Deanna – Page 3 – wee little lovelys

Butchart Gardens

December 15, 2015

To celebrate the December birthdays of Debbie & Senna, we met up at Butchart gardens recently. Despite the heavy rain, we all found time to revel in the nighttime festive splendor of it all.

Hidden amongst the tour were displays depicting scenes from the “12 days of Christmas” song. The kids’ goal was to find all of the displays and their reward, given by the front desk, was a free candy cane (which they achieved, obviously). After riding the indoor carousel, getting drenched from the rain, and after many oohs and aahs, we all sat down to have some hot cocoa and warm up before we went our separate ways.

We are looking forward to Christmas dinner with everyone in a few weeks time.

Halloween 2015

December 10, 2015

We had a very fun Hallowe’en this year. Harry Potter is a big hit in our house so Claire & Rhys wanted to dress up as Harry Potter & Hermione. Of course we had to join in the fun too. Jimmy went as Hagrid and I went as Professor McGonagall.

We met up with some friends in their neighborhood which is perfect for trick-or-treating… houses are close together and almost every house participates. We were outside for approx 1.5 hours and the kids collected way too much candy. In fact, we are weeks away from Christmas and we still have loads left. I think next year we will factor in a candy tax for our efforts in the costume design and facilitating trick-or-treating 😉

Spooktacular Thanksgiving

November 2, 2015

The Miller clan gathered together for Thanksgiving this year. It is turning into a bit of an annual tradition… a visit to Galey’s farm followed by a yummy potluck style dinner at our home.

Galey’s farm has train rides with silly Hallowe’en decor along the way, a hay-ride to a large pumpkin patch where we pick out pumpkins, a petting zoo, a large corn maze and a haunted house area which Rhys refused to go to this year- too scary!

We always so much fun getting the family together and sharing some laughs. This year was a bit different because it was pouring rain when we were at the farm and we still had a great time.

Parksville with friends

September 5, 2015

Every summer a bunch of our friends that I have known since University organize a group camping trip. This year at the end of the summer we all met at Parksville.

On the way to Parksville and on our way back home we had some time to visit the Chemainus & Ladysmith skate parks. No vacation is complete without a sk8 adventure.

We had such a great time visiting with friends and having some solo adventures as well. The only downside was Claire getting stung three times when running through playground and a hornet got caught in her jean jacket, Ouch!

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Alberta Part 3 – Medicine Hat & family!

August 27, 2015

After our fun time in Drumheller we caravanned to Medicine Hat and had four sunny days that we spent with family.

Our good friend Annalee drove from Northern Alberta to visit us while we were in Medicine Hat. Thank-you for making such an effort to see us! We had a wonderful visit with you…. ice cream, swimming, and a lovely lunch out.

I was able to visit with my Godparents- Aunt Linda & Uncle Norman, we had a family BBQ to celebrate my Mom’s birthday and we visited the Medicine Hat skate park and various tourist spots around the town.

Thank-you for the wonderful visit everyone! We will be back soon. xo

Annalee:

Cousin Sophie:

Cousins Sophie & Aubrey:

Back L to R: Deanna, Sarah, Mom (Tricia), Dad (Vern), Caithlin, Ethan, Michaela, Hayden

Front L to R: Rhys, Claire, Sophie & Aubrey

Little Reindeer:

World’s largest teepee:

Aunt Linda & Uncle Norman. The best Godparents ever:

Heading back to Calgary for one last night before flying home:

Victoria:

Alberta Part 2 – Drumheller & Royal Tyrell Museum

August 27, 2015

Claire & Rhys are still very much into dinosaurs. We couldn’t drive to Medicine Hat from Calgary without stopping for a night in Drumheller to visit the Royal Tyrrell Museum. Drumheller also has a skatepark so of course we went there to.

My Mom & Dad met us in Drumheller and we had a lot of fun!

Alberta Part 1 – Travel to Calgary & cousins

August 24, 2015

When we returned from Africa late 2013 one of the first things on our list to do was get out to Alberta to visit with my family. We had not visited as family since 2010 so long overdue!

We flew Victoria > Vancouver > Calgary. My cousin Leah lives in Calgary with her family and they opened up their house to us for a night so we could get in a visit before we departed the next day to Drumheller.

Summer camping in Sooke

July 15, 2015

We have never camped as a family before and the kids were eager to give it a try so as a soft run we camped out on Wendy & Chris’ property in Sooke. Obviously the kids loved it and Jimmy & I survived the night so looks like we will try a real camping trip next summer 🙂

We had a big picnic, spent time at Sooke potholes and had loads of leisure time reading in the sunshine, and visiting the chickens. Jimmy even entered a local skateboard contest where he did really well and won some skate goods.

We always enjoy our time with Wendy, Chris and Senna and this was yet another fun get-together.

The stream down from Chris & Wendy’s little hobby farm: