As a member of our school’s Parent Advisory Board (PAC) I helped organize Claire & Rhys’ school joining the Thrifty Kids Fun Run at the Goodlife Fitness Victoria Marathon held every year in October. The kids run is 1.5km and parents can run too. It was fun to organize and have a good group of families join us from the kids school. We ran as a family & we all did great 🙂 Looking forward to doing it again next year!
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celebratory cupcakes and apple cider
Our old minivan bit the dust…we had to get a new vehicle in September as our old one needed way too much work. It had extremely high mileage and was pretty old. My parents had given the blue van to us and we are forever grateful. Claire & Rhys were sad to say goodbye to it.
Our new-to-us van is pretty great…power doors! DVD players! GPS! leather interior! but mostly it is comfy and safe and the heating works 😉
Claire & Rhys have been doing Pedalheads summer camps for the past three summers & they always have a great time! Their biking skills improve so much over one week.
Claire was in level 4 this year and she was able to bike on the road with her group- Wow! Jimmy drove to pick up the kids and passed Claire with her group. She sure is growing up & is so independent.
Rhys was in level 3 and did awesome. He no longer jumps off his bike to stop 😉 He learned all his hand signals and is so confident on his bike.
On the last day they have a bike rodeo where they get to dress up like princess’ or pirates. Parents get to come watch them bike a circuit. Always a fun time and we love seeing how proud they are of their own successes.
Click on links to watch:
I enjoyed fishing when I was a kid (I even won a trophy for a fishing derby in Sooke that my Dad’s work put on) so when I saw that there was a free learn-to-fish night for kids I signed us up!
The Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC runs free two hour sessions throughout BC. They stock lakes throughout the province with fish for fishing purposes so teaching children & adults the rules and how to properly handle fish makes sense.
On a sunny evening at Elk Lake we gathered with several other families to learn to fish. We learned about different types of fish, how to hold a fish, types of bait, fishing rules and then we had over an hour to use fishing rods to test out our new skills. The rods were pretty large so Rhys struggled a bit. There were so many kids in a row at the lakes edge that fishing lines were getting tangled etc. The bait was worms which was a gross factor for the kids. Rhys went for a walk with Jimmy to the nearby dock to take a break. Claire had her sights set on catching a fish. Those who were positioned nearby the reeds kept catching fish so Claire walked over and somehow found a spot there as well 🙂 The instructor called out last fish of the night and Claire caught a fish on her very last try! She caught a Bass fry.
Not sure if we will fish again anytime soon but we had fun on the lake that evening!
Can you spot the little fish?
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:
We had a really great hot summer this year! Some days were unbearable especially for sun sensitive Claire & Jimmy. Early on in the summer Jimmy ventured out to get a slip’n’slide for us to have some fun and to cool us down on those crazy hot days. It was so fun! and provided us with some good laughs.
Click on videos to play:
So bitter sweet the passing of time especially when you mark it with your kids growing like weeds! I cannot believe Claire & Rhys are now finished grade 2. They were in a split class this year and they did so awesome both socially and academically. There were some hiccups along the way and they both handled themselves so well. We are so proud of these twinadoes 🙂
Our annual last day of school tradition is to go out for dinner somewhere fun. They love these ice cream volcanoes at Milestones!
Every year in early June the municipality of Oak Bay hosts a fun parade, community party and fireworks- The Oak Bay Tea Party. They bring in a mini amusement park which is always fun except it will bankrupt you!
We normally avoid this event because Claire & Rhys don’t do too well with rides. Actually, let’s clarify that… Rhys does not do well with rides. He is always eager to get on but then he gets scared and sick feeling when it starts to run. We thought we would test the waters this year and give it a whirl. It went okay until the end when Rhys sat in a bumper car with Claire. She is a crazy race car driver in those things and Rhys was super bummed. Made for some funny photos though! Post-amusement park cuddles with Dad made it all better ♥.
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Happy times before the rise started:
Once the ride started- poor Rhys! He has to ride it out until it was over:
Cuddles with Dad ♥:
