Samsam

Sammy seems happy enough but he looks terrible tonight...very very pale and drawn...his eyes are sunken with dark circles :( I'm hoping its just tiredness catching up from last week and not this bug I have :( Lloyd is still feeling rough too :(

we were ill for Halloween last year :( This sucks!

Great website!

www.growingoaks.com

This is a great little website for homeschoolers....it is somewhere to chat, share resources and get support. Today I read about a fabulous free printable Halloween lapbook!

I also have a penpal from there - yes we write REAL letters!!! Pen and paper letters!!! Shocking huh? :)

Many of the members at GO are Canadian too :)

Monday stuff....

All the laundry from our week away is now done folded and put away (yay!) and I have dusted the main floor and washed down the walls and baseboards...cleaned the kitchen and one of the bathrooms.....

I chatted with Tanya (mommaspaz) on the phone and hope to meet her tomorrow.

I've responded to some emails I had to get caught up with, and I've prepped some things for a Halloween lapbook for Abigail...

It wasn't a bad day really because I drugged myself up and it helped a lot. But now the tablets have worn off and my throat is agony again and I feel crappy again :( So I guess drugs are the answer!!! ;)

We had some good news about the renovations today - we had the appraisal of the finished work back - I can't remember what it was - will check with Lloyd later, but it means that the house will be worth a lot once the kitchen and sunroom are done :) and it means that if they are right, we can almost instantly do the new master suite above the garage when the kitchen is finished :)

We still have no start date though and everything is tied up with paperwork and permit applications and everything else which is tedious and I am so impatient......another two weeks and they will for sure not go ahead until Spring :(

Unless of course this warm weather stays...so please hope for these good temperatures to hang around for a few weeks extra so there is a chance they can get digging NOW :)

I have to go into town in a little while for a few last minute Halloween things......

Wednesday is going to be a busy day but I'm so looking forward to it. we have the party in the morning for Sam and Abigail and then trick or treating in the evening - we always go to the mall for the first part - get there nice and early! Then we have supper there before heading to a few subdivisions so the older ones can do a little more trick or treating...then home for a Horror movie (once the kids are in bed). Another tradition we have is to watch Charlie Browns Halloween special! It's on today! Oh and yet another tradition I have is to watch the Marth Stewart Halloween episode which is always fabulous and this time has Rosie O'Donell (sp??) appearing!

Tomorrow I am hoping to meet Tanya at the Science Centre.....if she doesn't mind risking all my germs!!

I think I am meeting Jennifer one day this week - Friday I think - so that will be nice and Abigail will be thrilled to see Nuala again!

So lost planned this week and I need to be HEALTHY!!!! So please send healthy vibes to me so this achey joint, sore throat, headachey thing I have goes away!!!!

I ahve to admit I am soooo happy it didn't turn into a cold - I can deal with this but could NOT cope with a cold! I am a hopeless baby when I have a cold!

Chilliwack BC

We drove out to Chilliwack which is about 30 minutes East of Langley and is where Norm and Joldie live. Its very beautiful out there. Joldie works for Tourist Information there and does a great job of selling the area as they rave about it! It was the only place that I actually liked near Vancouver - there is a little less traffic there....but I have to say that I don't think even that could win me over......I think that part of BC is just too busy for me - I like how quiet our area is - how few cars there are on Hwy 14.....how straight our roads are :)

The Honey Bee Centre....

I think this was my favourite part of the week - we went to a local bee centre to learn all about bee keeping and honey.....it was fascinating and the girl in there spent soooo much time with us. We got to sample honey made from all kinds of pollen and we watched the hive and searched for the Queen......I bought some fireweed honey which is just AMAZING!! The children were given free bookmarks and free honey sticks and so much information about bees and honey! Such a great place!

Alberta has a LOT of bee keepers.....we may look into getting a hive next year.

The Limo Bus....

This is inside of the Limo bus that the children rode in for the journey back to the airport. So last week they rode in a limo three different times. Sooooo NOT FAIR as I have STILL never ridden in a limo lol!

We went bananas!

On Wednesday morning we went to Go Bananas in Langley...it's a smaller version of Lets Play. We met one of the other Moms there, Bev, and her two little girls. Lets just say that I don't think Bev and I are destined to be best friends ;) I think we got along because we had to ;)

Bowling with BCAL...

Friday night we went out for a team building evening - bowling :) I am crappy at bowling but it was fun and the kids had a blast :) Lloyd was great at it grrrr - is there nothing that guy is useless at?????? lol! The pictures aren't very good but give you an idea of how many of us were playing etc....

Me - in the sea :)

YES! After more than 5 years we finally saw the sea again and I HAD to paddle in the Pacific Ocean :)

I have now paddled in The North Sea, The Irish Sea, The Atlantic Ocean (and English Channel), The Gulf of Mexico AND the Pacific Ocean :)

Few more shots of Stanley Park!

Honey Bee's

We watched The Magic School Bus's Honey bee episode one morning in the hotel, and on Friday we visited a local honey bee centre in Langley. It was wonderful! A got to see all the bees in the hive and learned how to spot the Queen bee. WE got sample different honey's and learned how bees stay within 3km from their hive and the honey tastes of whatever plant is in that area...we managed to buy a copy of The Magic School Bus book on bees - that went with the tv show! It was very interesting at the centre!

HUGE TREES!!!

Having fun amongst the enormous trees in Vancouvers Stanley Park.

Perhaps she'll become a vet??????

A had great fun in the animal care centre at Vancouver Aquarium last week. She got to x-ray a seal amongst other things....

While at the Aquarium, A was also the only other brave person in the family to eat a cricket.....we both ate one as part of the Aquariums Halloween special!

Big leaves from big trees!

Those big, big leaves come from big, big, BIG trees :)
The huge tree trunks were amazing to see ater 5 years in AB.....ne of the things Lloyd and I miss about the UK is all the big old trees.

Sadly though, there were signs of destruction everywhere in Stanley Park - the park took a real battering in a storm last year. Parts of the sea wall are still being repaired and many many trees were destroyed....the cut down trunks were fun to climb on though!

Can you spot Laurence by the bottom of the tree in the top picture?

Big leaves!!!!

The children were amazed by the HUGE leaves in Stanley Park. There are no big trees in Alberta...no interesting trees at all really, so seeing the emormous trees and their leaves in Vancouver was wonderful! We actually kept the leaf that Sam is holding, and we brought it back with us - I'm going to laminate it along with a picture of Sam holding it and then I can hang it on the wall to keep :)