This summer we signed up for less activities/ camps for the kids. They work so hard during the school year that it is nice to have some unscheduled play. Free-range kids 🙂
One of the few things we did sign up for was swimming lessons- 30 minutes per day for two weeks. Perfect! We ended up with a very nice instructor who was strict but made it fun for the kids. Claire & Rhys did really well this time around. They are like fish in the water although Rhys sinks so easily!
Canada turned 150 years old this year. We had to celebrate with a nice BBQ with our extended family. We try to do this annually as we ♥ our family traditions 😉
The weather was gorgeous and our yard was looking pretty good as Jimmy & I put so much work into the overgrown and neglected back yard. It was so nice to sit with friends and family and catch up with some good fun.
Debbie always brings the party with her:
Claire & Rhys received very cool science kits from Auntie Wendy, Uncle Chris and Cousin Senna for Christmas 2016. We put them away until weather got better and warmer outside as this was definitely an outside job! Well…we forgot about them for a while and found them one day in November.
Claire & Rhys are all about science so they LOVED working on these kits. Claire had a geode to crack open and Rhys had a shark fossils he had to chisel out. It was super fun.
Reading has taken off this school year! After bath time instead of playing Lego like most other nights these two wanted to sit and read through their books. Awesome.
Maybe all our reading to them since they were first born has paid off…
Claire & Rhys are now in grade 2… time flies by when you are having so much fun 🙂
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Props to Jimmy for making this awesome sign moments before departing to school 🙂
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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 😉
The kids recently had a beach day for their class end of school year party. Jimmy & I were able to take time off to chaperone this fun event.
It was a hot sunny day full of sand digging, watermelon eating, jellyfish hunting and chaotic fun with a bunch of 6/ 7 year olds!
I cannot believe Claire & Rhys are done Grade 1!
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Last weekend we adventured on our last trip in Africa. We decided to go to Clarens which is situated in the foothills of the Maluti Mountains in the Free State province of South Africa. The sandstone mountains were really pretty and reminded us of the drumheller region in Alberta.
This town is an artists haven with so many cute shops, restaurants etc. that surround a town square. It also has a golf course which draws tourists in. The weather was overcast and rainy but it was a fun little get-away that the kids enjoyed.
We are now getting ourselves organized and packed as we leave South Africa at the end of November to begin our journey back to Canada. We will be traveling through Australia to visit friends and family- fun!
Stay tuned for our parting thoughts on our time in South Africa as expats & for more travel/ life stories….
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Whether it’s falling asleep with a lolli stuck in his hair or general hi-jinx, Rhys kept us entertained:
Claire & Rhys stoked on the 4×4’s sunroof (whilst parked):