More photos from the summer that never was...

The birthday boy and his mommy.

Graham's new "ride".

Weird clouds above the house before a wicked thunderstorm.

The birthday loot!

Graham's Girlfreind Marlee.

Mr. Messy enjoying his cake.

Marlee and Graham

Graham in his Adirondack chair.
All he needs is a beer.

AC/DC, Walter Gretzky and the summer that never was.

Scottie and Graham in their Scotland shirts to go to Folklorama

Family Portrait in the in-laws back yard.

With Walter Gretzky

Cake massacre

The cake before Graham got his hands on it!

So it's now the middle of September, and I know I havent posted a blog for a while. It could be that we were too busy building an ark, just to survive the insane amount of rain Winnipeg received this spring and summer. I say summer lightly, because well, we actually never had summer until about a week ago. Last weekend was in the high twenties temperature wise, so we went to the lake and I actually swam in the lake for the second time this year. But let me recap the last few months or so for you, as even though the weather was the s**ts, we did have some interesting moments occur...

In July we had to take a trip to Elmira Ontario, where Scott's parents live. His mom Pat had a health scare with her Chrone's disease in early July, so Bill and Pat were unable to come to Winnipeg for Graham's first birthday in August. So we hopped on the plane and flew into Hamilton ( much less stressful than Toronto and the 401 death ride) and spent a week there visiting. They threw a family birthday party for Graham, complete with a huge cake full of icing. It was such an awesome cake with a picture of him and a caption that said "It's cool to be one". I loved it. And Graham loved the cake!!! Scott and I got to escape to the country a few times and biked along the trails near their house, without getting eaten alive by mosquitos. While the weather wasnt great, we did have a couple of days of sun, and more importantly, Graham free time! Thanks Nana and Grandpa!

While we were visiting, Graham took his first steps and walked on his own. I was so happy he did when we were in Elmira, so Bill and Pat could see it. It was so funny, he was furniture cruising, and the next thing I know he just lets go, and walks over to the patio window. I was screaming with excitement,and so was my mother in law! Now he just runs everywhere.

When we were there, our freinds Colin and Veronica celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary. So Nana and Grandpa babysat once again, and we went to Milton (where they live) for a "grown up "meal. The restaurant we went to was a small Italian kind of place called Pascalluci I think, but it was awesome. So we were in our corner of the restaurant chatting when in walked Walter Gretzky. In case you have been living under a rock, or not Canadian, he is the father of the greatest hockey player in the world, Wayne Gretkzy, and almost as recognizable. Anyways, he was working the room, saying hello to everyone, and stopped at our table. We took our picture with him, and he asked us where we were from. When we said Winnipeg, he perked up, and told us this story about how his mother lived on a farm outside of Winnipeg when she first came to Canada. He only knew this from some woman he met in the Winnipeg airport ten years ago that mentioned it to him. But this woman never knew the name of the town closest to the farm, so he immediately wanted us to try to find out. We chatted some more, and to make along story short, I now have Walter Gretkzy's personal cell phone number, home phone number and address. I dont know where to start looking for this information, but we promised him we would look into it, so I guess I have to try somehow. The funny thing is, that this all happened in Milton, Ontario, which is a small sattelite town east of Toronto, and hardly a Celebrity hotspot.

I headed back to work August 4th, and began the nightmare of trying to get organized each night with Graham's food, clothes etc. It was rough. I did many late night Safeway runs buying yogurt and bananas for his lunch each day. Five days after I went back to work, it was Graham's actual birthday on August 9th. So I got balloons, had a cake made (one for him to destroy and one for us to eat) and invited a few close freinds and family over for a BBQ celebration. Luckily the rain held off and we only had a short sprinkle come down. For the most part we were able to have the festivities outdoors, and more importanly the cake. Graham was so funny- he dug right in again, and had icing everywhere. Now his little freind Marlee was'nt too sure about the cake, and definately would not put her hands into it and get messy. It's so funny how different little boys are from little girls. Graham could have cared less how messy he got. I did make an effort to have only white colored icing this time. Blue icing stains clothes I found out! So we are now the proud owners of every Fisher Price little people set on the earth it seems. At least that's what our basement looks like.

Mid August brought around AC/DC to Winnipeg. They were playing the outdoor Stadium on August 22nd. We had bought tickets for us and our freind Andy back in the winter. Our freinds Art and Teresa are like the biggest AC/DC fans in the world, and we all talked about going as a group if ever Angus and the boys came to town. So when the time came to get tickets, I offered to buy online for them, but they declined and went with a buddy "who had an in". I know first hand from working with my arena clients, that for big concerts, there are no "ins" on tickets. So I went ahead and bought 2 tickets for ourselves and two for our freind Andy. In the back of my mind, I was thinking "get six" but I didnt. In the end, Art and Teresea did not get tickets, so Scott and I decided to sell them ours. They were flabbergasted, but accepted, and we ended up seeing the whole concert for free by sitting in the Toys R Us parking lot across from the stadium!! It certainly was loud enough. We even brough Graham with us, although he went to sleep in the car right after it started! I figure if he sleeps through an entire AC/DC concert, then I shouldnt worry about my creaky hardwood floors at home waking him up.

So that's our summer in a nutshell. Not great weather wise, but so far September has been pretty good. Maybe this means our winter will be warm! Yeah right.

The good, the bad and the ugly.

Boy wonder in action at the lake.

Side A.

Side B. Yes, it was very badly infected.


So, did you ever wonder what $$165.00 dollars looks like??? Check out the pictures of Murphy attached. It looks gross, and it was gross. And smelly.
Poor Murph. He finally got to go to his "happy place" at the lake in June, after a long and hard winter, and ended up at the vet's office.
Now Murphy likes to swim at the lake, and he jumps off the dock with such gusto that he submurges his entire head. His ears are wet, his face is wet, and if they dont dry properly, his skin doesnt dry and gets infected, with what is known in the golden retreiver world as "hot spots". His retreiver neck hair is so thick and heavy, that it doesnt let the air at the skin very well. We thought we had solved the problem ahead of time by getting our groomer Charlotte to cut down his fur a bit, but no such luck. Even my "all natural" hot spot medicine did not work this time. Off to the vet we went. It took three of us to hold him down while the vet shaved off the fur on his face. Antibiotics, pain pills, and ear infection medicine later, he is on the mend. Just in time for summer swimming season to begin.
Murphy we love you, but this was a bad one this time. My wallet still hurts.

Lindsay, Luke and Evelyn's visit

Mom and Lindsay with the kids.

Luke, Evelyn and Graham.

At the children's museum with Daddy

Mom- can I have the car keys???

The three amigos.

Family portrait.

The bobbsey twins discussing bathtime.
"You go in first and test it out...."

At the end of June, my cousin Lindsay and her kids came to visit us for 5 days. They are moving to china in September, so Linds wanted to visit the Winnipeg relatives before they move half way across the world!

The visit was a great sucess. It was great to see Luke in all his boisterous glory ( it gives us a head's up for what's ahead with Graham), and Evelyn was only two months younger than Graham, but practically the same size as our kid, so they looked so cute together. Murphy went to stay with my mom for the first three days, as we figured his stress level would go through the roof with three little ones running and crawling around. The weather was pretty good, and we did trips to the park and Children's museum to fill the days. We also had a nice family dinner at Uncle Pete and Nicole's house one night, where we celebrated Peter's birthday. Lindsay and the kids went own to the lake for two days, where unfortunately it rained for the two days she was there. however, they did see a bear, actually Luke spotted it first, and told his mom there was a "teddy bear" by the garbage cans!! It was great to see Lindsay again, as we dont get to see each other as much as I would like. Now that they are moving to China, we will have to plan that adventure so the three kids can get together once again!!!

Sunshine Coast pictures- Part 2

Uncle Jim paddling out to sea.

(No the motor did not die.)

Our hosts.


Sunset from the beach.

Horseshoe Bay.

Comox yacht club.

Sunshine Coast Pictures-Part 1

Bucky by the sea.

Refuge Cove





Just pooped out!

Pole dancer.

On the fire truck at

Stanley Park with Zachary.


Here are some random pictures from the trip!!

The Sunshine Coast- Part Three

In the pool
On the ferry to Nanaimo.

Olympic countdown clock.

The cousins and the kids.

NEVER try to take a ferry in BC on a Friday afternoon without a reservation. Or you will end up sitting in a hot car with no AC and a fussy baby for four hours. Let's just leave it at that.

So we got back to Comox eventually, and had three more days left before we had to go home. I brought my mom back with me, and it was the first time she had seen Jim and Sue's new place. We had some great meals, and I managed to meet up with my good freind Jenn D (the Vancouver Jen was Jen K from design school and work) and her daughter Zariah who is almost two now. We had bought Graham a little wading pool, and he sat in it hour an hour splashing and playing. Zariah loved it too. If they are anything like their mothers, those two will be water babies. On the Sunday, Uncle Jim took me out on his whaler boat up to Lund BC, and the beginning of Desolation sound. It was beautiful. On the way over it was a bit choppy, but coming back it was smooth as glass. I saw starfish, and sea lions, and a jelly fish right in front of their house. (Uncle Jim dropped me off on the way back to the marina so I could relieve the babysitters.)

One of the definate highlights of the trip was when Sue decided to feed the Bald eagle mother. Now here is the story. There is a Bald eagle with a nest of two babies behind their neighbour's house. A week before we came, the eagle managed to swoop down and kill one of their chickens as food for her babies. Sue put extra chicken wire out, and the eagle was not having much luck finding food for the babies. So their neighbour Chris went to his place and grabbed some freezer burnt tuna steaks one night and brought it over. Sue waved it at the eagle, then laid it on the rocks by the beach. We all stood on the balcony ( I held onto Graham for dear life) and watched this magnificent creature swoop down and grab this tuna (better that then Chris and Darcee's little dog Chopper). Then she did a fly by right in front of us as if to say "thank You". I have never seen an eagle up close like that, and let me tell you, she was a beauty.

The time on our trip went by so fast, and I was sad to leave. Usually I have the itch to get home after a while, but I was not ready to leave. I think it was because it was so peaceful and relaxing.
But we were anxious to get home and see Scottie and Murphy, who I missed so much. Thanks to Uncle Jim and Sue for their great hospitality. I am looking at seat sales all the time now, partly because I want Scottie to see the area, and partly because I want to kick Sue's butt at CRUISE SHIP again!!!!