Trip to Nova Scotia

 Loved Nova Scotia!  More details coming soon......

Hirtle's Beach, Nova Scotia

Crooked Lake, Italy Cross, Nova Scotia

Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia

Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia

Les at Port Prim Lighthouse, Digby, Nova Scotia

Jen at Port Prim Lighthouse, Digby, Nova Scotia.  COLD and WINDY!

Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia

Storm Chips - where all 4 flavour's are in one bag!

Music Is Her Love Affair

Adrianna had an opportunity to participate in the 2015 UBC Summer Music Institute and had a blast!  There was a string orchestra, 2 senior jazz groups (she was in one of them with her bari sax) and a senior concert band.

Getting ready for concert time!

With 8 hours a day of music for 5 days under their belt all I can say to their week end concert is WOW!  What they accomplished in that time absolutely blew me away.  It takes us months of rehearsals to accomplish what they did in a week and even then nothing to the calibre of what we witnessed.

So fun to see her in her element with like minded souls!

Memories.... August

AUGUST started with the kids being out of school for about a week doing lots of fun activities when I was hit with one of the worst chest colds I've had in a long time.  Bronchitis in August - YUCK!  Well medicated with a horribly barky voice and cough we packed up and headed to Clearwater for a Smith Family Reunion (Les's mom's side of the family).  

We were the 'red' family!  Back row:  Les, Jen, Martie.  Front Row:  Adrianna, Russ, Eli

After that it was off to Salmon Arm to spend a couple days with Les's parents....

Adrianna & Eli at the water slide 

Revelstoke Railway Museum
Left to Right:  Russ, Jen, Eli, Adrianna & Les

Time to head back home where later in the month the kids and I with Auntie Trish headed to the PNE for a fun filled day....

Just before having to head back music camp was attended!!  This will be Eli's first year participating in the school band program so he attended a week long beginner music camp.  He had lots of fun and is ready to start classes!  Adrianna took part in a junior concert band camp but I guess pictures weren't taken??  

Sorry for such a dark picture....can you spot Eli and the instrument he's playing????

It seems September is just around the corner and we just might be ready for all the upcoming changes!!!

April in a Nutshell!

April for us means NO SCHOOL and equals LOTS of PLAYTIME!!!

The month started with me feeling like everyone was taking my arms and legs and were pulling towards their direction of what we should do or who we should be visiting as hard as they good.  Mentally I was just whacked and couldn't handle it so finally after much discussion Les and I decided that home with our family of 4 was where we needed to be.  I have to say I'm so grateful for that decision because it seemed to be the magic pill I needed - finally by the end of the month I've started to feel like the old me and I not enough words can tell you how good that feels!

So what did we do?  For some reason this seemed to the month of concerts and a great experience for the kids to see the different levels of music.    These are the concerts we attended:

UBC Symphonic Wind Ensemble and UBC Concert Winds at the UBC Point Grey Campus.

The Adult Maple Ridge Concert Band (local community band).  

Adrianna's Elementary Band concert including performances by the Maple Ridge Secondary School music department (grades 8 to 12).

Out of this World - Music with the X-Factor performed by GVYMA (Greater Vancouver Youth Music Academy) at Douglas College.  This is an ensemble where the players are 19 years or younger (having auditioned for their spot).

Of course at the very beginning of the month the kids did some egg decorating!

With the idea of staying close to home we did decide to sneak away for a couple days during Les's holidays.  A two day mini-vacation touring around Washington got us shopping for necessities, looking at musical instruments, checking out a train museum and seeing the Snoqualmie Falls (pretty amazing).  Pictures are the best way to experience a bit of our journey.....

   

The Snoqualmie Falls plunges 270 feet - 10 stories higher than Niagara Falls.  From the pictures you can get an idea of how far away we were standing yet we were getting soaked with the spray from the falls.

Of course even though April had us on 'spring break' many regular activities still needed participation.  Adrianna still had her band lessons at MRSS, Les and I still had our band practices and the kids still had their weekly church/scouting activities. 

Probably the biggest news of all for the month of April is the decision to have both kids get braces......... stay tuned!

Farwell San Diego

It rains in San Diego!  I mean it RAINED, like Vancouver rain.  Apparently it never does that.  Pictures to prove it on the way to the airport.....

Driving by the San Diego Temple on the freeway NEVER gets old!

 Thank you Robin, Mickey, Cedric and Drake. I had a fantastic time with you guys, just what I needed!!

San Diego Tourists

Robin, the boys and I spent Sunday being tourists.  We first went to the Marston House Museum and Gardens, a home constructed in 1905 by George W. Marston.  How I wish Les had been with me, he would have loved seeing the house and learning about all the little tricks created throughout it.  Here are some pictures but some are very dark (weren't allowed to use a flash).

Drake, Robin & Cedric

Then it was into downtown San Diego to Seaport Village where we ate and window shopped.  We decided to head out to the Old Point Loma lighthouse but once we got to the gate realized it was closing time so home bound for us it was.  Not before coming across these breath taking views......

San Diego Doings

San Diego could VERY easily become my second home.  I quickly re fell in love with the BRIGHT blue sky, WARM sun, FRUIT trees and of course FRIENDSHIP.  Today was spent soaking in all of it!!

Walking around a lagoon

Robin and I

The ocean!  Back in April we went to the restaurant on the pier.

Checking out shops

Signs That Make You Go 'Uh?'

My weekend trip to San Diego started off with dinner in old town San Diego (love this place).  However, after parking on a very steep hill we came across the following sign.  Stumped us all as we've never heard it worded quite like this before!

Front Entrance Reno

This set of Les's holidays has been spent fixing up the front entrance.  We painted a new paint color (Sherwin-Williams Ruskin Room Green from their Arts & Crafts heritage line) and again changed the baseboards and trim as we did in the kitchen/dinning and living room renos.

Looking into entrance from kitchen area

Looking into entrance from living room

Across front doors is the powder room

Les's parents came for a visit (more on that in another post) and helped out.  Loving the new color and fresh clean feel!  For now I'll leave you with knowing our brains are twirling with lots of different ideas for the stairway.........