Tag: Deanna

Victoria Day long weekend…mini-golf!

This was one of the best May long weekends ever. The sun finally shone a whole four days and the temperature was hot. Yay!

We did a lot of gardening, we re-organized the kids room so it was more ‘big-kid’. Claire is very much like me…she loves organizing! We had a sweet moment when she sat on her bed and said ‘this feels SO good!’. It was a success. Jimmy bought a slip-and-slide and we all had some fun in the yard. We even set-up the kids giant pool for them to splash around in. We also had a nice picnic and play with some friends. Jimmy got in a few skate morning sessions with his friends which he always enjoys!

One of the high-lights was going mini-golfing. We went to Mattick’s Farm mini-golf which was perfect as it is in the woods so nicely shaded. Rhys would hit the balls like he was playing hockey so that was pretty funny and Claire would sweep the balls into the hole. Jimmy won in the end..no surprise there as he is pretty good at golfing compared to the rest of us ;). it was a great way to spend sometime outside on a hot sunny day.

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Claire’s new reading spot in her updated room:

Twinsies:

Mini-golf:

Jimmy skate fun:

Easter!

Easter was a bit more special this year with my Mom visiting for two weeks.

The weather was improving slowly to warmer days so she came at a perfect time when there was still snow in Alberta where she came from. My Mom and Dad love to garden so having her with us sure helped our wild garden. She weeded and prepped many plant pots and garden beds. I took several days off to spend with my Mom to organize for Easter and to just get out and wonder around Victoria. Claire & Rhys loved having a visitor as well. Nana is always up for reading, playing board games and having light sabre battles outside in pajamas!

We even headed out to Sooke where Wendy, Chris and Senna hosted a lovely lunch that brought all the Millers together. We got to play with some not-so-baby chicks, we ran outside in the sun watching Claire & Rhys have an epic easter-egg hunt. The Easter bunny went a little overboard this year! Our family got a hilarious board game from Wendy, Chris and Senna that was at the end of a very cool scavenger hunt that Senna organized.

We loved having Nana visit us and we had a wonderful Easter.

Beacon Hill:

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Saxe Point:

Easter morning:

Easter scavenger hunt for Nana:

Easter hunt at Aunt Wendy & Uncle Chris’:

Hilarious poopy head game:

 

Snow day!

The house we live in has a giant front & back yard. There is a slope along the side of the house that runs from the back to the front. One morning in December we woke up to snow! It does not snow very often in Victoria so when we saw that it was frozen and cold we knew it would be an epic day to sled.

Our van was iced in the driveway so we couldn’t get out anyway to take the kids to school. So….I booked a day off and the kids took a snow day! Sadly, Jimmy can’t take days off work since he is on-call with the school district.

At 6am we bundled up and headed outdoors to sled. The day was great…lots of sledding, building snowmen and making snow angels. We took regular trips inside for hot cocoa and to warm up. Claire & Rhys both said “best school day ever”!

 

Jumping for joy- no school!

Somehow Rhys had Claire pull him up the hill each time!

Videos- click to open:

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First hockey game!

My co-worker was selling tickets to a Victoria Royals local hockey game as a fundraiser for her sons hockey team. We mentioned many times to the kids that we should go see a live game even though none of us are huge hockey fans. Live games are always a good time so we bought some tickets and had a fun family night out!

We didn’t realize we were sitting in the family area where no beer is allowed. While sipping on a cold brew security came over and Jimmy & I got into trouble 😉 We had a good laugh afterwards.

 

 

 

Mama’s solo Medicine Hat visit!

I traveled home to Medicine Hat in August to spend time with my family and to help my parents sort out their retirement plans. I miss being the kid and having my parents all to myself. A pretty rare occurrence since we live in different provinces. I cherish all the time I have with my parents and with my sister and nieces and nephews. I do not see them as often as I would like.

My niece, Michaela, had her birthday when I was visiting so I hosted a BBQ party at my parents house and was able to get all my family together to celebrate. I was able to spend time with my older niece and nephew, Caithlin & Ethan. So great to hang out with them. I was also invited to a very nice night out with my godparents, Aunt Linda & Uncle Norman. They took us out for a delicious dinner and we had great conversation at their home before & after dinner. … pretty much an all-niter. My parents and godparents are good friends from long ago when they lived in Maple Creek Sask. Their party stories and the shenanigans they got up to as young parents living in a small town are so great. I loved growing up hearing the same stories. Aunt Linda & Uncle Norman have been such a good influence in my life and I so enjoyed spending time with them.

I had a great time & I was able to help my parents as well 🙂

Leaving YVR:img_0032

Arriving to Medicine Hat:img_0033

My nephew Ethan and niece Caithlin:img_0044

Dinner out with my parents & Godparents:img_0047

My Dad (aka Vern):img_0048

Aunt Linda & Uncle Norman:img_0055

Hayden (Michaela’s significant other), Mango the cat, Mom, and my sister Sarah:img_0058

My niece (Michaela’s daughter) Aubree:img_0057

L to R: Michaela (my niece), Dad, Hayden, Mango the cat, Mom and Sarah:img_0060

My nieces: Sophie and Aubree:img_0062

Sarah & Michaela:img_0064

Happy Birthday Michaela:img_0066

Face time with my family:img_0069

Dad & his Mercedes:img_0073

 

 

Vancouver summer trip

Last summer we traveled to Vancouver for a mini vacation. We wanted to spend time checking out all the fun tourist things and to visit old friends. We stayed downtown for two nights so we could catch the sky-train and walk around the city. We visited the Aquarium, did some shopping, visited Science World and had a blast.

After our stay downtown we drove over to North Vancouver to stay with our good friends Faye & Niels. I have known Faye since my first year at University. She was my roommate in residence! The University placed us together randomly and have been friends since. We had a great two nights spending time with Faye and her family. We also visited with our friends and the kids surrogate grandmother, Evelyn, who was our neighbor in our old condo building when we lived in North Vancouver. We spent some time with her and her boyfriend Barney. They were so sweet and it was nice to catch up on all the condo gossip 😉 We also had some time to have a picnic with our South African friends Kim, Ryan and their two sons Kye and Fin. We spent a lot of time together when Claire & Rhys were babies as Kim and I worked together and had an overlap with our maternity leaves. We used to swap child minding which I miss so much! A bonus of staying with Faye & Niels is we tagged along to another friends big BBQ so we were able to see lots of old friends and they have the best backyard that Claire & Rhys made the most of.

We had a great trip and we are excited to make it an annual summer adventure.

 

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Science World:

Aquarium:

Lions Gate Bridge to West & North Vancouver:

Faye & Niels home:Faye & Nield

Evelyn & Barney:

Kim & Ryan clan:Kim & Ryan

 

Lisa & Sean’s BBQ…best backyard for kids:

And of course….Jimmy found a pool to skate 😉

 

Mexico 2016!

In February we traveled to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to catch some sunshine. We met my parents down there and had a blast. The kids had so much fun and it is always so nice to spend time with my parents. The main purpose for this trip was to have Claire & Rhys spend some quality time with their Nana & Papa who they don’t get to see very often. Mission accomplished 🙂

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