Canada Day in North Vancouver consists of a good parade and meandering around the neighborhood.

We had a nice pancake breakfast and a slow morning. Once we heard the bagpipes it was time to walk to the main street two blocks from our house and watch the parade. Claire enjoyed it but Rhys was scared of all the noise until he saw a ‘lion’ mascot. Then he really got into it.

An extra bonus this year was a 1st birthday party in the afternoon for Madeline. Claire & Rhys love birthday parties and this one was no exception. We all had a great time and got to see lots of friends.

It was a god day 🙂

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Last month Jimmy hosted the 9th annual Vic West skate contest in Victoria. It takes months of preparation for the contest so he has been very busy gathering sponsors, donations, organizing judging, local skate shops etc.

The kids & I traveled with him so we could all visit friends and family while we were in town.

It was a nice warm day, the contest was great with a large turn-out and Jimmy once again did an awesome job as organizer/ MC for the day. The kids were really excited to hear his voice booming out from the microphone. Claire got pretty upset at one point because she is such a daddies girl and wanted him all to herself.We are proud of the great job he does every year with the skate contest.

We all look forward to next year which will be Jimmy’s 10th year running the contest!

 

On a recent trip to a park the sun was shining and the day was nice and warm. It has been a cold Spring so any day with sunshine is a great day!

Claire & Rhys saw some bees buzzing around some pretty purple flowers. The kids are really into all things bugs so spotting a bug like this keeps them occupied for a very long time 🙂

Jimmy captured some great pictures of the bees:

When Jimmy was away recently in California on his skateboarding get away I met up with some friends of ours in Deep Cove for a beach play date.

Jenny & Ben have boy/ girl twins as well who are exactly 1 month younger than Claire & Rhys. We always have a good time meeting up with them.

The day was not too cold and only slightly overcast. The tide was really low and there were lots of crabs and fun things to look at on the rocky beach. We had fun popping bubbles that Jenny had brought along and we were all amused how the boys/ girls had matching muddy buddy outfits on 😉 We even spotted a mother duck and her ducklings at the sea shore.

Claire & Rhys had so much fun and by lunch time they were really tired and happy to get home for nap time.

We will definitely be going back to Deep Cove.

Claire, Jenny & Eloise:

Sam & Claire:

Eloise & Claire:

Ben walking with Rhys back from crab hunting on the shore:

Crab spotting:

Momma Duck with her ducklings:

Rhys is amazing at spotting bugs. At one our favorite local parks he recently pointed out a ladybug to Claire & they had a great time looking at it, saying ‘hello’ and eventually letting it go on its way.

Jimmy was there for the encounter and took these great photos…he said that Rhys picked up the little stick all on his own and was very tender and gentle to his new friend 🙂

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A little while ago Jimmy was walking down the street in our neighborhood to go with the kids on an adventure aka getting groceries and watching all the construction activity.

He recognized the flag lady and waved her over. Turns out it was my Aunt Cathy (one of my Mom’s sisters) who happened to be in our neighborhood working. She was pretty happy to see Claire & Rhys again and they were excited to say hello to her! In their ‘cool’ shades of course….