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!