End of July

Wow...July just flew by!! You wait and wait for it to come, thinking of great and wonderful things to do once the summer starts. Well I do think that our family accomplished most of what we set out to do, or at least what I set out to do.

The weather has been just amazing. We did have a bit of a heat wave that broke a few records. We aren't use to these sort of "warm" temperatures in our part of the world, but we survived with help of fans that came out of hiding.

With the wonderful abundance of fruit this time of year, how can one not resist making yummy pies, even when it seems too hot!!

There is nothing like an early morning bike ride to get you through the rest of the day!

Heres to August...with more family trips, and outings in store!!

A Summer Day

Ohhh...summer is the best, actually fall is my favourite time of year , but we are truly enjoying the lazy days of summer! Today we headed down to the beach while the tide was still low. One of us wanted to just sit and read....

....while some of us wanted to build a sand castle.

We had some yummy corn for supper,

and some jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese, crab and green onions. The rest of the evening was spent outside playing or just soaking it all in. Joy!

A "Cool" Idea!

I think my neighbour is a genius. She made me an iced coffee and instead of using ice cubes made from water, they were made from left over coffee...what a great idea! So I tried it too.

I'm also trying to get through Harry Potter before the movie comes out. I started my February Lady sweater, but I also started Rose Hill Hat by Erin , and finished it first. I may have to make more for gifts. It's a cute hat!

Amelia was playing with ladybugs in the back yard and this is the shot I got before he flew away!

Smocked Dresses

Smocked dresses that were made by mom and worn by me when I was a little girl. Once I out grew them , they were gently hand washed and put away for the future. When Natalie was born, mom brought them to me and left them in my care. Natalie wore them to birthdays , Christmas gatherings, Easter, church, and any other family function. They then waited for Amelia to grow into them, and were once again worn for special occasions. Still in my care, they have been gently hand washed and put away for the future one more time. I'm going to miss all these little dresses that hold so many memories...
As a little girl, the brown one was always my favourite!

Hollyburn Peak

Today was another great day that was spent hiking up to Hollyburn Peak. To get there you need to drive up to Cypress Mountain and once at the top, head towards the cross- country skiing trail parking lot, and that is where the trail head begins. I'm always so paranoid about meeting up with a bear or a cougar, that I wear my little bell on my hiking boots. The bell sound my be a signal for dinner for all wild life near and far, but it certainly makes me feel alot better!

Once at the top the view was spectacular! Here are The Lions in the background, and our family enjoying a well deserved lunch. There were still bits of snow lying around, and yes we did have a snowball fight along the way. The one strange thing we did see at the top was a hummingbird flying around, there were no flowers, but there he was zipping along!

Another great view....Cathedral Mountain (i think).

Happy Canada Day!

Today started out with a huge family bike ride down to the same beach that we went to the other evening. Packed a lunch , snacks and off we went. The round trip was just over 15km, with hills, and not one single complaint ...amazing! I now know what we'll be doing alot of this summer! I love biking around and "peeking" at people's homes to check out gardens and other neat stuff.

When we got home Amelia wanted to run through the sprinkler. She was having a blast! Lots of squeals of delight, and "mommy , daddy watch this". I forgot how much fun a simple sprinkler could be, and soon Ben joined in on the fun too!

It seems every Canada Day we have this yummy sandwich for dinner. As far as sandwiches go , this is truly delish!


To finish the day, we headed off to watch the fireworks. Splendid! Happy Canada Day!