family fun day

Sunday was family fun day at our local shopping centre. I took Heather, Grace, & Trinity. I think the girls had a good time, but the weather wasn't that great, raining off and on, with the wind blowing. In between rain showers the kids went in the bouncy castle, decorated cookies, went on a few rides, and dug for treasure, etc. Here are some pics.


Trinity & Heather on a swing ride. Wheeee...
Grace...boing...boing....

birds of prey

Today we went to The Birds of Prey Centre. http://www.pnwraptors.com/
They were having a medieval day with all sorts of fun. There was fencing demonstrations, dancing, music, games, story time, archery, and falconry demonstrations.
Quite a grand entrance! This is the field where they showed us a lot of wonderful birds, like owls, hawks, eagles & falcons. An bald eagle.
It was so neat, having the birds fly right overhead. This lady would swing around a "bird"(actually it's some wings with a pouch attached. The pouch has some raw chicken inside for the hawk to eat once he has caught, or hit, the "bird")
This eagle came to the centre from a zoo in Quebec that closed down.
This is a Golden eagle. As much as it is amazing to see these birds up close, it is still awful to see them tied up. I thought it was interesting to learn that the birds are also sent to the land fills once in a while to control the rodents and seagulls there.
Me and Mary learning a dance. Later on we all joined in to learn a different dance. It was fun.
Oh, no, Heather is in the stocks! Now how will she eat her lollipop?!

Trinity is playing a game. She had to toss a wet sponge through one of the spaces in the castle.
Grace is doing battle. She totally won. Yay, Grace!

recitals

Yesterday, Mary Margaret was in 2 recitals. The first one was her guitar recital, and she did a very nice job. Mary just took her grade one exam last week. Good luck, Mary.The voice recital was last night as well. It was wonderful. Since the recital was on father's day, it was dedicated to all the performer's fathers. I thought that was very fitting especially since our children get all their musical talent from Gregory! Eva, Mary, and Heather sang so nicely. Here they are with Iris, their voice & piano teacher. She is so loved by all her students.
Mary Margaret also received her reward that she won in the music festival. Iris said that Mary received the highest amount awarded in the music festival. I am so proud of you, Sweetie!
Nicely done, girls. I love you.

Happy Father's Day

O.K, where is this guy's helmet?! Ah, the good old days, when there was no such thing as safety!

Happy Father's Day, Dad!
My Dad is on an Alaskan cruise right now, but I have been thinking of you today, Dad. Love you, and hope you are having a great time.

And the girls and I hope that Gregory is having a good time in Italy with Thomas. We sure miss you guys. The girls had so many nice things to say about their dad. Here is what they asked me to write down:
I like it when he reads us stories and tucks us in.
I like his cooking. It's yummy.
He is very strong and very handsome.
His motorcycle is very very cool.
I love it when he tickles me. (Trinity)
I like it when he takes me dirt biking.
I like it when he plays the piano.
He is good at fixing things.
He is a good lawyer, very smart, and kind.
I like it when he's here. (me too!)
We love you.

One day Trinity and I were talking about Daddy, and I wanted to know if she knew the word husband, so I asked her what Daddy was to me. She had to think about it. She knew he wasn't my Dad, so he must be ummm....my.....ummm.....my KING! I thought that was so cute

funny farm

Auntie Rose, Heather, Grace, and I took a little trip to my Auntie Janet & Uncle Ian's farm. It is so beautiful there, with the fountain, waterfall, ponds, an awesome garden (gold star for you, Uncle Ian!), and of course , the adorable animals.A baby chick. so sweet.
(?) Runner ducks. Their names are Huey, Dewey & ...Lamar.
I noticed that one of the ducks was limping. Auntie Janet explained that yes, they have a lame duck. HA!
All together....awwwww....
This mother & babe is too cute! The Mother's name is Ginger and the baby's name is Snap.
Heather is feeding Ginger a carrot. yum.
This is another of uncle Ian's horses. I think his name is Pockets. He is a HUGE horse, very strong looking, and beautiful.Grace is patting Ginger.
O.K, that's enough horsing around, now, kids. Time to go. Thanks for the farm tour Auntie Janet!

Girl's party at Auntie Rose's

Last night Auntie Rose had a girl's party. It was so much fun. We played card games, dominoes, put on lots of necklaces, took little Oliver (Rose's pug) for a walk and ate some yummy food!
Auntie Rose, Grace, me, Trinity, Heather, Mary, cousin Madeline all playing dominoes. My cousin Shannon (Madeline's mum) is taking the picture. After supper we made our own sundaes. mmm...ice cream!
Heather & Grace stayed the night with Auntie Rose and Oliver. For breakfast, Rose made some great pancakes with coconut syrup that she bought in Hawaii. Very tasty.
Thanks Auntie Rose, we all had a great time!

YouTube - Etch-a-sketch supreme!

YouTube - Etch-a-sketch supreme!
Felicity made a few videos of her etch-a-sketch drawings. I think they are pretty neat. Click on the link above to see one and then once you are on you tube, you can check out the rest.

sandcastles

The weather has not been very nice, lately, but whenever the rain stops, the kids like to go outside. Grace and Trinity were playing in the sandbox and made some cute sandcastles. Grace and her castle


This is Trinity's sandcastle, with a German flag.

we're normal

Just what are these girls up to now? There was a "fun day" at school and Heather had a butterfly painted on her face, and pink & purple hair. Grace is wearing some fairy wings and Trinity looks ready for one of her "stretch-out parties", which is sort of a mixture of hyperactive yoga and interpretive dance.(?)
What?.....We're normal.

Lychee VS Rambutan

We love lychee fruit and buy it a couple times a year when we see it in the grocery store, or once in a while from Chinatown. The juice is really good, too. As I was buying the lychee fruit, the grocery-boy suggested that we try the rambutans, so we did. At home we had a little taste test, to see which fruit we liked the best. Lychee VS. Rambutan
And the winner is........

Rambutan!!

mmm...cupcakes

Last week I made some strawberry shortcake muffins for Grace's class when they were going on a field trip. This morning Trinity wanted to make muffins for her field trip. In Trinity's little imagination, her teacher is a ballerina and the only other student in her class is a dog named Polly. Her stories are so funny. Anyway, Mary Margaret made the cupcakes this morning with Trinity (thanks, Mary!) and I just made the pink icing. Trinity was so cute, putting the sprinkles on one at a time.


Voila! Nice job, Girls.
Mmmm...cupcakes.....

Felicity and Eva

Last weekend Felicity and Eva both got their hair cut. Aren't they gorgeous? Felicity's curls are so beautiful, and gets her a lot of compliments.
Eva looks so pretty with her new hair cut. Even Prima likes it!Felicity & Mary were trying to make Eva more "girly" so they styled her hair for her. Cute!

Queen of the garden

No, I am not the queen of the garden. The rose is the queen of the garden. Here are some roses from my garden. This is a white climbing rose that is beside the door of the guest house.

This bright pink rose smells so sweet. I am reminded of Turkish delight every time I smell this. It is right outside Trinity & Grace's window.

Small pink rose bush in the front garden. It doesn't always look that great, but this year is pretty nice.

Yellow roses in the front garden. Gorgeous.

I actually won 1st prize in the Cobble Hill fair a few years ago **best rose in show** with this one. It is called "peace". I still have the ribbon, but alas, I had to give the (very coveted) trophy back. This light yellow rose is so pretty with just a touch of pink on the edges.

Isn't this the most precious darling rose ever? It is a ground cover type and is near our hot tub.

I have never seen these roses look so good. They are an old fashioned type of rose and they grow like crazy! Very nicely scented and these are growing up to the very top of our apple tree and are just loaded with blooms!

{sigh} These roses are pure romance! They are soft, delicate and smell so beautiful.
I am quite ruthless when it comes to pruning them, and a couple times I wondered if I had gone too far, but they have set more buds than ever this year, so I guess a little "tough love" was good for them. These roses are at the bottom of the stairs leading to the kitchen door, and my favorite.

Trinity Sunday

Trinity Sunday is a movable feast day in the Catholic calendar, celebrating the mystery of the Holy Trinity (Father, Son, & Holy Spirit). We use this feast day to celebrate Trinity's birthday, even though she was actually born on Christmas day. Who could possibly have a birthday party on Christmas? (other than Jesus!!)
After church we enjoyed hot dogs, chips, and lemonade outside in the sunshine. It was a perfect day.
Trinity and Grace
Trinity got a pair of sunglasses and a little pony in a purse. **Sweetness**I love you, Trinity.