Kauai Nuptuals

The anticipation, the saving, the excitement of all things tropical - and in a flash - POOF - the party's over. But what a blast!

For those who didn't know, my little sister Teresa got married last month in Kauai, Hawaii. She is now Mrs. Lee Ryan, but she's gonna go by Teresa Ryan. ha ha ....that's an inside joke. She'll get it.

The ceremy was beautiful, overlooking the ocean...the stuff dreams are often made of.

Anyway, it was a fun holiday for us too. It was Ben's first plane ride and can I just say how proud of him I am? Seriously! He had no problems whatsoever (not even his ears which we were most concerned about because he just didn't get the concept of gum; he swallowed 2 pieces so we just had water ready, which he didn't need anyway). What a relief. He loved being on the plane and was very content to sit with all the activities we brought for him. We had a layover in Seattle so the travel day from start to end was just shy of 12 hours. I think Greg and I might have been more exhausted than Benjamin!

We all stayed at the Hilton (but Paris was no where to be seen - shocking! ha ha) and it was really nice. If we were ever go to Kauai again we would definately stay there, and if anyone is planning to go, we would recommend the Hilton in a heartbeat. And contrary to popular belief, the Hilton is the cheapest of the hotels in Lihue. It's still pricey, don't get me wrong, but the cheapest of the pricey. Benjamin really enjoyed having my mom only 4 doors down the hallway, so there was regular visiting for us. We didn't do any ocean swimming (the currents were way too strong) so we spent our time poolside. We had to literally drag Ben out of the water; he spent entire days in the pool. He would come out only for food, water and the occasional "rest".

Greg and I ziplined with Teresa, Lee and his siblings - what a blast! It was so fun. The first jump was a bit dicey for me, but once I was off the platform, there was no looking back. A very highly recommended adventure if you've never done it. And who wouldn't want to look so sexy in the helmets?




We all went to a luau, you kind of have to if you're in Hawaii. Ben really enjoyed the fire dancers.


There was a reception here shortly after we returned, and it was so much fun to have our family here from Edmonton, as well as some out of town family friends to join in the festivities.

That's Greg and Lee - crazy brothers-in-law. Good thing they like each other.

So that's it until next time....whenever that may be....I'm shooting for December sometime, but with me, you never know.

Take care, everyone.

Summer is here!

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted anything........time certainly does have a way of slipping away.

We have had a little progress in the garden. And it really is a little. Actually everything in growing, but the whole thing seems to be somewhat retarded. The radishes were planted too close together (guess we got the info wrong from the seed guy at the nursery) and even with all the thinning we did, they only grew roots. We did end up with 3 radishes, if you can call them that (see picture below). We could only eat 2 (which were "too spicey" according to Ben) and one was just all roots and super woody. Yuck. The peas are growing like crazy (yay!) but haven't produced anything yet, the carrots appear to be slow, but they are coming, the corn is doing very well (Ben is super excited about eating "all the corn" that will magically appear) and the strawberries, well, we have eaten 3. They were the sweetest things we've ever tasted, no kidding! But they appear to be dwarfed or something. There are a ton of berries on the plants, and they're turning red for the most part, but they don't seem to be growing in size. Hmmmm...it's confusing for sure. But we never said we had green thumbs of any sort. We're total rookies at this gardening stuff. I was thinking about all the strawberries we picked from Greg's cousin's Barry & Anna's strawberry patch a couple years ago in Vanderhoof and I feel shame! Ha ha.

Preparing the garden project.

Daddy's little helper.

Planting cucumbers seeds into peat pots - the guy told us the pots would dissolve into the soil once the seedlings came up, but they never did and we had to pull them out and kind of replant them....what a pain in the you-know-what!


The soil is ready - bring on the seeds!


Not a bad start....


....it's not looking too bad.....thanks to my mom (& Aniek) for looking after it while we were on holidays!!


....and here are the bizarre radishes......go figure.

We just got back from our 2 week camping trip (with our friends Mike, Natalie & Riley again) - what fun! We had a great time! We spent it in the Kootenays again; we started out in Fintry then went to Lumby to see some family friends, then onto to McDonald Creek (on upper Arrow Lake, south of Nakusp), Kootenay Lake, Nelson, and Kettle River (outside of Grand Forks). It's got to be the most beautiful scenery ever. It's stunning. That's all I can say. We've been to Fintry, Lumby and McDonald Creek before, but added the other stops this trip. Man it's georgous! If you've never been to the Kootenays, you must go. It will take your breath away.

Poor Benjamin had his first ever (and hopefully his last!) allergy attack in Fintry. The cottonwood was in the air and the poor kid was a sneezy, itchy, watery eyed snotball. He eventually couldn't even open his eyes and took refuge in the camper with a cloth on his eyes. Luckily Natalie had a cold medicine that had an antihistamine in it, so I gave it to Ben. I was a little leary because I've never given him an antihistimine before, but the poor kid was just beside himself. Anyway, within 1/2 an hour of administering it, he could open his eyes again, the itching was subsiding and things were looking up. What a little trooper!

These were taken in between sneezes and riding his bike!


We ended up moving to another site (not because of the cottonwood, but there was none at the other site, so that was a relief) on the water. It was really nice.

Ben contemplating life......




Greg & Ben in the dingy.


We let Ben have a go by himself - NOT!! Just kidding, we were holding the string!



We stayed overnight at my family friend's Gary & Judy's house (they let us pull up a grass field for our campers) in Lumby; they were my neighbours growing up, but they had the sense to leave the Lower Mainland many, many years ago and raise their family away from the city. I was really bummed that I didn't get to see their sons Kerry & Colin (their daughter lives in Alberta), as their schedules didn't allow them to make the visit. Perhaps another time.......Anyway, the hospitality we recieved was amazing (although they will no doubt say it "was nothing") and we really appreciated the great wine, dinner, breakfast and for me, the visit. It made me homesick, somehow........

Hope they don't mind me posting this picture!


Judy made Ben & Riley special pancakes for breakfast. Guess I'll have to practice making "B"s!




The boys got a kick out of feeding the horse.


We spent Canada Day in Nelson....now there's an "interesting" town......mostly young pregnant women, hippies & granolas. I could have sat and people watched all day! Oh yah - and there was cake!



Aunty Karen joined us for a few days - the boys loved her tent!


Ben & Daddy floating down the Kettle River


That spot is me floating down the Kettle River - it was freezing when you first got in, but quite nice for the rest of the ride.


Last night of our trip; around the fire.




Well that's it for now, I'm hoping not to let so much time go between now and the next post, but with me, well, you never know.......as Greg says: procrastination is my middle name!
Cheers!

More random stuff
I was watching Greg and Ben cutting the lawn together this morning and thought how lucky I am to have two such amazing men in my life. They're so sweet together......They had their ear protection (that old John Deere is terribly noisy!) and their baseball hats on and were both in their "element". Ben stands and helps steer the tractor and Greg lets him rev up the engine; they just love being outside together doing anything. When they went from the front to the back yard and Ben decided to ride his jeep, I got a kick out of watching him copy Greg on the other side of the lawn, turning when Greg did, reversing when Greg did, like a little clone. Oh, wait a minute - Ben is a clone of Greg! Ha!

We've been working on putting a small vegetable garden in the backyard (when I say "we", I mean Greg & Ben, I have yet to lift a shovel. My job is to plant the great harvest and take care of all the other "fun" stuff like weeding, picking and cooking). We're only going to put in carrots, radishes, strawberries and tomatoes. There has been some talk of corn, just to watch how tall the stalks grow, but the jury is still out on that one. It would take forever to actually produce an ear of corn. Anyway, if for any reason it fails terribly as a garden, the area will make one hell of a sandbox!

Greg's hockey team (The Dragons) won their first ever championship this year! Oh man, it was exciting! They kicked some serious butt - the score was 9-1. It took them 10 years, but they finally won their division. I am one proud hockey wife :)

Our little scholar; now if he would only write the numbers in order.... :)

A day at White Rock beach.....

Ben's bucket-o-clams

Ooohhhh, that crab is a strong little sucker!

I thought this was a pretty cool photo

Ben has been into telling the old "knock knock" joke recently....

Where's the punchline?

Now he's got it!

Ben's made up song "Come Here For a Minute" - he almost propells himself away!

Ben and his pal Riley in their jeeps

Other photos.......

Ben and his pedal bike

Bailey, our cat on the left; Ben, our other cat on the right

Ben's wind sock; his first preschool project. Lookit that face - he is so proud!

I FINALLY caved; Ben has his first taste of popcorn....mmmmmm......

Another breakfast picnic - withOUT a single vacuum in attendance!

Santa Claus - incognito