A Touch of Reality

A shoeless child - not by choice - simply does not have any

The sandwich and orange may have been her most substantial meal that day

Cleaning her "front yard"

Home sweet home

Their day job.

I went on a tour of some of the hidden parts of life in Mexico. A simple drive through the unseen parts of town. Homes that were made from whatever materials people could find placed on land they hoped not to be evicted from. Children awaiting their parents return from the garbage dump where they hoped to have found enough salvaged materials to sell to afford food for a meal. It truly was a wake up call.

Hours of Fun!

Run from the waves and jump over the waves.

Favourite activities for the PK.

and I always love the tropical plants!

and last nights sunset

In 24 hours a lot can change

From this

To this

We're Back..

So we just got back from a nice visit down to Arizona, Nevada and California with my parents. I now have the task of sorting through the 1000+ photos taken on the trip to put together our photo album. I did my best and managed to stiffle the fits of laughter when the other half said I should be able to pick the best 50 for our album. I'll let you know how I do on that one.

Anyhow I may or may not post more of the photos up here over the next bit but here are a couple of cute ones of little man that I just can't help but share.

A good time had by all.

Tigh-Na-Mara

Andy and I had our Christmas 'staff party' this past weekend. We joined up with my old employer for a joint party to make things a bit more fun. Littlest PK went to his Grandma and Grandpa's for his first sleep-over at their house. He had a great time playing and visiting with their guests and listening to music.

Us parents, well we had a romantic overnighter at Tigh-Na-Mara in Parksville. This is a lovely resort on the oceanfront. They do an amazing job of a buffet spread for dinner and the rooms are cozy and enjoyable.

A view from our room.

Poet's Cove

This past weekend we went to Poet's Cove. I have this incrediably giving boss that does things like take his staff to an out of town resort for a weekend get away as the staff party. The place was beautiful, the food was great, the islands of North and South Pender were lush and green. We had weather from sunny through snow while there. A fun and enjoyable weekend

A Quiet Place

It has been a busy couple of weeks; hence, no entry until now for the entire month of September. We visited my parents up at Lundbum Lake (just outside of Merritt) earlier this month for an extended long weekend. We were greeted by these cheeky and somewhat greedy little characters - not at all shy!

We spent the weekend exploring all the back trails around the campsite in the tracker.

First there is the lake where the campsite is at. A small and peaceful looking lake.

Then there was the lookout that my parents had found only days before we got there. It overlooks Douglas Lake Ranch - the largest working ranch in Canada. It was an amazing view of thousands of acres of land with not a moving soul in sight.

We saw grouse, coyotes, chipmunks, squirrels, numerous types of birds, fresh water shrimp and clams and even a bear!

On one of our adventures we came across this beautiful specimen of a tree. Andy posed beside it to show just how large it truly was. Dad, Andy and I wrapped our arms around it but still could not touch fingertips.

We also went to a bison farm were we had a wonderful lady teach us about the way they raise their bison as well as numerous tips about how to cook the different cuts. She was an extremely generous hostess both with her time and information. We even learnt of the methods they had used to build their home - combinations of infloor heating, solar panels and generator but also strategic placement of windows for maximum natural sun heating. It was quite interesting as they were living completely off the grid.

With trails called Coco Bonk to explore and things to discover around each corner it was an extremely fun and relaxing weekend.