Mother's Day - BC Style

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My 8th Mother's Day began with 2 beautiful boys giving me 2 beautiful mini rosebushes that they thoughtfully chose for me.  The hand-made cards brought (proud, happy) tears to my eyes.  I will treasure them always.

A quick cup of coffee and a shower was followed by brunch at a local restaurant (where we waited for an hour before our order was brought to us... grrr), but was so nice to be away from the messes at home :)

The plan was to meet my cousins Danielle & Corinne with little Madison and Aunt Gloria, Tara, Shenna, and little Katie at Harrison beach for a noon picnic.  While I rushed to gather what we need for an afternoon at the lakeshore, Harry went to fill our Subway order.

Kenzie found a wee fish!

The day was gloriously beautiful!  Sunshine, sunshine, and more sunshine!  I am truly blessed to have such wonderful boys and a fabulous family!

Connor loving the sand

The only thing missing is my amazing mom.  She's sorely missed right now as she's never far from my thoughts.  The time difference has made it difficult to connect over Mother's Day, but we'll keep trying to connect.

last Mother's Day at Minter Gardens

Wishing you all had a fantastic Mother's Day with yours!

Grandma Bread

How do you spend a Friday morning with your grandmother? 

Last week I picked up my 94-year-young grandma from her home at 9am.  She was very excited to pass on her wonderful brown bread recipe.  Now, I use the word 'brown' loosely.  Most brown breads have a lot of white flour, fat, etc in them.  Not Grandma's!  Heck, no.  Her bread is so chock-full of goodness it resembles a brick.  No kidding - a brick!  Dark rye flour, red river cereal, oats, whole wheat flour, no fat, no egg...  Although she uses yeast, this bread is so heavy it hardly rises.

To accompany this delicious, nutritious treat, I made a de-lish chicken soup for our lunch.  Grandma doesn't come by often (she's not a fan of stairs, etc) so her coming here was a big treat for all of us and we enjoyed her immensely  :-)

Grandma and great-granddaughter Maddy (10 months). She's my cousin's sweet little sunshine.

Katie (94) and Katie (2 months).

Introducing...

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Katie Mae!

8lbs. 3oz.

Aquarians & Hula Skirts

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Aloha!  February is a crazy birthday month for us.  Mine was on the 2nd (Groundhog Day) and Tara's is coming up in 3 days (14th = Valentine's Day).  We share this month with MANY friends and aunts, as well as Tara's new baby soon to be born.

This picture was taken in (summer/fall) 1976.  I'm not sure where the hula outfits came from, but I do believe Mom is pregnant with Scott here.

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Osl Family Sunday

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What does a family with 2 young boys do on a mild January day in the Faser Valley?  Why, they head out to explore the Fort in Fort Langley, that's what they do!

 After living in BC for over 25 years you'd think that Harry would have visited one of our historic sites.  Especially since he loves this kind of stuff!  Well, today we packed up the kids and I got to "play tour guide" (since I've been there at least 3 times).

The Fort has changed a bit since the last time I visited, but it was still fun to walk through the 183 year old Fort, which became the birthplace of British Columbia in 1858.

Having gotten a taste of BC history today has given both Harry and I the itch to head back to Barkerville (Quesnel). 

It's great to play tourist in your own backyard.  Where have you been in BC that's a "must-see" / "must-do"?

Fort Langley National Historic Site

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