrive.

Click on the image below to see more photos:

Mom & Dad's Trip - Aug 09

We got our house today....

Today we got possession of our first house and we are very excited to get in and make it our own. With Katie being 8.75 months pregnant, it means the task of sanding, cleaning, wallpaper removal, and painting is up to me. Luckily Kerri has offer to help out this weekend and I'm hoping to recruit some others as well.... any takers.

The house will take a bit of work to update, but on the whole we are really happy with our purchase. It's a great house and we are looking forward to all the little projects (that's again Katie talk for James' list of to do's).

Thank god Katie's parents are coming out to help us in a couple of weeks, we already have the hardwood and shingles ready ;-) just joking (sorta)

Click on image to see pics of the house:

Our New House !!!

Crazy Weather in Vancouver

This has been a crazy summer in Vancouver in terms of weather. We're just getting over an extreme heat wave, where we broke records dating back to the 1800s. I think I jinxed us when I told everyone that I wasn't worried about being pregnant in August, because Vancouver NEVER really gets that hot...LOL.

But the silver lining to the crazy heat is that it resulted in a wild thunderstorm last weekend. You might be thinking "so what", but Vancouver only has a thunderstorm approximately once a decade. So this was a huge deal for me who LOVES thunderstorms and hasn't experienced one since we moved here almost 3 years ago. We had all the windows open, and we just sat back and enjoyed the show. James managed to get a few good shots of the lightning, and the incredible sunset afterwards.

Click on the image below to check out the photo gallery:

BC's Crazy Weather

Richmond Oval & Night Market

On Friday night James and I went to the Richmond Olympic Oval, which will be home to the long-track speed skating events during the 2010 winter olympics. James had his very rusty skates sharpened, and then timed himself on the track in hopes of matching the current world records :) He was quite sad when he realized that the world's best are twice as fast as he is.

At the Oval, we met up with our friend Andrew, and his buddies from the gym. Andrew was brave enough to rent speed skates, and really give the Oval a try. He did remarkably well.

Since I'm 8.5 months pregnant, I did not join in the skating festivities, but I had a lot of fun playing photographer/videographer.

Next we headed to the night market, which runs every Saturday throughout the summer. I had heard about the market before, but I had never bothered to go. But since we were already in Richmond on a Saturday night, we thought why not check it out; and we were very happy we did. It was just like the night markets that we've been to in various asian countries. With lots of great asian food stalls, a stage with performers (that we didn't understand, but enjoyed nonetheless), a Muay Thai Boxing ring, stalls selling every type of trinket imaginable, and a little midway with games. We enjoyed just meandering around the market sampling food, and taking in the atmosphere.

Click on the image below to go to the photo gallery:

Richmond Olympic Oval + Night Market

Baby Bump Update

We've been adding photos of my growing baby bump over the past few weeks. And just recently we met with a professional photographer to capture this time of the pregnancy. So we've added our favourite professional photos to the baby bump page too.

Also, James and I made a belly cast last weekend, which we will decorate after the baby is born. We've included one photo of the belly cast process. This project was a lot of fun, and I'm sure that the final product is a memento that we'll cherish for years to come.

Click on the image below to go to the photo gallery:

Baby Bump

New Bikes

After my last adventure race I decided to look into retiring my hardtail mountain bike and find a newer west cost cross-country bike with full suspension. A friend of ours lead me to Brodie Bikes, where I picked up a 2008 Rite model. I'm very excited about the purchase, but have yet to get out on the trails with it.




I have also been in the market for a road bike for some time and recently managed to find a used one that fit my criteria (my size and price!). It's a 2005 KHS upgraded to 105 shimano components. It's very light and very fast. I've clocked 50+km in 5 days of owning it and enjoying every minute. It really puts into perspective how easy the tour de france riders make riding look, especially the climbs.

Trip Home to Ontario

James and I took an impromtu week of vacation and headed back East to visit family and friends. It was a whirlwind tour, but it was great to see everyone and spend a bit of time enjoying the Ontario summer.

The first stop was Toronto, where we met up with my family for the annual birthday party. It was the first time that all my family including Aunts, Uncles and cousins have been together since James and I moved out west. So we had a great time catching up with everyone. All my aunties gave me their baby gifts. We got all sorts of knit blankets and sweaters, and a homemade quilt. It was quite lovely.

On Sunday we stopped by my sister's new home to check it out before heading out to lunch with her and her new beau. Then it was on to Kingston for some rest & relaxation....sort of.

On Monday night, we went to Rockport to have dinner with James' family and enjoy the river. And unbeknownst to us, James' mom had arranged a surprise baby shower for us. It was a very pleasant surprise!!! We got loads of great baby stuff and best of all, I got to catch up with all the Huck ladies, which I haven't done in a few years.

On Tuesday we headed back to Rockport to celebrate our nephew's 4th birthday. It was a lot of fun to hang out with our neice and nephew whom we hadn't seen since Christmas. But the highlight of the day had to be flying the little motorized plane that we got for our nephew. It didn't seem to matter where James aimed that thing, it always ended up either stuck in a tree, or sinking to the bottome of the pond. We all found this quite hysterical.

Wednesday was Canada day, so James, Mom, Dad & I headed to Ottawa for the best Canada Day celebration that I know of. We decided to stop for breakfast at a diner that we used to frequent when we lived in Ottawa. And much to my surprise, when we arrived we were greeted by all our university friends who threw a surprise baby shower for me (James was in on this one). It was so great to see everyone, and I was so pleased and honoured to have such a large turn out, especially on Canada Day when everyone already has plans. And of course we got lots of great baby stuff; which we are very grateful for. I was also grateful that I brought an extra bag home, because we filled that sucker right up with all the baby stuff we got :)

That evening we went on James' family boat line for a Canada day cruise. It was nice to finally get to see the family business in action. And I don't think that there was a better place in the city to watch the fireworks than from the deck of the boat. During the cruise I even got to see storm clouds and lightning, both of which I miss terribly living in Vancouver. But happily the clouds rolled away from parliment hill, so the fireworks were a go!

On Thursday we hung around Ottawa for awhile, killing time unitl James' flight. We went to Kettlemen's bagels for breakfast, which is a real treat since we haven't been able to find Montreal bagels in Vancouver. After enjoying a coffee at Starbucks, and once James met up with his brother, Mom, Dad & I headed back to Kingston.

Friday was my rest day, I didn't have any plans whatsoever, and I just enjoyed relaxing. We went to 2 of my favourite Kingston eateries that night: the Brewpub for the best nachos I've ever had, and then of course to White Mountain for ice cream. No trip to K-town is complete without a visit to both of those fine establishments. Although I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit sad to have to order a root beer instead of the delicious cranberry cider that I normally enjoy :)

Then on Saturday it was back to Vancouver. As always, it's good to get back home, but it's sad to leave Ontario and all my family and friends. But at least I got to see almost everyone on this trip home.

As always, click on the image below for a link to a photo gallery:

July Ontario Trip