Pender Island

Have you ever been somewhere and felt that you belong there? Well that is how Pender Island feels to us. Ever since we moved out west 9 years ago from Ontario, we have gone to Pender Island every summer to camp. And every time we get back home, we dream of living there some day. So 2 years ago we thought "why not rent a cottage?", so that's what we did , and stayed for a week. We had such a great time we did it again this year. You need to take a ferry from Tsawwassen B.C., and the ride itself is wonderful, and as soon as you set foot on Pender you are on "Pender Time" , meaning nice and slow, no worries.

The view from our cottage was spectacular!

We saw a huge pod ( about 30 ) of Orcas go by, seals, bald eagles, and many deer.

Mid week we did a day trip to Victoria B.C.

Hiked and had picnics. We even entered in the Fall Fair!

And enjoyed many beautiful sunsets, dreaming of next year's visit!

August 24th

My oldest baby has turned 13!! Where has the time gone? I remember being 13!

Natalie was due on August 10th, but was overdue and I had to be induced. Even with being induced she didn't want to come out, she had a mind of her own even then and was going to come when she was good and ready. It's been wonderful watching her grow up into a young lady, but the time is going by too quickly, and I have a hard time taking it all in. She will be starting high school this fall and we are all so very excited and proud of her. Have a wonderful year Natalie!
Thirteen kisses from daddy!

Rain Day

Finally we got our rain! I really can't remember the last rainy day, maybe the beginning of July? Anyway...we got lots of rain, and sometimes you just need one of those days, to catch up or just do nothing. I made my second most favourite cookie, between loads of laundry, Old Time Ginger Snaps. If you like soft ginger cookies, these are definitely for you!

Here's the recipe:: Old Time Ginger Snaps::3/4cups of butter, 2 cups sugar, 2eggs well beaten, 1/2 cup molasses, 2tsp white vinegar, 3 3/4 cups all purpose flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking soda, 2-3 tsp ground ginger, 1/2 tsp ground cloves, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon. Preheat oven to 325F. Thoroughly mix ingredients in order given and form into small balls. Place balls on cookie sheets. Bake 12 minutes. Yum!! When they come out of the oven they start to get their crackly appearance. These don't last too long in our house, so sometimes I need to hide some.

Chester our cat wasn't too sure if he wanted to get wet!!

Whistler-Blackcomb

We headed off on our camping expedition to Nairn Falls, which is located between Whistler and Pemberton B.C.. We had camped there before but it's been a few years since the last time. The drive there is absolutely stunning with all the wonderful views of Howe Sound on the new and improved Sea To Sky Highway. We stopped at Shannon Falls to take in the natural wonder of the falls.
We spent a day at Whistler-Blackcomb, which was very exciting. After taking the gondola to the top of Whistler, we took the new Peak2Peak gondola over to Blackcomb. Looks totally scary, but it isn't, at least if you don't think about the vast space you are travelling across with nothing underneath you!! The kids loved it!

There were many trails or ski runs that you could hike on once at the top. The views were spectacular, even with the haze of forest fire smoke still looming.

It's was a great trip, one that I wish everyone could experience. It's amazing all the different languages you can hear around you, German, French, Japanese, just to name a few, while walking around, it makes the world seem smaller. You can feel the excitement in the air of the coming winter Olympics. Hopefully our family can make another trip soon...maybe to ski...or watch some of the Olympic events!