Inflatable SUP

It has been soooooo hot here this summer.  A couple months ago I ordered an inflatable SUP from Vancouver Life and was able to pick it up this morning!!!!! Super excited!!

Fly Hills Adventures

On our way back home, we decided to drive up Fly Hills.  I've often heard the Haddad family talk about Fly Hills but had never been. On Fly Hills, you can look down at Salmon Arm and into the valley.  Such beauty!

Cherry Picking

A visit with Les' parents and we decided to do some cherry picking at Tasty Acres in Salmon Arm. Yummy!!!!! 

Guess whose bucket was 4lbs and whose was 2lbs?!

That About Sums It Up!

Melt Your Heart Kinda Moment

Yesterday I was resting my leg with an aircast at a store while Adrianna and Tricia continued shopping and two random ladies left soon returning handing me this bouquet of flowers. Had the whole store in ahhh's at the sure kindness of strangers reaching out to a stranger. Melt your heart moment!

All Work And Just A Little Play = Lots of Money

Grandma Haddad sent us the above picture today.  Eli's heading out the door for his first day at his summer job on the chicken farm in Salmon Arm.  

So proud of him for taking the step to work away from home for the summer (albeit he's living with grandparents) but at the same time I'm REALLY going to miss him, he always brightens my day!  I just have to keep reminding myself it's only for 9 weeks and that we'll see him in just over a week for Grandpa's birthday.

Growing Up Before Our Eyes

1st completed 8 hr working shift EVER!

So VERY proud of this girl and at the same time gaining the sad knowledge that she's growing up before our very eyes.  It really does happen in a blink of an eye!!

She just started a 10 week summer job working full time for a chicken farm either on the production line or at the retail store. Definitely not the most glamorous job but she's determined.  Plus, she's living with grandma and grandpa all summer.  How fun is that?!

Has she had time to have fun this summer you might ask?  She started off with two weeks free to do whatever she wanted, 1 week playing music and now 10 weeks making $$$$!

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!

Absolute Beauty

Today's walk and a reminder that we need to play in our backyard way more often.  So easy to take for granted our beautiful surroundings!

Golden Ears Park - Lower Falls (Maple Ridge, BC, Canada)

MRCB's Pops in the Park aka Twilight Tuesday's

5 Siblings, 3 Spouses & 10 Sweet Children

We been fortunate this weekend to have my sister Tamsen and her family in town visiting from Minnesota. (SO looking forward to their move in the spring which will mean we'll all back living in the same province after all these years!!)

This meant a weekend of family!  Last night was adult time - dinner out while the kids hung out at the house. Glad to report both parties had lots of fun together!  Today was spent visiting, playing, bowling, eating, visiting, eating, playing..... you get the picture.

Speaking of pictures we did get some.......

Maple Ridge Caribbean Festival 2014

A few years back the kids and I attended the Maple Ridge Caribbean Festival and I LOVED it!  For whatever reason though we haven't been back......could be that its always so HOT, HOT, HOT?  This year was no different but with a few hours left in the evening we thought it would be something nice to do as a family instead of sitting in the HOT, HOT house!

So glad we did.  Sun was going down, a nice breeze had started to stir and the entertainment was excellent!  

Band - Los Furios 

An excellent band with lots of fans mixed in the crowd.  People were laughing, dancing and just having a great time.  A fun band to listen to.

Band - California Beach Boys

I still haven't figured out what the Beach Boys has to do with the Caribbean BUT that was the closing act and as you can see from the picture they drew in quite the crowd!  

We sat and enjoyed the tunes and crowd for a bit and then decided to take in more of the festivities.......food and shopping......

A huge fan of the pineapple drink!

We learned that this was the 14th year that the Caribbean Festival has come to Maple Ridge.  Looking forward to the 15th!

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!!!

A Hot Summers Night

The hottest week of the summer and we've been a bit house bound due to Adrianna's injury.  So while Adrianna was able to venture out for a few hours this evening to attend a friends birthday party I took Eli and a neighbour friend down to the river to cool off.

They seemed to have lots of fun tubing down a small section of the river, moving rocks from one location to another and then lastly spinning wildly (almost to the point of throwing up - oh to be a 10 year old boy) on some apparatus on the playground.

Yes, always the same spot but really I'm in love with this spot. So breathtakingly beautiful, fairly peaceful (even with the playground and spray park just behind us) and the sounds of the water purely calming (something I desperately needed).

Pictures taken with my iPod

Sledding in the Summer is Possible!

Adrianna with the young women (church group) went ice blocking.  Confused?  She was given a solid block of ice.  What then?  She covered the block with a towel (a little protection for the butt) then sat on the ice block and slid down the hill.  Basically sledding in the summer time!  Crazy?  Maybe but LOTS of fun!! 

Ready.....Set..........

GO!!!!!

Again.....

WAHOO!!!!
Oops, towel failure!!

Increasing bravery...

PLUS the view was gorgeous!