Wearing our Red Proud

I am excited about the games. Tomorrow, the torch comes through our part of the world. The kids get to see it with their schools, and I am really hoping to sneak up and catch it with them.

As well, Chris wants to take them to Lynn Valley Centre to see the celebrations there.

And then........it's coming to Grouse. Not sure how many to expect, but I am thinking it's going to be a lot.

Of course, Braydon and Kaylee are just as excited, and just as proud Canadians!!

Our Crop

Since I have been so busy, I forgot to share my work from our AWESOME crop last weekend!




























Over the weekend, our members created 246 lay outs - WOW!!! That surpassed everything I had hoped for. Our little site that could still can. What a way to celebrate our one year anniversary.

An amazing day.......

There are some days in your life that you will always remember. For me, there are many. And today was one of them.

After first hearing of the wind turbine that we were putting in at the mountain, I thought it would be something cool. The more I learned about the project, and then fact the basis of it all is so sustainable - well I got more intersted. The more time went on, the more excited I thought it would be.

In September when I got to go in the helicopter twice to take photos - I knew that this really was iconic. No marketing pitch needed, this was something different. Something unique. Something life altering.

Today, I got to take the 25 second elevator up to the view pod at just under 100 meters above the top of the mountain and watch the monsterous blades go past me - well it makes you gasp. In a good way. Even though it was all clouded in (I can only imagine the feeling on a sunny day), watching the power of the blades swoop past me was something else. The only thing I can say that it reminded me of, was the first time I was at the Aquarium and an Orca whale swam by.

With the weather, I have no stunning photos (although my friend Chris took this one for me - the `thing` in the background is one of the blades). But I will be up soon to take a million photos. I cannot wait to take my children up so they too can witness the power of wind energy. For them to know that our generation is doing something for their generation.

It really was a day that I will remember.

Girl Power

When I was growing up, it was all about hanging out with the boys. It was getting dirty in the back creek and playing flashlight tag until that final final call from Mom to come in. My wardrobe was jeans, t-shirt and a baseball cap. For the longest time it was the Champion baseball cap.

I cannot tell you the amount of times someone mistook me for a boy. I mean, even if my hair was a little longer than usual, chances are it was tucked up underneath my hat.

I picked leggo over barbies. I liked girl stuff, but there was no doubt about it, I was a Tom Boy.

Why I am surprised to find my daughter doing the same, I am not sure. She has always been determined, and stubborn - so I guess the Tom Boy quality came from me too. She will still put on a dress or skirt, then follow her brother into the woods and come out dirtier than any of the others that were there.

If she gets a hand me down from her idol Braydon, it's cool cuz it's a boy thing. Her best buddies at school don't go by the names Jane, Sally or Sue - it's Jacob, Jamie and Spencer. For the record, my two first best friends weren't Jane or Sally either, they were Sean and Christian.

So my tough little Princess I guess is a whole lot more like me than I thought. I still prefer a pair of jean and shirt over my skirts, but I love my heels and jewlery too. She'll get it. She'll be that perfect girl - running around playing ball with the boys in a skirt.

Before and After

Crazy hair before

Not so crazy after (well he is still crazy, but his hair has been tamed)

Some B Time

Today was a professional development day for Braydon. Since I was still owed some time from Christmas break, I decided a date day was in order.

We started the day by registering Kaylee for kindergarten. How she is that old I have no idea!!

Anyhow, he got to pick and the Aquarium was his choice. We saw all the regulars, but this time I noticed he spent more time learning things about the areas. He continued to teach me things as we went through and we had a great morning.

What is a date day without at fancy meal? Well if the choice is up to a six year old (at least mine) this meal comes from McDonalds! We headed home to eat our feast and then played some Wii together (where he continued to kick my butt).

He is now playing with his friend and we will go pick up KJ soon. She gets a special day Friday with me!

The Need to Create

There are days that I just have the need to create. There are nights that it is so strong I actually get out of bed to let myself get my creative energy out on something (usually paper and glue). I have always had this urge and as the years go by, the urge seems to be stronger. Chris keeps asking if the scrapping phase will go away anytime soon, and I laugh. He knows it's here to stay.

Today is one of those need to create days. It actually started last night when I was playing play doh with the kids. Play doh is just as fun at 37 as it is 7. It's nice that it's one of those forms where there aren't any "rules" (although I did request that they don't mix the colours totally all together) and everyone can play. Kaylee got two awesome play-doh sets for Christmas with every cutter / shaper / roller one could need. It's also one of those outlets that everyone gets to do their own thing, or make something together. It's a bit messy, but so worth it (BTW, I made a very beautiful sun yesterday).

Aside from pulling off two pages today, I was also creative in the kitchen. I made a chocolate cheesecake and am about to go make dinner for our friend Jim which includes mushroom peppercorn steak, potatoes, and stuffed tomatoes. Mmmm.

Well the creativeness also leaves a mess - and since our cleaner came yesterday (can I say how much I LOVED coming home to a clean house) I need to keep up and keep it tidy. And I think I will take my camera with me on the dog walk to see what other creative things I can do today.